3 hours ago, Bask said:The issue is that more than just one person wants to be able to make stuff of a certain type. Imagine multiple people want to use a certain type of item (obviously they will in some facit most of the time) then how are they supposed to split magazines based on who needs it if everyone needs it?
An actual example from your group would have been nice for your argument.
My group has been playing that way for a long time now and it actually improves co-op play when you need another forge and have to ask the one doing forges to make another one. Most of the magazines are for items you build once every few quality levels, especially guns and armor. Most of the time the one person who wants a specific gun is also the person who reads the magazines for that gun. This is the natural choice because he is also the one who will find the most of that type of magazines and often the only one interested in crafting this. The only exception is if two people use the same type of gun or armor, then it isn't hard to ask the other person to craft a helmet or pistol for you.
Some magazines (like traps) are for mass-produced items, but it is the task of the person who gets those magazines to produce enough of them into a storage box so others can take them out of the box when building with them. And like in any good co-op game complain when not enough of them are in the box (with all the usual jibes about underlings not working correctly 😉.
Another example is medicine, but in our group it exactly works like with food. One person is getting the medicine magazines, but for that he has to create lots of first aid bandages and put them in the medicine box. If there aren't enough ingredients to produce them he has to ask the farmer to provide more. The "medicine provider" will also usually mention when he has produced a new batch. Examples of good communication in co-op play.
I don't understand when you seem to argue that it is more CO-OP when everyone can craft anything and therefore does not depend on others for crafting specific things. The optimal co-op play IS when everyone depends on everyone else.
It works very well for us, working as a team with specific tasks for everyone. Actually co-op play and helping the others is the main glue why we still play together a small list of games for many years, especially 7 days.
If you want, please tell us of an actual example from your group where it doesn't work well, and tell us why you think it is the failure of the game and if it were different co-op would improve in your game.