Natural Disasters

[Lookstothestars]

I immediately want to say that i really don‘t think it‘s worth to make this an actual feature for the game rather than a mod, simply because i think it‘ll have to be togglable because most players wouldn‘t want their world to be devastated by natural disasters and it‘s high complexity would make it a long and gruel programming task, simply making it not worth it. Having said that i do want to throw this idea into the world so it might get picked up by a modder eventually or if the stars align by the developers themselves.

When i talk about natural disasters I’m not only talking about the obvious stuff like Tornadoes (the other block game has plenty of mods for that), but also about things like earthquakes, hurricane type storms, floods (maybe if the way water works gets changed in the future) and even bigger stuff like volcano eruptions (if they are added to the game someday) and ice ages. Especially the last one inspired me to write this post, because in contrast to the previous ones that just destroy things and are gone then, an ice age would be a lasting challenge for years. I came up with the idea when i watched Rubixraptors latest Vintage Story videos where they settled too far north and experienced a really harsh and long lasting winter. It reminded me of Frostpunk and since both Frostprunk and Vintage Story (to some degree) are steampunky i saw a correlation here. I like the idea of noticing early signs of a coming ice age and you‘ll have to prepare to somehow survive through it.

Again, i don‘t think that this should be anything but a mod, since it‘s very specific and destructive, but I’m continuesly intrigued by the idea of having to survive a winter that just goes on and on and on.

[Rudometkin]

I'm all for more natural disasters being added into the base game. 

I think it would be worth it to make a toggle switch in world creation settings, though. Sometimes all it takes is an, "if natural disasters=true" trigger in the code.

I understand people would like to experience Vintage Story without the uncertainty of having their based wiped out by a tornado, even if it might be as rare as getting struck by lightning.

It fits the vanilla game to a T.

[Thorfinn]

There is (or use to be) at least one mod that does that. And I think you can enable destruction with the Meteoric Expansion mod, too.

But, see, it's even easier than "if!naturalDisasters" -- just install the mods you like and everyone is happy. That way there's no code sucking up memory on the machines of people who don't want it, or whose machines can't handle it. Those who like that can have that, others don't take the performance hit.

[LadyWYT]

On 5/27/2025 at 1:19 AM, Lookstothestars said:

Again, i don‘t think that this should be anything but a mod, since it‘s very specific and destructive, but I’m continuesly intrigued by the idea of having to survive a winter that just goes on and on and on.

Snowball earth. You could also just start a game in the arctic, and go from there.

As for adding natural disasters to vanilla, even as a toggle...yeah, that's better suited to the mod realm than a vanilla feature. We already have a sort of natural(unnatural, really) disaster in the game for players to deal with, in the form of temporal storms, and it's not uncommon to see complaints here on the forums about how those are implemented.

[Rudometkin]

48 minutes ago, Thorfinn said:

There is (or use to be) at least one mod that does that. And I think you can enable destruction with the Meteoric Expansion mod, too.

But, see, it's even easier than "if!naturalDisasters" -- just install the mods you like and everyone is happy.

Well, this assumes people are happy with waiting and hoping their mod will update whenever Vintage Story updates. Which is not necessarily so. So no, it is not that simple.

48 minutes ago, LadyWYT said:

As for adding natural disasters to vanilla, even as a toggle...yeah, that's better suited to the mod realm than a vanilla feature.

Nah, it's perfectly suited for a vanilla feature.

Considering this game is an uncompromising wilderness survival game.

[Thorfinn]

29 minutes ago, Rudometkin said:

Well, this assumes people are happy with waiting and hoping their mod will update whenever Vintage Story updates.

Fair. And you are assuming no one minds taking a performance hit to have a vanilla "feature" they don't want just so you don't have to wait for an update.

Do you see why some of us are so frustrated with you? It's like you can only see things that affect you, regardless of how they impact others. 

