I'm thinking that it's easier to get a crucible to maintain it's structural integrity at high heat if it is round, and not too tall.
Also, the difficulty in forging out the metal is a problem with all ingots, the first stages are the difficult ones and would exist with either round or long ones, so the benefit is not as great as it would seem.
Round, compact ingots also might be less prone to casting flaws, bubbles and/or slag inclusions, due to the surface area to mass ratio - it really sucks when you spend a bunch of hours forging something out and then find a flaw.
What do you think?
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