LadyWYT

Honestly I figure just leaving it at "the other block game" is funny enough. Keep 'em guessing which one you're referring to.

First off, welcome to the forums! As @Loosebearings already noted, choice of class can make a big impact here. Blackguard has the highest hunger rate of all the classes, with the worst wild food gathering ability to boot. It's possible for new players to pick this class and manage just fine, but they will definitely struggle more than they would picking any other class. Honestly, it sounds like you might be approaching food supply from the standpoint of the other block game, and that kind of logic doesn't apply to Vintage Story. Crops take time to grow, and won't grow at all if the weather isn't appropriate for the crop in question. Animals are more realistic in that you need a male and a female in order for them to reproduce, and the offspring require sufficient time to mature. When it comes to animal proteins, prey animals are also much more valuable than predator animals(likely to prevent the player from relying too heavily on hunting bears and wolves instead of prey animals or establishing livestock). For the early game, it's best to hunt and forage a fairly wide area in order to make sure you have enough food to work with while you get farms and livestock established. Likewise, you also need to make sure that you have some way to store the food that you can't immediately use, since most will rot rather quickly if not preserved. Wolves howl quite a lot, so they tend to be easy to notice. Bears unfortunately tend to be quieter, but in the case of both bears and wolves it's a very good idea to be mindful of the surroundings and pause to take a good look around every now and then. The best way to avoid getting mauled, is to spot the danger and avoid it. As for why they're so aggressive...there are lore reasons, but it's also to help keep the game challenging(especially for the Homo Sapiens game mode). Except the monsters are there primarily as an environmental hazard; that is, they're an obstacle for the player to work around, but not something the player actively hunts in order to advance themselves. If the monsters are consistently dropping things like flax fibers or other low-level useful items, the player has more incentive to build "grinders" or otherwise focus on killing them efficiently, than engaging with intended game loops like ore mining, farming, etc. They aren't everyone's cup of tea, hence why there is an option to disable the mechanic. Currently, there's not really much to do on the water either. Once more aquatic content is added, I would expect the default worldgen settings to change in order to support more water. As it stands, I've found that setting Landcover to 80% produces enough oceans for the sailboat to feel useful, while still leaving land-based travel as the main focus. Your mileage will vary though; if the defaults aren't cutting it, best to make some test worlds and play around with the settings until you find a combination that works. To my knowledge, the raft is craftable without the need for metal tools. The sailboat is a major upgrade, as well as a much fancier vessel, so it will require much better tools and materials as a result. In regards to salt, finding a deposit is very useful, but also not needed most of the time. Survival Goods and Commodities traders both sell salt for quite reasonable prices, and trading is the way I typically acquire salt myself since it's very convenient. If one is playing Homo Sapiens though, trading will not be an option. This is true, however, I would say it also depends on what a player is looking for. Modding one's game to suit personal taste isn't a crime. Likewise, as you've noted already, Vintage Story is still early in its development. In spite of there being a lot of content already, the version we have available to play at the moment is probably more of an early alpha version than anything, which is why certain sections of the game still feel rather undeveloped(of a planned eight story chapters, only two have been implemented). Now that I think about, I suppose that's one of the benefits of panning over mining for one's copper. Panning certainly isn't exciting, but it is safe, and you don't need to process the ore you get from it(aside from smelting).

I don't think you're the only one that's added a signature since the creation of this thread. There's been a few more cropping up, which has been pretty funny to witness.

There's a Hindu statue that can be found, as well as a Horus statue. For the most part though, real world religious references tend to be easter eggs to find, and not really a focus. Without spoiling too much of the lore/story, gears are what seems to have taken hold as religious symbols, with perhaps traditions loosely related to Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy. That being said...I don't think there's a mod that adds a wearable Star of David, but you might be interested in these ones: https://mods.vintagestory.at/ageofconfession https://mods.vintagestory.at/soundofconfession Age of Confession especially adds a variety of decorative artifacts from real world religions.

To my knowledge, this is how stability works already. Or at least, it's supposed to. It's not, but that is the price one pays for safety. In order to be completely safe from a temporal storm, the player needs to build a small bunker to hide in. This is if the player doesn't want to risk death, which honestly I think the respawn mechanic might be an overlooked strategy for early game storms. I died the other day taking on a double-headed drifter in a light storm; only had gambeson and Blackguard shortsword, so not the best equipment but not the worst either. However, I was able to deal with the drifter fairly easily in spite of the death, and the resulting loot felt worth it. Ideally, the death isn't necessary, but it does make me rethink whether a death or two is really that bad, or whether it's an advantage to prepare for and utilize until equipment can be upgraded. You don't need to return to the surface to recover stability. Killing monsters is an option, as is sacrificing a temporal gear and a bit of health. It's also possible, though very rare, to find stable areas underground. And this is why there's an option to turn the mechanic off.

