One dark night,
in the throes of an illness possessed by a strange mood, I vowed to create a whole new set of stones and metals for my personal consumption. I offer up my ideas to you, not only for criticism, but also to start a thread based on our crazy dreams for the lustrous and hard elements and alloys that our Dwarves love so much.
Not listed are the extra gems and stones, and various adjustments of occurrence and productivity. Suffice to say that Marble and Limestone are more colourful, Amber is shiny, and Amazonite makes Microcline less useless. Coal and flux requirements aren't described except where notable.
I have done my homework (thank you wikipedia!), and ignored it only when the rule of cool proved overwhelming. There are many new materials, and a few modifications to existing ones. Post your ideas for comparison! What should our Dwarves find below? Did listening to CaramellDansen on loop for
a whole week two whole weeks affect me? Did I mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn?
Elements
Quite a few raw materials, many of which are already in ore form in-game.
Chromium (-) Chromite
A precious, precious metal that is the key to advanced alloys.
Manganese (-) Pyrolusite OR Native Manganese
Similar to Chromite, this metal is key to advanced alloys.
Magnesium (-) Magnesite OR Native Magnesium
A somewhat common but useless metal, it is even lighter than Aluminium. Oh, and it has a very low ignition point.
Rough Titanium (-) Rutile OR Ilmenite
The preliminary stage of Titanium processing, where the most obvious impurities are removed, leaving a useless metallic lump.
Palladium (-) Native Platinum
A precious metal very similar to Platinum, and sometimes found within Platinum ore. Great for minting commemorative coins.
Kobold Iron (-) Cobaltite
'Cobalt' comes from 'Kobold'. It's also a useful alloying metal. How could I resist? Though useless on its own, Kobold Iron can be alloyed.
Gold Alloys
Pretty much all useless, but make pretty colours and should make for some interesting mandates.
White Gold (3-1) Gold-Platinum
Blue Gold (3-1) Gold-Iron
Purple Gold (4-1) Gold-Aluminium
Green Gold (4-1) Gold-Silver
Coal, wonderful Coal
A better selection of that funny rock.
Lignite
Lignite, as the lowest grade produces 3 bars of Coke.
Bituminous Coal
Bituminous produces 4 bars of Coke.
Graphite
Graphite (now refinable!) is a fine, pure coal and produces 5 bars.
Anthracite
Anthracite (new!) is an extremely good grade of coal, producing 6 bars.
Mundane Industry
A somewhat expanded selection of standard industrial materials.
Wrought Iron (1-1) Iron-Pig Iron
Wrought Iron was for a time the supreme metal, used in everything. It was replaced by the first economically produced steels. It is a bit stronger than regular iron, and notably does not require coal (except for the Pig Iron).
Steel (1-1-1) Iron-Pig Iron-Wrought Iron
Steel is the same, but now it takes a bit more Goblinite to produce.
Dwarven Steel (6-2-1) Steel-Chromium-Manganese OR Nickel
Essentially Stainless Steel, naturally the Dwarves have monopolized it. It is a bit more dangerous than normal steel, though the materials and process means it isn't traded willy-nilly.
Kobold Steel (1-2-2) Kobold Iron-Chromium-Nickel
Similar to a real industrial alloy, this metal is weaker than steel, but stronger than wrought iron.
Mithril (1-1) Aluminium-Magnesium
Not a fanciful demon-spawning element, but rather simply a unique material that has had a mythology built up around it. It is based on real alloys. It is extremely light, very valuable, and silvery in colour. However, it is only a little tougher than copper.
Legendary Metals
These metals are nigh-mythical in the Dwarven forgeworks. If one could find the raw materials for crafting these, they would be very fortunate indeed.
Titanium (1-10-10-10-10) Rough Titanium-Rock Salt-Coal-Elf Bones-Elf Skulls
Combining huge amounts of raw materials in a ludicrously complicated process, the lucky smelter can produce a single bar of Titanium. Based on the Hunter process, Rock Salt is used for Chlorine and Sodium, while the Elf remains are used as a sacrifice to the gods, hoping to gain their favour in this endeavour. Titanium outperforms Dwarven Steel handily, making it the deadliest 'natural' metal.
Gehennite Iron (1-5-10) Soft Gehennite-Iron-Ash
Extracted from the molten heart of a lesser pit-demon, the otherworldly essence has to be bound to this plane by Iron and Ash. It is insanely heavy, but has a deep red colour and is as effective as Titanium.
Gehennite Steel (1-1-10-10-10-20-20) Pure Gehennite-Adamantine-Iron-Ash-Gehennite Iron-Dwarf Bones-Dwarf Skulls
The pure essence of otherworldly power, forged from the cracked heart of a greater pit-demon. The process of forming it into a usable material is harsh. It must be diluted with Gehennite Iron, bound with Iron and Ash, shot through with Adamantine, and finally mixed with molten Dwarf remains. For the toughness. But with this sacrifice comes great gain, for it creates a super-heavy metal that is far tougher than mere adamantine...
Extra Elements
A selection of miscellaneous and unloved extracts of the earth that should be given a chance.
Iron-cased Quicksilver (1-2) Cinnabar-Iron
Mercury! It must be processed into an iron container, lest it trickle away through the floor into the water cistern. It is used to increase the yield of Gold and Silver from ores, giving you 5 bars for 3 ore.
Phosphorus (-) Glow Scarab Chitin OR Apatite
Processed from the shells of the aptly named beetle, Phosphorus doesn't really have any special industrial uses. However, it does burn extremely easy...
Sulphur (-) Brimstone
Similar to Phosphorus, Sulphur is almost exclusively known for its low ignition point.
Waste & More
The unavoidable byproducts of industrial work.
Slag
The cooled, ugly, and unwanted excess produced by every smelting, refining, and alloying process. Large amounts of it can be re-refined into tiny amounts of many metals, helping a little with those unreasonable mandates. It can also be picked out of cooled volcanic flows, meaning a magma cooling industry is good for more than just obsidian.
Depleted Slag
The cooled, ugly, and unwanted excess produced by Slag refining. It's completely drained of useful materials, making it nothing more than rock. Useless, ugly rock.
Dwarven Cement (5-3-1) Depleted Slag-Ash-Flux
This ingenious use of otherwise useless, ugly rock is a core part of dwarven architecture. Combining various common materials, a high-quality building supply can be produced that can be used to support mines, sculpt statues, and make commemorative mugs.
Meteoric Ore
This rare rock, found in small lumps near the surface is rich in precious minerals, not to mention very nice diamonds.
I could post the raws, but this is slightly more readable...