Suggested changes to the "Crafting Station"

[Boston]

So, with the A13 update, there is now a bottom-tier "crafting station" available as soon as you land, letting your colonists craft 3 weapons

• Clubs
• Shivs
• Shortbows

I propose that that list be altered

In wilderness survival ( I am an instructor in the topic), there are 3 weapons/tools that one should know how to craft, in any situation (called "The big 3"), due to them requiring little advanced knowledge, or even many materials. They are:

• Spear

: We can make shivs (aka stabbing knife), and the only functional difference between a shiv and a spear is the pole it is attached to. Much more effective than any knife (due to range and two-handed-usage, aka more force behind the blow), some form of spear is, to me, the first object one should make in a survival situation

• Club

: Little more than a length of wood weighted at one end, a club can defend you from an attacking animal, or be used to finish off wounded prey

• Sling

: The most complex weapon on this list, slings are surprisingly effective for hunting small game. You can make a sling with some bits of string and scraps of cloth/leather, in only a few minutes. The only thing is: they are difficult to use, more so than bows. In real life, you make one, and then practice with it, to hell and back. With 2 weeks of practicing with my sling, every day, I can comfortably hit a human-torso-sized target with 9/10 rocks from 15 paces (roughly 20 feet). A ping-pong-ball sized rock strikes with the same force as a moderately-sized pistol round, meaning they are appropriate for small game and for defense against human targets.
[/list]

The above list is much more "realistic" and more effective than the current list of craftable weapons. I also propose the shortbow (aka a selfbow) remain on that list, but make it take longer. In "real life", bows, and the accompanying ammunition, take a not-insignificant level of physics knowledge to craft, not to mention time. In "real life", one can make a "rough and dirty" selfbow from whitewood in about a week, if one knows that they are doing. A sling takes 5 minutes.

The progression should logically be : club/spear >>>> sling >>>>>>>>>shortbow

Just my two cents.

[Mathenaut]

I agree with the spear. Never saw much point in the shiv. It's something good to have in 'real life', but serves no practical use as a craftable, really.

Also, a functioning bow doesn't take a week to make in real life. Hell, a basic crossbow of passable quality takes maybe a day depending on what corners you cut and the quality of your tools.

In terms of the game mechanic, these are not exactly powerful weapons, but they're a world above having nothing.

[Boston]

I agree with the spear. Never saw much point in the shiv. It's something good to have in 'real life', but serves no practical use as a craftable, really.

Also, a functioning bow doesn't take a week to make in real life. Hell, a basic crossbow of passable quality takes maybe a day depending on what corners you cut and the quality of your tools.

In terms of the game mechanic, these are not exactly powerful weapons, but they're a world above having nothing.

Have you made "primitive" bows before? I do. It took me a couple of hours to shape the stave from a chunk of tree trunk to the rough stave, then about a week to dry, then a couple more hours to tiller. That was with birch, a "whitewood", and I was working with a hatchet, a sharp knife, and a woodrasp. Actual decent wood, like yew or osage orange, can take up to several months to season.

The actual "making" of the bow can take only a few hours, if you have a nice stave (straight, no cracks or humps, etc) and know what you are doing. If you don't or if you are working with substandard materials, it will take much longer. It can take hours to heat-bend a stave to straightness, for instance.

Even back in the Stone Ages, there were specialized craftspeople for tools, because tools like bows and knapped stone blades weren't easy to make.

[Fluffy (l2032)]

also, considering the crafting spot is really a "you have nothing but some ground to work on" sort of thing, we should probably assume the colonists do not have high quality tools. I can't claim to be an expert, but Boston makes sense.