What the fucky fuck is up with enemy spawns in this game?

[Shotai]

Howdy, I'm on day 11 and hitting the copper stage. I've been looking for copper for a long ass time now, however, my issue is more or less the enemy spawns. Originally, I did not start the game with a grace period. So, I got 2 tapped by a bow guy; rage quit the save, started a new game with a 5 day grace period. Great, Now I can actually build equipment before I get 2 tapped by an enemy that I couldn't even spot in the time it took me to die.

Except now that the grace period is over. The enemy spawns are . . . everywhere. If I could kill them all in one batch, that'd be fine. But it's constant. And by constant, I mean, it's never ending. I had 6 spears at one point and broke all 6 killing a horde in a small ass cave. I ran out of flint just making spears to handle this BS. I had 45 arrows ready for one expedition, couldn't even get into the cave because I ended up blowing that and another 6 spears just trying to find out whether or not that specific cave has copper in it.

Is this suppose to be the difficulty cap for the game? Look, I'm experienced in survival games. Block games too. But wow, throwing endless hordes at you is just . . . numbing. Combined with the fact that my character needs to eat 10 meals a day or else I'll die; it's a really big vibe killer to have to sift through.

[FlareUKCS]

The problem is that you are trying to fight all the time, now this is fine if you enjoy combat but then you will hit the wall early game of being overwhelmed by the drifters.

Most players will note rift activity, press C by default and look at the details under your avatar it should have a line about rift activity, alternatively you can use a mod like Simple HUD clock patched (Simple HUD Clock Patch - Vintage Story Mod DB) to see the activity. Rift activity controls how much will spawn naturally in dark places, and the number of rifts in the world will appear. 

Most players will limit cave exploring early game, but you can often take a peek and keep the dive shallow and be ready to escape when the drifters come. To properly cave dive you will want armour and equipment like shields, a good amount of torches and ladders and fences to block passages.

Dealing with surface drifters during high rift activity is usually just a case of bunkering down at your base , dont forget to refresh your placed torches to reset the 48 hour expiry timer, and wait for daylight, then either clearing the stragglers or simply leave the area to force a despawn, depends on what you plan to do that day.

Food becomes manageable when you get a cooking pot and bowl/s via clay forming, cooking meals lets you stretch out your food reserves and gives a buff that pauses your hunger bar for a while, depending on how filling the meal was (see guidebook for details on meal making).

If you think its boring to simply bunker down all night you can always sleep most of it away, or better plan activities that you can do inside like clay forming and/or knapping tools for the next days work.

[Teh Pizza Lady]

Vintage Story really isn't one of those games where you are encourage or even rewarded for fighting the mobs.

1. you earn no experience for doing so
2. you damage or destroy your equipment as you saw
3. mob drops are... disappointing to say the least. the occasional good drop is not worth the hassle of trying to fight them most of the time.

If you are having issues with mobs lingering during the day, create a bug report on the github so the devs can see it, but aside from that, yeah it's normal for mobs to come after you. Remember you are in *their* world and they don't like that. Stay indoors or find an activity to do at night that will allow you to be safe..er. Caving is what we do in The Other Block Game. In Vintage Story, to find ores, we prospect with a prospecting pick before digging a hole to find the coveted goods.

I would strongly suggest looking into making a prospecting pick to aid in your search of the good stuff so you can stay above the surface where it is safer.

[Shotai]

An hour ago I was chilling at my house and I had to fight off 5 drifters and 2 bow guys. Hunkering down doesn't seem to really be the solution? I live on top of a hill specifically so I can avoid the mob spam.

[Lollard]

6 minutes ago, Shotai said:

An hour ago I was chilling at my house and I had to fight off 5 drifters and 2 bow guys. Hunkering down doesn't seem to really be the solution? I live on top of a hill specifically so I can avoid the mob spam.

You have to light up the inside of your house and fence/wall off the outside where it isn't lit, then they shouldn't spawn or get inside.

It also gets much easier to deal with them once you have metal weapons and better armor.

[MagpieOAO]

3 hours ago, Shotai said:

Howdy, I'm on day 11 and hitting the copper stage. I've been looking for copper for a long ass time now, however, my issue is more or less the enemy spawns. Originally, I did not start the game with a grace period. So, I got 2 tapped by a bow guy; rage quit the save, started a new game with a 5 day grace period. Great, Now I can actually build equipment before I get 2 tapped by an enemy that I couldn't even spot in the time it took me to die.

Except now that the grace period is over. The enemy spawns are . . . everywhere. If I could kill them all in one batch, that'd be fine. But it's constant. And by constant, I mean, it's never ending. I had 6 spears at one point and broke all 6 killing a horde in a small ass cave. I ran out of flint just making spears to handle this BS. I had 45 arrows ready for one expedition, couldn't even get into the cave because I ended up blowing that and another 6 spears just trying to find out whether or not that specific cave has copper in it.

