Bay 12 Games Forum

I think there should be a new alloy which should be slighty stronger than iron but weaker than steel, it could prove useful in situations where obtaining steel becomes difficult (e.g., there is no flux stone near the embark zone), maybe humans should use this new metal.

A good example that comes to my mind is wrought iron, a low carbon alloy (or not, i'm not really a metallurgist) of iron that was used as a cheaper alternative to steel which is made through the puddling process, which is just continuously mixing the crude iron at a furnace to remove its impurities.

Or, perhaps a new fantastical metal that is found in the metamorphic layer could also work.