What's Your Humorous Story?

[Echo Weaver]

In today's episode of Extreme Animal Husbandry, Echo tries to find a mate for the three(!) giant deer calves (fawns?) in her pen. There used to be several giant deer roaming about, all female. As the leaves start turning for fall, I can only find one, but she's been sticking around. In fact, no matter where I chase her to, I was always finding her back in approximately the same spot. I'd find her, then I'd chase her back to my base, which I could actually do with impressive precision... just not quite precise enough to send her into the pit trap I had waiting in hopes that she or something else interesting would fall in. I'd give up and head to bed, then I'd go back looking for her a couple of days later, and she'd be back in that same spot across the valley .

I was at this every few days all August, and it wasn't working. I decided to try the bola mod. If I read it correctly, I could immobilize her for a short time, and I think I would be able to tie her with a rope to extend that immobilzation to 80 seconds during which time I could fence her in.

So I did the usual chase and got her into my neighborhood. Then, when she calmed down and started grazing, I'd sneak up and throw a bola at her. 

My aim is terrible. Of course, I'd never used this thing before, so I didn't exactly expect better. I don't have a sense of how far I can throw it or how high I need to aim. That's why I had a lot of them.

I did hit her once, but then I got tangled in my inventory and didn't rope her, and she got up and ran away. Argh.

OTOH, she ran toward my base, which wouldn't be a bad thing.

I watched her approach the trough of grass I had laid out beside the pit trap. Keep in mind, I've had this setup all summer, and she's been by before but not fallen in. I caught those three giant dear babies using these traps, but the aurochs needed extra encouragement to fall in. I watched this doe walk right up at to edge of the trap and sit down to nap once. It feels like their routing is taking the trap into account, but I can't be sure.

This time I was ready. I sneaked around behind, hugging the mountain to stay as far away from her as possible. Then I ran at her, and she fell in!

So I put all that work into figuring out bolas, and she fell into a trap instead.

Next lesson: I knew these creatures have a 3(!) block jump, but somehow it didn't occur to me that the catwalk I had added above the pen to interact with the aurochs without being gutted is 3 blocks up. She did not get away, thank God, but she did jump up and walk along it before I chased her off and knocked it down. 

So, breeding pairs of both species, which was my goal. The auroch cow is pregnant. I hope her calf will be "partially-tame" as named in the FotSA files, and that this means it won't freak out when I get into line-of-sight. I'm going to revisit the bola when it's time to cull the older generation because I'm going to need all the help I can get to kill one. When it comes time to butcher one of these things, I guess I'll get a good start on compost because I don't think I can possibly eat all the meat before it goes bad, even in winter.

Edited October 18, 2025 by Echo Weaver

[Tabulius]

Trying to beat chapter 1 while the game is leaking memory. I had like 5 second intervals of time to fight between freezes. I died literally 1 hit away from killing the boss, not because of the boss, but starvation. The game kept freezing so much I didn't notice. Then when I came back and beat the boss the memory leak finally occupied my last megabyte of ram and the game crashed. Wasn't funny to me, but it's funny now thinking about it. Also, playing the story content with hydrate or diedrate installed is a bad idea, that mod is not balanced for dungeon crawling.

[LadyWYT]

7 hours ago, Tabulius said:

Trying to beat chapter 1 while the game is leaking memory. I had like 5 second intervals of time to fight between freezes. I died literally 1 hit away from killing the boss, not because of the boss, but starvation. The game kept freezing so much I didn't notice. Then when I came back and beat the boss the memory leak finally occupied my last megabyte of ram and the game crashed.

Oof, that's rough. Have you checked the log files to see if any memory leaks were being reported? To the best of my knowledge, there's still potentially a minor leak or two, but all the major ones should have been fixed. Of course, I'm not saying it wasn't a memory leak, just that it's possible there could be another cause, especially when using mods. It's possible one of the mods has a major issue, or the mods that you're trying to play with are too much for your hardware to keep up with. Mods that add a LOT of stuff, such as Better Ruins, tend to be pretty demanding on hardware.

