Jacksmith Forging Guide: How Each Weapon Is Scored

What happens at a craft station

Jacksmith's shop is a wagon with four Craft stations along the counter. A soldier walks up, you click to take the weapon order, and then you build the weapon at a station. Flipline's own description of the game puts the steps in order: choose your ore, choose your mold, melt it, pour it, construct it and design it. The game has a separate score for each step, and the steps a weapon goes through depend on its type.

Step one: design and metal

You start by picking a design from the list (the game's own prompt is "Choose a Design from the list") and then a metal on the "Choose Metal" screen. The game has six metals:

• Copper
• Bronze
• Iron
• Steel
• Gold
• Crystal

The game shows locks on the metal buttons, and it has a badge for each one: craft 5 weapons in Bronze, 10 in Iron, 15 in Steel, 20 in Gold and 25 in Crystal. Each finished weapon has a Power value and a Durability value. The weapon info screen shows the maximum for that weapon and the real figure once add-ons are counted.

Step two: the pour

All six weapon types are poured into a mold, and the pour gets the Forging score. The game tracks metal that spills over the top as excess, and it has a separate message for running out of metal partway through. A full mold with no spill is what you are aiming for. If a weapon goes badly wrong there is a Scrap the Weapon button so you can start it again.

Step three: the type-specific stages

After the pour, the weapon type decides what comes next. These are the score names the game uses in its 100% badges:

Weapon type	Scores after Forging
Swords	Hammering, Handle
Pikes	Hammering, Handle
Axes	Construction, Handle
Maces	Construction, Handle
Shields	Construction, Painting
Bows	Stretching, Arrows

Hammering is for the long blades. Construction covers putting heads and parts on: axe blades are angled into place, mace spikes are set into their spots, and the game takes points off when a part is set too far from where it should go. Bows have no hammer stage. Instead they are scored on stretching the string and on the arrows. Shields go through a crest and painting stage, and the game counts which paints you use.

Each of these has a badge for scoring 100% on 20 weapons of that type, so a perfect stage really is possible. You don't need it to win a battle, though.

The mold's Star Meter and Element Boosts

Each mold has a Star Meter, and filling it unlocks an extra Element Boost for that weapon. The boosts come in three tiers, Bronze, Silver and Gold, with a badge for each tier on 5 weapons and on all of them. The element is what makes a weapon hit harder against some enemies, and the battle guide on this blog covers which ones. The tier names have nothing to do with the metal you pour, so a Gold Element Boost does not mean the weapon is made of gold.

Epic Weapon Designs

Some designs are rarer. Scrolls with Epic Weapon Designs come out of treasure, and the Design Catalog keeps the ones you have found. When the parts you fit match an epic design, the game tells you it is an epic match and gives the finished weapon a special name. There are badges for finding 10 and 30 epic designs and for crafting 10 and 20 epic weapons, so you don't need to chase them on day one.

A short checklist

• Use the best metal you have unlocked. A better metal means a stronger weapon to start from.
• Fill the mold without spilling. The Forging score counts on every weapon.
• Know which stage comes next for the weapon type, so a bow's string or a shield's paint doesn't catch you out.
• Watch each mold's Star Meter: a full meter is what unlocks an Element Boost.

Source for the step order: Flipline Studios' Jacksmith page. Everything else comes from the game's own screens and text.