Although still in development, the crafting system in Gloria Victis has reached an impressive level of complexity and authenticity, which were the fundamental goals of its development. However, to make sure that becoming a master craftsman will not be achieved through mindless, tedious repetition of gathering exactly the same materials to craft exactly the same items over and over, a decision has been made to implement one key feature: the quality of the final product depends on the properties of individual materials used by crafters.
What does it mean? Properties of the materials will affect the parameters of the final product. When forging a sword, a blacksmith will no longer be required to use specific alloys – they will be able to use any iron, even unrefined, but the best results will be achieved when the core of the sword is softer and much more springy than its edges. Therefore each alloy that can be crafted has its own purpose: while the hardness of the Damascus steel makes it an incredibly good material for crafting plate armour, it will not be so good when forging an axe, because it is not as flexible as, let’s say, a semi-hard steel ingot. The same applies to wood – the properties of oak make it a good material for constructing gates or workbenches, but yew will be a much better choice for a bowmaker, and a carpenter will find pine wood very useful for constructing furniture. In effect, there will be no useless materials – their utility will be a matter of purpose.
)
However, inheriting the properties of the materials will not apply only to weapons and armour but to all of the crafting processes, including clothing, food, alchemy or even buildings and siege engines. Therefore, for instance, a blacksmith will need help of qualified metallurgists, tanners and woodworkers to work efficiently and forge high-quality gear. Because of the complex interdependencies between various crafting occupations, each of them will be equally useful and cooperation will be highly beneficial.
)
Moreover, there will be numerous qualities of each basic resource spread all around the world – players will be able to gather just iron ore, or iron ore of a certain hardness and springiness that will suit a specific purpose. While low quality resources can be gathered in every single region of the world, the most precious of them will be rare and limited to specific locations. For instance, Iron March ? a part of the Midlandic kingdom of Logres ? is famous for its top-quality iron, while the most valuable wood comes from the Eagle Wood in Wenedia.
In effect, while the crafting system will be even more complex and closer to the authentic medieval techniques, it will be very easy to learn but hard to master. With the properties of a product being affected by the quality of the materials, experimentation will be greatly rewarded. Even low-level crafting schemes will remain useful as the final products will become better if the crafter finds more efficient combinations of materials or better workbenches.
)
While players will be able to craft basic equipment in any region of the world without worrying about running out of supplies, crafting an item of an uncommon quality will be a challenge due to the restricted availability of the best materials. In effect, it will be a common interest of all the players from each nation to conquer and control new lands. Moreover, the resource nodes will not be infinite – gatherers will deplete them, and they will need to find new nodes to gather resources of a given quality. It will force the players to take part in the continuous fight for control over territory and even the most powerful guilds will not be able to dominate others just staying in one place.
The overhaul of Gloria Victis’ crafting system will begin in the next few weeks. It will improve immersion and user experience, making the system even more complex and realistic, more challenging and satisfying for dedicated crafters, and at the same time more friendly for the newcomers. The determining factor will not be the time spent on tedious repetition of the same actions but knowledge and logic, as well as experimentation and desire to become a master craftsman – a silent hero who plays a big role in creating the entire in-game economy.
