v50 Steam/Premium information for editors
  • v50 information can now be added to pages in the main namespace. v0.47 information can still be found in the DF2014 namespace. See here for more details on the new versioning policy.
  • Use this page to report any issues related to the migration.
This notice may be cached—the current version can be found here.

v0.34:Smelting

From Dwarf Fortress Wiki
Revision as of 22:58, 18 February 2012 by QuietBot (talk | contribs) (Importing content from v0.31 (472/614))
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This article is about an older version of DF.

Smelting is the act of refining raw stone ore(s) into useful bars of pure metal(s) or alloys. Smelting is similar but distinct from melting, which reclaims existing metal objects back into (fractional) bars. Metal bars produced at a smelter are usable in a wide variety of goods, from weapons to goblets to furniture to buildings.

Smelting also refines bituminous coal or lignite into coke, a fuel which is equivalent to charcoal, but first needs fuel to do this. Fuel is required to operate a smelter, metalsmith's forge, kiln, or glass furnace, but not their magma-powered equivalents.

Smelting requires the ore (or coal) to be processed, a smelter, either fuel or (for magma smelters) magma at least 4/7 deep, and a dwarf with the furnace operator skill enabled. Training in the skill is not necessarily required - since bars have no quality the only difference is the time the labor takes.

Since smelting coke requires fuel in a conventional (non-magma) smelter, usually one wood is burned in a wood furnace to create one charcoal to start the process. Alternatives are to bring one bar of charcoal or coke with the expedition at embark, trade for one from caravans, or go straight to magma smelters.