One bar of metal should absolutely be lighter than the ore required to make that metal. It should be lighter by a whole heck of a lot even. Iron ores are generally only around 70% iron, with the rest being various other materials. So you're removing 30% of the material when you smelt it.

Even if you were making steel, which would require adding a bit of material back in during the process, you're still going to be making an alloy that's 95-99.5% iron depending on the specific alloy. Your finish product is basically always going to be lighter than the ore required to make it.

I too wouldn't mind a slight adjustement in quantities and proportions. Not for realism, but for "consistency" within game (like what is called a knife doesn't have a 4 meter reach, because it's called, well, a knife).
But the important, as said or implied, is that it's not X pounds of ore that turn into Y pounds of pure metal. It's rather the product of A activity that turns into B materials...

Originally posted by The Phoenix:

Something I dont understand.
So you get say Copper Ore. Copper Ore Weighs 10 pounds
You put it into the thing to melt it down and remove the Impure parts
of the Ore. SO your taking away some Weigh of the Ore.
BUT As soon as it becomes a Bar. It Gains 2 pound making it 12 pounds
Where the 2 extra pounds come from?
it should not be heavier. It should be Lighter if not , then the same weight.

Because it is a magical world is the answer you are looking for.

Secondly, impure metals is why on a magical planet.

Technically, it's not a magical planet, it's another planet designed and built by the same designers and builders that made the Middle Earth. Besides having roes barking awfully, and some weird ingredients, there are no other obvious evidences that the Gods went mad during the process.

Or at least no more mad than usual. "Because magic" isn't a blanket excuse for random nonsense happening anyway, magic has rules just like any other background lore.

I dont like weight being same or even heavier cause it defeats purpose of setting smelters in the wilds to cart lighter/more compact haul instead of raw chunks.
'Logic' of what game considers a 'unit' of ore and metal to translates one for one or why helmet weights 200 times less than metal used to craft it is just pure game mechanics.

i dont know if you should bring 'realistic' proprotions into a game ment to be fun. I'd be building viking houses in IRL instead very soon.

idk if it's intentional, but this means the strategem of smelting ore on site to increase the effective weight of metal you can carry back to base is useless.

Personally, I think the devs should reconsider. It should take, for instance, 1.25 ore to smelt one ingot. You would have to stay in the biome and expose yourself to more of it's dangers if you wanted to take advantage and smelt on site.

from the coal offcourse...

then it's still impure.. You didnt remove anything you just added.

Make sense to me in away. Just be happy that you do not need more ore to get one copper bar. :)

Originally posted by Leffe-(SWE):

Make sense to me in away. Just be happy that you do not need more ore to get one copper bar. :)

This!

Originally posted by The Phoenix:

Something I dont understand.
So you get say Copper Ore. Copper Ore Weighs 10 pounds
You put it into the thing to melt it down and remove the Impure parts
of the Ore. SO your taking away some Weigh of the Ore.
BUT As soon as it becomes a Bar. It Gains 2 pound making it 12 pounds
Where the 2 extra pounds come from?
it should not be heavier. It should be Lighter if not , then the same weight.

Having a course of Metallurgy in my Bachelor studies, things like heating time and speed, highest temperature and time it remains there, cooling time and speed, the material that is used to heat and melt the metal, the chamber where it all happens, can change the properties of the produced steel, so I can only assume (without having studied/researched further) as I remember that some C (carbon) is mixed in with the Fe (iron), it could result in a weight increase and coal is about 50% Carbon.

This has come up again and again from start. Take a rock the same size as a sledge hammers head, and compare them. average hard rock (ores can be a bit more in wait) has about 3,2 kg to 3,6 kg per dm³ Iron has 7.3 kg per dm³. So basicly if you whant realism what @Lefee-(SWE) sayed, be happy it´s not half a copper that dropps out of you´re furnace.

Originally posted by The Phoenix:

Something I dont understand.
So you get say Copper Ore. Copper Ore Weighs 10 pounds
You put it into the thing to melt it down and remove the Impure parts
of the Ore. SO your taking away some Weigh of the Ore.
BUT As soon as it becomes a Bar. It Gains 2 pound making it 12 pounds
Where the 2 extra pounds come from?
it should not be heavier. It should be Lighter if not , then the same weight.

and also mind you, that you need some "impurity".. otherwise, a pure copper sword would be very easy to bend, so you need some of that Coal/Carbon toughness.