Do different metals count toward the same prestige category as far as the penalty goes?
Refined copper vs refined iron
Refined copper vs refined gold
Refined copper vs machined gold
Machined gold vs machined titanium
How about gems?
Deco ruby vs deco sapphire etc
I always thought they counted towards the variation bonus?
Right so Iām asking which different metals count as ādifferentā as far as the variation bonus goes, see above comparisons.
I figure youād know 
having seen your build
As they have different prestige values from the get go Iād say they probably fall in different categories
Well I assume iron and copper count in the same category no?
Different prestige values iirc(hence why everyone uses iron for prestige dumps, other than the fact itās more common)The gems might be the same prestige amount tho
But I could be completely wrong. And as @VirtualEclipse said you could easily test that out
You can test this easily by exchanging one of your already placed blocks (best one that is attached to many of the same kind) with a transformation chisel. Look at the pres before after id say.
Not asking about the amount lol. I know those are different. Iām talking about how the variation bonus works.
I guess its possible, if any do fall within the same catagory, then if you can chisel change between them, it would make sense.
But, itās quite difficult to untangle, as there are a few ābonusā categories.
I donāt think there will ever be a definitive explanation of how the bonuses work.
The thought being if people knew the formula, then everyone would build to the formula.
I donāt think that would happen though.
Well if the amounts are different I would think they count in different categories. Plus they have different block ids. Tho I donāt know how different the block ids are. It could be a slight variation which would make one think they fall in the same category. But if itās far off it would lead me to believe they donāt. Only way to really find out is extensive testing, or dev statements. Tho if a pc user can dig into the block Ids we could make an educated assumption if they count towards the same category or not
I just always went along the lines of if the block is different, then itās different?
Similar block (iron/copper, gold/silver, etc) are not the same, so they are varied?
But I also am very sure it is capped at some point too.
I experimented with chisel changing some of my machined iron to copper and back, and it really made very little difference.
If I change 6 blocks total, sometimes the first 2/3 iron to copper reduced the prestige minutely, then the next 2/3 would increase it more. Sometimes the opposite.
Which made me think that there are other bonus factors coming into play as well.
In the end I stopped thinking about it and just placed the blocks I wanted too! 
I placed 125 deco gleam (exo) blocks today and got about 300 prestige somehow. Anyone else having issues with deco gleam? These are my only deco gleam blocks and almost my only gleam blocks, so they shouldnāt be getting penalized. I thought deco gleam were like 15 each or more.
I never really look at prestige so I donno this stuff
I think density may be a factor as well.
So if you made a cube from those, there would be some -ve bonus.
It is @fidach, placing huge chunks of blocks especially one type gets penalized heavily.
Same with chiseling, place huge amounts of chiseld blocks in a chunk it gets penalized as well.
Hereās a general tip if you want to max out on pres, build in a way that is pretty lol. (Variety, air, chisel)
I just placed a single deco gleam block in the middle of my build and it increased my prestige by 4.
You get 16xp for placing it, maybe thatās where the 15 comes from?
But now I places another 3 to make a square and it added 18 prestige.
So 4 for the first one, then 18/3 for next 3!
Then added 4 more on top to make a cube and it added only another 4 total! Ah, no, it took a while to catch up!
It added 123! I have no idea whatās going on. 
Heh, when I removed the blocks the prestige went up slightly, then down to 12 more than the start of this threadā¦
Careful it takes air, variety, total amounts etc. into account
The new blocks - gold filigree, iron with holes in it, and apparently deco gleam give absolutely ABYSMAL prestige returns. I donāt want to say too much because I donāt want my ā ā ā ā to get rebalanced Spongebob and Patrick style, but just know that if you are using the new blocks it should be for beauty alone - their only job is to look amazing.