Tutu Coding Marathon

[SimDing0]

Okay, so the weapon breakage thread on the BGT forum got me thinking: yeh, it does tend to make sense that stuff breaks less after you clear out the Nashkel mines. The question is, of course, how to implement this sensibly, but hey, we're good at stuff like that. I'd suggest that killing Mulahey should reduce the chance of weapon breakage by 25%, and taking a sample of the ore poison to Thalantyr (a UB quest I'm producing) should reduce it by a further 50% (the idea being that he produces an antidote of some sort).

[Domi]

Why Talantyr? Why not a smith in Beregost? If he knows what chemicals they used, he is more equipped to deal with the problem than a reclusive mage, who, as far as we know does not have alchemical background.

[Andyr]

Thalantyr is meant to be pretty knowledgeable in pnp (though I forget his class level and specialisation, or lack of). Some cooperation with Taerom might be a good idea foe the quest, though.

[SimDing0]

Taerom does mention treating Ankheg hide, so presumably he has some knowledge of chemicals involved. I don't see why he'd be particularly expert at analysing and counteracting a mineral poison though (which may or may not be magical in nature). Blacksmiths aren't typically that familiar with chemical reactions involving the substances they work with, surely? (I suggest finding a blacksmith and asking him where iron comes in the reactivity series.) Thalantyr, however, while not explicitly described as having an alchemical background, is fairly well renowned as a general magical problem-solving guy, and seems a more obvious choice to be suggested for delivery of the sample.

[CamDawg]

From a technical standpoint, this is very easy to code.

[Andyr]

I will look into my pnp info on Taerom and Thalantyr and see if there is anything which may be of use...

 

For another sagely character, there's also Firebeard Elvenhair.

[Domi]

Setting aside the fact that the whole plot is er... very weird on production scale, the only things that I can think of what the hell they added to that ore is either some wicked bacteria that is brought from passive state by freakishly high temperatures of the kiln, or some sort of catalist, again activated at the high temperatures in the kiln, that speeds up the reaction with oxigen, making everything rust like crazy. The way I see it, spraying every plow and nail with a magical potion is a damn expensive way to get simple iron tools to work. It is a bit better to invent some quenching or curing way to prevent iron from breaking (say that now they have to cure it in tar mud, to create reducing environment that stops the malicious reaction (since we are sort of backwards here). Then, upon implementing this technique, you can slightly rise the price of all 'simple' weapns and be done with the iron crisis. If you go with magical purging of ore, I'd say that firstly Thalantyr needs to get interested, and then the prices will probably go even higher, if he has to devise and brew commercial potion...

[SixOfSpades]

There are two relevant items to be found in the Nashkel Mines: The Mineral Poison and some Corrupted Ore. Upon returning to Nashkel, I'd have Ghastkill suggest that "If you found any of the brittle iron ore while you were down there, I'd take it to Taerom Fuirim, the smith in Beregost....he might be able to find a way out of this mess." Upon taking a sample to Taerom, he will study the Ore and gain a pretty good idea of what's been going on--but for best results, take a bottle of the Poison along, so Taerom can scratch his head over it and suggest showing it to Thalantyr.

 

(Firebeard is OK as far as Magery goes, but he seems to be too academic to actually do something practical like this; whereas Thalantyr is demonstrably all about the application.)

 

I should note that the iron crisis should actually NOT be resolved in any hurry--it's part of the Main Plot that the secret mine in the Cloakwood is of great importance, people in BG City complain bitterly about the frail metal, and feathers generally remain ruffled all the way up to the coronation.

 

[ADD:] Oooo, hey look, I can report my own post.

[Caedwyr]

From a metallurgical view, it isn't all that difficult to cause poor quality steel to be produced. In fact, it seems more common to have the poorer quality steel produced in certain instances. The presence of an unforseen chemical in the smelting process that was not accounted for (ie: they could have fixed the ore problems if they had hired a metallurgist to investigate why things were going wrong and counteract the added chemical) could be the cause behind the lower grade ore that comes out. If the smelter and blacksmiths had continued using the ore without correcting the problem, breakages could occur.

 

*shrug*

 

All I'm saying is it could have been something as simple as changing the chemical properties of the ore slightly, and blindly continuing as if nothing had changed.

[Kulyok]

I've two arguments contra:

 

1) It might be too expensive to apply a preventative substance on a 7-gp sword: the cheapest potion in BG costs more than a non-enchanted weapon, so, the cure, the substance, will probably cost as much. Thus, Thalantyr/Taerom might have their say about it - or, indeed, refuse to implement it at all, as it goes against the common sense.

 

2) Killing Mulahey, in my opinion, does not reduce the rate of weapons-breaking, as it takes months to get mines working again, as well as it takes months to get tainted iron off the market. In in-game dialogue in chapter 5 commoners are whining about the tainted iron still coming from Nashkel Mines, so, the problem is still alive and writhing.

[Idobek]

Thalantyr is a better bet for solution since, I believe, the potion used to corrupt the ore is likely to be magical in origin, else it would be unlikely to survive the smelting process. I think you should be able to ask Thalantyr produce two things: an oil for the player to coat his weapons (forged from corrupted ore) to prevent them breaking; and a spell to take to Nashkel which will decorrupt the ore in the mine. Therefore, only weapons coated in the oil will have less chance of breaking, or weapons forged from noncorrupt ore from Nashkel.

[SimDing0]

While certainly more realistic, I don't think a general reduction is going to come out too obviously fake. There's sufficient randomization in the breakage that the player's only going to observe "things break less after chapter 3" rather than "breakage decreased by 25% immediately after killing Mulahey". For BG purposes, I think that's sufficient.

[jester]

So you can cure already 'tainted' items that you possess? After the cure has spread (A time you might very well already find you inside Jonny's) thee breakaga stops, but up till then all the swords that have been made and sold remain the same or not? Or is there a recall policy for the Beregost smithy?

 

 

'Attention all adventurers. Please report back to your point of putchase and your authorised dealer as the iron is tainted. Do not enter tht dungeon. I repeat: DO NOT enter that dungeon.'

 

Do you think there will be a couple of lawsuits from wealthy families who lost their heirs due to splintering platemail or rotten bastard swords?

[Domi]

(somberly) congratulations, Jester, you've just ruined a perfectly good cup of hot chocolate...