[EDIT]

I mean, seriously, look at the kinds of mods people like. Expanded Foods. What does cooking have to do with "uncompromising wilderness survival"? Primitive Survival at least has survival in the name, but it's really too food-heavy. It gives you the primitive trapping and fishing, but while you get obese from all the food. Better Ruins has some challenges, but it is way too loot heavy, even if you eliminate all the loot boxes -- the placed items are just too much. CarryOn? ChiselTools? PetAI? Player Corpse? From Golden Combs? Do those strike you as the community preferring development go the same way you do?

[EDIT2]

CropsV2 was ok, but it was extremely niche, as are pretty much all challenges like this. Like 300 downloads is what it capped out at so far. I think Xandu had a disease mod of some sort. 150 some downloads IIRC.

[EDIT3]

But you know what Xandu would probably appreciate? Someone offering to help test and balance his diseases and cures mod. Want cutting edge updates? That would probably be the way to get them. 

Edited July 1, 2025 by Thorfinn

[Rudometkin]

47 minutes ago, Thorfinn said:

Fair. And you are assuming no one minds taking a performance hit...

Maybe. But it is a fair enough suggestion that it justifies a potential performance hit. I've thought about it, and determined it is a justified suggestion for vanilla gameplay. The pros outweigh the cons.

 

47 minutes ago, Thorfinn said:

...to have a vanilla "feature" they don't want just so you don't have to wait for an update.

No, it is not all about me. It would not simply be just so Rudometkin doesn't have to wait for an update. We can all risk taking a 'performance hit' for the sake of progressing the development of this uncompromising wilderness survival game.

You're not suggesting nothing should be added to the game unless everyone is happy with it, lest the people who don't like it potentially take a performance hit.

Are you?

 

47 minutes ago, Thorfinn said:

Do you see why some of us are so frustrated with you?

Sure, most people aren't accustomed to getting debated against exhaustively. And I'm sure, based on this new information, that you are frustrated because you feel like I'm being unfair (despite my honest, direct, thorough communication).

 

47 minutes ago, Thorfinn said:

It's like you can only see things that affect you, regardless of how they impact others. 

Or, it's like I'm very considerate of how things affect multiple people, and can see and consider what impacts others.

That doesn't mean I'm not willing to make sacrifices for the greater good of the game!

[Zane Mordien]

2 hours ago, Rudometkin said:

 

I understand people would like to experience Vintage Story without the uncertainty of having their based wiped out by a tornado, even if it might be as rare as getting struck by lightning.

 

Sounds like a person that hasn't been struck by lightning 66 times!

 

[Thorfinn]

11 hours ago, Rudometkin said:

No, it is not all about me.

Yes. it is. You are a selfish narcissist. Seriously, dude, there are around 300 who were willing to try crop failure for every 10,000 who can't wait for the next cooking update. Do you really not understand? Are you really just that self-centered?

Take temporal storms. I don't mind them too much. It's not like they are a great source of goodies or anything, and what you can construct with them is isn't worth doing, IMO. But I'm quite good at it. Sometimes with improvised armor if I'm feeling like a weenie, sometimes with bear armor because it looks cool, usually bare naked, which is real "uncompromising survival". Even if I thought rusties opening doors or phasing through walls would be for the good of the game, I don't give people a hard time for skipping the storms by going into a small room and bawling like a schoolgirl, if you know what I mean.

 

11 hours ago, Rudometkin said:

Sure, most people aren't accustomed to getting debated against exhaustively. And I'm sure, based on this new information, that you are frustrated because you feel like I'm being unfair (despite my honest, direct, thorough communication).

Ever the narcissist. You are not remotely a good debater. Read your stuff sometime with fresh eyes. It's all "I've decided this" and "uncompromising survival." That's your entire argument. Why is this a good idea? A variant on one of those two.

I am getting frustrated because I am having a very difficult time believing that ANYONE could so indifferent to others. You don't care what they would prefer to play. You don't care about what they think is the good of the game. You care only about you.

Edited July 1, 2025 by Thorfinn

[Rudometkin]

Quote

No, it is not all about me.

On 7/1/2025 at 8:15 AM, Thorfinn said:

Yes. it is. You are a selfish narcissist.

Are you exaggerating again?

