[Block suggestion] New materials for armour (carbon aluminium glass...)

Hello,

Currently only 2 materials are available to build structural blocks : (light) steel and (heavy) steel, both using steel but with the heavy variant using sturdier parts. I think more materials can be added to vary properties, as new variants for armour blocks :

1- full steel.

As the name suggests, the entire block is made of steel, pure continuous steel instead of a light structure. I did the math : a 50x50x50 cm small block weighs 100 kg, while a cube of steel of that size (for d=7,8) would weigh 975 kg. This means barely 10% of the volume is steel and the rest is vacuum or air. The proposed block would be a subtle increase to 100%.

Full steel blocks would thus be considerably stronger than current heavy armour, albeit much heavier. This would perfectly fit parts fully intended for heavy armour.

Target weight : nearly 8x heavy armour

Block resistance : 5x heavy armour

2- aluminium

Aluminium is a third the weight of steel (d = 2,7), and while not having near the same hardness, it allows making lightweight structures, with great stiffness for less weight than steel would allow.

Aluminium blocks would use a new element (Al) obtained from bauxite (a new ore) and be lighter, though more fragile, than light armour. Perfect for lightweight constructions that aren't expected to take damage.

Target weight : 50% of light armour

Block resistance : 50% of light armour

3- carbon

Pushing it one step further, carbon fiber is even lighter and would require another new element, carbon (C) which could be obtained from a coal (a new ore), to make the lightest blocks in the game. Producing carbon fiber is quite process-intensive so it would require some infrastructure to get at a large scale.

Target weight : 20% of light armour

Block resistance : 20% of light armour

4- glass

We currently have glass blocks but I think they are underwhelming, notably having a metal frame around each block greatly limits the field of vision. These blocks (as well as a remake of current glass panel blocks) would ditch the steel frame, while on the other hand allow some degree of tint to have coloured glass.

Allowing glass to take the shape of armour blocks would allow a greater freedom when making complex windows. They can keep the current weight resistance & material requirements of the current glass blocks, or be lighter as we remove the steel frame.