Taking Naito's briefly mentioned suggestion in the Discord some time ago:
I feel we should ditch the hard numbers with crafting and go with units. Up until this point I feel that the hard numbers can be somewhat intimidating for newer people and for the most part have been very guess-based.
For instance, you can buy a 10'x10' sheet of cloth from the general store. But unless you're a tailor in real life, what good does that number do for you? It's overly complex, or super vague and open for loose interpretation. The Unit system will represent an unspecified amount of material which can be used to craft stuff. With this Unit System we will also introduce the concept of "Scrap Material," which will represent the bits of pieces of crafting material too insignificant to measure in units.
So to give an idea how this would look, the Market Metals would look something like this:
Zinc | 50 ryo per Unit
Lead | 50 ryo per Unit
Tin | 50 ryo per Unit
Copper | 50 ryo per Unit
Bronze | 100 ryo per Unit
Iron | 250 ryo per Unit
Steel | 500 ryo per Unit
Titanium | 1,000 ryo per Unit
Gold | 2,000 ryo per Unit
Jade | 3,000 ryo per Unit
Ebony | 8,000 ryo per Unit
The Unit value will be determined upon registration. Something like a basic Katana would have a Unit requirement of 1. So if somebody wanted to craft a Steel Katana they would need to buy 1 Unit of Steel and 1 Unit of Wood, for the scabbard. And the craftsman doesn't have to worry about cloth for wrappings or brass for the fixtures since these additions are mainly cosmetic and are too insignificant to count, thus falling under the "Scrap Material" category and be provided for free. This is how a basic Katana reg would look.
Name: Katana
Item Rank: C
Material Rank: B+
Materials Used: One Steel | One Wood
Description: A standard steel sword with a fitted wooden scabbard. Single-edged, this version is the most basic interpretation of this sword.
Requirement: N/A
Crafting Time: 1 Day
Yield: 1
It is important to note that a "Yield" section should be added to compliment this change. For smaller items, like daggers, shuriken, senbon, or caltrops, will have a much greater yield for a single Unit used. This helps prevent people from getting ripped off, while still keeping their crafting material much easier to track.
Why Do This Change: Lets be honest, no craftsman actually keeps track of their material. Most just buy "more than enough" to compensate doing any math, because the math sucks unless you're a real craftsman. And even then it will still probably suck. It can be really intimidating and is an example of "too much freedom" in the crafting field over a simple, easy-to-grasp concept like the Unit system.
I feel we should ditch the hard numbers with crafting and go with units. Up until this point I feel that the hard numbers can be somewhat intimidating for newer people and for the most part have been very guess-based.
For instance, you can buy a 10'x10' sheet of cloth from the general store. But unless you're a tailor in real life, what good does that number do for you? It's overly complex, or super vague and open for loose interpretation. The Unit system will represent an unspecified amount of material which can be used to craft stuff. With this Unit System we will also introduce the concept of "Scrap Material," which will represent the bits of pieces of crafting material too insignificant to measure in units.
So to give an idea how this would look, the Market Metals would look something like this:
Zinc | 50 ryo per Unit
Lead | 50 ryo per Unit
Tin | 50 ryo per Unit
Copper | 50 ryo per Unit
Bronze | 100 ryo per Unit
Iron | 250 ryo per Unit
Steel | 500 ryo per Unit
Titanium | 1,000 ryo per Unit
Gold | 2,000 ryo per Unit
Jade | 3,000 ryo per Unit
Ebony | 8,000 ryo per Unit
The Unit value will be determined upon registration. Something like a basic Katana would have a Unit requirement of 1. So if somebody wanted to craft a Steel Katana they would need to buy 1 Unit of Steel and 1 Unit of Wood, for the scabbard. And the craftsman doesn't have to worry about cloth for wrappings or brass for the fixtures since these additions are mainly cosmetic and are too insignificant to count, thus falling under the "Scrap Material" category and be provided for free. This is how a basic Katana reg would look.
Name: Katana
Item Rank: C
Material Rank: B+
Materials Used: One Steel | One Wood
Description: A standard steel sword with a fitted wooden scabbard. Single-edged, this version is the most basic interpretation of this sword.
Requirement: N/A
Crafting Time: 1 Day
Yield: 1
It is important to note that a "Yield" section should be added to compliment this change. For smaller items, like daggers, shuriken, senbon, or caltrops, will have a much greater yield for a single Unit used. This helps prevent people from getting ripped off, while still keeping their crafting material much easier to track.
- More Examples:
Name: Dagger
Item Rank: C
Material Rank: B+
Materials Used: One Steel | One Wood
Description: Bige Pige
Requirement: N/A
Crafting Time: 1 Day
Yield: 3
Name: Shuriken
Item Rank: C
Material Rank: B+
Materials Used: One Steel
Description: Bige Pige
Requirement: N/A
Crafting Time: 1 Day
Yield: 10
Name: Senbon
Item Rank: C
Material Rank: B+
Materials Used: One Steel
Description: Bige Pige
Requirement: N/A
Crafting Time: 1 Day
Yield: 25
Name: Caltrop
Item Rank: C
Material Rank: B+
Materials Used: One Steel
Description: Bige Pige
Requirement: N/A
Crafting Time: 1 Day
Yield: 25
Why Do This Change: Lets be honest, no craftsman actually keeps track of their material. Most just buy "more than enough" to compensate doing any math, because the math sucks unless you're a real craftsman. And even then it will still probably suck. It can be really intimidating and is an example of "too much freedom" in the crafting field over a simple, easy-to-grasp concept like the Unit system.
