LadyWYT

Welcome to the forums! I would give it a bit longer on the support ticket; I'm not sure where all the staff are located, but I do believe there are several that live in the US, and we had a major holiday here a few days ago. So some might still be traveling back from visiting their families. If it's been a few days and there's still no response, the only other thing I can really think of is to try emailing again.

That's Vintage Story for ya! I wouldn't say it's a common occurrence, but it's always a thrill when the game decides it's been too lenient and throws a wrench into your carefully laid plans. I once came back from a big mining trip; it was deep underground, so my stability was pretty low(around 40%). Wouldn't you know, a temporal storm hit as soon as I got back home, before I had time to recover. Thankfully I had an extra temporal gear to sacrifice for some extra stability, or I probably wouldn't have survived the storm.

I would assume that if you've slept recently, it will take that into account when you try to sleep through the storm and prevent you from sleeping. However, if I recall correctly, you should get a warning eight hours in advance of a storm, which should be plenty of time to allow your character to get sleepy again before the storm hits...provided you didn't get the message immediately after going to sleep, that is. In any case, it doesn't hurt to try, even if you have slept recently. The worst that's going to happen is it won't let you sleep, because you're not tired enough. At that point, if you don't want to deal with the storm, all you have to do is lock your character into a secure location where mobs can't get you, and wait it out. Good time to AFK and grab a drink, take a potty break, etc, if you have nothing to do in-game while waiting.

Possibly, or perhaps an oversight in the code and it doesn't check for combustible grass in a vertical radius. Hence why I suspect outdated information on the wiki. There's actually a mod for that game that adds more complex contraptions, that has a sort of built-in mini tutorial similar to a Lego manual that shows you how to put different pieces together and how they function. However, I don't think something like that would really fit the tone of Vintage Story; it seems to be more geared towards teaching the player the very basics and letting them figure out the rest for themselves, albeit with a wealth of knowledge at their fingertips in the form of the handbook. Now that I think about it...it's somewhat a throwback to the oldschool days(for me that's Age of Empires 2, Spyro, and Crash Bandicoot era) where the game manuals or strategy guide books would probably be the first place you'd look if you got stuck on a particular game. Not that the internet didn't exist, but it wasn't the wealth of game knowledge that it is today. I think that's also the strong point of things like wikis and YouTube videos; they can provide more detailed information about certain parts of a game, that you might not be able to easily access otherwise. Now of course, they can also be completely bogus, so you do need to be careful which sources you're using.

Agreed. I'm guessing it was probably asleep somewhere nearby and didn't notice you until you were pretty close to it. Or rather, you didn't spot it until it was right on top of you.

Hello, and welcome to the forums! Lighting up caves that you intend to make a few trips into can cut down on the mob spawns quite a bit. Torches are cheap and have a decent light radius, though they will burn out after a couple of days unless you place them in a torch holder(which are fairly expensive). Oil lamps are a decent alternative to torches if you have the fat and clay to spare, as they don't need relighting. They are a bit dimmer than torches though, so you may need a few extra to properly light everything. The best lighting though, provided you have the resources for them, are lanterns. They have the biggest light radius(you can line them for a bit extra but it's not necessary), and never run out of fuel, but they will take lots of beeswax, metal plates, and clear quartz to craft. Another important thing to consider is the current rift activity when you go caving. If the rift activity is high, underground spawns will be higher. If the rift activity is low/calm, there will be fewer spawns to deal with. Also keep in mind that rift activity can change quite drastically, so if you are caving you'll want to keep an eye on it and consider heading back to the surface should it get too high(assuming that you haven't lit up the cave system). Last but not least, upgrading your equipment(if you're using lower tier weapons/armor) will help you deal more efficiently with the monsters that do spawn, and don't forget that you can always seal off smaller passages until you're ready to explore them, in order to stop any enemies from coming through. They can be dodged, but it does take quite a bit of practice to do so. The easier way to dodge drifter attacks(in my opinion) is to get up close to trigger their melee attacks, and step back out of range right before they swing. This also takes practice though, and works much better against one or two drifters than it does larger groups. The more effective way to counter the rocks is to use a shield. However, shields are a bit difficult to use when caving, as they're typically carried in the off-hand slot so you can use your weapons. Given that a light source is also typically carried in the off-hand slot when caving...you'll either need to light up the cave as you explore, or settle for plunking down the light source before drawing your weapons, as you'll need to be able to see in order to fight.

