A simple shovel

[jaydee0004]

Requirements
It requires 1 bar of any common metal and 3 branches. The mining skill is also required.

Features
- They make digging faster and maybe have a chance to dig double or triple depending on your nature/industry belief.
- Also, if possible, they can also be used on cellars.
- Clay digging is more easier.
- It is two-handed.
- The higher the quality the higher the chance it gets digged items doubled or tripled. Ex. You dig, then you get 3 clay for doing so.
- Might be also used for plowing?
- You consume less stamina than hand digging.

[Resture]

But... why?
Isn't clay digging already extremely fast?

[Granger]

Fleshing out your idea:

Also a non-metal version (using a board instead of a bar) which is slower (like with the plows), but faster as with hands (which could be nerfed to make room to not have insane speed for metal version like with metal plow - which should be nerfed a bit imho).
Skill requirement: What currently allows to dig is enough, with carpentry to make wooden version (already there because of the boards), and smithing for metal one (like the other tools).

Having full industry dig more units with lower quality (like for getting clay to make bricks for walls) while full nature giving 1 unit of full quality but faster could make sense, it should not duplicate items (since that would lead to quality spots being extended, leading to influx of more HQ resources - and i think in case loftjorb want to extend the current HQ supply they would add more quality spots instead of giving more from the existing ones).

In case of more than one item per cycle ending up in inventory the formula could be
quality=((quality_of_spot+((#items-1)*10))/#items
which would lead to being industry quickly getting plenty (and being able to extract more from a q-spot), but as upside with fucked-up quality only (which nicely reflects the RL drawbacks of industrial production as percieved from a treehugger perspective).

Example: you dig with hands on spot giving q40, with shovel on full nature you would dig 1 of q40 (but faster as with bare hands), on full industry you dig 3 of q20, and being in the middle you have random chance for both outcomes, but most likely you dig 2 of q25.

Downside: spawning more items from the spot (but at least as q10 ones, not as HQ duplicates as originally suggested) might not fit into loftjorbs plans.

Other option (not involving industry/nature) is to modify quality of extracted resources by shovel quality but this could lead to insane-quality feedback loops (would also need some other mechanic for water too to keep it on-par with clay, sand and soil), so see above about loftjorbs plans.

To use it on a cellar: why not, but slower as pickaxe.
For plowing we have plows, and in case you want to just plow a single tile the current mechanic is fast enough.

I would like to see a shovel for stuff like digging trap pits, hidden stashes (etc.).

[Avu]

Why the hell penalize industry even more?

[Loner]

which would lead to being industry quickly getting plenty (and being able to extract more from a q-spot), but as upside with fucked-up quality only (which nicely reflects the RL drawbacks of industrial production as percieved from a treehugger perspective).

Example: you dig with hands on spot giving q40, with shovel on full nature you would dig 1 of q40 (but faster as with bare hands), on full industry you dig 3 of q20, and being in the middle you have random chance for both outcomes, but most likely you dig 2 of q25.

Avu, I think its a bonus for full industry really. The full nature people can get the clay for ovens kilns etc, and the full industry will be able to make brick walls much better, right?

[Avu]

Yet another industry alt I smell. Why have a real choice when a non choice is so much easier on teh brain cells.

[springyb]

When I clicked this thread I thought to myself, "Hey, a tool that would make digging soil faster, cool." But instead I read things about making industry halve the quality of clay.

OP's idea was good. A tool that speeds up/reduces stamina drain for digging clay or soil would be neato.

[jaydee0004]

When I clicked this thread I thought to myself, "Hey, a tool that would make digging soil faster, cool." But instead I read things about making industry halve the quality of clay.

OP's idea was good. A tool that speeds up/reduces stamina drain for digging clay or soil would be neato.

I completely disagree about tweaking/halving the quality of clay. It has nothing to do with the shovel.

Yes, the original idea is what I think is currently needed for now.

[Granger]

I completely disagree about tweaking/halving the quality of clay. It has nothing to do with the shovel.

The idea is an answer to the proposal of getting more than one unit at a time.

I'm sorry guys, but do you really think that digging clay - and please remember: when making bricks you can keep 5 kilns going in parellel with ease - is to slow?

If so, what's next?

Inst-a-harvest directly while planting? Trawler fishing? Spawn-o-house? KoS-o-matic? Detree, plow & pave visible screen within 10 seconds?

[Blxz]

If so, what's next?

Inst-a-harvest directly while planting? Trawler fishing? Spawn-o-house? KoS-o-matic? Detree, plow & pave visible screen within 10 seconds?

I like the idea of a pave and plow machine. I have thought about that so much when reaching the 3rd minimap of super long roads. Its totally stupid but DAMN it would be convinient. Steam powered paving machine. Or even a steam powered machine with optional attachments. Afterall the FIRST steam engine was invented by some greek dude back in the classical age before the rise of rome. Too bad nothing happened to it for another 2000 years.

Heh, I'm an idiot.