Ceremonial sword

Ceremonial swords are weapons which can be smithed in the Artisans Workshop. They require level 70 Smithing to make. Smithing swords is mostly a members activity, although free players can occasionally make a sword as part of the Ceremonial sword Distraction and Diversion. Generally players must turn in the swords they smith rather than keeping them, however players can purchase the ability to keep perfect swords using "respect."

Overview
The goal of this activity is to hammer a hot ingot into a specified shape before the ingot cools.

Members who are new to the activity can talk to Egil to get two chances to practise with bronze ingots. After these practice ingots, they must use the appropriate ores on the nearby furnace and withdraw Grade IV ingots. When players have a Grade IV ingot in inventory, they can get a plan from Egil if they have a high enough smithing level to make a sword of that type (e.g., an iron sword design for an iron ingot).

Experience awarded for ceremonial swords is prorated based on performance. For a perfect score of 100% performance, players gain an additional 20% xp bonus.

The following table shows the level requirement for each metal type and the number of ores needed per sword, as well as a comparison to the xp players would have gained smithing and smelting the same number of ores using conventional methods (i.e., outside the workshop). Even at higher smithing levels, 100% performance is not usual. However, for metals other than iron, 100% performance is not necessary to exceed the experience players would have gotten outside the workshop.

Players also receive a one-time reward of 5,000 xp upon the creation of any ceremonial sword with 90%+ performance and a one-time reward of 15,000 xp upon the creation of any ceremonial sword with 100% performance.

1 Includes 20% bonus for 100% performance. The 20% bonus is not awarded for performances less than 100%.

2 The normal xp obtained from these resources outside of the workshop.

3 The minimum performance required to earn more experience in the workshop than outside, using the same resources.

Making the sword
Players require a pair of tongs; these can be found in the workshop just inside the entrance. Players also require a hammer. The hammer on the toolbelt is sufficient. Sacred clay or volatile clay hammers cannot be used to increase the experience gained from making ceremonial swords.

To make a sword, use a type IV ingot on the furnace and select smelt. This converts all the ingots of that type in the player's inventory to heated ingots. (They cannot be returned to the main furnace after this point.) Click an anvil once to place the ingot on it, then click the anvil again to open the ceremonial sword interface.

In the interface, the picture at the top shows the plan. The goal of the game is create the same shape below before the cooldown timer reaches zero. The closer the match is, the higher the performance and the higher the experience awarded.

To smith a sword, players must select a hit type: Hard, Medium, Soft, or Careful. They then click one of the 16 hammer buttons to create a dent at that position. For every hit, the cooldown number decreases. When this number reaches zero, the sword is no longer workable. Players then may ask Egil to score the sword and award the experience for it. The cooldown timer decreases by one for Hard, Medium, and Soft hits. It decreases by two for Careful hits.

To decide which hit to use, it is important to know the range, typical hit, and cooldown effect for each hit type. This is shown in the table below. The chance to make a typical hit increases with smithing level.

A dent larger than 8 for the tip of the sword or 6 for the rest of the sword shatters the sword. If this happens, no experience is awarded. If the performance on the sword is low enough, no experience is awarded in that case, either. In calculating the performance, the parts closer to the tip of the sword appear to be weighted more heavily. Dents that are too deep appear to be counted more heavily against performance than dents that are not deep enough.

Ceremonial Swords Strategy

 * 1) Apply a HARD     hit to areas requiring a 4 dent or more, except for the tip (5 or more dent requirement)
 * 2) Apply a MEDIUM hit to areas requiring a 2 dent or more, except for the tip (3 or more dent requirement)
 * 3) Apply a SOFT     hit to areas requiring a 1 dent or more, except for the tip (2 or more dent requirement)
 * 4) Go around applying HARD hits to required areas, then MEDIUM and SOFT, this saves more time.
 * 5) Do the tip LAST (require more hits to perfect), and the tip is not heavily weighted at all. In some cases not starting the tip will result in a XP award of 5% or less.
 * 6) Use CAREFUL only to perfect the tip, or when you are on the last few areas and know you have excess hits left               As it is better to take the small risk of getting a +2 than a 100% chance of wasting a hit.
 * 7) MEDIUM is your best friend, always assume it hits a 2 on the body and a 3 for the tip.
 * 8) You can finish the sword early if you have hits remaining and no dents required, close the window and check in your sword.
 * 9) If you overdent a sword, don't fret, move on and finish it anyway. This is common when your hits are based on chance.

The key to making ceremonial swords from the plans is knowing how hard to hit the sword with your hammer. For instance, if the player is supposed to get a certain segment to 4 or above, the player should hit it the hardest. If 2 or 3 is required, the player should hit with medium. If one is required, the player should hit lightly.

A good strategy for someone of 95+ Smithing is to hit all the areas greater than or equal to 4 with the 'Hard' hit. Then hit all the areas which need cutting down by 3 'Medium'. Then hit all areas that need cutting down by 1 with 'soft', as soft is always a guaranteed 1 or 0 for level 95+ players. Now only areas that need cutting down by an area of 2 remain. At this point you need to weigh up how many turns you have left. If you have enough to simply 'soft' hit to completion, do this. However if you do not, you must risk using medium hit to obtain some of the 2's to complete the sword before it cools.

Scoring

 * This section is speculative, incomplete and possibly wrong.

The exact scoring algorithm is unknown. It's possible that the score is calculated by subtracting a penalty for each incorrect location, depending on the deviation from the correct value. In the table below, a deviation of -1 means that the location has been under-hit by 1, e.g., 2 where 3 was required. This may only work for swords that are reasonably close to perfection.

Distraction and Diversion
While working in another part of the workshop, Aksel can randomly appear. When he does so, players may talk to him to offer their help to make a special order Bronze ceremonial sword. The ingot for the special order is provided for free at the ceremonial sword anvil. Talking to Aksel at any other time does not provide the player with an opportunity to make a sword.

In addition to the experience granted, if players score 90% or better, Aksel rewards them with a cut diamond. Players may also earn the one-time xp rewards at 90% or 100% performance with these swords.

The only ceremonial swords which free players can make are the bronze swords for this distraction.

Rewards
As with other activities in the workshop, players receive +1% respect for every 10k xp of swords smithed.

There are five different sword designs that members may purchase from Elof with respect. Each plan costs 30% respect. Once a plan has been bought, completing a sword with 100% performance may result in the option to keep the sword with the purchased design. The Quick-score option can be used to get the sword. Multiple swords of each metal and each plan can be obtained. There is no limit on the number of ceremonial swords that can be owned (other than bank space and availability of ore for bars).

Ceremonial sword