LadyWYT

Possibly, I'm not against more pre-built pieces. However, I also get the impression that the chisel system is where the most build variety is going to be. I'd probably opt for palisade instead, and allow them to be stackable so that players can build different heights. It fits the bill of an early fencing option, while also appearing very protective. Not that I'm against including rope fences, but those are mostly decorative, and not intended to keep things in or out of an area.

Sure, but all I really see happening here in terms of mechanics, is that it's similar to what we have now, but with even less data for the player to work with to figure out what's stable and what's not. The current system, all the player has to do is look at the gear and see which way it's spinning to determine if an area is stable or not, as well as look at the gear to determine roughly how long they can linger in an unstable area. If you take the gear away but still keep the "gradual changes over time" balance, then what happens is the player is going to have to play a lot of guessing games to figure out exactly what's stable and what isn't, which really doesn't solve the current issue of players managing to build in unstable areas in the first place. If anything, it makes that problem worse. That's also why I say that in order to do something like remove the gear and introduce more visual/audio cues instead, those cues are pretty much going to have be immediately noticeable so the player can easily distinguish stable areas from unstable ones(otherwise they just end up building in unstable chunks by accident again), as well as have a way for the player to gauge their current remaining stability. Because I will note that the current threshold for audio cues is 60%, which is pretty low and leaves only 35% stability available to the player before they actually need to leave the area. If the audio only shifts if the player is at that 60% threshold when entering an unstable area, but there is no meter to check actual stability, all I see happening is that players are taught to avoid those areas entirely, when the reality is that it's okay to hang around them as long as the player leaves before stability becomes critical(25% or less). In the event that visual/audio clues are implemented earlier...it's still a guessing game, but that provides more immediate feedback that the player can use to determine which areas are unstable and which aren't. However, as I've already said, the main flaw I see here is that's likely going to become quite irritating to deal with, as it's not uncommon to frequently need to do stuff in unstable chunks. Dealing with visual/audio hitching and glitching for a few minutes during a temporal storm is one thing, but if it's a constant factor then it really ceases to be spooky and becomes a mild irritation instead(I mean, think of how quickly it is to get used to drifters). I suppose the better way to put it, is I would much rather see a proof-of-concept as a mod first in order to see how the idea actually plays out in practice, given that most anything can be made to work on paper. Though I would also note that if the main argument for replacing the gear gauge with audio/visual cues is "realistic immersion", then logically, the same logic could be applied to the health bar and hunger bar too. A simple status bar may not be the most "realistically immersive" thing in the world, but status bars provide immediate critical data to players so they can make informed decisions(like whether to keep caving or head to the surface, whether or not they need that bowl of stew just yet, whether they need one bandage or several, etc).

Yeah, hence why I suggest including a brief mention in the tutorial It doesn't fix players not paying attention, but it does teach new players what that gauge is and why they should pay attention. As I said, the temporal stability mechanic is a feature unique to Vintage Story, so while it's a relatively easy mechanic to deal with, most new players will likely struggle a lot with it, until they read that particular section of the handbook. While this is true, that's the kind of thing that should be an optional challenge, not the default. Bear in mind that the first sign something is wrong, aside from the gear spinning the wrong way, is the Rust ambience creeping in, and that doesn't start until the player hits 60%. That's quite a long time to go without any warning, and once it sets in how, exactly, is the player supposed to figure out stable areas from unstable when the changes are that gradual? Of course, you could simply change the current balance when removing the gear, and instead introduce effects that are immediately obvious, like the suggested visual and sound distortions, when one sets foot in an unstable area. However, since it's now painfully obvious, the player has to put up with that every time they're in an unstable area, and it's no longer possible for instability to be a creeping horror factor that can catch the player off-guard. Maybe it's just me, but that sounds more annoying than spooky fun. I much prefer the subtle changes we have now, with the current gear to track it all, than something that's constantly going to be in my face with sounds and visuals like that. Plus as @Thorfinn has already pointed out several times, and you've already noted yourself...the current system gives players plenty of time to notice the area they're in is unstable and do something about it. If the player fails to account for it, it's no more the game's fault than it is when the player overestimates their abilities/situation and dies to wolves or a bear.

