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)