Handle Assembly Customer Bug (and how to deal with it?)

[A Dragon's Gift]

I am not posting this in the Bugs thread because there are a lot of people that have posted about it there already. This is namely for the players and not the developer.

I don't know how consistent this bug is and for how many players it shows up, but basically what happens is you get a knock at the door, you answer, and the customer wants the handle of their blade assembled. The button to accept is "Collect" and when you press it, it exits the dialogue screen and returns you to the front door and a variety of things may happen to make your life difficult henceforth.

1) Movement:
Most players seem to think that you cannot move. I, and at least one other player, have found that you can move and interact with things by holding the right (also possibly left?) mouse button and dragging it to move your camera. Movement/camera malfunction may not be consistent. I eventually regain the ability to move normally.

2) Handle:
This bug probably has something to do with the fact that you're probably supposed to be teleported to the assembly station, and it is for some reason failing. If you manually move to the station, you will find handle parts there that aren't yours. The first time this happened, I could not find one of those pieces. Other players have experienced this. I don't know how to confirm if the piece is actually missing, or if we're just having a hard time finding it. All other times, I have found the missing pieces lying around next to the assembly station.

3) Blade:
The blade has been missing every time. I have no idea what's happening to it. I cannot seem to find it manually. However! I've discovered that as long as I don't interact with any other blades since accepting the job, I can simply insert one of the handle pieces into the station then hit ESC and use the "Find Last Sword" function and it will pop the customer's blade onto your desk. You can then go ahead and complete the assembly and the customer will pay you and go on their way. Be very careful not to go and use one of your own blades as the customer will automatically register this as theirs and take it away.

4) Customer:
If you fail to complete the assembly for one reason or another, the customer will remain forever at your door and blocks new jobs it seems. At this point, you may either restart your game or you can opt to lose money by replacing any missing customer pieces with ones you made or ordered in order to complete the job and continue playing.

Knowing all this, there is also the option of simply turning these customers away whenever they show up. I am personally going to take the challenge of accepting these jobs because I only just started the game and I don't like wasting time and opportunity, so if anybody has any other advice for dealing with this conundrum, please post!

As well, if anybody runs into any other problems related to this bug, please post here so that I may be better prepared.

I hope this topic is useful to others as well.

[Renshaw]

I had this exact thing happen to me now. I'm already confused as hell what I'm doing in this game and these bugs throw me off even more.

Unfortunately, I can't get the blade with the "find last sword" button because I handled a sword I made after the order.

I'm also consistently losing money due to still being awful at the game. I can't for the life of me figure out where hitting the metal actually does anything. The forging is literally a hit or miss for me at this point.

I love the concept of the game, but it's really rough.

[A Dragon's Gift]

Originally posted by Renshaw:

I'm also consistently losing money due to still being awful at the game. I can't for the life of me figure out where hitting the metal actually does anything. The forging is literally a hit or miss for me at this point.

I love the concept of the game, but it's really rough.

As I did the first time I played this, I did grow tired very quickly and ultimately set it aside again. And that's with a lot of indie/early-access game experience under my belt. If you're struggling to grasp the base mechanics, this may unfortunately not be the game for you.

That being said, if you want to keep trying your luck I do have some notes that may help you. At least early game, as I did not get -that- far.

1) Forging:
The bar is split into sections. Two rows and...five(?)...columns. Each section has three stages, distinguished by the changing colors in the reference at the top. Each stage takes a set number of hits (I don't know if the Forging skill reduces the number of hits or just makes the hits faster). I think different metals had different hit counts, but I'm not entirely sure about that as I didn't fully pay attention until later and frankly I didn't actually make that many swords cause I was busy mining and doing odd jobs between trying to make the most expensive swords I could. Most of the time I think I was making 5 hits for stage 1, 3 hits for stage 2, and 4 hits for stage 3...I think. Regardless, you can start at one end and count the hits, then just repeat that down the whole sword one section at a time. If you finish a section before moving onto the next, I find it easier to tell where to hit the next section.

2) Early Game Money:
If the forging process is namely what's making you lose money due to low quality swords, I hope the above note makes a significant difference. Aside from that, I wouldn't worry too much about losing value at the beginning of the game. Earning skill points from sword sales is more valuable I think. I made most of my beginning profits on odd jobs and just went mining while waiting for jobs to come in to pay for my next sword. Once I had the equipment, I started saving money on the metal with the ore I mined.
But doing this my way is probably a little slow. It may be better to focus on making the cheapest swords you can make so you lose relatively less value while you practice forging and tempering and quickly gain skill points. Sell at a discounted price straight off the wall if you have to. Use the odd jobs at the door to practice raising the quality of your grinding and assembly. Use skill points to make things easier, such as assembly. Whatever is most painful to you.

If you need more help, I recommend checking the Steam Guides. What the game fails to tell, the guides should more than clear up.