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v0.31:Metal industry
| This article is about an older version of DF. |
The metal industry is a catch all phrase for both the smelting of raw ore into metal bar (as well as alloys) and turning those bars into crafts, furniture, weapons and armor. It can be very profitable to produce statues and furniture for hallways or trade goods as many metals have high value. It also alloys the production of high-quality weapons and armour for your military.
Raw Material
Ore
Ore is the generic term for a mineral that can be refined into metal, ingame this is done at smelters and requires a dwarf with the Furnace Operator labour enabled.
By default all ore is reserved for smelting, thus unavaliable for use via Masons and Stonecrafters.
You can adjust which ores are avaliable for use by masons or crafters in the Status menu. This may be preferable if you have a mason or craftsdwarf with a higher skill level than any metalsmiths ore wish to quickly produce valuable furniture or crafts.
Bars
Once an ore is refined into metal it becomes a bar. Metal bars are required for some alloys while others may also be created from ore.
Spoils of war
The equipment of invaders can be melted down into bars (note: Elves only use wooden equipment). Equipment of fallen enemies must first be reclaimed and then marked for melting (d-b-m ?). The equipment of caged enemies can also be taken by mass dumping [d]-[b]-[d] (an accessible garbage zone is required) a caged creature (manually reclaim the caged creature via the [k] inspect menu to prevent it from being dumped too) and then reclaiming and marking for melting as explained above.
Once an object has been marked for melting it will be melted down in a smelter that has an active "Melt Object" job.
Powering Furnaces
Furnaces requires heats, this comes in two forms Fuel and Magma
Fuel
Coke/coal/charcoal can be made from wood at a Wood Furnace, as well as Lignite and Bituminous Coal at a Smelter. For all intents and purposes the fuels function identically.