Board Thread:Suggestions/@comment-26271588-20150402220220/@comment-24108228-20150419211135

Are we actually going to make a thread on this, or no? Because I'm fairly sure that Blacksteel, Rainbowsteel, Magenta Steel, and any other name we can come up with wasn't mentioned in the OP as a building material, nor is actually very relevant. I'd be happy to continue doing this "Colour-Steel" game, it could be quite fun if we did it for a bit, but this thread isn't completely terrible, and could be revived, so I'd prefer to keep the option open.

Anyway, rant aside, how about we modify the steamboat? Instead of the old design where we have "The War Sloop of Being Slightly Faster and 50x More Expensive", we could take the concept of a steam-boat, and use it as a way to make a more durable boat that isn't a disposable item like the other types. We have it made of iron (which isn't flammable), and rig the seat so only the creator and their tribe can use it, similar to a private door but with a seat instead of a block. We nullify the maintainence costs, and instead just fund the steam power with a coal in the recipe (cutting down the speed to large sailboat for balance), and we can cut down on recipe size by having "Iron Hulls", which are four iron. The boat itself might cost about 12 iron and 2 coal total, but the higher cost is helped by the fact it's stronger, and you won't lose it unless your fighting someone who really knows what they're doing. We also could keep a reduced engineering cost so that it's got another use, but not so it's too obtrusive.

In total, we probably end up with something like this: Refined Iron + Refined Iron + Refined Iron + Refined Iron = Iron Hull Smithing 3, Shipbuilding 5

Refined Iron + Refined Iron + Iron Gear + Iron Gear = Engine Smithing 4, Engineering 2

Iron Hull + Iron Hull + Engine + Coal + Coal = Steamboat Smithing 4, Shipbuilding 9 Look good?