Confused by Tinker Tiers

[Queequeg]

What determines my tinker tier? I crafted a level 3 Spike Attachment and am currently wearing it. At one point I had the option to make a level 3 Thunderclap coating. Now when I look at my Tinker list, I can only craft level 2 Spike Attachment and TC. What would allow me to make level 3 at one point, but now 5 levels later I can only make level 2?

[Bozobub]

Materials.

If you're a TInker class, you have to make sure to use the correct method to dispose of excess loot (DON'T use the Transmo Chest) ^^'. You get higher-grade materials from higher-tier loot, that simple.

[Anhedonia]

If you scrap a tier 3 item (a metal object that says dwarven steel) you'll get some dwarven steel bars which can be used in the production of tier 3 tinkers. If you want to check what reagent you currently have open up the menu, you'll find the ingredients in there.

So my guess is that you scrapped something dwarven steel (allowing you to make tier 3 spikes), but then you made something else, using those bars, but didn't scrap any more tier 3 metal items. So then 5 levels latter you no longer had enough dwarven steel bars but you did have some steel bars (tier 2) so that's all you could use for the spikes.

As Bozobub says, you need to the the APE to scrap items to get reagents, not the chest. If you are playing the orc campaign then all is good, but in the main Acendency campaign it can be confusing. You will need to use the APE for reagents but you will also want to use the chest sometimes to power the fortress once it is unlocked.

[Queequeg]

Thank you sirs!

[Bozobub]

Just in case it's not clear (I was super-tired when I typed my post above ^^'): Once you can build a given blueprint, ONLY material quality matters, not your related Tinker tier. Simply put, Tinker skills control access, materials control quality. Of course, you have to GET the higher-tier loot to bust up, so it's not like this somehow gives you "early" access to higher-tier tinkers, *unless* you feel like ripping apart some Vault items =). But hell, you can Vault high-level tinkers directly, too, so *shrug*.

Also, many items simply don't give any materials; you'll figure out which pretty quickly. Those are best Transmo'd, to power the Sher-Tul fortress, rather than APE'd.

Note: To change the default item sink (APE or Transmo Chest), simply use the one you desire to be the default *while empty*. A dialog will ask if you want to make it your default.

Additionally, don't forget to APE obsolete tinkers; you'll get some materials back.