progression Pelts & oil lamps worth making?

[Byrnorthil]

I've just made a windmill, autohammer, & pulverizer (in hindsight that one was a mistake and I could've just made a quern instead...), and I'm realizing that this all takes a ton of fat which I don't have. I didn't bother doing much hunting or any domestication during the early game because I could feed myself just fine on crops & berries, and the in-game progression guide refers to oil lamps and lamellar armor as "cheap" and "early-game", so the 5 or so fat I did acquire went into those. And now I'm regretting having made them... Which was my mistake: crafting that gear, or being a vegetarian? If I'd bothered to fence in some hogs a few hours in would I be fine?

Edited Sunday at 05:54 PM by Byrnorthil

[Byrnorthil]

The wiki refers to fat as "one of the most common drops" and as mentioned the in-game progression guide also refers to it as "cheap"... Did it used to be more common? It just feels like everything is expecting fat to be 2 or 3 times as abundant as it has been for me.

[LadyWYT]

43 minutes ago, Byrnorthil said:

Which was my mistake: crafting that gear, or being a vegetarian?

Being a vegetarian was the mistake, or more precisely: not hunting more. You don't necessarily have to eat the meat that you hunt, as it can be composted, but hunting is the primary source of fat. Killing wolves, foxes, and raccoons is relatively easy and typically yields at least one piece of fat(though foxes and raccoons don't always drop fat), and pigs are a great source of redmeat for meals and fat.

 

45 minutes ago, Byrnorthil said:

If I'd bothered to fence in some hogs a few hours in would I be fine?

Hogs are handy to have, as they produce big litters and mature relatively quickly, but do keep in mind that livestock does require some time and effort to really get going. Hunting will be your primary source of meat, fat, and hides in the early game, even if you manage to pen wild hogs on day one.

 

42 minutes ago, Byrnorthil said:

The wiki refers to fat as "one of the most common drops" and as mentioned the in-game progression guide also refers to it as "cheap"... Did it used to be more common? It just feels like everything is expecting fat to be 2 or 3 times as abundant as it has been for me.

To my knowledge, no, the drop rate hasn't changed. As I said above, the main issue seems to be that you haven't placed much priority on hunting. Most players will hunt fairly often, especially in the early game, if for no other reason than to acquire hides and fat.

As to the question of whether oil lamps and pelts are worth making...yes, but it also depends on your playstyle preference. Pelts make good winter clothing, which you won't need in warmer climates. Huge pelts can make crude bellows, which you don't necessarily need either if you have access to leather. Pelts can make good decor too, but decor isn't critical to survival. Oil lamps don't provide enough light to stop spawns, but they are cheap to make and will provide enough light to see what's in the area, and dealing with visible threats is much easier than trying to deal with threats obscured by darkness.

[PoisonedPawn777]

If you aren't going to hunt or keep livestock then yes, it won't be a particularly plentiful resource for you. I've usually got a couple stacks laying around by years end, this also comes with the experience of knowing what I want to use it for. As for oil lamps and lamellar, I rarely bother with either save maybe one lamp as an early game waterproof light source. Wood lamellar isn't worth the resources when compared to improvised in my opinion.

[cjameshuff]

My first world, fat was more precious than gold. My luck was so bad I didn't even realize raccoons and foxes dropped fat for multiple in-game years and had given up on trying to hunt them as a waste of time once I was breeding hares (which provide pelts and meat but no fat), and there simply wasn't much bigger game around. I eventually got a herd of goats, but fat was a post-steel-tier material for me. My main source of light was lanterns built from the few candles I got out of bony soil.

My second world, there's pigs everywhere and it was trivial to get them into a pit and then into a fenced enclosure to breed, bighorn sheep keep wandering through and I've got a herd of those going. Pigs breed fast and are a quick way of getting fat and medium hides.

Edited Monday at 11:24 AM by cjameshuff

[ArgentLuna]

The Word is Pigsplosion. Once you reach that state you no longer need to worry about meat, fat or hides. Particully once they are bred enough that a cleaver works and you dont have to fight them for the parts.