I wasn't sure, so I erred on the side of caution and assumed it wasn't a vanilla addition. At the top of the forums, under the Media tab. https://www.vintagestory.at/stories/storyexcerpt-themorning.html/ https://www.vintagestory.at/stories/storyexcerpt-ghosts.html/

Very true, although for reasons you might keep class-exclusive enabled in singleplayer: extra challenge, or just for roleplaying purposes. I generally tend to turn off class-exclusive recipes, so I can have access to whatever items I think make sense for the character that I'm playing.

I mean...if it were me, and a spot I really liked, I'd probably just build there anyway. Of course, I'd also probably make sure that my main base is in a more stable area, and keep that one spot as a cosmetic build. If it was the main base though...then I'm either going to make sure I take a walk every now and then to a stable area, or have a good stash of temporal gears to recharge myself when I get too unstable.

Indiana Jones and the Rusty Gears? Indiana Jones and the Drifters' Dungeon? Indiana Jones and the Falxian Foibles? Indiana Jones and the Legend of Dave? Or would it be "Jonas Falx and the ____" format instead? Although that sounds more like Harry Potter, somehow. Edit: and if the webs aren't combustible now...just what have those spiders been eating?

I actually disagree, although it depends on the information in question. All the general information needed to get started and advance throughout the game is contained within the handbook. For specific numbers and construction setups, the handbook gives guidelines over which pieces you need, but leaves it up to the player to figure out how to actually put the pieces together. It's something that may be de-jankified in the future, but in my experience it's been fairly intuitive. Now for lore information--that's a bit different. All the lore information(or what we currently have, anyway) is accessible in the game, barring the short stories pinned at the top of the forums(The Morning and Ghosts). The catch is that it's fragmented, and you'll need to track down all the different fragments and piece them together yourself, whether it be books, tapestries, trader gossip, etc. I will also note that after taking a look at the wiki page for the pit kiln...I don't think all the information listed there is correct. Specifically, the bit about the fire spread radius. The horizontal radius of 2 blocks feels accurate based on my experience(I've burned down at least one base and accidentally incinerated multiple other things with them, myself included). But the 3 block vertical radius doesn't feel accurate at all; I usually have a dirt block hovering above the kilns so rain/snow doesn't extinguish them, and it's never set the grass on top on fire. Could just be dumb luck, but the wiki can be a little iffy. I mean, I watched several YouTube videos to see if it would be a game that I would enjoy before deciding to spend my money on it. I also figure that if I'm after a step-by-step detailed walkthrough for a thing, I'll probably be heading to YouTube anyway to find a video about it, as I do for other games. Now in regards to potential story spoilers...sometimes I go hunting for spoilers or spoiler-type content, because I'm curious what's potentially coming later on. But in any case, I don't think it's an entirely unreasonable request...but I also don't think it's a necessary change, given that all the information needed is already there for the finding.

Aside from decoration, don't they slow down entities that move through them? Or am I thinking of the other block game? You can also use them to prank friends that haven't been online in a while. Otherwise I don't think they serve much function.

Welcome to the forums! First you'll need a knife, then you just hold shift + right-click on the corpse. Continuing holding both down until the harvesting animation finishes and the "loot box" appears with whatever goodies the critter had to harvest. Important to note: fish do not always drop meat. If the harvest animation finishes for a carcass but no loot window appears, try moving closer to the carcass, perhaps at a different angle, and right-click again. It should bring up the loot window; I have this issue with moose sometimes and getting closer typically fixes it.

That information is already there though? A 1x1x1 hole is a one block hole, which would also suggest that each side should be a full block as well in order to make it a proper pit. It's also not a good idea to build your kiln structure out of flammable material, given that you quickly will not have a kiln anymore once you set it alight. Likewise, it's not a good idea to leave flammable material next to the kiln(like tufts of grass, hay beds, reed baskets, etc), as these will also ignite rather quickly and spread the flames to other flammable objects nearby. I could see this information being added, possibly, but at the same time...it's kinda already self-explanatory, in my opinion. The in-game interface prompts you to put dry grass into the pit after you've placed your unfired items; it's 2 grass per layer, so you just add grass until it prompts you for sticks. Rinse and repeat for sticks until it prompts you for fuel. Fuel is a little more variable--most items will only require 4 pieces of fuel, but storage vessels will require 8(and are currently the only ones that require 8, I believe). Once you've placed enough fuel, the game prevents you from placing any more fuel and instead prompts you to light the kiln. It seems fairly straightforward to me, at least, and after the first couple of firings it was fairly simple to figure out the exact amounts needed for the future. The other potential issue I see with adding specific numbers like this, is that it works for the pit kiln but not other structures necessarily. A bloomery or refractory you might be able to list the minimum number of items that you'll need to build one, but structures like windmills and things that go with them are a different matter since players will build them to varying specifications. I'm not sure I want to think about the extra details that Jonas contraptions might require.

