What do "normal" Thralls at furnaces do now?

[Lord Oda]

So since the update, most Thrall related things changed. I understood that tier 4 thralls at an armor bench can change certain stats of the items. But what do Thralls on things like furnaces do now, since they don't speed the crafting process up anymore?

[Narelle]

They do offer speed increase though.

[Seishisha]

They speed up, though perhaps its is less prominent that before, they also make fuel last longer.

[Michael2870]

Speed increase, better burn time. T4 recipes: orbs/oil/spice from alchemists, cheap steel reinforcement and others for blacksmith - several t4 types provide stuff for the new crafting tables.

[Lord Oda]

Ok thanks. So they still have a function. Does the improved furnace offer additional speed? And does it cut the material costs?

[Savok]

The furnace specifically it's about fuel and speed, others can alter material costs but not the furnace.

This video gives the current numbers

https://youtu.be/mmlPiO0zqzs?t=391

EDIT: Go to 6:30, time code didn't work.

[Lord Oda]

All right, thank you very much.

[Zourin]

Smelter/Tanner thralls reduce the time it takes to craft at the workstation. A T4 thrall halves the time (and thus and total fuel consumption) of a batch job. They haven't changed.

Armorers unlock various cosmetic peices depending on their tier and probably ethnicity. Higher tiers improve armor values, durability, stat bonuses, and thermal resistances in addition to T4's new specializations.

Smiths, like the others, increase crafting speeds. Like armorers, weapons and tools made by higher tier smiths have improved damage and durability (maybe yield? not sure)

Carpenters unlock recipes such as converting wood to branches (for those archers) in addition to crafting speed boosts. Alchemist thralls likewise give you access to very useful new recipes.

The biggest thing that took a hit were the resource multipliers. Some recipes can't simply enjoy reduced costs that they once had with the old Thralls, such as the Fermentation Barrel, Tanner's Bench, and Artisan's Table.

The "fast" smith and armor benches, for some stupid reason, use the T1 resource consumption rather than the Improved rates. There's no reason to use them unless you like paying more for your armor/tools, and I've never heard anyone complain SO HARD that they couldn't craft armor fast enough that they were willing to pay double for it.