Let’s think about players who like to play this game for a long time.

[kalifer]

A familiar situation: after several in-game years in Vintage Story, everything becomes too easy. You have more than enough resources, plenty of food, and the game loses its initial appeal. Building and decorating your base is great, but you want something more.

Here are several effective ways to bring back excitement and challenge

After 1 or 2 in-game years, the weather conditions in the game should change.

Complex Weather Events for Vintage Story by Season

Winter:

Ice Storms — extremely low temperatures where snow accumulates in layers, blocking access to resources and buildings. Effect: temperature drops to -20°C, snow can reach several blocks in height, creating ice blockages. Special equipment is required for movement.

Crystal Blizzards — microscopic ice crystals that cut unprotected skin and damage machinery. Effect: reduction of character’s health, damage to tools and buildings. Protective masks and reinforced structures are necessary.

Spring:

Mudflows — powerful flows of water and mud capable of destroying buildings and carrying dangerous microorganisms. Effect: destruction of foundations, water contamination, spread of diseases. Construction of protective dams and water drainage systems is required.

Acid Rain — precipitation with increased acidity that destroys plants and metal structures. Effect: damage to crops, corrosion of tools, damage to buildings. Acid-resistant materials are necessary.

Summer:

Dust Storms — hot air currents lifting dust and sand, reducing visibility and causing fires. Effect: reduced visibility to several blocks, risk of building fires. Installation of filters and fire protection systems is required.

Heat Anomalies — zones of extreme heat where temperatures rise to critical levels. Effect: dehydration of the character, spoilage of food, death of plants. Cooling systems and special storage facilities are necessary.

Autumn:

Storm Tides — sudden rises in water levels, flooding coastal areas. Effect: destruction of dams, flooding of storage facilities, crop damage. Construction of floating platforms and protective walls is required.

Hail Storms — large hailstones damaging roofs and windows. Effect: destruction of glass structures, damage to crops. Reinforced roofs and protective coverings are necessary.

Special Events:

Climate Anomalies — disruption of weather cycles where several extreme events occur in one day. Effect: unpredictable conditions requiring quick adaptation.

Temporary Weather Portals — areas with abnormal weather (e.g., blizzard in summer). Effect: local climate changes requiring special survival strategies.

Protection Mechanisms:

Specialized Structures — reinforced storage facilities, protective barriers, water drainage systems.

Special Equipment — heat-resistant suits, protective masks, filtration systems.

Warning Systems — weather stations, early warning systems.

Survival Strategies:

Creation of reserves

Planning activities based on weather forecasts

Construction of protective structures

Don’t even mention mods, I hate playing with mods. When you play with mods, it feels like you’re playing a Chinese knockoff for 3 zlotys.

[LadyWYT]

12 hours ago, kalifer said:

A familiar situation: after several in-game years in Vintage Story, everything becomes too easy.

Um...that's the reward for making progress in the game though. Everything should get easier overall as the player acquires better equipment and tech. If the player isn't actually able to be more effective at tasks or have a safer base with better tech, then they really aren't making any more progress than a hamster running on a wheel.

 

12 hours ago, kalifer said:

After 1 or 2 in-game years, the weather conditions in the game should change.

Absolutely not. Weather conditions should remain consistent for a region so that players can play appropriately for the weather in their region. If the weather is changing drastically from year to year, that's just going to punish the player and strip them of the ability to plan for the future.

13 hours ago, kalifer said:

Winter:

Ice Storms — extremely low temperatures where snow accumulates in layers, blocking access to resources and buildings. Effect: temperature drops to -20°C, snow can reach several blocks in height, creating ice blockages. Special equipment is required for movement.

Crystal Blizzards — microscopic ice crystals that cut unprotected skin and damage machinery. Effect: reduction of character’s health, damage to tools and buildings. Protective masks and reinforced structures are necessary.

An ice storm would probably be fine as an occasional hazard for certain regions, but probably shouldn't have this severe of effects. The player still needs to be able to handle the conditions, after all. It's also not a good idea to go damaging structures or tools like that unless the player has clear ways to prevent such damage, especially in the cases of intricate chiselwork or machinery like windmills that actively can't be put under protective cover.

I'm also not sure how code for such things would work when taking such things into account.

13 hours ago, kalifer said:

Mudflows — powerful flows of water and mud capable of destroying buildings and carrying dangerous microorganisms. Effect: destruction of foundations, water contamination, spread of diseases. Construction of protective dams and water drainage systems is required.

