AngryRob

The xskils, xlib mods by Xandu really add a lot to the game for me. Before those mods combat was not only a chore, but an extreme detriment. Why fight? we see it in the limited youtube content, during temporal storms people nerdpole over pits or sleep in bunkers. Combat is pointless and unrewarding. It's minecraft lame. However, after adding xskills and xlib, i found myself engaging in combat again. why? because there was a reward to it. You gain skills, it's no longer a pointless waste of time. Even if the skills were pointless, or did nothing, it is still a bigger reward than the random trash that the drifters have. The crafting and exploring are pretty good so far. But for a game with a combat mechanic like temporal storms where you will have a situation that may force you to fight; the combat needs a drastic improvement. Something rewarding. Either better loot, like ore nuggets, or a skills system that gives some sort of pay off. It would also add some life to the game. I have noticed that once people hit the tech plateau, where they have built up the tech tree, they stop playing. outside of crafting and building, the game ends. Youtubers that hit this plateau move on to modded versions of other games, either darkness falls or some minecraft mod, or even Osiris new dawn... In fact, i am coming back to VS after a long bout with Elona+, but i am having a hard time getting back in because the action is lacking. Thankfully the mod scene adds some great content, and i appreciete the efforts from the mod community. The game is in early access, and as such feedback is encouraged. I enjoy many aspects of this game, but not the combat. Please take this into consideration.

I like the dark night, even though it's hard as nails to go out in it. Night in this game is legitimately scary, especially watching the wind move the reeds.

This is a weird problem. on one hand, there are a lot of mechanics that are built around exploring and prospecting. you HAVE to find resources, and the hunt for resources is very important. At the same time, if you do not find the resources you need, you are completely screwed and can not enjoy the game. It's that balance between realism and gameplay. So what can be done to fix it? There are a few solutions. Maybe improve drops during temporal storms? this forces combat and no longer makes those storms a stupid meme, but an actual, important mechanic that makes you look forward to the cthuthulu harassment day. Another one is trade, improving trade where what you can not find you can buy off of traders. So far traders are the only way i can get salt. They need an improvement, because honestly only a few of them are worth trading with. The third option, and the one i think should be really pushed, is more alternative recipes. That way if you are not able to get the resources you need, you can do some sort of alternative. I am conflicted with the ore scarcity. On one hand it disrupts my plans completely, because i am dependent on exploration. But on the other hand working around and overcoming that disruption is also very fun. Maybe the issue is not the scarcity, but with prospecting? Maybe have multiple means of prospecting that when used by themselves are inaccurate, but when used together, are more accurate? Or more geographic features that could indicate ore deposits?

Maybe fur clothing should be added to the game? We have hypothermia, so having to spend the summer making winter clothes would be great. Combine that with a dangerous frigid biome and we have recipes for shennigans! Imagine ice ruins with harsh, lethal cold but also with amazing treasure like seeds and, meteors, or the bag of never ending garlic bread! But yeah, wearing leather is great. it's good, but it is also expendable, so if i die on an exploration, i am not crying.

I have to disagree with the player progression being bad. I will use valheim as an example. I love that game, but i have raged quit two weeks ago, because i was stupid and got killed on a distant shore. My boat is there, my stuff are still there, and if i had friends i maybe could ask them to join my game and help me? Now with player progression, i really am not over in valheim now am I? i could start all over in a new world, and still keep my skills. Losing all my equipment is not a game breaking problem, i still have my skills. Also player progression means combat is NOT boring. Why fight? Why bother the drifters? just nerdpole and wait out the storms. With player progression those storms go from being a nuisance and unfun, to being an important opportunity to administer beatings and get good. Locking recipes behind skill perks is not fun, but having a demonstrateable combat skill improvement, mining improvement, and maybe even an ability to lick rocks to prospect would be great.

I would like to see that, as well as rubber trees.

Not if you craft multiples, or even a higher tier portable one. Also, maybe mob behavior should change? after all animals freak out when tornados hit, so seeing panicked mobs before a storm, as well as increased drifter aggression and wondering.

I would like to see a thaumcraft style research system. Thaumcraft could have been it's own game it added so much to minecraft. Anyway, what i mean is that after you research temporal gears you can make a temporal weather vain that will start spinning when a storm is coming. Maybe if a storm is bad enough the weather vain will need to be repaired or cleaned?

Yeah, the trick to finding bees is to explore the woods during the day and to look for the brown dots. "bees" are brown dots that fly around their hives. you can miss them if you are not paying attention. You have to be careful because you can knock out a hive and not realize it. so you will want to go from tree to tree, look for brown dots flying around, and carefully break the branches off. I am also wondering if just leaving a skep around in the forest will help? just plant some flowers around it and check back from time to time?

Currently i am finding placing some blocks to be frustrating. You have to be looking at the spot just right to get the stairs or slabs to face the direction you want. I would like to see a better block rotation system, similar to 7 days to die where you hold down the r button and select the block face that you would want.

Where did these gears come from? what are they made out of? why does fixing one location fix the other? did humans make them or did they find them? why are they broken? did they break over time or were they disabled on purpose?