Is this suppose to be the difficulty cap for the game? Look, I'm experienced in survival games. Block games too. But wow, throwing endless hordes at you is just . . . numbing. Combined with the fact that my character needs to eat 10 meals a day or else I'll die; it's a really big vibe killer to have to sift through.

 

My understanding is enemies spawn on 2 factors, temporal stability and light level. You need to have windows in your house to keep it lit when you're gone, this can be done easily with a wattle fence, you can make 5 with a handful of sticks and a knife. For night you'll need a light in there, torches last 48 hours so replacing them every morning will help.

If your temporal stability is too low, enemies will spawn around you regardless.

An improvised shield requires some reeds and sticks and will block 100% of projectiles while actively blocking. Alternatively you can make some hay blocks which can be quickly put down and picked up and will block everything as well.

Before you go to check caves hit C and check what the general temporal stability is. If it's calm, enemies might not spawn much in caves even in darkness. If it's higher, expect lots of enemies. 

RE needing to eat all the time, copper; Sprinting and working (digging,chopping wood, fighting, etc) drains satiation and when looking for copper and other ores its useful to walk around anyhow because you'll find surface deposits by finding rocks. Make sure to mark them on your map to come back for later once you have a pick, dig down around 6 blocks and you'll usually find it. 

 

[Maelstrom]

1 hour ago, Shotai said:

An hour ago I was chilling at my house and I had to fight off 5 drifters and 2 bow guys. Hunkering down doesn't seem to really be the solution? I live on top of a hill specifically so I can avoid the mob spam.

One question - Did you expect this game to behave similarly to other games?  Minecraft specifically?

Ok, maybe that was two questions.   Sorry, didn't mean to lie to you.

[Zane Mordien]

@Shotai I live in a dirt hut and never venture out at night. That keeps me pretty safe. You just have to keep the torches going to stop the spawns in the hut. I just spend night time working on pottery, panning bony soil, cooking and metal working. Food is manageable once you starting cooking in a cooking pot. Eating a big meal pauses the hunger timer, which slows down how much you need to eat.

 

Good luck! You'll get there.

[LadyWYT]

3 hours ago, MagpieOAO said:

RE needing to eat all the time, copper; Sprinting and working (digging,chopping wood, fighting, etc) drains satiation and when looking for copper and other ores its useful to walk around anyhow because you'll find surface deposits by finding rocks. Make sure to mark them on your map to come back for later once you have a pick, dig down around 6 blocks and you'll usually find it. 

Tagging on to this here--hunger rate is also affected by armor type, weather, and things carried in the off-hand slot. If you have something in your off-hand slot, that automatically increases your hunger rate by 20%. Equipping armor will increase hunger as well, at a proportional rate to how heavy the armor is. Heavier armors drain more hunger in return for providing more protection, while lighter armor drains less but offers less protection. As for weather, being outside in the cold can increase your hunger rate if you're not near a heat source, although I think this hinges on your game settings regarding winter(true winters enabled, I think).

[Shotai]

4 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

One question - Did you expect this game to behave similarly to other games?  Minecraft specifically?

Ok, maybe that was two questions.   Sorry, didn't mean to lie to you. I'm just better than you. I'm stronger. I'm faster. I'm Better. I. AM. BETTER!

 

[Shotai]

1 hour ago, LadyWYT said:

Tagging on to this here--hunger rate is also affected by armor type, weather, and things carried in the off-hand slot. If you have something in your off-hand slot, that automatically increases your hunger rate by 20%. Equipping armor will increase hunger as well, at a proportional rate to how heavy the armor is. Heavier armors drain more hunger in return for providing more protection, while lighter armor drains less but offers less protection. As for weather, being outside in the cold can increase your hunger rate if you're not near a heat source, although I think this hinges on your game settings regarding winter(true winters enabled, I think).

Oh wow, this is actually really useful to know. I don't think armor is viable early game then? It sounds like I basically need to make 15-20 torches and start lighting the place up. I cannot live in a dirt hut atm because of dirt/gravel fall physics, so I'm limited to a pretty small space. The cog weather is a new concept I'm gonna have to learn, maybe build a couple of different places to live for when portals decide that I can't live in my house anymore.

Though atm I don't use the offhand except in caves and I walk everywhere I go unless if I'm actively in danger or hunting. What am I suppose to do when 2-3 rifts just open up at the outskirts of my house? Can I destroy them? What happens when I stand on it?

[Thorfinn]

Improvised armor is fine, and I haven't noticed anything about bear armor. Then again, I'm always trying to speed up the hunger rate in the early game to boost HP, so I'm carrying offhand, sprinting, jumping off short cliffs to get the damage counter running, getting soaking wet and cold, etc.

No, you can't destroy them. Just light up the inside of your house and do some clayforming or something else to keep you busy. BTW, pull up the handbook to see what you can do with dirt.

[LadyWYT]

8 minutes ago, Shotai said:

I don't think armor is viable early game then?

