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A step by step play of Earthrise Crafting!
Joker2240
Member Posts: 664
Today Ms decided to give us part 1 of 2 step by step play of the crafting system with Tim.
The Crafting Process (1 of 2), November 2009
Hi there,
We've got more crafting details for you this week!
As you know, the crafting system in Earthrise is fairly extensive set of mechanics that we have been developing for the last several years, and all examples and explanations provided along the development course have tried to reveal small tidbits of information to keep our fan-base updated (but at the same time providing information about other things besides just crafting). However, we do understand that the fragmented nature of crafting information can cause just a bit of confusion among some of our fans. This week we've worked out a (not very) short example to cover the whole process of crafting an item from the viewpoint of a common player in Earthrise - from gaining the resources to its final manufacturing. It's awfully long, but we wanted to include lots of rich details for you, our devoted fans to discuss. We'll be returning next week with the rest of it, but hope you enjoy part one!
(Keep in mind however that the following example is provided only to illustrate the crafting process in further detail. Names of resources, ingredients and final items and values of any kind are likely to be changed as we continue testing, tweaking, and gathering feedback during our closed beta. With any system we present here, or elsewhere, it is also possible that some things may have changed or evolved from initial comments on our crafting system and will continue to evolve, and as presented, this is where the system currently stands in development.)
THE PLAN
Tim is an Earthrise player who is planning to create his first Assault Rifle Mk3 specifically tailored for killing off Burzun mutants. The basic assault rifle is going to be enhanced with two Designs providing additional damage and chemical compounds that slow down and paralyze the enemy before he could get a chance to cut the distance.
THE SKILLS
If Tim is to create the Assault Rifle Mk3 from raw resources, he must learn a required number of skills. It costs money to pay for education to add the skill to his repertoire, and some experience in the crafting field that allows Tim to unlock Technologies required for creating items on every step of the technological chain. Each skill has 10 ranks, and each rank provides access to a Technology to create an item.
Assault Rifle Mk3 requires that Tim has learned the Portable Ranged Weapons skill at rank 3. Every standard issue Assault Rifle Mk3 is made of two modules - Rifle Frame RF-2000 and Small Pulse Generator. To manufacture them, Tim must learn the skills associated with each module. Rifle Frame RF-2000 requires Compound Ranged Engineering skill at rank 2, and Small Pulse Generator requires Pulse Weapons skill at rank 3. Because each of the modules is made of raw resources, if Tim were to gather those resources from parts collected by killed enemies, he would need Recycling Skills - Alloy Metallurgy for recycling metallic resources and Synthetic Transformation for recycling synthetic resources. Tim plans to add Designs to the Technology, and he must have access to the following Technologies used to create Design Blueprints - Organic Skin Piercing (for dealing more damage to mutants, requiring Combat Prototyping skill at rank 3) and Necroskeletal Paralysis (for slowing down Burzuns and similar mutants, requiring Mutant Tactical Analysis skill at rank 2). In total, Tim must learn up to 7 skills to be able to create the Assault Rifle Mk3 all on his own with the two desired Designs.
In Earthrise, knowing all the skills required to make an item from scratch is a serious investment of money and time. Often players will seek out to specialize in a specific niche of the whole manufacturing process - making the best Small Pulse Generators on the market, for example. In a real setting, Tim would have to seek out other crafters or use the global market to outsource or purchase directly the ingredients he needs rather than spend time to learn how to do them on his own. But Tim is our guinea pig, so he will do all the work on his own!
GATHERING PARTS
After securing skills at required ranks, it's time to hunt down ingredients.
Assault Rifle Mk3 is made of Rifle Frame RF-2000 and Small Pulse Generator, and Organic Skin Piercing and Necroskeletal Paralysis designs. Rifle Frame RF-2000 is made of 25 units of Refined Metal, 5 units of Conductive Material. Small Pulse Generator is made of 12 units of Conductive Material and 8 units of Voltaic Load. Summed together, the basic module requirements are 25 Refined Metal, 17 Conductive Material and 8 Voltaic Load. That's quite a list!
