Whittling away

[Theroleplayer]

The Roleplayer has savvy friends

A friend of mine and myself have been discussing a whittling mod, as he has wanted a way to kill time during those long winter nights, or the hours of rest at camp. We have set out a step by step method so we can simulate the long process of whittling that can stopped midway. There is just one problem, we have no idea what could be whittled.

What we are thinking is basic doodads and decorative wooden things, but we don't really know what kind of knick knacks the ancient finns liked to make, does anyone have any suggestions. My friend also suggested we could make instruments and I could think of a few that were used, but we couldn't think of an ingame use for them, so if anyone can think of a use that we can code in right now, that would be excellent. And I do know that instruments are a planned feature, but some of us are impatient.

[Mati256]

I had tought in the past of a whittling mod but never went ahead with it.

UnrealWorld animals would be interesting. Like carving a reindeer.
Net needles for a mod that lets you craft nets.
Knife + Axe = Axe with decorative handle.
Wood knives and swords, just as toys for the village kids.
You could whittle Axe handles and a handle + Axe = a new axe, for those who like to parry with their axes.

Will let you know if I can think of something else.

[PALU]

You could try to implement decoration of things like bowls to make them into higher quality bowls. Embroidery on clothing is another thing that might be value/quality enhancing. A major problem for all of these reactions is that there is currently no mechanism for interrupting work and resuming it apart from for specific tasks. It can be simulated to some extent by splitting a reaction into several, such as e.g.
Reaction 1: Staff -> Thingie 10%
Reaction 2: Thingie 10% -> Thingie 20%
:
Reaction 10: Thingie 90% -> Thingie (which now gets some usable properties, while the intermediate steps ought to be useless)
but that takes up a lot of menu space.

[Theroleplayer]

@PALU Yes we had planned to create a step by step process, but instead of

10% x, 20% x, we have three or four basic shapes with varying states of completion, and another menu for finishing things off.

Our current system is like this, first we chop a block of wood into whittlable blocks, essentially like chopping firewood, but trying to keep a uniform shape. Then we whittle a whittleable block into a small whittled block, then a shaped small whittled block, then voila a lovely wooden brooch for your girlfriend who is nonexistent in the current build. But since we love our girlfriend, we will take your advice into acccount and carve some little decorations into it.

It should take longer than three steps, so maybe we create a menu for each basic shape with about 8 or 9 states of completion, and a last one for finished products.

The decoration is an excellent point that we hadn't considered but I am not sure about adding embroidery, embroidery would require colored thread, or perhaps even, small metal tubes. We can't be bothered with that right now, however the whittling mod is planned to be expanded to have other, non whittled things, but only after we are done with the basic wooden stuff, so maybe then.

The wooden weapons as toys makes me think of what other toys the kids might have used, I mean weapons are all well and good for the little boys, but girls are planned to, what might they have played with.

[El_Von]

@Theroleplayer Since Ancient Finnish artefacts don't seem to be as well archived online as other cultures, I did have to have a look around at more general 'Scandinavian' artefacts. A lot of what has survived are metal, but I don't think it's too much of a stretch to assume that similar objects were carved out of wood, but have just been lost to time, this works for you given the game currently lacks the ability to do metal work.

For possible objects, I was thinking perhaps you could link it to the culture you have chosen for your character? I imagine cultures such as the Islanders (who are already known for their carpentry skills) and the Driikiläiset (who have the virtue of free time on their hands, since they trade and farm) would be quite good whittlers, capable of producing incredibly detailed pieces of work whereas the more Northern and Eastern cultures may be able to whittle, but only as it is necessary to survive, decoration is of little importance.

After all, some cultures, such as the Kiesseläiset, get no woodcarving at all, so their whittling would perhaps be more bone based, or if they do engage in wood whittling, it would be extremely basic.

In turn, I'd like to imagine that you would learn new 'recipes' for whittling, while also starting with some, dependant on culture, much like rituals already. For instance, an Islander character may already know how to carve small fish and seal figurines, but as they see new animals and objects for the first time, they begin to learn new recipes, being able to carve decorative elks, reindeers, bears, swords, knives etc. If you wanted, you could make it like the ritual system in that when you see a new animal or item for the first time, you get a red recipe, and only upon an action such as [L]ook for animals, or an 'Examine Closely' action for objects, you spend some time analysing the thing in closer detail before committing it to memory, and making the red recipe a yellow one.

Which in turn gives you gifts that are great for the kiddies, boys may generally prefer carvings of 'cool' animals like wolves, bears and items like swords and such, while the girls may prefer carvings of 'cute' animals like dogs, elk, reindeers, and birds, along with other wooden trinkets like combs and little lucky charms.

Just some thoughts, I would really enjoy this mod if you ever release it. I have no modding experience, but I'd happily help write descriptions and stuff for these objects, writing I can do.

[Iago.Hach]

So, a year passed and I thought on writing a minimod on this idea 

I thought in using generic terms, so artifact or figurine could be an animal, person or anything you like.

Here it is, hope it is what you guys were thinking:

[Brygun]

@Iago.Hach

Brygun of the BAC mod here.

I had envisioned deocrated boards long, long ago. Im going to take a look at your whittling now to see if it can fit into the BAC menus.

Let me know if you have any objections to this.