Can we get a little iron, please?

[Roame 91]

First of all, kudos to the devs for the smooth launch and a beautiful server. I could make ten threads praising your work, but only one to criticize it (this one). I do so out of interest for the fourty-plus people in our alliance.

 

The map above is in the SW of Xanadu, and the markers represent the deeds of our bay-wide alliance so far.

None of us have found any hint of iron yet. A few patches of zinc yes, but other than that it's all rock. I have personally spent four hours prospecting every third rock tile on every hill, slope and crest I can find, from the green square down to the mountain south of the red cross, and found zero iron. Maybe I'm just unlucky, but surely this is a little too sparse?

Now I understand the appeal of regional ores, and I agree with it to an extent. Want to make a dashing bronze set of chainmail? Go on an epic journey. How about an anchor? Better make the trip to Lead Cove! But iron? Iron should be dotted around the map evenly, because it is about as essential to the game as wood. (And before someone says so, rummaging is not a viable option)

 

Finally, thanks again for the game. I am 99% happy with it and have all but quit WildStar (which launched last Saturday) for it. That's no easy feat!

 

Devs: are we just extremely unlucky and the iron is there after all? Or if it really is regional, can we please have a few iron veins sprinkled over the world?

Players: how fares your iron search? I know many people have found it, but are there any other regions where it eludes us?

[Capi 895]

Prospected rock tiles, found iron within a short time. Just keep going by prospecting on the surface. We found it pretty quickly this way.

[Aesir 34]

Need the option for found 1 iron vein!

Nah but in all honesty, I prospected 5 mountains on the east coast, right around the base and found 2-3 veins on each, tops. I've since mined an 80 tile tunnel right into the heart of a massive mountain, still nothing. 

Seems veins are extremely sparse. Some have got lucky, but in general seems most are a bit disappointed in how many veins they've found.

It almost seems to me that even though Xanadu is 4x the size of Inde it has the same number of veins. 

[Roame 91]

It almost seems to me that even though Xanadu is 4x the size of Inde it has the same number of veins. 

 

This is my fear. I used to live in a "region" without iron on another server but then it was just a five minute walk to iron. Now? I shudder at the thought.

 

At least we know the devs are capable of spawning more veins, as they did when slate and marble were introduced...

[Kegan 3,926]

Well it can be fixed if it keeps being trouble we just need to let them know i guess. 

[Aesir 34]

Ok thought i'd do a bit more research into this. So basically what I did is mine 100 tiles in one direction, doing this I found 1 iron vein. I then went ahead and analyzed every pile in the strip (20 prospecting so only find veins 2 tiles away), I found 2 traces of iron. I uncovered them.

So what this basically means, is that for 100 tiles long and 5 tiles wide (500 tiles all up) there were only 3 veins. 

So going by this, it means that in general, there will be one vein for every 166 tiles.

Does 1/166 sound right? idk, you tell me! 

[Tissotx 217]

Ouch, you guys placed 8 Deeds before you scouted the area out.

Maybe should have propected for iron first?

Will be expensive for u too move now to a new location.

[hankrearden 144]

I have been waiting for this thread.  My xanadu acct is Nairu and he has traveled 57 km so far and got prospecting to almost 27, and what i have found is that iron is very rare on xanadu compared to all the other freedom servers.  Admittedly, I am for regional ores and any other change that creates a more dynamic economy in wurm.  I can, however see where the frustration will come from many on xanadu.  I have spent about 16 hours walking xanadu and prospecting, and at best i can find only a handful of locations that will yield a mine with a few good veins.  Compare this to any random 30x30 section on the other freedom servers where you will have better than 50/50 chance of at least one iron of mid ql, and maybe some other goodies if you are lucky.  I am all for letting this play out as is, but my experience so far is suggesting those complaining about iron are not just over reacting or just the few very unlucky.

 

One suggestion, in keeping with the spirit of the xanadu launch, would be to offer a mid grade transmutation rod for 15s that would create a 45 ql iron vein.

[Roame 91]

Ouch, you guys placed 8 Deeds before you scouted the area out.

Maybe should have propected for iron first?

Will be expensive for u too move now to a new location.

 

I for one won't move. It's either an unintended difficulty and will be fixed, or it's an intended difficuly and I need to play an easier game.

[hankrearden 144]

I for one won't move. It's either an unintended difficulty and will be fixed, or it's an intended difficuly and I need to play an easier game.

dont play an easier game please.  I for one hope to get to point where i can trade mid grade iron for exotic ores such as zinc.  just make sure to ship enough iron with your mains to last a bit while the economy gears start grinding.

