Scrap re-purposing

[Guppycur]

I suppose this can technically sort of be done via recipes, but if I'm taking apart a car, I should be able to get more use out of it than just some junk metal. I'd like to get more of its individual parts, and [I]not just for melting down.[/I] Currently, if I want say, iron body armor, I have to: Kill an animal (for leather) Find scrap iron (for material) Find clay (for mold) Find wood (for burning) Find small stone (for material) Find iron pipe (don't even get me started on crafting one, vicious circle!) Build a forge Create iron mold Create iron ingot Create leather ...and finally: Craft iron and leather into armor That's 11 steps. ...but why can't I just take an existing stop sign, beat it with a hammer and get the same thing? Make it weaker, I don't care, but to add to the "realism" of the game, let's re-purpose scrap! Car doors for walls, stop signs for armor, windshields for windows, bent rebar for bracers, taped books for leg armor, street lights for fencing, tires for obstacles, use your imagination... that brass trophy? A bowl. Doorknob? A hammer. The feel would be more apocalyptic, and how hard could it be? We already have the items, just give another option next to crafting, call it Re-purposing; [B]or include more options than just melting down[/B]. Each item can already be crafted into "scrap iron", etc, give us the choice to utilize it some other way that would make sense... I'd love to see someone's house patched with car hoods.

[CongoBongo]

scrap iron armor is already coming man, there is a thread about it somewhere. Its with stop sign just like you say. But even then, you need something to make this stuff right? You just goign to bend a stop sign around your arm? You would be dead in a few minutes thinking like this. Armor is by no means an easy thing to master making, even if its with junk. You have to worry about pivot points such as elbows and knees, muscular flexibility, comfort, dexterity, the list goes on. What makes you think making scrap iron armor will take less steps?

[Guppycur]

I wasn't aware that scrap armor is coming, that's good news. :) I'm okay with it being less protective, in fact I'm for it. I think there should be faster, junkier options that would give the world a more apocalyptic feel in addition to the more mundane crafting. I hate that if I destroy something big (stove, car, refrigerator, etc) I don't have more options to use the individual parts for things. In real life, I can't make an iron ingot, much less iron armor, but I bet given a drill, some rope and a hammer I can make a stop sign breast plate. I [I]want[/I] to be able to make utter crap... it would be a faster alternative to having to have a "base" of sorts, and the subsequent time consuming crafting. Picture this: You walk with trepidation into the outskirts of a small town. It's near night time, and you have almost nothing, so you know you have to hunker down, as you don't have a lot of options. The sound of moaning and scraping feet lets you know you're far from alone. Dusk hits, the sky goes a deeper shade of purple than it was, so you have to hurry. There is no time to make a base. Seeing a small house, you grab the stop sign on the way in. In the garage, there is a car. Using some tools you find, you're able to pry off the hood to help barricade the door. You fashion a mallet out of the car's starter, some rope and a broom handle. It's heavy and slow, but you think it will work. The pounding at the garage door lets you know you've made too much noise. It's time to hurry. You quickly beat the stop sign to make it slightly concave, and using a drill and some rope you have a chest piece. Finding some phone books, you tape those around your arms. You want to hole up in the second story, so you climb up and destroy the stairs. Looking out the window you see another darker shade of purple. It is night and the noise intensifies, since the work you have done is loud. Soon the banging and clawing of two dozen undead send shivers up your spine. The door is broken, but your hood barricade holds. For now. Zombies start crashing in, finally breaking your barricade, trying to reach you, but finding no way up. They dig at the supports and the floor starts caving in; it's time to leave. Hopping out the window, you land too close to the hoard, who claws, bites and scratches at you as you run by, ripping at your chest. You kill that zed as your makeshift hammer comes apart in its head. Luckily the stop sign is the only thing damaged, and although it's ruined, it saved your life, as you finally get away.