Weird FOMO while playing

[sauvojenn]

Hey there
I've been playing for about ~150 hours in total time combined across 2 worlds, and both experiences had very similar trend for me - beginning is just sorting out priorities like food>shelter>upgrades and everything is well here. But when I reach around iron age, in both worlds it was about fall, something changes for me. Everything becomes about efficiency and not enjoyment. For example: I gotta make my farm bigger, while I do that also have to get my leather flow going; after that, this year I didn't have time to build a vineyard so I have to do it now in winter to have more time to get bushes in the spring and summer and so on; without any break even to make my home pretty. This turns experience into point A to B eternal journey of searching "now I am finally complete" feeling, where all is about getting quicker to next tech or whatever milestone I put before myself. In a sense, I think this is sort of fomo, but why it appears if everything is the same in the next in-game year and what can be done now also can be done later?
I never had any issue like this in any other game, minmaxing is also not really something I do. But I have no idea here why this happens here.
Also I dismiss copper and bronze age, and almost don't do any tools there aside from necessary for progression (so I run around with flint tools even in bronze age)
Any tips or your own ways of how you find enjoyment in the game?

Edited Monday at 07:31 PM by sauvojenn

[Zaph42nd]

Minmaxing is definitely easy to get into, my suggestion to work around it is either changing the duration of months (timescale) and slowing down in each age, mods can help with this a lot too but I recommend using them sparingly (can easily throw off balance and flow). Personally been doing 30 day months which makes the game admittedly a lot slower (that helps mitigate the min-max related to season length/duration) and beautifying my structures helped a lot too (my greenhouses aren't efficient or even that effective but they stand out and look nice) in breaking up the tedium. Multiplayer is also nice for reducing that fomo and grinding since you can delegate specific progression milestones to players (I find myself taking on the role of being an explorer or scavenger when I play w/ friends, dedicated smithy makes the tools, farmer does all the crop upkeep, etc...) and focus on what you enjoy in the game most

[Hanril]

I do feel that efficiency freak comes out with age, especially since we're plugged into wikis and soure code all the time. It does feel rewarding for a while, but with no one to appreciate it there's mostly no use for it. I always had more food than I needed, smallest leather tanning room became just a hoarding hobby after getting the best armor. Iron was still something that needed to be upkept.

I guess I won't be too original recommending exploring and collecting. Leave your homestead and start anew far away, rough it out in the wild, go hunt for some exotic species of animals and plants, collect butterflies, fish, antlers, best chunks of ore. Build structures to help you navigate, chisel the hell out of them. I'm not much of a server player, but I guess playing with other people, preferably tight knit group, would be more rewarding. More reason to optimize when it's not just for you.

As for the tools, this is a spirit dad thing. You go through shovels so quick that using metal feels almost wasteful. Stick tongs are perfectly fine, biodegradable, and practically grow on trees. Use it until it disintegrates.

But ultimately if you're done with the story so far, progression, exploration, I guess you can also give it a rest for a while and come back later.

Edited Monday at 08:23 PM by Hanril

[Bruno Willis]

1 hour ago, sauvojenn said:

Also I dismiss copper and bronze age, and almost don't do any tools there aside from necessary for progression (so I run around with flint tools even in bronze age)
Any tips or your own ways of how you find enjoyment in the game?

In my most recent play-through, I had the soul goal of building a base that would be suitable to house all the lore books from location 1. I started chiseling with copper, very early on, and let progression fall by the way-side, and I had way more fun. I've found myself only cracking through a tech barrier when I really need to, and that seems to help. Maybe starting out with an idea of your character and goal helps too? 

[MirthOfManus]

As everyone else has said, minmaxing is a very easy trap to fall into for any game and I suspect a good amount of people who play this game tend to optimize the fun out of their games and then drop the game when they reach iron/steel. I have certainly done this before and wondered why I was not having fun with such an amazing game. I am of the opinion that when someone reaches the steel tier, the game does not have much to keep people around other than building. I love building but, unfortunately, for me, it is not a strong enough reason alone to keep playing for an extended period.

I think part of the solution is as the others have pointed out, is just slowing down your race through the metal tiers. This seems to be an inherited behavior from that one block game which Vintage Story is not built around. You will, inevitably, reach iron/steel though so what do you do once you reach that point? Until the full game is out, I am not sure there is a one stop solution for everyone which is why I think mods fill this gap nicely. I have the VS Village mod by Gerste which provides a motivation in the form of town/city building and management. I will not get too deep into it for the sake of brevity but it has provided a whole new mechanic for me to interact with and plan around which gives purpose and motivation to my building and resources. I recommend you find a similar mod which allows you to be creative while still having a purpose other than decoration.
 

