Crafting, Salvage, & Research
In Colony Alpha characters can craft items. Almost anything can be crafted with enough time, materials, and patience. Characters can create weapons, armor, medicine, stimpaks, and electronics of all kinds from commlinks to NETCATs.
Crafting an item often requires access to a schematic or recipe, however these are not needed for a few basic items.
Schematics and recipes have five parts:
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If a character has the appropriate Knowledge ranks, materials, and tools he/she can craft the item on the schematic. Proficiencies only count toward the total Knowledge ranks IF the character has the first-tier Knowledge skill for that skill tree.
Some schematics require multiple Knowledges or have alternate Knowledges that can be used for crafting. Similarly, some schematics have alternate materials that may be used for construction.
Crafting Time
Characters may spend an unlimited amount of time crafting at an event, as long as he/she is roleplaying some part of the crafting process.
Characters may also spend time between events to craft. Colony Alpha allows for 180 hours between events to craft items. This represents approximately 8 hours of crafting per day, with a few days of rest, over the course of a month.
Some skills may eat into this crafting time as well. It takes time to do things like salvage for supplies.
Crafting Materials
Crafting materials come in three types of rarity: Common, Uncommon, and Rare. A more rare material may always be substituted for a less rare one, but not vice versa. The types of crafting materials used in Colony Alpha and a short description of each are shown in the table below.
| Item | Description |
| Animal Byproducts | hide, feathers, bone, wool, horn, blood, organs, lard |
| Chemicals | coolant, lubricant, adhesive, chemicals in the form of liquid, gels, powders |
| Electronics | circuit components, resistors, capacitors, wire, microcontrollers, integrated circuits |
| Hardware | screws, springs, finely machined metal pieces |
| Herbs | leaves, roots, shoots, flowers, berries, seeds, fruit, bark |
| Metal | steel, aluminum, copper, alloys |
| Minerals | stone, ore |
| Pharmaceuticals | medicine, drugs, antiseptics, analgesics, astringents |
| Power Cells | batteries |
| Scrap | glass, rubber, plastic, ceramic, cordage |
| Textiles | fabric, cloth, wool, leather, kevlar, nylon, polyester, nanoweave |
| Wood | lumber, kindling |
Crafting materials are measured in arbitrary “units.” These units represent a few kilos of components within the same category. For instance a unit of electronics could be a circuit board that has resistors, capacitors, and transistors that can be harvested. A unit of metal might be a piece of a hoverpod hull that crashed.
When crafting, the character is assumed to rifle through the items in the “unit” to find what is useful and applicable to the task at hand.
Up-Trading/Down-Trading Crafting Materials
As mentioned above, all crafting material have three types of rarity: Common, Uncommon, and Rare. Five Common material tags of the same kind may be traded into the game staff for one Uncommon material tag.
Materials may also be down-traded. One Rare material tag may be traded for three Uncommon material tags. One Uncommon material tag may be traded for three Common material tags.
| Materials Exchange Rate
5 Common materials (of the same type) => 1 Uncommon material (of the same type) 1 Rare material => 3 Uncommon materials (of the same type) |
Scrap Armor/Weapons
Scrap armor and scrap weapons are common schematics and do not need Knowledges to craft. Anyone with a toolkit, materials, and free time can put together makeshift weapons and armor.
| Item | Knowledges Required | Materials Required | Tools Required | Time Required |
| Scrap Hand Weapon | NONE | Any combination of 4 Metal/Scrap/Wood |
Toolkit | 10 minutes |
| Scrap Heavy Weapon | NONE | Any combination of 6 Metal/Scrap/Wood |
Toolkit | 10 minutes |
| Scrap Small Weapon | NONE | Any combination of 2 Metal/Scrap/Wood |
Toolkit | 10 minutes |
| Scrap Armor Creation/Repair | Knowledges Required | Materials Required | Tools Required | Time Required |
| Patch Scrap Armor (Resets armor to 4 AP) |
NONE | 2 of any Metal, Scrap, Animal Byproduct, Wood | Toolkit | 10 minutes |
| Refit Scrap Armor (Resets armor to max AP) |
NONE | 4 of any Metal, Scrap, Animal Byproduct, Wood | Toolkit | 1 hour |
| Create Scrap Armor | NONE | 6 of any Metal, Scrap, Animal Byproduct, Wood 6 Textiles |
Toolkit | 6 hours |
| Workshop, Toolkit | 4 hours |
As described in the armor section above, a d10 must be rolled when scrap armor reaches 0 armor points and before it is repaired. On a roll of 1 the armor is too damaged to be repaired.
