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[janglur]

So, i'm trying to decide what to make my pre-steel industry metal out of.  I have no flux here.

I have plenty of iron, copper, tin, and a good amount of bismuth.

From what I gather from the RAWs, Bismuth Bronze and Bronze are equal in all but value and color.

So..
For armor vs. Goblins, what do you feel is best?

Bronze, or Iron?

[slothen]

bronze if fuel is a concern, iron otherwise.  Really as long as the armor is of decent quality the far more important thing is the skills of the dwarves themselves.

[shmelse]

bronze if fuel is a concern, iron otherwise.  Really as long as the armor is of decent quality the far more important thing is the skills of the dwarves themselves.

Do you mean quality as in using a quality material or quality is in Exceptional/Masterwork?  I've been wondering about whether I should just melt down some basic-quality steel armor I have, or whether it would be fine for the dwarves to use as is.  (If I melt it down, I'll have my legendary armor smith make armor out of it, but it'll be *less* armor than I currently have.)  Does the item quality of the armor affect how well it protects them or just its value?  The wiki doesn't mention whether quality makes a difference. 

[FuzzyZergling]

Quality used to be worth much more than it is now.
For now, material is more important.

[Hans Lemurson]

Bronze is superior to Iron and more fuel-efficient too.

When comparing materials effectiveness as armor, the trend goes: Silver-->Copper-->Iron-->Bronze-->Steel

When you compare weapon materials to armor materials, the rule of thumb is "Armor wins ties".  It takes a superior metal to reliably penetrate armor.

Since goblins never seem to attack with any metals better than Iron, then you can probably make do with Iron armor, but Bronze is a safe bet.  Bronze weapons are fine against just about anything you're likely to encounter.

My usual configuration when I find that I have to import Flux to make Steel is that I kit my troops out in Bronze armor and then arm them with Steel weaponry.

[shlorf]

The wiki says you are wrong (it lists iron > bronze for 3.18), but some small testing in arena mode showed that bronze and iron are pretty much equal.

[Fearless Son]

Undoubtedly you will get a little bit of steel as imports, so I recommend using a lot of bronze to stretch your steel supplies.  Instead of making your dwarves wear armor of all the same material, I would suggest using the steel to make the "critical" armor, like helms, breastplates, and maybe mail, and use bronze for things like boots, guantlets, and caps.  That way your dwarves are best protected in their most vulnerable areas, and while bronze should still turn aside most blows, even those that get through will be less likely to be killing wounds. 

[JarinArenos]

Bronze is superior to Iron and more fuel-efficient too.

The only real issue I've ever had with bronze is finding enough cassiterite. At least the copper is easy enough to locate.

[BuGGaTon]

What?!  Why is Iron less fuel efficient?

[Hans Lemurson]

Bronze is superior to Iron and more fuel-efficient too.

The only real issue I've ever had with bronze is finding enough cassiterite. At least the copper is easy enough to locate.

Look for granite.  Cassiterite and Galena are found in plentiful amounts in granite.  Digging deep into igneous rocks can yield more cassiterite than you know what to do with.  Native copper is much easier to find at surface levels, where simply digging tunnels through sandstone and basalt can give you a large surplus.  Cassiterite requires dedicated mining to find it, which gives the illusion of being rarer.  Try building a granite citadel, and your granite-quarries should yield a plenitude of the Tin ore.  If you run low on copper, then granite's darker cousin Diorite will yield all the tetrahedrite you need.  Gold too, but that's incidental.

What?!  Why is Iron less fuel efficient?

Fuel-consumption is on a "per-reaction" basis.  "1 Hematite --> 1 Iron" uses 1 fuel, but "1 Cassiterite + 1 Native Copper --> 2 Bronze" also uses only one fuel.  Bronze bars have 50% the fuel-cost that pure metals have.  The efficiency is somewhat lowered when you take into account the fuel costs of smithing (2 fuel for an iron pick, 1.5 for bronze, 4 for steel), but I generally process ore into metal resulting in a large metal-bar stockpile, where the fuel efficiency makes more of a difference.

Fuel-efficiency and the ability to use the "lesser ores" of silver in the reaction also make Electrum an attractive decorative metal for use in an early fort.

[zwei]

It has also better "time" efficiency:

To make two iron bars, you have four hauling jobs and two smelting jobs.
To make two bronze bars, you have three hauling jobs and one smelting job.

(in case of magma smelting, you have same amount of hauling jobs - one per bar, but one less smelting job for bronze)

[Hans Lemurson]

Does bismuth-bronze have any superior materials properties to regular bronze, or is the only difference +20% value and all the fuel you wasted smelting all its components separately?

[shlorf]

No, but maybe it will once corrosion is implemented  . If you smelt with magma then it allows you to stretch your tin/copper further tho.

[Hans Lemurson]

Sure, bimuth-bronze is a tin-saver, but it's not like cassiterite is rare.  Besides, bismuthinite is found in clusters IN cassiterite.

Anyways, bismuth bronze does appear to come out as a more golden/yellow color in the game than regular bronze does.  Bismuth Bronze barrels can be easily distinguished from ones made of Copper.

If I'm making an "All-bronze" army, I'll use standard bronze for the armor, and Bismuth Bronze for the weapons so that I can easily distinguish between the two when I glance at a dwarf's inventory.