LadyWYT

I think this sentiment is spot-on. Quite a bit of Chapter 2 wasn't able to be finished before it launched; that is, all the important story details were there, but some of the extras were missing. I will also note that one of the locations of Chapter 2 was a little underwhelming at first, and the main challenge of Chapter 2 was significantly overtuned. Most of the changes since launch have been adding more details to flesh out the locations and associated NPCs better, as well as a few quality of life tweaks to help make the challenges a little more manageable for a wider range of player skill levels. The feel of the story is still the same.

Well...https://mods.vintagestory.at/scatatastrophe

I know you're joking, but it's actually part of the VS lore...mostly. Without spoiling too much, there are several books and scrolls that are very old, that shed light on things that happened in the past. Some do seek them out for the information they may(or may not) contain, however, most human survivors can no longer read such literature either.

Now there's an idea. This sounds better as an intermediate option that just a larger raft, in my option. Plus since it's a rowboat, you can use it regardless of wind speed. Not that wind speed affects the sailboat currently(to my knowledge), but that's something that may be subject to change in the future.

I found a steel scale chestpiece once. Granted, it was very beat up, but it was still an exciting find, because that cut out a lot of work later when crafting steel armor since repair is cheaper than crafting new. That being said, I can understand why there isn't really loot like that, as it would enable players to skip too much progression. Otherwise...I dunno, I hadn't really considered the question that much. I like finding little trinkets and other curious pieces of decor, though it would be nice to have soap or something to clean them up. Bits of resources are nice too, but I'd rather be finding bits of halite or borax, or even copper nuggets, instead of dry grass and sticks. Not in every ruin, of course, but perhaps slightly more often than what the current loot tables are.

It took me entirely too long to figure out you're talking about terra preta here, and not toilet paper. Doh! I was so confused!

Currently, the main story from VS gets quite a bit of replay value just from the different classes available. NPCs are still in the early stages of development, but they will offer different reactions depending on the player's class. Malefactor and Blackguard are the two with the starkest reactions currently, I believe. What I'm hoping to see is that concept developed more in future updates. The story might always arrive at the same conclusion(it is linear, after all), however, there might be different paths the player can take to get there. Maybe a player does everything as intended, befriends the NPCs, and saves the world from another catastrophe. Or maybe the player decides to be an absolute jerk and gets themselves banned from the village...in which case, now they need to figure out how they're going to find the macguffin at the bad place. Good luck doing that without directions! The player pushed far enough to enstrange a certain old friend? Well now they have to figure out how to complete the next story chapter on their own, instead of having much-needed help. Of course, in the event something like that happened, maybe the player also has the option to redeem themselves to offended NPCs with a lot of hard work. How feasible such a system is, I'm not sure. But I think it would offer a lot for replay value if the player has some choices about how they interact with NPCs, and the NPCs respond accordingly.

Welcome to the forums(and the game)! The biggest piece of advice I have to offer is that the handbook is going to be your best friend, and the best place to start is reading through the Guides section in order to get a general idea of what you need to pursue in order to progress. A good time to read through the handbook is while waiting for the night to pass--just make sure that you hit the Unpause option in the handbook so that time will actually pass while reading. Vintage Story is a very meaty game, with most gameplay loops overlapping with one another in some way. The learning curve, as a result is very steep, and the game isn't very forgiving of mistakes, so it's best to take things slow and cautious, even if you have prior experience in similar games. There are three basic difficulties: Standard, Exploration, and Wilderness Survival. Standard offers a good balance of everything the game has to offer, but if it feels a bit too harsh you might play Exploration until you have a better grasp of how the game works. I don't recommend Wilderness Survival for new players given that mode has increased difficulty and is incredibly unforgiving of mistakes, but that being said, some players enjoy that kind of challenge right out of the gate. There is also Homo Sapiens mode, however, this mode removes all lore from the game and reduces the experience to pure survival, which I will note removes a lot of content from the game. There are also several individual settings that tweak various aspects of the game world and difficulty, so you can also customize the world and experience to your liking. Most of those settings can be changed at any time after the world's creation, though you will need to familiarize yourself with console commands to do so and may need to reload the world for the changes to take effect. There is also a plethora of mods that can further customize your experience, however, I recommend picking one of the premade gamemodes and learning the game basics first, so that you have a better idea of how things work and what you would like to change. It's a good idea to stop every once in a while and take a good look at your surroundings. Doing so allows you to spot potential threats, or resources that you may have otherwise overlooked. Regarding the main story content, be on the lookout for a treasure hunter. They offer a special quest to start you on the game's story. Last but not least, if you have questions or need additional help figuring out something, don't be afraid to ask about it on the forums. There's a variety of players here who've all been through the same trials at one time or another, who are happy to help newcomers learn the ropes.

