They probably thought it best to have ore and metal be difficult to obtain/transport, yet still have some weapons you could walk around with.

You could also maybe make a step down in weight happen during the smelting process. Lower the fabrication cost to match.

You know you raise a good point, it would make much more sense for the smelting of ore to result in a much lower wieght ingot and a lot of rocks

make new character and new world
get new character into main world where you want the ingots
load main character with ingots into new solo world and throw ingots in chest
load new character into new solo world and grab ingots
load into main world with new character at base with ingots
ez

Originally posted by spaghetti:

make new character and new world
get new character into main world where you want the ingots
load main character with ingots into new solo world and throw ingots in chest
load new character into new solo world and grab ingots
load into main world with new character at base with ingots
ez

You raise a good point. But we are not talking about circumventing portal restrictions. We are talking about the weight of ore/metal vs the weight of finished weapons and armor.

Use a cart if the terrain allows for one. Otherwise make use of portals and portable kilns/blacksmiths with resources to sustain more when you break em down.

Originally posted by bunies:

You know you raise a good point, it would make much more sense for the smelting of ore to result in a much lower wieght ingot and a lot of rocks

Exactly ! Slag.

This is what I said in a past thread about slag.

"I'd make the smelting process make a bunch of slag, a high % of the ores weight and make the ingots weigh a lot less. Then beat a tiny amount of slag out during forging also. THEN make it so you have to dispose of ALL the slag properly, cuz it's possessed with DEMONS, and they'll spawn from the slag creating an attack event proportionate to the amount of slag, within reason... This is conveniently the also reason you can't take metal though portals, cuz of the demons."

DEMONS!!!

Originally posted by DeMasked:

Use a cart if the terrain allows for one. Otherwise make use of portals and portable kilns/blacksmiths with resources to sustain more when you break em down.

What my post is trying to say, is that using 240 weight-units of Iron Ingots to create a 0.8 weight-unit Iron Sword is insane. Like, is your Viking REALLY wasting 239.2 weight-units of iron for every sword they make? It's crazy to make the ingots so incredibly weighty. It's like carrying an i-beam to a crafting table and walking away with a hunting knife. Like... wtf is that about?

Originally posted by Dialtone:

This is what I said in a past thread about slag.

"I'd make the smelting process make a bunch of slag, a high % of the ores weight and make the ingots weigh a lot less. Then beat a tiny amount of slag out during forging also. THEN make it so you have to dispose of ALL the slag properly, cuz it's possessed with DEMONS, and they'll spawn from the slag creating an attack event proportionate to the amount of slag, within reason... This is conveniently the also reason you can't take metal though portals, cuz of the demons."

DEMONS!!!

Totally on board with ores having high weights and ingots having a lot less. Not so sure about the slag and the demons. But hey... I mean... it -would- explain the whole portals thing.

Where are you getting pounds from? There are no units.
Furthermore this is a game that allows you to repair equipment an infinite amount of times for no resources, that's the trade off, a little more initial work.

@Weaver

Good points!

1) You're right! I mistakenly thought there were units associated with the measurements. Let's do some math and see if we can figure it out.

So, the standard mass of a one handed long-sword we can say is 1.1 kg or 2.4 lbs (taken from wikipedia).

In the game, an Iron Sword has a listed weight of 0.8, which means it's either one-third the weight in pounds or 72% of the weight of kilograms.

Since the unitless, listed value of the weight is closer to the weight in kilograms, I think a weight estimated in kilograms might be best.

Which, coincidentally, if the units of weight are given in kilograms, means the default carrying capacity is well over 650 lbs. However, if we adjust to 72%, it'd mean the player can carry around 216 kg (or 475 lbs.)

Given this conversion factor, we can estimate the weight of a copper ingot in kilograms. Given that the listed weight appears to be in units that are 72% of a kilogram, we could reasonably estimate that a copper ingot would have a weight of 8.64 kg (or 19.048 lb). This means that one ingot represents EVEN MORE metal.

Converting the unitless weight of 12 to an approximate value of 8.64 kg (using our estimated conversion factor), we can see that there would be 19.048 lbs, which is 58.8 in^3 of metal. That's a two inch cylinder approximately 18 inches long. For ONE ingot.

So, after creating a conversion, it's still plain to see that the weights of the ingots are absolutely crazy.

2) Repair of an item doesn't necessarily mean that parts are replaced. Blades, for example, dull, and need to be honed. That doesn't mean material is gained or lost. Clubs and hammers might need their fasteners tightened, that doesn't mean you'd need additional material. Stone tools might get chipped and need to be ground down.

There is no indication, on any tool, that materials of any kind are needed for repair of an item.

3) Regardless of the units, and regardless of the means of repair, it is insane to think that a craftsman would create a metallic object and waste four times the weight of that object in raw materials. Metal, unlike ivory, wood or cloth, can absolutely be repurposed, and the thought that a craftsman would throw away any 'extra' they had is completely insane.

1)You are fixating on arbitrary units and completely ignoring game balance.
2)Weapons and tools indeed do wear down and become useless after prolonged use and need to be thrown away or turned into scrap. Weapons and tools wear down and break, and indeed lose mass along the way. You sharpen a knife or sword enough, you end up with a stub, much like sharpening a pencil. That's leaving aside breakage and loss of materials that way. Club and hammer handles break, the heads wear down over time.
3)Again, you are fixating on arbitrary units and completely ignoring game balance.
It's like if you complained about how you get too little meat you get from a pig in game but totally ignored the fact you can grow a new pig in a couple days with a couple carrots.

@Weaver

You seem to be arguing that ingot weight should remain unchanged, but your only reasoning seems to be 'it's a video game'.

1) The units I listed are not arbitrary, they are what is stated in the game. Furthermore, a game wants to intuitively convey things to the player. Saying a player can carry at most '300' is a more intuitive value than saying '30' or '3000' because the players, humans, can relate that figure of '300' to something we can understand (be it lbs. or kg).

Furthermore how would lowered ingot weight unbalance the game? You still could still not move ingots through portals, and would have to physically carry them to whatever destination they need to go to.

2) We can debate the definition of repair, but as I mentioned earlier, you do not consume materials at all when you repair. Your argument that 'weapons require more materials because the repair costs are free' isn't substantiated at all in the way the game plays, or in any repair mechanics, be it repairing items or structures.

My point is, while you can make this claim, there is NO evidence to support it.

3) I get you're saying that this is a 'game' and that some departures from reality are made in the pursuit of fun and game conventions. But are you seriously suggesting that ingot weight needs to be ridiculous or else it would disrupt the game? How would a change to ingot weight disrupt game balance?

While you have a point, that changes in how things work are necessary for a fun game, I don't think it's substantive in this case. The weight of an ingot isn't going to substantively effect gameplay, therefore I think that the weights should be adjusted to be more realistic.

The ingot weight only really matters between the smelter and the forge. You should be able to live with that.

I do believe that it is related to why you can't go through portals with metal ingots - they are supposed to be hard to transport, especially over long distances.

Also, carts can be pretty nice.

@Falaris

I can and do live with the ingot weight, but that doesn't mean that it isn't INSANE.

Hauling 240 weight-units of iron to your forge, only to walk away with 0.8 weight-units of sword is just completely mental. That's what I'm saying.

And yes: carts are pretty nice.