amer

I understand completely. Implementing the broad axe would have some pretty massive implications for the game, and at this point of game development it might not make sense to make the changes. I mostly just wanted to bring into discussion the idea of a materials tech tree using logs. In my mind (and I might be totally wrong on this) I feel like converting a whole tree into wooden planks is a time consuming thing IRL, and that furthermore, wooden planks might not necessarily fit into TFC's stone age time frame; I'm not convinced that our neolithic ancestors used planks as a building material. Instead, they used logs, timber, and bricks. But I understand that TFC's not totally about realism, I just feel like planks, overall, don't fit with the idea of stone age survival. Instead, planks for me fight right in with mid to late game stuff, the part of the game where you're probably not going to starve to death and where someone would have the time to further process trees. Planks have an inherent (and lovely) characteristic in that they function like microblocks (sorry don't know the technical term here). As a player, this is enough incentive for me to make and use planks as a building material, and as a result, use whatever tool or process necessary to make the planks.

I realise that there is already a thread on early game building materials, but I thought this suggesting deserves its own topic since it is only tangentially related. I think it's commonly understood that there is a lack of building materials in the early game, and a remedy to this could be the broad axe. Furthermore, despite the fact that shelter and construction are totally huge deals IRL, it is currently one of the least complex areas of activity in TFC! If the devs have already talked about adding to construction and stuff in the future, I'll apologise for my ignorance and hope this isn't all too redundant. In short, I believe that there is a problem with using wooden planks as soon one enters the copper age; wooden planks are made using saw mills, where timber is milled into the planks. I don't think it's realistic at all that a single person could saw a log into many wooden planksby hand with a hand saw. What is realistic however, and what people actually did at the end of the stone age, was to hew a log into a square using a broad axe. To be clear, a broad axe is not a weapon; here is a video demonstrating the process, for the curious. This timber was then used in post and lintel style construction. It is far more feasible that a person could turn a log into timber using a broad axe. And as a result, I think it is a far more reasonable early building material. The texture could be something along the lines of a solid wood grain. This kind of texture would differentiate it from the support beams, which, on second thought, could be used for some of the same purposes where one could use timber. I realise that this suggestion has some massive implications for the game, like what to do about wood planks if timber was implemented, would it be in the same tier of carpentry, or near the end of a pseudo tech-tree? But for the sake of realism, I do hope it is taken into consideration for diversifying early game architecture and playing.