Metalworking improvements/additions, And some cooking on the side.

[Rgamer 44]

Alright, let me start off by saying I am well aware that Bioxx said no to casting, because it's another way to do something already in the game. This isn't. Quite.

On to the suggestion:

Add in sand moulds for:

Ingots (an alternative to ceramic moulds)

Barrels/Casks (Liquid storage)

Pots/Cauldrons

Anvils

Metal storage blocks (Maybe.)

Sand moulds aren't as simple as shaping sand into the form of what you want, of course. You need to mix the base sand with the binder (In this case, kaolinite/clay), and then shape the resulting unfinished around a pattern. For ingots, this could just be shaped in the crafting grid to represent hollowing the mould out with Steve's hands. For the block, barrel, cask, and pot, first 3 unfinished moulds would have to be combined in the crafting grid, then placed on the ground, in a 1X1 hole(To hold up the walls of the mould). There, you right-click with a shovel (used to scoop out excess mould sand, which could be re-used, or not). For simplicity's sake, 1 time is a barrel, twice is a pot, thrice is a block.

In order to cast an anvil, it is necessary to have an anvil to use as a pattern, and two unfinished moulds. Right-clicking on it with a unfinished mould would produce half an anvil mould, and when both are placed in the same block (same rules as for casks/pots/blocks), it would form a complete anvil.

Right-clicking with a mould of liquid metal would add to the liquid inside the cast (the big mould on the ground). Once the cast is full, just leave it to cool naturally, and then break off the cast with a hammer, extract your item, and congratulations! You have finished your sandcasting! Some (75-90%) of the used sand can be recovered, and mixed with clay again in order to make more mould sand. The clay is, naturally, unrecoverable.

However, if insufficient molten metal is available to fill the cast in one go, then the result will be a flawed casting; the partial item can be melted in a bloomery, but at a cost: part of the metal is bound up in impurities and is lost as slag (What did you think happened to those kilos of ore that don't show up as product? They evaporated?

As a reward, complete items can be melted down for a full refund of the metals used to make them.

As for sand, any type can be used, though it will result in a yellow casting sand for simplicity (and ease of identification).

On to the cooking on the side, a.k.a. uses for pots!

Pots can be placed in the world, and filled with water via bucket.

If the pot is over a active fire pit, then you can throw meat, grain, and vegetables into the pot to get stews. You can also throw bones (If you feel like going that way) to get a soup stock, then add meat and vegetables for soup. The stew would refill more hunger than the ingredients on their own (all stews fill you up the same amount, for simplicity).

Barrels and casks can be used for brewing. Because Steve is a MAN, he doesn't need no wimpy mug to drink his booze, he drinks it straight out of the barrel. This isn't very filling, but it's very inexpensive; 2 buckets, 1 grain, and time.

Or, if you prefer, you can pour sterilized water from a pot into a barrel(using a bucket), and drink that. Wimp.

Lastly, you can throw wood ash (Byproduct of using logs as fuel) into a barrel of water for a while, then boil off the water to get potash, which fertilizes crops, increasing yield and/or growth speed. Or just replenishing nutrients in the soil.

[achartran 465]

Barrels and casks can be used for brewing. Because Steve is a MAN, he doesn't need no wimpy mug to drink his booze, he drinks it straight out of the barrel. This isn't very filling, but it's very inexpensive; 2 buckets, 1 grain, and time.

doh >.<

you reminded me about that brewing thread i was going to make, and then promptly forgot about, i'll get to that soon i guess.

On a more related note, I like this suggestion, it seems like we have a use for casting after all. Also, are these solid metal barrels? if not, how do we incorporate the wood into the equation, cause wood is kinda important in the brewing process (again, more on this when i make that thread).

[Rgamer 44]

doh >.<

you reminded me about that brewing thread i was going to make, and then promptly forgot about, i'll get to that soon i guess

On a more related note, I like this suggestion, it seems like we have a use for casting after all. Also, are these solid metal barrels? if not, how do we incorporate the wood into the equation, cause wood is kinda important in the brewing process (again, more on this when i make that thread).

Not for beer But yeah, entirely metal barrels, like those which can be made in Dwarf Fortress.(Waste-of-candy barrels for the win!)

EDIT: As for wooden barrels, forged reinforcing rings around a bunch of planks, in a carpentry table? Don't like suggesting additional tile entities, but seems the only reasonable way to me.

[achartran 465]

Well yeah, beer doesn't care if its in wood barrels or not, but for things like whiskey and wine, you need wood barrels. Maybe you could cast the rings of the barrels with this casting system, then pop two of said rings in the grafting grid along with three single planks of wood and voila! you have a wooden barrel of whatever wood type you used to make it. Wood type would be important in the brewing process, certain wood types would work better for different kinds of alcohol.

[Rgamer 44]

Eh, I think it would work better to forge them. They're small enough to be reasonably forged from a single ingot, yet just large enough to be conceivably cast, and I want booze going in the game with or without casting.

[achartran 465]

Booze shouldn't depend on casting yes, but I just think it's more believable to cast them. Plus booze should be relatively mid-game, which it sounds like casting would be, forging would mean you could build a fort out of barrels the second you got your first cass deposit. Actually, on that note, the rings should have to be wrought iron, that's it, only wrought iron. So that actually makes it mid-game in itself. Maybe you could do it by casting, and get all 2 or 3 rings you would need in one go; and by forging you would need to make each ring individually but it would have better quality, (what would having better quality mean though?)