Forging (old)

It is possible to create weapons and armor through the forging system. There are two parts to the process: smelting (mixing), which requires knowledge of the materials; and crafting (pounding), which requires physical stats and the appropriate weapon or armor skills.

There are a number of terms that have been developed by forgers to describe important ideas in the process. These include: volume, break points, compression

For forging, there is a 'hidden' skill called ANALYZE which reflects how much forging you have done. More skill in Analyze allows you to achieve better results when forging.

WARNING: Much of the information below is a few years old. Some details may have changed.

Weapon volumes

Note: This list was provided without a 'volume' to bars conversion.

1 volume: Dart

2 volume: dagger,throwing dagger,stiletto

3 volume: rapier,foil,short sword,baselard

5 volume: katar

6 volume: Scimitar,Sabre

7 volume: broadsword

8 volume: hand axe

9 volume: war hammer,mace,battle axe,bastard sword

10 volume: morning star

12 volume: claymore,two-handed sword,halberd

18 volume: maul

19 volume: pike

20 volume: greatsword

Armor volumes

metal breastplate 6.0 bars

half plate 10.0 bars

field plate armor 10.0 bars

full plate armor 14.0 bars

bascinet helm 3.4 bars

visored helm 3.4 bars

armet helm 3.0 bars

great helm 4.0 bars

scale tasset 3.0 bars

plate tasset 3.0 bars

scale aventail 1.8 bars

plate aventail 2.2 bars

plate greaves 2.0 bars

scale vambraces 1.8 bars

plate vambraces 2.0 bars

gauntlets 1.0 bars

chain shirt 5.0 bars

chain hauberk 8.0 bars

double chain mail DOES NOT WORK

full chain shirt 7.0 bars

augmented hauberk 10.0 bars

chain lorica 5.0 bars

chain helm 2.0 bars

full chain helm 2.0 bars

chain tasset 3.0 bars

chain aventail 2.0 bars

chain greaves 0.6 bars

chain vambraces 2.0 bars

mail gloves 0.9 bars

Break points

Some molds in the forge can be used to create two different kinds of armor. A given item will be one or the other depending on its weight. For example, the mold for chain vambraces can be used to make either LC or HC chain vambraces. Chain vambraces weighing less than 100 stones will be LC while those heavier than 100 stones will be HC.

chain vambraces: LC 100 HC

mail gloves: LC 45 HC

chain greaves: LC 39 HC

chain helm: LC 100 HC

chain body: LC 400 HC

plate greaves: LP 100 HP

plate gauntlets: LP 50 HP

How to smelt

1. Place your ingredients in the crucible using

2. PUSH crucible over the fire until the items are melted.

3. GET coal to shovel coal onto the fire to get the fire started

4. Push bellows until you see a brilliant fire.

5. SPLASH water if you are tired, If the fire starts to die out add more coal and bellows

6. wait until the metal melts. PULL the crucible off the fire and STIR the contents

7. Depending on what your recipe is you may have to add more ingredients and put the crucible back over the fire to melt it.

8. POUR crucible into wire/plate/ingot mold. The wire mold is used to create chain armor, the plate mold is used to create plate armor and the ingot mold is used to create weapons.

9. Wait until the mold has cooled. If you look at it and see "You see nothing unusual." then you know it has cooled completely.

10. Take wire/plate/ingot to the forge for forging.

How to craft

1. Put wire/plate/ingot on the forge and wait until your mold has heated to glowing white hot, it takes about 20 mins.

2. Take wire/plate/ingot and Put wire/plate/ingot on anvil to pound.

3. pound wire/plate/ingot into item if it cools place it back on the forge to heat it back up.

4. After you get a finished item you must put item in water to cool it

5. If item is armor you must fit it to the weight and encumbrance. The less weight and encumbrance you give it, the less defense it will provide you. Use [fit item hinderance/weight]. When you have it to exactly what you would like, [fit item final].

6. If it is a weapon you must now sharpen it and fix the edges. Head to the honing room and [turn grindstone] a few times and then [turn grindstone with item]. Now you will grind it using [grind item edge/power/balance/weight/point].

