Silver/gold/platinum gear makes no sense

I'd prefer if there were sidegrades for different materials, and if you could craft armor directly instead of having to upgrade all the time.

So you could have copper and bronze and bone and wood armor, and when it was time for Iron armor, you'd just make it instead of upgrading from a different material (which doesn't even make sense.)

I'd rather build my racial armor, and then upgrade that, or build iron armor and have upgraded iron armor (using higher tier materials, even), so that everybody's not sitting around looking exactly the same all the time.

 

Diamonds are very brittle.
http://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=1682
http://didyouknow.org/diamonds/
http://dendritics.com/scales/diamond-properties.asp

The very point that they shatter is the definition of "brittle"

Entirely agree, even if my character wasn't an engineer of any sort, he does have access to a 3D Printer, and a matter manipulator. I think they are a bit beyond pickaxes, even from a survival standpoint. I'm still coming up with an effective new system that will outclass this current one.

 

How about you still get the tiers, maybe upgradable, maybe not, but you get different variants depending on which non-basic metals you use? Like, say, you make a steel armor with bone and it gives more health, you make one with blastrock and it gives more defense... etc.

 

Whole-heartedly agreed. Overhauling the crafting and metal system can add so much to the game. Originality, diversified itemsets for different uses, educational value. You have my +1.

 

I agree as well. I'm tired of using gold and silver for things they can't realistically be used to do. I'd like to see more iron, steel, titanium, and then advanced alloys/composite materials as well. Instead of gold armor for a higher tier, I'd rather see, for example, Tier 5 Steel Armor that includes electronic components and represents your advanced understanding of how to work steel.

 

That'd be really cool.

Granted, that'd require a complete redesign of the crafting system, but I think it'd be worth it.

 

The point of my post about it being aliens is basically that with the tech levels they have who knows what metals are used in alloys of what strengths. If the devs want gold and silver to be stronger than iron let em. It's not like this game advertises itself as having hyper realism.

 

I agree. I think they might want to shift the crafting away from having to stack tiers but being able to skip. For example you shouldn't have to make copper armor to make iron armor (scavenger). This system isn't terrible but is somewhat irritating

 

You have a space ship that you can fuel with coal, races of ape people under a police state government, carnivorous plant people and medieval goddamn robots. I think we threw realism out the window when penguins invade you with a ufo.

 

It's not about realism. It's about immersion!

So I'd hoped that the devs might come up with something more unique than copper/silver/gold/platinum armor/weapons. You know, something that fits more with a sci-fi game than a fantasy one. I really don't mind having silver and gold armor in terraria or any other fantasy game but why go and repeat what other games have done dozen times before?

 

Diamonds are brittle but very hard. They do not scratch easily but can shatter with a hammer blow (shock).

 

Well, I can say this in regards to the metals used... if they had In Real Life statistics...
Copper and Tin are weak thin metals... but both are better for armor and weapons than things like Wood and Bone and Fabric.
Copper is highly conductive of electricity. Tin is highly conductive of heat. Combined they make Bronze, are hard Metal on par with Iron in practicality.
Silver is better than Copper and Tin, but its actually not as hard or sharp as Iron and Bronze, and makes for poorer melee armor and weapons...
Silver is conductive of heat and electricity though...
Gold is less hard and sharp, making for poorer weapons and armor for melee... but it is even more conductive of heat and electricity though...
Platinum is quite hard, harder than Copper and Tin, Harder than Gold, Harder than Silver, and Harder than Bronze and Iron... it is weaker than Steel...
but Platinum conducts heat and electricity very well... extremely well...
Iron is good for being hard and sharp, and conducts electricity slightly, but conducts heat poorly.
Steel is very good for being hard and sharp, and conducts electricity barely, and conducts heat poorly.

With these metals, I can make a number system with 1 being the weakest and 5 the best.
1 Copper and Tin
2 Gold
3 Silver
4 Iron and Bronze
5 Steel and Platinum

Next, we'll do usefulness with Electricity with same system.
1 Bronze and Steel
2 Tin and Iron
3 Copper
4 Silver and Gold
5 Platinum

Next, we'll do how much Heat can be retained with same system
1 Iron and Steel and Bronze
2 Copper
3 Silver
4 Gold
5 Platinum

All in all, the game would need a few changes to be more realistic.
Regardless, Platinum is naturally the best metal with everything... both in fantasy... and IRL...

 

I find it very annoying that I need a silver pickax to make a gold one etc. I'm siting with all this diamond ore wanting to make some diamond pickaxes, and do NOT want to waste all my other ore for one damn item. I realize it's really easy to find ore what with all the asteroid fields and stuff but still, grinding for a damn pickax?

Are pickaxes the only item that degrades? I haven't gotten to drills yet but I assume they do as well, but not other tools have durability.
I honestly think they should just take it out any item durability altogether. Sorry, kinda went off on a tangent there.

 

Though I do agree that these metals would make terrible weapons. armor and mining tools, it is just a game. There is a happy medium between realism and fantasy. Gold is weak and bends easily and weight a lot. I know this for a fact but as a hobby game designer, I have used gold as a material for weapons and armor. If you want to get really technical, the thing that bothers me is that you can melt diamond chunks in a furnace which is basically a stone housing around a camp fire to make full and cut diamonds. Wat?