The transforming machine: How does it really work?

[Doomnair]

Just another stupid question from your neighbourhood pest. Ive been trying to use the dwarven transforming machine in Tharbad. A couple of weeks ago I used it on a greataxe and it worked perfectly. Today I needed it again but to my surprise the lever didnt even move. I bought two Mystical tokens and put a greataxe +1 in one side and a greataxe +2 in the other. The lever wouldnt move and nothing happened. I then asked another player and he said it has some problems with magical equipment. Allright then, I put a normal fighter helm (bought in Umbar, just coloured a bit) into the machine and a Helm of persuasion. The lever didnt bulge and nothing happened. So, how does this thing really work :confused:? If it only works on normal equipment, the helm should have worked excellently. And, after about 1 hour modifying my magical plate mail (being an orc with 1 SP/level, Ill hardly spend it on crafting :stupid: ) Im thinking that if I find better plate mail, I will just use it however it looks. I agree that right now he looks rather silly, since he has a black pointy plate with a golden helm. Hopefully this can be fixed in the future if someone can tell me how the machine works.

[zimith]

I'm another transforming machine n00b, but I got it explained to me pretty elaborately. Here goes:

You move the magical properties from the item in the Finder to a non magical armor of the same type put in the Binder. This means you still have to find someone to alter the non magical items to which the properties of the magical one will be transferred, but as it's a base item, altering it will be much cheaper and easier.

That is as I understand it, the basics of the thing. Why the lever got stuck, I have no idea I'm afraid:)

[ghost81]

It won't wrok with 2 magical items one of the items must be non-magical - thats why the +1/+2 great axe wouldn't work.

I'm not sure if it has ever worked on helms at all - someone else could probably confirm that.

[Silverleaf]

Non-magical items must be placed into the Enchantment binder, and the magical item that has the properties you want removed and place onto the non-magical item must be placed onto the Enchantment finder.

Thus...

Put a greataxe +1 onto the enchantment finder.

Put a non-magical greataxe onto the enchantment binder.

With a mystical token in your inventory, hit the lever and voila, your greataxe +1 will have the appearance of the non-magical greataxe. The non-magical greataxe will be used in the process so you can't take it back and sell it.

When using helms, make sure the non-magical helm doesn't have a concentration bonus +1.

[Guyror]

The machine works on a very simple level, put an item with NO enchantments in one side, and the old item you want to transfer the enchantment from in the other. Pull the lever and *Puff* it is transfered.

However the problem with helms is that they have +1 concentration bonus on them. What you need to find is a cowl which is available from a certain hobbit clothier in the shire, as it has no bonus on concentration.

The armour will work perfectly so please do not wonder around looking odd.

[Silverleaf]

Yikes. A lot of replies in the short time I spent typing that up...

[DM_Olórin]

it wont work if the armour in the binder has magical properties. it cant over write your old armour from +1 up to +2 for example. the armour/ weapon in the binder MUST be non magical.


*edit* whoops too slow....

[Doomnair]

Is it possible to make it work between any armours/shields/whatever? This way a person has to spend a lot of gold making the first armour and after that can copy the look onto whatever he wants to (this would still make a money drain, since you have to sacrifice your old magical armour to make a new one). I would prefer such a system, since most of the time you spend quite a lot of time trying to get exactly the right look that you want for your character. If this is not possible it would be a nice thing to let the armourer to sell non magical stuff (especially a non magical helmet) that you can use as base for your crafting.

[ghost81]

I think it was deliberately made so as to not work on Magical armours, possibly because of some odd side effects. That said the cost of buying and modifying a set of non-magical armour - even full plate is nothing compared to trying to modify a +2 set of armour. Another point of course is the fact that forcing players to buy and craft armour each time is that it helps the team keep a tighter control on the amount of money in circulation.

[Doomnair]

Well, I dont know about the technical issues that may appear, but since everybody will buy a cheap non magical armour to modify, instead of sacrificing (as I suggested before) the magical armour they have, the cost will probably be about even. I modified my +2 plate armour for about 6 k gold in total (I dont know what it would have cost to modify a non-magical, but my guess it would be much cheaper) and Im an orc with a low int and no skill points in craft. If instead I have to sacrifice my +2 plate and buy a magical token for...lets say 1500 (today they cost 850) I believe the total cost would about even out. This would also spare a lot of people the time they have to invest just improving the looks on their armour (that is, time spent in a dark corner of the world with absolutely no rp whatsoever). Also, Ive noticed, many people run around with weapons that have their original look, just because they dont want to go throught the hassel of converting it (since weapon is the one thing you fairly often change).

[ghost81]

I tend to do my armour improvements in those quiet moments when there is no-one about for me toRP with/journey with.

That said if the Dev team feel the need to change things so be it, but as there is a perfectly workable system in place surely the time can be better spent elsewhere.

[Argon Balros]

it doesn't really work its all an optical illusion :)

[DM_Olórin]

Doomnair most players found that the expense of crafting magic armour was too high in a generally low gold economy so they were running around in their default look items and wishing they could customize (I know i was). Some may be fine with this but I feel that its an important part of your character to have an appropriate look that helps define them in some way.

The crafting machines are a cheaper way of doing things especially once you get past +1 i find.

[Doomnair]

Originally posted by DM_Olórin
Doomnair most players found that the expense of crafting magic armour was too high in a generally low gold economy so they were running around in their default look items and wishing they could customize (I know i was). Some may be fine with this but I feel that its an important part of your character to have an appropriate look that helps define them in some way.

The crafting machines are a cheaper way of doing things especially once you get past +1 i find.

Yes, I know that this is the case, but what Im asking for is to allow it to work with all items, not just the non magical stuff.

[DM_Olórin]

The scripts would have to be rewritten to strip the magical effects from the armour/weapon before adding the new properties to it. As far as i am aware the simplest way to do that is to replace it with a non magical version from the item palette. That item wouldnt be custom crafted at all so it would put you back to square one. It may be possible to strip the properties without the item reverting to a default state but i dont know exacly how that would be accomplished or what the potential problems could be.

At the moment the crafting machines work perfectly so any changes to them (if they are feasible) will not be high on the "to do" list.

[Doomnair]

Thanks Olorin for the speedy answer.

[Nine Inch Nail]

Hey I'm just selling The Instruction Manual For The Tranforming Machine in Tharbad for only a couple of bucks on Ebay now!!!

Check the following link:

Instruction Manual (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_Elves)