Again, no, for similar reasons as above. Getting progress wiped by something the player really didn't have a way to prevent isn't fun, unless they are actively wanting to play with that severe of punishment. I don't think that's most players, so it works as an optional modded challenge, but not so much for the base game.

13 hours ago, kalifer said:

Acid Rain — precipitation with increased acidity that destroys plants and metal structures. Effect: damage to crops, corrosion of tools, damage to buildings. Acid-resistant materials are necessary.

Best as mod, since this doesn't really fit a medieval-type setting.

 

13 hours ago, kalifer said:

Summer:

Dust Storms — hot air currents lifting dust and sand, reducing visibility and causing fires. Effect: reduced visibility to several blocks, risk of building fires. Installation of filters and fire protection systems is required.

These already exist in the game in dry regions, are not limited to summer, and will reduce visibility. I will also note that dust storms themselves don't cause fires.

 

13 hours ago, kalifer said:

Heat Anomalies — zones of extreme heat where temperatures rise to critical levels. Effect: dehydration of the character, spoilage of food, death of plants. Cooling systems and special storage facilities are necessary.

I believe this is called a desert.

 

13 hours ago, kalifer said:

Storm Tides — sudden rises in water levels, flooding coastal areas. Effect: destruction of dams, flooding of storage facilities, crop damage. Construction of floating platforms and protective walls is required.

Again, it's not fun for the player to have progress wiped due to something they couldn't prevent.

 

13 hours ago, kalifer said:

Hail Storms — large hailstones damaging roofs and windows. Effect: destruction of glass structures, damage to crops. Reinforced roofs and protective coverings are necessary.

Hail storms already exist in the game, and already damage the player if the hailstones are large enough. I would agree that hail ought to damage crops--that's both realistic, and hailstorms are rare enough to keep it from being too punishing of mechanic. However, hail shouldn't be damaging structures, as that is both a lot harder to code/more expensive to fix, and strips players of the option of using greenhouses to protect crops.

 

13 hours ago, kalifer said:

Special Events:

Climate Anomalies — disruption of weather cycles where several extreme events occur in one day. Effect: unpredictable conditions requiring quick adaptation.

We already have this somewhat, in the form of temporal storms. And given the mixed feelings regarding those, I don't see this being a popular addition at all. Likewise, there's absolutely no way for the player to plan for this kind of event, so it's just arbitrary punishment.

 

13 hours ago, kalifer said:

Temporary Weather Portals — areas with abnormal weather (e.g., blizzard in summer). Effect: local climate changes requiring special survival strategies.

Same as above--it strips players of the ability to plan appropriately for their climate and acts as arbitrary punishment.

 

13 hours ago, kalifer said:

Protection Mechanisms:

Specialized Structures — reinforced storage facilities, protective barriers, water drainage systems.

Special Equipment — heat-resistant suits, protective masks, filtration systems.

Warning Systems — weather stations, early warning systems.

Keeping in mind that the setting is the late Middle Ages, so a lot of this tech will be limited. Likewise, I don't think "build a reinforced nuclear bunker, or else!" is really the vibe that the game is going for.

 

13 hours ago, kalifer said:

Survival Strategies:

Creation of reserves

Planning activities based on weather forecasts

Construction of protective structures

I mean, sure, but if the weather events are completely random, there's not really a way to make plans to handle them. As I said before, regional weather should be consistent, so the player can actually make appropriate--ie, players who settle in tropical regions shouldn't be needing to prep their bases for blizzards and such.

 

13 hours ago, kalifer said:

Don’t even mention mods, I hate playing with mods.

Okay, and that's fine, but most of these ideas still work better as modded challenges since most of them have rather niche appeal. That way players who want that kind of challenge can have it, without changing the base game for the majority. It's not really fair to change the default game experience for everyone to suit an individual's specific gameplay preferences.

[Teh Pizza Lady]

13 hours ago, kalifer said:

Don’t even mention mods, I hate playing with mods.

Okay, so let me get this straight.

You want everyone to play the game this way?

Okay fair, let's make it this way. You mention some things but let me summarize why or how they won't work without mods.

• Ice Storms — extremely low temperatures where snow accumulates in layers, blocking access to resources and buildings. Effect: temperature drops to -20°C, snow can reach several blocks in height, creating ice blockages. Special equipment is required for movement. That... that is not how ice storms develop, but also easily countered by not building in a colder climate. Just build in a temperate climate and ... done.

