Suggestion: Bessemer process

[TangentialThreat 2]

The first part of TF progression is really fun, in a Dwarf Fortress sort of !fun! way. Survival is actually hard, and getting as far as the bronze age without ragequitting is an accomplishment. Good for you.

 

However, after you get some metal equipment you don't die much anymore and you find yourself spending more and more time fiddling with the anvil interface and punching bellows. It does not get better. In fact, it gets worse the further up the alloy progression tree you go. You get minor bragging rights with your friends for going there but not much changes.

 

There's tedium and then there's tedium that rewards you. The first part of the progression was fun because there was a reward that made many of the frustrating aspects of gameplay slightly easier and also unlocked more creative possibilities.

 

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Making steel was hard in real life. It really did take forever with the bloomeries and the hammering and mixing metals and not using coal coke for some of the steps because of the impurities which required a lot of woodcutting etc. It was an outlandishly expensive material that not just anybody could afford to own.

 

A man named Henry Bessemer decided to change that. I'm going to guess the creators are already materials science nerds and know what Bessemer did for the world and how it worked, but it was a way to burn off impurities and reduce the carbon content of pig iron down to the desired level by blowing air through liquid iron in a large clay or dolomite vat.

 

Say, I've got dolomite, a bellows and liquid iron just staring me in the face in this game. A fellow could. This would be a reasonable reward for playing through the pain, and endgame crafting would be manageable.

 

I would also like an upgraded bellows and an endgame alternative to clay molds, like a reusable red steel ladle.

 

Oh, and more cool creative things you can only do at the end of the progression as rewards. Thanks Santa, I'll be good just for this.

[EnTro 29]

The bessemer process would be a nice late-game addition and it would take away the need for some frantic hammering/resmelting sessions, using up a lot of charcoal (which is quite a chore to produce in quantities). But it should be only possible to make it once you already made steel the old way, so maybe using red/blue steel?

[Livid 8]

Finished overhauling the new bloomery. Raw Iron Bloom is worked into … …

…Refined Iron Bloom which should then be worked to be split into pieces small enough to fit in ceramic molds to form ingot shapes.Added 2 new events. Anvil Craft Event which fires when an item is finished being crafted in the anvil, and ItemMeltEvent which onlyfires when attempting to get the output item from the ItemHeatManager.Some more work on making the blast furnace code simpler since it no longer needs to smelt more types of metal than just Pig Iron.

 

 

from the commit log, i think they made the steel processing more complex

[dunkleosteus 2,425]

we have made steel making more complex. In fact, metallurgy in general is more complex, and while it satisfies my inner desire for being historically accurate, I worry if it may hurt the community

 

The new bloomery only accepts 8 iron ore at a time, and can take quite a while to finish processing your ore.

[transcengopher 349]

we have made steel making more complex. In fact, metallurgy in general is more complex, and while it satisfies my inner desire for being historically accurate, I worry if it may hurt the community

 

The new bloomery only accepts 8 iron ore at a time, and can take quite a while to finish processing your ore.

This is a problem, no? Even more so if we are "casually" in need a lot of steel, aren't getting at least third-half of that from 8 ore, bloomery costs much or requires a lot of attention pronounced as uninterested chore like holding RMB or close-to-mindlessly clicking it.

[Kittychanley 1,002]

This is a problem, no? Even more so if we are "casually" in need a lot of steel, aren't getting at least third-half of that from 8 ore, bloomery costs much or requires a lot of attention pronounced as uninterested chore like holding RMB or close-to-mindlessly clicking it.

 

 

The bloomery no longer uses a bellows, so it's essentially a set it and forget it technique.

[transcengopher 349]

Okay then. I'm not exactly aware of the latest changes, as you clearly see. Summer times.