MY BRAIN DONT UNDERSTAND METALS

[Luck]

I WANT MY DWARFERS TO NOT DIE IN BATTLE BUT I DONT KNOW WHICH MATERIAL IS BEST I DONT CARE HOW COSTLY IT IS

[Miminz]

Use steel, and accept the losses, dwarfs are disposable.

[AlP]

Steel cuts through iron and lower.

Iron cuts through bronze and lower.

Bronze cuts through copper and lower.

There are a few better metals that are a spoiler.

[McFuzz]

It's not just material. Choose dwarves with a high kinesthetic sense.

This means they're aware of things around them. Even a well trained but poorly equipped dwarf with a high kinesthetic sense can do well in battle.

But yeah, iron or steel works best. That's magnetite, hematite, or limonite ores.

[Tarithel]

Actually depends on weapon type and opponent. Weight for example is more important for hammers. Length is better for large opponents

[Arzanyos]

Steel best. Iron little bit better than bronze. Copper bad. Silver bad, except for hammers, where really good.

[McFuzz]

Originally posted by AlP:

Steel cuts through iron and lower.

Iron cuts through bronze and lower.

Bronze cuts through copper and lower.

It's not just cutting. Bronze hammers are better than iron hammers because bronze is denser.

And silver's almost as good for bashers, too, because silver is also dense.

[Snake Bit]

Hammers can smash undead creatures into nonexistance. Crush armor. Your best bet is use whatever you have on hand.

[Mungrul]

"Candy" is the best material, but comes with certain... challenges.

Instead of that, getting a decent steel economy up and running is essential.
To that end, try to embark in areas that have good access to iron and flux, preferably wooded too, as you can't rely on coal.
And digging deep enough to get access to magma is a great way to invite early calamity, but the upside is that you don't need fuel for magma forges or furnaces.

Of course, you could always embark on a volcano...

[McFuzz]

In my current fort I have no flux stone or tin. So iron is all I have to work with.

Deaths are still extremely rare in my military, because they're training 24/7 from early, and I hand-pick dwarves with a high kinesthetic sense and no weak combat stats.

Although there was that one guy who got his eyelid ripped off by a FB so hard that it split his skull, then it tusk gored him through the skull and ripped his head from his neck, but I don't think kinesthetic sense could've helped me there lol.

[Snake Bit]

Originally posted by Mungrul:

"Candy" is the best material, but comes with certain... challenges.

Instead of that, getting a decent steel economy up and running is essential.
To that end, try to embark in areas that have good access to iron and flux, preferably wooded too, as you can't rely on coal.
And digging deep enough to get access to magma is a great way to invite early calamity, but the upside is that you don't need fuel for magma forges or furnaces.

Of course, you could always embark on a volcano...

don't you basically have to dig so deep a balrog eats your dwarves alive?

[McFuzz]

Originally posted by Government-Cheese:

Originally posted by Mungrul:

"Candy" is the best material, but comes with certain... challenges.

Instead of that, getting a decent steel economy up and running is essential.
To that end, try to embark in areas that have good access to iron and flux, preferably wooded too, as you can't rely on coal.
And digging deep enough to get access to magma is a great way to invite early calamity, but the upside is that you don't need fuel for magma forges or furnaces.

Of course, you could always embark on a volcano...

don't you basically have to dig so deep a balrog eats your dwarves alive?

You can chip carefully. Or savescum haha.

[Dirty_Curty]

For slashing weapons (swords, axes) Steel is best, followed by iron, at least until you get to some secret stuff.

For blunt weapons (hammer and maces) Steel actually might not be the best since I believe they operate on density and Silver has better density.

Spears I'm not sure since they're kinda piercing? I would assume steel is best for them as well.

For armor Steel>Iron>Bronze>Copper. Copper is always the low-tier metal.

[frederico 2 do sacro império]

Adamantine. Have fun! :)

[Mungrul]

Originally posted by Government-Cheese:

don't you basically have to dig so deep a balrog eats your dwarves alive?

That's for me to know and you to find out ;)

In earlier versions with less z-layers, HFS was a lot easier to deal with.

[Snake Bit]

Originally posted by Frank McFuzz:

Originally posted by Government-Cheese:

don't you basically have to dig so deep a balrog eats your dwarves alive?

You can chip carefully. Or savescum haha.

Roll the dice it is. I need my fancy metal!