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[s20dan]

Yeah, sure, I've seen it used supersilliously in video games before, but sub-atomic edges are just a little BS.

 Why is that?  Smaller than the atom, there is the quantum structure.  Its feasable to think that an edge could be created utilising quantum mechanics know-how, although I don't think the dwarves would know how to do that   In fact if it is even posible, its something that we would not have the technology to do for a long time...

I'm all for testing out an alternative form of adamantine; currently I'm looking for interesting materials to lift values from for an 'ultimate metal'. So far, I've got Tungsten, Titanium, some high-performance steels and am contemplating a few others.

IIRC, Rolls-Royce have some patents on one of the strongest and most heat-resistant titanium variants, might be called Gamma Titanium Aluminide, or perhaps thats the older one.  Its used for blades in the compressors of their jet engines.
 The forces applied to the blades is in the extreme, however its very hard to find any diffinitive data on the material, as it is patented and a trade secret.
 There is some info on wiki, but its not substantial.

[thijser]

Maybe adamantine is so special because it layers in some way? It could be that in nature if already forms as quantum structure sharp edges. This could mean that it might "bend" when exposed to temperature diffrences (not melt just bend) when it's then blocked by another piece of adamantine it can't reform. though this would create armor that would as soon as it actually is damaged reshape and pasibly kill the armour user.

[Lord Darkstar]

Since medieval painters and stained glass window makers were using nano-technology, nothing is really "impossible" for even a fantasy version of medieval technology. Of course, they didn't understand WHY the technique they stumbled on worked, so they couldn't expand on it, unlike us, with our more advanced knowledge of materials at the nano size.

If the dwarves have stumbled across a secret process to utilize adamantine, then they have the technique. Could have been delivered by divine inspirate, could have been some drunk experimentation, whatever it is, it works for them. In our history, someone often stumbled across something that worked, and it would take decades or even centuries before humans had sufficent understanding of physics to understand why it works.

The reason thermite had to wait so long is aluminum was so rare and expensive, so much wasn't done with it. It wasn't until the advent of electricity that we gained the tools to make it so easily and cheaply.

[blazzano]

If there were really a need to "explain" how Adamantine can be shaped and manipulated by dwarves, I think it's easiest to imagine that they soak it in some other substance that somehow makes it malleable at achievable temperatures.   Which is what Heph and NW_Kohaku suggested earlier.

It would have to be some sort of rare or manmade substance, IMO, and to be "safe" you could say that it only works in the presence of high heat (like you'd get from a forge).  I don't think it would be too bad if the game required you to mix this substance into the forge reactions to work with adamantine - it'd be a high price for an even higher-valued reward.

It'd be funny if it was kobold extract.  No, not the extract from kobold bulbs, but extract from kobold corpses.  Given the kobold's tendency to steal valuable items, there'd be a bit of irony in that...

[nbonaparte]

Maybe just have it take some combination like the heat resistance of graphite, the density of aluminum, and the hardness of tungsten?

[Alastar]

I played around with something a little less extreme: Tungsten's melting point of 3400°C,  aluminium's density, strength in line with the tougher metallic elements with the usual adjustments. Impact fracture was actually fine considering that Toady uses 3.5 times tensile strength if no good data is available; I simply toned the rest down accordingly and made it stiff but not perfectly brittle:
5M/4M/100 for impact, 1.5M/1.2M/100 for everything else. Last not least, I swapped the edge values for obsidian and adamantine (which incidentally still leaves obsidian as a very mediocre weapon material).

The new adamantine, unsurprisingly, still sits at the top of the food chain for armour, edged and pierced weapons. The results for blunt weapons are quite interesting: Practically everything else that's made out of metal will beat unarmored opponents faster.  Copper and silver hammers are still more useful against things with goblin-level armour. However, they're very respectable against bronze and steel armour and the best you can make against adamantine (better than sharp adamantine or blunt silver, but outperformed by blunt platinum artifacts).