https://github.com/anegostudios/VintageStory-Issues/issues

This is becoming somewhat of a thing in 1.21. Fish and other small animals, I believe, are getting changed to drop tiny bones, which can't be used to craft tools given they are way too small. Unless you're hunting something like whales or elephants, I doubt it. The largest animals currently in the game are bears, and while they might have big bones, the bones still aren't long enough to really make things like spears or tentpoles or similar things. At a glance, bones are also heavier than wood, so when it comes to things like tents you'd want materials that are both strong and light for easier transport. I think the arctic is still somewhat unfinished, and will probably see some love later on. However, the arctic is also an extremely unforgiving environment, and not a place meant to be very feasible for survival. A player can choose to live there as a challenge, but it's going to be a lot of extra work and hold challenges that aren't present in other climates. I'd add falxes/swords to that list too. The handles are short enough that making one out of bone as a vanity option is feasible.

A prefab door is the only way I can think of for getting it to work. It might look nice, but it's a very situational use, unlike the other door options we have in the game already. I do like the idea, but I'm not sure it's worth it if it only has that niche use. Unless I'm mistaken, there are solid trapdoors that you could achieve similar effects with in the game already, with a bit of chiselwork surrounding them.

Too bad I can't borrow some. Hunted an elephant on my friend's server and now there's around 4-5 whole stacks of redmeat needing to be used. I might play a Blackguard and eat a lot, but even I can't eat that much!

As long as it takes the devs to stabilize the update. Generally, there's a stable release with a few weeks of the unstable pre-release(s), but not always. Really just depends on how much content is packed into the update, what kind of content it is, and what kind of bugs there are to sort out before it can be considered stable.

https://mods.vintagestory.at/show/mod/23655 The biggest issue I see with this suggestion, is that it might be fun for those who really like to micromanage their farms, but quickly become an aggravating chore for other player types. The more time a player has to spend managing their farms, the less time they have to devote to other gameplay. Gameplay loops generally have quite a bit of downtime, so that players have plenty of opportunity to explore other gameplay options as well, or otherwise complete necessary tasks. The variety of opportunity helps keep the gameplay as a whole interesting, given that the player has plenty of options to pick from instead of getting bored with one specifically repetitive task. Keeping in mind too that the game requires the player to spend a lot of time away from home in order to complete the main story; with the current state of farming it's possible to plant a harvest, leave, and return to a nice full harvest when you're finished with your expedition...which is very nice if one wants to get an extra planting of flax or other crop before winter arrives. Likewise, the player also has the option to not plant--they aren't penalized either way. By adding things like weeds and pests that will hurt the crop if the player isn't actively checking their farms, players have less choice about when they deal with their farms and how, and are discouraged from exploration and other travel if they want to farm successfully. In any case, this particular feature I think is best left to mods; that way those that want that specific challenge can have it. Even if the weeds and diseases aren't able to actually kill the plants, I don't think many players will be content to just let their farms suffer if they want to go exploring or focus on other gameplay that they may prefer more. Again, see above. It might be fun for players who really enjoy farming, but what about the rest of the players? The more attention you demand from a player regarding a specific portion of gameplay, the less attention they're able to devote to other gameplay. Another thing I'll mention is that adding mechanics like these also reduce the freedom players have in how they build their farms. It might be fine for a small vegetable patch out back, but what about a massive field of flax? I was discussing similar ideas with another forum member here recently, and he described his experience with this type of mechanic in the mod I linked above. Essentially, as one to build absolutely massive farms, he ran into the issue of starting to weed the farmland early in the morning with the hoe, and not even being able to finish the weeding before he had to start all over again the next day. This feature has already been implemented. If the weather gets too hot or too cold, crops will be stressed and yield a lower harvest, and will eventually die if stressed too long. I don't know if going without water too long will kill them, but it will pretty much stop all growth. Rain varies depending on the region; players that settled in regions of low rainfall/planted in greenhouses will either want to irrigate their crops, or spend time watering them manually. In any case, I will note that if a player plants a crop tile and takes care of it to the best of their abilities, they're going to expect a full harvest from that tile. If they do everything by the book and still lose the crop, then it's going to feel like arbitrary punishment for trying to play the game well, and end up more frustrating than fun. Likewise, as I've said before...the more micromanaging you require players to do with their farms, the less time and options they'll have for other gameplay loops. This is why I've harped so much on how much attention tasks demand from the player--the more often one has to do something, the more likely it is that the task becomes a tedious chore instead of fun gameplay. In any case, I think current seed drop rate is fine in terms of balancing. If one needs more seeds quickly, they can search for cracked vessels, wild crops, or purchase seeds from an agricultural trader. As for getting the soil to stay wet longer, I think this a great place to implement your mulch suggestion. That way, players aren't going to be punished if they keep playing the farming loop as-is, but if they want to spend a bit of extra time mulching their farmland then they get the benefit of needing to water less often. Of course, if one's irrigated their farmland, they don't really need to water at all...75% moisture is just fine for growing crops, and keeping it at 100% moisture doesn't really save you much in terms of growing time, to my knowledge. Overall, I think most of the suggestions are better suited to the modded realm, rather than an addition to the vanilla game. It's a more niche style of gameplay(the mod I linked that implements similar concepts isn't very popular, and there's not many mods otherwise that deal with the concepts), and not the kind of thing that I think most players would enjoy.

