How often do you advance to steel-tools?

[Zaph42nd]

Curious about y'all but rarely find myself motivated to go beyond meteoric iron tools in most saves (aside from my long-term saves) which makes me wonder, how often do you make steel-tools? And what tools do you get to the steel-age? I usually only upgrade my pickaxe, axe, and chisel to steel, rarely if ever any other tools or armor (armor especially unlikely with the high material and time costs)

[Rainbow Fresh]

Does "Being on my first save ever and not yet having reached Steel as I got sidetracked with way too big building projects, frustrated and took a break" count as "Never" or "Almost never"?

[Zaph42nd]

Just now, Rainbow Fresh said:

Does "Being on my first save ever and not yet having reached Steel as I got sidetracked with way too big building projects, frustrated and took a break" count as "Never" or "Almost never"?

Probably almost never since it's still a world-goal? Poll probably needs to be adjusted a little

[williams_482]

I enjoy the process of building up to steel, and once I have it obviously I should use it. Falx and pickaxe get priority (more damage, access to new ores), then armor (going up a tier makes a big difference against the really nasty enemies), then other tools. 

If building the cementation furnace and fueling it sounds like a chore instead of a rewarding task, meteoric iron is easier to work with an still a great option for just about anything. 

[Rainbow Fresh]

Just now, Zaph42nd said:

Probably almost never since it's still a world-goal? Poll probably needs to be adjusted a little

Very much a world goal. Even got mods for post-steel progression.

[LadyWYT]

I enjoy steel-making, so I usually end up at steel sooner or later on worlds I actually play on. 

As for what I upgrade to steel...I cast a vote for everything, since it really depends on my mood at the time. Tools/weapons/armor that I use frequently are the most obvious choices, but it's not unusual for me to make "silly" things like steel hoes even if I don't use the item itself very much. At that point, it's purely for style, strictly because I can.

[HalfAxd]

I doubt I'll ever do steel... too much busy work to be fun for me.  

I generally keep exploring the world or restart if a new version comes out.

Enjoy!

[Aranyani]

I love this poll. It really highlights the specific tools that most require the durability and power of steel. It's exactly what you'd expect people to spend their precious steel on. 

Also makes sense that there are very few people who either never make steel or do so infrequently. We are almost evenly divided between the 'often' group such as builder/project people who NEED steel tools (includes late-game veteran players who do it just for fun like LadyWYT) and the 'almost never' group who have tried it out but prefer small builds, exploring etc. and find that iron tools serve them well enough so steel not really worth the extra effort (I'm in this category myself). 

A very successful poll Zaph, nicely done!

[EnbyKaiju]

I think over the years I've only gone all the way to steel maybe twice. It's something I only really need for long term worlds where I have really big projects I know that things like steel pickaxes & hammers will give the the boost I need. But even then most of my tools end up as meteoric iron as they are fast to process.

But even then I don't rush it. Heck, I don't even go into the iron age until at least a year or two in (and I do long years, with 30 day months), so that I can properly enjoy the limitations of each age. Steel is kind of my "I earned this, I put in the time & emotional energy to get myself this far, so let's go for the good stuff." and even then only really when I can fit it into my design space I have to whatever I'm building.

Echoing, Aranyani, that I think it's great to see such variation in responses. It demonstrates a really healthy community of minds that everyone does things a bit differently, there's no "one way" and that the community doesn't treat this as a solved experience. However folks want to play, that's the right way to play for them 

[Dilan Rona]

I rarely find iron ore, but when I do find it, i upgrade the tools as they break.

[ArgentLuna]

Haven't yet. have built there where with all to do so but haven’t gotten around to it with the current world