Quality

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Quality is a stat: An item's quality is how well-made it is.

Many crafted items and some structures have a stat called quality. This stat influences various attributes of the item, according to the table below.

Effects of quality on the item

Quality	Beauty Factor	Comfort Factor	Protection Factor	Insulation Factor	Melee Damage Factor	Ranged Accuracy Factor	Market Value Factor	Deterioration Rate Factor
Awful	-0.1	0.76	0.6	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.5	2
Poor	0.5	0.88	0.8	0.9	0.9	0.9	0.75	1.5
Normal	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Good	2	1.12	1.15	1.1	1.1	1.1	1.25	0.8
Excellent	3	1.24	1.3	1.2	1.2	1.2	1.5	0.6
Masterwork	5	1.45	1.45	1.5	1.45	1.35	2.5	0.3
Legendary	8	1.7	1.8	1.8	1.65	1.5	5	0.1

At higher quality levels

If a crafted or built item is at least excellent, a piece of random artwork will be engraved on it. This is only meant to add depth and has no further effect.

If a crafted or built item is masterwork, there will be a simple text notification at the top of the screen saying that a colonist has crafted a masterwork item.
However, if the item is legendary, there will be a proper notification letter.

How quality is determined

When an item requiring a quality is crafted or built, that is, when crafting finishes, the quality is randomly determined using a standard distribution. Expected values by skill level of the crafter are given in the table below.

• The column "Avg. Result" shows the mean quality for each skill level, where awful = 0, poor = 1, normal = 2, etc. The mean quality becomes "normal" at skill level 6, however already at skill level 4 the character will have a 50% chance to craft something that is at least of "normal" quality (median quality).
• The "Avg. Value" column gives the average market value multiplier for that skill level. At skill level 6 you can expect a character to stop wasting material value from crafting.

Skill level	Awful	Poor	Normal	Good	Excellent	Masterwork	Avg. Result	Avg. Value
0 Barely heard of it	64.62%	30.17%	5.01%	0.20%	0.00%	0.00%	0.41	x0.60
1 Utter beginner	43.38%	43.59%	12.15%	0.87%	0.01%	0.00%	0.71	x0.68
2 Beginner	20.24%	53.14%	23.58%	2.95%	0.09%	0.00%	1.09	x0.77
3 Basic familiarity	9.13%	50.74%	33.44%	6.39%	0.29%	0.00%	1.38	x0.84
4 Some familiarity	4.79%	45.21%	39.44%	9.94%	0.61%	0.00%	1.56	x0.89
5 Significant familiarity	2.28%	34.63%	47.22%	14.66%	1.20%	0.01%	1.78	x0.94
6 Capable amateur	0.98%	24.29%	52.09%	20.38%	2.22%	0.03%	1.99	x1.00
7 Weak professional	0.38%	15.48%	53.31%	26.87%	3.88%	0.07%	2.19	x1.05
8 Employable professional	0.13%	9.02%	50.82%	33.47%	6.40%	0.15%	2.37	x1.09
9 Solid professional	0.06%	5.63%	46.95%	38.11%	8.99%	0.26%	2.51	x1.13
10 Skilled professional	0.02%	3.33%	40.23%	43.75%	12.23%	0.45%	2.66	x1.17
11 Very skilled professional	0.01%	1.86%	32.21%	49.07%	16.12%	0.74%	2.82	x1.21
12 Expert	0.00%	0.99%	24.55%	52.62%	20.64%	1.19%	2.96	x1.25
13 Strong expert	0.00%	0.63%	19.88%	53.94%	23.95%	1.61%	3.06	x1.28
14 Master	0.00%	0.39%	15.79%	54.28%	27.40%	2.14%	3.15	x1.30
15 Strong master	0.00%	0.24%	12.25%	53.77%	30.91%	2.83%	3.24	x1.33
16 Region-known master	0.00%	0.14%	9.28%	52.42%	34.48%	3.68%	3.32	x1.36
17 Region-leading master	0.00%	0.08%	6.90%	50.28%	37.99%	4.75%	3.40	x1.39
18 Planet-known master	0.00%	0.04%	4.99%	47.62%	41.29%	6.05%	3.48	x1.42
19 Planet-leading master	0.00%	0.02%	3.54%	42.65%	46.14%	7.64%	3.58	x1.45
20 Legendary master	0.00%	0.01%	2.45%	37.41%	50.62%	9.51%	3.67	x1.49

Inspired creativity and Legendary items

Legendary items can only be made if the crafter currently has the mental inspiration Inspired Creativity. Then the next item, structure or piece of art with a quality level will automatically be two levels higher – thus, if "excellent" or "masterwork" is rolled, a legendary item is produced instead. Even the most capable crafters have only a 60% chance per inspiration to produce a legendary item.

Inspired creativity makes it impossible to craft an item of poor or awful quality; at least normal will be rolled, even at 0 skill level.

Since the inspiration takes effect only when the item is finished, it is useful to raise the skill level of the inspired person as high as possible before actually producing an item; for example you can train crafting on several items that do not have the quality stat (eg. components or bionic body parts) before using up the inspiration.

It is also possible to keep an unfinished item in stock, and wait for an inspiration to occur before actually finishing it; this will still reap the full effect, without requiring you to dedicate a lot of work during the 8-day time window of the inspiration. This strategy is particularly useful for work intensive projects that are always in demand (eg. marine armor or a grand sculpture)