A very draft of textilecraft -- fibre processing on its' way

[Sami]

So we're adding fibre processing, from harvested plants into yarn, starting with nettles.
It's a complex feat(ure) all-in-all and the things briefed here can change as we proceed.
Now we're in the middle of brainstorming, study, coding and testing the initial mechanics - and also making changes to existing stuff to the extent that allows this type of new material processing in the first place.
 
Starting with nettles we'll add few new habitats (ponds and wetlands) for them so that the newly featued usefulness will be practical in the wilderness conditions.
Nettle harvesting also needs to be changed so that they can be harvested way earlier than currently, without seeds naturally, but in good length for fibre extracting.
Fibres obtained will be probably categorized as PLANT item type, for easier spotting and selection from the inventory.
For all the fibre processing and spinning yarn it's likely that we'll feature a completely new skill: textilecraft. 
The fibre processing in general will go through retting, drying and extracting fibres. We'd like to feature water retting based on the temperature, so it can be faster or slower depending on the weather (ie. water temperature), and becoming impossible in the freezing weather.
We'd also like to make it possible to extract fibres from (fresh) nettles simply by hand without retting process required.
It takes some time, but that's how you would craft a fishing line in the wilderness within few hours.
For producing larger quantities of fibres the water retting would be the way to go, of course.
Fibres can be spun into yarn either by hand, or with a spindle. The both options will be available.
Crafting a spindle is simple, but the actual spinning is something you need to practise. Textilecraft skill would come in handy there, as the beginners surely don't produce yarn all that fast at all.

That's some of the to-dos (and actually some dones also) from top of my head to come up with satisfying fibre processing.

With this addition I found it better to proceed kind of backwards... So at first I've got some (magically generated) nettle fibre, and a spindle - a new craftable item.
Textilecraft menu is set up with the initial options. Retting, drying and extracting are mere placeholders, but spinning yarn is being coded now. Productions times
and yield and internal properties of the bundles of fibre, and yarns are on the table.  After the spinning code is ready, it's time to concentrate on the preceeding steps.

Here's a very draft screenshot where I'll try to code Kuitu Kaumolainen through spinning his first nettle yarn. There's bundle of nettle fibres and spindle on the ground.


These are future additions - not yet functional in current version 3.63.

[Privateer]

Awesome!
 I love how animals show up when you make new stuff

[Brygun]

ooff

Glad to see

The oof being the update to the BAC to swap over to the vanilla recipes that emerge. I actually support frequently modded things being brought into the game. Hopefully iron working for "iron age Finand" won't be too far behind.

[trowftd]

This also got me thinking, how the already active characters will get their skills?

[Brygun]

This also got me thinking, how the already active characters will get their skills?

Thats a good question.

I hope they can vs restart required.

If it is going to be restart I'd recommend pre-setting a few more skills like Iron Working with their own code to come later.

[Privateer]

This also got me thinking, how the already active characters will get their skills?

 Well it would just appear when you load a game in that version.
Probably either using the tribe default + roll number, or empty skill (which I doubt).

[PALU]

Like Privateer said, a migrated character ought to get appropriate newbie skill levels in new skills. This also means there's no need or use for early introduction of dummy/placeholder skills, as there wouldn't be any change to the skill level compared to introducing the skills when the save is migrated, only complications from the placeholders not being the correct set (after implementation showed that adjustments were needed), or the starting skill level formulae needed to be tweaked, so the placeholder values were incorrect.

[Roheline]

Very exciting update, I've been looking forward to this one for a long time!

I practice textile arts as a hobby in real life and have done some research into historical northern European textiles including the trading value of materials and the times it would take to craft different items. If dyeing is ever added as a craft, I have a fantastic research study I've found that I'd be happy to share as a reference.

If you have any questions to ask from someone who's done the skill in real life or just want someone to brainstorm textile ideas with, please feel free to contact me!