Probably, but that would also probably include reworking the current damage/armor system, which I'm not sure is necessary.

I know I might steal this for incorporating into a mod later... But otherwise, I would probably keep starvation as it is, unless the devs re-enable the bodyfat mechanic that's apparently hidden the code. The starvation mechanic may not be particularly realistic, and might be annoying, but it does keep food supply important to the player throughout the game, as well as keep the player alerted to their condition so they don't starve by accident. If starvation were actually realistic, then the player either wouldn't need to worry about food at all since they can just eat a meal once every few days and be fine, or they're digging themselves a hole of stacking debuffs that will be very difficult/frustrating to recover from. Overall, I think it's an idea better suited for mods, and not the vanilla game. The health boost from nutrition is more useful than you'd think, but not so useful that it's going to feel frustrating if you can't fill a bar for some reason(looking at you, dairy!). Also keep in mind that when the player dies, nutrition is halved. The health loss isn't great, but it's generally not such a discouragement that the player won't go back to take another shot at whatever they were doing. If the player is losing active buffs though(like increased damage, and better damage resistance)? They're probably going to get frustrated if they end up dying to a boss or something, and then have to wait a while to recover the full buff before trying again.

For simplicity's sake, we can assume that containers will affect how fast pottery dries, though that's also fairly realistic as well. If you can't finish the project at that moment IRL, you cover it and lightly spray it with water as needed to keep the clay from drying out. As for firing wet pottery IRL...that's how things potentially go BOOM in the kiln--that, and air pockets in the clay. From a gameplay standpoint, if wet pottery is fired then it has a chance to break during the firing(the chance correlates to how wet it is) and produce a pile of pottery shards instead of actual useful pottery. In theory, a player could probably stuff their kiln full of slightly moist pottery, fire it, and get most of the pottery as a finished product, but the most ideal route is just...letting the stuff dry thoroughly before firing. To help players distinguish between wet and dry raw pottery, there could probably be some sort of gradient added similar to the gradient used for cooling metal, in that wet raw pottery will have a much darker shade than dry. Yeah, that concern crossed my mind as well. However, there are still a lot of other things the player can be doing early in the game while waiting for it to fire, and 24 hours maximum for drying time doesn't seem like that big of a delay. The simplicity also makes the mechanic easy to understand and deal with, so it's just a matter of figuring out a little patience and planning ahead, which are crucial skills throughout the game. Pretty much. The main benefit I see, aside from "realism"(which isn't always a benefit), is that it just smooths out the early progression loops a little bit more. Regarding new players potentially getting frustrated, I think it depends heavily on the demeanor of the player. Given what happened with the change to fire clay, I'd expect plenty of complaints from veteran players as well. Players that enjoy more realism and don't mind taking their time will probably be fine with it, but players that want to rush through everything/prefer easier routes probably won't enjoy it that much.

Welcome to the forums! Looks like your system doesn't have enough memory for the modlist you're trying to run. I would reboot your system in case it's a memory leak, and then check your log files to see if there's anything that looks off. It's also a good idea to disable all of your mods after a reboot, and test the game in vanilla to make sure things work properly. Once you've confirmed vanilla works fine, then you can start adding mods back in. It's a good idea to doublecheck the mods and make sure that they're either all up to date, or known to be working properly on the latest game version. You might also consider paring down your modlist a bit, or adjusting other graphics settings to lighten the workload for your PC.

Like you misplace your arrows into my face? Relevant story link:

I don't recall. It was called "Compatibility Patch" or something to that effect. I'm not even sure it's on the database anymore, to be honest. If it is, I don't recommend using it, since it doesn't actually fix the issues that Wildcraft has on the current game version. Hence why I say it makes things "work"; that is, the code might compile and it might not spit out so many errors to the server console, but you'll still encounter issues like animals not eating from troughs or getting attracted by trap bait. I would either wait for Wildcraft to receive a proper update, or start a new world. You could also try to continue as-is, and try to find a workaround via some use of creative mode or something.

