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[MDFification]

Something I'm pretty sure we could feasibly add would be titanium. Not only can it be alloyed with iron and alluminum, it has a high strength/weight ratio and so can serve as a debuffed adamantium, though still quite expensive.
I think the most setting-appropriate method for refining pure titanium would be the Hunter Process, as it can be done in a run of the mill forge rather than specialized, more modern equipment. The reaction would use coke and rutile, both in-game materials, and chlorine (which we'd need to invent some method of extracting/handling). The real problem with this is how to justify producing chlorine in-game.

Other than that, I think it could fill the gap quite well.

[Dirst]

Something I'm pretty sure we could feasibly add would be titanium. Not only can it be alloyed with iron and alluminum, it has a high strength/weight ratio and so can serve as a debuffed adamantium, though still quite expensive.
I think the most setting-appropriate method for refining pure titanium would be the Hunter Process, as it can be done in a run of the mill forge rather than specialized, more modern equipment. The reaction would use coke and rutile, both in-game materials, and chlorine (which we'd need to invent some method of extracting/handling). The real problem with this is how to justify producing chlorine in-game.

Other than that, I think it could fill the gap quite well.

The Hunter Process is a twentieth-century invention, a bit outside the range for vanilla DF.

[Putnam]

Something I'm pretty sure we could feasibly add would be titanium. Not only can it be alloyed with iron and alluminum, it has a high strength/weight ratio and so can serve as a debuffed adamantium, though still quite expensive.
I think the most setting-appropriate method for refining pure titanium would be the Hunter Process, as it can be done in a run of the mill forge rather than specialized, more modern equipment. The reaction would use coke and rutile, both in-game materials, and chlorine (which we'd need to invent some method of extracting/handling). The real problem with this is how to justify producing chlorine in-game.

Other than that, I think it could fill the gap quite well.

Titanium isn't as strong as (this game's) steel, so not really.

[GavJ]

Titanium isn't as strong as (this game's) steel, so not really.

Real life pure titanium is also not as strong as most real life steels (at least not ones made to be maximally strong in any given characteristic).
The value of titanium is in the fact that it weighs half as much.

However:
1) You can't smelt it with anything close to 14th century technology
2) You can't WORK it either with anything close to 14th century technology. If you heated it enough to forge with it, it would get all brittle and useless. Like in real life, you would have to forge it under a blanket of argon gas to stop it from reacting with... pretty much every single thing in the air, which is obviously not a method available to dwarven smiths.

Pretty huge obstacles

[Robosaur]

Here's something to think about:
Steel tipped, caesium bolts.

[MDFification]

Something I'm pretty sure we could feasibly add would be titanium. Not only can it be alloyed with iron and alluminum, it has a high strength/weight ratio and so can serve as a debuffed adamantium, though still quite expensive.
I think the most setting-appropriate method for refining pure titanium would be the Hunter Process, as it can be done in a run of the mill forge rather than specialized, more modern equipment. The reaction would use coke and rutile, both in-game materials, and chlorine (which we'd need to invent some method of extracting/handling). The real problem with this is how to justify producing chlorine in-game.

Other than that, I think it could fill the gap quite well.

The Hunter Process is a twentieth-century invention, a bit outside the range for vanilla DF.

The Hunter Process can be done with 14th century tech - provided you can find a source of pure chlorine. The reason it wasn't invented earlier is that chlorine was neither readily available nor understood in the 14th century; I think it's fair to say that dwarves, while restricted to 14th century tools, have a fairly different body of scientific knowledge from humans in this game. And living primarily underground really, really provides incentives a good understanding of chemistry.

Not being able to work titanium of course is a whole different issue that kind of kills the idea. Even if a process to produce, with 14th century tech, chlorine gas is found, I don't think dwarves are capable of making a vacuum. So unless further things come up as the game develops, yeah, titanium's probably out.

Still, real metals to include/expand upon > adding more fantasy metals IMO, so if anyone can provide some that'd be great.

[Dirst]

Still, real metals to include/expand upon > adding more fantasy metals IMO, so if anyone can provide some that'd be great.

Well, if anyone knows the real properties of arsenical bronze, I can edit those into the Orichalcum definitions.  That gives a poor man's alternative to Steel.

[Alestance]

Still, real metals to include/expand upon > adding more fantasy metals IMO, so if anyone can provide some that'd be great.

Well, if anyone knows the real properties of arsenical bronze, I can edit those into the Orichalcum definitions.  That gives a poor man's alternative to Steel.

I checked Wikipedia, and according to it, and it's source. The increase in hardness and tensile strength could be up to 30% of Copper alone. But this is only Arsenical Bronze, and not the alloy I was speaking of, so Tennanite or copper and an arsenic bearing substance would only be needed for this process. The increase percentage in the raws doesn't push it quite up to Iron's, it seems.

