Should I restart

[RagingKiwi]

New player here.

When I created the current world I set the days in a month to 30, thinking it would give me more time to prepare for winter. What I didn't realise is that it increases the time for plants to grow threefold.

Not much guesswork required here to figure out how brutal the winter would be and the massive storage of crops I'd need to get through it.

I've only progressed to the clay age so far, a few clay storage containers, jugs and the likes. Got a little farm going as well.

At this point I'm thinking I'd might as well start over, I very much dislike the rifts mechanic to might disable that in a new world.

Before I do, is there anything I could do to save this run?

 

[Hexalan]

That's pretty brutal, especially if you're just starting in this game.  The regular month lengths give you plenty of time to get ready for winter.  Just don't try to rush the progression.  Wasting time on trying to get to copper or bronze age isn't required.  You can survive the first winter comfortably while still in the stone and clay age.  Once you have 40 copper pieces you'll be able to mine wherever you want, even in the snow.  Put the copper away until then, you'll have more time to deal with it.

Lighting up the area helps a lot with the rifts.  Also, they come and go, kinda like the weather.  Some nights you might be holed up and afraid but other times you can go days without ever seeing one.  You can make armor and a shield day one.  You need them, don't expect to be able to run about unprotected!  A shield is amazing in this game, rocks bounce right off!

With 30 day months you will need a lot more food stored for winter with longer months. Growth time increases, but your hunger rate doesn't decrease.  That puts much more pressure on the food stores than you would normally have.  But, you can hunt and you can still find mushrooms on trees in the winter, so it's not all lost.  It just becomes pretty difficult.

I would restart, I don't think you will have much fun come winter.  There are commands to change the days/month, but it will play havoc on your save.  All timers will get reset and anything related to time will instantly be screwed up.  All your food will be rotten, crops will be in who knows what kind of shape.  Animal breeding, growing will freak out.  The seasons will change immediately.  If you're more than a few days into the game, you're playing with fire.  If you go that route, make sure you back up your save in case of the worst.

[RagingKiwi]

Thank you, I'll do a restart 

[Michael Gates]

one thing about thirty-day months-- the crops take longer to mature, but they *do* return proportionally more food as well. Really you just need to have more vessels to put stuff in (I'd make six or eight), and you have extra time to make those. I do recommend laying down a bunch of farmland-- 96 blocks, maybe 128 if you've got irrigateable space. 64 blocks for food, everything else for flax.

Metals progression goes relatively faster in a long-month world, because you're not waiting for things to grow-- the seasons are slower, you don't have to be. An effort that would get you iron in December with nine-day months gets you iron in July with 30.

So, yeah, you'll be okay if you prepare. Personally I hate 30-day months because that means you're spending A HUNDRED AND TWENTY DAYS stuck in your house looking at snow, but it's survivable.

[RagingKiwi]

Ah I see, yeah 120 days in winter sounds especially brutal, I'd get very bored being locked inside that long

[Broccoli Clock]

You can survive in the deepest of winters as there is still food, just not your crops. Things like cattail roots and hunting animals.

What I would say is that while you can survive, quite easily, even if you've made no preparation, the thing I find with the more Northerly climes is that there is a lot of down time, and with daylight being less it ends up with you wandering about your base wondering whether you should chisel everything, or by repeatedly reorganise your storage, and that's about it (I'm sure many will disagree but I find myself kicking my heels during long cold winters)

Should you restart? Probably, but only because you have a much better idea of what you are doing. For reference I bought the game at the start of Feb, my first world had about 40 hours in it, and like you I felt I had not planned ahead properly. Thing is, that second run, I didn't do all that much differently, I just knew how to do stuff.

[Zane Mordien]

5 hours ago, RagingKiwi said:

Ah I see, yeah 120 days in winter sounds especially brutal, I'd get very bored being locked inside that long

You can also just use a command to change days per month in your current world. 

[YordaEatsMelon]

3 hours ago, Zane Mordien said:

You can also just use a command to change days per month in your current world. 

Would that have any similar effect/risk as to what Hexalan was talking about (see below)?

12 hours ago, Hexalan said:

There are commands to change the days/month, but it will play havoc on your save.  All timers will get reset and anything related to time will instantly be screwed up.  All your food will be rotten, crops will be in who knows what kind of shape.  Animal breeding, growing will freak out.  The seasons will change immediately.  If you're more than a few days into the game, you're playing with fire.  If you go that route, make sure you back up your save in case of the worst.

 

[Zane Mordien]

9 hours ago, YordaEatsMelon said:

Would that have any similar effect/risk as to what Hexalan was talking about (see below)?

 

Probably but until you try it, you never know what will happen. If it blows up the world then yup, start again. If not then winner winner chicken dinner!