The main issue I see to using a campfire for faster drying, is that it logically dries out one side faster than the other, unless you're rotating the pottery items periodically. The pottery I've made IRL didn't have anything fancy to dry it; it just sat there for a couple of days before getting fired. Possibly, but I think at most it slows down the process by about a day. While the pottery is drying, the player could be working on charcoal(which will fire the pottery faster), scouting for more resources, building a makeshift base, hunting for food, etc. It becomes more of an issue later in the game, potentially, when one needs to fire a lot of pottery at once. However, pottery is also a task well-suited for periods of down time(like night, temporal storms, winter, etc), so the player can easily plan ahead and make pottery well in advance, then throw it all in a beehive kiln for a proper firing.

Or perhaps instead of refilling with bits of grass, have some sort of pitch or resin-coated torch that burns longer. More expensive, but better for early lighting if you don't yet have the resources to invest in lanterns.

That would be a good use for them, for sure. I did consider that, but yeah, came to the same general conclusion.

This one I can at least somewhat answer: As for whether or not the starfield itself is accurate...that I'm not sure. It seems like it should be, since I'm not sure that the stars were rearranged, but it could also just be a made-up starfield as a placeholder. My current understanding is that having a rotating starfield accurate to hemispheres and seasonal variation is on the roadmap, but it's not exactly there yet. I'm also not sure if that means copying the actual real-life starfield, or making one up for the "new reality".

Realistically, it should, since this is how pottery actually works. If it's not dried first, it will most likely cause problems during the firing. From a gameplay standpoint, it seems a reasonable thing to add, since it leans into realism without being too intrusive. It would also be a decent way to extend the early game just a little bit, rather than have the player jump right into the copper tier on the very first day. However, it probably wouldn't be so restricting that the player ends up having to spend multiple days stuck in the stone age either. On the other hand, that might be more realism than what most players would enjoy. I'd think maybe a full day at most for the raw pottery to dry thoroughly, with the drying process becoming wet again if the raw pottery is left out in the rain. Attempting to fire the raw pottery before it's dry will likely result in it shattering during the firing process, which results in pottery shards. As to what to do with shards of fired pottery? That I'm not sure. Perhaps they could be recycled into decorative mosaic blocks.

Pretty much. There are quite a few real historical things referenced, however, the "real world" was basically left behind when "the incident" happened. I'm not actually sure anyone in the present day is aware of the Old World's actual history, aside from a handful of specific characters that is. The little bits that are known are probably vague details couched in various tall tales and other legends that have managed to survive. Honestly, that's also a very good reason not to make it a completely alternate world. One complaint about fantasy/science-fiction settings is that oftentimes, the setting is just a carbon copy of Earth, with exactly the stuff you'd expect to find on Earth, but it's "in space" or whatever. It's not a bad thing to do that, mind you, as familiar things like bears and wolves and whatnot don't really need to be explained to the audience. But it is how you get complaints such as elves just being pointy-eared humans, dwarves/gnomes being short humans, etc. Of course, another drawback to making the setting completely alien is the problem of how to explain the various things to the audience, without it seeming too contrived.

I think they're on by default now, but used to be off by default once upon a time. I don't recall ever messing with that setting and I've always been able to see forum signatures. @Maelstrom

There are blueberries, but as @Slam noted, there's not really a difference between them and currants. They both have the same shelf life and satiety value. Of the berries we have available in the game though, blueberries are the second-rarest, with only the white currants being harder to find. From a purely practical standpoint, they aren't an ideal berry since the bushes are a bit harder to find and don't stack. But where's the fun in that? I do as well, hence why I like to get a patch of them going.

Which one? I think there's like...at least three of us that lurk around, maybe more. But yes, welcome to the forums @Nicholas Rathke! As @Slam already noted, there are other options when it comes to acquiring lime. Marble can be ground into lime as well, but honestly, given it's rarity, I don't recommend doing this, unless building isn't one's thing. Typically the route I opt for if I can't find limestone or chalk. If I'm not mistaken, commodities traders will sell it too.

