Tinkering Guide

Barony's Tinkering skill was added in late 2019, you can see the developer's initial post on it here:
http://turningwheelgames.com/blog/2019/10/tinkering-skill-preview
It's very cool and fun, and this guide will tell you all about it!

Overview

So, you want to tinker with stuff? Let's learn how together! First, 2 official sources of info:
Dev's initial post on the skill is here: http://turningwheelgames.com/blog/2019/10/tinkering-skill-preview

And the full list of ways to level up the skill posted by the Dev in the official Discord here:
https://discordapp.com/channels/201560991719358464/201560991719358464/661154597615828992
Discord is finnicky with these links...good luck using it.

So what can we do with tinkering?
-NOTHING, until you find a Tinkering Kit, so that might take a while unless your character starts with one. When you find them, they seem to be in Decrepit condition most of the time, so make repairing the kit one of your priorities once you reach a high enough skill!
-Salvage items into Scrap
-Craft Traps, Bots, and assorted Hardware using Scrap
-Repair items using Scrap

If you get Tinkering to Legendary level, it says you can repair anything! Not true though, see the repair section.

Numbers in this guide are based on 100 Tinkering, Excellent Tinkering Kit, 100 Trading, and 24 Charisma, but may remain the same with considerably lower scores. Note that your Tinkering skill directly affects how much scrap you receive when salvaging, so those numbers could be roughly DOUBLED from what you'll see initially.

Salvaging

Salvaging items has a few purposes:
-it's a great way to manage the loads of useless gear you find scattered throughout Barony. All weapons (except quivers), armor, staffs, magic books/scrolls, gems/glass, and even tins of food can be salvaged. Salvage 'em to free up inventory space and get something useful from them.
-earn Scrap, this is used for crafting and repairing.
-Earn XP (up to 60 Tinkering):
20% on scrapping for 2 or more metal/magic
50% on scrapping for 4 or more metal or magic (i.e getting 2/2 scrap doesn't count but 4/2 does),

-Potions, food, quivers, and mundane books/scrolls cannot be salvaged, nor can most of the Tinkering-crafted items until they're expended.

There are 2 types of Scrap - Metal and Magic, and you get differing ratios depending on the type of item you salvage. Gems and spellbooks for example, give you more Magic scrap than Metal.

Salvaging the legendary Shaurir(sp?) mace got me 16 metal & 34 magic scrap. Most items will get you under 5 of each, and even really good items usually get you under 10 of each.

Levelling up your Tinkering

Once you've found a kit and started Salvaging stuff, you're well on your way to becoming a Legend in Tinkering! The Dev's Discord post linked at the very top of this guide gives all the dirty details, which are scattered throughout this guide, but in shorthand:

-Lockpicking can raise your Tinkering at maximum to 40 (though locks are rare)

-Salvaging items can raise your Tinkering at maximum to 60

-Repairing/Upgrading items pretty reliably levels the skill, but there are not many opportunities for this unless you want to waste your scrap on items you'll just end up getting rid of.

-Crafting items very seldomly raises the skill. Items that cost more have a higher chance to raise it, but from quantity over quality, I had better luck levelling the skill from crafting Bear Traps. I don't have a great suggestion to use your Magic Scrap on; even crafting Spellbots doesn't level the skill often.

-Overall, using crafted items against enemies is the best way to level the skill once you're up to 60+.
-Turrets are great, but not mobile, though you can carry them with you.
-I had great luck with Bear Traps. Craft a stack of ~15 of 'em and lure enemies over 'em in a line towards you. Really cheesy, but it works. You can put a turret out too, to shoot them while they're trapped.

-The dev's post says lockpicking will level the skill too, but I haven't earned a single point from that except once from using a lockpick to disable an automaton.
-Note that the locking spell then using a lockpick doesn't work to "farm" it.

-You can disable arrow traps by using your lockpick on the wall tile, but they are rare and I also never got any xp from them. When you do so, they drop their remaining quiver/ammo.

Crafting Overview

Now that you've salvaged hundreds of Metal and Magic scrap, what can you do with it? BUILD COOL STUFF!!

XP:
10% on crafting metal/magic less than or equal to 2 (only up to 20 tinkering)
5% on metal/magic greater than 2
10% on metal or magic cost greater than 4

Traps: Toss 'em on the ground or wall and when an enemy walks into them (or if you can manage to shoot them), kaboom! There are 4 Tinkering-specific traps Flame, Freeze, Sleep, Teleportation, as well as mundane Bear Traps (floor only).

Robots: There are 5 types of bot:
-Noisemaker lures nearby enemies to itself for a few seconds, then breaks or turns off
-Dummybot will draw enemies' attacks so you can fight them without getting personally attacked
-Gyrobot is not for combat, but very cool as an assistant. Tons of options for them.
-Sentry Bot and Spellbot are both stationary turrets that shoot bolts or spells at enemies

The bots have a new highest level of quality above Excellent: Artisan

Misc. Hardware:
Bear Traps (as mentioned with Traps)
Backpack
Alembic
Lockpick
Glasses
Lantern
Empty Bottle

Traps

The traps are thrown on the ground or wall and will be triggered by stepping on/by them, or by shooting them with a ranged weapon (that can be difficult). After they've been expended, you can pick up their remains and salvage them. You can also manually disarm and pick them up and they will remain useable.