Engineering of Thick Hide Piercing and Necroskeletal Paralysis designs requires a different sort of ingredients that Tim will have to experiment on. Thick Hide Piercing requires 70 Thick Hide (collected from thick-skinned mutants throughout Enterra's mutant infested grounds), and Necroskeletal Paralysis requires 400 Burzun DNA (extracted from Burzun item drops, collected from all Burzun-named mutants). Tim plans to gather some of these resources by killing opponents and recycling parts gathered from their remains, while others will come from protecting certain mines on the island of Enterra from mutant threat. Tim locates group of rebellious robots that he destroys gathering their metallic limbs and mainframe wiring for recycling. He also visits a Voltaic Mine that is attached by constant waves of mutants aggravated by the mine's activities. For his support in securing human control over the mine, he receives tokens traded for Voltaic Load. While fighting for securing the Mine's operations is a risky business, it spared him the grind of collecting Voltaic Load. Finally, Tim visits the dangerous Burzun breeding grounds. Killing off Burzun monsters, Tim collects required amounts of Thick Hides (as Burzun's are thick-skinned mutants) and Burzun Rotting Meat and Burzun Legs. He will later on extract Burzun DNA from the latter body parts.
RECYCLING RESOURCES
The required amount of Voltaic Load is secured but Tim must go through recycling process to strip Refined Metal and Conductive Material from those robotic limbs and wiring he has amassed. Tim plans the Metallic Recycling and Synthetic Recycling processes at a local Factory. Not every Factory provides all recycling processes. He has to explore for a while before he finds a Factory that covers both processes. The Recycling process attempts to extract raw resources from collected parts but depending on player's skill, a fraction of the contained resources cannot be extracted and are lost in the process. Tim uses the Recycle process to break Robotic Limbs. Each Robotic Limb contains 10 Refined Metal and 5 Conductive Material, but because Tim's rank in Allow Metallurgy is low (at rank 2), the factory calculates that projected losses from the contained resources would be 8 Refined Metal and 4 Conductive Material, leaving Tim with estimated recycle gain of 2 Refined Metal and 1 Conductive Material per recycled Robotic Limb. Tim tries to recycle Mainframe Wiring next. Each Mainframe Wiring contains 10 Conductive Material, but because Tim's rank in Synthetic Transformation is even worse (at rank 1), Tim loses 9 Conductive Material out of 10, leaving him with a measly 1 Conductive Material per recycled part. Luckily, he had collected enough of both drops to secure the required amounts of resources needed for the manufacturing of the rifle modules. What about the Designs? Because this Factory does not contain any Production Units that process organic matter, Tim cannot work with his organic parts. He visits a nearby Bio-laboratory, a Factory specialized in organic matter. There Tim can recycle Burzun Rotting Meat and Burzun Legs to Burzun DNA. Burzun Rotting Meat contains 20 units of Burzun DNA, while Burzun Legs contains 5 units of Burzun DNA. The process is same as recycling non-organic items - because Tim's skill at Advanced Biogenetics is exemplary (at rank 10) he will not lose any DNA while recycling organic tissue. He gains 400 Burzun DNA out of 16 Burzun Rotting Meat and 16 Burzun Legs.
Tim's first work with recycling at Factory reveals to him the Quality mechanics in Earthrise. Each item in Earthrise has a Quality Level properly, a value between 1 and 5. Each resource inherits the Quality of the items it has been produced from, but depending on the player's skill level and the provided tech assistance of the Factory, there's a chance that the Quality Level of the produced items may deteriorate or improve. Tim's Metallic Limbs were Quality 2 (worse than average) and units of Unrefined Metal and Conductive Materials recycled from them also have Quality 2, yet due to sheer luck Tim has managed to make 5 units of Conductive Material with Quality 3 (Average). Tim's Mainframe Wiring had Quality 5 (excellent premium quality) and units of Conductive Material inherit that value; while the quality could not improve further, due to unexpected manufacturing malfunction 2 units of Conductive Material had their Quality lowered to 4. Tim's Thick Hides are at Quality 4 and Tim's Burzun DNA is as follows: 320 at Quality 3, 40 at Quality 4 and 40 at Quality 5.
Next week we will continue Tim's crafting example into the fields of Manufacturing and Disassembly. Tim's got a bit of work ahead of him, but as you can see he's off to a great start.
Comments
So, what you guys think of it so far?
I think you went into way too much detail before you explained the general idea.
What are the different schools of skills? How many/what skills in each school? How many skills can a player learn? What are the risks involved in gathering? PvE/PvP/none?
The general idea is all over, check the sticky or Joker's thread about QotW's. We don't know what skills there are or even how many. A player can theoretically learn all skills. The games is very PvP oriented. Some very basic stuff is available in areas where you're guarded by npc's, but the guards get fewer and further between as you move away from settlements. Advanced resources only come from player owned mines in the contested areas.
