Many Mechanics

The Mechanics skill is one of my favorite skills in the game. However it is easy for a single mechanic to meet the demands of an entire server.

This mod aims to create space within the skill for more than one Mechanic. It does so with the following changes:

• To prevent issues with Iron Bar availablility, Some items that take Iron Bars produce Iron Shavings as a by-product.
  • The Steam Engine and Screw Press are two examples as they are required for all mechanics to have with a large chunk of Iron Bars as the startup cost
  • Iron Shavings can be smelted at a Bloomery or Blast Furnace back into Iron Bars, which has the added benefit of giving Mechanics something to sell back to their Iron Bar supplier
    • The Bloomery recycles Iron shavings at a 5:1 ratio and the Blast Furnace does so at a 4:1 ratio
• The level 1 Talent is a choice between Shaper Expert and Lathe Expert
  • Shaper and Lathe items have their Iron bar cost doubled. Taking the appropriate talent will half the Iron Bar cost
  • The extra Iron Bars added to the cost produces Iron Shavings at a 4:1 ratio, taking the appropriate talent reduces the Iron Shavings but not removing them leading to a net decrease in Iron Bar usage by having the correct Talent
• The level 2 Talent is a choice between Screw Press Expert or Steam Expert
  • Screw Press Expert gives a 5% cost reduction, effectively the Lavish Workspace bonus but at level 2
  • Steam Expert gives the 5% cost reduction for the Steam Engine, Portable Steam Engine and Boiler
• The level 3 Talent Choice is between Steam Tractor Expert and Steam Truck Expert
  • Steam Tractor Expert gives a 5% cost reduction to producing the Steam Tractor and Steam Tractor accessories
  • Steam Truck Expert gives a 5% cost reduction to producing the Steam Truck
• The level 4 Talent Choice is the normal level 3 Talent choice between Parallel Processing or Focused Workflow

In addition, items made with the Mechanic Skill have been rearrange so their skill requirement is better grouped together and not as cluttered at the lower levels such as grouping items the need steel with the Blast Furnace and items that need electricity with the Combustion Generator.

Note: Two mechanics can work together to equally take each talent, ideally I'd prefer to have three talent choices per level to increase the combinations but there is currently a hard limit of two talents per level.

Last tested on Eco version 12.0.6 at 2026-01-13