Best way to train-up crafters?

[Hans Lemurson]

Certain things, like the Component Assembly Bench require a minimum skill level to even use, and when making expensive weapons or clothing out of rare materials, it is vitally important that you have a crafter who isn't going to eff it up.

But how do you get crafting experience in the first place?  Nearly everything seems to cost a lot of resources, which are the very things you are trying to conserve by having a skilled crafter.

The best idea I've come up with is based on the fact that Experience is gained not on items completed, but on time spent.

I'm currently having some good luck making cotton Dusters with a one-handed tailor working at an unpowered sewing table while high on smokeleaf.

[Lys]

Tons of stone blocks, tons of joints.

[SpaceDorf]

That sound like it would net you some really ugly dusters

[b0rsuk]

Anything made out of stone takes more time to make.

In a warm biome, cotton is very cheap to grow. You can make parkas and many caravans buy them (bulk goods, exotic, combat supplier)

[Zhentar]

By far the most material efficient training option is dusters, made on an unpowered tailoring bench (with power, it uses more material than shortbows & greatbows - which may be preferable anyway depending on the availability of wood relative to cotton).

And there are a number of options to improve your training efficiency regardless of what you pick.

• Make your trainee wear a parka
• Put your crafting bench in a location with a poor working temperature (preferably also outside)
• Have your trainee work stoned
• Surgically remove one of your trainee's arms
• Replace your trainee's remaining hand with a scyther blade

[Hans Lemurson]

Ah, wearing a Parka!  Didn't think of that.  I'm in extreme desert though, so that may be hard to pair with spending a long time outdoors.  Is the Parka Additive or multiplicative with other global work speed modifiers?  Probably doesn't matter since we're just looking for "More" rather than "Exact Quantity".

My trainee lost his hand in an accident with a Thrumbo, and since he is "Too Smart" and low manipulation only affects Speed and not Quality, I realized that this is probably the perfect time to train him up before I buy him a Power-Claw or Bionic Arm.

The temperature-based work penalty: Does it apply to an absolute temperature, or is it relative to the pawn's gear?

[Zhentar]

Parka is additive with global workspeed modifiers.

The "bad temperature" penalty uses absolute temperature, whenever the temperature is below 5C or above ~40C (don't remember that one exactly). The shortbow is convenient here if you have the wood to spare, since you can drop a crafting spot in your freezer for free. But a hot room is also good here since it has synergy with the parka - heat stroke further reduces your pawn's working speed.

[travin]

Setup a couple of smokeleaf joint crafting stations and set them on forever. With two storage zone next to it set to store the leaf and the joints they just fly. You'll have level 20 crafters in short order.

[RazorHed]

I used to make stone double beds and cancel them right before completion to not lose resources

[Hans Lemurson]

Setup a couple of smokeleaf joint crafting stations and set them on forever. With two storage zone next to it set to store the leaf and the joints they just fly. You'll have level 20 crafters in short order.

That assumes a steady supply of smokeleaf from which to craft.  I want to minimize the materials spent in training not just to reduce wastage, but to reduce the labor cost for other pawns to support this educational endeavor.

I used to make stone double beds and cancel them right before completion to not lose resources

Doesn't that train up Construction instead?  For that I use stone chess tables.

[travin]

That assumes a steady supply of smokeleaf from which to craft.  I want to minimize the materials spent in training not just to reduce wastage, but to reduce the labor cost for other pawns to support this educational endeavor.

Of course it assumes a steady supply of smokeleaf, is there any other way to do it?

In this scenario nothing is being wasted as they are not only gaining experience but quickly produce a sellable product that all traders will purchase. The same goes for all pawns in the entire supply chain, including hauling. There's no downside, save for another sellable crop related product that is more efficient to produce. I challenge you to find another crop based product--or any product, for that matter--with higher margins that all traders will purchase at all stages of colony tech. I could be mistaken but I don't believe they exist.

Recall, the discussion is quickly training up crafters. In the crucial stages of early and mid game play, this is a very efficient way to do it.

This takes into account the resources needed to produce a station for production. A crafting spot has no cost or duration to build and only needs a chair built, for comfort and small efficiency boost, which is a minimal expense but not really necessary.

[RazorHed]

oops sorry ,I misread.

[Hans Lemurson]

That assumes a steady supply of smokeleaf from which to craft.  I want to minimize the materials spent in training not just to reduce wastage, but to reduce the labor cost for other pawns to support this educational endeavor.

Of course it assumes a steady supply of smokeleaf, is there any other way to do it?

In this scenario nothing is being wasted as they are not only gaining experience but quickly produce a sellable product that all traders will purchase. The same goes for all pawns in the entire supply chain, including hauling. There's no downside, save for another sellable crop related product that is more efficient to produce. I challenge you to find another crop based product--or any product, for that matter--with higher margins that all traders will purchase at all stages of colony tech. I could be mistaken but I don't believe they exist.

Recall, the discussion is quickly training up crafters. In the crucial stages of early and mid game play, this is a very efficient way to do it.

This takes into account the resources needed to produce a station for production. A crafting spot has no cost or duration to build and only needs a chair built, for comfort and small efficiency boost, which is a minimal expense but not really necessary.

Assume I'm poor and have limited arable land.  How much experience do you get from rolling 20 smokeleaf joints (80 smokeleaf)  compared to 1 Duster (80 cotton)?  This is of course assuming that smokeleaf and cotton are grown at equal rates.  I'll have to look this up.

oops sorry ,I misread.

They both start with 'C'. 

[travin]

Assume I'm poor and have limited arable land.  How much experience do you get from rolling 20 smokeleaf joints (80 smokeleaf)  compared to 1 Duster (80 cotton)?  This is of course assuming that smokeleaf and cotton are grown at equal rates.  I'll have to look this up.

It's not a viable question because if you're poor you can't afford to build a tailoring table and by the time you've figured that out I've rolled 200+ joints, prepped for the first trader that comes calling.

That and being poor with limited arable land has no bearing on how much experience achieved in your comparison.

[Limdood]

travin, the thread is about levelling up crafters....i've done the smokeleaf pipeline...it has NOTHING on stonecutting for xp gain, which in turn has NOTHING on tailoring/smithing.  As far as availability of arable land, it plays a VITAL role in crafting xp gain in that scenario....80 cloth for a duster will generate far more xp than 80 smokeleaf.  Take it a step further and cancel the duster at 1 work left and you lose about 16 cloth and (once you get more cloth) can start again.  It means that for about 160 cloth, you can make essentially 6 complete dusters worth of crafting xp, or just get 40 joints....or about 1200 crafting xp, which is maybe...half a duster? at most?