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[Aslandus]

cutting ores is a good one by the way, unless you want to train up metalcrafters. Zinc has little use (forgot the ore name) and if you have enough silver, lead (galena) is quite useless too

Generally I use the metals from smelting ores for tasks that require bars, such as putting floor bars over water sources, and getting 4 bars then using them to decorate something would give more value than cutting the ores.

That said, if your dwarf-hours are at a premium (need to make trade goods fast) some ores have enough material value to be worth cutting, but if you just really want to keep your gemcutters working, why waste metal-bearing ore on something you could use common stone for?

[Sirbug]

Objectively, unless you are low on smelting/forging capacity, metals are better then ores for making goods. If my calculations are correct.

I also use metals for mass-producing bedroom furniture, allowing to add additional query for my manager (ie 30 zinc chests, 30 rock doors, 30 glass cabinets and 30 beds all being produced at the same time with only four orders and no additional attention)

In fact, you probably better off cutting worthless stone. Or flux if there's entire layers of it.

[StagnantSoul]

I normally ignore galena, and just smelt ores straight to bronze, all irons, make steel, make billon, and gold. Plus platinum if I have any. Galena doesn't give much silver, which billon is better than for trading in general, which can be gotten from tetrahydrite. Things like zinc, lead, pewters, all the side metals that are just for crafting are ignored.

[Larix]

Last time i checked, cut stone (and glass) can be used by moody dwarfs who want cut gems. Yet another way to get adamantine into artefacts, yay!

Galena, sphalerite and cassiterite are all magma-safe - in contrast to the metals you can smelt out of them. Mechanisms have a base value of 30☼, so using uninteresting ores for them gives decent(ish) wealth and is potentially useful. Stone-by-stone, you'll still get more trade value by smelting it all down (can also be directly to alloys - brass, bronze, electrum) and making goblets. On the other hand, mechanisms can be installed in traps/levers for architecture value and citizen happiness (and safety from goblins, but that's soooo .34).

Oh, and zinc/tin/pewters, lead and electrum are notable materials - minecarts made from them have weights that put them into specific pressure-plate-detectable brackets - zinc/tin/pewter are 250-300, lead 450-500, electrum 550-600 (in fact, electrum's the only metal between 500 (heavier than lead) and 750 (lighter than gold)). The majority of metals are between 300 and 400.

[StagnantSoul]

I don't work with minecarts, so they're still quite useless.

[Aslandus]

I normally ignore galena, and just smelt ores straight to bronze, all irons, make steel, make billon, and gold. Plus platinum if I have any. Galena doesn't give much silver, which billon is better than for trading in general, which can be gotten from tetrahydrite. Things like zinc, lead, pewters, all the side metals that are just for crafting are ignored.

Not all of us are blessed with that many weapon metals in our area, I've had at least three fortresses where galena was the only weapon-able metal I had and at least one where I had copper but no tin to make bronze. I've only ever had one fortress that had access to iron, and it didn't even have flux stone...

[StagnantSoul]

...I think you people are just blessed with bad maps. I always have tons of iron, maybe flux, and lots of cassiterite and tetrahydrite.