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DF2014:Gem

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This article is about an older version of DF.
Gem cut.jpg

Small clusters of rough gems can be found almost anywhere while mining. After they have been mined by a miner and cut by a gem cutter, a gem setter can use them to encrust furniture, crafts, and ammunition. In addition, raw rock crystals are required to make crystal glass goods. Cut gems can also be used to create windows and are often required as a source material for legendary artifacts. Gem-encrusted weapons and armor can be found in-game, but cannot be made in fortress mode. Stones, including the various types of clay, can also be cut into gems.

There are a total of 130 different kinds of gems, 127 excluding the three kinds of glass. Of these, 57 are ornamental, 58 semi-precious, 4 precious and 8 rare.

A large variety of cut gems can be brought by and requested from the dwarven caravan. You cannot import rough gems with the exception of raw glass, which human and dwarven caravans can bring.

Exactly 5% of all rough gems will be cut into a single craft or large gem (with 1 craft for every 8 large gems), and the same occurs with raw glass (but with different ratios - 33% of all jobs, producing 11 crafts for every 16 large gems). Note that these will replace a cut gem and cannot be used to encrust goods. The value of such crafts can easily reach hundreds, even several thousand in the case of valuable gems and good craftsdwarfship. A dwarf in the throes of a strange mood can take a single gem and cut it into a legendary artifact known as a "perfect gem" - this is simply a special name for an artifact large gem.

If you have any bags of sand, you can also manufacture raw glass, which is the same as a lower-value, uncut gem.

Gizzard stones are found as a by-product when butchering some animals, and can be used like cut gems. Only a few animal species give gizzard stones, but each member of such a species butchered will yield one, which can lead to a decent supply when you manage to set up an ostrich or elk bird farm.

A killed amethyst man will, logically, drop a rough amethyst, but amethyst men are fairly rare. Forgotten beasts made of gem will leave a corpse, in some cases weighing thousands of Urists, but the corpse cannot be cut into gems or used in any other way.

You can also direct your dwarves to cut stone, shell, horn and ivory into a large gem which can be done at a craftsdwarf's workshop.

Value[edit]

Gems have a base value of 3 in rough form, which is multiplied by the appropriate value modifier from the table below. They gain value after they are cut in a jeweler's workshop. Cut gems have a base value of 5. Items can be decorated (encrusted) with cut gems; all such decorations have a value of 10 times the gem type's value multiplier - see gem cutting and gem setting. Large gems have a base value of 10, and can also have a quality modifier which increases value.

To give an example, a rough green zircon will be worth (3×20=) 60☼, a cut green zircon (5×20=) 100☼ and a masterwork large green zircon (10×20×12=) 2400☼.

Varieties[edit]

Gems come in many varieties, with their own color and value multipliers:

