LadyWYT

In that case, if you're really wanting to just murder all the NPCs so you can take their stuff without repercussion, then realistically, the story ought to get the Morrowind treatment. The NPCs don't respawn, and the player gets notified that the world is now doomed, since the story can't be completed due to missing characters, and now needs to start over. Of course, if the NPC was a seraph, then they should respawn, and hold an eternal grudge, which once again prevents the player from completing the main story.

Welcome to the forums! *looks at username with suspicion* You're not a bear trying to figure out how to keep those pesky players from escaping, are you? Jokes aside, the best way to survive bear attacks, is to avoid getting attacked in the first place. If you see the bear first, you can avoid getting close enough to provoke an attack. If, however, the bear has already noticed, the best thing to do is run, usually cutting across rougher terrain where bears may have a hard time following. That is, of course, assuming that you're decent at navigating terrain yourself, and the bear isn't something like a polar bear(which can outrun the player). If you're not great at navigating rough terrain, you can also try diving into deep water and stabbing at the bear from below. Oftentimes, it's possible to kill the bear this way. And of course, if the bear hasn't spotted you yet, you could try digging a deep pit and trapping there--said pit should probably be around 4-5 blocks deep, as bears can climb 3 block heights I believe. If you are the brave type and a good shot, you can always try throwing spears at the bear and killing it at range, or softening it up before killing it in melee. In the early game though, do keep in mind that the strongest weapon you have available is often going to be a thrown spear. If it's later in the game though and you have bronze gear or better, you should be able to confront bears head-on and survive with relative ease. Last but not least, if you are playing with friends, there's always the tried-and-true strategy of simply making sure that you are faster than your friends. Of course, you may not have friends for long if you keep sacrificing them to bears, so you don't really want to utilize this strategy too often.

@Bruno Willis keeping my comment over here since this is the more appropriate thread for the topic: Plate armor is actually one of the worst choices for doing the story, if you're playing singleplayer that is. I think currently chain armor is the strongest, since it's very protective without sacrificing too much ranged accuracy or speed.

I can see where this would be frustrating for hardcore players, however...I'll also point out that the story isn't designed around hardcore-style gameplay. It is actually canon that the player respawns after dying. How many times the player is actually supposed to die over the course of completing the story, I'm not sure, but it's almost certainly at least once prior to arriving in location 2 of Chapter 2. That being said, I don't think that the goal of boss fight design is to ensure that the player dies multiple times, but rather to ensure that the player has a tough challenge to overcome before progressing the story. Typically, that means the player will end up dying a few times if they've not done the fight before, but not always.

Right, but the world isn't at the mercy of the player, but rather the player is at the mercy of the world. The game has a clear story to tell, and while the player has a lot of freedom to do whatever, there are still some definite limits in place. Not to mention that if the player can just tear apart the story location after it stops being relevant, then it's really hard to take the world seriously at all, instead of treating it like a theme park. Which would also require a monumental amount of physics coding to implement properly, as well as generate a plethora of player complaints when they die to the inevitable structural failure. Or players on servers complaining about story locations getting thoroughly gutted, or fighting over who gets to live in the Resonance Archive, etc. Not to mention that some places are literally frozen time anomalies... Yeah, but I will point out that the player character is supposed to be one of the good guys. That is, there's already an established history of the player playing nicely with certain other important characters. At best, to stay within a realistic style of the punishment, the player should get an instant "game over, man" when they steal, murder, or otherwise prove they have ill intent. Obviously, that's not going to be fun, but if the NPCs act like nothing happened and the plot continues as normal after the player does the time/pays a fine, then it's obvious the world doesn't actually react to player actions and continues on for the sake of "plot". Likewise, I will note that if the player is allowed to steal or get away with murder, then they're going to expect those to be viable gameplay options and complain if that ends up not the case. Additionally, it's a whole lot easier to just stop the player from tampering with things they shouldn't to begin with, than it is to try to program NPC line-of-sight, or track who owns what in the event the player accidentally sets an item down. Finally, if the player is allowed to steal, then multiplayer is going to have to deal with certain NPC locations getting picked clean by greedy players who were somehow able to game the system. The short of it is, if the player isn't intended to do certain things, maybe they shouldn't have the option of doing those things to begin with. Except land claiming is a game mechanic put in place to stop unintended player behavior in those locations. The actual reason those locations fell apart, is due to certain catastrophic events that happened in the world's past. The instability that exists there now is a lingering result of said catastrophic events. Honestly, the suggestion just comes across as asking for a Minecraft-style sandbox rules, but with Vintage Story's aesthetics. And that's not at all what Vintage Story is. That being said, for players that really want to tamper with the story locations outside of needing to use creative mode, that should already be possible via mods. All that would really have to be done, is just removing the protections entirely from story locations. It seems there's at least one mod that does just that, although it was made for an older game version so it may or may not work anymore: https://mods.vintagestory.at/show/mod/23236

Ah yeah, that'll do it!

