Newbie here with some thoughts to share.

[gorgofdoom]

I've played about 7 hours so far, so take that in mind. I'm not quite measuring time in days, marking my experience mostly by how often i'm eaten by sneaky bears while gathering wood for my first charcoal burn...

Mostly i wanted to bring up one specific unfortunate instance. I was indeed exploring in the forest, got snuck up on by a bear or wolf-- instadeath of course. I expect this with the hardcore settings i've chosen. The issue lies in what happened when respawning. There was another bear at the spawn, eating a bunny, which again instantly killed me. While dying isn't really a big deal, the problem is i've now lost 30 of the 40 copper nuggets i was collecting due to the map deleting my original death location upon getting spawncamped by this bear. 

I've moved on, i'm back to 30/40 at this point. I was just wondering if this is a scenario worthy of a change. It seems unintentionally harsh.

[LadyWYT]

Welcome to the forums! Regarding hostile wildlife at spawn...it might be fine-tuned in the future, but that's just kinda what happens occasionally for the time being. Sometimes you just have to make a run for it after character creation.

I would say though, that if you're not enjoying that particular world, to make a new one. You should get a better spawn point, and if you keep the old world you can always come back to it if you want a more challenging spawn point. In regards to copper nuggets, it is frustrating to lose them, however, they're also fairly common on the surface as well. You can also pan gravel and sand for them too, although this method is rather slow and tedious.

[Streetwind]

Keeping your inventory on death is an option you can set. With your recent experiences in mind, think about if this is something you might want. Wanting to play a game on "hard mode" is fine and all - but when you come onto a forum to vent about a loss, is it really still the experience you're looking for?

I realize your main gripe is the loss of your death waypoint, but keep in mind: up until the current version, you didn't get a death waypoint at all. For the longest time, players had to deal with it in other ways. Like paying attention to their surroundings and finding their way back by sight alone. You can still do that. That's basically your alternative.

 

Edited October 5, 2024 by Streetwind

[LadyWYT]

5 hours ago, Streetwind said:

Keeping your inventory on death is an option you can set. With your recent experiences in mind, think about if this is something you might want. Wanting to play a game on "hard mode" is fine and all - but when you come onto a forum to vent about a loss, is it really still the experience you're looking for?

I forgot about this! I used this setting a lot when I first started playing the game, and while it's certainly not a "hardcore" setting, it helped lower frustration immensely while I was learning the game. There's a lot to figure out, after all, even with the help of the handbook, and even if you know what you're doing it's still fairly easy to die or otherwise suffer unpleasant consequences should you get the execution wrong on some of the gameplay.

[Thorfinn]

Welcome to the forums, @gorgofdoom! 

There's no reason to crank the difficulty when you are learning the game. You can easily choose settings where bears don't insta-kill, which gives you the opportunity to learn how to evade them. You will eventually figure out how to scout out the margins of forested areas so you can chop in peace, even to the point of drawing the beasties off.

Wait a bit before you set your starting HP to 5 and the Critter Strength to 400%. Wilderness Survival (10 HP, 150%) is plenty challenge -- the double-headed will still one-shot you if you aren't gambeson or better and have only a couple nutrition bars filled.

[Omega Haxors]

Bears are kind of really bad design. Wolves suck but you can run from them and they give a lot of warning. Bears just feel unfair and overpunishing. They're also extremely easy to exploit if you get them stuck on a fence or bring them to water, so they're not even that hard to deal with if you're willing to cheat....

I just feel like the game frontloads its difficulty way too much, and leans more on artificial difficulty than actually putting you on the back foot. It feels feels like an RPG where you start off powerless and then are eventually able to take out god. I just don't feel like that's reasonable design for a survival game, especially one without any scaling enemy difficulty.

Edited October 5, 2024 by Omega Haxors

[gorgofdoom]

Thanks for the welcoming.

I haven't really cranked the difficulty. It's on standard, with the standard character, in a game that portrays itself to be hardcore. At the end of the day i'm expecting to be eaten by a bear; it wouldn't be fun to me if it lacked adversity.

That said i'm now on my second in game week and if i'm not running around in the forest i'm hiding in my hovel from the ever present "guard bear" that's set up shop in my berry fields. It eats me more often than not when i'm trying to set a pit kiln. I don't know a early game way to fight the bears so it's just an endless game of avoidance. Should i just wall it in with dirt? i'm pretty sure these suckers can climb since i've dug tons of pits that catch wolves and whatnot without issue (but not a single bear).

For my sanity i'll say bears should be afraid of or repelled by fire. At least something so this bear can stop camping on top of my 5x6 dirt hut.

Edited October 10, 2024 by gorgofdoom

[Maelstrom]

Any bear traps need to be 4 blocks high/deep.  You might also want to put a bit of a lip on the inside (like trap doors) to make sure the pesky thing doesn't find a way to climb out.  Otherwise, pillar up a 4-5 blocks with an arsenal of 10 or 12 flint spears and rain down a stony barrage of death. 

If you want to just relocate it...  uhhhmmmm...   Ok? but it may cause your demise again, just agro it and then RUN FORREST, RUN!

[Thorfinn]

Build your house 4 blocks high, add a flat roof, and prepare a plethora of spears. A single block with tool racks all the way around holds 16 spears. Then get good at throwing.

On standard, you can also build "skyways" out of dirt out to your berry patch so you can get a closer shot. If you dig your 4-deep bear pit under your skyway, you can lead him into it, or, if you do too much damage, make him flee.

[EDIT]

If they haven't changed bears, you can also dig a 1x1 pit and climb down. He can't fit in it, and you can kill him or make him flee.

Edited October 10, 2024 by Thorfinn

[Krougal]

Shields! The guides and even any videos I have watched don't seem to stress it enough, but just like IRL, a shield is almost as important as your weapon. I was very frustrated before I realized this. That crude shield will block so much damage you should always carry 1 in your inventory. Keep enemies in front of you and you can just hack through them. You can even keep the shield in your offhand while you use a bow or throw spears.

Also make improvised armor. It is crap and it breaks constantly, but between that and the shield you just might survive a wolf attack.

As Thorfinn mentioned early on spears are awesome. Don't bother with the club. After a knife, the next thing I make is a spear and I usually carry 3 until I get a bow.  Speaking of, hunter is awesome and if you are playing as one (or disabled class specific recipes) you should make a crude bow and a stack of crude flint arrows ASAP. The damage may suck, but if you stay mobile and use your shield you can take out wolves. It really turns you from hunted to hunter. Most game is too fast for you to melee.

[Apocalypse_Andy]

I believe the auto map marker mod will create a second marker on the map that you have to manually delete.  It is also convenient for many other things.