New player. I know Winter is coming. Mimimal spoiler tips, please?

[Makeshift]

With minimal spoilers, what do I need do do to avoid a death loop come Winter? I already have some spoilers, attempting to avoid more it is SO HARD BECAUSE I WANT TO JUMP INTO COMMUNITY. This post is so I hopefully stop spoiling myself before experiencing more.

My expectation of said Death Loop: Dying of hunger, freezing, and being bludgeoned to death over and over in a slow, painful purgatory until Winter finally ends. My current impression of VS is Minecraft meets Don’t Starve, and Don’t Starve taught me Winter needs PREP or else you die.

 

How much food should I expect to need? What will I need for warmth? And is there any spoiler creature/event I should stock up on/prep for? (Just asking for the seasonal prep, not event.)

Also looking for bare minimum required for hunting. I am not a hunter. A wolf attacked me and I left her alone after she ran from injuries because I saw she had a puppy.

[eggkn0g]

i'm about halfway through my own first winter right now and i've been slowly eating through my (quite small) vegetable reserves to make soups, and using my grain that i've scavenged to make bread and pies. i had ~45 parsnips and carrots each, and now im down to single digits of both, and i've used probably ~32 rye so far. meat is scarce in the cold, so if you explore during the daylight, i'd take any opportunity to gank something easy, like a raccoon, fox or boar. though the upside is that i've seen very few wolves, and like 2 bears!

as for warmth, i've used well over a dozen stacks of firewood to this point. i made sure to dedicate a lot of time collecting wood during the fall so i'd have plenty for winter, and it's paid off. use whatever hide and fat you've acquired to make some cured pelts and turn them into fur clothes for that extra warmth boost too. daytime is never above 0°C and nights get down to -25°C in January. you'll also have an increased hunger rate if you stay outside in the cold, so always bring some food with you if you're exploring. it's also important to mention that temperatures started dropping below 0°C in October during the night, and just kept dropping, so plan your farming accordingly! (this is all assuming that you live in a temperate climate like i do :p)

as for spoiler creature/events, i haven't encountered anything except for some temporal storms which i just bunker down in the cellar for (after saying hello to dave of course!).

[V1ncent]

Welcome to the forum @Makeshift @eggkn0g!

I do agree with most of @eggkn0g's experience, though...

19 minutes ago, eggkn0g said:

daytime is never above 0°C and nights get down to -25°C in January.

My temperate start position usually ends up with -15°C in January, so -25 is really the harsher part of a temperate start position.

Speaking of preparation for winter, it is really about the temperature of your living zone. If your base is as cold as eggkn0g, you should plan ahead and explore for crop seed ASAP and plant them on medium fertility farming block. Turnip is your good friend, as they grow fast(one month) and yield quite some vegitable for your balanced diet.

[LadyWYT]

Welcome to the forums and the game!

12 hours ago, Makeshift said:

How much food should I expect to need?

It depends on class and climate. The default starting zone is temperate; winter usually settles in around late October/early November, with spring arriving late March/April. Crops generally won't be able to be planted until late April/May, and will take time to mature, so bear in mind that farmed crops will take some time. Berries usually start to become ripe around late April/early May. Mushrooms will spring up earlier, but aren't the best main food source. Hunting or livestock are still going to be your best food sources if your food stores begin to run low. Fish can be good too, if there are several in nearby ponds that can be easily caught, but otherwise I don't really consider fish a viable food source, for the most part(though that's changing in 1.22).

As for class, the only class currently that will require more food is Blackguard, due to the class's increased hunger rate.

Overall, having 4-5 fully stocked shelves of sealed crocks of meaty stew should be enough to last you at least most of the winter. Do keep in mind though that it's better to have too much food stored than not enough, so it's not really possible to overprepare for winter.

12 hours ago, Makeshift said:

What will I need for warmth?

Fur coat, fur boots, and fur gloves are a good start. Rawhide shirt and pants(trousers) are good as well, if you're having trouble repairing your other clothes. Standing near a fire or lit forge is a good way to warm up quickly, but if you're in a properly insulated room/cellar/greenhouse, you should be able to warm up without a fire, albeit at a slower rate. 

You don't really need to stockpile firewood/peat, but it also doesn't hurt to have some handy for basic cooking/warming up.

12 hours ago, Makeshift said:

And is there any spoiler creature/event I should stock up on/prep for? (Just asking for the seasonal prep, not event.)

Currently, no. The only thing to account for here is temporal storms, but there's not really much prep to do for those other than making sure you have good equipment(at least bronze, though iron/steel is much better) and adequate medical supplies if you're going to try fighting through one, or a safe spot to hide/work indoors if you're going to play it safe.

If you have enabled sleeping during temporal storms though, you should be able to just sleep through them and thus, not worry about it.

13 hours ago, Makeshift said:

Also looking for bare minimum required for hunting. I am not a hunter. A wolf attacked me and I left her alone after she ran from injuries because I saw she had a puppy.

Flint/stone spears is the minimum required for hunting. They're cheap and easy to make, and do decent damage at range. Melee they're pretty flimsy but they have a longer reach than other melee weapons. A longbow and arrows will save on the inventory space, once you have the means to make such. Flint arrows will work just fine, but metal arrows will be better if you're willing to invest in them.

