Talk:Blacksmithing discipline

Smelting

I plan on keeping a log of my brand new blacksmith's journey here.

Around 6 or 7 mech lore, I started seeing these results while mixing lead/copper into ingots.
~ Your experience in smelting metal ore begins to show in the finished work.
~ A scant few mistakes can be seen in the smelted metal.
~ Overall the work meets your expectations.

Before this, I was messing up terribly. Refining is still a no-go as well.

Analyzing the ingots produces zero results, so I have no way of telling how good the ingot is, how pure it is, or what its volume is.
- drtyprior 07:08, 19 March 2011 (UTC)

If there is more volume in the crucible, mech lore appears to move slightly faster. The difficulty doesn't seem to be any different. I don't have the skill to analyze for quality yet.

However, mixing refined ingots with unrefined ingots/nuggets - no matter the quantity - seems to take more skill than mixing purely unrefined goods. I'm assuming any time a refined ingot is involved, it uses that as the skill check's difficulty. This most likely ends up producing a lesser-quality ingot. That also makes being able to analyze different ingots even more important, as a refined ingot looks the same as an unrefined one to the untrained eye.
--drtyprior 16:29, 19 March 2011 (UTC)

Mixing steel (iron/coal in equal amounts) appears to take no more skill to produce an ingot. I'm getting the same messaging that I have been with any other ore. Likewise, mixing steel ingots together doesn't appear to make the task any more difficult.
--drtyprior 16:53, 19 March 2011 (UTC)

Around 11 ranks in mech lore provided me my first successful analyze.

~ You roughly analyze the steel ingot and make a few observations.
~ This appears to be a type of refined metal ingot that is of mediocre quality.

As expected, not the greatest quality. But an idea of what I'm holding is better than nothing. I wonder if the analyzes become more precise with better skill?
--drtyprior 16:58, 19 March 2011 (UTC)

At precisely 15 ranks of mech lore, I started seeing these messages while mixing 2 coal (a moderate amount of carbon)/1 iron:
~ You do not even need to glance inside the crucible to know the mixing is going great.
~ The work proceeds as planned without any mistakes whatsoever.
~ The smelting proceeds exceptionally well and free of mistakes.

This resulted in an above-average quality steel ingot. Still unable to determine what type of steel.

Interestingly, my next product was a 3 coal (large amount of carbon)/1 iron steel ingot that went back to giving me a worse tier of messaging. Analyzing the finished ingot still showed it as above-average quality.
--drtyprior 19:40, 19 March 2011 (UTC)

At 18 ranks in Mech Lore, I achieved my first well-made lead ingot. I may be able to start taking easy work orders. After checking with Fereldrin, it seems the minimum ingot he'll take is finely-crafted. Back to the crucible.

Also, at 18, I was able to refine the well-made lead ingot while getting the same level of messaging. The lead, however, was not analyzable. Trying to bundle it with the logbook got a negative result, so one can assume the refining process didn't bring the ingot up to a finely-crafted level.
--drtyprior 00:06, 20 March 2011 (UTC)

At 22 ranks in Mech Lore and 17 in appraisal, I analyzed a well-made iron ingot and got this messaging.
~ You analyze the iron ingot and learn more about its construction.
~ This appears to be a type of refined metal ingot that is well-crafted.
~ The ingot is an extremely easy piece to make.

Odd that it's extremely easy to make at 22, but I can't produce anything better than well-crafted. Perhaps any quality better than that requires refining.
--drtyprior 03:21, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

Refining only affects the ingot's purity (appraise careful to see that). -Moderator Caraamon Makdasi^(talk) 03:27, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

So quality and purity are *not* the same thing? What do the two different terms mean then? --drtyprior 03:30, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

Purity means how much junk there is in the material you're using to make an item. High purity makes it easier to make items. Quality is how well you made that item, and how close to the caps you got (for a given template and material). Purity is material based, quality is skill based. -Moderator Caraamon Makdasi^(talk) 03:46, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

Just a small update: at 30 skill in Mech Lore, still unable to make anything better than well-crafted ingots. However, ingot smelting/remixing is still training Mech Lore superbly. Smashes Kodius's stated limit of about 25.