A few suggestions for the game

[Pistok]

After 100 hours of vintage story i have to say this game is amazing, however i'd like to see some of these features in the future:

*Easier methods to get animals into pens( like maybe a lead or something).

*Jam for all the fruits in the game aswell as being able to make bottles for the alchool and for a sort of storage for them.

*I love the new enemy variants with v1.20 however i feel like cave exploring is almost impossible since everytime u kill a group of drifters 3 more spawn maybe a world setting where after killing a certain amount of drifters they wont spawn for maybe 3-5 mins so you can explore.

*Some variants for the fireplace(maybe a stove or anything)

*More cookware like maybe pans and more cooking recipes for all foods(a cauldron would be nice and and it would be able to cook bushmeat in a stew)

*More tree variants

*Hotsprings that you can stay in so you could make build like a japanese hot springs or something of the sort.

*Waterwheel.

And thats all i could think of, i honestly have so much respect for the dev team of this game and how they handle the game its special and the game is really fun. What would you want added?

 

[LadyWYT]

20 minutes ago, Pistok said:

*Easier methods to get animals into pens( like maybe a lead or something).

There's a basket trap you can craft to trap smaller animals and transport them. Likewise, you can also use a reed chest to transport small domesticated animals, provided they are at least generation 5. Otherwise, I believe rope leads are currently being worked on, although I disagree with the notion that leads should able to be used on wild animals.

22 minutes ago, Pistok said:

*Jam for all the fruits in the game aswell as being able to make bottles for the alchool and for a sort of storage for them.

https://mods.vintagestory.at/show/mod/28

23 minutes ago, Pistok said:

*I love the new enemy variants with v1.20 however i feel like cave exploring is almost impossible since everytime u kill a group of drifters 3 more spawn maybe a world setting where after killing a certain amount of drifters they wont spawn for maybe 3-5 mins so you can explore.

I believe the spawn rates underground are somewhat tied to rift activity. If rift activity is currently high, there will be more enemies to contend with. During calm periods though, it should be a bit more peaceful underground. Lighting the caves is also an option to slow down spawns or stop them entirely, provided you're willing to sink the time and resources into it.

25 minutes ago, Pistok said:

*Some variants for the fireplace(maybe a stove or anything)

I think a lot can be done simply by block chiseling here, however...something like an iron cooking spit or an iron cookpot + metal hook to hang it on could be interesting. Cook stuff in the pot while roasting the meat at the same time. Though admittedly, this is already possible with the current game--just build more than one fire to cook with.

28 minutes ago, Pistok said:

*More cookware like maybe pans and more cooking recipes for all foods(a cauldron would be nice and and it would be able to cook bushmeat in a stew)

https://mods.vintagestory.at/aculinaryartillery

It goes with the Expanded Foods mod I linked previously.

29 minutes ago, Pistok said:

*More tree variants

https://mods.vintagestory.at/show/mod/9909

I'm sure more variety will be added to the base game at some point, but for now there are mods to cover it.

30 minutes ago, Pistok said:

*Hotsprings that you can stay in so you could make build like a japanese hot springs or something of the sort.

That would be cool, although I'm also okay with what we have now. I think the main question to answer here is what sort of function would a hotspring/sauna structure provide in regards to gameplay? You can already build one of those now, technically, for decoration, as well as pretend that it functions for roleplaying purposes. But for one to be a proper structure(like a greenhouse, or the machinery you can build) it should really serve some sort of gameplay function. Probably something a bit more than just warming the player up, as that is already accomplished by firepits(easy to build) and the hotsprings we have(you can't stand in them, but they do warm you up if you're nearby).

35 minutes ago, Pistok said:

*Waterwheel.

I believe water power is somewhere on the roadmap--Tyron mentioned it in a recent interview with Oscillascape, I think.

 

[Deaderpan]

i feel like the game having more alternatives to warming up in winter other than firepit would be a great use for hot springs. add in a towel to dry yourself off to remove the soaking wet debuff and you got yourself a whole roleplay feature every builder would love.

[LadyWYT]

3 hours ago, Deaderpan said:

i feel like the game having more alternatives to warming up in winter other than firepit would be a great use for hot springs. add in a towel to dry yourself off to remove the soaking wet debuff and you got yourself a whole roleplay feature every builder would love.

