Whats the point of tool strengh ?

[forestmarko]

As the title suggest, I have an issue understanding the tool strengh.
I have been using QI's Pickhammer
which has a tool strengh of 20 + 10% tool strengh bonus (and other bonuses)

When i went to farm some plastic scrap, I discovered, that in order to salvage those, i have to use at least the iron pickhammer, which also has 20 strengh, but no bonuses making it actually weaker..

So again, whats the point of tool strengh then ?

[𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕚𝕕𝕠𝕟]

Although I never fullly tested, I believe the strength have to do with how much HP you take on each swing, of whatever you are mining.
I also believe that advanced mining spot might also have some increase resistance, aside of it's HP, what might give the impression that the "better" material for the tool, might not be mining as fast as the previous one.
Yeah, it's kind of confusing.

[Smartik1]

QI's Pickhammer is OP from the start. However, you should really be using the refiner on all your tools. It doesn't just raise quality, but item level too. Most tools and weapons can be refined +10 levels above the level you create them at. It also rerolls their bonuses so you can pick and choose which you want.

The whole refine system is confusing. When you refine at the pink quality tier, it asks if you want to keep the stats or replace them. It's only talking about the bonuses. You get +1 item level irrespective of your choice. This makes gear stronger.

My favorite bonuses are the radius, yield and stamina return. Radius in particular is useful if you are mining the dirt in mines instead of minerals as it grabs so much more stuff doing it.

Anyway, point being if you refine the tool you are using by 10 levels, it will beat Qi's pickhammer.

[Spaghetti Duck]

My understanding is it has to do with hit strength. So for example a tool with a strength of 20 as opposed to 15 or so might break down a rock in three hits instead of four. As you've noticed some materials require a minimum tool level (e.g. iron) to break them down. At its base level the iron pickhammer has roughly the same strength as the highest level bronze pickhammer, but you can refine the iron pickhammer for even higher strength plus stat bonuses, ultimately making it stronger. Upgrading to new tools is just a form of progression in this game, as you unlock new areas you will need higher level tools to break down the new resources. If you haven't unlocked the refiner yet you can continue to use Qi's hammer on the materials that allow it until you're able to refine the iron hammer to better stats.

[Endora]

On my experience, the strongher the tool, less hits you'll have to do to break/cut/mine, wich means that the stamina that you would use on that last hit won't need to be spent.

[Padgey]

Wait what!!! So if I have a rare iron axe that isn’t the top level? I didn’t know this I thought once I got it to rare I couldn’t go anymore but your saying I can keep upgrading it and it gets stronger even more? I think my rare iron axe is maybe 27 strength something like that but I can actually take it up higher than this even though it’s already rare? Great to know if I’ve got it correct

[Padgey]

Also does this work for machines too? I have a rare civil furnace and a rare recycler but can I just upgrade it again and make it even better or is it just tools and weapons?

[forestmarko]

Originally posted by Smartik1:

QI's Pickhammer is OP from the start. However, you should really be using the refiner on all your tools. It doesn't just raise quality, but item level too. Most tools and weapons can be refined +10 levels above the level you create them at. It also rerolls their bonuses so you can pick and choose which you want.

The whole refine system is confusing. When you refine at the pink quality tier, it asks if you want to keep the stats or replace them. It's only talking about the bonuses. You get +1 item level irrespective of your choice. This makes gear stronger.

My favorite bonuses are the radius, yield and stamina return. Radius in particular is useful if you are mining the dirt in mines instead of minerals as it grabs so much more stuff doing it.

Anyway, point being if you refine the tool you are using by 10 levels, it will beat Qi's pickhammer.

while very informative, it doesnt really answer my question.
Qis pickhammer cant break open certain higher level nodes despite having higher item power than vanilla next tier - which makes little sense to me.
But the rest of your post is very informative as i havent dabbed into the refining process yet
So thank you in any case :)

[forestmarko]

Originally posted by RCFDuck:

My understanding is it has to do with hit strength. So for example a tool with a strength of 20 as opposed to 15 or so might break down a rock in three hits instead of four. As you've noticed some materials require a minimum tool level (e.g. iron) to break them down. At its base level the iron pickhammer has roughly the same strength as the highest level bronze pickhammer, but you can refine the iron pickhammer for even higher strength plus stat bonuses, ultimately making it stronger. Upgrading to new tools is just a form of progression in this game, as you unlock new areas you will need higher level tools to break down the new resources. If you haven't unlocked the refiner yet you can continue to use Qi's hammer on the materials that allow it until you're able to refine the iron hammer to better stats.

I figured it would be a matter of pregression as i have played the previous game and they kept it pretty basic (as far as tools go)
but the rest of your post makes sense.

Thank you all, very nice feedback and now i know more :)

[malorob]

never leave home with out max strength and everything in purple.

[Smartik1]

Originally posted by forestmarko:

Originally posted by Smartik1:

QI's Pickhammer is OP from the start. However, you should really be using the refiner on all your tools. It doesn't just raise quality, but item level too. Most tools and weapons can be refined +10 levels above the level you create them at. It also rerolls their bonuses so you can pick and choose which you want.

The whole refine system is confusing. When you refine at the pink quality tier, it asks if you want to keep the stats or replace them. It's only talking about the bonuses. You get +1 item level irrespective of your choice. This makes gear stronger.

My favorite bonuses are the radius, yield and stamina return. Radius in particular is useful if you are mining the dirt in mines instead of minerals as it grabs so much more stuff doing it.

Anyway, point being if you refine the tool you are using by 10 levels, it will beat Qi's pickhammer.

while very informative, it doesnt really answer my question.
Qis pickhammer cant break open certain higher level nodes despite having higher item power than vanilla next tier - which makes little sense to me.
But the rest of your post is very informative as i havent dabbed into the refining process yet
So thank you in any case :)

Tool tier is the only thing that decides what materials you can or cannot break. It has nothing to do with tool strength. Others already mentioned that tool strength impacts the amount of "hp" you damage a resource per hit. Needing fewer hits leads to lower stamina usage per resource...in cases where you save 1 full hit. It's hard to do on small resources. It's easier to achieve in the scrapyard where everything takes a lot of hits. It was annoying me for a long time where a resource was left at 1-2% hp left, meaning it still took a full swing to break and saved nothing at all.

[forestmarko]

Originally posted by Smartik1:

Originally posted by forestmarko:

while very informative, it doesnt really answer my question.
Qis pickhammer cant break open certain higher level nodes despite having higher item power than vanilla next tier - which makes little sense to me.
But the rest of your post is very informative as i havent dabbed into the refining process yet
So thank you in any case :)

Tool tier is the only thing that decides what materials you can or cannot break. It has nothing to do with tool strength. Others already mentioned that tool strength impacts the amount of "hp" you damage a resource per hit. Needing fewer hits leads to lower stamina usage per resource...in cases where you save 1 full hit. It's hard to do on small resources. It's easier to achieve in the scrapyard where everything takes a lot of hits. It was annoying me for a long time where a resource was left at 1-2% hp left, meaning it still took a full swing to break and saved nothing at all.

yup yup,
Im on the level now and understand how it works thanks to you and others in this thread.
now it actually makes full sense, but it is poorly explained in game