Limestone

[Kaz]

I'm 60 hours into the game.  I've enjoyed exploring and building up my little settlement however I've not been able to find any limestone other than the small cache I found in ruins and from a the couple shells I found.  Is there any trick to locating limestone? 

[Streetwind]

It generates as a rock layer in the world, just like any other kind of rock. And rock layers change occasionally as you travel - but only rarely. The area covered by a rock layer is huge. Thousands of blocks in all directions. So your only hope is to travel, travel, travel.

As an alternative, you can also use chalk. This is also a rock type.

Both chalk and limestone are sedimentary rocks. That means that they will always be on top of harder, denser rock types. This usually leads to them being the top layer, and thus being directly visible when exploring on the surface. However, they may be covered by a volcanic layer (--> basalt), or they may form the second layer below a different sedimentary rock type (--> bauxite, chert, claystone, conglomerate, sandstone, shale). If you encounter any of those seven rock types, it's a good idea to dig down and see what lies below them.

Note that for leatherworking, there is another alternative: borax. This is an ore, not a rock type, and thus can be found with the prospecting pick, or in surface rocks. Borax doesn't work for replacing quicklime, but at least it allows you to process hides, which is a huge plus. (Also, borax becomes useful for going beyond iron tools, later-on, so it's always good to have a source of it.)

[Kaz]

15 minutes ago, Streetwind said:

It generates as a rock layer in the world, just like any other kind of rock. And rock layers change occasionally as you travel - but only rarely. The area covered by a rock layer is huge. Thousands of blocks in all directions. So your only hope is to travel, travel, travel.

As an alternative, you can also use chalk. This is also a rock type.

Both chalk and limestone are sedimentary rocks. That means that they will always be on top of harder, denser rock types. This usually leads to them being the top layer, and thus being directly visible when exploring on the surface. However, they may be covered by a volcanic layer (--> basalt), or they may form the second layer below a different sedimentary rock type (--> bauxite, chert, claystone, conglomerate, sandstone, shale). If you encounter any of those seven rock types, it's a good idea to dig down and see what lies below them.

Note that for leatherworking, there is another alternative: borax. This is an ore, not a rock type, and thus can be found with the prospecting pick, or in surface rocks. Borax doesn't work for replacing quicklime, but at least it allows you to process hides, which is a huge plus. (Also, borax becomes useful for going beyond iron tools, later-on, so it's always good to have a source of it.)

Thank-you for those suggestions, processing hides is my main focus right now.  I'm close to a large field of Basalt (sand/gravel/rock) so I'll check out that area.  I haven't seen any borax yet, but I'll keep an eye out and take more samples to see if I can find some.

[Streetwind]

Remember that you can look up Borax in the handbook to figure out which rock types it can spawn in.

[redram]

On 12/19/2020 at 12:28 PM, Kaz said:

 I'm close to a large field of Basalt (sand/gravel/rock) so I'll check out that area.  I haven't seen any borax yet, but I'll keep an eye out and take more samples to see if I can find some.

As Streetwind mentioned, always best to check the handbook to find what stones a given ore spawns in.  Borax only spawns in sedimentary stone types, and basalt is *not* sedimentary.  however, there could be sedimentary layers underneath the basalt, potentially...

[Kaz]

1 hour ago, redram said:

As Streetwind mentioned, always best to check the handbook to find what stones a given ore spawns in.  Borax only spawns in sedimentary stone types, and basalt is *not* sedimentary.  however, there could be sedimentary layers underneath the basalt, potentially...

Maybe I'm just not in a great spot... I've only seen Basalt all around my area.  I've made a few camps for traveling outward and it seems like I need to keep venturing further. 

[Perlin]

I know this is a super late response, but for any new players looking up where to find lime, here is some more advice. If you were not lucky enough to have lime spawn nearby, your best bet for lime is through trading. Survival goods traders have a good chance to sell lime for a decent price. So instead, I'd recommend just looking for survival goods traders, and waiting until they sell lime. And hey while you're looking for traders, you may stumble into lime naturally.