Artisan Archive

I know this is kind of a useless post, as the devs are not going to change the way the resource system works now that the game has launched. However, I got to thinking about how I would have implemented the resources had it been my decision and now I have to get this off my chest in order to get any sleep tonight.

Also, I wasn't sure where a thread like this should be posted so I decided to start it in the Artisan forum as I fiqured it might reach the widest number of crafters that way. First I'll outline my idea and then I'll detail the advantages of this system (as I see them).

Anyways, I was thinking about how we can pull minerals like steel and aluminum out of the ground, as though they were raw ores. Of course, in real life steel and aluminum are processed metals. Steel is refined from iron and aluminum is processed from bauxite (I think, not 100% sure on this). Furthermore, special alloys, such as 'neutronium steel' require additional processing and refinement.

My thinking is that instead of pulling steel alloys out of the ground, the harvestable mineral resources should be limited to a few basic types of ores, maybe a dozen or so instead of the dozens we currently have. These ores would generally have low stats to start out, but through a refining process their stats could be improved (I know others have suggested this previously, but bear with me, I have a slightly different twist on this). For example, to get steel you would have to mine iron ore and then refine it to make basic steel. However, even if you just wanted improved iron it could be refined to higher stats to make it more suitable for crafting (likewise with copper, gemstone, etc.).

The basicores would be more readily available though still subject to periodic resource shifts (that way no one can control the best resource spots forever); they would never disappear completely, for weeks at a time, as they can under the current system. There may be a few rare ores, but they would simply be a little harder to findinstead ofcompletely gone. You might have to go to a remote planet to find them, or maybe the starter planets would only have a couple of deposits of these rarer ores, but they would still always be available (though, again, they would still shift around every week or two).

Now, to get advanced alloys, such as the above mentioned 'neutronium steel', you would have to start with refined 'basic' steel and then combine it with another ore, or perhaps even another refined alloy of some type, to createmore advanced alloys. Creating certain metals then would become a crafting process in and off itself.There would be draft schematics for each alloy, detailingwhat ratio of each type of ore/alloy is required to create the new alloy.Thiswould be subject to experimentation to achieve desired stats, and then manufacturing schematics could be made and used in smelters or refineries to mass produce the alloy.

As a result of the refining process some of the material would be lost (impurities burned off, etc.). The ratio could be something like 1 unitlost for every 5 units refined, or whatever. More advanced alloys would increase this 'burn off' rate, maybe even up to 1 unit lost for every 2 refined/processed. Because of this, the resource draw rate would have to be increase for harvestors, maybe by 50% or even 100%. This has important economic implications which will be explained below.

Each resource stat could be a experimentable factor, so that the refiner could try to achieve a desired result, say for example high overall quality or high conductivity. Also, burn off rate could be an experimentable factor so the refiner could decide whether they wanted to go for a smaller quantity of a high quality resource or a larger quantity of a lower quality resource. This would also help novice refiners stay somewhat competitive (in terms of quality) with master refiners (see notes on Miner profession below).

Naturally, certain alloys and ores would have a predisposition towards certain stats. For example, copper would tend to be easier to increase conductivity and malleability while iron would have naturally better shock resistance and heat resistance. These natural traits would be easier to experiment in for the refiner (getting better results), but that wouldn't stop the refiner from trying to process a type of steel that had a high conductivity (it would just be tougher to do). Why would you want to do that? Well, certain craftable items could require a type of steel alloy with a high conductivity, so it would be desirable to try to experiment conductivity up even though it would be relatively tougher to do.

Likewise, this refining process could be used for petrochemicals as well. Harvestors could draw crude petroleum, which would then be refined either into petrochemical fuels of various classes, or refined into lubricating oils or refined into petroleum based plastics and polymers. As with minerals, the stats could be refined, experimented and improved upon.

Now this would create a good opportunatity for a complete miner, or more generically 'harvestor', profession. This profession would have an Advanced Survey skill branch which would increase the survey range (but not give planetary survey, as this would simply be too powerful). It would also have a Mineral Refining branch for processing/refining mineral ores, a Chemical Refining branch for refining gasses and petroleum and either a Farming branch for improved flora harvesting or a general Harvestor Efficiency branch which increases the productivity of a miner's harvestors.