Rarity Gem name Value (×) Color Graphic Found where Found how
Synthetic green glass 2 ☼♦2:0 Glass furnace Manufactured
Synthetic clear glass 5 ☼♦3:0 Glass furnace Manufactured
Synthetic crystal glass 10 ☼♦7:1 Glass furnace Manufactured
Ornamental amber opal 10 6:0 All stone Small clusters
Ornamental aventurine 3 2:0 Sedimentary Small clusters
Ornamental banded agate 2 4:0 Sedimentary Small clusters
Ornamental bloodstone 2 4:0 Sedimentary Small clusters
Ornamental blue jade 2 1:1 Alluvial Small clusters
Ornamental bone opal 10 7:0 All stone Small clusters
Ornamental brown jasper 2 6:0 Sedimentary Small clusters
Ornamental carnelian 2 4:0 Sedimentary Small clusters
Ornamental cherry opal 10 4:1 All stone Small clusters
Ornamental chrysocolla 2 3:1 Malachite Small clusters
Ornamental chrysoprase 2 2:1 Sedimentary Small clusters
Ornamental citrine 2 6:1 All stone Small clusters
Ornamental clear tourmaline 10 7:0 Metamorphic, Sedimentary, Granite Small clusters
Ornamental dendritic agate 2 7:0 Sedimentary Small clusters
Ornamental fire agate 2 6:0 Sedimentary Small clusters
Ornamental fortification agate 2 7:1 Sedimentary Small clusters
Ornamental gold opal 10 6:1 All stone Small clusters
Ornamental gray chalcedony 2 7:0 Sedimentary Small clusters
Ornamental jasper opal 10 7:1 All stone Small clusters
Ornamental lace agate 2 1:1 Sedimentary Small clusters
Ornamental lapis lazuli 2 1:1 Igneous intrusive, Marble Small clusters
Ornamental lavender jade 2 5:0 Alluvial Small clusters
Ornamental milk opal 10 7:1 All stone Small clusters
Ornamental milk quartz 2 7:1 All stone Small clusters
Ornamental moonstone 2 7:1 Metamorphic Small clusters
Ornamental morion 2 0:1 All stone Small clusters
Ornamental moss agate 2 2:0 Sedimentary Small clusters
Ornamental moss opal 10 2:0 All stone Small clusters
Ornamental onyx opal 10 7:1 All stone Small clusters
Ornamental onyx 2 0:1 Sedimentary Small clusters
Ornamental picture jasper 3 6:0 Sedimentary Small clusters
Ornamental pineapple opal 10 7:1 All stone Small clusters
Ornamental pink jade 2 5:1 Alluvial Small clusters
Ornamental pipe opal 10 7:1 All stone Small clusters
Ornamental plume agate 2 6:0 Sedimentary Small clusters
Ornamental prase opal 10 2:0 All stone Small clusters
Ornamental prase 2 2:0 All stone Small clusters
Ornamental pyrite 2 6:1 All stone Small clusters
Ornamental resin opal 10 6:1 All stone Small clusters
Ornamental rock crystal 2 7:1 All stone Small clusters
Ornamental rose quartz 3 4:1 All stone Small clusters
Ornamental sardonyx 2 4:0 Sedimentary Small clusters
Ornamental sard 2 4:0 Sedimentary Small clusters
Ornamental schorl 2 0:1 Metamorphic, Sedimentary, Granite Small clusters
Ornamental shell opal 10 7:0 All stone Small clusters
Ornamental smoky quartz 2 6:0 All stone Small clusters
Ornamental sunstone 2 6:1 Basalt, Gneiss Small clusters
Ornamental tiger iron 2 6:1 Sedimentary Small clusters
Ornamental tigereye 2 6:1 Sedimentary Small clusters
Ornamental tube agate 2 6:0 Sedimentary Small clusters
Ornamental turquoise 2 3:1 Igneous extrusive, Kaolinite, Granite Small clusters
Ornamental variscite 2 2:0 Bauxite Small clusters
Ornamental wax opal 10 6:0 All stone Small clusters
Ornamental white chalcedony 2 7:1 Sedimentary Small clusters
Ornamental white jade 2 7:1 Alluvial Small clusters
Ornamental wood opal 10 6:0 All stone Small clusters
Ornamental yellow jasper 2 6:1 Sedimentary Small clusters
Semi-Precious alexandrite 20 5:1 Granite, Schist, Marble Small clusters
Semi-Precious almandine 20 4:0 Metamorphic, Diorite, Gabbro Small clusters
Semi-Precious amethyst 20 5:1 All stone Small clusters
Semi-Precious aquamarine 20 3:1 Granite, Schist, Marble Small clusters
Semi-Precious bandfire opal 20 7:1 All stone Small clusters
Semi-Precious black opal 30 0:1 All stone Small clusters
Semi-Precious black pyrope 20 0:1 Metamorphic, Kimberlite Small clusters
Semi-Precious black zircon 20 0:1 All igneous, Metamorphic Small clusters
