Dear Diary.....

[Emanuel My Lord]

So setting up a fence this morning and these two wander in.... Anything I should know about goats? How many haybales should I stock up on?

 

Lo

[Maelstrom]

19 hours ago, Emanuel My Lord said:

For real, I got this game because everyone raved about how realistic it is........ My dude got a space tapeworm? Annoying is not difficult.... 

Let's also consider the length of the month.   9 days is default, indicating that time is condensed.  However, changing it to a more "realistic" 30 days still condenses time as the days are not actual 24 hours, but about 20 minutes.  So none of this is very realistic.

As others have noted, the realism label is in comparison to that other popular block game not a comparison to real life.   If this (or any game) did not make unrealistic mechanics nobody would play the game for it becoming a Real Life Simulator.   Why simulate real life for fun, when you can live real life for real?

 

As for the goats?   I'll refrain from answering until you indicate what level of realism you're expecting.   Because if the eating thing makes you go bonkers, the answer your asking for will send you over the edge of the world.

Edited December 16, 2025 by Maelstrom

[LadyWYT]

5 hours ago, Emanuel My Lord said:

Anything I should know about goats? How many haybales should I stock up on?

The first thing to do is make sure one is male and one is female, as you need a proper breeding pair in this game to get baby animals. Assuming you have a breeding pair, simply wait for the female to be ready to breed, then feed her 10 portions of food and they'll get down to business.

If you don't have a pair, then it's dinnertime. If they're both females you could keep them and hope for a male, or if they're both males you could kill one and hope to find some girlfriends for the other.

[LadyWYT]

1 hour ago, Maelstrom said:

Why simulate real life for fun, when you can live real life for real?

Pretty much. If it takes me an hour to do something in a videogame, that I can just as easily do in one hour in real life, then real life is going to take precedence since that will have tangible results that are beneficial to me.

Plus I mean...there are certain processes natural to life, that are missing from the game because they don't really anything good to the gameplay. It's why one can read Lord of the Rings but not see a single potty break referenced; obviously it's business the characters need to do on the daily, but it's not something the reader needs to read about directly in order to know it happened, and it's definitely not going to be interesting to read about most of the time.

[Emanuel My Lord]

2 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

Let's also consider the length of the month.   9 days is default, indicating that time is condensed.  However, changing it to a more "realistic" 30 days still condenses time as the days are not actual 24 hours, but about 20 minutes.  So none of this is very realistic.

As others have noted, the realism label is in comparison to that other popular block game not a comparison to real life.   If this (or any game) did not make unrealistic mechanics nobody would play the game for it becoming a Real Life Simulator.   Why simulate real life for fun, when you can live real life for real?

 

As for the goats?   I'll refrain from answering until you indicate what level of realism you're expecting.   Because if the eating thing makes you go bonkers, the answer your asking for will send you over the edge of the world.

Ahh so I will disregard anything coming from yourself since I cannot possibly have a differing point of view without myself being bonkers.  Go play dragon a bit more.

[Emanuel My Lord]

1 hour ago, LadyWYT said:

The first thing to do is make sure one is male and one is female, as you need a proper breeding pair in this game to get baby animals. Assuming you have a breeding pair, simply wait for the female to be ready to breed, then feed her 10 portions of food and they'll get down to business.

If you don't have a pair, then it's dinnertime. If they're both females you could keep them and hope for a male, or if they're both males you could kill one and hope to find some girlfriends for the other.

It is a breeding pair. I will keep and eye on the female to see when I can force feed her. Thank you.

[Maelstrom]

29 minutes ago, Emanuel My Lord said:

 Go play dragon a bit more.

 How come everyone assumes I'm a dragon?   
Is it because I compassionately warn others about their dealings with dragons?   I just thought it to be some wise advise; better than the "don't eat yellow snow" variety.

Hmm...   Maybe I'll have to research what it takes to be genetically transformed into a dragon, now.  

