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What is the Difference between the Skills "Recycle" and "Salvage?"

Trying to see the relation ship and comparison between a few skills like Recycle and Salvage compared to "Recognize Weapon Quality."

Is it like "Carpentry" and "Boat Building?"

Never really had to figure that out... most of the time Salvage is taken, as there aren't many adventuring moments that hang on the sorting of blue bins. Industrial-level recycling would require a very very specific adventure to be relevant,

Basically, when you pry the weapon, gear, and vehicle out of the cold dead hands of your enemies what skill (s) do you need to get them up and running again or use the parts for make something out of them.

Just to make sure, you are talking about the Domestic Category Recycle skill on pg308 (RUE) and not an ill timed autocorrect for the Technical Category Recycling Skill on pg325 (RUE).

The Domestic Recycle Skill on its own DOES NOT allow you to strip parts (or other subcomponents) as I read it without additional skills. The extent of the skill is pretty much you know how to collect, clean, and store the materials.

The Technical Recycling Skill or Salvage Skill (pg326 RUE) DOES allow you to strip it down for parts (or other subcomponents). The Salvage Skill also includes the ability to "evaluate and possibly sell" the materials, which is lacking from either Recycling or Recycle, which basically amounts to an ability to use the skill to barter (or provide a bonus to that skill in these situations).

Recognize Weapon Quality (either the Military Skill on pg315-6 of RUE, or the ability or via WP) is looking at it from a different POV/purpose IMHO. The RWQ specifically identifies that you can identify if modifications/customizations are made, the overall state of the weapon.

As an Example. Bob with the Recycle/Salvage Skills can look at a recovered Wilks 447 Laser Rifle and using those skills determine what parts he might be able to reuse and what he can do with the remaining bits and might think the weapon is still usable or not (due to a damage component/location). Jane on the other had with the RWQ skill could notice that the weapon could be potentially stolen (serial numbers filed off), notice that the rifle is a knockoff (for some reason, say poor balance for example), and that the trigger has been customized to be hair trigger sensitive, but will know if the weapon is still usable or not.

WOW ShadowLogon,

I think I assumed Recycle from the Domestic Category and Recycling from the Technical category were the same skill.
Like Prowl from the Physical Category and Prowl from the Rogue Category.

Regardless I like your example of Bob.

I am guessing that Recycle / Recycling is level one of the open world MMORPG Video Games were you scrounge and hoard materials for sale and making things.

I would maybe consider that "Recycle" is the chance to break something down into its subassemblies, but the idea would be to then melt down, scrap, or otherwise reuse the raw materials that the components are made from, just as someone sorting through real-life "recycled" materials would separate out plastics by the particular type, put paper & glass products in separate bins, & metal objects somewhere else (having to then rely on perhaps Chemistry or another similar skill to differentiate between particular metals)...but you're probably just going to rip the pieces apart without necessarily worrying about whether they can be put back together.

Salvage would mean that you have the skill to actually disassemble the item more "cleanly": instead of just ripping out pieces, you would be able to disconnect leads, unplug chips, etc. You might not necessarily know exactly what each piece, component, or subassembly is, but you would be able to at least have a general idea ("hmmm, this looks like some sort of processing chip...that's a beam emitter, not sure if it's laser or ion..."), & could then organize the components roughly into similar types. You might even be able to actually identify at least the manufacturer ("that's a Wilk's emitter...this one's from Northern Gun...hmmm, this one's kind of funky, reminds me of the one I pulled from that chunky-looking weapon with the weird caseless rounds that that alien guy had..."), so that you can barter & trade for the components as a usable piece.

I would look at it this way.

Recycle take it down to base materials to build something new, or for sell.

Salvage, getting usable parts for repairs and material to sell.

that means recycling would be a better for when you need to recover materials to build with, and in cities. Salvage would be better for reducing cost of repairs and making money in the field. (working parts often sell for more than the value of the material that makes them up.)

I haven't encountered a situation where sorting blue bins became a critical decision. Typically, Salvage is chosen since adventuring moments rarely hinge on the intricacies of recycling. Engaging in industrial-level recycling would necessitate a highly specific adventure scenario to be meaningful and applicable. The priority in most adventures tends to lie elsewhere, making the sorting of blue bins a minor consideration in comparison. If there's a unique context or scenario where recycling becomes a focal point, I'd be intrigued to explore how it intertwines with the broader narrative of the adventure.

I may be wrong but I beleive the first time the Recycle skill appeared was in the Mutants in Orbit book along with a number of other skills devoted to the basics of making sure a comunity dependant on getting the maximum use of every molecue could function.

Jefffar wrote: ↑Sun Dec 17, 2023 8:39 am I may be wrong but I beleive the first time the Recycle skill appeared was in the Mutants in Orbit book along with a number of other skills devoted to the basics of making sure a comunity dependant on getting the maximum use of every molecue could function.

You are not wrong, it was 1st published in the MiO sourcebook.

Well written lylawa.

Personally, I thought of it as a "flavor" skill.
Then the characters came across a find but were out of "resources" and
there was no store to buy anything with universal credits or gems
Plus they need to make a "THING" for which they didn't have refined materials.
To keep the pace/speed going they need to "McGuyver" the challenge/problem.
That meant they need to find odd and end from garbage bins and garages to fix it.