I have an idea for obsidian.

[guitarehero14 1]

So I've been thinking. One of the most awesome blocks in this game? Obsidian. It's so badass. Pour a bucket of water over a pool of lava and you're watching two forces collide, the heat and destructiveness of lava, and the cool, extinguishing liquid that has kept us as humans alive for millions of years. When their fight is over and water over all else has dominated, you're left with a practically indestructible block of godly goodness. 

 

So while I was caught up fantasizing about obsidian I thought about something... Haven't ancient tribe settlements been using actual real obsidian as knives and arrowheads for a while? I thought a bit more, and I realized that, for quite some time, Minecraft modders have been actually putting this in to the game for a while too! Not yet in TFC though. I thought EVEN MORE, and I thought of something... something AMAZING. Most people would probably just think of using raw blocks of obsidian or "obsidian ingots" and compressing them in to tools and armor, right? Well... wouldn't that be impossible to use? Think about how long it takes to mine obsidian. It must be pretty beefy and hard.tl;dr skip here My idea: What if you melted down obsidian and a bunch of other metals in a super blast furnace or something awesome, to make a workable metal-like substance that could be worked in to armor and tools? Wouldn't that just be so sweet? This is gonna be an endgame/creative thing btw. It might be kind of expensive. 

 

And of course obsidian arrow-heads and knives     So if the whole obsidian-metal thing doesn't work out,  you can just luckily find little obsidian shards lying near volcanic areas, and use it in the knapping interface 

[guitarehero14 1]

Anyone? 

[Maga 99]

First off, you waited 8 minutes and bumped your own thread. Things don't move that fast around here. Be patient.

 

Second, you might not be so anxious for feedback because I'm pretty certain it's going to be a resounding "No." due to the fact that TFC is based on semi-realistic game play and what you have described indicates don't know much about what obsidian is outside of Minecraft. In the game it's "beefy and hard" but in reality obsidian is comparable to glass in brittleness. It shatters. It's nothing like a metal. Not even close. 

 

Third, I will say that I like your last idea, it's the only one that holds water and it's actually good. Finding obsidian shards scattered on the ground as debris in geologically active areas and allowing players to knapp it into tools with say, 3x the durability of the igneous extrusive stone tools is something I find to be an attractive and sensible addition to the game. Perhaps flint could be added as a knapping material with 2x. Just tossing that out there

[lipki 40]

Obsidian is hard and brittle; it therefore fractures with very sharp edges.

Obsidian was valued in Stone Age cultures because, like flint, it could be fractured to produce sharp blades or arrowheads.

source : wikipédia

Without melting it could be used to make stone tools.
But as it is very fragile, I do not see too much interest.

Unless, it's very pretty.

 

[Kittychanley 1,002]

Perhaps flint could be added as a knapping material with 2x. Just tossing that out there

 

TFC originally had flint tools before stone ones. They were removed for a handful of good reasons, and will not be coming back.

 

As lipki stated, obsidian tools are actually fairly fragile. Other than using it for arrowheads, it would actually likely be worse than stone tools.

[Hubertus 29]

Obsidian, the go-to material for stone age tools. Of course, little do people realize that most stone age tools were NOT made out of obsidian. Sure, obsidian tools are famous, but obsidian isn't actually that common, and so indigionous cultures actually used a host of other sillicate based materials. So if obsidian tools are added, they'd have to be along the same line as stone tools. Also, obsidian doesn't actually form when lava meets water, but that's beside the point. You can't melt obsidian and still expect to get obsidian once it cools: different types of stone form according to how fast the lava cools. Furthermore, it also depends on wether it is lava or magma that is cooling, resulting in different stones. So you can see the conditions for forming obsidian aren't actually that favourable.

 

No, you can't shape anything out of obsidian blocks. You could, theoretically, make scale armour with obsidian scales, but that would be a huge stretch. Anything made out of a large block of obsidian would shatter with a single impact. The only reason people valued it for tools so much is because it breaks cleanly. Any obsidian tools added would be have to be quite small, being pretty much restricted to knives (Since TFC doesn't use scrapers for scraping hides, and obsidian axe heads are much too brittle)

 

Now, as an aside, while obsidian is very fragile, it also cuts better than steel.

 

Yes, you heard me, it cuts better than steel.

 

Compare an obsidian flake and a scalpel under a microscope, and you will find that while the blade of a scalpel looks like a saw (with really really tiny teeth), the edge of an obsidian flake is completely smooth. There is actually a significant amount of research being done into wether we could create a reliable source of obsidian scalpels, because they cut cleaner than steel, which does less damage to the patient. Unfortunately they only have a few good uses before small pieces start to break off and the scalpel starts resembling a saw. So IF obsidian tools were added, they'd have to have terrible durability but do bonus damage. But, since Kitty has already pointed out a similar mechanic that was removed, it's unlikely they will be coming back.

