IVCraft

What about slimestone? Just a small reference to Spum's latest episode on terra firma craft:

That's a pretty damn good idea. It's logical, easy and intuitive, and new users can easily figure it out by themselves, as opposed to my idea of right clicking a block with a saw.

Thanks for the advice... And I do use the edit button sometimes, but I'll try to avoid double posts from now. Also, I've edited the OP again and changed a lot of things. The scribbing table idea now has an image too!

Image work partially done now.

Now putting the quill idea on the OP... EDIT: Finished editing the OP. EDIT2: I'm taking some screenshots and editing some images to put on the topic.

Markings ARE ink. And you need markings to do any plan on the scribing table

I've been looking in the wiki about quills, and they aren't just feathers with some ink in the tip -- You actually have to sharpen it's edge for it to work. So that's the idea: You craft a feather with a knife (shapeless), then you get a quill. The knife is also returned, damaged only a little bit. Quills have a durability bar. Now right click with a paper on any wooden plank type, and you get a Scribing table (like, you just put a paper on top of the planks - that's what the table looks like right now). The paper is obviously lost. Now open it's menu, there is the normal GUI, and on the bottom left a blank square. Put the quill there. Using the scribing table wastes durability of the quill (Because it's a feather pen, and it's tip wears out very easily), after it breaks you can't use the scribing table until you replace it. EDIT: Hey, say what you guys think. I'm not sure if I'm going to put the quill idea on the OP yet.

But if we find a way to make an Scribing Table without a workbench, we won't need to change anything in the forging system.

I've read it now. Thanks for those links! I'm already seeing some nice ideas for uses of clay...Also, Clay molds for tools could ease a lot forging them, although I think it makes the forge completely obsolete... There may be a way, however, to balance that other than putting low durability on tools created this way. EDIT: Also, MAN the scribing table idea is amazing... Seem perfectly logical to make a book and quill set for those inscriptions, but then why would we need paper each time we make one?

Randomized how? Like... Every time you open the anvil? Or every time you create a new world? So each new world you would need to learn the rules to create your tools maybe?

The thing with random tool creation is that it is just too hard to get the tool that you want... We could just use simple rules to determine what the tool is gonna be (I don't know if you read my post about it, #17), that could be memorized like crafting recipes. If I want to make a sword, I will try to make the approximate shape of a sword on my anvil... But without planning exactly the lenghts and sizes, I can end up with a very poorly done sword. That's why we need plans. And that's why we can still make tools without them.

Every tool has three rules in order to be done right? Considering the rules never change, as long as you forge the ingot following the rules and the cursor ending on the right spot, the crude version of a tool could be done without a plan, 80% the normal durability maybe. The problem is that there may be some ambiguity on the rules, ex: Axe: Hit-last, Bend-2nd from last, Shrink-Not last; And Pickaxe: Hit-last, Bend-Not last, Shrink-3rd from last. The sequence Shrink-Bend-Hit would result in which tool, An axe or a pick? So this would need each tool to have a unique rule set to avoid these ambiguities. Those rules could be learned from the net or gameplay, like crafting recipes, and would be used to make tools when you don't have an scribing table avaliable to help you (in desperate situations maybe). So rules would only appear on the side if you had a plan, but if you remember them, you can make still make tools, altough not as perfect as you can do with the plans.

That solves the problem. But wouldn't be a pain to blindly craft the wrong tools until you've got a saw (if that's what you mean)? Like, from all the bismuth tools there are on TFC, what's the chance of getting a saw after 3 tries?Altough the forging mechanic could be changed to make it possible to craft tools without a plan - with some disadvantage, like making it harder to forge the right tool in some way.

Uh... That pretty much ruins part of the idea. So you can't craft a saw without a scribing table... Which needs a workbench to be done. I will see what I can do though...

Thanks for welcoming me! And ok, I will use the search function from now... just forgot it this time. Using a stone knife and clay, you make mould. Burn it, put ores in it, craft a stone hammer to make a stone anvil and make an ingot. Now, craft a saw plan, put a stick an that's all. Workbenches aren't needed to make a saw if clay working is implemented.EDIT: In the first world I spawned, I walked for days and didn't find any clay. I raged and stopped playing TFC, but later I created a new world and there was clay like 10 blocks from spawn. I only find them in flat plains, though, with occasional trees and lots of grass (not tall grass), alongside with the river.