As the miner progressed in each branch he/she would gain expermimentation points to use for the refining process. Also, they would becomemore efficientrefiners, reducing the amount of resources loss due to 'burn off'. Finally, they would get certs for creating more advanced alloys/petrochemical combinations, etc.

As for farming, I'm not too familiar with floral harvesting so this is just a guess on my part. I assume that survey for floral resources is done very similarly to surveying for minerals. Instead of surveying for 'wheat' for example, the harvestor would survey for soil that was good for growing wheat. The soil would have traits, like fertility, moisture, sun exposure, etc. Certain types of plants would do better in certain types of soil than in others, and thus would could only be harvested from those areas. Also, soil traits would vary from planet to planet. For example, Tatooine might have soil with high sun exposure, but poor moisture and fertility. Therefore, that would restrict the type of plants that could be grown on Tatooine. For example, there wouldn't be any forests on Tatooine for wood harvesting, but wood harvesting could be done easily on planets like Naboo or Dathomir.

So a farmer would plant a flora harvestor on a desired type of soil and then select what type of crop to 'grow' there. Perhaps this could use a cert system as well, or maybe a schematic system so that farmers could experment and create bio-engineered crops. Bio-engineered crops, in turn, might be able to thrive on less then ideal soil, so that it would be possible to grow a strain of wheat or treeson Tatooine, for example. This would also open the door for a new 'farmer' profession with branches for surveying (that mimic the miners surveying branch so taking both won't give any additional benefit), farming, ranching (for growing meat) and flora bio-engineering.

One final point on resources: there should only be one type of generic power (for the sake of convenience called Generic Power Unit, or GPU). Instead of 10 different types of wind and solar power, everything could be run using GPUs. There is really no reason for us to have 20 different types of liquid energy that all basically do the same thing, and itcould cut down drastically on database usage (which I know is an issue).

Solar generators would produce more GPUs than Wind Generators and, in turn, Fusion Generators would produce more GPUs than Solar generators. You would still have to survey for good wind and solar spots, and they would still shift. However, instead of placing Fusions on radioactive patches, they could be placed anywhere. You would have to place radioactives into the Fusion generator, which would then process them into GPUs. Fusions would have the advantage of producing a high yield of GPUs at a constant pace (i.e. not subject to the % yield constraints of resource patches). The amount of GPUs could vary depending on the Potential Energy rating of the radioactives put into them. This way, you could put raw radioactives in them (with relatively low PE ratings), or you could put in processedradioactivesthat haveincreased PE (kind of like enriched uranium or plutonium). Finally, miners couldprocess petroleum and gasses to create GPUs as well, which they could use themselves or sell.

Now, the advantages of this system: instead of having to wait weeks to get a rare resource you need to create certain items, you could simply order it from a refiner who would then 'craft' it for you. I know this would be a boon for weaponsmiths and droid engineers. It would also help doctors and maybe BE's due to the increasedavailability of floral resources.Sure, you might have to pay more per resource, but the trade off is you could get the resources you needed when you needed them, instead of having to wait weeks for the gods of the resource shifts to favor you with the critical materials you need.

However, archs could benefit from this too.Architects don't really need high quality resources, they need resources in bulk. So by increasing the resource yield they could buy the larger quantities of basic ores they need at lower prices (or harvest the ores themselves for even greater cost savings). They wouldn't be subject to the 'burn off' issue because they are using only unprocessed basic ores. Also, they would have new structures to build (medium and heavy smelters and refineries).

Noviceartisans would be able to build personal refineries and smelters so that they could get in on the processing/refining bandwagon on a smaller scale and meet their limited needs relatively inexpensively. They could refine basic steel and maybe do a little improvement in other basic ores, but they wouldn't be able to create any alloys (only miners could do that).

Well, that's my 2-credits on how I would have implemented the resource system for SWG, if it had been up to me. I know the system isn't going to be changed now, but like I said above, I just had to get it off my chest. Thanks for taking the time to read my long post. I hope you found it interesting and though provoking.

Slim Vargo, Corbantis