less types of stone on an embark

[kazia0002]

Hello. I have not played a lot with map generation and settings, and would like to ask a question: how to have less types of stone? I would like to build a fortress from 2 - 3 different stone types and I never seem to have enough of them. Instead I have like 50 different types for a couple hundred each. Which setting would be reposponsible for that, and how to reduce the building stone type variety?

[NilusBavarius]

mineral abundance iirc

[Fel]

Not mineral abundance, that is for how frequent ores are.

Unless you build massive projects, a few layers of a stone type, fully mined out and turned into blocks, should allow you to build quite a lot.
Stone (and wood) turned to blocks give you 4 blocks per unit of material but are only useful for building.

If you want significantly more of a type of stone, the first step is to make sure you embark on only one biome as the composition of layers changes based on the biome as well.

If you need even more, you can use the advanced world gen to change the "above layer" entries.
Above layer 1 is above the first cavern layer (although there seem to be some variance), same for 2 and 3 for between the previous cavern layer and the next.
Above layer 4 is between the third cavern layer and the magma sea.
Above layer 5 is not completely understood but seems to control both the magma sea and the semi-molten layer below it.

This means that magma will potentially be pretty far down if you increase them but you will have access to more layers of stone to mine out and turn into blocks.

[Saver Sigonith]

What are the kinds of stone that you are usually looking for?

[HueSatLight]

Layer stones will be the most abundant, since multiple layers (within the same biome column) tend to have the same few types of layer stones.

Also knowing where to dig can get you more layer stones. Your embark is on a large grid, on the minimap, you'll notice the trees are thinner along the grid lines. Along those grid lines, and especially at the intersections, is where you'll find the most layer stones. Each grid square will have one large cluster of a different type of stone, in an oval shape, but that oval will not cross grid lines. Note that biome columns can cross those grid lines. There's also veins (or ore or stone), and I don't think they cross grid lines, but they can get right up to the edge of them.

In some cases, mining through the large clusters might give you fewer types of stones. The wiki has a few articles that can give you a better idea if a layer is worth exploratory mining. And perhaps what kind of surface stones mean the layer types will be limited.
https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Stone_layers

Also, if you have magma, there's four types of blocks you can generate with renewable resources. Green glass blocks, with any sand. Stoneware/Earthenware from fire clay / any other clay. And obsidian casting, with water supplied by a river, aquifer, or cavern lake (that reaches the map edge).

[p3st|cIdE]

I often have this problem, and how I solve it is exploratory mining a bit before committing to a main base location, and I situate the main base where I see quite a few layers of the stone I want to build from. The blocks and glass/clay suggestions are good. Yeah idk how to tune the worldgen, but site choice matters a lot as was mentioned re: multiple biomes. it's best to situate the site entirely within one biome if homogenity is desired. (or conversely at a junction of several biomes if variety is desired)
I'm always short of the stone I need, anyway. I try to craft from different stone types than I use for building, for this reason.

[Teemo]

Originally posted by kazia0002:

Hello. I have not played a lot with map generation and settings, and would like to ask a question: how to have less types of stone? I would like to build a fortress from 2 - 3 different stone types and I never seem to have enough of them. Instead I have like 50 different types for a couple hundred each. Which setting would be reposponsible for that, and how to reduce the building stone type variety?

make blocks from stone, keep it on repeat, you can make 4x as many walls with the same amount of stone.