If you're sure it's a memory leak though, one thing you can do to help pinpoint the cause is go into the Interface tab of Settings, and enable Developer Mode. That will make a new Dev tab appear--go to this tab and enable VAO Dispose Debug, then load your world and play around to try to trigger the leaks. More details should be recorded in the logs when the leaks occur. If you're going to test over multiple sessions, you'll want to check that setting before loading the world each time, as it does seem to get switched off for new sessions.

In any case, it's definitely a problem to report to the VS devs if it's a problem in the base game, or mod devs if it's a mod problem.

7 hours ago, Tabulius said:

Also, playing the story content with hydrate or diedrate installed is a bad idea, that mod is not balanced for dungeon crawling.

Pretty much why I'm skeptical of adding thirst or climbing mechanics. Story locations weren't built with those in mind, and would need major reworks to account for such things.

[Tabulius]

1 hour ago, LadyWYT said:

Oof, that's rough. Have you checked the log files to see if any memory leaks were being reported? To the best of my knowledge, there's still potentially a minor leak or two, but all the major ones should have been fixed. Of course, I'm not saying it wasn't a memory leak, just that it's possible there could be another cause, especially when using mods. It's possible one of the mods has a major issue, or the mods that you're trying to play with are too much for your hardware to keep up with. Mods that add a LOT of stuff, such as Better Ruins, tend to be pretty demanding on hardware. 

Don't think I got a log since the game didn't hard crash it just froze up completely. I think it's probably mods but I'm not sure if it's better ruins, I've had it installed for a while. I've had these problems before so better ruins might be at least a compounding factor, but they started to ramp up recently. I have 32 gigs and the game got to the point where it was using over half of that.

1 hour ago, LadyWYT said:

Pretty much why I'm skeptical of adding thirst or climbing mechanics. Story locations weren't built with those in mind, and would need major reworks to account for such things.

It was doable, I could drink from the reservoir and the mines, but it wasn't fun. Plus the mod makes it impossible to stock up on water beforehand because it makes you super slow if you're carrying water. I had to rush through the library cause I had ran out of water. Food in general should really be reworked in the story content. You're basically restricted to using cut up pies or bread, anything else with decent satiety requires you to place it on the ground. It'd be nice if you could cut up food or take from a crock in your inventory.

[LadyWYT]

27 minutes ago, Tabulius said:

Plus the mod makes it impossible to stock up on water beforehand because it makes you super slow if you're carrying water.

There's an option in the mod config to turn that bit off. Makes it much more bearable, if less realistic regarding carrying buckets of liquid around.

 

28 minutes ago, Tabulius said:

Food in general should really be reworked in the story content. You're basically restricted to using cut up pies or bread, anything else with decent satiety requires you to place it on the ground. It'd be nice if you could cut up food or take from a crock in your inventory.

Food is currently fine. Pies are my go-to and I cut them before venturing in. Crocks were recently changed to allow players to fill bowls from the inventory(you may be able to cut pies in the crafting grid too, not sure), rather than needing to place the crock, for that reason specifically I do believe.

[Tabulius]

1 minute ago, LadyWYT said:

Crocks were recently changed to allow players to fill bowls from the inventory(you may be able to cut pies in the crafting grid too, not sure), rather than needing to place the crock, for that reason specifically I do believe.

Really? I didn't know they changed that, that's good. Can you take from cooking pots too? Still would be nice to be able to cut up pies in your inventory but precutting pies isn't as much of a problem.

[LadyWYT]

11 minutes ago, Tabulius said:

Really? I didn't know they changed that, that's good. Can you take from cooking pots too? Still would be nice to be able to cut up pies in your inventory but precutting pies isn't as much of a problem.

It was one of the changes introduced in 1.20, I think, and to my knowledge it works for cookpots as well. 

[Echo Weaver]

A few days after my amazing giant deer capture, I came home to this 

 

I don't think that rotbeast kill livestock, so that leaves the "vile creature" as my auroch bull. 

*shakes fist at game* There was much crying and gnashing of teeth. I presume that never happened to my three giant deer calves because babies get extra consideration. Deer seem to spook and run around for no reason in addition to actually being scared. I guess maybe she ran at him.