I did not type this up just so you guys know. This is directly a copy and paste of the QOTW, which is linked before the actual post. Part 2 should be in next week. and I will post that QOTW also here.
My honest opinion?It looks to be more of a design to be a time sink rather than creative.Yes i want in depth crafting and i want creativity in it's design,so i do not want to mick any developer for trying.
I have to decide weather they are honestly trying for an in depth design or a time sink.
Here is what i see,many pieces of the same item needed,why not have using the rank system 5xlowest quality 4xnext highest and 1xthe highest quality.Why do i need to search for 25 pieces of say metal?Is there only one size of metal that drops in the game?It gives an unrealistic feel.
I guess i should be more specific in what i like from crafting.I want rarity in finding items,not always the best drop from the best mobs,just rarity.I think there can be heavy modifications ,example using the MK-33 gun....enhanced DISTANCE/size of bullets/Type of bullets/adding a scope/rate of fire/material[degradation factor].I feel parts can/should be found out hidden in the game ,or sometimes dropped from enemies.Example you use a grenade to kill an enemy,you have no chance of salvaging anything.You fill his suit full of armor piercing bullets,again no chance to salvage that suit/vest that drops.If you use some kind of agent orange,you melt everything,again no chance to salvage anything.
Ok now that you have the basics,you need to learn the skills to be able to make these modifications.I believe in learning skills by utilizing mechanical actions with a sort of hotbar full of options for that operations,sort of like Eq2's crafting.The difference being you make proper decisions you gain skill,you make wrong ones your skill drops.
So say you need to operate a PRESS to make the mold for your MK-33,you need a hotbar full of skills related to operating a press.Then a graphic interface would start where by you actually operate a press and have to make decisions in the crafting process,this is called INTERACTION.You need to make glass ,a different set of hotbar mechanics,need to use a lathe,more mechanics...ect ect.
I think i have explained enough,to get the idea across for an in depth crating process.I do not think players find it creative or fun to have to get 25 pieces of metal 20 pieces of some other material.I also think the learning of skills should be interactive not just some spread sheet design.Follow those simple rules and crafting can be fun and creative.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
My honest opinion?It looks to be more of a design to be a time sink rather than creative.Yes i want in depth crafting and i want creativity in it's design,so i do not want to mick any developer for trying.
I have to decide weather they are honestly trying for an in depth design or a time sink.
Here is what i see,many pieces of the same item needed,why not have using the rank system 5xlowest quality 4xnext highest and 1xthe highest quality.Why do i need to search for 25 pieces of say metal?Is there only one size of metal that drops in the game?It gives an unrealistic feel.
You didn't read the example very well. He isn't picking up units of metal, he's looting metal parts from enemies and refining them into units of metal. Each part type refines to a different amount. That's very realistic.
I guess i should be more specific in what i like from crafting.I want rarity in finding items,not always the best drop from the best mobs,just rarity.I think there can be heavy modifications ,example using the MK-33 gun....enhanced DISTANCE/size of bullets/Type of bullets/adding a scope/rate of fire/material[degradation factor].I feel parts can/should be found out hidden in the game ,or sometimes dropped from enemies.Example you use a grenade to kill an enemy,you have no chance of salvaging anything.You fill his suit full of armor piercing bullets,again no chance to salvage that suit/vest that drops.If you use some kind of agent orange,you melt everything,again no chance to salvage anything.
There are modifications, the parts to perform generally aren't just found though, you have to make them. Why would you want to dumb the system down by having them lying around?
Ok now that you have the basics,you need to learn the skills to be able to make these modifications.I believe in learning skills by utilizing mechanical actions with a sort of hotbar full of options for that operations,sort of like Eq2's crafting.The difference being you make proper decisions you gain skill,you make wrong ones your skill drops.
This is the far future, making things manually would be pretty unrealistic. Also, this isn't EQ. ER will have a player driven economy. The actual act of crafting needs to be able to accommodate mass production to supply the economy. I don't see how making the process manual and tedious would be fun.
So say you need to operate a PRESS to make the mold for your MK-33,you need a hotbar full of skills related to operating a press.Then a graphic interface would start where by you actually operate a press and have to make decisions in the crafting process,this is called INTERACTION.You need to make glass ,a different set of hotbar mechanics,need to use a lathe,more mechanics...ect ect.
See above.