7. using a hilt in your right hand and blade in your left put hilt hilt on blade.

Compression

Category Abilities, Skills and Magic (4) Topic Weapon and Armor Smithing (12) By WITCHKING from PLAY.NET On Oct 30, 2002 at 15:58 Subject Mixing new metals and compression: A rehash from my POV (LONG) (2195)

Just search metallurgy compression. I had pondered about seeing how "realistic" DR's compression system is, but after hitting things going into a doctorate thesis and other brainy crud, I quit... heheh. Barely have to time play DR, let alone mess with that goop.

As a side note, I don't claim to know everything about the system even though I haven't had an ingot mess up my brain (well, except when I got real tired and confused m'self, yes did that a few times) for some time. Nor do I claim to be a super-genius the likes of Wile E. Coyote, but the system really isn't that complicated. Volumes, weights, compression, flexibility, etc, its not rocket science or for that matter even metallurgy. Its a games representation, and therefore at best a pseudo-science. I have forged since the inception, and sometime ago I found mixes that did everything I needed. I could adjust, etc., get what I want. I didn't have names for what I did, hell I didn't even worry much about volume, let alone compression. Then along comes the new metals, and eventually (prolly less than a month ago) I decided to figure it out. It wasn't that trixy dixy. I've no doubt that my previous time forging allowed for a quicker grasp, but eh... not that difficult. It didn't take me a month, took me oh... lets just say 2 weeks of sporadic work and play to be able to understand every mix that I typically use, and how to adjust each and every mix to predictable levels. Heck, even with the oddball molten metal mixes, you can regain predictability.

How would I do it as a new comer? Go back over every mix posted, its stats etc, mix em, weigh em, pound em, weigh em, watch em, chart em, get some percentages! Go crazy baby! Keep track of everything you can think of (is it all useful? yes, even if to prove to yourself that isnt useful to you). Got that done? Start asking why its all happening. In all likelyhood, you will begin to notice compression. Have a possible answer? Start with a mix you know, toss something else into it, anything really, and before it cools, see what your previous answer would predict. Was it right? Was it wrong? Was it close? If you're right, well, try some more, because right once doesn't equal right twice. If not, look at your new ingot. How much of what? What order? When was dust mixed? Was dust mixed again later? It all counts. You get molten metal? Realize at that point that this will throw you off. Figure out the whole, then come back to molten metal. Poshly has basically stated above what compression does, and once you know it exists, figuring it out isn't so bad.

For anyone who doesn't know, here's a basic look at compression for the apprentice smith, not going to hand out a formula or such, this is a you gotta do it yerself experiment, a stepping stone. Take an iron bar, mix with oh... a zinc slug, then mix in a dust... abbreviated by myself as Ib, zs/1d/ (each "/" equals a time you mix)... and you get steel. Go weigh that ingot and pound it into say, a broadsword. Weigh the blade. Now mix this: Ib,zs/zs/1d, weigh the ingot, pound into broadsword, and weigh the blade. The second blade weighs more! So you think to yourself, "hmmm, the ingot weighs more... so mebe that's why the blade weighs more." So in a grand lusty fashion, inspired by the need to experiment, you just do this mix: Ib, is/is/1d, and voila, you have another 61 stone ingot! Alrightee then! *pound*, run to MAMAS, slap it down on the counter, and scratch yer head. By gum, that silly dwarf at MAMAS is telling you it doesnt weigh the same as the second blade! Same amount of bars and slugs, even the same mixing order, same weight on the ingot.... but not the same. What in blazes! Frustrated, you whip out this mix: Ib,zs,zs/1d. You've got your steel, and wham! Yer off to Mamas, that ingot weighed 61, now what the bejeebers does the blade weigh! Same as the second blade? NO! Gah! Drat that dwarf! You have just witnessed compression, and the lack thereof. Now go see how much those really weigh, and try this one while you're at at it: ib,zs/zs/zs/1d. See what the ingot and blade from that weigh. Now figure out the whys, whens, and hows.

Anyone who wants to know, can know, I just don't want or need to know everything, its just what I need to know that matters,

Veldehar