LadyWYT

Make sure you test your modlist before committing to a world as well. I will note that Expanded Foods is technically still in a development version for 1.21 and not a fully stable release, so it's more likely to have some lurking issues. Doesn't mean you can't use it, but it's something to be aware before you commit to a modlist.

The problem with temporal mechanics is that you can't just up and delete them for everyone without rewriting the entire main story. Love them or hate them, temporal storms are directly featured in the game's description and trailer, as well as mentioned directly by some NPCs. Temporal stability is similar, in that it's featured prominently enough in the advertising and the lore that it can't really just be removed with no rewrites or repercussions. Obviously, this mechanics aren't everyone's cup of tea, hence why there are options to turn them off or modify them a bit, but those are choices the player makes for themselves as needed. Temporal storms were caused by a certain catastrophic events in the past. This is a prime example of where the entire story would need to be rewritten to accommodate a change like this. If the storms are triggered by something the player does themselves, then the player, by all rights, shouldn't be a seraph and the Old World shouldn't have collapsed as it did. Making the Rust World like the Minecraft's Nether or End is a pretty bad idea. Part of the reason the Rust is so intriguing is that we know practically nothing about it; the mystery keeps it interesting. If it becomes a place the player can just regularly visit and interact with directly, then the mystery is lost and it's just another resource-farming spot like the Nether is to Minecraft. Go in, strip it of whatever you need, and then leave. At this point, it's just a worse version of turning the mechanic off. Players would essentially need to sabotage themselves by eating spoiled food, letting themselves freeze, etc. just to feel any kind of negative effect. The better solution here is to just separate surface stability from underground stability and let players toggle each independently of the other. In this case you run into story problems with NPCs, since most don't have technology to deal with rifts at all. Yes, they have guards and fortifications, but the general idea is that those are in place for when rift activity is actually taking place, or a temporal storm is occurring. Permanent rifts that constantly leak monsters would, realistically, grind down whatever defenses are there and overrun the settlement, simply by attrition. I also don't think it's going to be fun for most players either to have permanent rifts pumping out monsters wherever they go. I think at best, more players will be encouraged to just turn rifts off rather than deal with them, if there's no chance of safety until the late game. As for an early game mechanic to close rifts...I'm not sure how the player is supposed to manage that with early game tools, without rendering rift wards essentially useless due to cost/effect ratio. This is really the only section I agree with. The predators do need to be dangerous, but the player should have a few more options of dealing with them than they currently have. Traps are rather obvious, and making lots of noise/climbing vines have practical uses outside of just surviving a predator encounter. Noisemakers could be used to distract enemies, in the event you can toss a firework or something into the bushes, as well as be used to attract attention from certain enemies as well. Want the Blackguard to actually operate as a tank? Give them a warhorn or something to toot occasionally and make monsters prioritize them as a target. When it comes to climbing vines, that opens up some interesting possibilities for exploration and set design. Climb up in the trees to get a look around, or scale the nearby cliffs or overgrown ruins thanks to nature's ladders! Temporal mechanics I've harped on a LOT over the course of my time on the forums, so I'm not really keen on restating everything I've already stated multiple times. In general, I think it's just a very divisive mechanic and it doesn't really matter what changes are implemented, several players are going to hate it. If changes are implemented, those changes shouldn't come at the expense of the story the devs want to tell or the intended experience they wish to curate either. Likewise, changes that happen shouldn't just copy successful mechanics from other games, as what works in one game doesn't necessarily work in another due to differences in story and gameplay focuses. Overall, I think the best longterm solution is to just make sure that all temporal mechanics are easily moddable, as to my knowledge those are areas of the game that are very difficult to mod. By making those mechanics easier to mod, then players will have the best selection of choices possible since they can make pretty much whatever they want. More in-game options would also be good, however, in-game options are fairly limited when it comes to mechanics like this. Such options usually equate to turning things on/off, or otherwise adjusting values like frequency, damage percentages, health pools, etc. The core experience still remains the same. TL; DR: The entire story and lore shouldn't need to be rewritten to implement a change. Players should be able to break the lore if they want, but lore-breaking that happens should be by the player's own individual choice.

Check Tobias's shoulder.

I don't think Combat Overhaul changes animations, just how the vanilla game accounts for combat. Thus the ranged attack animations remain the same, but the process of aiming is different.

Welcome to the forums! I would prefer increasing the loot chance per hit as the material quality improves, not give incentive for the player to remain in the copper age. Some copper tools still have a place in the late game, but weapons and armor are not something the player should stagnate progress on. I'd rather just have looted corpses disappear, maybe even to the point of having enemies die immediately if they are still living but have no more loot to drop. That way the player knows which corpses still have loot to potentially collect, while having the nice little bonus of one-shotting the occasional enemy. Higher health enemies could probably die more easily too, but given that many of them have more than one piece of loot it's a lot more unlikely.

I like this idea too, but I think it should probably have a toggle in the settings somewhere. It's the kind of thing that could easily get out of hand in multiplayer.

