Resource Grades

[Rob Maule]

Here's an option that could be considered. When gathering resources, different grades, or quality types, could be collected in three different types, instead of just one.

Sixty percent would be low grade, thirty would be of medium grade, and the final ten would be high. Or the formula could be modified to make it easier/harder to get the best type. And variations in each resource could make high grades more valuable. Even different formulas for different regions.

That would also mean that the number of all resources would now be tripled. Instead of just wood, you could have poor, fair, and good wood. And each type would remain separate in your inventory. The types would also be displayed when examining objects made with those grades.

Which brings me to the main point of having different resource grades. Tools, objects, buildings, etc. made with different grades would have according attributes. Low grade shovels would be able to dig less than medium or high. Low grade buildings would hold less weight. But other things could relate to resource grades.

If skills were to be introduced, being better at gathering would allow you to get more high grade resources and less low grade. Better tools would increase your odds even further, but by a smaller amount than the skill.

If erosion were to be implemented, high grade tools, etc. would wear down slower than low grade tools.

End Result: Quillanoi stone could actually be the best in the world. Well, assuming everything stacks up right.

[rklenseth]

I like that idea a lot. Also if skills are added then some people might be more skillful in making tools and such and would add to the quality, or even detract, of what is made.

[Meh]

That could spread wood all over. Shack, Shanty, and firewood should be univeral. Wood for tool handles should be common. Wood for bows and ships should be as rare or rarer then they are today. One way to do this without progamming is just to declare those resource types and adjust the possible projects.

If this were to be applied to food...

The food gathering rates of today would be for low grade food. Rots quickly.
Higher grades would rot into lower grades over time. Higher grades would require less consumption. The lower cosumption assumes you are not really eating all the lower grade food but thorwing out the bad parts.
Some progamming around the rotting from good to bad would be needed.

For metals the resource types could be added and the projects adjusted.
Wheelbarrow and trowel iron doesn't have to be of as good quality as shovel iron. Bicycle and weapon iron doesn't have to be as good as car enigne iron. There could be process to covert these into higher grades. Mainly using a hammer with an anvil and heat. Unless the tool wear was programmed no programming would be required.

Stone can't be made better once it's out of the ground. It can only get worse. The main quality of stone is how long it can last in an object.

[Solfius]

I like, but to clarify, one resource source would be one quality, not all 3 from the same source?

[Rob Maule]

I don't see why all three grades couldn't come from the same place. There are RL places where some things are better than other places. But there is also a lot of variation. Like if you were to go out to a cornfield, I doubt you'd find that every stalk is bursting with huge ears of corn. Most, but not all. And some might be small. Some might be partially rotten. And that would be simulated in Cantr by having resource grades. But like I said, some places could have different formulas with different chances to get better resources.

Also, low grade tools would still be better than gathering by hand. And a high grade tool would never be as good as a better low grade tool. So, uh, whatever else that implies.

[Meh]

Wherever there is high quality there should be medium and low.
Wherever there is medium quality there should also be low quality.
Some places would only have low quality. For instance firewood should be prolific.

[Solfius]

so, the better the quality of the stone the more likely you are to get high grade stone, than medium and low?

[Rob Maule]

Yes David, that's a good point. Like forests that are on the outskirts of a main forest (Eg: Siom Forest (south)) would have a lower grade than what is found deeper in. And the same could go for mountains with stone/iron/etc. and hills with limestone/sand/etc.

[Rob Maule]

so, the better the quality of the stone the more likely you are to get high grade stone, than medium and low?

Right. But there should be places where high grade resources cannot be found. Though I would suggest that those places should not be too far away. Maybe 2 locations farther.

[Solfius]

Yeah to david's idea. Don't know about two locations further though, depends what material maybe. maybe the rarer materials wouldn't have so many of the varying grades of resoucre, like good iron could be super super rare, as there are few sources of iron to begin with

[rklenseth]

But maybe with the grid system there will be more places to find iron plus perhpas the deeper you dig into the ground the more the chance you will find iron.

Want to make iron super rare then make it so you actually have to make iron from ore instead of automatically getting it from the ground.

But if you do that then add in easier metals to get, like bronze and such, so that one could build a bronze shield instead of a iron shield. Or a even a bronze sword instead of a steel sword.

[new.vogue.nightmare]

Except bronze is an alloy, isn't it? So you'd need to make that first. Which would probably be about as much trouble as extracting iron..unless the metals it was made of were much easier to find.

[Solfius]

bronze is indeed an alloy, I believe of copper and tin.

Bronze is weaker than iron, I think. I know it is such an important advance that it had its own age. I'd like to see stone, bronze, and iron age style advancment in cantr. We could have a different version of each tool, and if we had degrading then each tool would last for different lengths and have differen effectivenesses, and I think it would be quite clear what is the better tool, so people would want to trade it.

Include that with different quality resources as well to further affect effeciency and durability and I think the results will be very satisfying

[rklenseth]

Except bronze is an alloy, isn't it? So you'd need to make that first. Which would probably be about as much trouble as extracting iron..unless the metals it was made of were much easier to find.

Yeah, but it would be a lot easier to maunfacture as well as the materials for it would be easier to get. The materials for bronze would be easier to get as well as it would be easier to manufacture bronze. Iron would be a little bit harder to find the materials to make and then to manufacture into iron. Steel would be the hardest (unless we decide to add another kind of metal) to find the materials for as well as manufacture.

Building onto Solfius' idea, there could be a lever of tools. There would be tools made out of bronze, iron, or steel. Bronze tools wouldn't last as long as steel tools. Then you can add in quality. Quality of materials used to manufacture the metal, then the quality of the manufactured metal (depending on the skill of the metalsmith and the quality of the resources used), and then quality of the tool (depending on the skill of the person manufacturing the tool and the quality of the metals being used). You could even add in that the quality of the stuff be affected by the quality of the machines and tools being used. This could lead to a very complex tool system that I think would benefit Cantr. This could also lead to a bronze tool lasting longer than a steel tool because of the quality that it is made of. A complex system would also make it a lot more interesting, I think.

[Rob Maule]

And other metals could be combined to form new alloys, creating possibilities for more tools and things. You just smelt them together and the result is the alloy.

But what about combining different amounts to create slightly different alloys? Maybe 20/80 iron and bronze would be stronger than 40/60, but weaker than 60/40. A somewhat chaotic curve. Characters would have to record and experiment with the alloys' strengths, durabilities, malleability, etc.

And then it could be possible to smelt three or more metals together. Different smelting formulas would allow a greater rarity of quality tools and products made from those tools.