[Evaris]

One thing that might be able to be added is Cupronickel, aka white copper.  It's most common modern alloys are 55/45 and 70/30 mixes of copper:nickel and it has a white color.  Older mixes tended to be 75/25, slightly more brittle than the 70/30 mix, but still rather strong and weapon-worthy.  While Europeans didn't rediscover it until the 18th century, the Chinese were using it as far back as 300BC and used for weapons.  It was also widely used as a decorative metal with the same coloration and shine as white gold by the Romans and Greeks.   

As for material properties, it is superior to Bronze and Iron, though not as strong as the steel we see in game.

Also if we're going for the Greek version, it was called Orichalcum alongside the arsenical bronze version - both had the same name, with the cupronickel being somewhat stronger. 

Personally I think it would be a nice thing to see.
Chinese mix:  Used a copper bath with small chunks of nickel ore paktong (nickel-arsenic-cobalt ore.  Also useful for cobalt) added in a smelter.  A small amount of tin was then added, and the slag was cleared. 

Of a note, I'd also like to see cobalt added as a metal, as pure cobalt is very similar to iron in material properties, and would be a nice thing for volcanic embarks.  we could also then add a couple more ores which would be cobalt-nickel or cobalt-copper containing (multiple metals). It is able to be processed in copper-arsenic ores and copper-sulfide ores, as well as simply sulfide based ores like cobaltite, through removal of slag and re-smelting.  (cobalt is the slag in these reactions - you just keep smelting the slag till you get just cobalt) 

So while not used in antiquity, I don't see a problem with dwarves making cobalt bars.  Seeing as all they have to do is smelt it multiple times to get the metal.  (unless of course, I'm mistaken by what I've read online, though I do know -most- processes to acquire cobalt require electricity, and all the processes which involve nickel-rich ores) 

[Reelya]

I'm actually for keeping the base game, well, basic. Adding more weapon metals doesn't create any new gameplay mechanics, any more than implementing every known variety of apple would improve the food system.

It's not a good use of Toady's time to implement long lists of random crap, then have to test them and balance them, when he can be working on things that actually change the gameplay in a way that can't be easily modded anyway.

Best suggestion for suggestions: see what can be modded, and what can't. Then, suggest changes to the RAWs system that make the impossible possible.

[Dirst]

I went back and modified those draft raws to an ORICHALCUM token rather than an ARSENICAL_BRONZE one, since they aren't really the same thing.  If someone is interested, actual Arsenical Bronze can be built out of the pieces there using "130% of Bronze" as a base for the material properties.

Reelya, I agree that we don't want to clutter the interface with hundreds or even thousands of specific metals.  The play value of Orichalcum is that it allows a decent weapon/armor metal in iron- or flux-poor environments.  There is a "realistic metals" mod from GavJ if you want hyper-realism in your smelting.

[10ebbor10]

That does create another potential problem, however, at least from a role-playing perspective.  All civilizations use their reactions even if they don't have access to the underlying ingredients.  This is why all Dwarven kingdoms have Steel armor and weapons even if they don't have Iron.  The computer also doesn't care about the supposed scarcity of materials either, so you'll see trade caravans show up with Orichalcum toys.

That might get fixed in the next update, I think. Not sure, I completely lost track of what is in and what isn't.

[catoblepas]

I'd definitely like to see Cupronickel added in at some point. I remember it was one of the first metals I added in way back when in the Dangerous Wilds mod. It would add a more 'functional' use of nickel as tools, weapons and armor, which is nice.

Tumbaga would be another fun one to add. a simple gold-copper alloy treated with acid to remove the copper from the outer layer, giving the appearance of solid gold. Dwarves with access to some sort of acid (like citrus) could increase the value of gold-copper alloy items this way. Of course, melting it down would revert it to it's pre-treatment status, so there'd have to be some sort of mechanism in place so we wouldn't end up with tumbaga bars. Perhaps it'll get in when we have gilding.

Kansa is another older alloy that could be added, with a roughly 4:1 ratio of copper to tin. So-called 'bell metal' because it was so commonly used in the casting of large bells, but also used to make cannons (not exactly Dwarf Fortress's timeline, but shows it had some wide usage)

[Evaris]

I'd definitely like to see Cupronickel added in at some point. I remember it was one of the first metals I added in way back when in the Dangerous Wilds mod. It would add a more 'functional' use of nickel as tools, weapons and armor, which is nice.

This was largely my thought process as well for my modding.  It's also a nice option on flux-poor / iron-poor embarks as while not quite as strong as steel, it beats most of the other materials.