Crafting Proficiency
If a character exceeds any of the Knowledges required to build an item he/she is more proficient at production.
A character receives a 10% reduction in time (rounded up to the nearest 10 minutes) for every Knowledge rank above the required Knowledge rank.
Dino has Electronics 3 and Rigging 3. He wishes to craft a plasma cutter. Dino has the schematic for a plasma cutter as well as all of the materials required.
The plasma cutter schematic has the following items:
- Electronics 3
- Rigging 1
- Maximum team size: 3 people
Since Dino has Rigging at 2 ranks higher than what is needed he gets a 20% reduction in time to create the item.
20% of 480 minutes is 96 minutes. That is then rounded up to the nearest 10 minute interval, so 100 minutes. Dino must spend 380 minutes to create the plasma cutter.
Crafting As A Team
Some crafting projects may allow for multiple people to work on the project at once. The size of the crafting team is limited by the Maximum team size listed on the schematic.
If a schematic’s Knowledge Requirement contains two or more Knowledges, characters who meet the ranks of one single Knowledge may work together, as long as the total Knowledge Requirement is met by the team. Additionally, if the total Knowledge Requirement is met, any character who has a Knowledge listed on the schematic, but not enough ranks, may assist in crafting. All of this is subject the maximum team size.
| Who can work in a team?
*Any character who meets any single Knowledge Requirement, but only if there are team members that meet all remainder Knowledges Requirements. *Any character with ranks in any Knowledge on the schematic, but only if there are team members who meet all Knowledge Requirements. Note: *Team members cannot add their Knowledge ranks to meet any Knowledge Requirements. |
When working as a team, the Time Requirement must be divided between all members of the team in a ratio of the Knowledge ranks each member contributes. The final crafting time for each member should be rounded up to the nearest 10 minutes.
Dino has Electronics 3.
Charlotte has Rigging 1.
Mark has Electronics 1.
The team would like to create a plasma cutter. They have the schematic and all of the materials.
The plasma cutter schematic has the following items:
- Electronics 3
- Rigging 1
- Maximum team size: 3 people
- Crafting time: 8 hours (480 minutes)
Since Dino meets the Knowledge requirement for Electronics and Charlotte meets the Knowledge requirement for Rigging, the two can work together to make the part.
If just Dino and Charlotte worked on the plasma cutter, the would divide up the time at 3:1. (There are a total of 4 Knowledge ranks contributed to this project, so Dino contributes 3/4 and Charlotte contributes 1/4. 480 * 3/4 = 360 minutes. 480 * 1/4 = 120 minutes.) Dino would need to craft for 360 minutes and Charlotte would need to craft for 120 minutes.
Since Dino and Charlotte meet the total Knowledge requirement for the plasma cutter, they can add one more person to the team who only partially meets the Knowledge requirement. Mark has Electronics 1, so he can join the team.
The three of them would then divide the craft time up at 3:1:1. (There are a total of 5 Knowledge ranks contributed to this project, so Dino contributes 3/5, Charlotte contributes 1/5, and Mark contributes 1/5. 480 * 3/5 = 288, but it is rounded up to 290 minutes. 480 * 1/5 = 96, but it is rounded up to 100 minutes.) Dino would need to craft for 290 minutes, Charlotte would need to craft for 100 minutes, and Mark would need to craft for 100 minutes.
Research
Research is the process by which characters may unlock schematics or procedures. There are two knowledges that are primarily used for researching new schematics: Systems Engineering and Biochemical Engineering. Systems Engineering is used for researching mechanical or electrical systems. Biochemical Engineering is used to research chemicals and drugs.
Schematics have either an Systems Engineering rank or a Biochemical Engineering rank assigned to them. They are usually much higher than other knowledges used in crafting and the game staff does not share this rank. In order to research a schematic, a character must spend an amount of time equal to 40 hours times the Systems Engineering rank or Biochemical Engineering rank of the schematic. If a character has pieces of a particular reference item to disassemble or experiment on, then the research time is 20 hours times the knowledge rank. When a character reaches the required research time to unlock a schematic the game staff will let them know and they will be given access to the new schematic.
