Bismuth or tin bronze

[wildforester]

I’m reaching that point in the game where I’ll be getting into the Bronze Age, I’ve always gone with tin bronze in the past, but this time I’ve found good readings for bismuth bronze (my cassiterite readings were only decent). What are ppl’s preferences? Always go for one bronze type over the other or pick whichever has been found? Also, what sort of readings do ppl consider worth mining for?

[Rainbow Fresh]

I'd say take what you get; Bismuth has more durability (so I learned) so it's not a bad pick. My personal experience has just been much more tin than bismuth so I have piles of tin bronze before I went into the Iron Age.

[Tam Hawkins]

Get the bismuth in any case even if you find tin later.

You can use bismuth to make plates and use these to make lanterns and you can never have enough lanterns.

[Vratislav]

Differences are not big. If you have it next to your hands, make bismuth bronze first. In mid- to late game, having diversity of bronze helps with trading, as traders frequently require tool made from bronze variant you actually do not have 

[LadyWYT]

1 hour ago, wildforester said:

Always go for one bronze type over the other or pick whichever has been found?

I use whatever is most convenient. Some games that is tin bronze, some games that is bismuth bronze. Black bronze I never use, outside of the rare tool/weapon if I happen to have a few gold and silver nuggets lying around. 

The only real difference is that while bismuth bronze might be more durable with less attack power, it does require more material to make(and thus uses more storage space) and cannot be used for the treasure hunter quest.

1 hour ago, wildforester said:

Also, what sort of readings do ppl consider worth mining for?

Bismuth, zinc, and tin are all common enough that it's fairly easy to find High or better readings, but I'll take what I can get. They're also common enough that digging at worse readings isn't a big deal and yields something useful more often than not.

[Maelstrom]

21 hours ago, wildforester said:

Also, what sort of readings do ppl consider worth mining for?

For anything other than iron and higher tier metals, I'll go for whatever is the highest reading that is within a reasonable distance (whatever reasonable is to you).  Usually I can find Very High or Ultra High within a half day's run from home.