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[G-Flex]

Then why'd he say "lead chest"?

[GreatWyrmGold]

Chest armor. Perhaps...

The OP is probably just confused.

[Bilanthri]

Well iron and steel are in real life the best commonly available materials for weapons and armor. DF reflects this in a general way.

Actually, Iron is a somewhat inferior metal for making weapons and armor IRL compared to Bronze and steel... the reason that we "graduated" from the bronze age to the iron age is that the metals needed to make bronze alloy became too rare, and because Iron is easier to work and abundant on the surface of the earth.

So glad someone else mentioned this very common misconception. Not only is bronze harder than cast iron (though comparable to tempered iron), but it also will not corrode away. Once a piece of bronze develops that green patina, the metal beneath is protected from the elements.

Bronze > Iron

[GreatWyrmGold]

Of course, iron came later than bronze so everyone thinks iron is better. It doesn't help that, to be "realistic," most games and such make iron better than bronze, perpetuating the myth.

[WealthyRadish]

Yeah, it's always bothered me when RTS games have iron weapon upgrades that make stuff better than bronze. An interesting thing that I'd like to see RTSs do to reflect this would be a kind of side-grade from bronze to iron, that makes units cheaper but less effective.

Anyway, on topic, in general edged artifact weapons will need to be made out of a weapons-grade to perform well, whereas with blunt weapons it matters much less. An artifact zinc axe is worse than a baseline quality steel one, but generally any artifact metal hammer would still be decent. With armor (excluding shields/bucklers), I'd say things get a bit iffy, but should still follow that general rule. While the deflection rate is higher than masterwork, it still may be much easier for attacks to penetrate the armor. To be safe, I'd stick with high quality iron/bronze or better.

That said, I'd certainly say that in most cases weapons material/quality is much less important to a dwarf's survival than armor is. It's easy for even legendary soldiers to get randomly brained by a random arrow or blunt weapon if the armor isn't up to snuff, whereas beating on a gobbo with a tin axe is still somewhat effective.

[Tirion]

Yeah, it's always bothered me when RTS games have iron weapon upgrades that make stuff better than bronze. An interesting thing that I'd like to see RTSs do to reflect this would be a kind of side-grade from bronze to iron, that makes units cheaper but less effective.

Anyway, on topic, in general edged artifact weapons will need to be made out of a weapons-grade to perform well, whereas with blunt weapons it matters much less. An artifact zinc axe is worse than a baseline quality steel one, but generally any artifact metal hammer would still be decent. With armor (excluding shields/bucklers), I'd say things get a bit iffy, but should still follow that general rule. While the deflection rate is higher than masterwork, it still may be much easier for attacks to penetrate the armor. To be safe, I'd stick with high quality iron/bronze or better.

That said, I'd certainly say that in most cases weapons material/quality is much less important to a dwarf's survival than armor is. It's easy for even legendary soldiers to get randomly brained by a random arrow or blunt weapon if the armor isn't up to snuff, whereas beating on a gobbo with a tin axe is still somewhat effective.

The tin axe might be good for fighting armored, but unarmed prisoners. The lead breastplate has no such excuses, but at least gave you a legendary armorsmith. If it was a possession... equip the dwarf with it, and send him to swim.

[Triaxx2]

I wonder what sort of damage it does launched from a mine cart?

Minecart shotguns, making use of useless artifacts.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Probably O.K. damage.

[vadia]

As for the bronze iron discussion, many primitively made irons had low levels of carbonization, which make them more steel-like, so it's often unclear how good "iron" is compared to bronze, unless somehow it can be proven to be pure iron.

[Joben]

Well iron and steel are in real life the best commonly available materials for weapons and armor. DF reflects this in a general way.

Actually, Iron is a somewhat inferior metal for making weapons and armor IRL compared to Bronze and steel... the reason that we "graduated" from the bronze age to the iron age is that the metals needed to make bronze alloy became too rare, and because Iron is easier to work and abundant on the surface of the earth.

Yes...which is why I said commonly available.

Also what vadia said is a good point.

[Trickman]

Also take into account that bronze is heavier than iron. Given that an iron chainmail can have a weight of around 20 Kg (around 40-45 lbs? something like that), I guess it would make the whole set too heavy for someone of average size to carry, were it made of bronze. The cost of equipping an entire army would be MUCH higher, too, and cumbersome, given that it's an alloy and you need to harvest and transport metal from several different sources.

On topic: Put the artifact in a 1x1 stockpile somewhere crowded for show. I wouldn't risk equipping a captain with it.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Equip someone important that won't see any combat with it.

[Reese]

Actually, Iron is a somewhat inferior metal for making weapons and armor IRL compared to Bronze and steel... the reason that we "graduated" from the bronze age to the iron age is that the metals needed to make bronze alloy became too rare, and because Iron is easier to work and abundant on the surface of the earth.

Yes...which is why I said commonly available.

Copper and tin were common, they only became uncommon because they were depleted in their easily acquired forms.

[vadia]

The issue with tin and copper was that they were both common but not in the same place .  Thus to make war with them you had to have an ally through the trade system and to protect the caravans and find something to trade.  This was fairly unfeasable, so iron was much easier to use.

An interesting note is that in archeology it is fairly uncommon to find iron because it rusts.  So, estimates of iron use may be off somehow.