In addition, higher level schematics are inaccessible to character without a sufficient Systems Engineering or Biochemical Engineering rank. Some levels of technology are just beyond what a character can currently understand.
| Unlock a Schematic
Character has a reference item to disassemble or experiment on: Otherwise: |
Every rank of Systems Engineering or Biochemical Engineering above 1 grants a cumulative 10% reduction in time.
Systems Engineering/Biochemical Engineering 2 grants a 10% reduction in research time.
Systems Engineering/Biochemical Engineering 3 grants a 20% reduction in research time.
Systems Engineering/Biochemical Engineering 4 grants a 30% reduction in research time.
A particular schematic requires 240 hours of research time. Reggie has Systems Engineering 4, so he gets a 30% reduction in research time.
30% of 240 hours is 72 hours, so the time is reduced by 72 hours. The final research time is 168 hours.
Research Credits
Research Credits can be discovered by players by hacking terminals or other means. A Research Credit will grant players a time reduction when performing research. Research Credits are topic-specific, meaning they must be used in relation to the topic listed in their description. The topics can range from broad to narrow, but are usually associated with the standard game Knowledges.
Research Credits grant a 20% time reduction to the final research time, after proficiency has been factored in (which is the cumulative 10% reduction mentioned in the previous section).
Research Credits are not cumulative however. Using two Research Credits reduces the new research time by 20%.
The schematic Reggie is working on has a research time of 168 hours after his proficiency is factored in. Reggie finds an Electronics Research Credit that applies to this schematic. The research time gets reduced by 20% to 134.4 hours.
This is equal to 134 hours and 24 minutes, but all time requirements in Colony Alpha get rounded up to the nearest 10 minute interval, so it becomes 134 hours and 30 minutes (or 134.5 hours).
Reggie then finds another Electronics Research Credit. He applies it and the research time is reduced by another 20%.
20% of 134.5 hours is 107.6 hours. This is equal to 107 hours and 36 minutes. Again, the minutes get rounded up to the nearest 10 minute interval. The final research time becomes 107 hours and 40 minutes.
If Reggie found a third Research Credit, he could use it to reduce this new final time by another 20%.
Archotech
Some technology is either beyond the research capability of a frontier colony or is so far advanced and complex that it would take over a lifetime to figure out. These items are called Archotech. Arcotech can be researched, but it is usually outside the scope of the game to do so; it would take characters years.
Salvage
Salvaging allows characters to recover crafting materials from creatures, items, and tech. Anyone can salvage if they have a Knowledge relating to the item being salvaged. For instance, a character with Electronics can recover an electronics tag from a computer mainframe. A character with Rigging can recover scrap, metal, or electronics tags from a computer mainframe.
Salvaging requires something to salvage, time, and a toolkit or medkit or labkit as appropriate for the task. Using a medkit to salvage does not deplete one of its charges. Salvaging takes 5 minutes and yields a single Salvage Tag that is related to the item being salvaged. The rarity of the salvage tag is at the discretion of the game staff. The time it takes to salvage cannot be modified in any way.
Salvaging something completely uses it up, whether it’s a creature or item or whatever. After a single salvage action, the item cannot yield anything further. The possible items which can be recovered are listed in the table below.
| Knowledge | Type of Salvage that can be Recovered |
| Biochemical Engineering | Animal Byproducts Chemicals Herbs Pharmaceuticals Textiles Wood |
| Biology | Animal Byproducts Chemicals Herbs Pharmaceuticals Wood |
| Chemistry | Chemicals Minerals Pharmaceuticals |
| Cybernetics | Electronics Hardware Metal Power Cells Scrap |
| Electronics | Electronics Power Cells |
| Explosives | Chemicals |
| Medicine | Animal Byproducts Herbs Pharmaceuticals |
| Rigging | Electronics Hardware Metal Minerals Power Cells Scrap Textiles Wood |
| Survival | Animal Byproducts Herbs Minerals Scrap Textiles Wood |
| Systems Engineering | Electronics Hardware Metal Minerals Power Cells Scrap Textiles Wood |