[Emanuel My Lord]

38 minutes ago, Maelstrom said:

 How come everyone assumes I'm a dragon?   
Is it because I compassionately warn others about their dealings with dragons?   I just thought it to be some wise advise; better than the "don't eat yellow snow" variety.

Hmm...   Maybe I'll have to research what it takes to be genetically transformed into a dragon, now.  

As compassionately as you weakly attempt to deride new players for expressing their views on the game? While at the same time withholding the information they sought from the community? O-o. Real Pope Maelstrom here. XD

[Slam]

1 hour ago, Emanuel My Lord said:

It is a breeding pair. I will keep and eye on the female to see when I can force feed her. Thank you.

I know, first reaction of me wasn’t great, but no one mentioned you need a trough, unless that was already assumed, then please ignore me.

[Teh Pizza Lady]

2 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

It's why one can read Lord of the Rings but not see a single potty break referenced; obviously it's business the characters need to do on the daily, but it's not something the reader needs to read about directly in order to know it happened, and it's definitely not going to be interesting to read about most of the time.

IMPLYING LEGOLAS AND ARWEN DIDN'T JUST MAKE GLITTER??!?

Blasphemy.

[Maelstrom]

2 hours ago, Emanuel My Lord said:

As compassionately as you weakly attempt to deride new players for expressing their views on the game? While at the same time withholding the information they sought from the community? O-o. Real Pope Maelstrom here. XD

Given your intial post about how impossible food consumption seems to be compared to what your perception of reality was I wanted to get a reading of how realistic you expected animal feeding to be before providing an answer since the answer about animal fodder is even more ridiculously unrealistic than that for seraphim.

To answer your request in total:  animal need food for only two things, breeding (mechanics described by others) and fattening for slaughter.   If you do not have either activities intended for the animal (here's the absurditly unrealistic thing) they do not need be fed at all and will not ever starve; even if enclosed in a stone enclosure with no possibility for foraging.

[Emanuel My Lord]

2 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

Given your intial post about how impossible food consumption seems to be compared to what your perception of reality was I wanted to get a reading of how realistic you expected animal feeding to be before providing an answer since the answer about animal fodder is even more ridiculously unrealistic than that for seraphim.

To answer your request in total:  animal need food for only two things, breeding (mechanics described by others) and fattening for slaughter.   If you do not have either activities intended for the animal (here's the absurditly unrealistic thing) they do not need be fed at all and will not ever starve; even if enclosed in a stone enclosure with no possibility for foraging.

I expect to subvert my expectations of reality in any game. Eating a entire bear for breakfast and starving before dinner is a bit more of a stretch than I could swallow. That aside I have found the game mechanics most pleasing. I have meals made now and the step between forage and meals is very stark.

I have to admit burning through 3 copper prospecting picks chasing borax was..... mildly frustrating until I figured out there were two prospecting modes. But now that I understand the two modes that is workable.

I found the large feeding trough quickly.... That is to say bunny hopping after a female goat for half a hour trying to feed her berries before finally reading the wiki. XD I am a bit disappointed the animals do not require food other than to breed. I do not know why but spending days cutting grass to stock up for the new baby goats seemed a worthwhile endeavor. But it is what it is. I am quite curious how the generational taming works now so I will focus on that.

[Emanuel My Lord]

4 hours ago, Slam said:

I know, first reaction of me wasn’t great, but no one mentioned you need a trough, unless that was already assumed, then please ignore me.

I was military most of my adult life my friend. I harbor no ill feelings at all but I do speak my mind freely. Feel free to speak your mind freely to myself as well. These make the best friends in my experience as you never have to guess what they think. They will lay it all out and it is what it is. These are the people I tend to befriend.

[Maelstrom]

12 hours ago, Emanuel My Lord said:

I expect to subvert my expectations of reality in any game. Eating a entire bear for breakfast and starving before dinner is a bit more of a stretch than I could swallow. That aside I have found the game mechanics most pleasing. I have meals made now and the step between forage and meals is very stark.

