Crafted armor, armour vs scaled purchased gear

[Robin of Spiritwood]

Ran a short experiment, using all the stockpiled iron we had.

Constructed 50 suits of armour.
Got the bonus slot to each. Applied 3 Stag layers to the Superior Plate, highest tier we can make. These are the stats:

+6 Str
26% Guard
117 Armor

Don't think it's possible to make anything better/heavier. So how does it compare? These are the stats for L7 Companion Plate armor, 2 star:

+5% Crit Damage
26% Guard
117 Armor

This is extremely close.
We can say that the best crafted gear is about on par with Level 7 purchased gear. Tier 1 armor is on par with level 2-3 armor, Tier 2 armor is about level 5, and fully upgraded 3 star tier 2 is at level 7. The craftable armor is good for the majority of the playthrough, but by endgame players will be looking for deals from merchants.

The advantage of making your own 3-slot kit is that you can stack it how you like with the layers to tune it for specific jobs, eg - high movement, high Guard, etc.

[Romain]

Crafted armors (light medium, heavy) lvl2 and lvl5 have the exact same stats than the most common ones (light, medium, heavy) you can loot or buy at lvl3 and lvl6 (respectively)

I agree you can get, without struggle, 3 slots with crafted armor. And it is difficult to get looted/bought armor with 2 stars but it's not impossible.

So yes lvl2 or lvl5 crafted armors with 3 slots (2 or 3 stars) is equal to lvl4 or lvl7 looted/bought armors
But they are also very close lvl3 or lvl6 2 stars armors (in which you can put armor layers too besides getting 20% more stats)

[General Malaise]

I've got a 15 man squad.

In my current game, every one is now a Lvl 7.

I'm still using the Crafted Steel Guisarme though. I use Spearmen tactically(I have 4 of them) to move enemies about - the crafted one pushes them back 1 meter. I can herd ememies for 2 handers, which i can get to hit 2 instead of 1, or 3 instead of 2. Typically, I'll use them to move someone, while I'm on my way to trap another in a Spearwall, getting 2 functions out of them in one turn.

Before they all had Run, it was great for disengaging an ally, you didn't want engaged too. I've tried using other spears that do more damage, but I come back to them because I miss them when I don't have them.

Be nice if there were higher level spears in the game, that did the same thing, but it appears there are not.

[Xasch]

I use almost exclusively selfmade equipment.
There are several reasons for this with me.
1. the coincidence is simply not important. It is much easier to collect all the necessary resources than to find a comparable armor/weapon that you want to have.
2. you can equip all fighters systematically. With more than 8 fighters I slowly lose the overview in the equipment menu and with 20 fighters I don't want to search for single fighters with a certain skill or weapon to position them on the battlefield so I have the rule: All fighters of the same class get the same weapon and the same skills.
3. find the optics on the battlefield so for much nicer there, if all fighters wear uniform clothes. This is also because I like the style of the self-created clothing better than that of captured clothing

If you can better organize the fighters both in the overview and on the battlefield, this behavior will certainly change with me sooner or later.

Currently I used only a 1Hand mace I have found, because the stats were better and the skill does the same damage. (...and because I also have only this one fighter with a club. ) All other weapons are self-made and are sistematically replaced by other self-forged weapons with better forging result.

[BedlamBetty]

Crafted can help early on in game. By level 7 or 8 it's already so deficient as being almost useless on any units you expect to take hits in battle. At level cap it's just laughably horrendous. At level cap you can be getting level 10 weapons and armour from merchants and level 11 drops. Just for comparison, a level 5 crafted one hand sword is +13 str, a level 10 no star sword is 47, level ten one star is 53
As for armour, here is an example of current late game heavy armor
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2794005267

crafted heavy armour will be hovering around 105-109 armour, with 2 or 3 slots filled with +4 armor layers respectively.
At the moment crafted just doesn't cut it for long.

[Nelsons other eye]

At best crafted last 6-8 hours in freemode, its just not worth crafting it
fighting guards you'll get stacks of better stuff so you're guys are wearing level 5-6 at level 4 anyway
I love the idea of crafting armour but it really grasping at straws to try and find a use for it atm
Weapons on the other hand can be useful as it not always easy to kit a 10+ man squad out all the time early on.

