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[TheyTarget]

Okay. I keep getting close. But I've never actually got bronze before. Let alone made anything with it. I know its an alloy, but I would really like to know whats a good rock layer to get bronze objects rather soon in a forts life. Thanks in advanced.

[KrazyDocK]

Bronze is an alloy of tin and copper.  Cassiterite is the only ore of tin.  Copper can come from native copper, malachite, or tetrahedrite (which can also produce silver but that's not important right now).

According to Magmawiki (check it out, it's full of useful information), cassiterite is found in granite as veins.  Granite is an igneous intrusive layer.  Native copper is found in igneous extrusive layers as veins and in sandstone as veins.  Malachite is found in limestone as veins and in marble as veins.  Tetrahedrite is found in all stone layers as veins.

You'll need a smelter or a magma smelter to smelt bronze.

[Alastar]

The raw materials are fairly cheap to buy at embark, and because you can smelt the alloy directly from the ore and there are no intermediate steps like for steel it's both work- and fuel efficient. You will have a minor initial investment (the first fuel which you can also make yourself from a dismantled wagon, building smelter and forge). After this is done, your investment for every set of 4 bronze items is:

3x   bituminous coal  -> 2 net fuel
2x   cassiterite, copper ore, fuel -> 2 bronze bars
4x   bronze bar, fuel -> item

Which comes down to 33 embark points and 9 tasks. This is really quite cheap, and taking it with you for all bronze items you will ever need before switching to steel is realistic.

*

Compare this to the cost of manufacturing each set of 4 steel items right from the start. The process is:

8x   bituminous coal -> 2 net fuel
4x   ore + fuel ->  iron
2x   ore + 2 fuel + flux -> pig iron
2x   iron + pig iron + 2 fuel + flux -> 2 steel
4x   steel + fuel -> steel item

144 Embark points and 20 tasks per set of 4. If this takes up too much labour, it gets even more expensive:



6x   bituminous coal -> 2 net fuel
2x   ore + fuel -> 2 iron
2x   iron + pig iron + 2 fuel + flux -> 2 steel
4x   steel + fuel -> steel item

178 embark points and 14 tasks per set of 4.

[magicwalker]

Probably be easier to aim for getting Copper and importing Tin. Or vice versa.

I've only played d40, but I've never seen any Cassiterite before.

[petersohn]

In DF2010, it's pretty easy to get any kind of ore, provided that you embark on a site with the appropriate rock layer. But it's not that hard to get in 40d either. You need a granite layer, which you will find if you dig deep enough.

[TheyTarget]

Okay thanks everyone. I'll look for some igneous intrusive layers and import/start with as much as I can. Thanks a lot. I always have to many embark points left over anyways.

[Foehamster]

I really suggest making bismuth bronze. I tend to have trouble finding tin, plus its worth 6☼ instead of standard bronze's 5☼.

[Spaghetti]

cassiterite is only found in granite

im pissed that even though i have a magma forge i still need coke to make steel :/

[Richard]

cassiterite is only found in granite

im pissed that even though i have a magma forge i still need coke to make steel :/

that's because steel is iron + carbon + heat.  So the coke isn't acting like a fuel, its acting as an essential ingredient.

[Spaghetti]

still pissed about it though lol

makes sense to me