Semi-Precious blue garnet 30 1:0 Metamorphic, Granite Small clusters
Semi-Precious brown zircon 20 6:0 All igneous, Metamorphic Small clusters
Semi-Precious cat's eye 20 7:1 Granite, Schist, Marble Small clusters
Semi-Precious chrysoberyl 20 2:1 Granite, Schist, Marble Small clusters
Semi-Precious cinnamon grossular 20 6:0 Marble Small clusters
Semi-Precious claro opal 20 1:1 All stone Small clusters
Semi-Precious clear garnet 20 7:0 Metamorphic, Granite Small clusters
Semi-Precious clear zircon 25 7:1 All igneous, Metamorphic Small clusters
Semi-Precious crystal opal 20 7:1 All stone Small clusters
Semi-Precious demantoid 30 2:0 Chromite Small clusters
Semi-Precious fire opal 15 4:1 All stone Small clusters
Semi-Precious golden beryl 20 6:1 Granite, Schist, Marble Small clusters
Semi-Precious goshenite 20 7:1 Granite, Schist, Marble Small clusters
Semi-Precious green jade 20 2:1 Alluvial Small clusters
Semi-Precious green tourmaline 20 2:0 Metamorphic, Sedimentary, Granite Small clusters
Semi-Precious green zircon 20 2:0 All igneous, Metamorphic Small clusters
Semi-Precious harlequin opal 20 7:1 All stone Small clusters
Semi-Precious heliodor 20 2:1 Granite, Schist, Marble Small clusters
Semi-Precious honey yellow beryl 20 6:0 Granite, Schist, Marble Small clusters
Semi-Precious indigo tourmaline 25 1:0 Metamorphic, Sedimentary, Granite Small clusters
Semi-Precious jelly opal 15 6:0 All stone Small clusters
Semi-Precious kunzite 20 5:1 Granite Small clusters
Semi-Precious levin opal 20 6:1 All stone Small clusters
Semi-Precious light yellow diamond 30 7:1 Kimberlite Small clusters
Semi-Precious melanite 15 0:1 Marble Small clusters
Semi-Precious morganite 20 5:1 Granite, Schist, Marble Small clusters
Semi-Precious peridot 20 2:1 Gabbro Small clusters
Semi-Precious pinfire opal 20 7:1 All stone Small clusters
Semi-Precious pink garnet 20 5:1 Metamorphic, Granite Small clusters
Semi-Precious pink tourmaline 15 4:1 Metamorphic, Sedimentary, Granite Small clusters
Semi-Precious precious fire opal 20 4:1 All stone Small clusters
Semi-Precious purple spinel 20 5:0 Metamorphic, Diorite, Gabbro Small clusters
Semi-Precious red beryl 20 4:1 Granite, Schist, Marble Small clusters
Semi-Precious red flash opal 20 4:1 All stone Small clusters
Semi-Precious red grossular 20 4:0 Marble Small clusters
Semi-Precious red pyrope 20 4:0 Metamorphic, Kimberlite Small clusters
Semi-Precious red spinel 20 4:0 Metamorphic, Diorite, Gabbro Small clusters
Semi-Precious red tourmaline 15 4:0 Metamorphic, Sedimentary, Granite Small clusters
Semi-Precious red zircon 20 4:0 All igneous, Metamorphic Small clusters
Semi-Precious rhodolite 20 5:0 Metamorphic, Kimberlite Small clusters
Semi-Precious rubicelle 20 6:1 Metamorphic, Diorite, Gabbro Small clusters
Semi-Precious tanzanite 20 5:1 Gabbro Small clusters
Semi-Precious topazolite 20 6:1 Marble Small clusters
Semi-Precious topaz 20 6:1 Granite Small clusters
Semi-Precious tsavorite 30 2:0 Marble Small clusters
Semi-Precious violet spessartine 20 5:1 Metamorphic, Granite Small clusters
Semi-Precious white opal 20 7:1 All stone Small clusters
Semi-Precious yellow grossular 20 6:1 Marble Small clusters
Semi-Precious yellow spessartine 20 6:1 Metamorphic, Granite Small clusters
Semi-Precious yellow zircon 20 6:1 All igneous, Metamorphic Small clusters
Precious emerald 40 2:0 Granite, Schist, Marble Small clusters
Precious faint yellow diamond 40 6:0 Kimberlite Small clusters
Precious ruby 40 4:0 Bauxite Small clusters
Precious sapphire 40 1:0 Bauxite Small clusters
Rare black diamond 60 0:1 Faint yellow diamond Single gem
Rare blue diamond 60 1:0 Faint yellow diamond Single gem
Rare clear diamond 60 7:1 Faint yellow diamond Single gem
Rare green diamond 60 2:0 Faint yellow diamond Single gem
Rare red diamond 60 4:0 Faint yellow diamond Single gem
Rare star ruby 60 4:1 Ruby Single gem
Rare star sapphire 60 1:1 Sapphire Single gem
Rare yellow diamond 60 6:1 Faint yellow diamond Single gem