A fire pit is much easier to build and light; you don't need to rely on world generation for that heat source and it's also easy to relocate a fire pit if you need warmth somewhere else. And as I said, the hot springs we already have warm you up if you stand next to them, so the warmth option is already there. Presumably, you could build a small structure next to/over one and have a sauna, minus the soaking wet debuff. You just don't sit in the hot springs, because the water is boiling and will cook you alive if you try. It's not that it wouldn't be cool to have; I'm just of the opinion that if it's going to be a proper structure(similar to a greenhouse or cellar) then it needs to have a bit more gameplay value aside from "warm up", as there are already more efficient options in the game.

I will note that when I think of natural hot springs, I generally think of the ones in Yellowstone, which I assume the ones in-game are based on. The water looks pretty; they're warm to stand next to(albeit a bit stinky), but the water itself is hot enough to cook those unfortunate enough to fall in.

[Thorfinn]

There are scads of options for warming up, many of them variants on wildfires. (The less pyro among us might opt for a tree outside a forest, and remove the grass around it, but setting the ol' Christmas tree ablaze is one of the more cherished heart-warming traditions.) Caving is an option, though not as generally applicable; from high rift and up, it's now quite a challenge. Most of the game I've got a pit kiln or four going at any time. Or a forge or three. Now with ovens being a bit more expensive baking makes more sense to be an on-demand thing rather than cranking out a couple months worth of pies at a time.

And there's always Phoenix or Sun City or Miami Beach or Key West, depending on your seraph's inclinations...

[Maelstrom]

8 hours ago, Deaderpan said:

i feel like the game having more alternatives to warming up in winter other than firepit would be a great use for hot springs. add in a towel to dry yourself off to remove the soaking wet debuff and you got yourself a whole roleplay feature every builder would love.

Have you ever gone to Yellowstone?  Geo-thermal pools, which are NOT hot springs, are not something you just dip into like a hot tub.  They are boiling hot and so incredibly acidic that corpses are reduced to molecules in less than a day.  There's a reason why Tyron made these things deadly.

[Thorfinn]

Those particular hot springs, yes. But, for example, Bath (somewhere in UK) and Hot Springs, Arkansas. Iceland has several hot springs that are not boiling. I even remember running across something around Mt. Ranier back when I was young and foolish. Evans Plunge in the Black Hills.  Germany, Austria and Australia also come to mind. And I'm sure there are hundreds more.

But I agree that the model Tyron appears to be using are more like the ones at Yellowstone, with all the biologics on rocks out a few meters.

[Deaderpan]

i want to point out, the original post by pistok says japanese hotsprings, not yellow stone like ones, i dont see a reason why both types could exist in the game because as is said it would be great for roleplay and something builders could build around. sure firepits are cheaper and faster, but if we lived out lives being cheap and fast, then they would be boring

1 hour ago, Thorfinn said:

 Bath (somewhere in UK)

no need to explain where it is, ive been there, fell in, worst family holiday ever 20 years ago. and can confirm, i didnt die from the heat. 

[Pistok]

23 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

There's a basket trap you can craft to trap smaller animals and transport them. Likewise, you can also use a reed chest to transport small domesticated animals, provided they are at least generation 5. Otherwise, I believe rope leads are currently being worked on, although I disagree with the notion that leads should able to be used on wild animals.

I did not know that you could carry chickens with a reed chest thats really helpful, i have no trouble trying to herd chickens or boars since its relatively easy but goats and sheeps are a pain i would like something that would make them easier to herd especially since they mostly spawn far away from where i usally build.

 

On 11/27/2024 at 7:49 AM, LadyWYT said:

https://mods.vintagestory.at/show/mod/28

I will try it for sure thanks, i always loved mods but i think a mod like this should be in the game and not a mod.

 

On 11/27/2024 at 7:49 AM, LadyWYT said:

I believe the spawn rates underground are somewhat tied to rift activity. If rift activity is currently high, there will be more enemies to contend with. During calm periods though, it should be a bit more peaceful underground. Lighting the caves is also an option to slow down spawns or stop them entirely, provided you're willing to sink the time and resources into it.

Again i did not know that thats really cool, i dont know how hard to code would my suggestion but it would be neat for lazy folk like me tho i ought to start trying to light them

 

On 11/27/2024 at 7:49 AM, LadyWYT said:

I think a lot can be done simply by block chiseling here, however...something like an iron cooking spit or an iron cookpot + metal hook to hang it on could be interesting. Cook stuff in the pot while roasting the meat at the same time. Though admittedly, this is already possible with the current game--just build more than one fire to cook with.

I did not go much into chiseling yet, but so i've seen so much could be done with it, its impressive however i would like something functional.  maybe for the iron age to add something like a proper forge with bellows would be fun, since iron has a much higher melting point so it would only possible to melt it by using a forge and bellows to crank up the heat. Also again a stove would be nice  where you could place atleast 2 cooking pots i am european myself and i grew up seeing terracota stoves and their rustic design would fit great in my opinion.