[Ayes 3,715]

just make sure to ship enough iron with your mains to last a bit while the economy gears start grinding.

 

My approach in preparation for sailing to Xanadu has been to mine a lot of iron and create needed objects for building that use a lot of it, such as ribbons, fence bars etc. Then maybe 300 more lumps for misc iron objects. Now with this news, probably be best to bring 900+, even though I am not a blacksmith and my iron needs are focused on building.

 

Anyway, yes I agree totally, iron should be a very commonly found ore throughout all of Xanadu. Only the other ores should have some sort of regionality placed upon them and I am not even very fond of that concept either.

 

=Ayes=

[Gamurin 55]

Lol you would like have everything on plate ... why have you decided to move?

[Roame 91]

Good news, I've found an iron vein 2.5-3.0 km away from my deed. I've also found a gold vein, a few zinc and countless, countless slates. I plan on making it a public mine but do not want to reveal the location until I'm certain it's secure.

 

Of course, I am still campaigning for iron to be made more abundant. At least we have a way to progress now that doesn't involve hours of rummaging.

[cmiddlebrook 182]

I've explored a large part of the South coast - iron *everywhere* down there.

[Tissotx 217]

Many years ago I played on JKH server, and there was this ore level cap of 50 something.

So I had to sail to the wild pvp server, since there was no quality limit there.

It took a few hours, but eventually I saw land in seight.

I headed straight for a big cliff next to water and setup a temporary mining shed 1x1 house there.

I choosed the cliff since I could make another mine entrence at water level where i could drag my boat inside and lock it up with a mine door.

Then i went mining and found a utmost ql iron vein within a hour or so, really lucky.

I had prepared a unfinished forge in my boat, so i just had to plop the last pieces of bricks on.

But I had totally forgot about fuel, so here i went a little nuts and build a dirt ramp up the mountain to easier access the trees.

I thought it was the best alternative, since i felt safe around my house and locked mine, and sailing away to get fuel would be something scary.

So few hours more and the dirt ramp was ready and as i was chopping trees, then all the sudden a gamemaster Pryath stands behind me asking what i was doing.

Thank god he didnt kill me, but he had some though questions for me, like why i was there, was i a spy, was i making a ramp up to his deed castle in preperation for a enemy siege attack.

Luckily he knew my friends on the non-pvp server and believed my story about me hauling home good ql iron for my village.

So i finished up my business that day by mining a boatload of iron and went to sleep.

The next morning i woke up, someone had smashed down the front door to my house and stolen everything.

But the thief must forgot to look inside the cave, coz my boat was still in there, in a sidetunnel i had mined out.

And inside my boat was still all my iron. So I sailed back home ASAP.

 

But when I tell this story to the kids today, they just think im a crazy old fool, coz they are used to just walk inside their own village cave, and have 1 minute to several iron veins =)

[Roame 91]

Many years ago I played on JKH server, and there was this ore level cap of 50 something.

So I had to sail to the wild pvp server, since there was no quality limit there.

It took a few hours, but eventually I saw land in seight.

I headed straight for a big cliff next to water and setup a temporary mining shed 1x1 house there.

I choosed the cliff since I could make another mine entrence at water level where i could drag my boat inside and lock it up with a mine door.

Then i went mining and found a utmost ql iron vein within a hour or so, really lucky.

I had prepared a unfinished forge in my boat, so i just had to plop the last pieces of bricks on.

But I had totally forgot about fuel, so here i went a little nuts and build a dirt ramp up the mountain to easier access the trees.

I thought it was the best alternative, since i felt safe around my house and locked mine, and sailing away to get fuel would be something scary.

So few hours more and the dirt ramp was ready and as i was chopping trees, then all the sudden a gamemaster Pryath stands behind me asking what i was doing.

Thank god he didnt kill me, but he had some though questions for me, like why i was there, was i a spy, was i making a ramp up to his deed castle in preperation for a enemy siege attack.

Luckily he knew my friends on the non-pvp server and believed my story about me hauling home good ql iron for my village.

So i finished up my business that day by mining a boatload of iron and went to sleep.

The next morning i woke up, someone had smashed down the front door to my house and stolen everything.

But the thief must forgot to look inside the cave, coz my boat was still in there, in a sidetunnel i had mined out.

And inside my boat was still all my iron. So I sailed back home ASAP.

