40d Talk:Obsidian

"sharp" rocks?

Is Obsidian currently the only "sharpenable" rock? The fact that "create rock short sword" asks for sharpenable rock rather than obsidian specifically suggests other rocks may be usable (or become usable) for swords.

The [SHARP] tag in the raws controls whether you can use the rock for making swords. As far as I know, obsidian is the only type of rock that uses this tag, but you can mod in any number of custom rocks (or add the tag to all the existing rocks) hence why it doesn't ask for obsidian specifically. --Morlark

You could just build an obsidian factory, if you have access to replenishing supplies of water and magma. --30 Second Artbomb 03:09, 30 May 2008 (EDT)

Sadly, magma replenishes slowly. --Savok 09:56, 30 May 2008 (EDT)

Mister, I wanna know what you're doing with obsidian so as to drain a magma vent and have to wait for it to replenish. Do your Marksdwarves practice by firing obsidian swords instead of bolts? --Marble Dice 15:30, 30 May 2008 (EDT)

It replenishes fast enough while you're mining out the fresh obsidian to make the idea a viable one, though. A 10x10 obsidian generator is more than adequate for most obsidian needs anyway, assuming you're not running a gimmick fort where you don't use any magma-proof metals. --30 Second Artbomb 08:01, 7 June 2008 (EDT)

I think it's a bit deceptive to say create rock short sword when it requires a very specific type of rock. "create obsidian short sword" would be better... or "create short sword" and then go to "obsidian" or something... --AlexFili 04:13, 9 June 2008 (EDT)

Well, according to Wikipedia, the prismatic blades used in Aztec obsidian swords can also be produced from chert, flint, and chalcedony. However, editing the DF raws to make this possible will make any seeds you generate incompatible with everyone else's installs if you don't share the entire region folder. --30 Second Artbomb 15:19, 15 June 2008 (EDT)

obsidian modifiers = steel?

Allright fresh question on this one for you guys; I haven't checked the RAW's; and it probably needs to get done again, but was damage for rock short swords ever confirmed to be the same as the damage for steel? It doesn't make much difference because im only using them for trap components to keep some stonecrafters working all the time and because it was an easy side effect to my screw the world device. --Silver 01:22, 21 July 2008 (EDT)

That is legacy info that was tested in 0.23.130.23a and assumed to have remained the same. I don't know if anyone has retested it since. VengefulDonut 01:25, 21 July 2008 (EDT)

Obsidian Farm

There ought to be some information on obsidian farming here.

There's some information on obsidian farming on the magma page, under the "Using Magma" section, but I personally think a picture would be helpful. -FJH 10:15, 2 March 2009 (EST)

Melt Obsidian?

Can you melt obsidian back into magma? -Heartofgoldfish 06:47, 1 March 2009 (EST)

A possible workflow might be to smelt obsidian, using fuel and a flux, into magma, stored temporarily in a magma-safe bucket, to be dumped into a Pit/Pond. Because using magma to produce a much smaller unit of magma is unproductive. But what do you intend to do with it from there? --FJH 20:35, 7 March 2009 (EST)

My hope was to melt traded obsidian into magma in order to make magma smelters in areas lacking natural magma. -Heartofgoldfish 00:13, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

Magma-safe obsidian

Shouldn't obsidian technically be magma-safe? It's got a melting point around 13000 (650 C), which is above magma... and, rationally, if it weren't magma-safe, wouldn't magma pools/pipes just melt through their "containers"?

if by "technically" you mean "in real life", then... well, we don't have time to even start to scratch that surface. It's not magma-safe in the game, and that's all this wiki addresses. There are mods that change the melting temperatures of the stones in the game - see the "modding" subsection of the forums.--Albedo 05:16, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

Short swords

I know in the 23a article it says that he intended for the obsidian short swords to wear out faster. Has this been implemented as of 40d? 2010? --98.222.254.167 21:19, 1 July 2010 (UTC)