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[mirrizin]

Which is superior for armor/weapons?

[zilpin]

Wiki: Weapon and armor quality (scroll to bottom)

Wiki: Armor Material

In short, they're about the same, with bronze being slightly stronger and heavier (i.e. better & worse for armor).
For blunt weapons, go with bronze.

If you have plenty of iron and trees, you may as well be making steel instead, which is far better than both at everything.

[greycat]

If you have plenty of iron and trees,

and flux

you may as well be making steel instead, which is far better than both at everything.

[Melting Sky]

Short answer, they are roughly comparable. It depends what you are using them for but they are quite similiar. Personally, I think iron is slightly better unless you are making blunt weapons.

[mirrizin]

I was thinking adventure mode, and thanks.

[Plex]

trees

Why trees? Why not magma?

[Grim Portent]

trees

Why trees? Why not magma?

Steel needs charcoal to make.

[vjmdhzgr]

trees

Why trees? Why not magma?

Steel needs coke which is easily obtained in mass amounts from bituminous coal ordered from caravans to make.

[Grim Portent]

trees

Why trees? Why not magma?

Steel needs coke which is easily obtained in mass amounts from bituminous coal ordered from caravans to make.

Trees are more convenient for early game steel production than trading is. Caravans are pretty bad for carrying barely any of a rock even when you specifically request it.

[kiwiphoenix]

In an embark with the appropriate metals available, iron and bronze will probably fill the same niche; at least, for civs that don't have access to steel.
However, bronze production is limited by your supply of relatively-scare tin, as opposed to relatively abundant iron.
So if you stick at said embark long enough, eventually all your gear would end up iron - which neatly reflects ancient history, actually.

Of course, Dwarven steel changes the dynamic and gives the advantage to iron. But in terms of the bronze/iron debate, the issue is really an economic one.

[Panando]

One advantage of bronze in Fortress Mode is that it is cheaper than dirt when embarking.
Cassiterite + Native copper or Malachite = 8 Bronze bars, for only 12 embark points. That's 1.5 points per bronze. Which is cheaper than clay (3 points) . Hence cheaper than dirt (okay total cost is slightly higher due to coke/charcoal but 8 bars per charcoal sure ain't bad).

Iron costs 6 pts each. Steel costs a good deal more due to flux and charcoal, but is still a bargain to embark with.

[mirrizin]

In fort mode I think it's usually a question of availability. If a site has iron ore, it's iron; if it ash cassiterite, then bronze.

It's adventure mode I'm wondering about, since in that case sites often have significant stashes of both.