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[RLS0812]

I have over 5,400 copper bars - ( I've used up all my gold and silver making pewter and rose gold alloys )
 What is the best trade good I can make out of copper ?

[FantasticDorf]

Prices vary depending on merchant demands, which you can see the agreement again from the 'c' screen and navigating with [TAB] for your version. Whatever finished good is popular that trading season agreement you should make, but copper furniture is going to be exceedingly heavy. You could try creating single bar copper weapons like shortswords and improving those.

All goods are better when improved by other materials, besides the quality that they were, copper is pretty low in initial value for spending another bar of copper studding it, but you could spend some resources improving a small batch with bones, gems or shell improvements

Dyed cloth is a viable alternative that's easy to get a hold of also high value, providing you brought a source of thread linked to a workshop, while leather is determined by the value of the creature's skin.

[Hans Lemurson]

"Trade good" as in "thing that a Caravan will pay money for" or "the types of crafts and products you would actually expect to be valuable trade commodities"?

Because if you just want to make a bunch of cash, then Trap Components like the "Spiked Ball" or "Serrated Disc" can give you an obscenely large amount of money.

If you want to be more reasonable and ask "What would people pay top dollar for from the dwarves, even if just made of copper?" then you might go for Mechanisms.  Dwarven mechanisms are miraculous creations!  No other race has come close to their sophistication.

For more common items, making copper Goblets is a good idea, since you get 3 goblets per bar, for a lot more value.

Ammunition gives good value too.

You could even mint coins directly from the copper, although it's not as lucrative as other options.

[Grand Sage]

Copper coins are actually kinda tedious. There value is so low that a single coin never makes a real difference in a deal. i like to keep some silver (0.2 dwarfbucks per coin) or gold coins around, to balance trading with caravans optimally. With varying succes, admittably.

[Hans Lemurson]

Copper coins are actually kinda tedious. There value is so low that a single coin never makes a real difference in a deal. i like to keep some silver (0.2 dwarfbucks per coin) or gold coins around, to balance trading with caravans optimally. With varying succes, admittably.

That's why you trade them one stack at a time like they were just another craftgood.  You never bother with exact change, just give the merchants a profit.

[FantasticDorf]

Copper coins are actually kinda tedious. There value is so low that a single coin never makes a real difference in a deal. i like to keep some silver (0.2 dwarfbucks per coin) or gold coins around, to balance trading with caravans optimally. With varying succes, admittably.

That's why you trade them one stack at a time like they were just another craftgood.  You never bother with exact change, just give the merchants a profit.

Coins are (like stated) not the best or intentionally worked into trade as a mechanic, it'd be easy to say that a stack of gold coins would be by default 5 times more valuable just because its worth is associated with 5 a piece (this isnt the case) but its more descriptive to keep them around for decorative reasons in a 'vault' of coins renewed yearly for new item images.

Coins are defunct unless you do more with them, like put them into a workshop reaction to buy something, discover ways to split them as to melt individually or take them as a adventurer.

[Sarmatian123]

As you know
- candy is top metal in DF for price, armor and it is best fit for edge weapons.
- platinum is the heaviest metal in DF and is best fit for blunt weapons.

Before you start embark, you need to move platinum (2nd) and adamantine (1st) to the top of the list in the inorganic_metal.txt. Then you need to delete annoying waffles [wafers] from adamantine and add [ITEMS_WEAPON][ITEMS_WEAPON_RANGED][ITEMS_AMMO]. Why platinum is missing it anyhow? That makes no sense. Decorative gold armor was known already in ancient times.

Then you need to acquire 1 platinum bar. Smelting something you got through adventuring in case caravans never have it and you cant buy it on embark.

You need 9 magma smelters, 9 metal workers with enable smelting and 10 stacks of coins of metals you are short on for trade-coin-split. Use macros and speed macro repetition in init.txt from 15 to 5: [MACRO_MS:5].

Now, you will ask what it all has to do with making best value in fortress out of copper, copper alloys... and out of silver and out of gold and their alloys.

You make master quality items of all kind from adamantine (except those you can't like beds). Then in metal forge:

other objects -> chose metal, one by one -> stud with each of the metals

Ever wanted to build candy mountain home? Here is how you do it, to make it even more valuable then from candy alone and you need also copper for that. (until Toady will find time to polish those broken mechanics...)

PS. Adamantine mechanisms, studded with all those metal bars, still weight as made out of adamantine only. You will never be able to smelt those decorations and smelting decorated adamantine items will lose you those other metals bars spent on ornamentation. However it will sky rocket value of your fortress and make great value for trade... Until Toady will fix smelting issues, smelting 1 coin is integral part of DF.

PS2. If everything was fixed with smelting, then I guess copper would be metal to make in fortress all kind of items for commoners, while steel/gold for nobles and adamantine for king and champion's equipment & weapons. Silver for common areas I guess. This would be more realistic DF.