Oof, yeah, it sounds like you may have done just that! I guess the immediate solutions are: 1. Chop down the forest in order to clear some space and let in some light, while getting some resources in the process. 2. Burn down the forest and indulge those secret inclinations of pyromania. 3. Roll with the role you've accidentally created for yourself and become the head spook of the forest.

Welcome to the forums! These are probably the links you're looking for: Server commands: https://wiki.vintagestory.at/List_of_server_commands Client commands: https://wiki.vintagestory.at/List_of_client_commands Admin privileges basically just control who can do what on a server, especially when it comes to using commands that directly change the world or overall server configuration(like the whitelist). I'm guessing that's probably referring to setting up custom roles on a server in addition to the default admin roles. That way users in those roles can have access to specified commands, but won't have free reign entirely like a full admin would. At least, that's my best guess, as I'm not really a server admin.

Pretty much. Most unstable surface areas one can easily spend all day in without the gauge dropping below half. The spook noises settle in around 60%, but it's not until the gauge hits the 25% mark(monsters begin spawning) that the player should be really concerned and head to more stable ground. If they somehow miss/ignore all of those warning signs, the last warning is around the 12% mark, when temporal storm effects fully set in and they start losing health.

Sounds like you've found a haunted forest as well. Maybe they keep crawling out of caves, but part of me wonders if the light levels in dense forests are just low enough for the occasional monster to spawn in daylight, even without rift activity. Or I mean, nothing like a good hobbit hole. Or a troll cave, depending on your mood. I'm pretty sure saying anything less is a disservice to his character. I can't say that my main seraph is particularly fond of the guy either. I've also never read Lovecraft, aside from certain snippets, but I've read several stories about the Call of Cthulu TTRPG and whatnot(Old Man Henderson is a favorite!) so I've got at least a basic grasp on the overall vibe. And yeah, I agree, the devs have really nailed it. Perhaps what's most impressive is they've accomplished a major spook factor, without shoving it constantly in the player's face or resorting to the standard "lots of gore and jump scares". In other words, the spook factor in the game plays on play instinct and imagination, and not shock factor.

That is odd, now that you mention it. It could just be due to the sailboat not counting as a solid entity, but it could also be that not really inherent danger on the water, and going without sleep doesn't really have any drawbacks. I'm not sure that I would add aquatic monsters(at least not for the surface), or that I would add penalty for not sleeping, but I would probably opt for a boat hammock being the equivalent of a hay bed in order to prompt the player to sleep ashore, if possible.

