Developing smithing skills - seems very difficult?

[AirToob]

I need a skill level of 20+ to produce mechanical components, nobody has near that right now.
I can't advance anyone's smithing stats (with a * rating) unless they do smithing.
I have set them to deconstructing suitable stuff to give them enough XP, but there isn't enough suitable stuff with metal in it to do that.

Any advice most welcome!

[galadon3]

Smelting ore does add to smithing too, so allow only one settler to do smithing, mine a lot of metal and smelt it, then, dumb as that is, make short swords and dismantle them again.

Alternatively just trade the mechanical parts in (unless you want them for higher class traps, you shouldn't need that many of them), its what I am doing by now, either when I am lucky and a trader has them or sending out my own caravan probing settlements till I find one that offers them.
Usually packing high quality clothing (low weight / high price ratio) or if you actually managed to have a settlement trading weapons, make those and pack them.

[kiko]

What galadon3 above says and I will add the following.

By day 120 I maxed out on smithing skill for one of my settlers. They do nothing but smithing. They're not allowed to gather, no stewarding, no tending patients, no husbanding animals, no harvesting, no hauling, nothing. By not allowed I mean priority level null for everything but smithing*. Wake up, pray, smith, eat, sleep, wake up, pray, smith, eat, sleep and repeat till they reach level 50. 5 hours of sleeping, 2 hours of prayers and eating and the rest is for smithing.

Do one thing at a time. Gather enough iron, like 2000 of them before you start the grind and put them all in the blacksmith's workshop. Watch their movements like a hawk for two days. If they have to walk more than 4 cells away from the anvil then you're doing something wrong. The only room for improvement I saw was that I wish there was a way to assign a specific bed and specific dinner table for him. I'm sure I could get creative by locking doors and such but my colony at that time was designed super tight. I probably could have gotten an extra hour of work per day.

* ok I lied, I allowed them to assist cutting plants during blights and I drafted them during enemy incursions. Also, I didn't start the strict grind until day... 60 or so.. maybe. I only went full evil capitalist boss on them because like you I found levelling this skill up to be toooooo slow.

[AirToob]

Originally posted by galadon3:

Smelting ore does add to smithing too, so allow only one settler to do smithing, mine a lot of metal and smelt it, then, dumb as that is, make short swords and dismantle them again.

Alternatively just trade the mechanical parts in (unless you want them for higher class traps, you shouldn't need that many of them), its what I am doing by now, either when I am lucky and a trader has them or sending out my own caravan probing settlements till I find one that offers them.
Usually packing high quality clothing (low weight / high price ratio) or if you actually managed to have a settlement trading weapons, make those and pack them.

Thanks!
I'm doing the first part.
Haven't got into caravans yet, are they fairly reliable in the current game?

[galadon3]

I think the caravans would make more sense if we had some kind of pack animals we could add to it. Right now a settler can carry 60... whatever the weight-unit is^^
And they have to bring some food depending on the length of the route.
Also right now there usually is not that much I need from other villages. Mostly do it to get stuff I need and can't produce yet (like the mechanical parts) or seeds / apple-sapplings for the first time.
Later on I do it more for RP-purposes exporting stuff and buying gold and silver for it I store in a vault.^^ (actually there isnt any use for that, just kinda RPing having a treasury^^)

The route takes several days (varies depending on how close the settlement is on the map) and ofc that takes the settler(s) out of your settlement for that time.
Not sure when the settlements actually refresh what they offer, they do but I never really tracked when or how often.

[AirToob]

Originally posted by galadon3:

I think the caravans would make more sense if we had some kind of pack animals we could add to it. Right now a settler can carry 60... whatever the weight-unit is^^
And they have to bring some food depending on the length of the route.
Also right now there usually is not that much I need from other villages. Mostly do it to get stuff I need and can't produce yet (like the mechanical parts) or seeds / apple-sapplings for the first time.
Later on I do it more for RP-purposes exporting stuff and buying gold and silver for it I store in a vault.^^ (actually there isnt any use for that, just kinda RPing having a treasury^^)

The route takes several days (varies depending on how close the settlement is on the map) and ofc that takes the settler(s) out of your settlement for that time.
Not sure when the settlements actually refresh what they offer, they do but I never really tracked when or how often.

