Salvage Bag
Salvage Bag
The Salvage Bag is the canonical "recycle items into ingots" container of Britannia — a placeable bag-class container that, when filled with crafted items, smelts them in bulk at a forge. Where individual items can be smelted at a forge one at a time (a tedious right-click + smelt cycle), the Salvage Bag aggregates them into a single batch operation: drop a stack of crafted weapons / armor into the bag, walk near a forge, double-click the bag, and the entire contents smelt simultaneously, depositing all the recovered ingots into the player's pack. The Salvage Bag is the Smith's productivity tool — a serious crafter saves hours of clicking by using it on routine recycle workflows.
The bag was introduced as part of the Britannian crafting system overhaul, becoming the canonical "bulk smelt" mechanic. It is craftable by Tinkering, bought from NPC vendors, and frequently accumulated as a household item alongside the standard tinkering toolset.
What the Salvage Bag does
| Operation | Detail |
|---|---|
| Aggregate items | Drop crafted weapons/armor into the bag; up to ~120 items capacity |
| Walk to forge | Standard Forge requirement (within 3 tiles) |
| Double-click bag → "Smelt All" | Triggers bulk smelt operation |
| Process each item | Engine smelts each item in the bag against Mining skill |
| Deposit ingots in pack | All recovered ingots land in player's backpack |
| Bag persists | Can be reused indefinitely |
The bag is persistent — it doesn't deplete or break. A single Salvage Bag handles dozens of smelt cycles over its lifetime.
Smelt rate vs. Mining skill
The smelt operation is gated by Mining skill:
| Mining skill | Smelt success rate |
|---|---|
| 0 — 50 | Mid; ~30 — 50% per attempt |
| 50 — 80 | Higher; ~60 — 80% per attempt |
| 80 — 100 GM | Near-perfect; >95% per attempt |
| At GM (100) | Optimal recovery rate |
Lower-skill miners lose more material to smelt failures — failed smelts destroy a few ingots from the recovery yield. At GM Mining the loss is minimal.
Recovery rate
| Item type | Approx. ingot recovery |
|---|---|
| Halberd (16 ingots base) | ~6 — 10 ingots back |
| Plate Breastplate (25 ingots base) | ~10 — 15 ingots back |
| Long Sword (12 ingots base) | ~4 — 7 ingots back |
| Generic crafted item | 30 — 50% of input cost typically |
Recovery is partial — smelting back is the canonical way to "reclaim" material from failed crafts or unwanted output, but it doesn't return full input cost. The recovery rate is a constant; the Mining skill affects only the success rate per item, not the per-success recovery.
When to use Salvage Bags
| Use case | Why Salvage Bag |
|---|---|
| Bulk-craft attempts that produce non-Exceptional output | Smelt the failed attempts; recover materials for the next cycle |
| Outdated gear cleanup | Old Imbued or Reforged pieces can be smelted to clear inventory |
| Recycled looted gear | Random monster loot crafted items can be smelted |
| BOD turn-in prep | Surplus crafts from BOD targets get smelted |
| Vendor-search returns | Items from Vendor Search that didn't meet specs |
A serious crafter routinely uses the Salvage Bag at the end of every craft session — accumulate the unwanted output through the day, then bulk-smelt at the forge.
Salvage Bag and Maker's Mark
A small but consequential interaction:
| Pre-Salvage state | Detail |
|---|---|
| Marked Exceptional crafted item | Carries crafter signature; valuable artifact-tier |
| Smelted via Salvage Bag | Mark is lost — the smelt destroys the signature along with the item |
| Recovery cost | Lower than imbued-piece-recreation; but signature loss is irrevocable |
Veterans avoid smelting marked Exceptional items unless absolutely certain — the Maker's Mark is a permanent identifier that's worth preserving for collector value.
How to acquire a Salvage Bag
| Source | Detail |
|---|---|
| NPC vendor | Standard purchase; modest gold cost |
| Tinkering craft | Requires basic Tinkering skill + cloth |
| Loot drops | Some monster drops include Salvage Bags |
| Quest rewards | Some craft-questline rewards |
Most established crafters own multiple Salvage Bags — one for each material tier (one for iron, one for colored ingots, etc.) to keep recovered materials sorted.
Salvage Bag as a recipe item
| Crafting | Detail |
|---|---|
| Tinkering skill | ~30 needed to craft |
| Materials | Cloth + Tinkering tools |
| Output | Single Salvage Bag |
| Failure rate | Low; near-zero at GM Tinkering |
Crafting Salvage Bags is a routine Tinkering output for serious crafters who want bulk-recycle infrastructure.
Salvage Bag in build optimization
The Salvage Bag is a support tool, not a build-defining item — every build benefits from it equally:
| Build | Use case |
|---|---|
| Sampire | Smelt crafted weapons after combat sessions |
| Pure Mage | Smelt unwanted plate / chain / leather collected as quest reward |
| Tamer | Smelt routine drops |
| Crafter | Heaviest user; bulk-smelt routine |
| Pet builder | Less direct use; relevant for crafted weapons |
A character who never smelts items might never own a Salvage Bag; an active crafter has them in every storage location.
Salvage Bag vs. individual smelting
| Method | Time cost | Skill check |
|---|---|---|
| Individual smelt (one item at a time) | ~3 seconds per item | Per-item skill check |
| Salvage Bag bulk smelt | ~3 seconds per item, but parallel | Per-item skill check (same) |
| Time savings | ~30-50× for multi-item batches | Identical recovery rate |
The Salvage Bag is time-efficient but doesn't change the underlying recovery economics — the savings is in clicks-per-recovery rather than total resource recovery.
See also
- Forge — the crafting station required for smelting
- Mining — the skill that gates smelt success rate
- Blacksmithy — the partner craft skill (smith outputs are typical Salvage Bag inputs)
- Tinkering — the craft skill that produces Salvage Bags
- Maker's Mark — the signature property destroyed by smelting marked items
- Imbuing — the alternative to smelting (re-imbue rather than recycle)
- Bulk Order Deeds — major Salvage Bag use case (BOD turn-in surplus smelt)