Forge and bellows rework

[Luke_ksmith]

It would be cool if forges were modular, I.e If multiple forges are placed next to one another they become one large forge, this would also add a use case for the large bellows. making it so that while a regular bellows can only blow on one forge, a single large bellows could affect say a 4x4 cube of forges would be a very cool use for them.

I also STRONGLY believe that you should be able to heat up crucibles in forges 

 

oh I also think forges should be able to be made using all the rock types and also bricks, at least fire bricks.

Edited Monday at 10:22 AM by Luke_ksmith

[Rainbow Fresh]

Without thinking too much about it the idea sounds cool and I'd like to see that.

When starting to think too much about it, however, I come to the point where I gotta ask "What's the point". Why would you need such a big forge? Assuming you are smiting yourself, you'll barely if at all be able to smith the maximum of 4 ingots that fit into a single forge block before the next 4 would be heated up to temperature. Having them all simmer at the same time would just be a waste of coal. If it's iron blooms you want to smith (of which there only fit 1 per forge), the time it reasonably takes for you and a medium speed (directly to water wheel) helve hammer still take long enough for the next bloom to heat up, especially assuming you don't start at 0° but take them straight out of the bloomery. So the only possible scenarios in which anything is gained from it is when you either have a factory-style production line of a dozen helve hammers for mass bloom hammering or are on a big multiplayer server where several people smith at the same time in the same smithy. The former of which is a rather niche end-game playstyle and the latter of which a specific scenario many Singleplayer players (like myself) will never encounter. Something something "development time better spent elsewhere".

I do agree though that we need some reason for the large bellows to exist sooner than later because... Yeah. "What's the point". Of spending more resources to waste more coal just so you don't have to press RMB every minute or two.

[Luke_ksmith]

For me the point comes down to three things, one is for making plates and refining blooms. You said it’s only needed if you have a dozen helve hammers but I only have two helve hammers and every time I try to refine two blooms at once I have to juggle two bellows which is annoying, as well as the fact that if you could put crucibles in forges you’d want an extra two or more slots for those as well. the other is one you're playing with someone else you definitely might both want to be forging at the same time, yes a lot of single player players may never run into that but a large portion of these player base does play with a friend or a so. the third is that frankly just aesthetics; building a nice historical looking forge in this game is so difficult because they’re just these little one block things, in real life forges were quite large. 

[Facethief]

On 7/5/2026 at 11:41 PM, Luke_ksmith said:

I also STRONGLY believe that you should be able to heat up crucibles in forges

+1

I think the purpose that large bellows are going to fill will be that of mechanically-driven bellows, as IIRC that was the reason given for why they are currently unused.

If I had to give them additional utility over regular leather bellows, I’d say they could do to be able to give a longer flow of air per use.