It is explained somewhat in the lore, yes, at least for one particular spot. For instability as a whole though, it's basically left as a byproduct of the catastrophic events of the Old World, and it's otherwise left up to the player to draw conclusions about why some areas are unstable. Aside from specific story locations, I'm not sure that I would expect explanation for every pocket of instability, though I would expect an eventual detailed account of exactly what happened in the Old World to mess everything up so bad(it's already somewhat known, but details are unexplained). Maybe, but that can also teach the player to start ignoring the stability mechanic, instead of paying attention. I think the current system is fine, as the drain to 0 will teach the player that stability loss is bad, and they should be careful how long they hang around in unstable areas. Most unstable areas on the surface, however, are also a slow drain, so the player will still be able to spend a decent amount of time there before they need to leave. The counter suggestion I have to this idea is to restore a good chunk of stability should the player die with low stability(as far as I know, currently the gauge remains at whatever it was on death). Mechanically, it gives the player a brief grace period to improve their situation before they potentially die again, while also helping to alert them to the cause(the meter was empty, they took damage and things got weird, but now it's somewhat full and they're fine). From a lore standpoint, it makes some sense too, in that if the player is able to respawn, that indicates they have at least some stable grasp on the present timeline. It's an interesting idea, but I'd rather see this as a mod, and not vanilla. Plus as you've already noted at the end here, it doesn't really fix the problem of players hanging around in unstable areas, but rather just makes the problem worse since now they won't have indication at all(or the indicator they can craft will be forcing them to choose between that and setting spawn point). The bright teal gauge we have currently is meant to grab the player's attention, while still being much less intrusive than flashing screen effects, distorted noise, or something similar. The spinning can be easy to ignore, but much like the other meters, it takes a bit of practice to figure out how often one needs to check themselves to avoid problems. Incidentally, the other thing I have against distorting sounds or applying weird overlays in unstable areas, is not just that that kind of detail is reserved for majorly messed up areas/events, but also that...it would get very old, very fast. Imagine building your base in a stable chunk, with lots of unstable areas nearby. Now instead of just occasionally hearing distant Rust ambience when out hunting/foraging, you have to put up with "temporal storm light" each and every time. As a mod? Sure, but that's one of the main reasons I say that the simple gauge we have now really isn't that intrusive. I will note though, that to my knowledge, unstable areas are supposed to be more likely to contain rifts. I'm not sure how well this mechanic works though, as it seems to place greater priority on the player's current position--most likely to ensure that rifts are spawning near the player and therefore posing a threat. Maybe instead, greater weight should be placed on spawning the rifts in unstable areas, so the player both has more visual indication of instability(without it being too annoying) as well as more advantage to building in large areas of stability. This is somewhat already a thing for certain locations, although the actual source isn't really revealed for the most part. Rather, in specific story locations that are unstable, it's implied that some really bad juju happened in those places, essentially. I would also expect more instability for the procedural dungeons, if/when they are implemented, but otherwise for the world as a whole...there's not a specific cause that's explained other than "someone scienced too hard in the part and broke time as a result". In other words, there's no fixing it(although a Jonas tech item that stabilizes an area when powered would be nice); it's simply a feature of the new world that the player must learn to live with, much like other things. That being said...I'm reminded of a certain gameplay feature that's been teased for a different upcoming game(Gate Zero, for those wondering), so depending on how the devs want to set the lore up and how they want to tell the story, perhaps fighting pockets of instability like this directly might be something unlocked in a later story chapter. I do like this idea, though rather than change the range of instability I would simply keep things as-is and perhaps just ramp up stability loss significantly in unstable chunks during temporal storms. I also think something like this would be critical if you're going to stop unstable chunks from draining stability entirely, as that way if the player gets complacent enough to build in one they're in for a very rude awakening later once a temporal storm hits. They aren't bad ideas, but I do think most of them are better as mods. The simplest way to address most of the complaints I've seen about temporal stability mechanics, is to just add an option to disable surface instability while still keeping underground instability. Most players don't seem to mind dealing with it underground; they don't like dealing with it on the surface because it stops them from building wherever they want.

It's not just infrastructure--enemies will still flatten opponents who get too complacent. Better gear does help one survive longer in a fight, but it won't render them completely invulnerable. It really is one of the best threads of all time.

It's only what...the second time that's happened so far this game?

Right, I wouldn't expect the player to actually be traveling to other dimensions as part of the story. Just that dimension support might be built into the game engine, in case someone wanted to add one via mod.

Hmmm, I feel like this might be a good case for adding cairns as a craftable marker--good use for all the stones one inevitably collects. Even with the map enabled, cairns would make nice decoration, or more immersive markers, and without the map they'd be an easy way to mark paths. Could also scrape trees to remove a patch of bark, and leave markers that way as well. Aside from trusty notebook paper(or that notebook mod...I swear I've seen one floating around), this might be a case for carrying around a stack of signs and some charcoal. Or a book and quill, if you have access to them. I think this somewhat depends on how photographic a player's mind is, as well as just studying surroundings more carefully in general. With the map enabled, it's easy to just plunk down markers and not really pay attention to the lay of the land otherwise. This goes back to the marker question, and I'm not sure that there's a great answer. Perhaps dyed cloth could be tied to sticks as a simple flag/banner, and used as markers? That would be expensive, but would lend more practical use to dyed material as well as act as a marker that readily stands out from the surroundings. One thing my friend and I have started doing, despite playing with the map, is building small base camps in areas we intend to be more active. Perhaps building outposts and marking the trails between is the answer when playing without a map? A mod like this might be the nice middle ground between the OP map we have, and no map at all: https://mods.vintagestory.at/craftablecartography It still gives the player access to the map, but only once they've made the stuff they need for drawing maps. I think there are others mods that have similar takes on the idea.

Rifts spawning enemies in daylight was confirmed a planned change, however, daylight spawns are much more limited and will disappear fairly fast if they're left unprovoked. So if there's rift activity and you're seeing a couple of enemies, that's no longer unusual. If you're seeing more enemies than that, it might be a bug, in which case you'll want to make a report over on the github bug tracker.

