Feature Idea: The Rock Hammer

[Copperman]

When new players seek out copper, the two options they have are to either:
Locate 40 Copper Nuggets via Panning and at least one surface deposit to come back to (20 for the Pick, 20 for the Hammer to process the ore) or
Pan 60 Nuggets (20 for Pick, 20 for Hammer, and 20 For a Prospecting Pick as you do not know where any copper ore is)

My idea is to allow the player to use the large clusters of rocks that sometimes spawn to produce a very crude hammer which is capable of crushing ore into nuggets or harvesting stone and ore at greatly reduced efficiency and at a higher time cost in making multiples of the tool due to low durability and its slow mining speed.

The reason I believe this could be a good addition is that it provides a player who might be having trouble finding large amounts of surface deposits to reach the required 40 nuggets the option to be more proactive and source a tool that will allow them to take advantage of the minimal copper they have discovered.

I do not feel this is imbalanced or unfair as in exchange for insulating the player from bad luck it demands more thought, time, and action to get to the end goal (The Ability to prospect and mine ores)

Please feel free to comment on whether you think this is a good or bad idea or what could be changed.


 

[dakko]

That is an interesting idea.

I would like it best if the rock hammer were to be limited to hard stones, and that it could only affect stones that are actually easily crushable (such as limestone, for instance).

[Thorfinn]

Rather than adding a new knapping recipe and whatever that entails, what about just give a low percentage drop of a "hammerstone" from hard (good idea, @dakko) boulders in lieu of the normal drop of stones? Skip the knapping step entirely. The durability of the "hammerstone" is set sufficiently low that few would bother going that route once they have enough metal. Maybe as little as one or two pieces of copper (and only copper?) ore, or to be more faithful to the idea, maybe 5, enough medium ore to pour a copper hammer? Or 7, so a single hammerstone could get enough from low-grade?

To keep things as normal as possible, a granite hammerstone can be placed in the crafting grid by itself and converted into granite stones? Or for verisimilitude, two hammerstones in the grid become as many stones as two boulders would drop?

[EDIT]

Or, hey, how about changing the drops of boulders to be "boulders", stack size 16, so as to keep inventory management the same. Then place a boulder above an ore in the crafting grid to convert it to nuggets, destroying the boulder, or a boulder by itself to convert it to stones?

[/EDIT]

That said, panning is not that horrible. In a single night, you can easily pan up 20 nuggets. Worst case, if you spent the daylight exploring and the nighttime panning, and you found no copper at all, you could be prospecting with pick in hand by day 3, day 4 fully kitted out.

Edited May 8, 2023 by Thorfinn

[dakko]

Oooo! I like the hammerstone idea! It would also make a nice replacement to breaking in-block flint by hand, assuming that mechanic still exists.

I agree with Thorfinn about panning, however some players really dislike it (I'm thinking GGBeyond in his current LP. He's had a devil of a time finding copper and has been reduced to panning even though he'd really rather not). A hammerstone could provide an option that involves travel and lots of changing visuals; I can see where that could 'feel' less tedious than standing in one spot all night.

Anything that helps fleshout the stoneage experience is welcome (as far as I'm concerned), as I think that aspect of the game is a bit lacking.

ETA: This is a timely topic too. I'm beginning to suspect that copper drops less frequently when panning now, and I've experienced less surface copper (but also the largest batch I've ever seen). All that to say, I think we may be in for more panning than before.

Edited May 8, 2023 by dakko

[Thorfinn]

I'm finding surface copper to just be a lot more variable. In some areas, you can't swing a dead cat. Probably my best ever first day was in 1.18.1, with 126 surface nuggets. But I've also had a lot more where I've had to pan my way to the prospecting pick. The copper is still in the rocks, it's just not on the surface.

So far, with probably a confirmation bias kicking in, surface nuggets on basalt seems at least as good as it was in 1.17, maybe even better. Granite is also about the same, maybe a bit lower. But sandstone, conglomerate, etc., seem much lower. And I've had large slate spawns were I found not a single nugget. More often than not, I'm ending day 1 with no more than 20, and day 2 with no more than 40. Unless, so far, basalt or granite start.

Edited May 8, 2023 by Thorfinn

[dakko]

Yeah, it does seem more variable. It used to be pretty rare (with my custom settings) to find only 1 nugget of copper, but in 1.18 that seems to be more typical.

Your observations are interesting, as I'm on a slate spawn and have found very little if anything while in slate. Further out (in limestone) was the huge surface deposit, and now that I think about it, I've only found malachite deposits so far (but I've not played very long). The regular copper was from panning.

eta: I'm playing a 1.18.1 generated world from the seed of one started in an earlier 1.18 (can't remember which one)

Edited May 9, 2023 by dakko