• Crystal Blizzards — microscopic ice crystals that cut unprotected skin and damage machinery. Effect: reduction of character’s health, damage to tools and buildings. Protective masks and reinforced structures are necessary. I would put emphasis on WHAT machinery? Windmills? Correct me if I'm wrong, but windmills are largely unaffected by snow/ice as long as they keep moving mostly because the snow/ice cannot stick to them well, however I would point out that you're asking for EVERY player in the game to outright lose access to a vital piece of equipment for a period of time... a piece of equipment that takes a considerable investment of materials to craft. Also, just build in a temperate climate where you don't have to worry about such things.

• Mudflows — powerful flows of water and mud capable of destroying buildings and carrying dangerous microorganisms. Effect: destruction of foundations, water contamination, spread of diseases. Construction of protective dams and water drainage systems is required.  Mud flows are only possible near bodies of flowing water, hill country, etc. EZ solution, don't build near rivers. This has been common knowledge since the dawn of mankind. I topkek every time I see on the news that someone who built something valuable near a river got flooded or washed out during a storm. Heckin' dingdongs, the lot of them.

• Acid Rain — precipitation with increased acidity that destroys plants and metal structures. Effect: damage to crops, corrosion of tools, damage to buildings. Acid-resistant materials are necessary.  Acid rain is caused by aerial pollution and only became widespread with the industrial revolution. Not possible in this game.

• Storm Tides — sudden rises in water levels, flooding coastal areas. Effect: destruction of dams, flooding of storage facilities, crop damage. Construction of floating platforms and protective walls is required.  Don't build near bodies of water, ggez

• Hail Storms — large hailstones damaging roofs and windows. Effect: destruction of glass structures, damage to crops. Reinforced roofs and protective coverings are necessary.  Already in the game. Hail isn't large enough to destroy meter-thick glass. another ggez

• Dust Storms — hot air currents lifting dust and sand, reducing visibility and causing fires. Effect: reduced visibility to several blocks, risk of building fires. Installation of filters and fire protection systems is required.  Already in the game. EZ counter is to just not build in the desert. and live in a temperate climate.

• Heat Anomalies — zones of extreme heat where temperatures rise to critical levels. Effect: dehydration of the character, spoilage of food, death of plants. Cooling systems and special storage facilities are necessary.  see above

• Specialized Structures — reinforced storage facilities, protective barriers, water drainage systems.

• Special Equipment — heat-resistant suits, protective masks, filtration systems.

• Warning Systems — weather stations, early warning systems.

for reasons outlined above, the last 3 aren't needed or wouldn't fit into the theme of the game. I won't mention the other things you suggested simply because VS is based on playability first and realism second. Some of what you mention would make the game unplayable for newcomers or just simply aren't realistic to real-world models.

Honestly, it sounds like you played a different survival game and then tried out VS and wish you were still playing the other survival game. I won't say you have a bad idea, but given the quality of it, I think it would be better suited to a sort of "dangerous weathers" type mod so people have a choice whether to play this way or not, especially since you are suggesting altering the difficulty.

[Teh Pizza Lady]

22 minutes ago, LadyWYT said:

I believe this is called a desert.

A brain cell went into this reply and made me giggle.

[kalifer]

OK OK OK But can you at least add how to make ice cream in game ? Just don't talk about mods.

[kalifer]

and pizza whit ananas

[LadyWYT]

13 minutes ago, kalifer said:

OK OK OK But can you at least add how to make ice cream in game ?

I went and looked it up...believe it or not, ice cream(or a similar frozen dessert) would actually be a feasible addition. It didn't really become a thing in Europe until the 1700-1800s, but it seems to have existed during the Middle Ages in places such as China. So there's certainly some wiggle room for adding it.

Though I would say that if it was added to the game, it should be a food that the player has to eat immediately--no storing it, or it melts!

[Teh Pizza Lady]

11 minutes ago, kalifer said:

OK OK OK But can you at least add how to make ice cream in game ? Just don't talk about mods.

you would need milk for sure... from either sheep or goats. I think some sort of sugar source, maybe honey? ice and salt are already there, same for eggs.

You would need to craft an icecream machine using a copper cylinder and a bucket. Some sort of (at least bronze) paddle with gears and a crank. Obviously you can also hook it up to a windmill.

Then you would mine glacier ice, crush it with a hammer and mix it with salt to create a frozen slurry. Then add your milk - honey - egg mixture and crank it like a quern for a while until it's done and enjoy your frozen treat!