Excellent +0 Flame Trap
08 Metal 12 Magic
30 Gold
Salvage: 02 Metal 04 Magic
Explodes in fire damage and ignites enemies for a short period
Lockpick can toggle it to trigger from enemies, or ALL creatures.
XP: 10% on crafting, 5% on wounding, 20% on kill

Excellent +0 Freeze Trap
08 Metal 12 Magic
30 Gold
Salvage: 02 Metal 04 Magic
Explodes in cold damage and slows enemies for a short period
Lockpick can toggle it to trigger from enemies, or ALL creatures.
XP: 10% on crafting, 5% on wounding, 20% on kill

Excellent +0 Sleep Trap
04 Metal 08 Magic
30 Gold
Salvage: 02 Metal 04 Magic
Puts nearby enemies to sleep
Lockpick can toggle it to trigger from enemies, or ALL creatures.
XP: 10% on crafting, 5% on sleep

Excellent +0 Teleportation Trap
04 Metal 08 Magic
30 Gold
Salvage: 02 Metal 04 Magic
nearby enemies are teleported to a random location on the level.
Lockpick can toggle it to trigger from enemies, or ALL creatures.
With this trap you can also use the lockpick to cause:
"The trap starts pulling magical energy towards it!"
That means that another teleportation trap will send the creature to this trap.
This destination trap remains active, but the one that got triggered is expended as normal.
You can use this to set up an area surrounded by other traps or turrets, and then just throw teleport traps at enemies to warp them to their doom!
-If you have multiple destination traps set, they take turns in the order you laid them.
XP: 10% on crafting, 5% on teleport

Excellent +0 BearTrap
12 Metal 00 Magic
50 Gold
Salvage: 04 Metal
An enemy that steps on this takes damage and is temporarily immobilized.
This is the only weapon that does not cost both types of scrap, and can be salvaged, and can level your skill through both its crafting and use. It also stacks in your inventory. Overall a good choice if your focus is raising your skill.
XP: 10% on crafting, 10% on trapping

At Tinkering level 60+, these are crafted at the Excellent quality level. They may be lower quality at lower skill levels.

Bots

You are restricted in how many bots you can have deployed at a time. At Tinkering level 60, you can have 6, the next tier is 8, and at 100 you can have 10. I liked to have 3 gyrobots following me, and 7 turrets deployed in the starting room usually.

Equip them, toss them on the floor, and they're active! As your Tinkering level increases, you gain access to more of their commands.

Artisan Dummybot
08 Metal 04 Magic
Level 15 and 200HP, Heal spells work on it.
50 Gold
Salvage: ?
Toss this box down and out pops a jack-in-the-box holding a shield. Enemies are likely to attack it instead of you.
-You can gain xp from attacking these, which seems to be different from the rest of the bots! At least up to 20 in Unarmed or Polearm, has not been comprehensively tested.

Excellent +0 Noisemaker
08 Metal 01 Magic
50 Gold
Salvage: 04 Metal
Toss this box down and it simply makes noise and attracts nearby creatures. The noise only lasts for a few seconds, then this box will either break (straight to broken from Excellent) or deactivate.
XP: 20% on killing something that was following a noisemaker, 33% if the enemy didn't notice you (i.e traps on the way to the noisemaker)

Artisan Gyrobot
16 Metal 12 Magic
Level 15 and 85 HP, but they don't get involved in combat normally. Boulders can run them down.
50 Gold
Salvage: I think these guys just break, and don't leave salvageable remains.
It's a tiny helicopter! Activate these guys, and they'll follow you around and have a whole bunch of cool options:
-Light: emit none, faint, or bright light
-They will "help" you bash down doors, which is bad if you want to use a lockpick.
-Interact with traps to toggle their mode (like setting a teleporter destination)
-Interact with an item to pick it up (they just carry it, don't use it)
-You can use this feature to pick up or drop something remotely
-Traps dropped by Gyros are ARMED!
-You can get around without levitation using these guys with teleport traps!
-Detect: nothing, traps, exits, monsters, or Items[Metal, Magic, or Valuable]
Their "radar" range puts a circle on the minimap occasionally. When they detect the specified thing, they play an audio jingle, and flash a dot on your minimap.
-You can command it to return and land, which makes it an inert item again. Good if they're stuck on the other side of a door or something.
-When you go to a new stage: "Your gyrobot retrieved some allies left behind!" and your entire retinue of deployed turrets (even 9) hit the floor beside you. You will have to pick them up and redeploy them though.