Just started watching Dr stone, and it looks like it would translate very well into vintage story.

For iron, steel, and aluminum age alloy stuff, i propose a sand casting system. this would be giant molds that we carve using sand, and then pour large amounts of metal in to create advanced metal parts. i also propose lost wax molds, where we sculpt a shape out of wax, put the wax in clay, bake the clay, then pour hot metal in the mold to melt the wax and get a sculpted item. I can see these concepts as a great way to make improved tool items for mid and late game.

There are some aspects that remind me of thaumcraft. Will there be similar features planned like research? There is not much mentioned on the road map so i figured i would ask here.

I have started panning late game again, for brass. Make the lanterns out of brass instead of copper. This makes you copper last longer, and zinc is not used for too many things, and is found via panning. This means that you can turn stacks of sand and gravel, into lanterns. If you get a helvehammer, then you can safely mass produce them as well.

I am under the assumption that transloacators are there to allow other parts of the map to be accessible. the ones i have found do take me to other biomes, and that was how i found chalk. The more i watch youtubers, the more i realize that the carrying capacity mod that lets you pick up chests and put them on your back is a necessary mod. I have a love hate relationship with the inventory system. i hate the limitations, but i appreciate them and the challenge they add. Exploring is hard, and it's dangerous, and it's necessary. I also have realized that farming is the highest priority for base building. One of the first things that you need to do is catch animals. Catch them in dirt walls, THEN work on the copper age. Breeding comes later, but if you do not catch them first it will be much harder later on as they fall in pits or get killed. Getting bees is also important, if you do not have bees, then you will not have lanterns or worse sealed wax crocs for winter. The nasty bit, is you do not realize that you need to do these things until you need them. Nutrition is another nasty thing. If you do not have a balanced diet, you will die. Not collecting berry bushes = death. Berries do not last long, they spoil fast. We really need a means to dry them for later, or more fruit options. I had no idea that having a torch or lantern in the off hand, increases hunger, there is no explanation for this in game. I think survival quests/tutorial quests would help a lot. if you jump in thinking it's minecraft, you will have a hard time. Minning is a mid game thing. the first part of the game is getting steady food. Panning really is necessary, not only do you get copper from it, but i have noticed that half a stack will give a temporal gear. I love the game, it's a hit for me, and the handbook is great. but man this is not a game you want to be thrown into all alone. its very much a survival game.

Currently the drifters spawn, attack the player, and run away if they take too much damage. But what if there were drifters that would randomly roam under ground, and when killed by the player hold a grudge and would respawn and seek the player out? These would be the legendary drifters. Drifters that would show up next temporal storm and pay you a visit if you killed them, drifters that if they could not get to you, would trash your base, burn your farm land, or eat your food out of spite. Drifters that if they killed you, would grab an item that you drop, and toss it in lava. These would be the horror drifters. They would be named, and they would only spawn rarely.

I am enjoying the repair mechanic for the transloactors. I would like to see more devices that could either be built by us, or can be salvaged from ruins, that would require temporal gears. Maybe even devices that would be powered by temporal gears and when they exhaust them, spit out rusty gears? Some ideas include a grow lamp that grows crops and ages animals instantaneously, a bread box that keeps food from ageing, and a storm shelter that prevents drifter spawns around it during a temporal storm.

Not only do i want dive suits for water, but now i want upgraded dive suits for lava. Think of the possibilities!! lava mining, deep lava exploration, ancient drifter cities submerged in lava, lava ruins, crazy, horrible things in lava with a suit that has limited time.

What would be neat is if some plants added nutrients, while others took them. At the same time, there is an element of RNG so that if you don't get the right seeds, you may be screwed. So maybe a good work around is poop? have animals poop, pick it up with a shovel, and have a system where it is turned into fertilizer? That would make getting animals more beneficial. As it stands you should get them asap just for steady leather and meat, as well as cheese in the future. So having a poop system where you have to clean the cages to restore nutrients to the farms would add value and realism. It would also help in finding animals, as they would leave a poop trail out in the wild.

I was thinking about how natural disasters would work. then it occurred to me that there is no system of static block damage. So if a building weathered a tornado, it would be more meh then it would be "OH NOE1!". At the same time, i noticed it was harder to remove some blocks by hand then it was others, this made me wonder if this would matter in the future.

I know in some games the mobs attack the structures to get to the player. I have also noticed that some blocks are harder to remove, and there is a reinforcement system. So will mobs attacking blocks be a feature? Or is this something for multiplayer?

So are temporal storms going to be a thing we have to weather, or will the be some sort of shelter we can build?

I agree. Maybe disable these on multiplayer? I liked how in elona random things happened in your dreams, including getting item harvests or your equipment getting cursed. As it stands sleeping is detrimental because you lose time before temporal storms. Beds only pass time, so why craft them? Being forced to sleep forces the player to manage time better, especially since winter is a thing that we need to prepare for.

the real pain, is when you are in a "heavily explored area" and fall down a pit you have missed a million times.