User:Avanya/Glassmaking guide

Everyone needs glass, but it is a long manufacturing process that often leaves newer players frustrated or confused. With a little planning, and a bit of patience, anyone can do it. Hopefully this guide can help!

Understanding Glass

There are three types of glass. Normal, Soda, and Jewel. Some glass products can be made from multiple types of glass (e.g. Glass Pipes from Normal or Soda glass), but most glass products require a specific type of glass. This chart shows all of the glass products, and which glass types can make each:

Glass Product	Normal Glass	Soda Glass	Jewel Glass
Sheet Glass	YES	no	no
Glass Jar	YES	no	no
12 Empty Wine Bottles	YES	no	no
Glass Torch	YES	no	no
Glass Pipe	YES	YES	no
Glass Rod	YES	YES	no
Glass Blade	no	YES	no
Fine Glass Rod	no	no	YES
Fine Glass Pipe	no	no	YES

Furthermore, each type of glass requires different materials to make it.

Glass Type	Ingredients for 1 db of glass
Soda Glass	1 Lime, 2 Soda, 10 Sand
Normal Glass	1 Lime, 2 Potash, 10 Sand
Jewel Glass	1 Lime, 2 Potash, 10 White Sand

Some Points to Know

• Soda is a lot easier to get than Potash, so it is usually preferred to use Soda Glass whenever possible.
• White Sand is 10 times heavier than normal sand, and can be found only at certain places in Egypt. (see http://www.atitd.org/wiki/tale5/Atlas#Gathered_Resources)
• All glass requires lime to make.
• You should have a glaziers bench for EACH type of glass. A bench requires 19 units of glass in its reserve. That reserve is not workable, but must be filled before any glass can be made. That glass type must match the type of glass product you will make. You can empty a bench of its reserve to change glass types, but then you must fill it with 19 deben of the new type of glass. It is much easier and more efficient to simply have a glass bench for each type of glass, so that reserve is never emptied.

Sheet Glass

Sheet Glass is the only product that has an additional skill required to produce it. Everyone begins with an inherent Sheet Glass Fabrication skill of 0. When you attempt to make a sheet of glass, one of the following will occur:

• you succeed, horray!
• you fail, and the materials are lost
• you fail and lose the materials, but gain a skill point in sheet glass fabrication.

As your skill rises, you will fail less and less often. At a skill of 7, you will no long break any.

It takes a skill of 7 in Sheet glass Fabrication to have the option to make a Mirror.

Many new players first motivation to make glass is for sheet glass. However, this additional skill leveling means that it will likely take a lot of extra materials to produce the number of sheets desired. (This can also lead to a great deal of frustration). It is strongly recommended that you familiarize yourself with the glass making process and begin with other products before attempting sheet glass!! You might also consider trading with experienced players that have already leveled their fabrication skill to 7 for your immediate sheet glass needs.

Process Overview

Glass making is as much about material gathering and preparation as it is spending time working the glass.

The process for gathering materials will depend on which type of glass you need, as well as what technologies are available to you. The simplest process looks like this:

Digging:

• You can only dig limestone at a limestone pit. They are scattered throughout Egypt. (see atlas for locations)
• requires a chisel and hammer. Slate tools are easily acquired, but will break fast. They will yield 1 limestone per dig (with occasional soda as a bonus). A Lead Chisel and Heavy Mallet will yield 3 limestone per dig instead of the 1 from slate, and lead chisels will last much longer.
• Digging runs off your endurance, so you will encounter a timer.
• see http://www.atitd.org/wiki/tale5/Limestone

Firepit:

• required the skills Controlled Burn and Firebuilding to use.
• needs flint to strike the flame.
• Papyrus gives the greatest amount of ash. Flax gives less, and leeks add very little.
• stoking will increase your yields, but its a diminishing return.
• see http://www.atitd.org/wiki/tale5/Firepit

Kettles:

• requires the Cooking skill to build, but does not require any skills to run for potash production.
• One kettle will convert 5 ash to 5 potash, requiring 25 water and about 30 wood to stoke. Its usually best to run multiple kettles at the same time, to get more potash at once.
• see http://www.atitd.org/wiki/tale5/Kettle
• Notice that Soda glass does not require the Kettle step. This is the easiest type of glass to produce, so its best to save your soda from digging limestone and start with this type of glass.

Glaziers Bench:

• requires charcoal to run, and can hold a maximum of 50 molten glass.
• Remember to have one bench per type of glass, and do not change the glass type. It wastes 19 deben of glass to do so, and will require 19 db of the new type to fill the unworkable reserve.
• see http://www.atitd.org/wiki/tale5/Glazier%27s_Bench for general information, and http://www.atitd.org/wiki/tale5/Glassmaking_Guide for advanced information on how to run a Glaziers Bench.

Advanced Technologies

As the tale progresses, new ways to obtain materials becomes available. These new machines can be expensive to build, but offer faster or more efficient means for obtaining resources.

Limestone Auger:

• When Stone Automation technology is opened, this becomes available.
• While expensive to build, it digs limestone and soda on its own. It runs for a few days after winding.
• see http://www.atitd.org/wiki/tale5/Limestone_Auger for more information.

Crematory:

• When Advanced Chemistry and Raeli Tiles are opened, this becomes available.
• This is arguably the most difficult machine in Egypt to run. It is much easier to run with two people, or with a macro.
• This produces much more ash and lime than the firepit does.
• Papyrus still yields the most ash; flax gives less and leeks contribute very little. But since a run only requires 20 of each, it is best to run full loads with all three ash producers in the machine.
• see http://www.atitd.org/wiki/tale5/Crematory for more information

Better Glassmaking through Chemistry

Chemistry is a complicated system in Egypt, and it requires a large range of materials to use. However, for those that are comfortable with it, it can provide time-saving alternatives to producing glass materials.

• Lime Emulsion will turn limestone directly into lime.
• Potash Ointment will turn ash directly into potash (thus eliminating the Kettle step)
• Please see http://www.atitd.org/wiki/tale4/User:Numaris/Practical_Chemist for a good guide to chemistry. Remember, though, this is a much more advanced skill than glassmaking, so it is not likely to help newer players, but rather more established players with a wide range of resources at hand.