making steel vs just farming steel from thralls

[bob]

Does anyone actually go through the whole process of making steel from iron and steel fire or do you guys just farm it from the nords?

[Fast Johnny]

If you're going to build anything substantial, make decent weapons, maintain them, build specific Tier structures, make really good armor, make tools that aren't crap, then you are going to need a lot more steel bars than you can find on the Nords, Cimmerians or Silent Legion. Also, don't forget that you might want to supply your thralls with decent steel weapons, armor, shields, etc...

By all means, save the stuff you get from bodies, but that is no way enough to do much of anything. Try building something that uses steel reinforcements just as an example, do the math to just build a simple 5x5 blockhouse. Anyway, imo the answer is no.

[Gwylan21]

Also, since it takes steel to make Hardened steel for the next level of weapons and armor, making it is way faster than you will ever get just farming the nords.

[PapaBear]

You can farm almost 2000 brimstone on a trip to the hot springs. Build your base near an iron mining zone. keep furnace filled with iron. Keep a liquid press filled with coal. Keep a fire pot filled with brimstone and tar. You'll be up to your ass in steel (especially if you have alchemists on the fire pot and smelters on the furnace). Tar is also a byproduct of leather production.

[Olbas]

There are some dungeons with brimstone mining nodes too, at least one of which isn't far from the arena and the iron deposits outside of it.

[DigginTiger]

With vanilla settings, you can make between 150 and 200 steel bars per run in new asagarth or even better at the forgotten tribe, and you can make it in about 15-20 min.

If you want to craft 200 steel bars through crafting stations you 'll need 2 000 irons stones, 200 brimstones, 200 tars and all the time needed to craft these...
i think i don't need to tell you that this process will be much longer and will force you to run back and force more than simply camping the npcs cities with 1 or 2 blacksmith benches near your wheel of pain (so your steel reinforcements are being crafted while you keep on farming), Just chop wood for like 2-3 min inbetween your runs and you'll get shaped wood at the same time...

But of course if you're living in the very south or in the swamp, crafting your own steel can be usefull.

Personnally i do both, but i get my major amounts of steel by farming npcs + some nice thralls and other loot at the same time...

[Angelo Dante]

I find the farming more satisfying, but I agree doing both at once is the most effective. Hot springs is not TOO far from Asgarath, and there are plenty of iron deposits just outside the city. So haul your brimstone back to asgarath, smelt, skin wolves, make tar. AND you can find smelters, smiths, and alchemists in the town. It's a one-stop shop really.

[Sisohiv]

Asagarth steel for me is around 500 an hr if I get 3 clears. That's 10,000 Iron ore plus tar farming for Steelfire and there is no way to reduce that through smelting Thralls. Up to 60 it's practical to do some smelting runs but after Epic medium armor and weapons are available, there is no competition. Glass for purified water, Steel, Thralls make Asagarth the default.

[Angelo Dante]

Also, once you hit about level 45ish, farming New Asgarath is very good xp to get on up into hardened steel.

And it makesyou feel like you are crushing Ulfric Stormcloak's men every time you clear the town. Funny how the Jarls' lodge is empty tho.