Metallurgy - Heliomance/Uncharted-Horizons GitHub Wiki

_{Focus Areas · Design document §3}

Available from: F04 (Smelting Discovery)

15 breakthroughs — CORE 8 · STANDARD 2 · UNCOMMON 2 · RARE 1 · UNIQUE 2 — Primitive – Atomic

Builds on: Fire (4) · Observation (1) · Mining (3) · Construction (1) · Philosophy and the Arts (1) · Trade (1) · Textiles & Materials (1) · Water Management (2) · Mechanics (2) · Chemistry (4) · Electricity (1) · Materials Science (1)

Leads into: Fire (2) · Construction (4) · Seafaring (3) · Warfare (9) · Trade (1) · Mechanics (4) · Thermodynamics (3) · Chemistry (1) · Electricity (2) · Aeronautics (3) · Energy Systems (1)

_{The numbers count prerequisite links between this focus and the other. How to read the tables.}

flowchart LR
  n_ME01["ME01 Copper Working"]:::CORE
  n_ME_B["ME-B Bellows"]:::CORE
  n_ME04["ME04 Iron Smelting"]:::CORE
  n_ME05["ME05 Steel Production"]:::CORE
  n_ME06["ME06 Damascus/Wootz Steel"]:::UNIQUE
  n_ME09["ME09 Crucible Steel"]:::UNCOMMON
  n_ME18["ME18 Plate Armour"]:::CORE
  n_ME08["ME08 Blast Furnace"]:::CORE
  n_ME12["ME12 Bessemer Process"]:::CORE
  n_ME14["ME14 Titanium Working"]:::UNCOMMON
  n_ME15["ME15 Memory Alloys"]:::RARE
  n_ME02["ME02 Bronze Alloy"]:::STANDARD
  n_ME16["ME16 Sacred Bronze Tradition"]:::UNIQUE
  n_ME13["ME13 Aluminium Extraction"]:::CORE
  n_ME17["ME17 Assaying"]:::STANDARD
  n_ME01 --> n_ME_B
  n_ME01 --> n_ME02
  n_ME_B --> n_ME04
  n_ME04 --> n_ME05
  n_ME_B --> n_ME05
  n_ME05 --> n_ME06
  n_ME04 --> n_ME08
  n_ME05 --> n_ME09
  n_ME08 --> n_ME12
  n_ME12 --> n_ME14
  n_ME14 --> n_ME15
  n_ME02 --> n_ME16
  n_ME05 --> n_ME18
  classDef CORE fill:#dbeafe,stroke:#1d4ed8,color:#0b1b3b
  classDef STANDARD fill:#f1f5f9,stroke:#64748b,color:#0f172a
  classDef UNCOMMON fill:#dcfce7,stroke:#15803d,color:#052e16
  classDef RARE fill:#fef3c7,stroke:#b45309,color:#3b2005
  classDef UNIQUE fill:#fae8ff,stroke:#a21caf,color:#3b0a3f

_{Prerequisites within this focus. Box colour is the tier (blue CORE, grey STANDARD, green UNCOMMON, amber RARE, purple UNIQUE); dotted arrows are alternatives (“or”); a line can pass behind another box, so follow it from its start. 14 of these 15 breakthroughs also need breakthroughs from other foci, which the overview above lists.}

• Tier: CORE · Era: Primitive
• Prerequisites: F04 (Smelting)
• Unlocks: Copper Warriorⁿ [unit, Melee; cost 45; mv 2; str 9 (Warrior 8); requires Copper]. The first worked metal, in the first metal hand.
• Notes: First worked metal.
• Leads to: ME-B Bellows, ME02 Bronze Alloy, TR02 Currency, CH01 Alchemy, EL02 Voltaic Pile (Battery), EL08 Baghdad Battery

• Tier: CORE · Era: Ancient
• Prerequisites: ME01 + TX01 (Weaving — leather working)
• Unlocks: Forge (the canonical Metal Casting building: ⟨[+15]% Production when constructing [Land] units [in this city]⟩, ⟨[+1 Production] from [Iron] tiles [in this city]⟩). Forced air makes the iron path (ME04) possible.
• Notes: Forced air changes everything about metallurgy.
• Leads to: F10 Thermal Lance, F11 Volcanic Forge Tradition, ME04 Iron Smelting, ME05 Steel Production

