How Vintage Story made me cry :)

[BiancaMoon]

Long story short, I wanted a nice relaxing world where I would focus mainly on farming, but I love the ruins, so only things I changes in settings was to have my inventory on death, and to spawn at a hot climate (got sick of those minus 20'C on my previous map).

Got both most lucky and unlucky seed. Good news is the wide area around my spawn is so rich in all metals, it is insane. Never seen so many ultra high of iron, zinc, bismuth, tin, lead etc. 

The bad news is there is absolutely no salt. I propicked the place to the point my map looks like it has measles. The rock layers are all crazy, mainly granite, claystone, slate, chert, all in one another. Not to mention I found some other strange features, like an big open cave with huge amounts of exposed hematite or attaching these locust upon locust nests above ground, or this geologically active area...

I have searched for salt so much that I am at the point I just take bronze propicks and food and travel for days. I've seen so many things and no luck with salt. To be honest last night it made me cry out of desperation. PS. I found salt domes in the past with no issues, but here, I only hit miniscule amount if I am lucky.

 

 

[Maelstrom]

I have found only 1 salt dome in the 5-6 worlds I have played.  And that one was by luck digging through a wall inbetween unconnected caves because I heard drifters while cave diving.

[Thorfinn]

On the upside, salt is not necessary. Meat stews in sealed crocks last plenty long to get you through the winter, and there's always fresh meat somewhere. Though down south, you probably don't worry about winter, do you?

[BiancaMoon]

Hello,

 

First finding salt was never an issue before. First I find a sandstone place, for some reasons forested areas were better than flat ones.

I propick until I find some Halite and then try to find where the % is increasing, follow that line until I hit at least 25%. 25% are good odds for salt. Then I either dig down until the rock layer changes and then branch out looking for it, or I dig straight down from the surface holes with 4 to 6 block apart, go back up and repeat. 

 

Second yes salt is not necessary at all but this was supposed to be a relaxing world where I would focus on farming and food making and I need salt for the cheese. 

 

Lastly I just don't find this map to be normal at all. I finally today came across a place where halite was present, managed to follow it and reached place with 17%. Dug down where the rock layer changed checked again 21%. Started my branching hallways. And absolutely no luck, but the sandstone and slate would mix, and granite would shoot up 20 block than fall down 20 blocks. I got so frustrated that I got in to creative mode and started to dig around trying to see if there is any salt. And absolutely no luck with again mixing of different rock types in some abnormal patters. Like someone took 4 different rock types and swirled them all together. I closed all holes and I am very close to give up on this seed. 

[LadyWYT]

For salt I generally go to a survival goods trader; they typically have halite rock for sale in bunches of 16 for a reasonable price. Of course, I also tend to use mods, one of which allows boiling water down to extract salt.

Loving those hot springs though--there's so many! Definitely a good spot for a winter cabin, since standing near a hot spring will warm you right up. Of course, this also appears to be in the tropics, so I don't think the cold is an issue anyway.

[Thorfinn]

5 hours ago, BiancaMoon said:

First finding salt was never an issue before.

You have had a lot better luck than I ever have. I'm probably 1 dome for 30 worlds or so. I have a lot better luck finding salt in deserts.

Forgot about cheese. I either buy cheese or just go with milk. Or, usually, skip dairy entirely.

[BiancaMoon]

LadyWYT I know about this method but I buy off the whole stock and then burn trough it fast. To pickle vegetables, plus every cheese batch of 2 wheels needs 10 salt to produce. And I I don't know what is with me and cheese but I just love making it XD

Yes I started in the desert because my previous maps I would always start in clod climates. It is fun and all to have a long winter and have to prepare, and have wolves and bears constantly barge in (once I had 3 brown bears spawn at once inside my fences) but I got tired of it all. I wanted a hot climate with another set of challenges, but it is generally much more easy and chill. This map also had a huge hill at one point where it is so high up, rising from the desert, that the climate is completely different up there. I found this small white flowers that are usually found up north, weiss something etc. It is a strange map.

Finally you are the life saver with the mod, I will look for it, it will be perfect!

 

Thorfinn I am in the desert  and I haven't managed to find a single exposed node, going in to caves, checking in dry lakes etc. I have been on on this for I don't even know how long. I have to turn off the propick layer on the map because I can't see anything from the dots

Also I really like cheese. I don't know if my pheasant roots are showing but I just always liked farming, animal care and preparing food. With the realistic aspects of this game, I find it almost therapeutic to play this game. Being grindy and unforgiving makes this game just perfect.

[LadyWYT]

7 hours ago, BiancaMoon said:

Finally you are the life saver with the mod, I will look for it, it will be perfect!

The specific one that I use is XSkills; it does a lot more than just water -> salt. You do have to earn the skills first though, which is done by just playing the game, so it's a nice little reward that pops up every so often that helps you do various things more effectively. The salt boiling is under the Cooking skill tree, and easy to unlock. I usually have around 4 cookpots boiling salt at the same time as soon as I unlock that perk, as it's a good use of time during the night.

7 hours ago, BiancaMoon said:

Also I really like cheese.

