Craftable fishing nets and more

[Sami]

The current version 3.80 is now few weeks fresh and working smoothly.
And we've been working on a new update for this summer.
So how about just a little update about the little something upcoming?
Very well. And let's do it with a sneak preview screenshots.

So, what is to be highlighted now and to be featured in the next release is ...

Fishing nets craftable by the player characte

Player characters will be able to make fishing nets.
Thinking of the mere amount of yarn alone it's not all too simple craft to collect the material for.
You'll also need rocks for the weights, and birch-bark to wrap the weights with and to make floats.
And then there is also a special tool required ...



Netting needle. That's the tool you'll need. It's a wooden tool for weaving the net with proper knots. As a curiosity for history enthusiasts, one of the oldest known fishing nets in the world, the Antrea Net dated to 8540 BCE, was laced with knots that indicate use of netting needle. The same kind of fishing net knots have been used by Baltic Finns in much, much later dates. UnReal World takes place around 800-1200 CE.



Netting needle.



Net weight - a decent size rock wrapped in birch-bark.

Introducing pausable crafting

In the next screenshot our character has started weaving the net.
And after 6 hours of work the progress bar hasn't even reached the tenth of the remaining time...



Now what's that about?
Well, that means in the next version we'll be also introducing pausable crafting for making a net - and for few other tasks. This will be the start of featuring a possibility to have a break in long crafting tasks and continue at will later on. After the mechanics have been tested properly it will be expanded to cover wider range of crafting. Which will make quite a difference, you'll see.

So making a net won't be a task of few hours, or even few days, but can easily last for a week or more.
After four or five days of weaving the net our character takes a look at the half-finished work in progress...



Luckily for us all, the upcoming version is already more than half-finished by now.
July 2023 seems like good month for yet another release.

These are future features - not yet functional in current version 3.80.[/i}]

[irontide]

These are two very large improvements! Looking forward to it!

[Plotinus]

Can the half crafted net be picked up and moved around or is it attached to the tile where it was started?

[PALU]

Both net making and pausable crafting are great improvements.

The obvious follow on question is whether net maintenance is to be included as well. As far as I understand that's a rather significant active part of "passive" net fishing in the real world, and I assume the netting needle is the tool required to mend the nets, and it's already defined.
The game play reason for maintenance would be to counter the net quality degradation (rather than just a boring step to prepare a net for use again).

[Brygun]

Some general comments moved here from elsewhere

= Birch bark is a seasonal item so its locking in net making to those seasons for new characters. You couldnt start a winter game and make one as you can't get birch bark.

= Knitting needles while used are an optional item. I've made a landing net without one. Plenty of folks have.

= Birch bark to what.. put the rocks in?  Nets are literally cordage so you can tie rocks on just fine. I guess the birch bark helps because they had a reason to do it. Plenty of nets around the world made without it.

= It would be great if the recipe system allowed optional items to have their own skill modifiers for that line. If that were the case then net making without needle or bark could happen. A base negative skill would have offsets on the optional needle and birk bark lines.

Example

.Net. /%-30/ 8h
{Yarn} =300= [remove]
{Rock} (10) [remove]
{Knitting needle} [optional] /%20/
{Birch-bark}  #2# [optional] /%10/ [remove]

So if you had none of the extra: -30 on skill likely an inferior net

If you had knitting needle but no bark because its winter: -10 on skill might manage decent

If you had both needle and bark: 0 on skill so best chance to make fine

[Sami]

Can the half crafted net be picked up and moved around or is it attached to the tile where it was started?

It's attached to the tile. This is partly due to mechanics, but also in real life one would prefer to plan the demanding crafts so that you won't be changing your workplace.

[JP_Finn]

Some general comments moved here from elsewhere

= Birch bark is a seasonal item so its locking in net making to those seasons for new characters. You couldnt start a winter game and make one as you can't get birch bark.

= Knitting needles while used are an optional item. I've made a landing net without one. Plenty of folks have.

= Birch bark to what.. put the rocks in?  Nets are literally cordage so you can tie rocks on just fine. I guess the birch bark helps because they had a reason to do it. Plenty of nets around the world made without it.