If it is all about me as you insist, then why are sharing your opinion? According to you, it's not about you.

Don't be silly. It is not all about me, and I am not a selfish narcissist for wanting natural disasters in an uncompromising wilderness survival game, despite some other people maybe not wanting it.

Would a selfish narcissist really have said in the beginning, "this should be a toggle option, because I understand not everyone would like it!" Come on, behave.

 

On 7/1/2025 at 8:15 AM, Thorfinn said:

Seriously, dude, there are around 300 who were willing to try crop failure for every 10,000 who can't wait for the next cooking update. Do you really not understand? Are you really just that self-centered?

I understand that people who try mods do not represent the entire community. Do you understand that?

 

On 7/1/2025 at 8:15 AM, Thorfinn said:

Ever the narcissist. You are not remotely a good debater.

Is this more exaggeration?

Regardless, I'm fine with that, I'm a simple guy who never went past the 5th grade.

But sometimes all it takes is hammering the basics in, and I'm good at that.

This is an uncompromising wilderness survival game, so it should have natural disasters. People who don't want natural disasters can have a toggle option to turn it off.

 

On 7/1/2025 at 8:15 AM, Thorfinn said:

Read your stuff sometime with fresh eyes. It's all "I've decided this" and "uncompromising survival." That's your entire argument. Why is this a good idea? A variant on one of those two.

No, that is not my entire argument. This must be more exaggeration. If it is fair for you to boil down my argument to that, then perhaps it is fair for me to boil your entire argument down to, "Rudometkin is a narcissist, therefore he is wrong!" Which is an ad hominem, a logical fallacy.

 

On 7/1/2025 at 8:15 AM, Thorfinn said:

I am getting frustrated because I am having a very difficult time believing that ANYONE could so indifferent to others.

Thorfinn, I encourage you to cool down and come back to my messages with a fresh set of eyes whenever you start to demonize me like that. I don't think I lack the consideration you think I do. I think about other people a lot. What you're seeing today is a case where I wasn't willing to drop natural disasters in a uncompromising wilderness survival game for people who might not want it. That's a fair thing for me to do.

 

On 7/1/2025 at 8:15 AM, Thorfinn said:

You don't care what they would prefer to play. You don't care about what they think is the good of the game. You care only about you.

Is this more of that exaggeration?

Do you care what everyone prefers to play? Of course not, we don't even know of everyone.

Chill out Thorfinn, you are starting to assert me into submission that I am a narcissist. I will not let you do that. Telling me I only care about me does not make me stop caring for others.

Do I need to stop engaging with you just for your sake?

It is starting to seem like a natural disaster hits your keyboard whenever we talk, because you are typing some exaggerated stuff.

Edited July 4, 2025 by Rudometkin

[Thorfinn]

Whatevs, dude. You should actually try out some of those mods that incorporate those things you want, rather than thinking in your mind how great they are. The crop diseases does not make it "uncompromising". It's actually rather tame. What it is, though, is boring. It takes way too much of your day doing nothing but weeding. Seriously, try it, instead of just imagining it.

[Rudometkin]

15 minutes ago, Thorfinn said:

Whatevs, dude. You should actually try out some of those mods that incorporate those things you want, rather than thinking in your mind how great they are. The crop diseases does not make it "uncompromising". It's actually rather tame. What it is, though, is boring. It takes way too much of your day doing nothing but weeding. Seriously, try it, instead of just imagining it.

Thanks. I'm glad we were able to tone it back.

You're cool, we just all have some traits we can help each other work on personally, as a community.

I just don't want good suggestion threads to be shut down because we're all out here calling each other narcissists and whatnot. You know? The suggestion threads wouldn't deserve that.

[Rudometkin]

On 6/30/2025 at 9:20 PM, Zane Mordien said:

Sounds like a person that hasn't been struck by lightning 66 times!

 

This morning I ran through this thread and happened to see this picture again. I thought it was so funny, I will save it to my computer. I spit out my nonexistent tea all over the computer screen when I saw this guy's face already chillin there in my preferred 'save to' folder. I already saved it when you first posted it, and forgot about it!