Speaking of cheese...XSkills also has a perk that allows you to get cheese from milking your animals. Granted, it's a very small chance to get cheese instead of milk.

[BiancaMoon]

LadyWYT thank you!

 

Beside mod I am still looking for that salt dome. Really want to try to find it on my own. Just now as I was in one of my salt hunts, rain pouring, just miserable visibility, the map gave me a rudest sign ever but it made me laugh so hard. It is like this map mocks me. (I hope the picture is not too problematic. If it is I will delete this post right away).

 

 

[Thorfinn]

43 minutes ago, BiancaMoon said:

LadyWYT thank you!

 

Beside mod I am still looking for that salt dome. Really want to try to find it on my own. Just now as I was in one of my salt hunts, rain pouring, just miserable visibility, the map gave me a rudest sign ever but it made me laugh so hard. It is like this map mocks me. (I hope the picture is not too problematic. If it is I will delete this post right away).

 

 

Just in case you delete your post.  

[BiancaMoon]

But on the up side I finally found a bear that did not want to eat my face. And the hunt continues.

[Maelstrom]

Since nobody seems to have mentioned this...  Density search mode on the pro-pick is not a guarantee that the indicated resource will spawn.  It gives a statistical indication that it MIGHT spawn.  I've had a halite reading over 30% result in no dome.

[BiancaMoon]

12 minutes ago, Maelstrom said:

Since nobody seems to have mentioned this...  Density search mode on the pro-pick is not a guarantee that the indicated resource will spawn.  It gives a statistical indication that it MIGHT spawn.  I've had a halite reading over 30% result in no dome.

I know. It literally means 30% chance it will spawn there. Potentially even if  you get 99% of something there is a chance 1% there will be nothing. It is more complex than this of course and other parameters contribute to the final result, but I always had good luck even with something around 25%. But on this map, no luck at all, even in deserts. I have gone in some many desert caves and looked around the rock transition lines, I tried to spot any exposed halite on dunes - which is easy because I am usually in places with andesite, peridolite or even bauxite deserts, and nothing.

Attaching an example (conglomerate bauxite) 

Edited October 9, 2024 by BiancaMoon

[BiancaMoon]

I was even fooled I saw something pure white in the distance just to find a swirling edge of a desert made of limestone. At least I got lime for a lifetime.

 

[Maelstrom]

Technically, the number is per mille not per cent and represents how many blocks in the chunk COULD be that mineral IF it spawns.  That number is basically debugging output.  The only use it has for players is to determine what direction to search in if you get the same description (i.e. decent, very high, etc)

Edited October 9, 2024 by Maelstrom

[Echo Weaver]

I'd love to get some advice on halite strategies. I understand that the propick node search does not turn up halite, though the probability search does. I have a decently large area in a gravel barren that shows 20%% or higher. That's still poor. I haven't seen anything to far other than minuscule, very poor, and poor. 

Some reddit advice indicated that you should dig down to the bottom of the sedimentary layer and do some form of branch mining along the juncture with harder rock.

Opinions vary on whether 24%% is high enough to make the attempt. 

I don't really understand what shape a salt "dome" is and how I should tailor a branch mining strategy to try to find it.

[Thorfinn]

Only seen one. It was a spire, elliptical in cross section, about radius 20ish by maybe 25ish? Went from I think the top of the second layer clear down to the mantle.

[EDIT]

I should say, I've only found one using the prospecting pick. I've run into probably a dozen, dozen and a half while caving. I only gathered a few stacks, because, really, how much salt do you need? A little more than borax, sure, but that's not saying much.  

Edited November 24, 2024 by Thorfinn

[Echo Weaver]

2 hours ago, Thorfinn said:

Only seen one. It was a spire, elliptical in cross section, about radius 20ish by maybe 25ish? Went from I think the top of the second layer clear down to the mantle.

[EDIT]

I should say, I've only found one using the prospecting pick. I've run into probably a dozen, dozen and a half while caving. I only gathered a few stacks, because, really, how much salt do you need? A little more than borax, sure, but that's not saying much.  

20-25 on both x and z axes? 

As with most folks trying to find salt, I want to make cheese .

Perhaps caving is at least as effective as prospecting. As an unrepentant coward, I'm only just getting myself (over)geared enough to head into caves.

[Krougal]

Halite, and really most other things besides copper and iron (which are pretty much everywhere) seem to spawn in clumps.

Since I have not gotten the handle on prospecting and also feel like I've gotten burned too many times by lousy worldgen, I've done a lot of flying around with the "x-ray" mod and there will be either nothing or several domes/veins/patches/whathaveyou of given material.

 

[Thorfinn]

14 hours ago, Echo Weaver said:

0-25 on both x and z axes? 

x and z are the horizontal axes? Then yes. I don't think I even bothered to notice which was the major axis or even if it was consistently elliptical. I just dug out 2 levels and noticed it was not a disc. Then I dug straight down to see how far it went. That was already way more salt than I ever intended to use.

