Alloy calculator to be added to the game itself

[SnapJelly]

Hello friends,

So when I first started playing and it came to making alloys I always ended up grabbing my phone to help me calc the best rates because I'm not very good at math, after I discovered calculator tools online I pretty much never ever tried calculation anything by myself. Whenever I have to make an allow I alt-tab out of the game to a new screen to figure out how many nuggets I need, I even have my favorite one bookmarked.

So as for my suggestion, I wouldn't mind for a alloy calculator to be added to the game itself, the handbook is already so detailed about explaining what to do so I don't think it would be that immersion breaking (atleast not as immersion breaking as opening a calculator on a new screen lol)

Conversely I could also see a new item like an abacus for example to be added that could open a calculator, it would be more immersive that way I think.

I have (hopefully succesfully) added a poll because I want to see if you guys are in the same boat, do you also switch to a calculator or do you count in your head? Because I can imagine that if you do do all the math in your head then having a slider somewhere might looks strange.

[Rainbow Fresh]

I used a calculator once at the beginning. After getting the questionably late Eureka realization that... in bulk the Tin Bronze can be scewed to use slightly more copper than the (at the time perceived) scarce tin than just doing 9:1. Ever since then I have just been eyeballing it though with slight adjustments in the higher bulk ranges; so technically using neither a calculator nor my brain. And none of this matters once reaching the iron age anyway, so...

I like the abacus idea should a calculator be added to the game for, e.g., alloy rate calculations but I don't think we need a tool like that specifically. Gotta do some work by good ol' hand!

Edited Wednesday at 03:24 PM by Rainbow Fresh

[Zaph42nd]

Calculator is good while you are still new to the game, though I think the longer you play it becomes an intuitive decision as to what alloys you can feasibly make based on your stockpiles. I'm not, however, against some manual counting tool since it could also extend to other mechanics where you'd need a good #s count (off the top of my head, meals are one where a little math can help you get balanced diets faster)

[LadyWYT]

In my opinion a calculator works best as a mod. Yes, there is a "min/max" ratio for every alloy, but it saves you like...maybe a nugget or two per casting. It's better not to stress over it and just make whatever you have on hand work for whatever you need. If you're casting tin bronze and don't have a lot of tin, cool, you might want to be a little heavier on the copper. Have plenty of both and have other stuff you need copper for? Use a bit more tin. And so on and so forth.

[Michael Gates]

This is something a person would use maybe twice in a game, and I don't know of a way to do it without breaking immersion. Alt-tab and run calc if you want to squeeze out every bit of bronze, as opposed to going and finding another disc of cassiterite (there WILL be another one, near the one you found).