A medium temporal Tyron is approaching.

Drift of drifters Stalk of shivers Quiver of bowtorn Maybe?

There's a rebalance patch for Combat Overhaul that someone made: https://mods.vintagestory.at/show/mod/24963 The only real competitor mod that I recall seeing is Bloodshed: https://mods.vintagestory.at/bloodshed Has its own weapons pack as well: https://mods.vintagestory.at/bloodshedweapons

Very nice! I dunno why, but the drifter reminds me of the Lorax. I think it's due to the bushy little mustache bit on the "face". Same here. Until you see one stand up on its hind legs and start doing a creepy interpretive dance.

Someone already did similar with Skyrim--I think the result is called Enderal? Likewise, there's the Skywind and Skyblivion projects that use the same concept: Skyrim's engine, but switching out assets and rewriting the code to make it function as an entirely different game. I think similar has been done with Minecraft as well...modpack overhauls, super-realistic shaders and textures...I think someone even turned it into an RTS, somehow.

Welcome to the forums! By sanity, are you talking about the teal gear in the middle of the hotbar? That meter tracks your temporal stability; sanity isn't a stat in the game(at the moment). Temporal stability hasn't really been explained in detail, but it's very different from sanity and carries more serious implications when you lose too much. The best way I can really describe it is that temporal stability essentially determines how much of a foothold you have in the present time in the real world...lose too much, and you start slipping through time into a different dimension entirely. That's not to say this is a bad idea, I would just implement it differently. Instead of restoring temporal stability(there is already a method to do this in the game, using a knife and a temporal gear), perhaps it gives the imbiber a small reduction on incoming damage. That allows players to use alcohol to be a bit tougher in a fight(which could be very useful if they don't have particularly good armor yet), with the risk of drinking too much and losing accuracy/coordination.

Just to rule out this possibility--I know it's not due to some tracks being seasonal, as the issue isn't limited to seasonal tracks. The only solution that's crossed my mind is backing up files and doing a fresh install of VS, but that's typically the last resort method to fix a thing.

Try searching in plains and other grassy areas instead of forests. It's not that clay can't spawn in forests(I've found a deposit or two in a forest before), but I think it's more unlikely. The bigger issue with searching in forests is that if it does spawn, the forest floor will cover the top of the deposit, so even if the clay is there it's not likely to be at all visible. In a grassy area though, bits of clay should poke through the grass on top, making it much easier to locate a deposit. It's probably not a bug, but it could be a world with fewer clay deposits than normal around spawn. You might try making a throwaway world or two and run around in creative(/gm 1, though it could be /gm 2, I don't recall for sure) to see if you have any better luck finding clay deposits. If you do, then it's probably just bad luck with the world you're playing on.

