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So first off I just to say I'm not trying to beat a dead horse, nor am I looking to flame anyone, nor am I looking to start a text war like I have seen on some of the other posts on this topic line. That being said after reading a few of the other post in regards to smithing I just thought it would be nice to take a different look at the idea. I only feel the need because, well some of the things I read don't make sense. I grew up with a father that was a civil and mech engineer, he loved to tinker and he loved to work with his hands, he also loved to repair/reinvent things. One our fav things to do was to drive around in his beat up truck and grab stuff people threw away and make it useful again. I work with my hands a lot, I grew up in MO here in the states, friends had farms that I worked on and I also managed a light construction, and landscaping company for about 5 years ,It will make sense why I'm bringing all this up in a bit. 1) the idea that your player learns skills at any sort of reasonable rate in regards to carpentry or farming is absurd, both these skills take years to master. It's one thing to be a farm hand and be told to dig a ditch or bail some hay, it's a whole different beast to harvest seeds by hand and to tend crops. Building a multi level dwelling is much the same way, it's even more silly to try to do these things with out the proper tools ( level, protractor, measuring tape, chisel, sand paper, L-joints, bracing fixtures ect ect) the idea that some one can go from no skill in wood working to being able to build a house with a saw hammer and nails in a matter of a week or two is silly. These are skills that in old times you were raised into, taught your whole life to master. But it's how it is because it's a game, and it's fun this way so why would smithing need to be so ultra realistic either. 2) a forge can be built by the avg guy, not some crazy thing that takes weeks to build ,but cinder blocks stacked and then covered with dirt to form a mound will work for making a basic forge ( I know because I have made one ). Need a anvil? there's construction site that have I-beams just laying there get a metal saw from the hard ware store and spend a day cutting a small section off one, now you have a totally flat class 2 tempered steal ready to go anvil. Just get 2 buddies or a wheel barrel/shopping cart or car to get it back home ( all things that may be in the pipe line ) Need fuel ? Get charcoal from the super market. Need something to protect u from the heat? Go to the fire dept and get a fire fighting outfit and use your knife to make it work. The parts would be all over the place for someone that wanted to make it happen. 3) you wouldn't need ore as some people have said, you have a world of already to go metal all around you: rebar, street signs, nails, shell casings, coins, silverware, car bumpers, tin cans you would never run out of metal, there's also a lot that would take way less work to turn into a weapon like a lawn mower blade ( heat it, flatten it, grind it, sharpen it, add glue and the a handle and now you have a short sword/club, or really how much work would it take to turn a sturdy garden hoe into a spear. 4) as for it not breaking the Game balance that seems easy too, no skill books past level 2-3 I'm sure the public library in your small town has some books that would give the avg joe some useful tips on making stuff in a forge, or how shaping metal in gen works, but for the good stuff to be built you need to invest lots of time and resources into learning what your doing. Make weapons at the low tier no better than stuff u can find, or have their durability crappy until you get more skill, and make the combines take a long time. Want 100 nails great ! Well spend two days in game making them and have someone watching your back to deal with the Zeds that pounding a hammer on metal is going to make, and be sure to have a great supply of water and food, cause that forage is hot and it's hard work swinging a hammer all day. 5) the need overcomes the difficulty, what I mean is that if you have no nails and you need to make your home safer, would you just say "well there's no more nails guess the zombies are gonna get me" or would you find some way to make something happen ? Your player is a survivor that's what survivors do, the beat the odds, they make it happen, they figure out ways to over come problems. In short 1) would it be fun to build your own/reconfigure/salvage your own tools and weapons ? I vote yes 2) is it something that the avg person could do ? Well at some point a long time ago all over the world people figured it out and I have done some basic stuff ,so I'm gonna go with yes 3) is it in keeping with the Romero lore ? Gonna have to go with yes, it seems like salvaging and rebuilding is very much a coroner stone of a zombie Apoc. Sorry the post was so long thank you for reading, please add your constructive comments PS: anyone that thinks I'm off base with the farming/wood working please try one of two things before you counter, go cut a sapling down, and then try to make a plank with a bow/hacksaw and post your finished product here with the amount of time it took you to make it. Or go talk to a Amish farmer and find out how to harvest seeds from the stuff you can grow in zomboid.