A little less sawblade locust damage?

[Jaden Martindale]

Perhaps the sawblade locust could do damage a little more similar to a wolf bite? or at least just not kill you instantly most of the time? I had all full nutrition bars, full copper lamellar armor. but when i'm mining in a cave and one of these things launches itself at me it has always killed me instantly from full health, usually silently from behind, and then the thing bodyguards my dropped items. Its not very fun, and makes it damn hard to progress from copper to bronze, because it spawns where tin is, and copper Armour cant protect you from a 1 shot.

Edited October 16, 2021 by Jaden Martindale

[Screwy]

There is a pice of code, you can adjust by yourself via editor.
*\AppData\Roaming\Vintagestory\assets\survival\entities\land would be the relative folder of locust.json.
The piece of code you would need to modify is located from line 100 onwards, starting with code: "taskai".
 

Spoiler

                code: "taskai",
                aitasks: [
                    {
                        code: "meleeattack",
                        entityCodes: ["player"],
                        priority: 3,
                        damageByType: {
                            "*-bronze": 1.5,
                            "*-corrupt": 4,
                            "*-corrupt-sawblade": 16,
                        },

The Value "*-corrupt-sawblade": is on 16 by default. Change it to 8 and you should be good to got. Sawblade locusts are meant to be terrifying, so I recommand not to turn their attack value to low

[Domkrats]

Having armor in this game doesn't make you too powerfull as you still need to heal and follow health, but now you have huge debuff for that because of armor. And while making armor is time consuming, i understand your frustration as in the end making strong armor doesn't feel rewarding enough.

I have met them only few times. Although they are tough, they aren't so fast and move only by small distances. Also you don't lose armor when die, so problem could be only that you need to return. But knowing place you died, that could make some fun adventure as now you can plan your moves to get your stuff back. Off course that is only fun if you have fast way to get back to that place you died.

Enemies (drifters,locusts) could make more sounds as they are in agro mode though. I am more annoyed by drifters which spawn close to me without sound and brake armor all the time, because i have no option to avoid that.

Edited October 18, 2021 by Domkrats

[l33tmaan]

Aren't sawblade locusts the most dangerous enemy in the game right now?

[Screwy]

I haven't encountered any heavyer hits so far, but the most dangerous is the Bell, in my opinion. One wrong move and the only way not to die is a complete fallback. Sometimes my mines get quite crowded. And the psychological effect of the bell sounds make it even more difficult to think and make the right decisions.

The sawblade is slow and easy to evade and if you see it before it sees you, you've almost won the fight.

Anyhow, shields would be a nice feature in this context. I play with a mod to get shields, so I don't have to dodge but can rather just block the punch. The base game needs shields. Urgently! 

[Domkrats]

20 hours ago, l33tmaan said:

Aren't sawblade locusts the most dangerous enemy in the game right now?

Compared to drifters Sawblade locust base attack is 16, while NIghtmare drifters deal 20 and Corrupt drifters deal 12 damage.
So i wouldn't say it is most dangerous as they usually spawn alone (as far as i have seen) and they seem to retreat or pause before attacking again.

Sawblade locusts, bells and and  even simple locusts are just so well made, they make players panic more, .

Drifter attacks are more frequent and they can spawn 2-3 at once. That way at least for me, seeing more than one of nasty drifters coming towards me is more alarming than seeing locusts.

Edited October 19, 2021 by Domkrats

[l33tmaan]

3 hours ago, Domkrats said:

Compared to drifters Sawblade locust base attack is 16, while NIghtmare drifters deal 20 and Corrupt drifters deal 12 damage.
So i wouldn't say it is most dangerous as they usually spawn alone (as far as i have seen) and they seem to retreat or pause before attacking again.

Sawblade locusts, bells and and  even simple locusts are just so well made, they make players panic more, .

Drifter attacks are more frequent and they can spawn 2-3 at once. That way at least for me, seeing more than one of nasty drifters coming towards me is more alarming than seeing locusts.

Oh wait, I use Lands of Chaos, so there's tons of locust spawners underground in my world. Nothing like 10+ locusts climbing over walls to turn your body into a new hive!

[Maelstrom]

On 10/16/2021 at 1:12 PM, Jaden Martindale said:

Perhaps the sawblade locust could do damage a little more similar to a wolf bite? or at least just not kill you instantly most of the time? I had all full nutrition bars, full copper lamellar armor. but when i'm mining in a cave and one of these things launches itself at me it has always killed me instantly from full health, usually silently from behind, and then the thing bodyguards my dropped items. Its not very fun, and makes it damn hard to progress from copper to bronze, because it spawns where tin is, and copper Armour cant protect you from a 1 shot.

To be honest if you're encountering sawblades with copper or bronze equipment your trying to take on late game monsters with early game equipment.  Not surprised you're getting one shotted.

[Domkrats]

14 hours ago, l33tmaan said:

Oh wait, I use Lands of Chaos, so there's tons of locust spawners underground in my world. Nothing like 10+ locusts climbing over walls to turn your body into a new hive!

Seems cool. Would love to see some gameplay video from that mod.  Dunno if i would love to play that alone though.  

[Windego]

I personally think they don't need to be nerfed.
The mobs are well balanced for the progression in my personal opinion.
I never really go caving for underground ruins or misc ores until I at least got to iron age or steel age, as a single Bell locust can give you nightmares for days. Let alone a Sawblade locust.  Like @Maelstrom mentioned, they're end-game monsters.
Try sticking to prospecting if you think it's too brutal to get almost one-shotted by a literal high-power sawblade on legs while you're in a soft copper-leather armor spelunking. You're given options to do it the safe but (potentially) more time consuming way, or do it the risky way where you get your Seraph's posterior handed to you on a rusted plate. Many people don't go into deep caves till they are clad in iron or steel plate armor.

Edited October 20, 2021 by Windego

[Irulana]

I think in recent updates I see more saw blade locusts and bells, there are more common. They are hard  to defeat monsters I think they should spawn less and be more like rare boss  monsters to kill, that can be found deep underground.

[l33tmaan]

Keep sawblade locusts and bells as they are, and also add nastier monsters.

[Omega Haxors]

Yeah the armor system needs a serious rework if stuff like this is going to be happening.
You shouldn't go out of your way make armor only to be instantly killed anyway.

The problem isn't the high damage of the enemy, but the fact that most armor is slightly more protective than aluminum foil.

Edited October 27, 2021 by Omega Haxors

[Windego]

On 10/25/2021 at 4:53 PM, l33tmaan said:

Keep sawblade locusts and bells as they are, and also add nastier monsters.

I fully agree on that idea!
Locusts in any variety can be safely taken down with a bow and arrow if you keep your distance or use a ladder to keep them where they are while you indulge in some target practice.

But to add more dangers... Oho...
I already liked the wild bear concept.. The goblin mod.. Ect.