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[kaassamuel]

there is quite a range of stones in this game, but not that much weapon-grade metals.
i would love to see more metals like : cobalt, mithril, titanium, palladium, tungsten and rhodium.

and i would be nice to see explosive traps and ammo for catapults. with gunpowder (black powder) from charcoal, sulfur, salpeter.
or ammonal (composing of ammonium nitrate and aluminium). destroying blocks of course. 

[Sergarr]

Cobalt is already in the game, mithril is not a real metal (we have addy as an analogue), titanium is really hard to obtain, ditto for other three

Gunpowder is a possibility, but it's probably a thing for post-1.0 content (20-30 years from now).

[Sirbug]

Cave-ins and deadly dust already act like explosions, so I hope at some point bombs will be implemented. And toxic gases.

[StagnantSoul]

Tungsten and titanium wouldn't fit in right, especially technologically, there's no reason to have palladium, cobalt's around just not functioning as you'd expect, and why would you want rhodium around?

[GavJ]

"We need more weapons grade metals" [then lists a bunch of metals that are/were virtually never used for weapons]

[StagnantSoul]

"We need more weapons grade metals" [then lists a bunch of metals that are/were virtually never used for weapons]

The alloys they're involved in were used for weapons.

[GavJ]

The alloys they're involved in were used for weapons.

Prior to aircraft / cars / etc?
I.e. anywhere within hundreds of years of dwarf fortress?

[StagnantSoul]

And do you expect people to research everything? I'm just stating why he said those. I know they're modern metals. That's why I said none of them but cobalt would be available.

[GavJ]

And do you expect people to research everything?

Yes, if you post things like "They were used for weapons" as a statement of fact, this implies that you have already researched it, otherwise how do you know the metals were used for weapons? Asking for followup info on research you've already done shouldn't be a big deal.

When I researched it, I found evidence for them being used in aircraft bodies (cobalt and titanium) and shells/bullets (tungsten) and very high temp fittings which I suppose might be used in exotic stuff like flamethrowers (rhodium/palladium), but this sort of stuff is a major stretch even in a modern framework to call "weapons grade metals." I do not see evidence of any basic or routine weapons applications as in small arms or more appropriately for dwarf fortress, bladed weapons.

Although of course weapons don't have to be the only application just because that's what the OP said. If there's a medieval-relevant other use for these metals then that may be a reason to include them as well. However, electrical furnace coils, plane wings, etc. that are their primary uses today aren't obviously of any analogous use for medieval dwarves.

[kaassamuel]

i know mithril isn't a real metal, but werecivet aren't that real either. like dwarfs and elves.
i want rhodium and palladium (platinum will do too in fact) to make one of the hardest alloys known.
it isn't in the time range, i know. but aren't dwarfs supposed to be leading in metalcrafting.
and if the metals are really rare, wouldn't that make finding them like 5 times as fun.

[GavJ]

aren't dwarfs supposed to be leading in metalcrafting.

Yes this explains 100-200 year advanced skills if something is slightly out of time frame, sure. It also explains dwarves knowing about various XYZ things all at once, even though historically, only the Chinese knew about X and only the Europeans knew Y and only the American natives knew about Z. Things like that. Geographic and reasonable temporal precociousness.

It doesn't explain 600-700 year advanced metalworking skills. Especially since most of the processes required to extract the metals you're talking about aren't even a matter of just metalworking. It's not a matter of firing forges to hotter temperatures or reducing environments or using a specific flux or swinging the hammer enough times. It's not a matter of things like this that dwarves could figure out with grit and determination and metalworking creativity alone.

Instead, purifying most of these metals requires stuff like electricity and/or pure hydrogen or ammonia gases, etc. Advances that are not metalworking specific, and that dwarves couldn't reasonably have without also having a bunch of other non-dwarfy things. For example, if you already have an electrical grid necessary to purify many of these metals effectively, it pretty much implies you should also have lightbulbs or electromagnets.

[UXLZ]

Depending on how wizard dwarves end up working, something like electricity could potentially be sourced from them, but I don't think tungsten, palladium, rhodium etc. are really... In keeping with the theme of Dwarf Fortress. If you're going to include palladium and rhodium, how far from those until including plutonium, or francium?

Early guns are probably the tech level I'd expect DF to reach to... Unless one day Toady decides he wants dwarves to make it to space and invent time travel using a spiral of lasers.

It's still not *impossible* for dissonant levels of technology to exist, but if on one hand dwarves are using wagons drawn by oxen, and on the other hand they're purifying elements by running an electric current through two aqueous solutions previously mixed together (note: probably not an actual method) it's a little bit too much of a stretch.

I *would* like to see more elements and possibly some rudimentary explosives later on down the line, though.

[kaassamuel]

okay you do have a point there.

the metals i named were just some examples i came up with.

do you know other metals we could suggest??

[smeeprocket]

I really wish cobalt was useful. Every time I see it on the map I get disappointed.

Titanium is an awesome metal, very light but also resistant to bending and such, moreso than steel. Half of my piercings are made of implant grade titanium. It's unfortunate that it is a metal beyond the scope of the dwarves.

[UXLZ]

Every time I hear cobalt all I can think of is the blue stone...

Magnesium would be pretty interesting but I'm pretty sure the purification process is too complicated for dwarves to be capable of.