Refining Iron

I have only skimmed this as I haven't had a need to use it yet, but it should at least get you on the right track: https://forums.elementalgame.com/419061

Not quite what I am trying to do here.  Basically looking for a way to set up  smelter to convert iron to steel by consuming 1 iron and turning it into 1 steel for the initial building.  This could possibly be used for a second tier as well with steel being blended with crystal to a crystal infused metal but that is down the road if I can get the first part to work.

Actually, that's pretty close to what you want. Instead of getting 1 metal from an earth shard, you want 1 steel from metal (which is tied from the smelter). You'll have to create the steal resource of course, but it shouldn't take too much to tweak from that thread what you want.

You can also set up an independent improvement that reduces metal income by -1 and increases steel income by +0.5 or so. It could be tricky though, because your metal income may change over time and you could run into negative metal if you just keep subtracting.

Thinking about it, my approach would be to make it an upgrade for iron ore mines instead. That way you maintain control over the income and outcome. Ie, I'd remove Iron Works from the game and put a Steel Smelter there instead (+2 Metal, +2 Steel).

Hmm, not sure about that now ...

I think I'd do it more like this.

+1 iron, +2 iron, +4 iron, +3 iron +1 steel, +2 iron +2 steel.

That sort of progression

I do agree, however, that it should be tied directly to the Iron mines (better for a game like this)

I like it.  Also acts as a gateway to higher quality items by needing to invest in the Civ tree.  Thanks guys.