Expanding on salvage?

[kahuna]

I did some research but couldn't find any threads on this idea. Correct me if I'm wrong or if salvage already works this way?

Right now salvage works to "kind of" give you some random items in an "all or nothing" manner so you
never know what's going to happen. And once something is crafted
I'm not aware that you can "uncraft" an item or take a piece from a craft. Kind of unrealistic if
we wanna grab something from an item not caring if we destroy it in the process.

I propose that salvage becomes a bit more robust as the following:

a sapphire-pommeled sword
salvage sword
You could salvage a sapphire from that.
salvage sword sapphire

You rip the sapphire from the sword.

Left with: a bone longsword (or a bone sword blade or whatever) We basically just wanted the sapphire anyway.

So taking the above example we'd get the 2 initial ingredients from this weapon, the sapphire and the bone. However since we're
basically ripping the sapphire out we're left with is a "normal" version of the weapon or perhaps just a piece of junk bone.
This could be expanded to work off the craft system and the recipes involved.

Thoughts?

[Riev]

Imagine a sapphire-pommeled sword, where the sapphire is in there with a little elbow grease and a LOT of glue/resin.

Getting that sapphire out isn't going to be easy. How do you account for that? Is the "salvage" skill based on your sword-making skill? In that case, why not have EVERY craft with a 'reverse' craft, so craft sword into sapphire? (answer: Its unnecessary and obtuse)

Salvage, at its base, returns a 'random' number of items related to the base material. A bone torch? Returns splinters of bone. Obsidian breastplate? Returns shards of obsidian.

I think what you're suggesting is taking a finished product, tearing it apart and recreating the materials that went into it piece for piece. I don't think that's terribly realistic, especially with the crude construction of Zalanthan technology. There are a lot of resins, and glues, and not a lot of tools designed for item salvage.

That said, I'd love to see some "salvage" tools that allowed a greater chance to get some base materials. I just can't fathom (myself) how you would pull that sapphire out and have it just as usable as the other one you have.

[NinjaFruitSalad]

You could probably get the sapphire out.. albeit by completely destroying the pommel it was in.

Maybe it would take an excessive amount of grinding and smoothing just to ensure you get the bone off without damaging the gem? And it could still have a chance for failure.

[Hauwke]

Its not like you are just shoving an enormous sapphire onto the end of some bone.

The gem needs to be shaped and cut into the correct dimensions to be able to be put where it belongs.

[NinjaFruitSalad]

Could the the opposite: carefully carving out a hole into the bone which are the exact dimensions needed.