So the ice cream machine would need to be added to the game and would require copper, a soldering iron, a bronze ingot, a bucket, angled gears, and some sort of wooden plank platform. You could even make it modular like the pulverizer so that iron and steel paddles enable you to add extra ingredients like fruits and whatnot.

[LadyWYT]

1 minute ago, Teh Pizza Lady said:

You would need to craft an icecream machine using a copper cylinder and a bucket. Some sort of (at least bronze) paddle with gears and a crank. Obviously you can also hook it up to a windmill.

Would you actually need this, or could you get away with adding something like a butter churn instead, and thus have a device that's got multiple uses?

 

2 minutes ago, Teh Pizza Lady said:

I think some sort of sugar source, maybe honey?

Honey would work, but this is also a prime opportunity to add sugar cane as a tropical crop.

[Teh Pizza Lady]

1 minute ago, LadyWYT said:

Would you actually need this, or could you get away with adding something like a butter churn instead, and thus have a device that's got multiple uses?

 

Honey would work, but this is also a prime opportunity to add sugar cane as a tropical crop.

solid suggestions.. didn't think of that. Thanks, Goldilocks.

[Teh Pizza Lady]

24 minutes ago, kalifer said:

and pizza whit ananas

dough already exists. Ananas already exists in the game in the form of pineapple. Would need to add tomatoes as a hot weather crop (they are native to south america in the peruvian region). Redmeat from piggies = ham = canadian bacon and you have the abomination known as Hawaiian Pizza.

I hate it here.

[kalifer]

Just now, Teh Pizza Lady said:

dough already exists. Ananas already exists in the game in the form of pineapple. Would need to add tomatoes as a hot weather crop (they are native to south america in the peruvian region). Redmeat from piggies = ham = canadian bacon and you have the abomination known as Hawaiian Pizza.

I hate it here.

Pineapple pizza is a masterpiece. What can be compared to the beauty of God

[kalifer]

Just now, LadyWYT said:

I went and looked it up...believe it or not, ice cream(or a similar frozen dessert) would actually be a feasible addition. It didn't really become a thing in Europe until the 1700-1800s, but it seems to have existed during the Middle Ages in places such as China. So there's certainly some wiggle room for adding it.

Though I would say that if it was added to the game, it should be a food that the player has to eat immediately--no storing it, or it melts!

To store ice cream, you need to make a glacier.Cutting ice blocks in winter 

And then make a glacier out of them

[Teh Pizza Lady]

1 hour ago, kalifer said:

Pineapple pizza is a masterpiece. What can be compared to the beauty of God

Me.

 

And pepperoni

[kalifer]

Just now, Teh Pizza Lady said:

Me.

 

And pepperoni

 

we do not have pepperoni in Vintage storry but we have Ananas 

although it would be interesting to make sausages and wieners in the game

[Bruno Willis]

17 hours ago, kalifer said:

A familiar situation: after several in-game years in Vintage Story, everything becomes too easy. You have more than enough resources, plenty of food, and the game loses its initial appeal. Building and decorating your base is great, but you want something more.

Hey, to get back to the original post, I think there is something to the idea of upping the challenge after a certain amount of time has passed. I've used this technique in a survival board game and it was really helpful for balance. The way I see it is, in the same way you enter the world in spring not winter, you would also enter the world during a good year or two. After two years have passed, random interesting environmental effects get unlocked (although I agree, the listed effects are mostly too extreme). They would be weighted so you'd never get more than one each year, and might go two years without seeing any (hence the relative calm of the first two years).

As well as offering a challenge, I'd use these natural disasters to 'fix' odd terrain created by the player - flooding could be more like single dirt-block borders of bodies of water collapse and the water floods over, filling the void with gravel and muddy gravel, covered by a layer of water (obviously you wouldn't want this to fill massive cave systems so IDK). 

Sandstorms could flush new sand blocks across deserts, ideally gradually building dunes against the sides of walls and structures for that classic sand submerged city vibe. 

Earthquakes could cause un-supported tunneling to cave in, as if you had cave-ins turned on (or cause unstable blocks to cave in more easily if you do have cave-ins turned on).

A weeklong rain could cause forest floor blocks to spawn tree saplings if they've been deforested and new reeds to grow if they've been cut out (essentially a renewal of the growing elements of the land). Maybe it could also cause a sort of flooding, using the mechanics of the flood fill command in world edit, which would limit the sorts of spaces which could be flooded to enclosed bowls in the landscape. When the rains end the flooding would go too. 