[kiffer.geo]

... Guys... You're all thinking about it the wrong way round... Adamantine is intended to keep demons trapped deep under the surface, demons filled with fire and hate, anger and bile...
The more energy you throw against it the stronger it gets... The harder it is to work with, untill it can't take anymore and fails, snapping...
but... when it's cooled a gental touch can peel away strands, slowly, gently, painstakingly with the patience of a dwarven craftsperson. A task no spirit of fire could manage, the heat of its form would cause the Adamantine to tighten and harden...
No frog demon could do it... Lacking fine enough motor control, plus the heat and pressure of being deep underground keeps it stiff...

You have made the mistake the gods knew the demons would... How do we defeat the material!? How can we force it to our will? More fire! More force! Hit it harder!

but the dwarves know, the secret... Have a drink, relax, get out a tweezers and slowly tease out the knotted strands bit by bit.

[Kilo24]

... Guys... You're all thinking about it the wrong way round... Adamantine is intended to keep demons trapped deep under the surface, demons filled with fire and hate, anger and bile...
...
but the dwarves know, the secret... Have a drink, relax, get out a tweezers and slowly tease out the knotted strands bit by bit.

Makes sense.  Until the new version's randomly generated tweezer demons emerge.

[Baughn]

Oh, I like that one.

So it's basically a non-newtonian material?

[Mel_Vixen]

We would need some new tags in the raws for that but heck! Yes!

[kiffer.geo]

Oh, I like that one.

So it's basically a non-newtonian material?

Yup, basically Adamantine is like the custard of the gods...
Well custard is a non-newtonian fluid... Is there such a thing as a non-newtonian solid?

[Felblood]

That would be the most awesome explanation for adamant cloth ever.

So, how about this:

Natual adamantine should be flexible fibers, that harden under force into the axiomatically inflexible, invincible metal, that we see in the raws.

Heat can't really melt these fibers, but it can make them stick together into intricately patterned wafers, which can then be further bonded to make armor plates or sword blades.

The light weight could be explained by ultra fine threads, with lots of empty space.

The incredible edge is trickier, but it could be a natural consequence of the weaving and the shape of the strands. If the tip of each thread is actually ultra sharp (so demons that try to tear through it lacerate themselves, like on barbed wire), or even a mono-atom point,  you could weave the blade so that the actual edge was a row of exposed tips.

I'm imagining something that looks like metal, but when examined with a jewelers glass, is actually a dense pack of threads, with ultra sharp ends that are woven to lie flat or stand upright, according to the needs of the craftsman. Unskilled smiths would just gently press and fold the wafers in proscribed ways with their hammers, to get a blade shaped object that stiffens up properly, but a masterwork would have every thread in perfect arrangement.

Sounds like we need a way to make adamantine whips. Cut a goblin right in half if you lash him with the edge.

...
Should I feel guilty that now I want raw tags for non-newtonian fluids and item support for treated fabrics?

[Lord Darkstar]

... Guys... You're all thinking about it the wrong way round... Adamantine is intended to keep demons trapped deep under the surface, demons filled with fire and hate, anger and bile...
The more energy you throw against it the stronger it gets... The harder it is to work with, untill it can't take anymore and fails, snapping...
but... when it's cooled a gental touch can peel away strands, slowly, gently, painstakingly with the patience of a dwarven craftsperson. A task no spirit of fire could manage, the heat of its form would cause the Adamantine to tighten and harden...
No frog demon could do it... Lacking fine enough motor control, plus the heat and pressure of being deep underground keeps it stiff...

You have made the mistake the gods knew the demons would... How do we defeat the material!? How can we force it to our will? More fire! More force! Hit it harder!

but the dwarves know, the secret... Have a drink, relax, get out a tweezers and slowly tease out the knotted strands bit by bit.

Very, very cool. I like it.

[thijser]

yhea this is somewhat plaussible. It must however remain at least somewhat strong in order to be used in weapons so the weapons don't bent when no force is applied. This does however make you wonder why they need fuel/magma in order to procces adamantine.

[Baughn]

You answered that yourself, I think. Weapons-grade adamantium is almost certainly an alloy, although one with sufficiently small amounts of metal that it's not modeled as such.

Adamantium rock would be the same, just with rock. So either way, they need the heat.