Immersion Breaking Vendors' Stocks

[Maximdouta]

Aren't vendors' stocks too grind oriented?
Let me explain:

1) A player goes to Iwasaki for the first time and the NPCs say "this is a mining village, we supply iron to all other villages". We take the "get iron ore" mission, but iron mining demands at least a bronze pickaxe. Since it's likely the early game, we don't have one. Crafting a bronze pickaxe requires liberation of two regions to harvest the necessary materials to craft the tool and the tool recipe itself. So this is the long way. What can be a short way? To buy it of course! However there's no such way because the mining vendor in the iron mining village doesn't sell the "must-have equipment" of iron mining. He doesn't even sell anything made of iron,  no iron tools, no cooking pots, not even iron ore. Interestingly he sells copper ores and some non-iron tools.

2) Same goes for Segi "the best hunters, the best bow masters" of that world don't sell their proudly crafted gear. We need to liberate the rebels' region for the half bow.
I know we can disable the "combat region requirements", but that's not my point. What I mean is the fact that local traders don't trade their most profitable products that they crafted/harvested using the local resources. I can understand that is designed for us to follow a certain progression, but there should be an alternative way which rewards players who can earn enough to bypass this grinding process via earned coins.

[Cool Breeze]

They do sell those things, they just don't sell them every season. I think it's random. I bought a half-bow the first time I ran into Segi.

[Maximdouta]

These products are deeply local, and the villages are based on their specific processing and production, as the game presents them. There should always be a consistent availability of base, locally produced goods. Relying on luck or forced grind is not still ideal game design, in my opinion.

[Winter's Embers]

Vendor stocks are Dynasty Legend dependent. You will need to advance your Dynasty before the vendors will get new and better equipment. For bronze tools, you will need to reach a minimum of Dynasty Legend level 8. That's the earliest I've ever seen it. Vendor stock also changes randomly each season. So, once you reach the proper Dynasty Legend level, you will need to advance the season to reset the vendor stock.
There are a few 'tricks" around these limitations for iron.
1) There is a cave near Kengyo's camp at the end of the small stream leading east from Sosogi. If you visit this cave in your initial start up of the game, you will find a pickaxe. There is a random chance that this pickaxe is either copper or bronze. If it's bronze, you're in luck. Go mine some iron.
2) Go steal the treasure of the Samurai Camp Leader. You can sneak in the back way and swipe his treasure without a fight. That Leader Loot box always has iron in it.
The Half-Bow can appear as early as Dynasty Legend level 6 in my experience. But, again, you need to advance the season after reaching this level.

Keep in mind, these quests are leftovers from earlier iterations and they are progressively harder with each step. Especially the Iwasaki quest. You will need Steel to fully complete this quest, which requires liberating the Eastern Swamps region to unlock the Small Tatara furnace.

Unfortunately, the grind is part of this genre. There's no getting around it unless you want to use the Custom Game settings.

[Maximdouta]

Hey thanks you put quite a guide in here! You're right quests feel very outdated, I play it since very beginning also. I'm really OK with almost everything in this game except the forced grind based technology development. Personally grinding is not a problem but this design is just very immersion breaking. What you do for technological advancement is irrelevant to reward like killing bandits = tool recipes. I prefer MD's model : earn xp from what you do and buy recipes from that category (farming, survival etc.)

[[DeusVult] Eisengrind]

Immersion. kek.