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[Arrkhal]

Even iron, before tempering, is merely somewhat better than that of appropriately tempered bronze. Tempering alters the crystaline structures of metals, which allows the alteration of material properties; thusly, if you want to be super realistic about it, mithril probably would not be able to be much better than well tempered iron.

Neither iron nor bronze can be "tempered" proper, though they can be work-hardened/beaten/cold-wrought/etc.  Given equal amounts of work-hardening, wrought iron is about 20% weaker than bronze.  The shift from bronze to iron was economic, not structural.  Iron is way cheaper and more common, and iron production with local ores isn't dependent on trade (copper and tin ores occur in close proximity in only 1 or 2 places on earth).

Also, the "tempering" difference really isn't true either.  Not every metal in the world is steel.  Copper, bronze, wrought iron, etc., can be made about 2x as strong and 2-2.5x as hard, via work-hardening.  Cobalt and tungsten alloys can also only be work-hardened for about the same proportional increases, though they can rival steel once so hardened.

The strongest titanium and beryllium copper alloys don't work-harden well, but can be cryogenically aged, for about a 25-50% increase in strength and a 25-50% increase in hardness (some titanium alloys can be heat treated and quenched a bit like steel, but only for about a 25% gain in strength and hardness, and the heat treatable ti alloys are also weaker than the cryo-aging ones).  Not very much of an increase, but they once again rival steel once hardened.  That also means, obviously, that they're extremely freaking strong before hardening, making them very difficult to work with.

Steel can be made about 8-10x as strong and 5x as hard without being brittle (if being brittle is okay, then you can go 20x as strong and 10x as hard), via heat treating and tempering.  It's pretty unique in that respect.

Then the fancy amorphous alloys, you can't harden or strengthen at all.  But you can't really weaken them either, like by repeated bending.

So if you really want to be super realistic about it, you need to first decide if mithril should be treated like a "normal metal" (the first category), an alpha/beta alloy (the 2nd), a crazy phaze alloy (steel), or an amorphous alloy.

Things which apply to one category do not necessarily apply to others, despite what people with a fancy education in a completely unrelated topic might tell you.

[G-Flex]

So hair armor actually is... okay, I won't go so far as to say it's practical, but it is possible.

As some sort of extremely highly-layered padding, something like that could be interesting, but obviously even then it still wouldn't be comparable to metal for most things, considering how easily-broken and soft the individual strands are.

Hell, even kevlar isn't very good against stab wouinds.

[Footkerchief]

from what I know, Adamantine is the equivalent of Mithril

Yes, Toady used the name "adamantine" because of fears that mithril was copyrighted by the Tolkien estate.  They're basically the same thing:

Well, if people have preferences about what they want things to be called, I can just stick many of the common words in a file.  Human, elf, whatever.  I don't want to use the words balrog or mithril myself, although this game is certainly Tolkien inspired.

Nah, I was just working on the dook "game" at the time that we were talking about copyright infringement.  So mithril became Dookstar.  On the other hand -- Angband has mithril AND "scruffy looking hobbits", though I think they changed out the balrog.  I thought the H word was particularly bad, and I know ADOM got nailed for it.  Was that only after Thomas Biskup started selling the ADOM deluxe for actual money?

It is in the last core thing I'm going to do, the init file.  Dookstar, of course, a silly name...  but, well, if mithril isn't being enforced or is unenforceable, then I might just do it that way.  Does somebody have an email for the Tolkien estate?  I could just ask them which words they are claiming.<P>That said, I can change it to adamant/adamantine, which has way older roots.  For instance, "In Greek mythology, Cronus uses an adamantine sickle to castrate his father, the Titan Uranus."

[Thorik]

anyone gotta link to that LotR mod Deon was talkin' about?  The forum search had nothin'

[shadowsofwhite]

Thank you Arrkhal, for the massive technical corrections. I am not as fully educated in metallurgy; however, I am aware that it is almost entirely based on the composition of crystalline structures.

The beauty behind amorphous alloys is in how they are cooled. There are many degrees of variation between full crystalization and full amorphous, which allows for balancing between brittle and malleable. The crystalline structures allowed in amorophous alloys allow for maleability and for it to "bounce" back to its original shape, whereas the glass-like structures provide hardness. A full amorphous composition would allow for an edge that would not dull.

Anyhow... I have strayed off topic.

My point was that mithril is a material of fantasy (as I state again), and as such, should be quite good as a base metal, but even better as an alloy.

[Deon]

Deon, you made aFaerun mod? Were ther Illithids (mindflayers)? I must see this mod, even if it is from 30c!

Damn, I feel like I have to make Fallout, Forgotten Realms and Middle-earth mods at the same time when the new version hits >.<. Hehe

Btw, here's the mod:
Legends of Faerūn mod.
It's for 38c. I planned to go much further but was distracred by other projects (Middle Earth, then Fallout mods; fallout mod lived till 40d ) but I still use some creatures and stuff from it, i.e. I've bought the "I,Tyrant" book to make a right beholder body .

[Arrkhal]

Thank you Arrkhal, for the massive technical corrections. I am not as fully educated in metallurgy;

Any time.  I'm still waiting for the opportunity to rant about how the shift from mail armor to plate in Europe was primarily economic and sociological, not technological, as well.

My point was that mithril is a material of fantasy (as I state again), and as such, should be quite good as a base metal, but even better as an alloy.

That is true.  The best alloys tend to have ridiculously better properties than elemental forms, like steel vs. iron, beryllium copper vs. normal copper, etc.