I'm thinking that dimension support(like Minecraft's Nether/End, or modded Minecraft dimensions) is planned, but maybe not fully implemented. Or the structure might be there for modders to add dimensions like that, just no one has had the drive to sit down and figure it out.

Or could potentially just add a maintenance system(oiling, sharpening via grindstone, etc), that adds a chunk of extra durability/slightly faster workspeed/slightly more damage on top of the tool/weapon's base stats. The tool will still eventually break, but a player who puts in the time and effort to maintain their stuff will have stuff that lasts longer, while players who really don't want to bother won't be punished too much for skipping that loop(essentially tools and weapons function the same as current).

We also dug other shafts nearby and still nothing. In fairness though, magnetite is a dicey ore to find--hematite is generally a lot more consistent about spawning. Most of the time, you'll find what you're digging for on a prospecting reading, at least in regards to ores needed for progress. It's not until one goes looking for rarer stuff, like gemstones, alum, cinnabar, etc, that stuff gets harder to find. Otherwise, the general rule of thumb is that Decent or higher readings are the best dig spots, but it doesn't hurt to check Poor or Very Poor readings either, especially if that's all you've really got to work with. I will note that halite is a bit of an exception to the prospecting rule; it's not unusual to get very high percentage readings, but I can't say I've ever found it via prospecting despite many high percentages or Decent readings. When it spawns though, it spawns in a large vertical pillar, so the better way to find it generally is prospect for readings and then search nearby caves to see if any deposits are exposed, especially since halite is one mineral that the propick's node search won't pick up.

Right, but cold weather is something that's familiar and easily recognized. Temporal stability is not. I would liken it to being in an area and getting a creeping unsettling feeling, without really knowing why, and there are two choices--leave immediately as soon as it hits(which may take a while), or ignore it and keep going/try to figure out the cause(is it just imagination or not). Except the low stability from both is indicated by the gear turning counterclockwise, which is rather obvious. However, the player needs to both know what the gear indicates, as well as be paying attention to said gear for the information to be useful. Rifts are simply very strong anomalies, where effects of stability loss are quite rapid and thus easier to notice. Unstable areas themselves are much more subtle about it, hence how it tends to catch players off-guard: they weren't aware of the mechanic(newer players) or otherwise weren't paying attention(applies to any skill level). They're actually supposed to be more common in unstable areas and less common in stable ones. How well that translates to gameplay, I'm not sure, as I've not been tracking exactly where they spawn. This is a case similar to the rifts though. The underground is more unstable, and typically gets worse the deeper one ventures, so it's a more pronounced effect than surface stability. The same concept of tracking it still applies--watch the gear to see which way it's spinning, and mind that the fluid within doesn't get too low. The player is also a lot more likely to be on guard when underground since it's a known dangerous location, but the surface is a more cheerful, much less dangerous place and thus it's easy to fall into sense of complacency.

I somewhat agree, but this is also why I suggested just teaching the player the basics of what the gear represents in the tutorial, which I would assume most new players will play through at least once. There are lots of things that are trivial to experienced players, as that is just the benefit of having experience, but that doesn't mean that experienced players won't get caught by the mechanic. Right, but just because one feels something doesn't mean they automatically know what it is, or how to counter it. Temporal stability already has a few ambient telegraphs to alert the player to a looming problem. Rust world ambience starts to play after the player has lost about 25% stability, which should provoke an unsettling feeling and prompt the player to figure out what is going on. Once the gauge has dropped to around 33% stability remaining, monsters will begin to appear sporadically, with temporal storm effects setting in once the gauge approaches empty. Stepping into a rift will trigger the temporal storm effects, as well as cause stability to drop drastically, providing yet another indication that not all is right with the world. However, it's not necessarily obvious what to look up in the handbook in order to figure out what temporal stability is, hence why I suggest that including a brief note in the tutorial might be a better option. Overall, the general impression I get of temporal stability is that outside of rifts, temporal storms, and certain specific locations, it's a looming background threat and not something meant to be immediately obvious(like distorted noise or visual glitching). Seraphs also seem to be much more sensitive to its influence than humans and other normal creatures, thus I'm not sure that animals and the like are a good indicator of whether an area is stable or not. Honestly, I still think it's less a matter of providing more obvious signposts for the player regarding area stability, and more a matter of teaching the player how to use the tools already at their disposal.