= It would be great if the recipe system allowed optional items to have their own skill modifiers for that line. If that were the case then net making without needle or bark could happen. A base negative skill would have offsets on the optional needle and birk bark lines.

Example

.Net. /%-30/ 8h
{Yarn} =300= [remove]
{Rock} (10) [remove]
{Knitting needle} [optional] /%20/
{Birch-bark}  #2# [optional] /%10/ [remove]

So if you had none of the extra: -30 on skill likely an inferior net

If you had knitting needle but no bark because its winter: -10 on skill might manage decent

If you had both needle and bark: 0 on skill so best chance to make fine

Knitting != netting
 

Like most tasks, tools can make them easier, faster, both, and sometimes even enable the task in first place...

Natural fibre cords tend to stretch when wet, especially when soaked; the birchbark was used to make a pocket to hold the weights from coming loose when collecting the net up from water.

[Vahvapito]

Looks great! Having to shop for nets was always the most tedious part of fishing.

Since nets will be craftable, would it be possible to also make other kinds of fish traps? I'm thinking about small basket type traps (like the "katiska"). These could be crafted much faster than nets when time is of essence but they also get you less fish in the long run.

And I know its a long shot but any chance larger stationary fish traps could be included? Liistekatiska, a large wish trap made with thin strips of wood in shallow water forming a shape that lures in fish, was quite common fish trap historically in the region.

[JP_Finn]

Looks great! Having to shop for nets was always the most tedious part of fishing.

Since nets will be craftable, would it be possible to also make other kinds of fish traps? I'm thinking about small basket type traps (like the "katiska"). These could be crafted much faster than nets when time is of essence but they also get you less fish in the long run.

And I know its a long shot but any chance larger stationary fish traps could be included? Liistekatiska, a large wish trap made with thin strips of wood in shallow water forming a shape that lures in fish, was quite common fish trap historically in the region.

Shallow water fish trap would be nice indeed.

[Sami]

And I know its a long shot but any chance larger stationary fish traps could be included? Liistekatiska, a large wish trap made with thin strips of wood in shallow water forming a shape that lures in fish, was quite common fish trap historically in the region.

It's not a long shot, actually. I've been planning to take up on that right after the net code is finished. If we are lucky they'll be included in the same release.
We featured making slats (liiste) in 3.80 so more proper use for them is to follow.

[Sami]

= Birch bark is a seasonal item so its locking in net making to those seasons for new characters. You couldnt start a winter game and make one as you can't get birch bark.

Seasonal thinking is super important for an ancient settler, so everything all-year around isn't UrW cup of tea.
Also, if you are to make yarn by yourself from the fibre plants those are also seasonal things - and needed in much larger quantities.
However, in the next version birch-bark will be also stocked in the villages so if one is to trade for their net making materials there's no seasonal problem at all.

= Knitting needles while used are an optional item. I've made a landing net without one. Plenty of folks have.

The item in question is not a landing net or a quick survival net, but a proper one. Of course, it could be also made without netting needle and it might be that we'll allow that.
But if you have a knife and piece of wood you can make a working netting needle in a matter of hours, so I don't quite see why anyone would like to ignore that option if they are making a proper size net.

= Birch bark to what.. put the rocks in?  Nets are literally cordage so you can tie rocks on just fine. I guess the birch bark helps because they had a reason to do it. Plenty of nets around the world made without it.

I guess JP_Finn already answered the birch-bark wrapping part, and in this game context we aren't really into featuring "items around the world"

= It would be great if the recipe system allowed optional items to have their own skill modifiers for that line. If that were the case then net making without needle or bark could happen. A base negative skill would have offsets on the optional needle and birk bark lines.

Yes, of course having many options to come up with the same item would be great but it's not possible - or even worthwhile - to go allowing everything that would work in real life. However we try to reach some historical midway in some cases, and for example the floats - which will require birch-bark - have been also occasionally made of blocks of pine bark which could be obtained practically all-year round. This sort of options are still pending consideration as we proceed with the netmaking.