 

14 hours ago, Echo Weaver said:

As an unrepentant coward,

Not cowardice -- an abundance of caution. Maybe prudence. Particularly now when missiles aren't just rocks. It's much more difficult to just run through caves to see if there's anything worthwhile. It can still be done, but if you don't have armor, you can now be 2-shotted by missiles. Possibly even 1-shotted -- I haven't gone deep enough to find out. 

[Krougal]

1 minute ago, Thorfinn said:

Not cowardice -- an abundance of caution. Maybe prudence. Particularly now when missiles aren't just rocks. It's much more difficult to just run through caves to see if there's anything worthwhile. It can still be done, but if you don't have armor, you can now be 2-shotted by missiles. Possibly even 1-shotted -- I haven't gone deep enough to find out. 

It's ugly. I really do hope he is going to tone it down before release. I would like more variety of enemies, but in their current state I've modded the 2 new ones out, they are just too much annoyance and really overpowered. The rangers rate of fire is ridiculous and their accuracy is like 99%. The melee ones are just annoying, easily dealt with in a chokepoint, but the spawns are too much.

[Thorfinn]

17 minutes ago, Krougal said:

The rangers rate of fire is ridiculous and their accuracy is like 99%.

That's probably true if you are running away, but the missiles are slow enough that if you see them coming, you can dodge them almost all the time. Kind of like imps in DOOM and rockets in Quake. The problem is dodging in CQB isn't usually a viable option. I'm still playing around with the old Quake standby, jumping while weaving, but in VS, you can't just hold Jump down because then you don't get Run. I think it's working reasonably well beyond about 10 tiles, but getting used to timing the jumps is taking some practice.

[Krougal]

4 minutes ago, Thorfinn said:

That's probably true if you are running away, but the missiles are slow enough that if you see them coming, you can dodge them almost all the time. Kind of like imps in DOOM and rockets in Quake. The problem is dodging in CQB isn't usually a viable option. I'm still playing around with the old Quake standby, jumping while weaving, but in VS, you can't just hold Jump down because then you don't get Run. I think it's working reasonably well beyond about 10 tiles, but getting used to timing the jumps is taking some practice.

The problem is in the dark they are going to be pegging you from outside even a lamps radius. You certainly can't dodge what you can't see coming.

I have been shot repeatedly through a not even whole block opening from over 20 tiles and I was about 10 tiles above. Even 2nd and 3rd story windows are not safe.

 

[Echo Weaver]

1 hour ago, Thorfinn said:

Not cowardice -- an abundance of caution. Maybe prudence. Particularly now when missiles aren't just rocks. It's much more difficult to just run through caves to see if there's anything worthwhile. It can still be done, but if you don't have armor, you can now be 2-shotted by missiles. Possibly even 1-shotted -- I haven't gone deep enough to find out. 

I appreciate the endorsement.

Missiles still are just rocks for me. I haven't tried out 1.20 yet. I figure that until the 1.19 mobs are old hat, I'd rather not look for more combat challenge, particularly when combat isn't what excites me. I like having monsters as a danger to mitigate. If I'm JUST homesteading, the appeal wanes. But I don't really enjoy fighting that much.

1 hour ago, Krougal said:

It's ugly. I really do hope he is going to tone it down before release. I would like more variety of enemies, but in their current state I've modded the 2 new ones out, they are just too much annoyance and really overpowered. The rangers rate of fire is ridiculous and their accuracy is like 99%. The melee ones are just annoying, easily dealt with in a chokepoint, but the spawns are too much.

From the reports of you guys who have been playtesting 1.20, I'm afraid to say I'll probably mod them out too.

So, I did my first bit of caving today, and it was kind of a letdown. I figured that the steady stream of drifters would be in deeper caves or something. There were at least a dozen. Once I got rid of those, I moved about 20 blocks forward, moved through a narrow, and straight into a bronze locust nest. So this is a situation where I'm going to have to run in through the enemies to kill the spawner, and pit traps aren't going to cut it. How fast do locusts spawn? Is it possible to kill them all and then get the nest? I assume they climb over fences as well as up walls?

There was a huge (are there any other kind?) deposit of coal just inside the cave, and I ended up giving in and digging in from the side to mine some.

I'd like to be able to do some actual exploring in between the combat. 

Edited November 25, 2024 by Echo Weaver

[Thorfinn]

True, @Krougal, I believe they aim where you are. So you can't stand in the window and count on being safe.  If you dodge, and slide back to take another shot, and it was an accurate shot when it was taken, you will be hit. And you can sidestep into misses, too. Double-wide merlons work pretty well, since you can relocate to a different set of firing positions fairly easily. And a double-wide merlon can be set up in no time flat.

That was bad luck. @Echo Weaver. I can often go dozens of cave systems with no locusts. But unless you really want Jonas parts, IMO, they are not worth bothering with. They are "guarding" a procedurally generated cavern which is no more likely to have anything worthwhile than a cavern without locusts.

I think you can turn down damage, can't you? Back of my mind, I thought that was an option. Flint spear damage is no joke. But double a rock's damage? That's almost nuisance range. But others are most likely correct. There will be mods to nerf or even eliminate them. Kind of like some of the mods for Terraria, though, I'd be leary of crippling them too severely -- they are most likely intended to give you the skills to tackle the next chapter/boss.