Kebernet's Guide to Making Stuff v0.7.1
Thanks to everyone for the response this guide has gotten and I hope with the new arrivals it continues to be useful. I would like to note that most of the changes in this version are the result of people posting or suggesting addendums and corrections. I can't mention everyone by name, but thanks for your feedback.
NB: This guide is a supplement to, not a replacement for what is in the manual. RTFM, n00b. This guide is not intended to tell you what to make, where to get something or what to do, just to familiarize you with the mechanics involved in crafting and things that might not be obvious.
I. Surveying and Resources
Resources come from a number of places. As you are just starting out, you will likely get most of them from surveying. There are 5 kinds of surveying tool: Mineral, Gas, Water, Chemical and Flora. After you have made all the surveying tools you should open them up and familiarize yourself with the various kinds of resources.
To use your survey tool for the first time, pull up it's radial menu and select "Tool Options" this will ask you for a range and point count. You will only have 1 option (you get more as you advance). Next, double click on the surveyor, select a resource type and hit survey. This will show you the concentration of the resource as a percentage at several points around you, and create a waypoint to the highest one. You can click on the "Sample" button (or use /sample) to gather some of the resource. Your avatar will kneel and begin sampling.
As you sample you will get failures as well as various "pulls". Your surveying skill deterimines your success rate, while the resource concentration (and some X factor) determines the quantity your sample. A "Critcal Success" on a sample will result in a 20-40% increase in the sample size for that pull.
Notes:
(a) As a newbie, don't waste your time trying to sample at anything less than a 75% concentration. You won't get much.
(b) You can make all the other surveying tools with your generic crafting tool.
(c) If you go to your datapad, you will see the surveyors wapoint listed as "Resource Survey". If you "Set Name" and rename it, it will stay there permanently and a new waypoint will be created the next time you survey. This is a good thing. There is no need to repeat this time consuming process over and over.
(d) If you are returning to a lode you found and made a waypoint with as in #3, you don't have to survey again. Just stand on your waypoint, select the resource and hit sample. This is critical when the server has that "not so fast feeling".
(e) Other resources, such as Hides and Bones and Meat can be harvested by Scouts.
(f) Once you have found the highest "concentration", select Tool Options on the radial for the surveyor and decrease the range. This will show you more point information in a smaller area so you can locate that "absolute sweetspot".
Later you will use Harvester structures to gather resources. These structures will continuously mine resources where they are placed.
II. Crafting
When you begin, you have a Generic Crafting Tool. This will let you make many things, as well as "Specialized Crafting Tools". You will also see "Crafting Stations" in cities. Each draft schematic has a "Complexity" score associated with it. The higher the complexity, the better tools you will need to make it. See chart:
<= 15 Can be made with the Generic Crafting Tool.
<= 20 Can be made with a Specialized Crafting Tool.
<= 25 Can be made with a Specialized Crafting Tool with proximity to a Public Crafting Station.
All higher complexities require a Private Crafting Station and a Specialized Crafting Tool.
Schematics will show you what you need to make them. Look at your Datapad to see the draft schematics you know how to make.
You will also see a set of attributes and percentages under various headings on your draft schematics. These percentages indicate what portion of a stat on the final item is determined by what attribute on a component. That is, if Cold Resistance makes up 50% of the result for "Durability" on the schematic, you should use a component with a high Cold Resistance value to increase that stat.
When you are proximal to a crafting Station and using a specialized crafting tool, you will have several options after you "Assemble" your item. Experimentation allows you to use your skill-level experimentation points to try and increase the stats on an item. You can do this in several steps or all at once. The more you try and increase at one time, the less likely you will be to succeed. The more times you try, the more you increase the complexity of the final item. You can also create a "Manufacturing Shematic". This will allow you to use a Factory structure to make many copies of this item with identical components.
Crafting Tools and Stations have optional components crafted by Master Artisans that can be added to them. I don't know what these do, with the exception of Storage Units on a Crafting Station, which increase the size of the "Input Hopper". This is a storage tank where you can leave components to be crafted with later.
III. Advancement
You get most of the XP for an item at the time you craft it successfully.
You get UXP when your crafted products are used by others. For durable goods, you will get XP over time as the item is used. For components or consumables you will get all the XP at the time the item is consumed. For newbie items you get (or will) some XP at the time the item is crafted, but it is best to have people use your items.
Notes:
(a) Use the Bazaar to sell your items. Don't be a fool. A 7-day auction on your item will not sell it quickly, use the Instant Sell option.
(b) Don't change the name of your product to something too radically different from the Draft Schematic name. People need to know what you are selling.
IV. Harvesters
Harvesters will allow you to mine resources when you are off line and with greater effeciency. To place your harvester, survey and find a good concentration. For a harvester it is best to find a location that has several resources in a good concentration (50%+). There is almost no chance you will be able to place the harvester on exactly the spot you want, but stay as close as possible. After the harvester is built, it will operate for a while, but you must pay cash to its maintenance pool for it to continue operating. After you pay credits to the pool, you can see it's operational time remaining with the status option.