Honestly, have to agree with @Professor Dragon here, in that there are just too many variables to account for. As a general rule, Vintage Story is optimized very well, and the vanilla game should run excellent on the average machine. Sometimes there's a bug or two that throws a wrench in the works, but those are usually sorted out fairly fast. For vanilla specifically, it's going to depend on player hardware. Weaker hardware will want to turn down graphics, which usually equates to lowering render distance, lowering particle counts, lowering shadow quality, etc. It's also a good idea to keep background tasks to a minimum while playing, as they can also interfere with game performance(especially on weaker hardware). Having lots of signs, machine parts, a ridiculous amount of entities crammed into a small location, lots of intricate chiseling, etc, can all possibly impact performance, but I would say that's really only a concern for weaker hardware, and like...a TON of that stuff packed into one's base. I would also say that's a general rule for most games, not just Minecraft or Vintage Story. The more you have going on in a single space, the more the system is going to need to work to account for it all. It's also worth keeping in mind that for multiplayer specifically, spotty internet connection can easily cause issues while playing, although connection issues typically come with a warning box appearing in the upper right hand corner. Likewise, the bigger the server is, the beefier it will need to be in order to handle a large map with lots of players. Honestly...it sounds like those players might just have lower-end PCs, and/or be running other programs in the background that may impact their performance specifically. Having browser tabs open, playing music, or recording game footage can all be fairly demanding on system resources. However, it's also possible that they're trying to play the game at higher settings than what their hardware can handle, and thus are encountering problems as a result. If it is a hardware problem though, I'm not sure there's much that can be done, outside of tinkering with graphics to find something more workable or upgrading hardware(if possible). While it may not be fun to do that, it's also not really fair to force other players to avoid chiseling or otherwise reasonably enjoying the game just because the hardware of other players can't handle it. That being said...despite it being a vanilla server, it's worth checking to see if the players having problems are using client-side mods. If they are, it's entirely possible that there's a mod causing issues(especially if the mod is out of date and not otherwise known to work correctly on the latest game version), in which case they should try disabling their mods to see if performance improves. If you've got logs available, you could also try posting them here on the forums to see if someone else can figure them out. If it's an actual crash report though, you can post that to the forums too, but that's much better submitted to the Github bug tracker for the devs to see.

First you'll need a crucible, and a mold to pour the molten copper into. Put the nuggets of copper into the crucible and heat in a firepit to smelt, then grab the crucible with tongs(in your offhand) and pour into the mold. Twenty nuggets equals one ingot. Regarding the fuel, you need some sort of charcoal/coal to smelt copper/most other metals, as you need to get the crucible hot enough for the ore to actually smelt. Also keep in mind that the more ore you try to smelt at once, the longer the process will take.

Technically, there are lore reasons for the wildlife being more aggressive, but that's also a plot point that's not really been explained(and may not ever be, and just left up to player interpretation). That being said, creature AI is still being worked on, and to my knowledge more complex behaviors are planned. Some of the current AI is also maybe a bit more nuanced than it first seems, since I've stumbled across bears and wolves and had them do nothing/run away instead of attack. It's safer to assume they'll always attack if you get too close though.

Correct, but this is also the timeframe that Vintage Story takes place. It can't be later than the 1400s since the Byzantine Empire is referenced, but it also can't be earlier than the 1200s since the Hanseatic League is also referenced. There is a bit of wiggle room regarding tech, given that according to the lore there was a sort of early industrial revolution taking place prior to a world-ending catastrophe, however I'll also note that pretty much all of that tech is now a lost art. There are maybe a handful of characters left(player included) that still know how to utilize it. Not currently, but you do need steel in order to craft Jonas tech, make sturdy leather, or make the highest tier of refractory bricks. Steel is the only material tough enough to mine things like chromite, ilmenite, and pendlatite(I think). I would expect to have some more machine options later, however, I don't expect anything like the full automation you can get with the Create mod in the other block game. Full automation kinda goes against the grain of the kind of game that Vintage Story is trying to be. That being said, I'm sure there will be mods that allow for such in the future, if there aren't already. I think the idea for these has been floated a time or two, but it remains to be seen if it'll actually make it into the game. If it's implemented though, I would expect more a larger scale version of the sailboat we have already, with a customizable "pocket dimension" interior, and not so much something like the Archimedes Ship mod(I think that was the name) where the player literally designs the entire thing block by block. I'd recommend at least playing through the story, if you haven't yet, as there is quite a bit of interesting things to explore. It's also harder than you'd think. For the machines that are there, in my opinion they do take dozens of IRL hours to build, but most of that time is going to be spent actually finding the materials and refining them into the required machines parts. Building the machine itself is usually pretty straightforward otherwise.

That defeats the purpose of a spear, really. I'd opt for a pike instead. Give it more reach, with a minimum poke range so that carrying a side arm is still a good idea. In that case, it's a good choice of weapon for poking things at a distance, but not a weapon that you can throw. That's better suited to poison-making, really. The main benefit of a barbed arrowhead isn't to make the target bleed more on impact, but rather to make the arrowhead much more difficult to remove. If I'm recalling correctly, broadhead arrows are better if you want the target to bleed, since they tend to make bigger wounds. I've not used that mod, but my general opinion is that the stuff in that mod should stay in that mod. Nothing against what it does, mind you, but I don't want to see the game's focus shift heavily to combat.