 

On 11/27/2024 at 7:49 AM, LadyWYT said:

That would be cool, although I'm also okay with what we have now. I think the main question to answer here is what sort of function would a hotspring/sauna structure provide in regards to gameplay? You can already build one of those now, technically, for decoration, as well as pretend that it functions for roleplaying purposes. But for one to be a proper structure(like a greenhouse, or the machinery you can build) it should really serve some sort of gameplay function. Probably something a bit more than just warming the player up, as that is already accomplished by firepits(easy to build) and the hotsprings we have(you can't stand in them, but they do warm you up if you're nearby).

I was thinking they offer a buff however im not sure maybe in winter you get increased bodyheat tempture for a period of time, but i think slowly healing the player would be nice thought it should be balanced as it could be abused.

 

You said some good points and i learned a few new things i really the idea of cooking spit and something like in valheim with the iron hooks would really be nice, i also wanted to say( i dont know if it is planned) smoking meats would also be very neat. What do you think?

10 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

Have you ever gone to Yellowstone?  Geo-thermal pools, which are NOT hot springs, are not something you just dip into like a hot tub.  They are boiling hot and so incredibly acidic that corpses are reduced to molecules in less than a day.  There's a reason why Tyron made these things deadly.

I feel like the geo thermal pools we have as hotsprings should really have a better purpose and help with something as they are now the only thing they do is damage the player and warm him. What do you all think should be done with them?

[Echo Weaver]

On 11/27/2024 at 12:49 AM, LadyWYT said:

There's a basket trap you can craft to trap smaller animals and transport them.

This was a big deal when I discovered it. One of the most tedious parts of the game is maneuvering captured livestock to your barn. Chickens or baby animals can be captured with the basket trap and carried around. Of course, they have to be babies, and I couldn't get all babies in my single-player game, but I landed three hens, a rooster, and three sows that way. 

The only way I know to transport wild adult livestock is by the moving fence enclosure method, where you add on to the enclosure in the direction you want to go and block it off in the other direction. This takes forever. I'm curious to know if anyone knows a better method. 

On 11/27/2024 at 12:49 AM, LadyWYT said:

I believe the spawn rates underground are somewhat tied to rift activity. If rift activity is currently high, there will be more enemies to contend with. During calm periods though, it should be a bit more peaceful underground. Lighting the caves is also an option to slow down spawns or stop them entirely, provided you're willing to sink the time and resources into it.

Are oil lamps enough to accomplish this? Since we don't have the eternal torches of that other block game, I haven't been clear on a good strategy for lighting up large spaces.

[Thorfinn]

2 hours ago, Echo Weaver said:

I'm curious to know if anyone knows a better method. 

Throw a rock at a male and get it to chase you until it isn't mad at you any more. Put down a trough and quickly build an enclosure that the females can jump into. Once they get there, open the enclosure and repeat. Getting them home isn't the part that takes forever. It's the domesticating them once you get them home.

 

12 hours ago, Pistok said:

i think a mod like this should be in the game and not a mod.

It probably will be. Just not in alpha. I think that's a small part of what the roadmap means by "more ways of food preparation." The more fluff in early code the more things there are to break and have to fix when implementing entirely new features

 

12 hours ago, Pistok said:

maybe for the iron age to add something like a proper forge with bellows would be fun

Probably a part of "quenching, tempering, annealing" from the roadmap. Cookware, see the above comment about cooking.

 

12 hours ago, Pistok said:

i also wanted to say( i dont know if it is planned) smoking meats would also be very neat.

Probably.

 

13 hours ago, Pistok said:

What do you all think should be done with them?

As implemented, they are and should remain points of interest. Maybe when steam power gets going, there will be some advantage to preheating the water, but it's going to be hard to compete with a cord of firewood. If there are lower temperature springs in the future, then pretty much by definition you will be able to make one into a japanese bath.

[LadyWYT]

On 11/28/2024 at 10:29 AM, Echo Weaver said:

Are oil lamps enough to accomplish this? Since we don't have the eternal torches of that other block game, I haven't been clear on a good strategy for lighting up large spaces.

Technically yes, though I would say that depends on whether you want to stop spawns entirely, or just reduce them. The benefit to oil lamps is that they're cheap, easy to craft early, and do not need to be refueled(as of the time of writing this, that is). The main drawback is that they don't have a very big light radius; I'd say it's comparable to a torch though, perhaps slightly smaller. To completely spawn-proof a cave will take quite a lot of them, probably, but using them to make sure the cave has decent visibility should cut back on a good chunk of the spawns.

