I’ve been noticing since the start of the expansion that it seems recrafting something is much more difficult than crafting it from scratch. I can make rank 5 items from scratch with max rank materials, but if I get a recrafting order for the same item (using max materials) I can’t make it max for the person without using concentration. Is this intended or is something broken in the system?
For example. I can make a brand new rank 5 ilvl 590 Artisan Blacksmith’s Toolbox using 300 Artisans Acuity, 1 Ringing Deeps Ingot, and 4 Ironclaw Alloy (rank 3). It says the difficulty to make rank 5 is 505 and it says my skill is 507 so I can make it rank 5 with no concentration. However when I get a recraft order from another character that currently has a rank 4 Toolbox and wants to upgrade to rank 5 using 20 Artisans Acuity and 2 Ironclaw Alloy (rank 3) it still says the difficulty is 505 but somehow my skill is now 482? I change nothing on my end but it gives me a built in penalty because the item is a recraft? It makes no sense to me.
It’s even worse when you try to recraft your own equipment because then it registers that you are currently not wearing the item so it penalizes you even more. Like if I want to recraft my own rank 2 Toolbox using 20 acuity and 2 Alloy (rank 3) it still says difficulty 505 but now my skill is only 381 and the best I can make is rank 4 using concentration! Is this all intended? I don’t recall recrafts being more difficult in DF as long as you use max mats. Am I just not remembering things correctly or is this broken?
It seems like what is happening is that the coding values for recrafting are exactly the same as they are for the initial craft and since the recraft uses less materials it doesn’t give you enough skill points to get to the breakpoint. Like in my example above since I’m recrafting the item and it uses 2 less alloys and 1 less ingot is doesn’t get the extra 25 points to get me to 507 (speculating 10 points for each alloy and 5 for the ingot) Is this intended? I don’t remember it being like this in DF. Anyone else have any thoughts on this or can help me figure out what’s going on? Thank you and sorry for the long post.
This is intended and normal.
Most likely what you are seeing is the original item was crafted with R1 or R2 materials. During a recraft, the provided new materials replace 40% of the original. The other 60% remain with corresponding decrease in achieved skill and added requirement for Concentration to achieve the desired/end 505 skill.
What you are seeing with your Toolbox is not the system ‘removing’ that 11 skill, but again recognizing the original material levels you used to craft it. Recraft it twice with R3 mats and your third attempt should hit R5 without Concentration.
Edit: So yes, sometimes it will make more sense to simply craft a new item instead of recrafting an older one depending on the original materials.
Edit 2: If you are interested in the math.
100 from base skill
40 from Profession Equipment
55 from Means of Production
65 from Tools of the Trade
40 from Trade Tools
R1 mats provide 0 skill
R3 mats provide 40% skill. For a 505 skill craft, that is 202.
40% of 202 is 80.8 or 81 skill
There is your 381.
For the second recraft, you will achieve 80% of 202 which is 161.6 or 162.
That should be 462. At this point you can choose a third recraft or use Concentration to achieve R5.
For green tools I’d make a new one yes. For the 300 AA ones, recraft will have to do. I did a few recraft where the customer had used crappy mats in the initial craft. Even with max skill and the tool wheel filled, the best I could deliver was R 4. I usually offer a free recraft to bring it to R5 with there mats afterwards.
Ah ok yes that makes sense. I will try the double recraft with max mats option because obviously 40 AA is better than 300. I will report back later. Thank you!
Update: With material prices being what they are I decided not to go the multiple recraft way and instead I’m just going to use my concentration. This all makes sense now based on the info above but I crafted all of last expansion the same exact amount I am this expansion and I don’t remember it being nearly as punishing. And I don’t mean because of inspiration procs either. Just in general it really does feel like the formula is more punishing for recrafting. But idk. Thanks again for the replies and the explanation guys. Appreciate it!