Forge Etiquette

ClownBaby · 2018-11-18 02:00:20

I am a relatively new player who has usually chosen to forge when I have the opportunity to. This is probably not the best audience for this guide as people here will tend to be experienced, but I have seen mostly clueless people around the forge so thought I'd give it a shot anyways.

Caveat: This is written from a smith's perspective, not the most crucial job when the town is starving, but definitely important for long term survival. By all means break these rules where needed if getting steel tools fast is low on the town's current priorities.

General Tips

Forging takes around 30 seconds to a minute to set up if you only have one kiln. Therefore Smiths try to do as much as possible during each forge period. I usually plan to do 4-5 forging actions, so I map it out in my mind beforehand. Any obstructions tends to throw me off track and dramatically lowers my output. This is especially important for when a town first starts smithing, as all tools are wanted in fairly short order.

These following behaviors can mess your smith up pretty badly:

Treating the forge area as the main town square. Anyone moving around obstructs the tools and makes it so the forging does not go as planned. Conversely, building a forge on the only desert land nearby is asking the town to make it the town square, so move it if possible.
Putting items near the forge. Empty space is often needed to move items around, if items are put there it slows me me down dramatically (If you are looking to troll, put small items in those empty spaces, like gooseberry seeds. Best way to confuse me and slow me down)
Taking tools. This is somewhat unavoidable, but the sheer number of tools a smith needs has me running around 25% of the time tracking them all down. This includes hammer, kindling or hatchet/axe, firewood, 2 flat stones, 2 bowls and plates, adobe, bellows, tongs, long straight branch, a nearby fire. Other less important to have tools are round/sharp stones, chisel, file.
Trying to help without asking. I am always happy to have extra help, but a lot of people do not ask beforehand and just obstruct me more than helping. There are a few actions that pretty much always help out but a lot that do not. Clearing the flat stones of items, stacking wood/bars, removing items useless to smithing from the area, bringing wood/iron, setting up crucibles are all usually appreciated. If you are unsure, ask first. There is a lot more you can help out with but you should ask about it before attempting.
Demanding tools. All tools are important, and this is a bigger deal when the forge is just set up than later on. The usual item order I do is
Hammer->Axe->Hoe/Shovel->Other hammer only tools(as needed)->File->Bladed tools. This may differ from village to village, but don't go begging for a knife when your town doesn't have an axe or a hoe yet. Feel free to ask but if the town has barely any steel tools you may not get yours right away.

Apprenticeship

I don't mind teaching new players on how to smith if they ask for it, it may not be the same for all smiths. Here are some tips to ingratiate yourself if you are looking to learn or take over. Here is some advice on getting on a smith's good side:

Do all the good actions in the "Trying to help" section that I mentioned (better to ask first though). If the area is completely set up it takes a lot of stress away from your smith. Afterwards, you can look to expand or help in the smithing process.
Sit by the side and learn. The steel ingot process is always the same so try to learn that first. You can also set that up pretty independently from them (more on that below). Be sure not to be in the way, just stand far enough away where you aren't standing on any tools needed for smithing.
Future helpful actions. Ask the smith if you can set up another kiln if only one exists. That way you can have one kiln setting up while the other one forges. If they do not want one near them, I would still potentially make one 5+ tiles away and help with ferrying charcoal. I doubt any smith would be against free charcoal.
Helping the smith with the process can be useful too. Ask them if you can do the crucible/steel ingot production process for them(after you learn how to do it). If you set up a side area with separate tools you can do this without getting in the smith's way. You don't need any steel tools to do this, so I would personally have no objections with it if done smartly.
Taking over. If the smith is cool with you learning, you'd naturally take over after they retire. Otherwise, if you want to be the next in line I would hunt down iron sources, especially the very rare iron vein. You can then at worst fumble around after the other smith is gone if there is no one else qualified.

TL;DR Keep out of the smith's way, if everyone did that his/her productivity would go up by 100% at least! Ask your smith if they need help if you want to learn/take over the job.