Definitely like these two ideas; it would streamline things for new and veteran players alike. I've also seen several requests for the handbook to stay on the last page you visited that session, so that you can quickly reference certain information without having to flip back to that page every time you open the handbook. I'm not sure about this one. While I'm not really against players cluttering their screen as much as they want, I feel like this particular scenario would already be covered with the ability to bookmark pages. You can easily flip between pages with the bookmarks, while still retaining most of your visibility to see any incoming threats. Now that I think about it...I'm not sure how a mechanic like this would work given that time is paused by default while the handbook is open. I would presume that time ignores the pause rule when you have a page pulled out but the handbook itself is closed.

Welcome! I agree with @Brady_The, the handbook already explains it succinctly, and the in-game overlay(which should be enabled by default) informs the player what should be added next once the unfired items are placed into the hole. I can't really think of anything else to add to what's already there. Whether it's the wiki or the handbook, or some combination of the two, I'm pretty sure this is the experience of every new Vintage Story player, even if they already have experience in other survival-type games. Despite being early in development, Vintage Story is quite a meaty game, with mechanics that are a bit more nuanced than other games in the genre. Many of the gameplay loops overlap with each other, so you'll often need to look up multiple pieces of information to complete a task, at least until you're experienced enough to commit it to memory. The in-game tutorial is enough to get a new player started with the very basics that they'll need to achieve everything else in the game, while the more detailed information about how to achieve such and what different things do is contained within the handbook for the player to figure out at their leisure. When I first started playing I spent a good chunk of time with the handbook cracked open figuring out how to accomplish different things, and while it felt daunting at first the results were oh-so-satisfying!

It might not be the most realistic thing for a late Middle Ages setting...but I would absolutely love being able to build a huge fish tank like the ones at Bass Pro Shops and stock it with different types of fish.

Really? Interesting. I may have to give Hunter a proper playthrough then, although it may well be my least favorite class. The weaknesses are big pet peeves of mine.

Tis why I tried to make it clear there's a difference between spawn-proof and reduced spawns. Personally I don't bother with torches in caves, but I will use oil lamps to light them up, if I deem a cave worth lighting. Though the way I light with the lamps, it's just to make sure that most everything in the cave is visible, and not so much to make sure that it's covered in bright light. The end result, however, is reduced spawns and better visibility, so the handful of monsters that do end up spawning are easier to deal with. That being said, it does take several oil lamps, even for a small cave, so if you don't have a lot of fat to fuel them and/or don't want to be firing that many bowls, this method probably won't prove that useful. Likewise, if you're trying to spawn-proof the area, @Maelstrom is right in that oil lamps aren't particularly useful for that. It can be done, technically, but is more effort than it's really worth. This is probably my usual caving strategy, minus placing lights. I don't tend to place lights unless it's a cave I intend to be venturing into several times; I'd rather save my lights for placing at various points around my base. But how else will you find the welcoming party the drifters organized for you? To be fair, I usually forget to check the activity levels before cave diving, and don't figure it out that it wasn't the best idea until I find said welcoming party.

If you have a mod like Ancient Tools, you can make leather without needing borax, limestone, or tannin. It's still a bit of an involved process though. True, though I would argue gambeson is still useful even in the later stages of the game. It's got decent protection for most common enemies that you'll encounter, and it doesn't weigh you down or throw off your aim that much. So it's good for exploration or hunting trips, or just doing chores around the house if you have a tendency to have furry company.

