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blueyogaball

Gems?

Gemstones   54 members have voted

  1. 1. Should gemstones be able to be made into tools or armor

    • Yes!
      11
    • I have another Idea...
      15
    • Naw!
      28

Please sign in or register to vote in this poll.

45 posts in this topic

An excursion on the core-mantle boundary would be neat :D

 

and horribly deadly.

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and horribly deadly.

 

My excursion in the nether are often deadly anyways...

 

but I would really like to see your take on the "alternate dimension"...

 

In any case I would rather see some higher tech stuff than intrinsically magic things, I like the feeling of working hard to get to the next step, and in this sense magic always feels like cheating

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Honestly I'd be happy if we could just make blocks out of them or be able to place them in such a way that we can use them as decoration (not floating and spinning over a surface though like the clay vessels do).

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Ditto. Just need a few new textures and block IDs. Should be a quick job in time for the next full release of TFC.

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Honestly I'd be happy if we could just make blocks out of them or be able to place them in such a way that we can use them as decoration (not floating and spinning over a surface though like the clay vessels do).

 

You can already use them as decoration in item frames.

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You can already use them as decoration in item frames.

 

I also meant to say not item frames either.

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I think the irony of this situation may be that they never wanted to make something of gems, that gems are being represented as they truely are to us. Useless colored crystals.

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But IRL (which TFC would appear to be strongly based on) very few things are ever truly useless forever. People find something - especially as shiny and interesting as gems - and they find uses for it, or anthropomorphize it, or use it as some placeholder.

Even way back when...shiny things held value either to worship, or as tokens representative of trade or as ingredients in things.

 

To just burp a whole bunch of things out I havent seen in discussions Ive read so far as I riffle through the forums looking for shinies:

1) One problem with gems is they take up so much inventory/chest space. Gems are tiny things so could we not have/make some kind of gem bag or small metal box which could store many types or quantities of only gems? Each of my primary installations has a 'bedroom' which includes a bed chests and racks as 'armory' and one or more chests for 'shinies' since there seems to be so many gems/interesting rocks the wiki lists as having no use)

 

2) There might not be any hard core magic/spells to be implemented but what about placebo effects, religion, other information or effects and repellants...

 

"Oh great and mighty blue dragons eye smite me not for I have put you on a pedestal to guard my house..."

-> Just because a person thinks something does something doesn't mean it does. Also although the placebo effect itself does nothing its ripples can. Could be modeled something like a regular minecraft beacon. Set of perfect shiny stones mounted on an alter to some 'god' make Steve feel safe from the bad things while he is inside so he regenerates his HP faster or since he is in shade doesn't dehydrate as fast or something. Such effects would seem miraculous unless you know the 'meta data' of how things really work...which stone age Steve obviously does not *s*.

 

Undead are unholy evil things supposedly killed by brute force..or holy things..what makes something holy though? some mumbled words over a bowl of water? Investing mental energies - 'good thoughts' - into some talisman? Polishing some shiny crystal until it catches sunlight and holds it for hours into the night? Salt, crystals and herbs etc have been used in 'pagan' beliefs/rituals etc for a very long time..

 

Who is to say mega-giant-person-eating spiders are not repelled by certain sounds..eg some crystals hitting pieces of metal or that gemstones carved polished and set into a giant eye or symbol are not scary to creepers who prefer to creep up and hug you before you know they are there?

 

Not to mention:

-> grinding gems into powders (stained glass, 'medicinal' uses etc)

-> shattering bigger gems into chipped versions (more shiny green indicators)

-> other kinds of 'indicators'

-> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_telescope_technology (seeing far, reflecting light etc has been known a longtime)

-> starting fires outside

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Part of the problem is that there is no logic as to what gems you get. I can't go mining for Rubies.. I just have to hope someday I will find a Flawless Ruby. It's hard to build sometime that requires random inputs..

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Why do they need specific inputs? The protection meters just require 'chipped gems'

An alter might just require a marble plinth and 3 normal or better gems...you know.. gods of one place are not necessarily gods of another..so you takes what you gets..and use it.

Chimes to use as a sort of defensive ward or polished stones to capture sunlight in a mirror box don't have to some specific sort, and if you can make tools to cut gems, you could take a regular one and 'cut flaws off' to make a perfect one, or chop/break others into the bits needed. Granted if you wanted to some specific flavor of gem for some vain or hyper accurate scientific use we would currently need to excavate large quantities of rocks to 'hunt for gems' but some randomness is the spice of life no?