It's also worth noting that you can get a 50% discount on your first elk, assuming you bring the trader the correct item. Elks can also carry two seraphs at a time, so unless you both want your own mounts, you only need to buy one.

The whole reason that story locations are protected, is to prevent the player from outright ignoring the puzzles and challenges(like players can in the other block game), or otherwise exploiting NPCs/robbing them blind(like players can in various other games). There are also some location pieces that just aren't even feasible for the player to remove, given the sheer size of the blocks in question or the fact that removing certain parts would logically collapse the structure. I wouldn't be surprised if there were some sort of reputation system implemented, however, such systems are often difficult to implement well, without resorting to NPC omniscience or stuff like "even the chickens can report crimes". Likewise, while jail would be a realistic option for punishing crime(death isn't a logical option given that the player is immortal), it's not actually fun to sit there and serve the time. If the player goes to jail, they're going to expect to be allowed to escape, or to otherwise just "sleep it off" before going back to bad behavior. It's also worth noting that the player isn't just some random nobody either. While it's ultimately up to the player to determine how to play, Vintage Story isn't an RPG, and currently the story is set up with the premise that the player was an individual that generally had good intentions and played nicely with others. The exceptions might be the Malefactor and Blackguard classes, as it's clear both have done some horrific things, but it's also implied that Malefactors gave up crime and tried to redeem themselves, while Blackguards did what was necessary to keep peace in the ranks. To my knowledge, this is somewhat how land claiming already works in the game. Additionally, there are padlocks players can use to lock up storage, and there is an item that players can use to reinforce structures to prevent others from breaking in. I don't think any changes are necessary here. Honestly, if a player really doesn't want their stuff messed with, maybe don't play on servers that allow players to mess with each other like that. Otherwise, if the player is okay with the risk, there are already ways of fortifying bases in the game, such as padlocks and block-reinforcement(I think it's the plumb and square required for this?). Way too complicated, and it's easily exploited by just hitting blocks with the hammer and chisel to turn them from natural blocks to chiseled blocks. Depending on the structure in question, many have fallen into disrepair simply due to being abandoned for decades, if not hundreds of years. The temporal forces and whatever else was involved in tearing apart the Old World is also to blame for the anomalies found at certain locations. Rift spawns and monsters spawns aren't related to land claiming, outside of monster spawns being fixed in most story locations for storytelling purposes. Land claiming is simply a tool to help manage players in multiplayer, as well as a tool used to keep players from tampering with story locations and either stripping them bare or bypassing the challenges within. Lorewise, chunk instability, rifts, and monsters are all results of past catastrophic events. This is best accomplished via creative mode, which has several different "command blocks" and other tools to help players build their own stuff. As noted before, one reason the story locations are under such protection, is that the player isn't meant to strip them bare. Logically, stripping out certain blocks would cause structural collapse, or otherwise not be feasible due to the size of the items in question. In certain cases, there are also anomalies present that seem to freeze things in time, so to speak.

My best guess is that it was a change slipped into a recent update, that just went relatively unnoticed.

Adding to this, I would also make sure that the blocks composing the main structure have their interior sides flush with each other. That is, if you're going to be chiseling outside, don't cut away more than slab thickness, and when chiseling the interior it's probably better to add an "overlay" block layer and chisel that, instead of the blocks actually comprising the main structure itself.

You'll want to be looking in taiga areas for them, as they prefer cooler climates. So searching the cool climate zones is a good place to start. They can spawn in the temperate zones as well, though on high altitude plateaus(typically grassland or sparse forest) where it's cool enough for a suitable habitat. Those would be the prime spots to look. That being said, I wouldn't necessarily call them a common spawn, as I've only seen them in the wild a handful of times. It's probably easier to find them, than it is to find a baby one that you can actually capture and tame, since I'm not sure that deer can be bred like normal livestock species can be. Unless you're playing Homo Sapiens, or otherwise just really wanting to catch and raise your own, it's much easier to purchase a tamed adult elk from your local treasure hunter.

I will note that buckets are craftable with rope--the player doesn't necessarily need to use twine, though that is an option.