Feedback is welcome. I don't speak for all smiths and more experienced ones probably would do some things differently and/or better than I would.

pein · 2018-11-18 06:35:52

newbies who run in forest until starve tend to view the kiln as a symbol of advancement
some people tell them not to build too close, so people tend to make farm 4 tiles away

once me and mom found a desert and she already had kids, and im faster anyway so i decided locations
was a 20x15 desert with ponds on south side so i planted berries there, and made the kiln top side as it has good temperature, the middle of desert is useless, too hot, you eat more, just toss bones there as it blocks people from making rooms
this was a while ago but the new people tend to do the same

the eve tries raising kids, when they grow and nobody checks on them they dump soil in front of kiln and start farmign and extending it endlessly
now there is one solution, uild new kiln somewhere further, if no food there babies wont disturb generally, but lot of times i see people messing around asking questions, than others join them

forging is time sensitive, especially axe before branches run out, don't start making stew, gather branches and clay to help the smith
don't take kindling from the smith to cook eggs or stew, gather your own
don't take the last 3-4 plates and bowls from forge, make new- a good number is oe per each iron, a good smith needs at least 4 flat rocks and 4 bowls, i can do like 6-8 iron/steel at a time if i tryhard, but generally minimum is 3, any less and the kindling is innefective
don't build oven from the adobe near forge
if you see older people forging at least ask, its time sensitive, later you can do it, the worst thing you can do is waste kindling and time, when the city needs an axe and shovel asap
don't build oven next to kiln, they got different purpose and they both need at least 20 tiles free around them
don't take the stone from forge to make well or to oven, get your own
don't build wall right behind the kilns, that line is for adobe, firewood, etc. you can stand above the kilns but not below it
don't put food/ingredients and rabbits near forge, it needs free space

but yeah you wont find forum readers who don't know all this or most of this
other option would be building a room for forge but it shouldn't be too small and shouldn't cover vision so bottom side at least made from bell base (which always ends up made into bell so not that good)
jason would need to add some cheap materials like board walls, half stone wall should be good looking or a way to hide walls, like sims or stronghold crusader had with half/bottom walls when pressed a button

i will experiment with bell base rooms, but the sad problem is, same time i can make a pen which is useful and i totally understand that people wouldn't like my rooms or leave it be if i make one for other purposes

Lily · 2018-11-18 06:44:12

I wonder if it is worth it, just to make some quick roads. Roads are simple to make, so you could throw up a small farm, and a kiln and put a road between them. I think if you go too far away, people don't see the farm so will build a second farm. If there is a road, hopefully they will look at the other end and see the farm and build farm stuff over there.

Dodge · 2018-11-18 06:56:46

Making a second hammer on an eve camp after the nerf on iron?

Also people that want to help you forge and "want to go fast" but just fire the forge without preparing the bowls,charcoal,plates, flat rocks etc and just run around without even knowing where the hammer is and ending up with cold iron bloom and not a single steel tool done

arkajalka · 2018-11-18 09:05:45

Smithing is absolutely crucial after the iron nerf. You really need to rush down to the phase where you can make the stanchion kit. Also you need these tools to get the compost cycle running. A shovel for sheep dung and depending on what you build your sheep pen out of then maybe a chisel and adze for stone blocks.

I usually build the forge to the desert spot at eve camp, reason being that you need to have good temperature to conserve food at forge before you can hit the phase where you can craft an axe. You tend to run out of kindling so fast. I'd say let the fire die after you have forged the pottery until you have atleast 2 irons to work with. Good tip for gathering kindling is that you can carry 3 short shafts/ small curved shafts in a basket and then make em into kindling. You can make them with SHARP STONE

I like to conserve the smith hammer too and use rock to hammer iron ores.

IMO most distracting things when smithing
-moving the stuff
-standing on objects
-using the forge fire as the baby fire
-people asking you to teach how to smith when you actually smithing, just open your eyes stay out of the way and learn by looking. Theres really no time to type your every action while rushing towards mining kit.

Last edited by arkajalka (2018-11-18 09:08:23)

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#1 2018-11-18 02:00:20

Forge Etiquette

#2 2018-11-18 06:35:52

Re: Forge Etiquette

#3 2018-11-18 06:44:12

Re: Forge Etiquette

#4 2018-11-18 06:56:46

Re: Forge Etiquette

#5 2018-11-18 09:05:45

Re: Forge Etiquette

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