I have to admit burning through 3 copper prospecting picks chasing borax was..... mildly frustrating until I figured out there were two prospecting modes. But now that I understand the two modes that is workable.

I found the large feeding trough quickly.... That is to say bunny hopping after a female goat for half a hour trying to feed her berries before finally reading the wiki. XD I am a bit disappointed the animals do not require food other than to breed. I do not know why but spending days cutting grass to stock up for the new baby goats seemed a worthwhile endeavor. But it is what it is. I am quite curious how the generational taming works now so I will focus on that.

Learning curve is pretty steep.   Although reading accounts of new players since about 1.18 seems that it isn't as steep as it once was.   I think the tutorial and guides have helped to reduce the curve from a cliff to a very steep climb. 

The challenges that VS provides is why I don't play most other games.  I grew up on games that came with a book that taught you the controls of the game but anything in the game was left to you to figure out.   Most games in the past 15-20 years dumb down the challenge factor so much there isn't a challenge anymore.  I blame TOBG for this.  

[Bumber]

8 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

The challenges that VS provides is why I don't play most other games.  I grew up on games that came with a book that taught you the controls of the game but anything in the game was left to you to figure out.   Most games in the past 15-20 years dumb down the challenge factor so much there isn't a challenge anymore.  I blame TOBG for this.  

Is TOBG really an offender of that? It didn't even have a in-game guide on crafting recipes until much later in its development. You're left to discover how to cure villagers and make nether portals based on hints from structures that were also added later. Wither summoning is based on an in-game painting. Potions are still just complete guesswork without a wiki. IIRC, using dripstone and a cauldron to duplicate magma was explained in a patch note.

Meanwhile, VS has a detailed handbook that mostly replaces the wiki.

Edited December 17, 2025 by Bumber

[LadyWYT]

10 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

The challenges that VS provides is why I don't play most other games.  I grew up on games that came with a book that taught you the controls of the game but anything in the game was left to you to figure out.   Most games in the past 15-20 years dumb down the challenge factor so much there isn't a challenge anymore.  I blame TOBG for this.  

 

1 hour ago, Bumber said:

Is TOBG really an offender of that? It didn't even have a in-game guide on crafting recipes until much later in its development. You're left to discover how to cure villagers and make nether portals based on hints from structures that were also added later. Wither summoning is based on an in-game painting. Potions are still just complete guesswork without a wiki. IIRC, using dripstone and a cauldron to duplicate magma was explained in a patch note.

Meanwhile, VS has a detailed handbook that mostly replaces the wiki.

Eh, kinda/sorta. Minecraft wasn't really a kids game when it was first created, but that's eventually what it morphed into. Originally it didn't have a crafting guide at all, but one did get added to the game at some point, as well as more streamlined achievements to help loosely guide the player through the game's progression. While Vintage Story might have a much more thorough handbook of information than Minecraft, I do think it's important to note that Minecraft has been around so long and grown so much that it's very easy to look various information about the game. Technically, you don't even need the internet to do so; you could probably just ask any kid or younger adult and they will probably be able to answer at least basic questions about the gameplay.

In terms of difficulty, there are some things about Minecraft that can be tough(like redstone), but for the most part it's really only a challenge for kids and isn't likely to pose much of a challenge for an adult. That's not really a bad thing, but if one wants to do more than just build, explore, or redstone, Minecraft is probably going to be underwhelming.

As for games dumbing down challenge over the years...I think at least part of it is due to the introduction of the internet. In the early days, the internet was still a bit of a novelty, and if you wanted to know more about a game you had to either play the game more yourself, ask your friends, buy a strategy guide, or read a gaming magazine that covered it. Once more information started getting dumped on the internet though, then it became a lot easier to just look various things up online.

The other part of it, I think, is many games get watered down in order to try to appeal to a wider audience, and thus make more money via game sales and merchandising. The Elder Scrolls series is a good example of that; I wouldn't call Skyrim a bad game, but it's a mere shadow compared to some of its predecessors.