Final Log After 200 Hours in a Snowball Earth

[EnbyKaiju]

After about 210 hours spent in this long dark apocalypse I think I'm finally ready to close this chapter of my adventures. This was about 2 full in-game years with 20 day months (which made for very long, dark winters), on wilderness survival which was...a real challenge.

There's only really so much that I could find to do on a snowball earth though, with so few biomes & seasons to work with, so it was never going to be a forever world. That is probably going to be for when the next update drops and I can finally let loose with all the ideas I've been planning up. But I'm really proud of what I accomplished here.

Most of the story elements done aside from the very end. I reached the equator, both on foot and by elk, to find the last remnants of humanity to trade with. I've steel, sturdy leather, and all the mechanical power I could need. Domesticated livestock and enough food & ale in my pantry to keep my belly full. And a cozy castle keep built atop a basalt outcropping in the middle of a frozen lake that I fight off the eldritch monsters that come for me from my nightmares. If there is such a thing as thriving in an endless winter, I've made it there.

Thank you, Vintage Story devs, for giving me something I could throw myself into when real life is such a struggle. And thanks to this wonderful community for always sharing kind words and feedback & demonstrating that the fandom for this game is the best around. I wouldn't still be here without this game enjoy. for that I'll always be grateful  

From my snow-topped castle at the North Pole, this will be my final log on this stage of my journey. Winter is fun to visit, but I wouldn't recommend living here

-Kaiju

[BabaTheFool]

Thats awesome, love the castle, especially the mushroom room. I'd love to try a challenge like this myself at some point cause it seems like an absolute blast. Was it below freezing the whole time? It looks like you have a greenhouse, so I'm curious about it

[EnbyKaiju]

1 hour ago, BabaTheFool said:

Thats awesome, love the castle, especially the mushroom room. I'd love to try a challenge like this myself at some point cause it seems like an absolute blast. Was it below freezing the whole time? It looks like you have a greenhouse, so I'm curious about it

Snowball earth runs are a fantastic challenge that I'd highly recommend if just because it teaches you how to do more with less. Most of your standard resourses are coming out of storage vessels, no real trader access, and most of your food supply will be meat. And you'll never find a better way to perfect the art of spear-throwing.

Temperature wise the way Vintage Story handles it is that the further you are from the equator the greater the shift in yearly temperature. So while winters can get down to -40c+ (I think the worst I had was -50c, you get maybe 10 minutes outside before you freeze to death), the height of summer will go up to about 10c. Not great, but plenty to grow most cold-weather crops. I hope you like rye bread, haha. If you make greenhouses you can give yourself a little extra room to grow. I've even grown rice, but you have to be real good with your timing to get it to last the full growing cycle.

The old "I spent 100 days in a snowball earth" youtuber trick used to be to grow all the stuff underground where it's warmer. But VS devs added an option to stop that being a thing by default and I agree with it. Mushroom farming underground I'd be cool with, but not the crops that need sunlight.

A word of warning. It is the kind of challenge where you're probably going to die a lot. If not to the cold, or the hunger, then the polar bears who are waiting behind every snow drift. So be kind to yourself and maybe leave keep inventory on death on. It'll save you wanting to rage quit when you're having to travel thousands of blocks across glaciers to find your stuff.

Good luck! And if you have any other questions feel free to ask