See here or here for a sortable, print-friendly spreadsheet with all gems and their values.

See here for a text list of rough gems sorted alphabetically by variety.

Unlike other gems, diamonds can ignite if they come into contact with magma.

Gem cuts[edit]

Finished gems have a particular cut, which doesn't affect the gem's value. A gem can have multiple cuts, such as a "square brilliant" or "tapered baguette" cut. Some gem cuts are also known as "cabochons," which have a basic "shape" cut typically as a rounded, polished stone. Gizzard stones do not have cuts.

List of cuts:

  • baguette
  • brilliant
  • briolette
  • cushion
  • emerald
  • marquise
  • octagon
  • oval
  • pear
  • point
  • radiant
  • rectangular
  • round
  • single
  • square
  • table
  • tapered
  • trillion

Rare gems[edit]

Faint yellow diamonds only appear in kimberlite (which, itself, only appears in gabbro layers) and sapphires and rubies only appear in bauxite (which occurs in any sedimentary layers). Colored diamonds only occur in pre-existing clusters of faint yellow diamonds. Star sapphires and star rubies only occur within clusters of their peers.

Glass[edit]

Raw glass is treated as an uncut gem. There are three subtypes of raw glass (and, once cut, of cut glass gems):

Gems

Gem name Value Color Requires
green glass ☼♦ bag full of sand
clear glass ☼♦ bag full of sand + pearlash
crystal glass 10× ☼♦ rough rock crystal + pearlash

Making raw glass requires a dwarf with the glassmaking labor designated, and, just like working metal, it also requires fuel (either coke or charcoal) at a normal glass furnace, or magma at a magma glass furnace. Like all gems, raw glass has no quality modifiers. Note that cut rock crystals can't be used to make crystal glass objects.

Raw gems are only one of the many things your glassmakers can make from glass. See glass and glass industry for more information.

In real life[edit]

A gem is a mineral (or a mineral-like material) admired by a culture, often due to their beauty and durability (resistance to scratches), so that they have economic value in and of themselves.

Most gems are made of the same basic minerals found in common rocks; but their atoms are arranged into ordered patterns, called crystals, with drastic consequences to their appearance and material properties. For example, the same mineral quartz that looks so unremarkable in quartzite may form the strikingly geometric, beautifully translucent rock crystals, if it has the space to grow up slowly – in a crack or cavity within granite rock, for example.

Each particular crystal has a stable angle between its faces, depending on the underlying atomic structure; quartz is hexagonal, while rock salt is cubic.

A more drastic (and famous) example is carbon. The organic content of sedimentary rocks like bituminous coal may be pressured and heated into honeycomb layers, forming the metamorphic stone graphite (which we use in pencils, and dwarves use for long-lasting fires). That very same carbon may be shaped, with more pressure and less heat (when, for example, stricken by a meteorite), into the nested cubes known as diamonds.

Some non-mineral materials that have been sometimes considered "gems" include organic products like amber, coral, and pearl; and rocks (bundles of multiple minerals) like jet, jade and lapis lazuli. Of these, pearl only exists in DF as a placeholder, coral and amber in the most rudimentary of forms; but not as gemstones. Jet counts as a regular stone in DF, while jade (in various colors) and lapis lazuli are gemstones.

"Gem" in other Languages Books-aj.svg aj ashton 01.svg
Dwarven: kadôl
Elven: eruwa
Goblin: straza
Human: ves
Ornamental (2☼-15☼)
Agates
Feldspars
Jades
Jaspers
Opals
Quartzes
Tourmalines
Semi-Precious (20☼-30☼)
Beryls
Chrysoberyls
Garnets
Grossulars
Opals
Zircons
Tourmalines
Spinels
Precious (40☼)
Rare (60☼)
See also: DiamondGlassStone
More: GemsMetalsStones
Creature
BloodBoneBrainCartilageCheeseChitinEggFatFeatherHair (WoolYarn) • HoofHornIchorLeatherMilkNailNervous tissueParchmentPearlScaleShellSilkSkinSpitSweatTallowTearsToothWax
Plant
Fiber (PaperSlurry) • FlowerFruitLeafOil • Plant powders (DyeFlour) • Seed (Press cake) • Wood
Creature/Plant
Inorganic
Hardcoded
AmberAshCoralFilthFuelGlassGrimeIceLyeMagmaMudPearlashPotashSaltUnknown substanceVomitWater
See also: Material science