Ever run out of coal in a MMORPG when there\'s a possibly highly-flamable log next to you, but you cant burn it unless you have a tinderbox or something?
*cough* well, now you can pick up that log, and toss it in the furnace to smelt that metal with this idea.
Basically the standard of a half-pound of coal is used. this half pound of coal would be the Average Coal Amount or ACA for short. Basically ACA is looking at how much the fuel in question is similar to coal. Now, one half pound of coal is one ACA. A log of could be say, one half a ACA, even though that log is 3 pounds heavy.
ACA is the measurement of how much one half pound of coal can do. SO... the log that weighs more than .5 pounds and does less than one ACA of coal would be \"Poor ACA Quality\". something that weighs less than .5 pounds - 1 gram and does more than one ACA of Coal would be \"Good ACA Quality\"
Something that weighs milligrams and does more than one ACA of Coal would be \"Excelent ACA Quality\"
Now, the log that you throw into the furnace would have Poor ACA quality, because it is not coal (obviously) however tools like a air pump, and specially designed furnaces can increase the ACA of the material being burned. So, if you put the log into a properly designed furnance that log may have a equal amount or maybe even a greater ACA quality than it would normally have.
Putting high-quality fuel into a high-quality furnace will certainly mean you can smelt more with less fuel. A way to look at fuels efficency would be to look at:
How heavy is it?
What\'s it\'s ACA?
So a player can do some quick calculations and say that birch is heavier (bad), but has more ACA (good) and Mahogany (spelling?) is lighter(good), but has less ACA (bad) and then the player can think \"Should i be using coal for this? Can i get some coal quickly, here?\" and so on.
Also, some furnaces would require various fuel types... some furnaces will only burn wood, because anything with a ACA higher than
- may melt the furnace\'s walls. Metals require a minimum ACA to melt; you need to use a fuel that has the same [or higher] ACA as the metal. A metal with a ACA of .2 could be melted with coal easilly, though you would waste your coal [if you put in low amounts of ore]... so you should put the metal into [this] furnace with [that] fuel, and smelt away knowing you arn\'t wasting your resources.
Furnaces, previously mentioned, can raise the ACA of fuel but it can also lower the ACA of improper fuel. The furnace may be able to take wood, but just because you can put wood in doesn\'t mean you should. Placing the improper fuel into the wrong furnace may cause the fuel to be spent and not melt the metal; even if you were over the ACA requirement of the metal. Or even worse... make the metal impure and weaken the final product possibly resulting in
DEATH due to neglegance!
[revision]Also, you could purchase your own furnace for your own personal needs, but it would be combersome, take time to setup, and would be highly restricted in it\'s fuel requirements and possible metals to smelt.[/revision]
this way smelting can be fun instead of tedius, because now you can break up that chair, and knowing it\'s wood type can now know it\'s ACA and the ACA requirement of the metal, and put it all into the best furnace for the job with the best results you can get and save your precious coal. :]
PS: sorry for the length, but it was necessary.