I got the two species in separate pens now, which took plenty of finesse and half my hit points. And away we go again!

Edited October 22, 2025 by Echo Weaver

[LadyWYT]

3 minutes ago, Echo Weaver said:

I don't think that rotbeast kill livestock, so that leaves the "vile creature" as my auroch bull. 

Unfortunately, what probably happened is your poor deer got hit by a stray shot from a drifter, attacked the rotbeast, and got killed as a result. It could have possibly been a bowtorn, but a drifter is most likely, especially if you recently had a temporal storm. I lost one last server to a nightmare drifter--killed in two shots. Giant deer should be able to handle surface drifters, but perhaps not if there are more than one or two.

[Echo Weaver]

2 minutes ago, LadyWYT said:

Unfortunately, what probably happened is your poor deer got hit by a stray shot from a drifter, attacked the rotbeast, and got killed as a result. It could have possibly been a bowtorn, but a drifter is most likely, especially if you recently had a temporal storm. I lost one last server to a nightmare drifter--killed in two shots. Giant deer should be able to handle surface drifters, but perhaps not if there are more than one or two.

That didn't occur to me. There actually was a recent temporal storm, but I didn't make the connection. It didn't seem like "vile creature" would be used to describe a different species of livestock, but afaik this does not happen to vanilla livestock.

Hmm. So separating out the species won't help after all. Have you found anything to do to protect these FotSA livestock? They're currently in an outdoor pen because I felt sad blocking these wild creatures off from the sky. But closing them in a barn, even lit up, is not going to prevent temporal storm spawns.

[LadyWYT]

Just now, Echo Weaver said:

Hmm. So separating out the species won't help after all. Have you found anything to do to protect these FotSA livestock? They're currently in an outdoor pen because I felt sad blocking these wild creatures off from the sky. But closing them in a barn, even lit up, is not going to prevent temporal storm spawns.

My solution was to just avoid that area like the plague during a temporal storm, since it's the presence of players that provoke rotbeasts to attack. They'll never go after animals specifically, unless the rock hits the wrong target.

[Echo Weaver]

2 minutes ago, LadyWYT said:

My solution was to just avoid that area like the plague during a temporal storm, since it's the presence of players that provoke rotbeasts to attack. They'll never go after animals specifically, unless the rock hits the wrong target.

Oh, actually, that problem might solve itself then. The pen is right by my hobbit hole, but I'm about to move into a real base on the other side of the pond. I was considering using the hobbit hole as my auxiliary temporal storm base, since I prefer to relocate to more cramped quarters to reduce the chance of a nightmare spawning in the base, but I'll do something else.

[LadyWYT]

6 minutes ago, Echo Weaver said:

Oh, actually, that problem might solve itself then. The pen is right by my hobbit hole, but I'm about to move into a real base on the other side of the pond. I was considering using the hobbit hole as my auxiliary temporal storm base, since I prefer to relocate to more cramped quarters to reduce the chance of a nightmare spawning in the base, but I'll do something else.

Yeah, as long as any monsters in the pen don't have enough LOS on you to launch a shot, you should be fine. Making the fences at least two blocks high should help a lot too.

[LadyWYT]

Shiver Me Timbers

So was playing with my friend the other day, and I went out to go look for resin. I found an interesting looking cave while out roaming around the forest, so I poked my head inside to see if there was anything interesting. Once inside, I heard some kind of odd noise, that sounded like slow tongue clicking, and didn't sound like it was anything in the game. Since I was in a voicecall with my friend, I asked if that was him...and it was not. The noises he described on his end of the call were nothing like what I had heard. I took a look around outside the cave, but didn't see anything. Rift weather was calm, so there were no rifts nearby to spawn anything either. Feeling a bit spooked, I left the cave area and continued looking for resin.

Not two minutes later and I get jumped by a shiver from the bushes. Admittedly, I jumped in my chair and yelped, before promptly beating it to a pulp.  But hey, that explained the clicking noise! I think that particular forest might be haunted, as that is not the first time that me or my friend have been jumped by monsters in that area.