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Ancient
• Prerequisites: ME01 + Copper in territory (extracted, traded or captured)
• Unlocks: Statue of Zeus (world wonder); ⟨[+10]% Strength <for [Melee] units>⟩ (bronze arms and armour). Requires Copper in territory (Civ V has no tin; the resource rule of Section 1.2 applies).
• Notes: Civ V has no tin; the resource rule of Section 1.2 applies to Copper.
• Leads to: ME16 Sacred Bronze Tradition, TH14 Atmospheric Engine

• Tier: CORE · Era: Ancient
• Prerequisites: F03 (Charcoal) + ME-B (Bellows) + iron deposits in territory
• Unlocks: Swordsman (unit); Colossus (world wonder). The Iron Age begins.
• Leads to: ME05 Steel Production, ME08 Blast Furnace, SF07 Viking Longship, SF09 Caravel/Deep Ocean Ship, WA26 Professional Army, WA27 Stirrup

• Tier: CORE · Era: Classical
• Prerequisites: ME04 + (MI06 (Coal) or F03 (Charcoal)) + ME-B (Bellows)
• Unlocks: Pikeman (unit); ⟨[+1 Gold] from [Iron] tiles [in all cities]⟩ — pots, pans and pipes (Cast Iron, merged here in v3.100: China cast iron and made steel from it in the same centuries). (The Longswordsman and Armory move to Plate Armour, ME18; the Arsenal and Kremlin to Star Fort, CO25; the Knight to Stirrup, WA27.)
• Leads to: ME06 Damascus/Wootz Steel, ME09 Crucible Steel, ME18 Plate Armour, CO09 Suspension Bridge, WA16 Rifling, WA18 Pneumatic Weaponry, WA22 Cannons, WA23 Bushido Warrior Code, MC05 Clockwork, MC10 Precision Machining, MC15 Mainspring Energy Storage, TH14 Atmospheric Engine

• Tier: UNIQUE · Era: Classical
• Prerequisites: ME05 (Steel) + MI05 (Deep Mining) + Desert/arid or Tropical biome
• Unlocks: Swordsmithⁿ [replaces Armory; 160/1; requires a Barracks in this city; ⟨New [Military] units start with [15] XP [in this city]⟩; ⟨[+2 Gold] from each Trade Route⟩ — blades sold across the world]. Civ unique: ⟨[+10]% Strength <for [Melee] units>⟩.
• Notes: Indian/Middle Eastern technique — requires specific high-carbon ore deposits found in warm climates.
• Leads to: WA23 Bushido Warrior Code

• Tier: CORE · Era: Medieval
• Prerequisites: ME04 + CO02 (Post and Lintel) + (WM05 or MC04 — bellows driven by a mill) + (MI06 or F03) — Coal Discovery, or Charcoal Production
• Unlocks: Ironworks (national wonder). Requires Coal. Charcoal Kilnⁿ [210/2; ⟨Provides [1] [Coal] <in cities without a [Distillery]> <when number of [Worked [non-[{non-[Forest]} {non-[Jungle]} {non-[Peat Cutting]}]] Tiles in this city] is more than [2]>⟩ and ⟨Provides [1] [Coal] <in cities with a [Distillery]> <when number of [⁠[Worked [non-[{non-[Forest]} {non-[Jungle]} {non-[Peat Cutting]}]] Tiles in this city] - min([Worked [Peat Cutting] Tiles in this city], 1)] is more than [2]>⟩; ⟨[-10]% [Production] [in this city] <in cities without a [Distillery]> <when number of [Worked [non-[{non-[Forest]} {non-[Jungle]} {non-[Peat Cutting]}]] Tiles in this city] is more than [2]>⟩ and ⟨[-10]% [Production] [in this city] <in cities with a [Distillery]> <when number of [⁠[Worked [non-[{non-[Forest]} {non-[Jungle]} {non-[Peat Cutting]}]] Tiles in this city] - min([Worked [Peat Cutting] Tiles in this city], 1)] is more than [2]>⟩ — in a city with a Distillery, one worked Peat Cutting is smoking malt and does not count as fuel (min(…, 1), so a Distillery claims a bog only if there is one to claim)] — lit only while its city works at least three fuel tiles: forest, jungle or a Peat Cutting. Unworked woods feed nothing, and a cold kiln costs nothing. Charcoal counts as Coal, so it fuels a Factory or an Ironclad like any other; the −10% cancels a Factory's own +10%, so a kiln-fed Factory is worth only its flat +4 at any size — charcoal does not scale with industry, which is why coal won. Either fuel opens the furnace — coal where there are seams, charcoal where there are none — and every civilisation can raise kilns: an expensive way to get Coal, worth it to a civilisation short of seams, or to one pushing to raise a coal-powered army larger than its seams could supply.
• Notes: In our world, Sweden ran charcoal blast furnaces into the 19th century, and England's iron was charcoal-smelted until coke took over in the 1700s.
• Leads to: ME12 Bessemer Process, CO10 Iron-Frame Construction, CO23 Railway Network, SF12 Ironclad, WA22 Cannons, MC08 Steam Engine, ES03 Coal Power Plant