Technically yes, though I would say that depends on whether you want to stop spawns entirely, or just reduce them. The benefit to oil lamps is that they're cheap, easy to craft early, and do not need to be refueled(as of the time of writing this, that is). The main drawback is that they don't have a very big light radius; I'd say it's comparable to a torch though, perhaps slightly smaller. To completely spawn-proof a cave will take quite a lot of them, probably, but using them to make sure the cave has decent visibility should cut back on a good chunk of the spawns. The lambs should fit into the basket traps as well; they're just a bit harder to catch. Generally I just throw rocks at the sheep and get them to follow me home, as I've found that method to be a bit faster. Of course, if the sheep are far enough away that I don't want to go through that hassle, I'm more likely to just build a sheep pen right there to breed them and check on it every so often. Once I have generation 5 lambs, I can stick those in a reed chest for easy transport. Important to note though is that to transport animals via reed chest/trap, you will need to have a bag slot empty. The animal will also only stay alive for 24 hours, so you'll want to be somewhat speedy with the transportation. They're both neat ideas, though I would be more inclined to add an upgraded forge/bellows than a stove. Not that a stove wouldn't be nice, but I think that's already accomplished with what we have available in the game currently, and adding a specific block for that could possibly cut down on the creative options. Valheim is where I got the idea, heh heh. As for smoked meats go, I would love that. I think Primitive Survival is a mod that added that, and when I had it installed it was a very useful way to preserve meat for the winter, when I didn't have access to salt. Of course it didn't last as long as salted meat, but the extra shelf life was appreciated. I agree with @Thorfinn--they're fine as the points of interest they are. If you do happen to find one, they're useful for warming up in cold weather, scavenging carcasses, or for the creatively industrious: building a drifter grinder for storms. A lower temperature variation that you could sit in could be interesting, just for something a little different, but I think for variation I'd much rather have a tar pit instead. Make it extraordinarily difficult to get out if you should fall in, scalding hot(of course!), and potentially give the tar a bit of utility such as a stain for wood, sealant option, something to that effect.

Did he spawn it in a proper mountain location, or in one of the more "lowland" locations? I'm guessing he may have just picked a spot that was handy, and didn't account for the RA needing a mountain in order to look natural. That is something to consider though, that story locations will likely use specific types of terrain in their generation in order to achieve a specific mood for the setting, and if the surrounding terrain doesn't match that geography it's going to look ugly.

A fire pit is much easier to build and light; you don't need to rely on world generation for that heat source and it's also easy to relocate a fire pit if you need warmth somewhere else. And as I said, the hot springs we already have warm you up if you stand next to them, so the warmth option is already there. Presumably, you could build a small structure next to/over one and have a sauna, minus the soaking wet debuff. You just don't sit in the hot springs, because the water is boiling and will cook you alive if you try. It's not that it wouldn't be cool to have; I'm just of the opinion that if it's going to be a proper structure(similar to a greenhouse or cellar) then it needs to have a bit more gameplay value aside from "warm up", as there are already more efficient options in the game. I will note that when I think of natural hot springs, I generally think of the ones in Yellowstone, which I assume the ones in-game are based on. The water looks pretty; they're warm to stand next to(albeit a bit stinky), but the water itself is hot enough to cook those unfortunate enough to fall in.

Plus 1.20 is right around the corner, which would be an ideal time to start over fresh. Although for future reference, I do believe there is an option to copy existing world settings--that includes the seed as well as all the other adjustments you made when you first created the original. Useful if you find a world that you really like and want to keep around in some form or another.

There's a basket trap you can craft to trap smaller animals and transport them. Likewise, you can also use a reed chest to transport small domesticated animals, provided they are at least generation 5. Otherwise, I believe rope leads are currently being worked on, although I disagree with the notion that leads should able to be used on wild animals. https://mods.vintagestory.at/show/mod/28 I believe the spawn rates underground are somewhat tied to rift activity. If rift activity is currently high, there will be more enemies to contend with. During calm periods though, it should be a bit more peaceful underground. Lighting the caves is also an option to slow down spawns or stop them entirely, provided you're willing to sink the time and resources into it. I think a lot can be done simply by block chiseling here, however...something like an iron cooking spit or an iron cookpot + metal hook to hang it on could be interesting. Cook stuff in the pot while roasting the meat at the same time. Though admittedly, this is already possible with the current game--just build more than one fire to cook with. https://mods.vintagestory.at/aculinaryartillery It goes with the Expanded Foods mod I linked previously. https://mods.vintagestory.at/show/mod/9909 I'm sure more variety will be added to the base game at some point, but for now there are mods to cover it. That would be cool, although I'm also okay with what we have now. I think the main question to answer here is what sort of function would a hotspring/sauna structure provide in regards to gameplay? You can already build one of those now, technically, for decoration, as well as pretend that it functions for roleplaying purposes. But for one to be a proper structure(like a greenhouse, or the machinery you can build) it should really serve some sort of gameplay function. Probably something a bit more than just warming the player up, as that is already accomplished by firepits(easy to build) and the hotsprings we have(you can't stand in them, but they do warm you up if you're nearby). I believe water power is somewhere on the roadmap--Tyron mentioned it in a recent interview with Oscillascape, I think.