It also creates another couple problems for people that may cause further evolution - 'what to do/build with all this rock' and 'how to not make it take 2 million years' both of which addon devs might be able to help with.

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In real life, some gemstones are not only used as decoration; for example, sapphire is used along with other chemical compounds to make military body armour. Though I highly doubt this will happen. Anyways, I used to play on a terrafirmacraft server, gemstones were used as currency. Rkanues gave some pretty cool ideas. 

 

Random post, I guess.

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every tool, armor, block has a gui when used with a gem setters table, in which items can be visually enhanced by adding gems for decorated armors, could add sparkle effects maybe add a small bit of extra protection based on type of gem or quality, could add gem to stone for a decorative block,  and maybe add extra durability to tools. Would love a system where the gem would be placed in a grid system that would determine the placement on armor, or add to handle of tools, don't want to get to crazy though.

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every tool, armor, block has a gui when used with a gem setters table, in which items can be visually enhanced by adding gems for decorated armors, could add sparkle effects maybe add a small bit of extra protection based on type of gem or quality, could add gem to stone for a decorative block,  and maybe add extra durability to tools. Would love a system where the gem would be placed in a grid system that would determine the placement on armor, or add to handle of tools, don't want to get to crazy though.

 

Maybe a Sudo-enchantment System could be used with the gem (if enchantments are ever used) where we place some gems inside tools/weapons/armors to give it an enchant.

 

:unsure: *Shrugs* :unsure:

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1. Gems should be much rarer, to make the valuable.

2. Magical, regent used in a enchanting bench,

        quality of gem = strength of enchantment

         type of gem = type of enchantment

 The enchantments would be minor, very minor

 

Gem uses

3. Hand Quern?

4. Telescope

5. Lens for slowly lighting fires

6. High end fishing lure made from gems + fishing pole = better fishing pole

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             Making gems into tools themselves seems totally silly. Although it would be great to be able to put gems on tools and armor just to have have a purely aesthetic and unique armor or tool. It'd also be cool having them in placeable blocks similar to the way ingots work. Having mounds of gems and gold piled around my throne room would be fun.

             For the application of tools you could make some form of jeweler's table which you can place armor or tools onto and proceed to chisel out bits of armor and replace it with a gem of the according color to the gem type, various grades of gem could have larger size or an exquisite gem could infrequently release a sparkly particle effect. Albeit fully customizable armor would be a bit challenging to add in, a developer could much more simply make various grades of gems only placable in certain locations, for example, exquisite could be put on the front or back of a chest plate, flawless could be put on the shoulders of a chest plate, normal could be put around the shins of leggings, flawed could be put on the sides of feet, and chipped could be applied to a helmet around the top.

            Of course having gems on a suit of armor would weaken it slightly, due to the fact that chiseling bits would negate a bit of structural integrity. Depending on the gem it might decrease less. Putting a diamond in a suit of armor would be less likely to make it weaker than it would putting a weaker gem in.

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I feel the main "use" for gems should simply be as valuable trinkets. They could be used for decoration, used to make gold or silver jewellery, or traded with other players. We should be able to cut and polish gems, and I do like the idea of lenses for telescopes and such.

 

Gems shouldn't have any magical power or provide enchantments, if they're used in tools for any reason it should really only be for show, unless we're grinding up diamond to blend with metals for extra-hard cutting tools.

 

Here's a unique idea... how about a large gem that is cut in a particular way and serves as a key to a locked stone door? You'd have a choice of gem colour, it would need to be a large flawless gem, and each would be different.

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I like Cole and Camble's suggestions. Armour swag and jewelry. Since I liked spawning with a skin of torn rags and stubbly beard, the prospect of eventually looking like Mr. T cracks me up. Still drinking water out of that clay jug? Pffft- check out my emerald encrusted golden goblet. Also, it fits the idea that this luxury is useless (save from trading as currency) in a world based on survival. I would love to see that idea just teased out a bit. 

 

Tools uses should be very limited, I think. Perhaps though that you could connect gems with the idea of a sextant (lens) or something to make orientation (latitude? I know, that is available with F3) with the world clearer to the player. Telescope? Magnifying glass? I like the way Thaumcraft's goggles allowed you to see new aspects (pun not intended) of the world, otherwise invisible to the player. 

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Tl;dr.

 

Maybe, not made into, but enchased into? Just imagine, "red steel pick, encrusted with rubies, decorated with glass chains and the fur spikes" © Dwarf Fortress.

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How about colored lanterns? A torch, 4 gems of the same type, glass and wood?

Edited by rhodance
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