• Tier: UNCOMMON · Era: Medieval
• Prerequisites: ME05 + CH01 (Alchemy)
• Unlocks: ⟨[+10]% Strength <for [Melee] units>⟩ — the finest pre-industrial steel. (Stacks with a Damascus tradition, as it did historically.)

• Tier: CORE · Era: Modern
• Prerequisites: ME08 + CH05 (Oxygen Theory)
• Unlocks: Battleship (unit — steel hulls); ⟨[+1 Production] from [Iron] tiles [in all cities]⟩ (cheap steel). Prerequisite for Railway Network (CO23) and Reinforced Concrete (CO11).
• Leads to: ME14 Titanium Working, CO11 Reinforced Concrete, WA19 Railgun Concept, TH03 Turbine Design, AE04 Jet Engine

• Tier: CORE · Era: Modern
• Prerequisites: EL03 (Electromagnetism) + CH06 (Periodic Table)
• Unlocks: Reveals Aluminum (the canonical Electricity revealedBy); ⟨[+1 Production] from [Aluminum] tiles [in all cities]⟩.
• Leads to: AE13 Rigid Airship

• Tier: UNCOMMON · Era: Atomic
• Prerequisites: ME12 + CH06 (Periodic Table)
• Unlocks: Modern Armor (unit); ⟨[+10]% Strength <for [Armored] units>⟩.
• Leads to: ME15 Memory Alloys, AE04 Jet Engine

• Tier: RARE · Era: Atomic
• Prerequisites: ME14 + MS01 (Composite Materials)
• Unlocks: ⟨[-33]% maintenance cost for [All] buildings [in all cities]⟩ (structures that repair themselves); all Military units gain the Adaptive Armourⁿ promotion (⟨[+10]% Strength <when defending>⟩).

• Tier: UNIQUE · Era: Ancient
• Prerequisites: ME02 (Bronze) + CU02 (Monumental Architecture) + River biome
• Unlocks: Bronze Foundry Templeⁿ [replaces Temple; 100/2; requires a Shrine in this city; +2 Faith, +1 Production, +1 Culture; ⟨Provides [1] [Copper]⟩ — the base luxury, cast rather than mined]. Civ unique: ⟨[+1 Culture, +1 Faith] from [Copper] tiles [in all cities]⟩ — the metal is sacred before it is useful.
• Notes: Shang/Zhou Chinese ritual bronzes, West African Benin bronzes.

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Classical
• Prerequisites: TR02 (Currency) + O06 (Natural Philosophy)
• Unlocks: Mint — metal tested for its purity, so the coin can be trusted.
• Notes: Archimedes and the crown (c. 250 BC).

• Tier: CORE · Era: Medieval
• Prerequisites: ME05 (Steel) + (WM05 or MC04 — a mill to drive the hammers)
• Unlocks: Longswordsman (unit); Armory — steel beaten to shape under mill-driven hammers.
• Notes: 14th–15th c.