 

On 11/28/2024 at 12:29 AM, Pistok said:

I did not know that you could carry chickens with a reed chest thats really helpful, i have no trouble trying to herd chickens or boars since its relatively easy but goats and sheeps are a pain i would like something that would make them easier to herd especially since they mostly spawn far away from where i usally build.

The lambs should fit into the basket traps as well; they're just a bit harder to catch. Generally I just throw rocks at the sheep and get them to follow me home, as I've found that method to be a bit faster. Of course, if the sheep are far enough away that I don't want to go through that hassle, I'm more likely to just build a sheep pen right there to breed them and check on it every so often. Once I have generation 5 lambs, I can stick those in a reed chest for easy transport.

Important to note though is that to transport animals via reed chest/trap, you will need to have a bag slot empty. The animal will also only stay alive for 24 hours, so you'll want to be somewhat speedy with the transportation.

On 11/28/2024 at 12:29 AM, Pistok said:

I did not go much into chiseling yet, but so i've seen so much could be done with it, its impressive however i would like something functional.  maybe for the iron age to add something like a proper forge with bellows would be fun, since iron has a much higher melting point so it would only possible to melt it by using a forge and bellows to crank up the heat. Also again a stove would be nice  where you could place atleast 2 cooking pots i am european myself and i grew up seeing terracota stoves and their rustic design would fit great in my opinion.

They're both neat ideas, though I would be more inclined to add an upgraded forge/bellows than a stove. Not that a stove wouldn't be nice, but I think that's already accomplished with what we have available in the game currently, and adding a specific block for that could possibly cut down on the creative options.

On 11/28/2024 at 12:29 AM, Pistok said:

You said some good points and i learned a few new things i really the idea of cooking spit and something like in valheim with the iron hooks would really be nice, i also wanted to say( i dont know if it is planned) smoking meats would also be very neat. What do you think?

Valheim is where I got the idea, heh heh. As for smoked meats go, I would love that. I think Primitive Survival is a mod that added that, and when I had it installed it was a very useful way to preserve meat for the winter, when I didn't have access to salt. Of course it didn't last as long as salted meat, but the extra shelf life was appreciated.

On 11/28/2024 at 12:29 AM, Pistok said:

I feel like the geo thermal pools we have as hotsprings should really have a better purpose and help with something as they are now the only thing they do is damage the player and warm him. What do you all think should be done with them?

I agree with @Thorfinn--they're fine as the points of interest they are. If you do happen to find one, they're useful for warming up in cold weather, scavenging carcasses, or for the creatively industrious: building a drifter grinder for storms. A lower temperature variation that you could sit in could be interesting, just for something a little different, but I think for variation I'd much rather have a tar pit instead. Make it extraordinarily difficult to get out if you should fall in, scalding hot(of course!), and potentially give the tar a bit of utility such as a stain for wood, sealant option, something to that effect.

 

[Maelstrom]

27 minutes ago, LadyWYT said:

Technically yes, though I would say that depends on whether you want to stop spawns entirely, or just reduce them... The main drawback is that they don't have a very big light radius;

Pragmatically speaking, oil lamps are not an option for this.  Torches are bad enough, oil lamps even worse.  You might get away with 2 blocks in between oil lamps to reduce/stop spawns.  That's gonna be an awful lot of animal fat, which means hunting.  It would be much, MUCH quicker to harvest grass and sticks for torches, which are 2-3 times more effective.

[Thorfinn]

Re: torches vs. lamps, as of this moment, lamps are light level 11, torches light level 14. At light level 6,  drifters can spawn. Torches on a grid must be placed about 11 apart to make an area drifter-proof, lamps about 8. This is why a 7x7 room is not drifter-proof with just one torch -- the corners opposite the torch in the center of the far wall are light level 5, and the three tiles adjacent to them are light level 6. You either need to drifter-proof those spaces (chests, barrels, something) or figure out a way to hang the torch from the ceiling so it is closer to the corner.

An area you want drifter-proof is easier to just place something obvious (different colored block or something) where you need torches, then replace them every day or so. For a reasonable-sized workspace, it will take less than 30 seconds to replace all the torches.

[EDIT]

Loke @Maelstrom says, lamps just are not going to cut it. Fat is way too valuable early game, and by the time you finish up all your automation, lanterns are your go to.