It depends. Early armor won't let you tank enemies or anything, breaks easily, and wears down your resources faster. However, it can absorb a hit or two, which can buy you enough time to escape whatever's trying to kill you. I would say it's something that's useful for newer players as a bit of a safety device, but quickly loses value as a player becomes more skilled at the game. Veteran players tend to skip early armors entirely, as they've developed enough skill to be able to easily go without it. However, it's not always the case...as a veteran player, I still use things like improvised armor on occasion, as sometimes I'm accident prone.

 

13 minutes ago, Shotai said:

I cannot live in a dirt hut atm because of dirt/gravel fall physics, so I'm limited to a pretty small space.

Personally I play with the cave-in mechanic turned off. If I'm not mistaken though, you should be able to use the dirt blocks to craft packed dirt, which should be sturdy enough to build the traditional starting dirt box house.

 

14 minutes ago, Shotai said:

The cog weather is a new concept I'm gonna have to learn, maybe build a couple of different places to live for when portals decide that I can't live in my house anymore.

The temporal mechanic is pretty weird until you get the hang of it. The most important thing to remember is that when you're choosing a base, you ideally want a location where the gear is either spinning clockwise, or not spinning at all. Clockwise means a stable area; no gear movement means the area is either neutral, or stable but you're at full stability already. If it's spinning counterclockwise, that's bad--you're losing stability, and losing enough will eventually cause monsters to start spawning(around 25-33% full), and even kill you if it's drained to zero for an extended period.

 

16 minutes ago, Shotai said:

What am I suppose to do when 2-3 rifts just open up at the outskirts of my house? Can I destroy them? What happens when I stand on it?

You don't want to stand in rifts, as doing that rapidly drains your stability. The most you can do is wait for the rift activity to subside--the rifts will disappear on their own with time. Keeping areas well lit will help prevent them from spawning, but if one happens to spawn in an inconvenient location the best thing to do is just find something to do elsewhere for a little while. 

As for destroying rifts...there is a late game item called the rift ward, that will stop rifts from spawning within a certain radius provided that the ward is powered. 

[MagpieOAO]

1 hour ago, Shotai said:

Oh wow, this is actually really useful to know. I don't think armor is viable early game then? It sounds like I basically need to make 15-20 torches and start lighting the place up. I cannot live in a dirt hut atm because of dirt/gravel fall physics, so I'm limited to a pretty small space. The cog weather is a new concept I'm gonna have to learn, maybe build a couple of different places to live for when portals decide that I can't live in my house anymore.

Though atm I don't use the offhand except in caves and I walk everywhere I go unless if I'm actively in danger or hunting. What am I suppose to do when 2-3 rifts just open up at the outskirts of my house? Can I destroy them? What happens when I stand on it?

Torches are also really useful to start fires, much better than the firestarter. Eventually you can find something to help make your torches last and not need to swap them, or replace them. 

In my experience portals always spawn on the surface and roughly on a flat space. I built my house into a spire (Tall, narrow mountain) and because it's so relatively high, portals are never near me. I've also built 3 floors so on the odd occasion a portal appears on top the spire or maybe on the roof, I can move down a level or two and it's fine. It's always a slow enough drain to manage unless you're right on top of them or underground. 

In addition to what LadyWYT noted on packing dirt (two rows of 3) straw can make for a makeshift 'door' given it can be easily made and quickly broken to pick up without tools. Also wattle gates (a small L of sticks with the knife in the corner) can act as reliable early doors that can even be seen through. Enemies might press up against them but I've never had them open one

[Zane Mordien]

2 hours ago, Shotai said:

 I cannot live in a dirt hut atm because of dirt/gravel fall physics, so I'm limited to a pretty small space. 

Just make packed dirt, which is just made by placing 6 dirt of any kind in two rows of the crafting grid. 6 regular dirt = 6 packed dirt. It is stable so you can build with it and it never grows grass. It's very useful for marking things as it sticks out visually. So I mark resin on trees with it along with making a map marker. Or when I'm playing wilderness survival with no map I use it to mark everything so I can find resources later.

[Maelstrom]

12 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

losing enough will eventually cause monsters to start spawning(around 25-33% full)

Monster spawnage due to low temporal stability doesn't happen until below 20%.  Around 25% the visual effects of a temporal storm warn you that things are not going so well and seek *ahem* "higher ground" quickly.

[LadyWYT]

2 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

Monster spawnage due to low temporal stability doesn't happen until below 20%.  Around 25% the visual effects of a temporal storm warn you that things are not going so well and seek *ahem* "higher ground" quickly.

Ah okay. I knew it was a very low percentage, I just wasn't sure how low. I usually skedaddle back to safety once I hit the 30% mark. 

[Maelstrom]

I'm down in the salt mines, err...   Iron mines, copper mines, you name it mines, until 25% and sometimes drop below 20 before I'm climbing the ladder. 

It's really cool to emerge from the mineshaft on a clear night, stars twinkling and Dave patrolling the perimeter.