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[uncool]

I'm trying to figure out how to most efficiently set up a steel industry to generate steel bars through recycling, due to the over-unity efficiency of "melt a metal object". Chiefly, I'm trying to figure out what skill my armorer should have while creating steel leggings for maxium recycling efficiency. High skill means faster production, but also means that I get masterworks that I would prefer not to melt down (my dwarves are already on edge enough). So under the assumption that masterworks never get melted down, and that travel distance is negligible (for now; I may add it back in later), what is the most time-efficient armorer skill level for steel bar creation (specifically, through steel leggings)?

[Superdorf]

I dunno, but I tell you a trick-- the unhappy thought generated by a masterwork's destruction is greatly reduced if the creator has enough intact masterworks remaining! So...

- Start your armorer's career off on chain leggings. Assuming your armorer is Dabbling, he'll crank out a bunch of low-quality junk that you can melt down for scrap. Keep any masterworks if you must, but if you're low on metal it may be worth it to simply melt everything.

- Once your armorer hits, oh, Skilled or so, switch production to shields. Shields yield only 120% metal returns, but are far more useful to your military. Let your military keep any masterworks your armorer produces.

- Once all your soldiers are equipped with masterful shieldwork, do the same thing with high boots and gauntlets. These must be melted separately-- a tedious chore for your furnace operators-- but your armorer should finish the masterwork production faster, what with all that practice...

- Depending on the size of your military, you should by now have enough masterwork armor laid out to provide your armorsmith a suitable happiness buffer against future masterwork melting. Switch back to leggings, and melt everything like there's no tomorrow!

[NordicNooob]

Alternatively, give armorsmithing to every non-important dwarf (especially those without moodable skills!), and make a workshop (or two, or three or however many you want) that only accepts low skill workers, and then do some "forge leggings forever" jobs. Make sure your real forges where you make things you aren't melting only accept your full-time smiths, or if not that, then only high skill workers.

Or, do both! Super's idea only uses your full-time armorsmiths, and mine only uses the peasantry, so if you're willing to set it all up you can both have your full-time smiths train themselves to become immune to masterwork sadness and also just crank out a ton of useless crap leggings while giving your peasantry their satisfied needs and moodable skills.

I'd also set up a QSP that accepts non-masterworks of the kind you want to be melting. If you've got DFhack you can make it auto-melt, but otherwise you'll just end up with an easy way to mass-designate the crap for melting.

[Fleeting Frames]

Hm, for this, my first thought is to turn to Crafting research.

...But it only lists dabbling and Legendary. Farming analysis also lists Accomplished, which, using 4-6 plants as "masterwork", has 58% of L+5's chance of masterwork(16%) at 83% of it's speed, which would be 2,5×dabbling.

That translates to little more than half the returns for over twice the speed. An improvement over either end, but a marginal one.

There's been little attempts to measure quality at other skill levels - feel free to test yourself (I recommend custom reaction, and dfhack to set dwarf's personality, attributes, preferences and focus, and savescumming before start to compare random variances).

Ditto for speed research - I'd expect the results of that may also affect you. It may be that you should best pick an agile, focused, uncreative dwarf. Goblin citizens' abysmal creativity may actually be good for this, giving a reason to accept their petitions that isn't just desire for no-eat miners.

[Superdorf]

Ditto for speed research - I'd expect the results of that may also affect you. It may be that you should best pick an agile, focused, uncreative dwarf. Goblin citizens' abysmal creativity may actually be good for this, giving a reason to accept their petitions that isn't just desire for no-eat miners.

That's... that's brilliant that is! I'd forgotten crafting-related attributes were a thing!

Ahhh, I might have to actually do this sometime... I usually refrain since it seems like such a cheap trick, but these ideas are such fun* to play with!

*Gah, word choice