Unlink smithing from crpg entirely.
Smithing is a strategus-only skill so tying it to crpg is really unnecessary.
Instead, start everyone at a base chance to produce every item, like 5%. Then, every time they successfully create an item, their skill in producing that item has a chance of going up. So, in the beginning for example your skill at making Leather Gloves will be poor, but the more Leather Gloves you produce, the more efficient you will become at it, getting a production discount and being able to make more each batch. So people can choose to specialize and have a few items they can produce cheaply and in bulk, or have a wider selection of items they're not as good at producing.
Perhaps allow people to choose a "specialization" like shields, or bows, that they get bonus smithing skill in. So one clan member can be the go-to for making bows, while another may specialize in armor, ect.
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The other option, which is far more comprehensive, is to basically implement Charisma-like skills from native into strategus.
Skills like Leadership, Smithing, and Pathfinding make no sense in cRPG, so its obvious why they don't exist there. But strategus is essentially the singleplayer map made multiplayer so I think it would be very possible to find a way to make those skills fit there.
The greatest thing about cRPG is the amount of customization you find. You build your character EXACTLY how you want them. You pick how they look, how they fight, what they wear, how hard they hit. On the strategus map though, everyone is exactly the same. Everyone moves the same speed, pays the same upkeep, looks the same, ect.
One way to make strategus more engaging is to let people level up their strategus character just like their cRPG character.
Create a new strategus specific value you gain. Call it Valor (or something).
Your character gains valor by doing stuff in strategus. Crafting items gains you valor, participating in strategus battles gets you valor, having your personal forces involved in a battle should generate a bunch of valor, ect.
When you get enough valor, you are allowed to "level up" one of your charisma skills. Here are some potential examples:
-Smithing: Increases your chances and discount for crafting items
-Trade: Increases your trade good gathering rate, additional distance bonuses
-Leadership: Reduces upkeep cost for troops
-Pathfinding: Increases map movement speed
-Survival: Increase view distance, reduces terrain speed penalties, makes character party harder to spot on map
-Loot: Increases ability to view items of nearby characters on map, increases looting rate for battles and raids
Ect ect.
This way each person can customize their strategus character. Someone who wants to lead around armies may want to level Leadership and Pathfinding exclusively. Someone more interested in crafting may max out smithing and make world-class gear. Someone else may want to lead caravans and go for Trade and Pathfinding.
A bandit character could take Loot, and Survival and ambush passing caravans.
Anyway, you get the idea. Basically the goal is to get people as excited about their character in strategus as they are about their crpg abilities. Being able to level up and customize their strategus character I think will get many people to finally invest in strat as a full-fledged partner to cRPG instead of a side-distraction.
