Dispatches from Iron Expeditions

fragilityh14 · 2019-02-17 19:58:49

Recently, if I'm in a mature civ as a man, and there is an available horsecart, i take it upon myself to go out iron gathering.

Basically just grab a few pies and a sharp stone, make new baskets, and spend most of my life finding iron.

There has been some contention about the extent to which truly running out of iron is a problem.

Honestly, in my experience, in a mature civ, it's pretty much a once in a lifetime task to collect 12 iron, you'll be too old to do the expedition twice. And there's a risk of losing the horse and cart, and leaving found iron concentrated somewhere harder to find. In my last game, I traveled southwest from the Bob camp, where i was apparently gen 31. I had wanted a knife for sheep, and there was seemingly no active smithy and a shortage of iron. So i took off without telling anyone. On this journey, there were quite a few signs of life, but no signs anyone had iron tools, nothing bigger than small farms. and still, it was maybe 10 minutes before I found my first iron. I ultimately found 10 and barely made it home in time.

of course, it's possible that there were piles I didn't find, but it seems more likely, someone from my direction and other directions had already picked iron there. It's also highly possible there were abandoned carts of iron throughout the wilds, i do often see them if I run off as a child.

Hopefully, this iron is at least somewhat rebalanced in the future, but for the time being, since it never respawns and is crucial, we need to try to pass down oral knowledge about iron locations. i should have asked if anyone knew the history of iron runs before going, though it seems unlikely. In this instance, i also suspect i was running along an Eve spiral. I saw a small amount of spawns, but humans had been almost everywhere before.

This game, though I didn't ask questions first, but i did tell everyone around the fire where I found iron and that it was picked out when i got back. [BTW, if you want players to be impressed with you, show up with a full cart of iron]. Another game, I found a dead civ with stacks of wrought iron, and was also able to relay the location.

of course, there's a strategy dilemma as well, do you run straight till you see widespread new spawn, or do you search for dead civ that has already collected it?

I'm as guilty as anyone of being a poor communicator in this game, but we need to make a point of passing on knowledge about iron. My suggestion is, with it now making more sense to have a dedicated mother by the fire, we also need to use this person as a keeper of knowledge, about iron collection history most of all.

Further, of course, the smith is an obvious person to carry this knowledge.

Someone, i don't remember who, claimed they were skeptical any civilization actually collapsing from lack of iron, as opposed to from failing to make the effort to collect it.

I'm sure many fail for lack of trying, but i spent half a lifetime on a horse cart travelling 1.2 (and thoroughly exploring) to get 10 iron.

As long as iron is the way it is, this is one of our most important organizational tasks, as it is the main hard limit on civilization in an area.

If you never go on iron runs, try it some time. It's wild out there in the wilds. But try to actually inquire first and tell people where you're going, and pass on that knowledge to others.

[also, for game change, we need to be able to recycle tools, at last, it's totally unrealistic that broken metal tools are just thrown away and can't be remelted. They should at least be have 4 recycled make 1 new tool and 1 kindling per tool]

Anandamide · 2019-02-17 20:05:35

You can remelt tools. Two broken steel tools make one clump of scrap steel which can be put in the crucible without charcoal and fired like a regular crucible. The problem is broken tools despawn so people need to bring broken tools back to the forge right away and hope the next tool breaks soon enough to be recycled with it.

antking:]# · 2019-02-17 20:13:40

If we ever gained the ability to go spelunking into caves, and start mining I think that would, be a way to end travelling farther and farther to just get a few pieces of iron! however I'm not sure how mining would work, but I have an idea.... you are wright we need to pass on our travels and success, of where Iron is to help generations to come in finding this importent ore!
oh you can recycle tools! https://onetech.info/930-Clump-of-Scrap-Steel
two broken steel tools= scrap metal, which can be put into a crucible and reformed!

fragilityh14 · 2019-02-17 20:22:20

Oh, that part is my bad, i'm never the one who does any of the smithing, and mostly just know it in theory. I'm also guilty of not returning tools to smiths, so i'm glad i know this now!

I feel stupid, because i have seen scrap iron around.

Hopefully this helps more people than just me, because I see broken tools laying around all the time.

I think we're actually talking way too much about wasted shovel uses and not enough about the importance of recycling, in terms of long term iron viability, because if each tool is half a new tool, i bet we're losing more iron use to despawn then to irresponsible use of iron.

I've asked a moderate amount of smiths for a new tool due to mine having broken, and don't believe i've ever been asked to return the broken tool.

Edit: there is something else i meant to add

in my expedition, i found some good abandoned rabbit trapping sites with dead rabbits and snares. I should have considered loading up on rabbits and coming home then trying a different direction. Rabbits are all the more important now, and the warmth and food they provide does reduce iron consumption.

Last edited by fragilityh14 (2019-02-17 20:28:22)

JoshuaN · 2019-02-17 20:33:26

Anandamide wrote:

You can remelt tools. Two broken steel tools make one clump of scrap steel which can be put in the crucible without charcoal and fired like a regular crucible. The problem is broken tools despawn so people need to bring broken tools back to the forge right away and hope the next tool breaks soon enough to be recycled with it.

Its good to know that they despawn! I had not known this.

One Hour One Life Forums

#1 2019-02-17 19:58:49

Dispatches from Iron Expeditions

#2 2019-02-17 20:05:35

Re: Dispatches from Iron Expeditions

#3 2019-02-17 20:13:40

Re: Dispatches from Iron Expeditions

#4 2019-02-17 20:22:20

Re: Dispatches from Iron Expeditions

#5 2019-02-17 20:33:26

Re: Dispatches from Iron Expeditions

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