Edited November 29, 2024 by Thorfinn

[Maelstrom]

On 11/27/2024 at 3:59 PM, Deaderpan said:

i want to point out, the original post by pistok says japanese hotsprings, not yellow stone like ones.

Good point.  I was jumping off the comment I had quoted and forgot this is the suggestions forum.  derp!

[Echo Weaver]

9 minutes ago, Maelstrom said:

Pragmatically speaking, oil lamps are not an option for this.  Torches are bad enough, oil lamps even worse.  You might get away with 2 blocks in between oil lamps to reduce/stop spawns.  That's gonna be an awful lot of animal fat, which means hunting.  It would be much, MUCH quicker to harvest grass and sticks for torches, which are 2-3 times more effective.

But torches only burn for 48 hours when stuck on the wall, correct? That doesn't seem terribly useful for drifter-proofing a cave.

[Maelstrom]

Short term they're good.  Permanently? no.  Permanent drifter proofing is best left for lanterns.  By the time you're using bronze tools you should be able to produce obscene number of lanterns.  Biggest bottleneck would be mining ore for the plates, which isn't even that bad if you find a very or ultra high reading for copper.

[Echo Weaver]

28 minutes ago, Maelstrom said:

Short term they're good.  Permanently? no.  Permanent drifter proofing is best left for lanterns.  By the time you're using bronze tools you should be able to produce obscene number of lanterns.  Biggest bottleneck would be mining ore for the plates, which isn't even that bad if you find a very or ultra high reading for copper.

Lanterns also require candles, and I don't have bees yet.

I'm not sure whether I even care to try lighting up caves to reduce spawns, but I was curious about the practicality of @LadyWYT's suggestion. I guess torches would work if I expect to finish exploring before the torches burn out.

[Thorfinn]

With low rift, I'll try to explore without lighting it up any more than breadcrumbs until it becomes obvious that it's just too big. At which point, I'll place them more closely, and close off useless dead ends, retrieving my torches en route. A dead end with useful ore? Close it off and mine it out, then decide whether to run back through the gauntlet or tunnel straight to the surface.

If I'm trying a high rift day, yeah, make it glow.

[LadyWYT]

17 hours ago, Echo Weaver said:

I'm not sure whether I even care to try lighting up caves to reduce spawns, but I was curious about the practicality of @LadyWYT's suggestion. I guess torches would work if I expect to finish exploring before the torches burn out.

Tis why I tried to make it clear there's a difference between spawn-proof and reduced spawns. Personally I don't bother with torches in caves, but I will use oil lamps to light them up, if I deem a cave worth lighting. Though the way I light with the lamps, it's just to make sure that most everything in the cave is visible, and not so much to make sure that it's covered in bright light. The end result, however, is reduced spawns and better visibility, so the handful of monsters that do end up spawning are easier to deal with. That being said, it does take several oil lamps, even for a small cave, so if you don't have a lot of fat to fuel them and/or don't want to be firing that many bowls, this method probably won't prove that useful. Likewise, if you're trying to spawn-proof the area, @Maelstrom is right in that oil lamps aren't particularly useful for that. It can be done, technically, but is more effort than it's really worth.

17 hours ago, Thorfinn said:

With low rift, I'll try to explore without lighting it up any more than breadcrumbs until it becomes obvious that it's just too big. At which point, I'll place them more closely, and close off useless dead ends, retrieving my torches en route. A dead end with useful ore? Close it off and mine it out, then decide whether to run back through the gauntlet or tunnel straight to the surface.

This is probably my usual caving strategy, minus placing lights. I don't tend to place lights unless it's a cave I intend to be venturing into several times; I'd rather save my lights for placing at various points around my base.

17 hours ago, Thorfinn said:

If I'm trying a high rift day, yeah, make it glow.

But how else will you find the welcoming party the drifters organized for you? To be fair, I usually forget to check the activity levels before cave diving, and don't figure it out that it wasn't the best idea until I find said welcoming party.

[Maelstrom]

On 11/30/2024 at 6:50 AM, LadyWYT said:

But how else will you find the welcoming party the drifters organized for you? To be fair, I usually forget to check the activity levels before cave diving, and don't figure it out that it wasn't the best idea until I find said welcoming party.

Once wandered deep into a cave.  Hit the basalt layer just above mantle, dropped a rope ladder and proceeded to kill almost a dozen nightmare drifters.  They spawned about as fast I could bash them.  After spending like 15-20 minutes and making zero headway, I left for other endeavors.  Came back when it was calm...er rift activity (I think it was low, maybe even calm) but still had to kill off 2-3 nightmares just to put feet on the cave floor.