Stralgaez Posted May 21 Report Posted May 21 On 5/20/2026 at 1:18 AM, NastyFlytrap said: This is literally what i did and will continue to do so until this post's rework is implemented because i think the mechanic in its current implementation is not fun. My group does it like that as well - After some curious experimentation and the one or two tools breaking on the first quenching, they decided to abandon it altogether. And for the lack of caring about it anymore, they just place the freshly worked metal piece on the floor until it naturally cooled enough to be used with a stick to make the tool.
BlackCDown Posted May 21 Report Posted May 21 On 5/20/2026 at 12:44 AM, MKMoose said: The thing that I've never liked in RNG-based mechanics is that even a very small chance, multiplied by a large number of players, can produce a significant number of unhappy players. Shattering your first two pieces only has a tiny 0.25% chance, but give this to, say, 10k people, and on average 25 of them will shatter their first two pieces. Some of those 25 people will leave with a sour taste only to be told "well, you were really unlucky". And while it's ultimately not particularly meaningful in the long run, because you're usually gonna have much more iron on hand, I personally don't particularly like mechanics which allow such an obvious risk in the first place (which, by the way, is also why I'm not really a fan of scarcity balancing which is used extensively for things like resin, bees, or fire clay, or even seemingly common cattails - I've watched a new player search for them for almost two hours trying to complete the tutorial, and they just got a really bad world). It is not particularly meaningful in the long run, sure, but those burned by first chance failures will feel it so intensely because it strikes them at a point of scarcity. Especially when you were trying to make tools to solve that scarcity in the first place. 1
NastyFlytrap Posted May 21 Report Posted May 21 53 minutes ago, BlackCDown said: It is not particularly meaningful in the long run, sure, but those burned by first chance failures will feel it so intensely because it strikes them at a point of scarcity. Especially when you were trying to make tools to solve that scarcity in the first place. Not meaningful practically, 'just make another one', sure, the problem is that emotionally it sucks to play with mechanics like that. 1
Stralgaez Posted May 22 Report Posted May 22 12 hours ago, NastyFlytrap said: Not meaningful practically, 'just make another one', sure, the problem is that emotionally it sucks to play with mechanics like that. Especially on metals you need to put in some effort in order to produce them, like Steel - Only to have them disappear into nothing on the first quench. 1
NastyFlytrap Posted June 19 Report Posted June 19 On 5/22/2026 at 2:51 AM, Stralgaez said: Especially on metals you need to put in some effort in order to produce them, like Steel - Only to have them disappear into nothing on the first quench. Oh yeah. If that happened to a steel tool i'd be PISSED. Fuck this mechanic in its current implementation
Crimeo Posted June 19 Report Posted June 19 (edited) Yep, quenching multiple times is fine and is a thing in real life, but with tempering in between properly, it's almost zero risk. It's just a thing you can put more effort into if you want higher "power". It should also come directly at a cost of durability in exchange for power (the exact same reason things can shatter more also applies to normal use... kinda "duh") So you'd do it for weapons and maybe armor and that's about it. Items where lower durability is worth it for minmaxed momentary peak performance (to not lose the fight). Possibly picks if higher "power" was required to mine some things. And it would be a measure of tedium for a reward, not gambling. Like everything else in the game, leathermaking etc. Edited June 19 by Crimeo
LadyWYT Posted July 1 Report Posted July 1 On 3/3/2026 at 1:38 PM, MKMoose said: TLDR Make it both more fun and more realistic: quenching should only be done once, except as a way of retrying. tempering should always be done after quenching, and should only be done after quenching, annealing should be done before quenching, or on its own when power isn't desired, the mechanic should be more skill-dependent. It may or may not hit the mark exactly, but...I did a thing: https://mods.vintagestory.at/improvedquenching
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