copper and iron uses

[asdf123]

Is there any other use for copper and iron other than mining? can you make armor out of it? How significant is this armor in battle, and how do you make armor out of it?

Thanks for ansewring my questions...

[Muneyoshi]

I think (THINK) its just for profit and trade

[cart6566]

Provinces with iron deposits allow you to construct the metalsmith series of buildings, which give troops produced there a weapons upgrade (bonus to attack value). Copper is just for mining, AFAIK.

[Pragmatic]

Gold, Silver, Copper, and Salt are just for mining. Especially Gold, as it pays off the mining costs quickly.

IRON, on the other hand, you use to build weapon improvements. The Weaponsmith shows up at the Castle level. It provides a +1 to melee attacks. At Citadel level, you can build a +2 bonus. At Fortress, you can build a +3 and then a +4 bonus.

So, Iron is very valuable. It also requires you to build a province up to a high tech level.

Iron is available in most of the Iberian peninsula (Spain), Sweden, and much of the HRE and Hungary. If it's anywhere else, I don't know about it.

[ToranagaSama]

On the subject of Iron, I've been meaning to inquire:

In STW, you could produce armoured units ONLY in provinces with Iron. Not sure about MI, but in MTW, it appears you can produce them in all your provinces, as long as you have just ONE province w. iron.

Is this correct? If so, why the change?

[Grifman]

No you can produce armor in all provinces, regardless as to whether you have iron or not. Iron allows you to upgrade weapons, better offense.

Grifman

[ToranagaSama]

Quote Originally posted by Grifman:
Iron allows you to upgrade weapons, better offense.

Grifman[/QUOTE]

Would or could you explain in greater detail? This is something that's been bugging me, but I've never investigated.

What upgrades?

Do you mean the attack bonus?

Somebody enlighten me please!

[Pragmatic]

As I stated in my post, Weaponsmiths (the building ONLY available in provinces with Iron) add bonuses to your Attack stat. For melee purposes only. (So your piss-poor melee attack archers will be a little better in hand-to-hand combat, but it won't help their missile attacks at all.)

So, build a Weaponsmith: +1 to Attack. (Castle level)
Build a Weaponsmith's Workshop: +2 to Attack. (Citadel level)
Build a Weaponsmith's Guild: +3 to Attack. (Fortress level)
Build a Master Weaponsmith: +4 to Attack. (Fortress level)