[Zane Mordien]

19 hours ago, Makeshift said:

I saw she had a puppy.

Wolf puppies are good eating. 

[Robert Johnson]

Get lots of Dragon Glass and go to the north over the wall and find the Drifter known as The Night King. Kill that Drifter and it will keep winter from coming.

[Dark Thoughts]

20 hours ago, Makeshift said:

My current impression of VS is Minecraft meets Don’t Starve

More like Minecraft's TerraFirmaCraft but standalone.

Anyway...
It's not really that hard to be honest.
1. Farm enough food. Especially turnips are fast and easy to grow early on. From farming flax (which you want tons of) you should also get a bunch of grain as emergency food. If it gets too cold, wait for the crops to die before you rip them out - this gives you a guaranteed seed back (I don't know why they did it this way).
2. Pay attention to your farms nutrient levels. Each crop needs a different type, so make sure to rotate your crops around to have soil nutrients replenish over time.
3. Rooms! Make sure you have a valid cellar room! It caps the temperature at +5 degrees, slowing down spoilage times significantly.
4. More rooms! By winter you also want to make sure that your main rooms in your base are valid rooms. This gives a temperature bonus while protecting you from the cold). If you do not stay in valid rooms, it will count as outside and severely increase your hunger rate!
5. Speaking of hunger rate. Don't hold off-hand items if you don't need them. They increase your hunger rate by 20%. Same for heavy types of armor of course.
6. Turn your hides into pelts, especially huge ones, to make fur clothing and maybe even the new bear armor for extra heat protection.
7. Don't bother with wasting valuable fat on crocks or preserving crocks & food early on in general - this is a common noob trap. Raw veggies will last a long time in a storage vessel in a valid cellar - especially during winter. You really just need crocks for your prepared meals (I usually cook up 2x pots for 6 crocks in rotation).
8. If all things fail, you can always hunt. And hunt cleverly! A pit to trap animals in will make it much easier for them not to get to you or anywhere else, while you can throw spears at them. People survived even the polar regions that way.
9. Absolute worst case, move south and enjoy the warmer temperatures.

[Makeshift]

4 hours ago, Zane Mordien said:

Wolf puppies are good eating. 

I don't have the heart yet to kill a parent with a pup!

 

3 hours ago, Dark Thoughts said:

More like Minecraft's TerraFirmaCraft but standalone.

Haven't played that, but have played a lot of Don't Starve. Can only reference what I know lol. And thank you! That's two people mentioning turnips and fur, so very much noting to focus on those.

[Ratbatboo]

I will add that several people recommended a 'cellar or properly insulated room.'  This is a room where all walls are dirt or stone with no gaps, preferably no glass skylights, and a door, trap door, or just even dirt blocks closing off the way out. This will make food last longer, especially food in crocks or storage jars (or crocks IN storage jars). The room has to be smaller than 7x7x7 to be a cellar, or smaller than 14x14x14 to be a room. A room has several effects: warmth from fires spreads further, outside cold temps no longer lower body temperature, body temperature will gradually adjust towards normal (rather than freezing), and the harsh winter hunger penalty doesn't apply.

One way to tell if it's a real room is to watch your torch and see if it is showing wind effects.

Spoiler

Another way is to type in /debug rooms hi and then /debug rooms unhi which will color all blocks of a proper room green and color any problem blocks red.

Cellars are smaller than rooms and reduce food spoilage. You probably don't want to try to live in your cellar, as I don't think it'll give the same heat benefits and starting a fire in it might reduce the spoilage bonus if the game keeps track of actual temperatures. Note that just burying a storage jar in a hole with a dirt block on top counts as a cellar, so it's not hard to keep your crocks stored this way (just don't forget where you buried it).

If you're lucky enough to have found bees and made a skep, you can use beeswax to seal crocks to extend their lifespan even further.

[Zane Mordien]

8 hours ago, Makeshift said:

I don't have the heart yet to kill a parent with a pup!

That's why you eat both of them!

[Zane Mordien]

21 hours ago, Dark Thoughts said:

2. Pay attention to your farms nutrient levels. Each crop needs a different type, so make sure to rotate your crops around to have soil nutrients replenish over time.

@Makeshift Alternatively, just dig out the soil and replace it if the nutrient is spent for the seed you are planting. There is nothing sacred about farm plots and medium fertility soil is abundant. 

Dark Thoughts has provided a good list. One thing he didn't mention which is another noob trap is the temperature ranges on the seeds. I think he meant this in item 1, but ignore the temperature ranges. Getting 75% to 50% yield on a crop is better than nothing. Also don't wait for wild seeds to mature before you pick them. Grab every wild crop ASAP and plant it as he says. 

 

PS. Eat the wolf puppies! The meat just falls off the bone. 

Edited March 5 by Zane Mordien

[Dark Thoughts]

5 hours ago, Zane Mordien said:

One thing he didn't mention which is another noob trap is the temperature ranges on the seeds. I think he meant this in item 1, but ignore the temperature ranges. Getting 75% to 50% yield on a crop is better than nothing.

I specifically meant to farm until it gets too cold. There's no reason to stop earlier, because at best you end up with fewer crops, and at worst you just lose some nutrients (which replenish fast enough if you rotate / have them go fallow). Because when the crop is dead, it always drops the seed back, which is not guaranteed when you break the crop in one of its earlier stages.