Charcoal - a (last resort) alternative to coal

[BlackParagon]

As the title reads, I am hereby suggesting to be able to burn/refine wood into charcoal, which can then act as a supplement/replacement of coal.


Why implement this?

Charcoal is a logical solution to coal shortages even in the real world. It would add flavor to crafting in general and also make sense chemically (for the most part).
As it stands right now, coal is the only option for refining most of the metals and alloys at some point in their production cycle. Adding charcoal as another alternative removes the absolute need. But as wood is readily available in basically most parts, this would need proper balancing. That is why I propose the following balancing approaches to not make coal obsolete and retain it's value as a superior crafting ingredient.


BALANCE

To balance this properly, first of all the ratio of 10k wood to charcoal should be very low - simply because wood is available everywhere. We could go as low as 250 charcoal for 10k wood.

Next, charcoal should be an inferior version of coal - meaning, you will need a much higher amount of charcoal than regular coal if you use it as a catalyst. I woul suggest at least 3-4 times as much.

Lastly different sorts of wood should produce variations in the amount of charcoal - also, maybe there could be differences based around how you produce it (which crafting appliances you use or if you add other catalysts).



I would love some feedback on this and ultimately have it be implemented in the game. I can see a lot of metalworkers and crafters having reservations about such a thing, but I think it would be logical and, if balanced correctly be a good alternative in situations were you are starved for material - albeit not a very efficient one. Basically a last resort option.

Thank you all for reading and see you ingame

 

[Speznat]

Man thats a great Idea, that gives the players more opportunity to do stuff.

Please star vault add this and balance it like he said. That Its not a direct replacment more an option if you dont want to travel 3hours to next calx spawn and just need 100coal or something. Would be Awesome.

A Party hard and a Coal Song for you:

 

[Woody]

I like the idea on paper but will it be enough to consider with calx still being fairly accessible to most of the map (being in the central and on a number of major rivers )

 

[BlackParagon]

Theoretically charcoal could also be used in cooking (for example smoking) and in alchemical processes - which I think would be a nice additional benefit.

I understand calx is readily available currently but that doesn't mean it always will be or there won't be situations were it won't be.

 

[Tzone]

It would make wood have some sore of use. I would just require a lot of wood to be used to ballance not having to go get calx.

 

[Rorry]

I would vote yes if it was implemented as less effective than coal/coke, not just that you need to use more of it. Plenty of people would just afk chop wood in town or some empty area of the map rather than go mine calx (which gets people out into the world away from guard zones.) (Yes, calx should be removed from the river near Fab, just as Saburra was from MK and granum was from Meduli.)

 

[Amadman]

I like the sound of it.

Aside from coal still being better , there would also still be a need to mine calx for calx powder and coke to make grainsteel.

 

[BlackParagon]

Being less effective than coal as well would be fine too, albeit not too low imo. I think it is possble to tweak the numbers in a way that it really only work out as a last resort but is still available if you desperately need to craft a small amount but have no access to coal for whatever reason.

Regarding coke I think it might also be fine to make coke with it, maybe as a catalyst, but you would still need some coal and even more charcoal as a catalyst. It's just theory here, but I see it working out fine.

No serious crafter would chop away trees if the yield is significantly lower than just riding to the next calx node.