Should they? According to the lore, the player just "woke up" at a random fixed point in the world, lacking most of their memories. The most they really know about themselves is that they're obviously not exactly human, but aside from that most of what the learn/remember from that point is gleaned through hard experience and talking to various NPCs(for example, the traders explain what those horrible monsters are that appear from thin air). Based on that, it makes sense that temporal stability and associated mechanics are going to catch them off guard. I have to mostly disagree here as well. The interface does its job fairly well, but the key is that the player needs to pay attention to it in order for it to be of any use. I think the more likely underlying problem here is that temporal stability is a concept unique to Vintage Story, so unlike hunger or health or concepts that are standard to most games, it can be a little tough to figure out without reading the handbook(which can be said for many gameplay loops). Personally, I don't like this solution, because it ruins the unsettling element of the mechanic entirely. Yes, it's more obvious, sure, but it's also practically a neon sign in the player's face that SOMETHING IS WRONG HERE! The current implementation is more subtle and can be easily missed, yes, but that also helps keep the player immersed in the creeping horror and more unsettling elements of the world. At a glance, everything is fine on the surface, aside from certain events that a total trainwreck(like temporal storms), but that lulls the player into a false sense of security. Spend too long in the wrong spot, and they may quickly find the distant ambience of the "other reality" filtering in. I think a better solution would just be including a basic explanation of the stability meter in the game's tutorial. That way, new players will have a ready explanation of what that gear is, without needing to look it up, but it's otherwise up to them to pay attention to their surroundings and what that gear is telling them. Though there is one change to temporal mechanics that I think would be great for immersion, and that is the concept brought forth by this mod: https://mods.vintagestory.at/temporalsymphony The text messages should be an option in the Accessibility settings, but otherwise, I think something like this concept would be a lot more dramatic, especially for new players. Everything is fine, until the world itself starts shaking and you hear the gears turning. The first warning is spooky enough to have players on edge wondering just what the heck happened, while also giving them enough time to potentially calm down and stop worrying...right before the second warning hits.

Hmmm...if you kept the default starting climate(temperate) and settled near spawn, it sounds like you may have settled on a high altitude plateau, which is likely causing the local climate to behave more like a taiga/cool climate band than the temperate one. In my experience for the temperate zone, the temperature usually doesn't start to drop that much until late September, and it's late October/early November before the snow moves in. Spring will generally arrive around late March, with the temperatures warming enough to start farming around mid-April(depending on what you plant). If you settled in a high altitude climate, the easiest solution is likely to just move your stuff to a lower altitude, which should make the winter a little less harsh. If there are chunks with walnut trees nearby, those are likely prime spots, as walnuts tend to spawn in warmer areas. If you're looking for climate that supports year-round growing temperatures though, you will likely want to start a new world and set the starting climate to Warm or Hot--a warm start will cool off in the winter months, but not to the point that farming isn't viable.

I'd recommend looking into Fauna of the Stone Age, if you haven't already, particularly the modules adding big cats, rhinos, or elephants. The big cats are very fast, can sometimes spawn in prides, and will stalk you if they get a chance. Rhinos and elephants are more passive, but will attack if you get too close, and you're almost certain to get flattened if this happens. The passive part might not sound threatening, but the elephants in particular spawn in herds, and given how tough it is to kill just one it can get very interesting if you find a herd of them on your lawn.

Culinary Artillery and Expanded Foods are still in the process of being updated for 1.21, so this is very much a possibility. There are technically "updated" versions of the mods available on the database, but they are dev versions and therefore more prone to issues.

Welcome to the forums! The answer to this question depends on what you find fun. Bronze is what starts to really open the game's world up, but iron pushes that even further. If you aren't playing the Homo Sapiens gamemode, I highly recommend starting the main story, if you haven't yet. Iron is plenty sufficient for what story is currently available, and you can start the story events by talking to a treasure hunter and completing a special quest. This is a very good investment, even if you're not really interested in the colored ceramics. The beehive kiln can be made from firebrick, is quite durable, and will come in handy for firing refractory bricks as it's overall more efficient than pit kilns. Additionally, you might consider caving, or braving the temporal storms for extra gears/Jonas parts. Iron equipment will keep you well-protected from most of the spooks you'll run across, though it still pays to be somewhat cautious.

I think someone(maybe two someones) tried this in game and that's why time itself is so boogered up. If you know, you know.