Kandros of the Clan - How many powers of 2 do you need?

[Mardoc]

Ilios had Bronze Working.

Darrell

Specifically - you can't get metal from the ground without the Bronze Working/Iron Working tech (as appropriate). It won't appear in your trade window or city resource box. For any other source (Palaces for Infernals/Angels, Mines of Gal-Dur, or trades), it works just fine for your troops. All that Smelting does is show you the locations and let you pre-improve & get the tile yield.

When you do research Iron Working, then all your current worries will be relevant then (assuming identical strategic position, of course). At Iron Working a connected iron mine produces iron to upgrade your troops and trade.

Also - technically you do have units that can use Iron - you have Axes and Soldiers of Kilmorph. Not that I expect that to change your conclusions.