Thanks,
MirthOfManus

P.S. Taking a break from the game is never a bad thing. Letting yourself get excited about playing the game again and maybe making a long term goal could help with your long-term enjoyment.

[Michael Gates]

I think the important thing is to know what you actually want to accomplish in the game world. It's important to have a to-do list, and getting to iron age, having enough food stored for winter, maybe putting up a mill are good things to have on it; but right after those, you've got to put down "MAKE GIANT PENIS STATUE." Or whatever. If you want an Impossibly cute tiny cottage with little hearts chiseled on everything, write that down. Make it official. 

And now, I'm going to contemplate the giant penis statue with the little hearts chiseled all over it.

[Juwan Alexander]

Currently trying to speedrun steel age so I can spend the rest of my free time doing other stuff. Minmaxing in this game is optional since you can just change the settings to give yourself more time to prepare for winter, but those first 30 or so IRL hours have to be spent wisely or else you'll suffer like I did when I first downloaded TerraFirmaCraft. It's just about the only way I can have fun in this game because I like to stockpile materials to give my builds more variety. Can't do it efficiently without the best tools in the game, just like in Minecraft lol.

Edited Tuesday at 04:35 AM by Juwan Alexander

[IAmMoss]

when i get bored i return to nomadic life for quite awhile. go out and discover new locations, make fobs at cool spots, and then return when i get bored. home life becomes fun again. rinse repeat. 

 

it works for me at least

 

[MobiusvanMars]

Use your imagination, think of projects to do, and - maybe this is not a popular opinion - I do the long play A LOT like I used to do TOBG long play survival, where I only went underground for materials, and only into the nether to get some netherrack. So this game I play much reduced on the temporal dangers and I never bother with the story tbh. 

Of course this game is more grounded and less cartoony and there is more work to be done, but the REASON to do all that work, the end goal for me is the same. Building a cosy area to live in, create a little pocket of civilisation in a wild world (on a smaller scale than TOBG and with more functional builds, but that's really it)

From early game through mid game to end game the pace goes from RUSH TO COPPER to a chore filled bronze age getting materials and preparing for winter* to a more laid back iron age where it's time to build and when the snow melts explore more for different material types and start building some more. Not everything at once!

As the pace gets from THE RUSH to steady focused chores to more time to think, some imagination is needed to build nicer things. For me the simple building phase is usually around the first winter and getting a bit more detailed around spring/summer of year 1.  And don't overestimate me here. I'm no artist. I'm no 1x1 chiseler. I start blocky and then just chisel SOME edges and details and add SOME colors  to make builds a bit more interesting 1 little step at a time. Then maybe add a balcony, or build out the 2nd floor a bit in medieval style. Just a few improvements to get away from a TOBG looking blocky build.

Don't ask too much of yourself either. Don't try to do as the youtubers do, just get some inspiration from them and SIMPLIFY. Think of a project, something you want to have. Something useful like replace the simple blockhouse-and-pillar windmill with something that actually looks like a windmill, build a bigger and nicer barn, a small tannery build away from the house (it smells), etc. 

When I get bored of the homestead and think there are enough builds and little things, I roam the land freely (mostly playing on the passive creature setting) and build something a bit of distance away, like a dock with light house at the coast**. Or a museum to house all the interesting decorations found in ruins (I play with better ruins). 

House a seashell collection, crystallized ore collection, butterfly collection, flower collection, etc. 

Make a silly folly building just for the whatever. Put a waterfall on top of it and build a little flower garden around a pond at the base.

Make an insane 500 block bridge to that island or peninsula with that one translocator that actually goes somewhere useful. Make that bridge just a little bit less blocky with some simple arches and railing. Light it up with whatever type of lanterns you're able to mass-produce. Now there is a thin line of light and civilisation stretching beyond view distance.

Quit the world for a while when inspiration runs out. Just play another world where you can hang in the bronze age for a while again.

Maybe at different world settings, like a careless tropical world with no rush for winter until you get bored of that.

Return to the long-play world. Think of something, build something.

Quit the game for a week when bored. Return with fresh ideas. No stress, no one is going to judge your builds. No boss, no mid term review, just you and your world to hang in and improve a little bit more. 

 

* my "standard" worldgen has become a 40-42 degree N start with winters that are milder and a bit shorter, but still there. Fruit trees will work. Snow will accumulate from about end nov and start to melt from end feb. No frostbite when wearing the simple recipe winter clothes.

** I also play with 50-70% land cover so there is purpose in building a sailboat (summer year 1 when I have enough flax) and sail out to find limestone, bauxite, anything else that didn't generate within walking distance.

 

 

Edited yesterday at 04:38 PM by MobiusvanMars
A few small corrections