Sorcery like this is how the Old World was brought to an end. Shame on you. (I'm kidding, totally going to steal this idea for my own future use)

Unless something has changed, the player's position in the world shouldn't affect whether or not Dave appears. Outside of having a high enough render distance, the player just needs to be either at incredibly low stability, or otherwise be in a medium-heavy temporal storm. Typically I don't see Dave either, as I usually have my render turned down a little lower than what's required for him to show up, but I did turn it up during a heavy storm the other day to see if I could spot him and...nothing. Which was very odd.

Judging by what's pictured, that seems the most likely culprit.

I'm thinking the next update is going to expand on Jonas tech, but I could be wrong. It's also about time for another story chapter, but I think that might come update after next. But I mean...I'm not sure I would really call any of the updates we've had small ones

And now to stop beating that horse and move on to something more productive: This makes a lot of sense, really, especially for when herbalism is added. More variety is always nice, and glass containers would be great for spices, herbs, alcohol, and various other things stored in smaller quantities, or that you might want to sort based on sight alone. Given how resilient rotbeasts are, this is a tough one. But I think this is a prime spot to add caltrops to slow them down, or a smoke bomb to confuse them(although this likely won't work since they navigate fine without having any eyes, and in the dark). Given what unfolds in the "Ghosts" short story, it seems that they're attracted to sound, so having small firecrackers or other noisemakers would probably offer a good distraction. Currently, rotbeasts don't seem to react at all to symbols, trinkets, or substances, so unless their behavior is changed dramatically or there's some macguffin we just don't know about, I don't think this is a good solution. I will also note that one reason rotbeasts are such a fearsome foe, is that they don't have any known weakness and must be countered with force. Ties into the above--they don't react to much of anything, save for displaying murderous intent around humans and seraphs. Fire doesn't seem to stop them, though it does seem to hurt them, and given that the monsters do seem to have a bit of self-preservation instinct(they do have a chance to flee if damaged enough), I don't think it's out of the question that a really big fire might act as a deterrent. But if keeping them away were as easy as just burning a few herbs or a bit of incense, then they wouldn't be monsters as much as they would be just neighborhood pests. Should be covered by the herbalism system, whenever it's added, though I wouldn't really expect any concoctions to have much effect on rotbeasts. Living creatures, certainly, and mechanicals a "maybe". I would expect this to be more effective against living creatures rather than rotbeasts. Rather, I'd be more inclined to say that the reason you coat your weapon in oil when fighting rotbeasts, is to prevent extra wear and tear that might occur when spilling their filthy, sludgey blood. This one I can sort of agree on, since fire does seem to hurt them and a bonfire is a common way to keep dangerous things away from camp. At least, it seems plausible for the weaker surface monsters, and it seems plausible that this is how traders and other travelers manage to survive in the wilderness(although it's likely that not all of them do). However, I would argue that the fire has to be pretty big in order to keep the monsters at bay--a simple torch or cheap little campfire just isn't going to cut it.

