>>714200551But like
When are you actually using copper, though?
It has the exact same tech availability as iron, is only marginally more common, and literally the only thing going for copper armor is that your first iron is probably going towards a pick and a bucket.
By the time you find enough copper for armor and smelt it, you've probably already found enough iron to start smelting that and making armor out of it.
It would be way, way better if you could use copper for shit like buckets, minecarts, tracks, ect. Copper shouldering some of the more utilitarian function of iron would be way, way better, than adding it as a shitty in-between material, with no real value, that will still just be replaced by iron