Vintage Story's main storyline is somewhat sequential, in my opinion. While it is written to be linear, it's also flexible, in that there's an ideal order of completion but one doesn't HAVE to complete it that way. It's entirely possible to skip Chapter 1 entirely and jump straight to Chapter 2; however, it's unlikely to unfold that way unless the player either knows what to look for and deliberately makes such a choice, or just explores a LOT of territory before ever bothering with the treasure hunter's quest. I'm fairly certain this is why locations for Chapter 2 are located so far from spawn--it reduces the likelihood of newer players accidentally missing parts of the story, given that Chapter 2 locations are more easily spotted than the Chapter 1 location. The distance is also an effective narrative tool for driving home just how big and lonely the setting is, which is one nitpick I have with a lot of modern fantasy adventure titles. Skyrim, for example, is supposed to be a vast wilderness dotted with ancient ruins and small strongholds of civilization. In actual gameplay though, you can get from one town to the next with a 5 minute jog, and it's difficult to really go from one hilltop to another without running into some sort of civilization(friendly or otherwise). Granted, the world wasn't built to scale in order to give the player things to do around every corner without making it a slog, but the drawback is that it's hard to take the world seriously as a result. In Vintage Story's case, a player can't afford not to take the world seriously when planning their travels, because they can't count on there being a safe haven over the next hill to rest and resupply in should they run into trouble. I will say that Chapter 2 will still make sense if one somehow misses Chapter 1. However, the impact probably won't be the same. Chapter 1's location is very interesting and a shame to miss, and it also provides at least some background information on why the world is the way it is. Without spoiling too much, there's also an item there that will likely prove useful in the adventures to come. My take on "lore-rich" versus "story-based" is that the two really go hand-in-hand. If the world isn't lore-rich, it's hard to have an interesting story, and vice-versa. In the case of Vintage Story, there's plenty of lore for the player to discover, and an obvious story to tell regarding the player and a handful of related NPCs. However, the story is not the sole purpose of the gameplay, and the game doesn't push the player to complete it in order to have fun.

I forgot about that. Oh yeah, for sure. To me, certain important parts being harder to acquire is the trade-off for taking the less-risky paths. It'll take a player longer to get stuff like temporal gears and Jonas parts that way, but it's still a viable option if they're willing to put in the time. I tried to explain it in my initial post, but I think it's also a bit tricky to really explain without some kind of demonstration. Essentially, all it is, is a requirement that the monster is killed by a player directly(or a player-owned pet/ally) in order to count towards spawning a guaranteed special monster. After a player kills around 10-15(haven't pinpointed a number, but it seems a fair range), a special monster(such as a double-headed drifter) will spawn near the player. That is, no boiling drifters alive in a hot spring, getting them to kill each other, or killing them via fall damage or some other indirect method. I'm sure there's still a way to build a sort of grinder, that still ensures the player can get the last hit on monsters so the kills qualify towards a special spawn, which is fine in my book. It would be quite a bit of effort to do that(and players are very good about figuring out workarounds for things like that regardless), so I don't really see it being an issue if they can find a way to build such a thing. As for multiplayer, I figure that all monsters killed by players will count towards the special spawns, making it rather lucrative for players to fight together instead of separately. In that case, when enough kills are reached to trigger a special spawn, it will spawn near one of the players who contributed to the kills in order to ensure it spawns near someone actively hunting said monster, and not someone who just wants to wait out the storm. Ideally, I figure a change like this would result in at least a small handful of chances for a player to get a lot of good loot, instead of the current system of just hoping for a special monster to spawn. Special monsters will still spawn at random too, as they do now, but with that kind of change players can also influence how many they encounter during a storm. As for changes to loot...I didn't really want to go adding anything to the current loot tables, aside from metal scraps. Current loot is a bit underwhelming in some ways, though I chalk that up to there being not enough uses for temporal gears and Jonas parts at present.

I mean...at least the rifts aren't spawning in the house. That's happened a couple of times on my friend's server.