I think i have explained enough,to get the idea across for an in depth crating process.I do not think players find it creative or fun to have to get 25 pieces of metal 20 pieces of some other material.I also think the learning of skills should be interactive not just some spread sheet design.Follow those simple rules and crafting can be fun and creative.
In what crafting system do you not have to obtain the materials somehow?
I don't see how you miss the creativity. You have base designs (the MK3 Assault rifle) and you can add a great many different modifications to it. For every base weapon, there are multitudes of different variations you can create. And the final products quality is determined by the quality of the materials put into it.
MS has release part two of the crafting process.
The Crafting Process, Part 2 (of 2)
Hi there!
Last week, we took off on a tour across the expansive crafting system in Earthrise and what exciting feedback we got along the road! All of our design team is happy to see that our community has enjoyed the look so far at what the game will offer to boost its player-driven economy to a new level. Now it is time for part two.
Tim is ready to create his weapon from all the resources he has collected from recycled Parts. The next logical step is to start manufacturing the Assault Rifle Mk3, as well as preparing the Designs that will tailor the weapon to his needs. As an extra, we’ll also show an example of the Disassembly process where Tim will prepare himself to move on to higher, more advanced technology without having to start from scratch.
(Keep in mind however that the following example is provided only to illustrate the crafting process in further detail. Names of resources, ingredients and final items and values of any kind are likely to be changed as we continue testing, tweaking, and gathering feedback during our closed beta. With any system we present here, or elsewhere, it is also possible that some things may have changed or evolved from initial comments on our crafting system and will continue to evolve, and as presented, this is where the system currently stands in development.)
MANUFACTURING PARTS
Tim has everything needed to create the modules that form the Assault Rifle Mk3 - Rifle Frame RF-2000 and Small Pulse Generator. Each module and the final item as well require that Tim locates a Factory that contains two exact Production Units. Each Factory in Earthrise contains 8 Production Units, and their combinations reveal what types of items can be manufactured there. While Recycling is fairly common in almost all factories, manufacturing requires that Tim finds a Factory with two specific Production Units required by the Rifle Frame and for the Small Pulse Generator. Tim's task is further complicated by the fact that each Production Unit has a Level between 1 and 5. The higher the level, the more advanced is the Production Unit and the better odds are for successful Manufacturing, including coming up with premium items with better Quality. So while several Factories may provide the machinery needed to produce Rifle Frame RF-2000, it's in Tim's best interest to find the one that contains the highest-ranked Production Units. This requires a fair amount of exploration and planning from power crafters, but once Tim consults with other players and travels along, he finds the best suited factory for his needs.
The Manufacturing Process is fairly simple as well. Tim provides all required ingredients by the Technology. Each Technology has a Difficulty property that lowers the chance of successful Manufacturing. Using higher quality ingredients and choosing a factory with high-tech Production Units can help offset the Difficulty and minimize the risk of manufacturing malfunction. Tim uses the ingredients required to manufacture Rifle Frame RF-2000 and the result is a success, but missing the slim chance of coming up with premium quality item of Quality 4. The result is Rifle Frame RF-2000 at Quality 3. Tim is about to manufacture Small Pulse Generator when he is approached by his friend, Damon. Damon tells Tim that Small Pulse Generator has a technical quirk - it allows to use Hyperconductors as a substitute in place of the required Conductive Material, as long as amounts are the same. If he chooses to do so, he may get a massive boost in his crafting chance for coming up with better manufactured items. The substitutes, called Combines, are alloy resources made by combining amounts of two raw resources via Manufacturing. Damon offers Tim to sell him Hyperconductors and Tim takes him on the opportunity. When manufacturing Small Pulse Generators, Tim puts Hyperconductors instead of Small Pulse Generator. He gets huge boost of his manufacturing chance and it allows him to produce a premium quality Small Pulse Generator of Quality 5.