[Kruppe]

crafting your own armour, even weapons, after you're level 5 or higher isn't really of value. buying from merchants gets you much better stuff. In my second game I've pretty much ignored all blacksmith skills except layers and off hand daggers/axes. getting the tinkererererererer skills are far more beneficial early on. :)

[Xasch]

I for one hope that this logic will still be changed. The level of a forged weapon should depend on the level of the character, group and/or the forging job. If forging becomes useless after a certain level, then that is a very strong fun killer, at least for me.

[velkarath]

I would assume they will add more tiers of crafted weapons and armour later.

[Zak]

Getting ready to buy. I am hoping that crafting can have a place at higher game levels.

[Kruppe]

I agree, completely agree - in my first game that was where I spent almost all of my knowledge points; second game not.

[Robin of Spiritwood]

I'm playing at level 7 with a mix of crafted and bought gear. Free scaling.
The armor in the OP is on the main tanks, and are on par for level. They are fine and we have no problems. However, remember that we cranked out 50 suits first, for the bonuses.

The issue players might be having is comparing really exceptional gear
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2797240146

like Paladin's Battleplate ( rare, yellow background) with armour of 124 at level 7 to mediocre crafted gear like 1 star Superior Plate without layers, which has a mere armour of 89.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2797241999

That's a huge difference, and sure the Merchant's is "best" - but it is slotless, and is being compared to a "level 5 set" of poorly made Tier 2 kit without layer upgrades.

Crafted gear is on par with the best you can generally find on a merchant up to level 7. But- Unless you really emphasize crafting, this is not going to occur. You will make stuff with 2 slots, and likely it won't be perfect out of the forge like that suit being sold off in the pic.

We need another tier of craftable armour to get to level 8 and beyond.

[Nelsons other eye]

Originally posted by Robin of Spiritwood:

I'm playing at level 7 with a mix of crafted and bought gear. Free scaling.
The armor in the OP is on the main tanks, and are on par for level. They are fine and we have no problems.

The issue players might be having is comparing really exceptional gear
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2797240146

like Paladin's Battleplate ( rare, yellow background) with armour of 124 at level 7 to mediocre crafted gear like 1 star Superior Plate without layers, which has a mere armour of 89. That's a huge difference, and sure the Merchant's is "best" - but it is slotless.

If they focus on Smithing and Mining for raw material, and make the best possible armour- and then upgrade it with good layers, crafted gear is on par with the best you can generally find on a merchant up to level 7. Unless you really emphasize crafting, this is not going to occur.

We need another tier of craftable armour to get to level 8 and beyond.

Fighting guards will get you way better stuff and merchants can sell slotted btw

By the time I'd gathered enough mats to craft the 50 armour for the bonus and done enough hunts to unlock the reinforcing and killed enough phantoms to get enough white leather etc then I really don't want level 5 armour slotted or not
And after that and using all that white leather up the gear would be obsolete 2 hours later anyway
I could get my whole squad to level 5 or 6 before doing all that stuff and have them kitted out in level 7 gear anyway

[Robin of Spiritwood]

Originally posted by Nelsons other eye:

By the time I'd gathered enough mats to craft the 50 armour for the bonus and done enough hunts to unlock the reinforcing and killed enough phantoms to get enough white leather etc then I really don't want level 5 armour slotted or not

Is true.
This squad is 90 hours in and was level capped at 5 till the update. An unusual situation.

[Nelsons other eye]

Originally posted by Robin of Spiritwood:

Originally posted by Nelsons other eye:

By the time I'd gathered enough mats to craft the 50 armour for the bonus and done enough hunts to unlock the reinforcing and killed enough phantoms to get enough white leather etc then I really don't want level 5 armour slotted or not

Is true.

Don't get me wrong though I love the idea of crafting your own gear
to the extent I wouldn't be opposed to mobs dropping no weps or armour other than the odd legendary and only drop special parts to make the gear yourself
Crafting is a bit part of any good game in this genre and hopefully the finished product here will reflect that

[Romain]

Originally posted by Kruppe:

I agree, completely agree - in my first game that was where I spent almost all of my knowledge points; second game not.

I'd say that's the main drawback. I won't invest 6 knowledge points in something I know won't last. That's why I unlock the first caategory first far more profitable on the long run.

Originally posted by Robin of Spiritwood:

That's a huge difference, and sure the Merchant's is "best" - but it is slotless.

I'd say it also depends on your play style. I travel a lot and therefore meet a lot of merchants. I don't have issue to find 1 or 2 stars armor (and therefore 1 or 2 slots). Same for the looted ones. I recruit slowly (1merc/month) so I always have bought/looted armors with 1 or 2 slots.