Sorry, it probably doesn't help that I got into a heated debate with a friend over some similar lore stuff yesterday, and it was very frustrating. So I do apologize if I got overly aggressive. I absolutely agree with this premise, however, I will also note that harnessing temporal energy is a lost art that, essentially, died with the Old World. There are only three characters left(that we know of) that understand what the tech is(mostly) and how to utilize it. One of those characters is the player, hence why we can craft gizmos and gadgets in the late game. To the average survivor though, it might as well be magic, and given that Jonas tech is at least partially responsible for the end of the Old World and the mechanical horrors skittering around the depths of the new, I don't think it's entirely unreasonable to assume that survivors might be a little suspicious of those using such wondrous devices. A ritual isn't the same thing as building a machine though. A ritual would imply some sort of spiritual power being invoked, whereas a machine implies using what one knows about natural law and order to get something done. I will also note that what you've described here regarding the trial and error to figure things out, is the scientific method, which isn't really used for rituals. As already noted by @Teh Pizza Lady though, the solution to rifts already exists with the rift ward. Build the machine, and keep it powered, and it will stop rifts from opening within the protected area. It's basically a lightning rod, but for temporal anomalies instead of electrical charges. The only thing that's for sure sensitive to instability, is seraphs, since they're sort of...displaced...from the time stream itself. That's not to say the physical world can't be affected by temporal instability, given that NPCs experience temporal storms and there are strange anomalies in certain locations, but it does seem to take a much greater concentration of instability in order to affect anything that isn't a seraph. The hitches and glitches a player experiences during low stability, or temporal storms, are essentially the result of the veil between two realities becoming so thin that they bleed into each other. Drifters and other rotbeasts are weird, in that they aren't exactly zombies since they do seem to possess a level of intelligence rather than act on instinct, but they don't think like humans either. They don't like bright light, hence why they tend to stick to the underground and night and don't really wander around in daylight. They don't have faces, so they presumably don't have the same senses that living creatures do, but they do clearly have some uncanny way to sense and target nearby humanoids. They do seem capable of feeling pain(though it may be a dulled sense), and though they can be set on fire they don't seem to really react. As to what they're made of, it seems to be some sort of an amalgam of flesh and metal, which I wouldn't really expect to react to poison or other chemicals like a living creature's body would(I mean, it's also hard to take a horrific monster seriously if you can just turn it into a puddle with a chemical concoction). It's not really clear exactly how such creatures came to be either, though it's heavily implied that most of them, at least, were once human, and perhaps turned as a result of the Rot, or the Great Machine(Salvation Engine) being activated, or a combination of both. I will admit, this made me laugh. Unfortunately I'm fresh out of pitchforks, and lost my torches in a boating accident. Probably the better way to summarize my thoughts on why adding functional rituals and charms shifts the tone to "generic magical fantasy", is as follows: Let's say that something like a dreamcatcher is added to the game. The player can craft it from sticks, twine, and feathers, and while it has a very low chance of warding away monsters, that chance is still high enough that the player can easily figure out that it works, which is the most important part. Since it's a method that works, and is very cheap, the player will end up choosing to use those for efficiency, and ignore late game tech options. Likewise, since it's a charm that works, the player will logically assume that there must be similar magical charms or rituals to accomplish other things within the game, at which point they're going to start questioning why they have to wait on seasons and growing times for crops, or go to effort of refining metal to make tools and weapons instead of just using magic to summon fireballs or transmute material. There's a few players that would enjoy that kind of gameplay, to be sure, since there's been a suggestion or two requesting as much, but that kind of gameplay is going to be incredibly jarring when juxtaposed against the realism that Vintage Story is built upon. Two mod examples from the other block game that implement such charms and rituals to interact with the world, are Thaumcraft and Witchery. Basically what I've been harping on, is that if something like those mods were added to Vintage Story, it shifts the tone of the entire game quite dramatically(as well as begs the question, why were machines and things necessary to save the world, if magic is clearly an answer to problems?)

To use this as an example to answer your question, the temporal amulet(Forlorn Hope Amulet) is very obviously some sort of charm, however, it has no functional gameplay purpose aside from being a cool little lore cosmetic. The most it actually does is emit light, which isn't particularly magical since that seems to be an inherent property of whatever temporal stuff is. Likewise, there are also glowing alchemical symbols, and other amulets and things that could be taken as artifacts of superstition. However, like the Forlorn Hope Amulet, they're just decoration, or neat cosmetics. As for what the player uses to actually solve problems and interact with the world around them, those are almost entirely real world processes, barring temporal tech and abilities. The player doesn't make potions or complete rituals to heal themselves--they use bandages and alcohol. There is no charm for warding off hostile wildlife; the player must be careful and either not disturb the animals, or otherwise hunt them. Likewise, when dealing with monsters, the player must either avoid them or kill them, since they aren't things that can be reasoned with. Temporal tech and abilities, while obviously somewhat esoteric, still fall into the realm of science fiction more than fantasy. Temporal abilities are inherent to seraph biology. The temporal tech uses machines and a set science that it follows in order to function; that is, it's not charms, mystical powers, and magic rituals but rather transformers, power pylons, gearboxes, and the like. Charms and the like tend to be rather arbitrary and require a lot more handwaving, like rabbit's feet being considered lucky, or smashing some barnacles and salmon roe into a bottle with a raw chicken egg to get a concoction that allows the imbiber to breathe underwater. So it's not that charms don't have a place aesthetically in Vintage Story, it's just that by giving them a legitimate gameplay function outside of aesthetics, the door is opened to introducing what's essentially an entire magic system, which is standard for fantasy settings. If a charm made from sticks, bones, and mineral/plant powder wards off monsters, then one has to start asking what effects other types of charms could have, or whether certain rituals could be used to speed up farming, or what inherent magical properties are present in different materials, etc. The focus is no longer the natural world and realistic processes, but rather bypassing natural law via the use of magic; at that point, it's no longer Vintage Story, but the Thaumcraft mod turned into a full game. Just quoting this to serve as a convenient break from the above section, but it's worth noting that in regards to the lore behind the Forlorn Hope...while they did seem to be a faction steeped heavily in charms, rituals, and mysticism, they were also a faction that has been(presumably) wiped out entirely. Whatever they were using for their practices doesn't seem to have helped them survive. I suppose it's also worth noting that the "Old World" in the lore is our world in the late Middle Ages, with the general setting in central/eastern Europe. While there wasn't a shortage of superstition and related practice, it's worth noting that Christianity was the dominant religion of the region at the time, so magic charms, rituals, and other things typically associated with witchcraft would have been frowned upon. That's not to say that the denizens of the present time still practice Old World religions, or that new superstitious practice didn't arise, but there does at least seem to be lingering influence of past tradition, given how NPCs speak and refer to certain things. Overall, I'm not saying it's a terrible idea, just that magic items and rituals aren't the way to do it in Vintage Story. It's better to focus more on the natural process already established, by doing things(which you have mentioned) like adding bonfires to help keep hostile creatures at bay, or adding more Jonas tech gadgets the player can craft to do various things(like the night vision mask we have already), or allowing the player to distill poison in addition to medicine in order to combat foes that are vulnerable to being poisoned.