 

But when I tell this story to the kids today, they just think im a crazy old fool, coz they are used to just walk inside their own village cave, and have 1 minute to several iron veins =)

 

That is a good story, and challenges like that are what make good stories. I would settle for a regional quality cap.

Edited June 5, 2014 by Roame

[Gamurin 55]

Many years ago I played on JKH server, and there was this ore level cap of 50 something.

So I had to sail to the wild pvp server, since there was no quality limit there.

It took a few hours, but eventually I saw land in seight.

I headed straight for a big cliff next to water and setup a temporary mining shed 1x1 house there.

I choosed the cliff since I could make another mine entrence at water level where i could drag my boat inside and lock it up with a mine door.

Then i went mining and found a utmost ql iron vein within a hour or so, really lucky.

I had prepared a unfinished forge in my boat, so i just had to plop the last pieces of bricks on.

But I had totally forgot about fuel, so here i went a little nuts and build a dirt ramp up the mountain to easier access the trees.

I thought it was the best alternative, since i felt safe around my house and locked mine, and sailing away to get fuel would be something scary.

So few hours more and the dirt ramp was ready and as i was chopping trees, then all the sudden a gamemaster Pryath stands behind me asking what i was doing.

Thank god he didnt kill me, but he had some though questions for me, like why i was there, was i a spy, was i making a ramp up to his deed castle in preperation for a enemy siege attack.

Luckily he knew my friends on the non-pvp server and believed my story about me hauling home good ql iron for my village.

So i finished up my business that day by mining a boatload of iron and went to sleep.

The next morning i woke up, someone had smashed down the front door to my house and stolen everything.

But the thief must forgot to look inside the cave, coz my boat was still in there, in a sidetunnel i had mined out.

And inside my boat was still all my iron. So I sailed back home ASAP.

 

But when I tell this story to the kids today, they just think im a crazy old fool, coz they are used to just walk inside their own village cave, and have 1 minute to several iron veins =)

+1 great story. Enable PvP on all servers \o/

[froggy25 81]

U're all gonna hate me but wherever i prospect in the wide area of our deed, i find iron...

[Kuwani 16]

I suppose this some what depends on what counts as enough. I've only found signs of one vein near my deed which is at least some what of a good sign that there might be more about deeper in. That said the access tunnel I've been digging is now 34 tiles in and hasn't uncovered any ores at all yet so I am also wondering if the amount of ore veins didn't go up by a factor of four to match map size.

[rapidron 142]

They could just give every premium a rod of iron transmutation?  Or sell it for one silver. 

[belthize 438]

I have been waiting for this thread.  My xanadu acct is Nairu and he has traveled 57 km so far and got prospecting to almost 27, and what i have found is that iron is very rare on xanadu compared to all the other freedom servers.  

 

Hey Hank/Nairu.  Thorsin, who you ran into by steppe/tundra, is my alt.  

 

I must have been either very luck or others are very unlucky.  I've only lightly prospected around two areas that were of interest to me,  maybe 10 total tiles prospected and hit iron on both sets.  

 

Regional ores are a good idea in my opinion with two caveats:

 

1) Leave iron out of it, it's too much of a requirement for basic game play

2) Take careful thought about Xanadu's size and make sure you're not using fixed percentages to control separation and clumping.  Linear separation results in X^2 tiles to search.

[Roame 91]

They could just give every premium a rod of iron transmutation?  Or sell it for one silver. 

 

I would personally prefer the devs randomly spawning more iron veins, as they did when slate and marble were introduced. It feels more natural. I felt a little dirty even picking up a GM-spawned deed stake!

[conmcb25 378]

http://forum.wurmonline.com/index.php?/topic/103095-can-we-get-some-official-word-about-ore-distribution-on-xanadu/

[Ayria 40]

Selling us cheaper rods of transmutation is a TERRIBLE idea. That would make wurm like every micro transaction game, where you pay for the game, then pay again to fix "problems" the devs put in, just to make you pay more.

[conmcb25 378]

I dont know the magic equation for ore distribution.

 

But I have done a lot of prospecting on 5 servers (including around 12 hours of prospecting on Xanadu).

 

Based on my experience, my gut is telling me the ore distribution is not similar to other servers. Iron is much more regional, and everything over all is less abundant. Except for rock of course

 

Like someone took the amount of ore available on Indy, and scattered it across a server 4 times the size.

 

Based on what I saw and based upon the comments posted elsewhere on these forums, my sense is something is not right.

 

Or maybe the intent was to make iron regional and spread everything out. If so thats fine, I hope Rolf has good luck with that long term....................................

Edited June 5, 2014 by conmcb25