Cold Biome Cattail/Reed-recipe Variant needed? Every Biome should be viable for starter storage. Vanilla Player

[Fistandantilus]

Hey all, ☻
I searched the forums (maybe not well enough,apologies if this has been brought up already), but I couldn’t find a clear answer to this. Are there any reliable ways to get cattails or reeds in colder biomes?

In my experience, once you move into climates colder than temperate, cattails just stop showing up entirely. Yet in real life, several species of cattail are extremely cold-hardy, some even grow in central Alaska, surviving winters down to -31°F (-34°C)☼. That suggests a biome-specific variant could make sense. 

I bring this up because starter storage, like hand baskets and reed chests, is definitely preferred during the early Stone Age phase. Having to rely on luck or travel long distances for basic storage feels rough and breaks the otherwise strong "every biome is viable" design philosophy that I felt Vintage Story generally sticks to.

Would a cold-weather alternative recipe or resource make sense here? Maybe an alternative like bark weaving, snowgrass, or conifer-needle mats? Just something to allow players in cold regions a fair shot at early-game QoL without needing to relocate. Pine-needle weaving would absolutely suck to do in real life, Haha.

Would love to hear if others have Vanilla, unmodded workarounds, or thoughts on balancing this. Thanks! 

Edited August 8, 2025 by Fistandantilus

[Murklak]

I feel like this wouldn't be a problem if we could stockpile every item. Is it space efficient? No, not at all. Reed chests would still be preferable but there's nothing in reality keeping me from piling up food in the corner. If a storage item really is desired for progression, making grass mats to stack items upon seems like a realistic option that is viable pretty much everywhere. Frankly, I'm attracted to the idea of having an outdoor thatch roofed area with piles of raw materials while more precious/volatile items are piled inside my hut.

Edit: Of course, the need for cattails to expand personal inventory is the bigger issue.

Edited August 11, 2025 by Murklak

[Krougal]

Starting in the extreme cold biomes (or hell, even just moving there later) are for people who want an extreme challenge.

You can also just leave your food lying around on the ground, so there is that.

I don't think we really need yet another resource that is the same thing with a different name; it would be simpler just to broaden the temperature range that cattails grow in.

Doubly so since it is just an early game problem; it's too cold for bees which is really the only use case that continues throughout the game. At least until we get some kind of more modern beehives.

[Fistandantilus]

20 hours ago, Krougal said:

Starting in the extreme cold biomes (or hell, even just moving there later) are for people who want an extreme challenge.

You can also just leave your food lying around on the ground, so there is that.

I don't think we really need yet another resource that is the same thing with a different name; it would be simpler just to broaden the temperature range that cattails grow in.

Doubly so since it is just an early game problem; it's too cold for bees which is really the only use case that continues throughout the game. At least until we get some kind of more modern beehives.

I agree, that's why I looked up and found that Cattails grow in negative temperatures based on variety, it really is the simplest solution. I used Alaska as my example but there were many others. Plenty of blocks have a seasonal color palette change but even that might not be necessary.

[LadyWYT]

For Cool climate zones, cattails do exist, but aren't common. You'll find them in the few warmer chunks that are scattered about.

As for the arctic itself...you'll need to locate cracked vessels that hold arctic supplies. 

The other alternative is using a mod like Wildcraft: Trees and Shrubs, which adds special cane sticks from certain trees that can be used to craft handbaskets and basic storage chests. Unfortunately, that mod also hasn't been updated, and does not seem to work on the most recent game version.

On 8/8/2025 at 5:02 PM, Krougal said:

Starting in the extreme cold biomes (or hell, even just moving there later) are for people who want an extreme challenge.

Krougal's hit the nail on the head though--the colder climate starts are for those looking for a more challenging game.

[cosmobeau]

Honestly implementing More Piles and different storage containers other mods have brought to the table would be nice, feels like they should be apart of the vanilla experience.  Although, this is kinda a non issue, Clay Vessels are pretty damn early game too IMO if you know where to look, and things like cold resistant foliage, just like clay in VS, is very difficult to spot in the snow.

They're adding more variants of utility blocks, decorative blocks, entities and new things too to the game in these recent releases so we might expect some more variety when it comes to preparing for winter, or venturing into the northern climates.

I don't think I've ever spawned in a region so cold it was always snowy. This is because there aren't actually biomes in the game, there are poles, an equator, etc and regions, geology, all those things determine the weather, climate, and ecosystem of any given area. Tropical areas spawn in places that would make sense in real life, as do colder areas.

You have to venture pretty far just to get to the tropics even after tinkering with world gen settings, nevermind snowy areas unless you reach high altitudes. So you kind of have to go out of your way to get there, and by that time you can get cattails and roots along the way 

Edited August 10, 2025 by cosmobeau

[Krougal]

56 minutes ago, cosmobeau said:

Honestly implementing More Piles and different storage containers other mods have brought to the table would be nice, feels like they should be apart of the vanilla experience.  Although, this is kinda a non issue, Clay Vessels are pretty damn early game too IMO if you know where to look, and things like cold resistant foliage, just like clay in VS, is very difficult to spot in the snow.

They're adding more variants of utility blocks, decorative blocks, entities and new things too to the game in these recent releases so we might expect some more variety when it comes to preparing for winter, or venturing into the northern climates.

I don't think I've ever spawned in a region so cold it was always snowy. This is because there aren't actually biomes in the game, there are poles, an equator, etc and regions, geology, all those things determine the weather, climate, and ecosystem of any given area. Tropical areas spawn in places that would make sense in real life, as do colder areas.

You have to venture pretty far just to get to the tropics even after tinkering with world gen settings, nevermind snowy areas unless you reach high altitudes. So you kind of have to go out of your way to get there, and by that time you can get cattails and roots along the way 

You would have to choose to spawn in the arctic, same as warm or hot. Default is temperate.

The issue isn't so much static storage (clay vessels), it is you cannot make the first 2 tiers of personal storage upgrades without cattails/papyrus. Not only can you not make hand baskets, you also can't make hunters packs. So until you get enough flax to make sacks or leather to make backpacks, you are going to be limited to your hotbar.

I don't think you are going to be growing much flax up there either. Honestly it sounds like a miserable experience no matter what.