Replacement for rusty gears

[MassiveHobo]

I don't think they fit in the lore and world as some irreplicable relic of the past world as we can create steel, and hardening/heat treating steel gears cut on a machine tool is not some occult enough and far off technology for the world of VS. As a currency they are very hard to store and transport due to their size so they aren't great as a currency, nor are they useful for crafting as they are too rusty to be of mechanical use. Nobody is going to be making jewelry out of them either. 

I suggest they be replaced by another currency item; Machine teeth. A mysterious item to vintarians that is a relic of the past. It will never be replicable in vintage story as its a relic technology made many generations ago by a much more advanced collapsed civilization so its a better currency. However vintarians have found it extremely useful for building machines, drilling rock, creating weapons and tools, utilizing magic, or using as ammunition for ranged weapons more advanced than bows. Or making jewelry out of. It needs to be soldered with a solder made of nickel, silver, copper, and zinc to be usable in crafting recipes. To us its just a modern cemented carbide machining insert but nobody knows that in VS, its just a mysterious, incredibly hard, dense, magnetic, temperature and erosion resistant metallic object that is seemingly indestructible. Its very small and so its easier to carry and store. 

 

 

[ifoz]

I love rusty gears as the currency, and the fact that gears are canonically a holy symbol is super cool. They're irreplaceable because they're super intricate and that's why they cannot be replicated. They also seem to have connections to temporal gears, which makes them a bit otherworldly and perhaps more intricate than could be created with the tech we currently have.
I do actually really like the look of machine teeth though.. Maybe they could act as a misc item that players could create their own economies around.
Something small like omok pieces that have no actual use (other than the omok board but that only applies to omok pieces) but are a fun little collectable trinket.

If they were in the game as a weird little collectable, I guarantee I would want to find one of each just because they're a cool little thing.

Edited May 17 by ifoz

[LadyWYT]

1 hour ago, MassiveHobo said:

I don't think they fit in the lore and world as some irreplicable relic of the past world as we can create steel, and hardening/heat treating steel gears cut on a machine tool is not some occult enough and far off technology for the world of VS.

Ifoz already beat me to the punch on this, but it's heavily implied that rusty gears are leftovers of temporal gears, whether they've had their energy expended or been otherwise corrupted. We also don't currently have the ability to craft temporal gears themselves, though it may be added in later updates. As it stands now, it's a lost art, and prior to the worldwide calamity crafting temporal items seemed to be limited to only the most skilled craftsmen(hence a large part of the reason that common folk seem to revere these items). In other words, it's like comparing a kindergartner's art project to Michelangelo.

Pulling straight from the wiki:

1 hour ago, MassiveHobo said:

As a currency they are very hard to store and transport due to their size so they aren't great as a currency, nor are they useful for crafting as they are too rusty to be of mechanical use. Nobody is going to be making jewelry out of them either. 

According to the wiki, they can stack to 1000. I don't know if the information is accurate or not, as I've not yet had more than about 100 at any given time, but the stack size seems fine as it is given that the idea is to spend them. Storage shouldn't be an issue given they can be somewhat difficult to acquire; the only issue I can think of on that is trying to store them on the ground(they only stack to five in this case). As for how big they are...given the model size I'd say they're about the size of a human hand, which doesn't seem the most practical to carry around. On the other hand(pun not intended...mostly), it's a videogame, and it's a cooler idea than just straight coins. Being able to carry ridiculous amounts of currency around is a plot convenience that most games use in some way or another. The example I'll cite is Legend of Zelda--the rupees are gems that are a similar size to the gears, but Link can still carry a few hundred in his wallet.

1 hour ago, MassiveHobo said:

Nobody is going to be making jewelry out of them either. 

And now I want to put my rusty and temporal gears on a string and wear them as amulets. I mean, we can do it with tree seeds! The temporal gear might not be the most comfortable to wear though given it constantly spins...

49 minutes ago, ifoz said:

I do actually really like the look of machine teeth though.. Maybe they could act as a misc item that players could create their own economies around.

What if machine teeth were a drop from mechanical enemies? It could be a somewhat esoteric part that clockmakers could use to craft a gizmo or malefactors could use to improvise a booby trap. If there is some sort of rival "monster hunter" faction added later I could also see machine teeth being used as currency for them, or used to craft some of their stuff.

Of course, if you take "machine teeth" literally...drifters aren't exactly machines but are part metal, and given some of their existing art...

I could also see the teeth being a rare drop from some of the higher level drifters. It would also explain how they make short work of their prey.

[MassiveHobo]

I appreciate the responses. What makes rusty gears special to me with their metal and craftsmanship is specifically the fact that one cannot cast them in a mold as stated in the lore, which means they require advanced manufacturing. They have to be made from a carefully controlled alloy by machine, machined on a 4+ ton precision machine tool powered by a steam engine or electric motor by a highly skilled craftsman, and then heat treated. When mass producing them you need an advanced large scale operation involving arc furnaces, heat treating ovens, and a precision machining industry. If our civilization disappeared in a flash and our rusty gears were left behind they would be thought of as magical relics despite being quite possible to reproduce. Nothing in the lore other than superstition points to them being supernatural, and they really are a terrible currency by weight and value relative to what they are exchanged for. 

About jewelry and portability these gears are huge, machine teeth/carbide inserts are the size of a thumbnail and they'd be much better jewelry items and they are infinitely more durable and usable as tools and weapons. They are obscenely difficult to produce as well even today. Repeating myself they are unworthy as money because you have to carry 5kg of gears to buy a 5kg pickaxe, speaking in estimation. 

[ifoz]

4 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

And now I want to put my rusty and temporal gears on a string and wear them as amulets.

To me, the Forlorn Hope Talisman looks a lot like a temporal gear being worn as an amulet!
Though a Rusty Gear Talisman would be a super cool addition...