I think this sort of thing would add a whole lot to the game, including adding a whole lot of extra work for the devs, and it's pretty far down on my wish-list, but I do think the idea suits VS.  

[Echo Weaver]

3 hours ago, Bruno Willis said:

Hey, to get back to the original post, I think there is something to the idea of upping the challenge after a certain amount of time has passed.

Yeah, I don't hate the idea of having more problems that need mitigation later in the game. The weather disasters would need to be appropriate for the climate, but otherwise this could be interesting.

What I expect to do with my late-game "forever world" is play the story, then possibly set myself some stretch goals for things like multicolor drystack (which I LOVE the look of but am not going to be messing with a game that has almost any other goal) and copper roofing (wish these both could look good on the same building, but I tried in creative, and EW NO).

Edited September 24, 2025 by Echo Weaver

[Zane Mordien]

21 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

Absolutely not. Weather conditions should remain consistent for a region so that players can play appropriately for the weather in their region. If the weather is changing drastically from year to year, that's just going to punish the player and strip them of the ability to plan for the future.

Nightmare bowtorns in your first storm added to the game = acceptable 

Weather changing year 3 = blasphemy!

 

Okay, thats just me giving you grief, but doesnt this contradict your stance the game should be challenging and the player shouldnt be comfortable in this eldritch horror world? Besides, Bowtorns and shivers got dropped in and that changed how players plan for the world and we have to adapt. 

I would like to see something to give the game a challenge as you get further in the game play. I personally like the idea of the games getting harder over time and not everything on day 1. On a server it could just be disabled since it would be punishing. 

[Thorfinn]

15 minutes ago, Zane Mordien said:

doesnt this contradict your stance the game should be challenging and the player shouldnt be comfortable in this eldritch horror world?

I don't believe that's her position. Its more that you should not be comfortable until you achieve the advancements to make it comfortable. Farming gets rid of the constant search for food, animals for milk and eggs, windmill for manually doing everything, particularly the tedious stuff, etc. And steel armor gets rid of much of the threat from storms.

[EDIT]

I don't do anything more than utilitarian chiseling, and it doesn't sound like you do, either. That would be a serious problem for people who do, though. 

"So they can just shut that off."

"Yes, or the few who want that can just add a mod."

Doesn't matter much to my playstyle anyway. I rarely play more than one year before it becomes too meh and I start a new world to get some of the thrill back, as well as to work on avoiding the errors I made in the last playthrough.

Edited September 24, 2025 by Thorfinn

[captanredbeard]

All this sounds amazing, but is the kind of thing that should be regulated to a mod.

[LadyWYT]

14 minutes ago, Zane Mordien said:

Nightmare bowtorns in your first storm added to the game = acceptable 

Weather changing year 3 = blasphemy!

 

15 minutes ago, Zane Mordien said:

Okay, thats just me giving you grief, but doesnt this contradict your stance the game should be challenging and the player shouldnt be comfortable in this eldritch horror world? Besides, Bowtorns and shivers got dropped in and that changed how players plan for the world and we have to adapt. 

That did actually make me giggle a bit.  @Thorfinn gets it though--the player shouldn't be comfortable until they've made adequate progress appropriate for their settings in order to achieve that comfort. And once the player has put in the time and effort to achieve comfort via progress(like building machinery for easier metalworking or steel for better equipment) then they shouldn't just have all that stripped away from them just because they played the game for X amount of time.

In regards to nightmare monsters spawning in the first temporal storms...that's much different than the natural weather changing drastically after X amount of time "just because". The player knows up front what they are getting into with temporal storms, for the most part, and has adequate advance warning and time to figure out a way to deal with it, whether it be fighting through the storm or hunkering down until it's over. Likewise, the first storms are fairly weak compared to later storms, and the weaker storms tend not to spawn as many high tier monsters.

In other words, temporal storms are a big challenge early on, but they don't wipe player progress and the player is able to develop better equipment to handle the storms. What's been proposed here is much different, in that the proposal is arbitrary natural disasters that don't give the player advance warning, aren't countered by the player making progress, and actively wipe out the player's progress in many cases. 

[Thorfinn]

19 minutes ago, LadyWYT said:

What's been proposed here is much different, in that the proposal is arbitrary natural disasters that don't give the player advance warning, aren't countered by the player making progress, and actively wipe out the player's progress in many cases. 

I'm not sure it really helps WITH notice. Realistically, what can you do to protect your massive chiseling project from a damaging ice storm? Build a packed earth building around it, and remove it after winter passes? This is supposed to be interesting gameplay, relieving the tedium of existence?

