A catalyst...

[Dimwit Donald (very high IQ)]

is something that speeds up a process and is NOT consumed by it. I know it doesn't sound as fancy and educated, but I think "fuel" would be the more appropriate word.

[Bäumchen]

I guess catalyst was used, as it's rather ... all-purpose. Because when crafting light armor and using leather as catalyst, fuel would be a rather bad word. I think. (<-- no native speaker)

[Dimwit Donald (very high IQ)]

At least "fuel" would have been correct in some cases, catalyst probably in none :p

[Tuidjy]

Originally posted by Yggdrasil:

I guess catalyst was used, as it's rather ... all-purpose.

But that's just the thing. Catalyst is not an all purpose word, and its use in Thea conflicts with the word's definition.

I also thought that the third ingredient would not be consumed, and was a bit disappointed when I figured out why my stock was going down.

The annoying part is that my English is not good enough to come up with the best word. "Consumables" is accurate but not very descriptive. The technical term is "Consumption type item", but it's kind of obscure - I only know it because I work in manufacturing.

I am sure that if someone came up with a better word, the developers would at least consider it.

[Dimwit Donald (very high IQ)]

Like... "Ingredient"?

[Tuidjy]

Originally posted by Electronic Old Man:

Like... "Ingredient"?

Ingredient is misleading, because it implies that the materials in question would be embedded in the final item. As I said, the technical term is "Consumption type goods". Ingredient and Catalyst are also technical terms, so no, neither is accurate.

[Dimwit Donald (very high IQ)]

Then there needs to be a recipe-specific data element that can case-sensitively produce the name of the nature of the resource item involved. Or, how about "resource"?

[sikker]

I just did some googling and found this on wikipedia

The terms reactant and reagent are often used interchangeably—however, a reactant is more specifically a substance consumed in the course of a chemical reaction.[1] Solvents, though involved in the reaction, are usually not called reactants. Similarly, catalysts are not consumed by the reaction, so they are not reactants.

Sounds like reactant is exactly what we're looking for?

Apparently another word for it is interactant but that doesn't sound as good.

[AlPhi]

You could call the first line 'base components', any intermediate lines 'secondary components', and the final line could be 'process resources'.