Brainstorm - Item Mechanic - Auto crafting

[Rasmus]

So I was thinking about making it so that once a forge and anvil is built it will start making armors and weapons that the creatures needs. All creature types has an equipment setup that is set by default and can modified by the player. But if a creature is missing is specific weapon or armor perhaps we could let the forge and anvil make it automatically in the metalworks room.

Then we could have an extra tab where the player can see what items are being manufactured in the metalworks room automatically, and that these could be turned off if the player wants to. Above that we still have the tab that is there now so if the player wants to create some extra bone armors he can do that as well.

What do you think?

[Xaos]

+2 for this because the crafting system in its current form is not intuitive. I didn't realize how to craft anything for a while. Would be easier for new players if this happened automatically.

[Mello Tonin]

Yeah, most definitely. Especially if it can be turned on and off. It should only be automatic for the primary choice though. This also leads me to something else I've been wanting to see for a time now, but I will post that in a separate suggestion later.

[Xaos]

I would go so far as to suggest the same thing for trading, also. I saw pretty quickly that you could set what your trading from the portal room's info panel, but I did not realize that you had to actually set up trades in the production panel until much later. I think it would be better to have the trades automatic, but the auto able to be turned off.

The next time the game tutorial is updated, I would recommend teaching players how to use the production panel and where the button is. I didn't even know it existed until I read about it on the forums somewhere.

[Sebt]

I'm always for having any chain of production automated and that meet the needs, not make big surpluses and waste my precious resources and occupy more Imps thus I think that's a good idea to have sort of "intelligent" weapon factory that when find that somebody is... naked or just can have better equipment it will say "hey, there's a need to make some armor, get your ass someone and come to make it!" +1

But I would like to have an insight at the list of weaponry that will be or already are being made so I could judge if I have for all of these resource capabilities to make them all and if some not I would like to be able to temporarily halt the production of any item I want to pass on, so it's great Rasmus thought about to implement that. +1

Hmm, then I wonder what about idea of possible making an Orc an Axeman or Archer, how would that work with this, but right now it's put on shelve.

[CCXI]

I prefer it as it is. If we forget to arm our minions its our fault. Of course Id love to see improvements in the crafting system, but having crafting done for me? No thanks.

[Mello Tonin]

Even if you could disable it so it would run manually?

[CCXI]

How about enable it to run automatically?

[wildmick]

i dunno.. i think it will trip up new players.. they need iron smelted for various rooms before they really need any gear, and the moment they build an anvil it starts cranking out items. is it using materials from storage? If it is.. then the various rooms they need built won't get built while it automates the production of items for the creatures, and we'll get endless complaints of whats wrong with production.. i'm trying to build a training room but the anvil keeps making items and i don[t know how to stop it. all the iron i make keeps getting used in the anvil. etc etc.

How about just stocking the starting inventory with more equipment. It already has about 5 axes shield swords etc. Its a tricky thing.. how much do you want to hand out free stuff to players. too much and they won't see the need to craft.

The biggest issue i have when looking at the crafting page is how much of something do i have and how much do i need to make. The numbers i see are whats available and not being used.. but i can't tell what is being used unless i individually check what each orc for example is equipped with. In the absence of going thru and checking, i just build 5 of everything and hope for the best.

I can't give every creature the best weapon or armour coz i'm not going to have all of them built quickly, so i have to prioritise which creatures get what.. and slowly over time build up gear for them. It woudl be good if you could dismantle gear you don't use anymore for the raw materials, coz by the time i can trade them for materials i've got so many materials that i don't really have a shortage.