Fixing the problems with the crafting system

[gangrenous]

The crafting system is a cool and interesting aspect of EFU, but it has several well-documented flaws:

• Recipes are identical between any two characters, including ones played by the same person.
• Even if, hypothetically, recipes could be randomized for each individual character, items fall within predictable landscapes and finding new recipes for the same crafting paths that lead to "good" items is just a matter of grinding.
• If, hypothetically, recipes were randomized, collaboration would be destroyed and crafting would become even more unnecessarily isolationist.

I am convinced that there is no need to throw out the baby with the bath water, and that the system can be salvaged with the following steps:
[LIST=1]

• Randomization of crafting outcomes per-user by appending the individual PC ID to crafting hash calculations.
• Recipe discovery produces a tiny, undroppable item that, when used on oneself, brings up a menu asking whether you want to craft the item again. The same DCs are rolled, all of the same risks are present, and the presence of an alchemy or herbalism kit is still necessary. This is achieved by placing all finalized hash calculations as local variables on the recipe item.
• This tiny, undroppable item can be destroyed via its menu, or used on someone else to optionally share it with another crafter in exchange for a small XP and gold penalty for scribing.
  
• Landscapes are given a variable number of ingredient groups as parameters, each representing a different "sublandscape". For any individual PC, on a pseudorandom basis moderated by the PC's surrogate ID, an ingredient will appear in only one of the sublandscapes. This will virtually eliminate the ability of players to carry across landscape knowledge between PCs.
  

It may or may not also interest EFU DMs to create less deadly effects on failure and lower DCs, but correspondingly less "epic" higher-tier items. Increasing frequency of success and item discovery will also make the system less "grindy" and more accessible to normal human beings.

[VanillaPudding]

I disagree with the idea of completely randomized recipes for every character. Not only does not not make any sense, it further removes the alchemist / herbalist from interaction (trading recipes, ICly teaching, etc).

While I do not want to spark a debate in this suggestion thread, I did want to oppose it as I feel that this is the wrong direction to go with the system(s). This suggestion will only isolate the power of the items and further castrate those players who have strayed from it for any reason. It should remain an optional and fun system in which players can enjoy through interaction and trade.

I believe that suggestions for this system should focus on the power level of created items, creativity of them, and overall ways to improve it - not obliterate it. The system is rather advanced and interesting, and most of the issues stem from the more powerful alchemy system. There were never complaints about the power level of the herbalism items, so perhaps those would serve as a baseline for what can be created through alchemy (while possibly increasing herbalism even).

[gangrenous]

I think you misunderstand. The collaboration issue is fully fixed by this:

2.Recipe discovery produces a tiny, undroppable item that, when used on oneself, brings up a menu asking whether you want to craft the item again. The same DCs are rolled, all of the same risks are present, and the presence of an alchemy or herbalism kit is still necessary. This is achieved by placing all finalized hash calculations as local variables on the recipe item.
3.This tiny, undroppable item can be destroyed via its menu, or used on someone else to optionally share it with another crafter in exchange for a small XP and gold penalty for scribing.

You can still share recipes. As many recipes are composite and have several craft stages, you can still share parts of recipes. Collaboration is stimulated by taking away players' familiarity with crafting landscapes, but frivolous sharing is discouraged by the mechanism of XP/Gold penalties.

[VanillaPudding]

I should mention that I am a fan of the system being adaptable and changing however, as a whole at least. This could be done through modification of the planting system itself (slowing growth of highly prized fungi / plants to represent over farming, creating accelrated"seasonal" growing patterns, or even forcing some fact into it concerning planting different species in the same area as one uses nutrients another does not - For two weeks something might grow well in the windy canyons, and then it would not for two weeks, etc)

It could also be accomplished in other ways but I will save that for their own suggestion if needed.

[gangrenous]

If recipes were randomised for each PC, this would not change the items used to access landscapes. It would only change the permutations used by characters to access particular items (ie. 'recipes' are no longer a thing).

By breaking down and randomizing landscape composition in a controlled way, this problem is also fixed by this remedy:

4.Landscapes are given a variable number of ingredient groups as parameters, each representing a different "sublandscape". For any individual PC, on a pseudorandom basis moderated by the PC's surrogate ID, an ingredient will appear in only one of the sublandscapes. This will virtually eliminate the ability of players to carry across landscape knowledge between PCs.

Basically a "goblin ear" might unlock a landscape for goblin candies on one PC, but this may not necessarily apply for the next PC, for whom instead goblin candies will appear in a landscape unlocked by "bottle of piss" instead. No more jumping to all of the correct landscapes every time you "start over".

[gangrenous]

Another benefit, actually, is that if a specific recipe starts causing serious problems, DMs may confiscate it and reshuffle the crafting system. Since everyone's recipes are linked directly to their corresponding items, no serious crafting progress is lost and DMs can perform shuffles more casually.