Here are the raws for new Metals, they are all the same except for name/sphere relation and are generally better than steel and worse than adamantite
Ruspstrasp( / inorganic_generated [OBJECT:INORGANIC] [INORGANIC:DIVINE_1] [GENERATED] [DIVINE] [DISPLAY_COLOR:0:0:1] [BUILD_COLOR:0:0:1] [STATE_COLOR:ALL_SOLID:BLACK]& [USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:METAL_TEMPLATE]( [STATE_NAME_ADJ:ALL_SOLID:searing metal] [MATERIAL_VALUE:300] [SPEC_HEAT:7500] [MELTING_POINT:NONE] [BOILING_POINT:NONE] [ITEMS_WEAPON] [ITEMS_WEAPON_RANGED] [ITEMS_AMMO] [ITEMS_DIGGER]
[ITEMS_ARMOR]
[ITEMS_ANVIL] [ITEMS_HARD]
[ITEMS_METAL] [ITEMS_BARRED] [ITEMS_SCALED] [SOLID_DENSITY:1000] [LIQUID_DENSITY:1000] [MOLAR_MASS:20000] [IMPACT_YIELD:1000000] [IMPACT_FRACTURE:2000000] [IMPACT_STRAIN_AT_YIELD:0] [COMPRESSIVE_YIELD:1000000] [COMPRESSIVE_FRACTURE:2000000] [COMPRESSIVE_STRAIN_AT_YIELD:0] [TENSILE_YIELD:1000000] [TENSILE_FRACTURE:2000000] [TENSILE_STRAIN_AT_YIELD:0] [TORSION_YIELD:1000000] [TORSION_FRACTURE:2000000] [TORSION_STRAIN_AT_YIELD:0] [SHEAR_YIELD:1000000] [SHEAR_FRACTURE:2000000] [SHEAR_STRAIN_AT_YIELD:0] [BENDING_YIELD:1000000] [BENDING_FRACTURE:2000000] [BENDING_STRAIN_AT_YIELD:0] [MAX_EDGE:12000] [SPHERE:TORTURE]
For starters, sorry if this has already been said, but I skimmed the thread and didn't see a clear explanation yet.
I agree that the new metals will be just slightly less powerful than adamantine, at least for armor. Their effectiveness as armor (at least against projectiles, and I believe the behavior in melee is similar) is determined by (IMPACT_FRACTURE-IMPACY_YIELD/2) (see the
wiki). Adamantine has IMPACT_FRACTURE=IMPACY_YIELD=5000000, so IF-IY/2 = 2500000. The new metals will have IF-IY/2=1500000, so they will deflect projectiles with 3/5 the momentum which can be blocked by adamantine (note that neither can block the insane momenta of vanilla bows/crossbows, but they are of course quite effective against melee weapons).
As far as making weapons, they may actually be better than adamantine against everything except divine metal armor, because they have a higher density than adamantine (1000 vs 200), and almost as high a SHEAR_FRACTURE (2000000 vs 5000000). Higher density means higher momentum, which in turns means higher damage and better armor penetration. The high SHEAR_FRACTURE will cause edged weapons made of these metals to ignore any armor made of metals without SHEAR_FRACTURE and/or SHEAR_YIELD of at least 2000000 (everything except themselves and adamantine). Adamantine, with its even higher SHEAR_YIELD, can also cut through the divine metals, but not itself. Since neither metal can ignore adamantine armor, the divine metal, with its higher mass, stands a better chance of penetrating adamantine because it will have a higher momentum. This is definitely true for ranged weapons, and I suspect also for melee but I have not yet worked out all the details of melee mechanics so I'm not sure (it's possible that attackers could swing heavier weapons slower, giving them similar momentum to lighter ones, but the conventional wisdom is this is not the case and heavier weapons are better). The superior material properties of adamantine may also cause it to do more damage and/or penetrate deeper into flesh, but I am not sure about this either.
In any case, I am working on melee testing now, and would definitely like to include the divine metals. I can't seem to find the raws for them - which file contains them? I guess I can just copy the numbers from this post, but it would be nice to know where DF keeps them.