[Teh Pizza Lady]

10/10

worth the cost of the game

[LadyWYT]

1 hour ago, LadyWYT said:

Admittedly, I jumped in my chair and yelped, before promptly beating it to a pulp.

I should note that I beat the shiver to a pulp, and not my chair. My poor chair has seen better days, this is true, but it should still see several more before it finally needs replacing.

[hstone32]

The randomly generated rift levels and durations certainly make for an interesting experience.

after sleeping through a "high" activity night, you see the rift level is now calm, so you go out to do some chores. Pretty soon, you wonder where all these bowtorns came from. Is there a cave opening nearby? Nope. Rift level just turned apocalyptic.

[Vratislav]

2 hours ago, hstone32 said:

Rift level just turned apocalyptic

April rift weather.  

Edited October 23, 2025 by Vratislav

[Teh Pizza Lady]

April rift storms
bring

May shivers and bowtorns.

[Teh Pizza Lady]

... 

Your friendly neighborhood blackguard strikes again!

EDIT: Story time.

Temporal storm. Only medium strength. There's nothing at the door to our house. I open it to look outside and see if I can see Dave. My blackguard friend exclaims, "What are you doing?" and closes the door. I say, "I just wanted to see outside. There's nothing out there!" I open the door again. 

Nightmare Drifter walks in and promptly hits me. I run away with all 3.2HP left and pull out my spear. Maybe I can out-range and help kill it. The blackguard starts swinging wildly. I get caught in the crossfire.

I probably deserved it for opening the door...at night...during a temporal storm.

Edited October 26, 2025 by Teh Pizza Lady

[Maelstrom]

On 10/24/2025 at 9:54 PM, Teh Pizza Lady said:

I probably deserved it for opening the door...at night...during a temporal storm.

Well... 

 

FAFO is a thing.  

[LadyWYT]

On 10/24/2025 at 10:54 PM, Teh Pizza Lady said:

I probably deserved it for opening the door...at night...during a temporal storm.

It's only what...the second time that's happened so far this game? 

[Maelstrom]

Hello there!   Pleased to meet you...   I think?

So I was in my fantasy mod world figuring out my forever home so I can move out of the cave I dug in the hillock.   Can't think of anything to go off the main entrance and decide to chop some trees coz I'll be needing wood soon anyways.   The sun is setting.  It's a nice partly cloudy day, nice calm rift activity as I'm joyfully chopping trees with my stone hatchet when out of nowhere a shiver chomps on my backside hide (not unlike certain unnamed blackguards) all unanounced (also not unlike certain unnamed blackguards we may [or may not] know).  I turn to see what caused my health to dramatically drop to see a most irritating yapping shiver flapping it's jaws at me.   We'll I'm playing hunter since 1.20 and beat feet right on outa there, through my micro artificial forest to get some distance and switch to one of the spears I carry with me (blackguard instincts still run strong in me).  As I turn the corner of the trader caravan I have settled next to and I can't find the interloper.  So I run to the end of the trader's caravan where my artificial micro-forest is and still can't find it.  I run through the micro-forest and in the mini cavelet next to my tiny seraph-cave.  Nothing.  This thing just upped and poofed out of existence just as rudely as it poofed into existence.   

Of all the nerve!  I just wanted to pet it.   Gently.   With my spear.   Repeatedly.   

And remotely.  From about 5 blocks away. 

Ungrateful twit!

 

Ok.  Maybe I didn't want to pet the thing so gently.

 

 

Now I'm wondering if Jonas wasn't some kind of quantum physics engineering mad scientist.

 

Edited October 30, 2025 by Maelstrom

[Teh Pizza Lady]

2 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

Now I'm wondering if Jonas wasn't some kind of quantum physics engineering mad scientist.

you're closer to the truth than you think.

[Maelstrom]

He definitely didn't think through his actions very well, now did he?  My seraph is none too pleased with the mischievous, malinformed miscreant.   But I've also read quite a bit of Lovecraft, applied some of Lvoecraft's story concepts to the game as head cannon and absolutely adore how well the devs have done such a stoopidly stupendous job representing Sir Lovecraft in this game.  There just ain't enough kudos in the world to be awarded to @Tyron, @Saraty and Co.