Seems to me a much better solution for those of us who enter a state of ennui as comfort builds is just start a new game. Play the fun parts over again. Set your own challenges, like you are allowed only 8 tiles under cultivation. Limit yourself to one storage. Not one type. One. You get to decide if you take the 12 slot storage vessel for the longer food lifespan, or the 40(?) slot trunk. (In case you couldn't guess, I don't use them anymore. They just feel cheaty.) Or maybe trunks are off-limits, and it's the 16 slot chest. Can you use aged crates and other found containers? You decide. Or nothing higher than stone your first year, copper your second, etc. A no armor challenge. No axe challenge. (Yes, it can be done.) There are all kinds of ways to make the later game more interesting if the standard progression model bores you to tears. 

Edited September 24, 2025 by Thorfinn

[LadyWYT]

3 minutes ago, Thorfinn said:

I'm not sure it really helps WITH notice. Realistically, what can you do to protect your massive chiseling project from a damaging ice storm? Build a packed earth building around it, and remove it after winter passes? This is supposed to be interesting gameplay, relieving the tedium of existence?

Yeah pretty much. I think the idea was meant to be more interesting gameplay, but relying on more tedious challenge to make it interesting. Hence why it does work as a mod, but not really for the base game, since most players aren't really after something that brutally punishing.

 

5 minutes ago, Thorfinn said:

Seems to me a much better solution for those of us who enter a state of ennui as comfort builds is just start a new game. Play the fun parts over again. Set your own challenges, like you are allowed only 8 tiles under cultivation. Limit yourself to one storage. Not one type. One. You get to decide if you take the 12 slot storage vessel for the longer food lifespan, or the 40(?) slot trunk. (In case you couldn't guess, I don't use them anymore. They just feel cheaty.) Or maybe trunks are off-limits, and it's the 16 slot chest. Can you use aged crates and other found containers? You decide. Or nothing higher than stone your first year, copper your second, etc. A no armor challenge. There are all kinds of ways to make the later game more interesting if the standard progression model bores you to tears. 

Yeah pretty much. I generally keep one vanilla world going, just to mess around with new content more easily as it releases as well as have a longer-running world. Multiplayer is modded, so friend and I have extra goodies to mess with, but I usually have a modded singleplayer world as well, for messing around if not actually playing. That's usually where I add in extra challenges like thirst or disease or whatnot, to see how well an idea actually works or to just have some additional challenges.

[Echo Weaver]

16 minutes ago, Thorfinn said:

Seems to me a much better solution for those of us who enter a state of ennui as comfort builds is just start a new game.

Yeah, this is a game where you get to decide when you've beat the game, but you still beat the game. Just because it's open-ended doesn't mean the game will be challenging forever. Think about Sim City -- eventually your city just runs itself while you watch. If you want the challenge again, start over and set some starting conditions different to get a different playthrough. 

Probably not the best example because that game, or at least the iteration I played, DOES have natural disasters, but you get where I'm going . That Other Block Game and other sandbox games are the same way.

 

[Thorfinn]

A good example that I'm now playing through (because of a new major release with a whole new ship concept) is No Man's Sky. Beautiful landscapes, if a bit repetitious. There's a tutorial that gets you through most of the game concepts that you can probably finish in about 20 hours, but since you can build 400 bases on different planets in different systems and galaxies, if you are a builder, you could stretch that into years. If you are a completionist, at least decades, or, if you wanted to just set foot on every planet, not in one lifetime. There are something like 18 billion of them. But in maybe 10 hours you can equip yourself and your ship(s) to the point that nothing can defeat you, unless you screw up. Self-frags from grenades, for example, or not noticing your shields are getting low. I'm getting close to running out of new content. So trade away your buff ship to some NPC for his junky ship and space pirates can be a threat again. Trade away your weapons for starting junk and experience the thrill of having to run from the basic enemies again.

VS is a lot like that. You don't really need to have the game impose goals or challenges on you. If you like the challenge of rebuilding after disasters, just construct everything out of wood and burn the thing down whenever you get bored. If you aren't a vanilla purist, it would be easy to make whatever building materials you use flammable, and you could (presumably) get the thrill of chiseling the whole thing again. Or pick up stakes and build somewhere else. Or start a new game on a higher difficulty or with different goals. "Irwin M. Fletcher, you choose."

Edited September 24, 2025 by Thorfinn