Artisan Sentry Bot
16 Metal 08 Magic
Level 15 and 150 HP, Heal spells work on it.
50 Gold
Salvage: ?
Stationary turret that attacks nearby enemies. If your other allies get in the way, RIP, they will just gun them down. Sentry is like a crossbow. By default it will rotate around looking for a target, but you can lock them looking in a specific direction, or tell them to look at someone/something, or directly tell them to attack a specific target.
XP: 10% on kill

Artisan Spellbot
08 Metal 16 Magic
Level 15 and 150HP, Heal spells work on it.
50 Gold?
Salvage: 04 Metal 08 Magic
Stationary turret that attacks nearby enemies. If your other allies get in the way, RIP, they will just gun them down. Spellbot fires ForceBolts then upgrades to Magic Missiles. By default it will rotate around looking for a target, but you can lock them looking in a specific direction, or tell them to look at someone/something, or directly tell them to attack a target.
XP: 10% on kill

Hardware

You can also build some basic hardware with Tinkering. Describing these items is outside the scope of this guide, but they're all pretty straightforward. Lockpicks are a great source of gold if you can sell 'em.

See the Alchemy guide ( https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1652148702 ) for details on these first 2:

Excellent +0 Alembic
16 Metal 16 Magic
100 Gold
Salvage: 04 Metal 04 Magic

Serviceable +0 Empty Bottle
02 Metal 02 Magic
1 Gold
Salvage: 02 Metal

Beartrap (see Traps)

Excellent +0 Backpack
Requires Tinkering 65
20 Metal 04 Magic
250 Gold
Salvage: 08 Metal 04 Magic

Excellent +0 Lockpick
May not be eligible to raise your Tinkering by crafting these.
02 Metal 00 Magic
50 Gold!!!
Salvage: 02 Metal

Excellent +0 Glasses
08 Metal 04 Magic
40 Gold
Salvage: 04 Metal

Excellent +0 Lantern
08 Metal 04 Magic
60 Gold
Salvage: 04 Metal

Repairing / Upgrading

Repairing:
You can also repair your armor, weapons, etc!
Your Tinkering level determines what items you're eligible to repair.
At 60, you can only repair the tinkering kit itself, and some low level crappy gear.
By level 75 you can repair really good items, but it costs a LOT of scrap!
At 100 the skill description says you can repair any item, but I couldn't repair any of these:
-Enchanted Feather
-Rings
-Amulet of Magic Reflection
-Glasses

XP: 2.5% on repairs

Pricing examples:
Did you just get set on fire and nearly lose that cloak of invisibility? Better save up your scrap to repair it, it's EXPENSIVE!

+5 invisibility cloak
Serviceable->Excellent
99 Magic and nearly as much Metal

+4 steel shield of magic resistance
Serviceable->Excellent
24 metal + 80 magic

Upgrading:

If you craft a bot at Excellent quality, then later your skill increases enough that you're able to craft those bots at Artisan quality, you can spend scrap to upgrade Excellent->Artisan. This applies to all different quality levels, one step at a time.

XP: 10% on upgrades

Lockpicking

Lockpicking has been bundled into Tinkering now (it used to be its own skill).

Lockpicks are fairly common to find, or you can tinker one from scrap as detailed in the Hardware section. Unfortunately it's very uncommon to find locked doors or chests, so you won't get much XP from this.

Use them on locked doors or chests, and you'll probably fail a few times before it succeeds.
-Each attempt may degrade your lockpick until it breaks.
-Each attempt has a chance to raise your Tinkering skill up to a maximum of 40

Arrow traps seem to get instantly disarmed on the first try, and they drop their quiver of remaining ammo.

Lockpicking an automaton will make it explode into a shower of scrap. You may need to target their rear. I HAVE gained 1 point of xp from this, but also very rare.

[!Supreme Grand Wizard Yoodiv]

Thank you! Leave a Steam award, I'm trying to collect them all LOL

[Kusachki]

Nice and comprehensive guide. Some other notes:
Leveling up combat skills from dummy bots is indeed locked to 20, as stated in their description.
You can repair your tinkering kit from any tinkering level, even from 0, i.e. if you find one in the wild, you have some metal scrap (16 to be precise) and it's of bad durability (e.g. decrepit) you can repair it from the getgo

[!Supreme Grand Wizard Yoodiv]

It depends on the enemy. If they are magic resistant then probably the arrows are better, otherwise I would use spells.

[tobikas]

Yeah that makes sense but for example making a kill room or the final boss which would be more effective

[!Supreme Grand Wizard Yoodiv]

Well once you're in the crystal caves, they're both going to get demolished by golems or cocks, but you should have many other skills at your disposal by then!

[tobikas]

Do you perhaps know whether the Spellbot is better than the Sentry Bot? Early game it seems like the spellbot has more use but later with more enemies having magic resistence the Sentry Bot even with less damage looks like the better option. If you have some stats or just personal experience that would be really helpful

[!Supreme Grand Wizard Yoodiv]

Sounds like you should award this guide with "Clever" haha

[Shot of Depresso]

and my brain is small

[Shot of Depresso]

No this is just a lot of info

[!Supreme Grand Wizard Yoodiv]

The guide should have answers to anything at all, but is there a specific question you've got?