Vintage Story is not Minecraft though. There is a specific reason that the choices are what they are regarding character customization. However, that also doesn't mean that the player can't choose something else if they don't like vanilla options--this is where mods come in handy. There are a plethora of various mods already on the database that alter character skin tones, eyes, expressions, and in some cases change the character model entirely. If you can't find what you're looking for, you can always take a stab at modding yourself. Vintage Story is very user-friendly when it comes to jumping into modding, and the wiki can help you get started. Making new textures for an existing model is usually fairly simple, but changing the model itself requires a lot more work. https://wiki.vintagestory.at/Modding:Getting_Started

Welcome to the forums! The first thing to check is to make sure that caps lock and num lock are both off, and that you've typed everything correctly, as typos are a common culprit. Likewise, make sure that you are using the correct password, as the passwords to your forum account and your game account are separate. If you've tried both of those and are having no success, then you'll want to submit a ticket to the support team for help figuring out what's going on(in my experience, support has things fixed within a couple of days). Good luck!

They can with this mod(though the pie still needs to be cut first): https://mods.vintagestory.at/expandedstomach I'd be more in favor of throwing a temporal gear into their midst and starting a brawl over which one of them gets it. But that's assuming they would have a fascination for such things that trumps their desire to murder and mutilate humanoids. It could, BUT...such options still need to support the overall flavor and atmosphere the game is supposed to have. Vintage Story has a rather realistic approach to its world, with some steampunk and eldritch horror sprinkled into the background for interest. The focus, however, is still realism and natural processes. It's not out of the question that the denizens of said world might make charms or draw symbols out of superstition, but if such things have an actual gameplay function outside of pure aesthetics then the focus of the game shifts from realism and solving things with real world processes or steampunk science, to more of a fantasy land where things such as magic symbols and mysterious rituals grant esoteric power. So I have to disagree that adding something like functional charms and rituals wouldn't hurt the game. I think a better place for that kind of idea is perhaps Project Glint--the secret adventure game that Anego has been tinkering with. From the sounds of it, it's supposed to be much more of an adventure RPG chock full of fantasy, so things like charms and magic won't feel out of place.

I knew it was a thing, however, I think the complaints about healing weren't quite tied to it. Initially, falling for one second or longer would interrupt the bandaging process and reset the timer, which meant that jumping would interrupt healing. The only exceptions were jumping up a block level, or stepping down a block level without jumping; in both cases, the fall timer was less than one second, and thus did not interrupt bandaging. Likewise, if the bandaging process was nearly complete, it would not be interrupted either. In any case, the healing was tweaked again and falling no longer resets the bandage timer at all, most likely due to this fight and others becoming more difficult than intended.

Yeah that happens. Though if the rickety translocator refuses to work properly, I would definitely submit a bug report on it. I thought it had been fixed in a recent patch, but I could be mistaken.

Okay, after taking a quick gander, you should be able to work your way out of this without using the console. First, make sure you're at full health, then go stand on the ledge outside the doorway. Facing the doorway, step backwards off the ledge and immediately press the forward movement key to hug the wall directly in front of you. It's a decent drop, but you should survive. Heal back up, then work your way down to the bottom of the structure carefully--the drops should be much less drastic from here. Once at the bottom, take a look around and be on your guard for monsters, as there's probably a few lurking around here. Somewhere at the bottom, there should be a ladder to climb, that will lead you to the path out. Once you find the ladder, simply climb it and work your way back to the upper levels. Of course, the easier, safer option is to just switch to creative(/gm 2), fly back up to wooden platform, and then switch back to survival(/gm 1).