Thanks for the info!
I think I'll leave caravans for now...

[galadon3]

Its actually not much harm in trying it out, the tech is just 30 books and then you build that table and can send one, as far as I can say it doesn't have risks sending one out, maybe if you forget the food or give not enough with it, but the danger is very low since the menu actually shows the food-number in red till you have added enough then it turns green.

Not sure if there can be risks if you play on non-peacefull (as I said before mostly play that way lately), but peacefull I never had a settler injured or lost or even lost goods when sending out a caravan.

[AirToob]

Originally posted by coker:

What galadon3 above says and I will add the following.

By day 120 I maxed out on smithing skill for one of my settlers. They do nothing but smithing. They're not allowed to gather, no stewarding, no tending patients, no husbanding animals, no harvesting, no hauling, nothing. By not allowed I mean priority level null for everything but smithing*. Wake up, pray, smith, eat, sleep, wake up, pray, smith, eat, sleep and repeat till they reach level 50. 5 hours of sleeping, 2 hours of prayers and eating and the rest is for smithing.

Do one thing at a time. Gather enough iron, like 2000 of them before you start the grind and put them all in the blacksmith's workshop. Watch their movements like a hawk for two days. If they have to walk more than 4 cells away from the anvil then you're doing something wrong. The only room for improvement I saw was that I wish there was a way to assign a specific bed and specific dinner table for him. I'm sure I could get creative by locking doors and such but my colony at that time was designed super tight. I probably could have gotten an extra hour of work per day.

* ok I lied, I allowed them to assist cutting plants during blights and I drafted them during enemy incursions. Also, I didn't start the strict grind until day... 60 or so.. maybe. I only went full evil capitalist boss on them because like you I found levelling this skill up to be toooooo slow.

Sorry I missed your post somehow.
I am actually doing slightly-less-evil captain. My nominated smith has a highest-priority smithing job, normal priority for her other jobs. None of the other settlers have any priority at all for smithing. Seems to work OK, if probably not nearly as well as your approach.

So far, I have been able to find iron in only one small area. Any tips on finding iron?

[AirToob]

I can't see that traps are at all necessary given all the other defence options available - no plans to use them.

[AirToob]

Originally posted by Morbious:

...also traps are meh .......bet you kill a settler / pet with one i can already see the future post titled my pets are bleeding out how do i stop this :P

[AirToob]

Thanks for the mining and skill levelling tips, too. Salt deposits... noted.

[kiko]

Originally posted by AirToob:

My nominated smith has a highest-priority smithing job, normal priority for her other jobs.

In my experience, as long as you have other jobs turned on for them, they'll spend seconds calculating after finishing a smithing job pondering whether another type of job needs to be done. This wastes time and an exploitative boss couldn't have that.

Sometimes they get dumb and do those other jobs EVEN IF those other jobs are already on a lower priority and a smithing job is clearly available!

That's why I suggested that you watch them like a hawk for 2 days and you'll start to notice strange unexpected behaviours. The priority system isn't 100% foolproof.

So far, I've noticed specialist builders and miners who are also assigned to hauling and/or any type of plant-oriented activities (e.g. cutting) will similarly get distracted.

Originally posted by AirToob:

Any tips on finding iron?

What Morbius said. But I suspect if you're asking this question, it's because you're on the valley. Try playing on hillsides. Mineral resources are more plentiful there. Defense is more interesting too. I personally don't like mountainside maps, pathing is just crazy there and I'm lousy at multi-dimensional thinking and planning.

[AirToob]

I am in a valley, but I have had good help on finding iron and I have enough for now, thanks. Also thanks to all you helpful people here I am beginning to suss out how the priority system actually works!