Now that the basic modules for the Assault Rifle Mk3 are ready at hand, Tim decides to work on the Designs. Design Experimentation differs from Manufacturing modules because it requires comparably larger amounts of ingredients and therefore Tim had to work harder to acquire them compared to the basic modules for his rifle, but only a portion of those ingredients will be destroyed in the process with remaining ingredients risking a chance of lowering their Quality. Similar to Manufacturing modules, Designs have Difficulty that must be offset by using high quality ingredients at the Factory with best Production Units. Tim experiments on 70 Thick Hides in order to come up with Organic Skin Piercing Design. The experiment is successful and he is awarded an Organic Skin Piercing Blueprint (physical item in his inventory) with an Edge property of 95. All Design Blueprint will have a property called Edge calculated based on the average quality of experimented on items and the successful outcome of the experiment. Edge is a measure of how many times the Design can be used once it is placed into a Technology - once used on a Technology, Tim's Organic Skin Piercing Blueprint can be used to create 95 items with the design's enhancement bonuses before the Design becomes unusable and is destroyed. Out of all Thick Hides used for experiment, some are destroyed, some lose 1 level of Quality and others return to Tim's inventory intact for future experimentation. Tim also uses 400 Burzun DNA to experiment on to come up with Necroskeletal Paralysis. But this time it is a failure! He doesn't come up with anything, and this time the majority of Burzun DNA is destroyed, and the rest lose 1 point of Quality. Tim simply cannot repeat the experiment without acquiring more DNA, so he decides to head for the Global Market and buy a Necroskeletal Paralysis Design Blueprint from another player. This one has just a short-term Edge because the other Player has almost spent it out for his own personal crafting - only 7 points but even one point is enough for creating the weapon Tim envisions.
MANUFACTURING THE RIFLE
Tim has to find the best Factory with the best Production Units suited for mid-grade weaponry such at the Assault Rifle Mk3. Before Tim starts Manufacturing the rifle, Tim must also place the two Design Blueprints from his inventory "into" his Assault Rifle Technology. This process will destroy the Design Blueprint and its enhancement bonus will become part of the items that are manufactured using the Technology. Each time the Technology is used to create an item, all Designs placed in it will lose 1 point of Edge. Tim can later on "remove" the Designs from the Technology, which will return them as Blueprint items in his inventory but the removal process also lowers the Edge value of every removed Design. Right now, Tim places both Organic Skin Piercing Blueprint and Necroskeletal Paralysis Blueprint into the Assault Rifle Mk3 Technology. Now if Tim manufactures an Assault Rifle Mk3, it will carry on all enhancement bonuses provided by the two Designs. Tim starts Manufacturing the final item. Using one unit of Rifle Frame RF-2000 and Small Pulse Generator as ingredients, he has an Average Quality of 4. Because the Production Units have high Levels and the Difficulty of the Rifle is about average, he is almost guaranteed a success. At the end of the process Tim receives at last his desired Assault Rifle Mk3 at Quality 4! As the Quality of the rifle is above average value of 3, it receives tiny bonuses to certain properties such as damage and durability which makes it last longer than usual rifles in constant use.
EVENTUALLY, TIM HAS TO MOVE ON…. (THE DISASSEMBLY PROCESS)
Tim is rapidly advancing his character and no matter how much love and effort he put into his personal "Burzun Exterminator" rifle, it's getting old and he has to move on. Luckily, the Assault Rifle Mk5 he envisions as the perfect weapon for his level of advancement will not require him to go through the whole process of manufacturing every required module. It requires Enforced Nano Frame NF-550 and Small Pulse Generator. If Tim were to disassemble his old Assault Rifle Mk3 and reuse the Small Pulse Generator, he would cut the effort in half. Tim visits a nearby Factory where he can use his Structural Analysis skill at Rank 5 to disassemble Metallic Items such as the Assault Rifle Mk3. If he did not know the Technology required for the manufacturing of the disassembled item, Tim could have received a significant penalty. But because Tim is the manufacturer of the weapon, he sure knows the Technology used to make it. His disassembling is a success, and a critical one! Usually, when an item is disassembled, resulting parts inherits the quality of the disassembled item. His Small Pulse Generator would have ended Quality 4, but because he made a critical success it has a chance of coming out at Quality 5 which it does! Rifle Frame RF-2000 if not so lucky, and remains at Quality 4. Tim can now reuse the Small Pulse Generator in his next crafting project. What about the Rifle Frame RF-2000? He won't throw it away! Tim can further disassemble the Rifle Frame RF-2000 to its ingredients, Refined Metal and Conductive Material.
Hopefully this is the last crafting QOTW, getting really tired of crafting talks.
Sounds a bit like the system used in Eve. In fact, since the game is skillbased, the whole game seems more and more like Eve on the ground instead of in space. Not saying that would be a bad thing though.
If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe. - Carl Sagan
There are some major differences. Check out the questions of the week.
There are some major differences. Check out the questions of the week.
tl;dr
List some of 'em
If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe. - Carl Sagan