On the "Operate Machinery" screen, you begin by selecting a resource for the harvester to mine. After you select the resource, click "Turn Harvester On". In the lower area of the window you will see 2 numbers. On the right is the maximum extraction rate your harvester can operate at. On the right is the actual extraction rate. The actual will be (Resource Concentration Percentage) * (Harvester Maxium Rate). Remember, you are paying the maintenance pool based on operational time, not marginal cost of extraction, so you should place your harvesters at the best possible locations.
Harvesters also require "Power". Power generation harvesters are constructed to provide power to buildings, or can be "surveyed" like any other resource. Be sure to check the "Status" window of your harvester. It will show you the remaining time with the current power reserves and maintenance pools.
You can retrieve the resources from your harvester by selecting the "Hopper" button on the operational window.
Notes:
(a) You need to be 1024m away from any city center to get past the "You cannot build here" message.
(b) Even on a "green square", if you are too close to a lair or POI you will get a "There is no room" message placing the harvester.
V. Vendors
Once you reach Business III in artisan, you get your first vendor. You can create a vendor by going to a structure where you have "Vedor" rights and selecting "Create Vendor" on the "Structure Management Terminal".
After you have created a vendor, you can open it and it will work very similar to a Bazaar terminal. One option on the vendor, however, is for people to come and "Offer" items to you. You will see this in your "Offers" pane. If you accept an offer, the seller can return to your store and deposit the item(s). They will then appear in your "Stockroom" (this is like the "Available Items" tab on the Bazaar).
Items sold on your vendor won't be take from your inventory. You need to keep them in the area of the vendor for people to be able to pick them up. Dropping them in your structure will work.
Notes:
(a) You get XP when someone visits or purchases from your vendor.
(b) Your vendor charges you maintenance based on the number of items stored. It's stupid, but you want to keep your offerings limited to only the highest turn items.
(c) MAKE A TON OF WAYPOINTS to your store and give them to people you meet. Since your store is likely in BFE, people need a reason to make the trip and need to know how to get there.
(d) Your items sold on your vendor count against what you can sell in the bazaar.
VI: Crafting Stations
I menitioned this above, but it seems people constantly miss this one: Crafting stations are proximity based. When you are near one, and you use a specialized crafting tool, you are actually "using" the crafting station (notice the icon in the corner of your crafting windows changes from the tool to the station).
Private crafting stations, in addition to unlimited complexity of items have a large storage space associated with them. To open it, bring up the radial on your crafting tool, then "under" the Start Crafting option is an "Open Input Hopper" button. Once you put things in the input hopper, you can craft directly with them. When in the component assembly window, you will have 2 tabs of components. One is labeled "Inventory", on "Input Hopper".
Notes:
(a) A longstanding bug is sometimes your input hopper will appear empty after you have put items into it. Loging out and reloging will correct this.
(b) Sometimes when you enter a room with a private crafting station, the tool will not properly "sense" the station's existance. Before you begin crafting, hold the "Start Crafting" radial for a few seconds and look for the "Input Hopper" option to appear before you begin. If it doesn't, leave the room or structure for a moment and come back.
VII: Factories
Factories allow you to create multiple objects repeatedly and quickly. To use a factory, you first have to create a Manufacturing Schematic at a crafting station. Once you have done this, you go to your factory and select "Options"-> "Access Schematic Slot". Next, you load the factories input hopper with components identical to the ones you used in the schematic and select "Start" on the factory. It will then continue to make an item every minute or so until the resources in the input hopper are depleted, or the charges on the manufacturing schematic have run out.
Items made in a factory appear in the input hopper as "Factory Crates". These are pop-only stacks of items. That is, once you take an item off the "stack" it cannot be put back. To get an item out of the crate, double click on it.
Notes:
(a) When retrieving items from your output hopper, notice the default action is "Pick Up". You can just double click on them, saving you the tedium of dragging to your inventory.
(b) Factory hoppers, like crafting stations, will occasionally appear falsely empty. Re-logging will correct this. (See 'e')
(c) Some items (Structural Modules and Wall Units that I know of) won't appear in crates right now, but as identical items in the output hopper.
(d) EXPERIMENT. Don't accept a poor experimentation round when creating a manufacturing schematic. Remember you are making a lot of these, so wasting resources for a few items to get a good result is better than generating 100 low-quality items.
(e) There are several bugs where you will not be able to see the contents of your hoppers. The most common can be worked around by opening the input hopper and depositing an item in it while the output hopper window is open. If this does not work, log out completely and wait a minute or so and reconnect.
VIII: Resources by call
Some schematics call for classes of resources, rather than a specific one. Since there seems to be some confusion as to what these classes are here is a short guide.
code:
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Inorganic Chemicals Fiberplast Inert Petrochemicals Polymers Lubricating Oil Petrochemical Fuel Minerals Gemstone Ctrystalline Amorphous Low Grade Ore Carbonate Siliclastic Intrusive Extrusive Metals Non-Ferrous Aluminium Copper Ferrous Iron Steel Unknown Ferrous Metal(*) Radioactives Solid Petrochemical Gasses Reactive InertOrganic Organic Structural Wood Bone Hides Scaley Leathery Wooly Bristly Cereal Corn Wheat Rice Oats Fruit Flowers Berries Vegetable Fungus Greens Tuber (**) Beans (**) Meat Milk EggsWater
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* been seeing a lot of these, may be a bug
** unsure if these are "Vegatable" or "Fruit" |
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