 

Sources: I studied archaeology and geology for 3 years at the University of Calgary.

[AllenWL 186]

I'm pretty sure obsidian is sharp enough to cut atoms(or molecules. Whatever). Like, 98% sure.

But like said, obsidian is freaking fragile and brittle, and it being so durable in minecraft is well, what do you expect from a game where diamond makes the strongest tools?

 

Obsidian, other than being used and knives and arrowheads, can also be used embedded in things, like say, a wooden club. Aztecs(I think. Could have been the Incas) used wooden clubs with obsidian 'blades' embedded in the sides. Apparently, it was strong enough to behead a horse in one stroke, which is pretty darn powerful of a weapon.

 

Obsidian could be found rarely in areas with volcanic activity and be used to make fragile, yet stronger stone-age weapons, a knife that is much faster than a stone one(but again, more fragile) or more powerful arrows. Frankly, I don't think we need any of them. 

 

We have weapons enough. A stone javelin takes 4 shots to kill a zombie, a copper sword, two,  and those aren't even the strongest weapons we have. And seriously? Faster knives? what for? Other than cutting grass and crafting what use do knives have that require a faster block breaking speed?

More powerful arrows are the last thing we need. A stick feather, and stone makes 8 arrows, and a bow and arrow kills a zombie in one hit. One, fully charged shot from a bow, and you have a dead zombie. Heck, if the zombies are close enough, you can can even kill 2~3 with one arrow. Do you think we need anything better?

 

Though... I wouldn't mind bows and arrows getting a nerf and obsidian arrows coming in

[Hubertus 29]

I'm pretty sure obsidian is sharp enough to cut atoms(or molecules. Whatever). Like, 98% sure.

But like said, obsidian is freaking fragile and brittle, and it being so durable in minecraft is well, what do you expect from a game where diamond makes the strongest tools?

 

Obsidian, other than being used and knives and arrowheads, can also be used embedded in things, like say, a wooden club. Aztecs(I think. Could have been the Incas) used wooden clubs with obsidian 'blades' embedded in the sides. Apparently, it was strong enough to behead a horse in one stroke, which is pretty darn powerful of a weapon.

 

Obsidian could be found rarely in areas with volcanic activity and be used to make fragile, yet stronger stone-age weapons, a knife that is much faster than a stone one(but again, more fragile) or more powerful arrows. Frankly, I don't think we need any of them. 

 

We have weapons enough. A stone javelin takes 4 shots to kill a zombie, a copper sword, two,  and those aren't even the strongest weapons we have. And seriously? Faster knives? what for? Other than cutting grass and crafting what use do knives have that require a faster block breaking speed?

More powerful arrows are the last thing we need. A stick feather, and stone makes 8 arrows, and a bow and arrow kills a zombie in one hit. One, fully charged shot from a bow, and you have a dead zombie. Heck, if the zombies are close enough, you can can even kill 2~3 with one arrow. Do you think we need anything better?

 

Though... I wouldn't mind bows and arrows getting a nerf and obsidian arrows coming in

I think you're thinking of the Macuahuitl. The Aztec, Inca, and Mayans used them. It was a very powerful weapon, with 1 or 2 uses from the blades snapping off from the impact. I agree that we really don't need more weapons (except maybe a sling). Would be cool if arrows got makeover, with different tiers (and a healthy neft).

 

Edit: Double quote. Don't even know that happened.

[kurzninja 10]

The one thing I'd like to see out of this discussion of obsidian which mentions volcanic activity is.... volcanos in TFC!

[dunkleosteus 2,425]

Obsidian doesn't have any special chemical properties compared to other types of stone: it's chemically similar to granite and rhyolite, the primary difference being that granite cools slowly underground, rhyolite cools quickly nearer the surface and obsidian is instantly cooled when exposed to something cold with a high heat capacity, like water. The rapid cooling forms very tiny crystals (smaller than the crystals in rhyolite which are in turn much smaller than the relatively large crystals in granite). Obsidian is actually closer to a glass than a stone, which is one of the reasons it's so hard.

 

Obsidian fractures in radial patterns and has very sharp edges down to the atomic level, making them highly prized by surgeons as scalpels because they minimize scarring or pain. (For reference, if a stainless steel scalpel costs 10 cents, an obsidian scalpel would cost $20)

 

Obsidian isn't a wonder material though. It only has special properties as a hardened solid. If you were to melt obsidian, it would return to it's original state as felsic (low-iron, high-silica) lava, which could just as easily cool into granite or rhyolite, depending on the process.

 

Basically, obsidian is a lot like quenched steel: the strength comes from the quenching, and if you were to melt that quenched steel, it would return to it's original state as regular liquid steel.