Prior to 1.20, drifters were the only monster that the player would regularly encounter, given that mechanical monsters are primarily confined to the underground. Drifters, while still dangerous, aren't particularly hard to fight, and it was quite possible to skip armor entirely and just run around throwing flint spears and bandaging as needed(there was no delay on bandaging either). The introduction of shivers meant there was now something fast enough to catch the player, and the bowtorn filled the role of dangerous ranged opponent. Any of the monsters by themselves are still easy to deal with, but when combined together they can make for a pretty tough challenge since the player will need to strategize a little.

Wildcraft is definitely one to consider since it will add arctic fruits like crowberries and bearberries. The trees module will add firs and whatnot, as well as cane twigs for crafting handbaskets and things. Do keep in mind that Wildcraft mods require Herbarium to work, and may be a little demanding on performance given the amount of stuff added. https://mods.vintagestory.at/wildcraftfruit https://mods.vintagestory.at/wildcrafttree https://mods.vintagestory.at/herbarium Ancient Tools would be useful given that it adds Native American tanning methods and other useful things. https://mods.vintagestory.at/ancienttools You'll probably also want a mod that allows pemmican making. I prefer Expanded Foods myself, as it adds a lot of stuff other than pemmican and bone broth, but that may be a bit much so you may want to opt for a simpler food option. Primitive Survival is an obvious choice just for the fishing and smoker. You may want to turn off Cthulu though. https://mods.vintagestory.at/primitivesurvival

Welcome to the forums! This mod is almost certainly the culprit, as to my knowledge it changes almost everything about combat quite drastically, including the aiming system. I have not played with Combat Overhaul, but I think that the red X is where your shot will actually go. In vanilla, the crosshair remains stationary but the shot itself can be slightly adjacent to where it's pointing(shot drift). Essentially, Combat Overhaul's changes to ranged combat try to take all the guesswork out of the equation.

I mean, it wasn't caused by lightning but...it could always be worse. I'm pretty sure most everyone has burned something down by accident in Vintage Story at least once.

But how am I supposed to play chicken roulette if they have a roof over their heads? For future reference though, you don't necessarily need a roof. A lightning rod stuck on a tall structure somewhere nearby will suffice.

Kind of? I think the animations are the same, but the timing is different. You can swing some tools, like hammers, axes, and pickaxes, much faster than the animation that plays.

I don't know about firewood, but nine full stacks of peat underneath has proven sufficient to fire it, in my experience. Any less than that and you'll need to light a few extra bricks and wait. It's not really possible to exceed nine full stacks, as there isn't room and the kiln will be finished firing by the time the fuel runs out anyway.

Welcome to the forums(and the game)! I think it's way too early in development to tell. The best guess I can make on it is that the story/lore will be different, which is a decent enough reason on its own to give the game a try when it launches. I don't think that's a very good idea given that Project Glint and Vintage Story are different games with different gameplay expectations and different story/lore, not to mention all the backlash the idea got when Project Glint was originally announced as a potential separate gamemode for Vintage Story(despite the fact that it still had a separate team). If one game is balanced around realistic survival and steampunk horror, then it's hard to implement a gamemode focused on fantasy adventure and different lore without getting some wires crossed when it comes to balancing and story. To cite a better example from Vintage Story itself--there are technically already three different game versions. Standard, Wilderness Survival, and Exploration are the "story modes" and what the game is developed around; the difficulty of each one differs, but the core experience is the same. Homo Sapiens strips out all the lore, leaving a purely realistic survival experience; it's not what the game is developed around though, so as a result it tends to be lacking when it comes to challenge and things to do. Creative is a sandbox for the player to do whatever they want, and thus balance isn't required. In essence, Homo Sapiens mode exists since there was enough demand for pure realism, but it ends up a bit of an afterthought since it's not what Vintage Story itself is intended to be. It's still easy enough to develop in tandem with the main game though, since all that really needs to be done is stripping out the lore, and things added that work for Homo Sapiens also work for the main game. That's not really possible to achieve with a game mode that has a completely different setting, story, and lore, and a completely different gameplay focus--fantasy action and adventure instead of realistic survival and steampunk/eldritch horror. At best, it ends up in a similar boat as Homo Sapiens: feeling like an afterthought or otherwise limited by the design of the main game modes.

I actually disagree. Whirlwind style attacks are fine for fantasy, but realistically it's a very poor attack plan. The whirling motion is not only disorienting, but leaves too much opportunity for the opponent to run away, recover and reposition, or even counterattack. The current enemies in the game may not be highly intelligent to take full advantage of such mistakes, but given that the game as a whole is grounded in realism I think it's best to keep the combat fairly grounded as well. Now Project Glint, on the other hand...that would be a more fitting place for flashy moves like whirlwind.

Welcome to the forums! I agree with @Michaloid on this one--Vintage Story does have adventuring elements, but the focus is on realistic survival with an eldritch horror/steampunk backdrop. There's really not a lot of fantasy elements or dungeon crawling to be had, and that's perfectly okay! Project Glint, I'm guessing, will be much for suited for flashy combat, dungeon delving, boss fighting, magic, and all the usual fantasy tropes. Personally, I think Project Glint will fair pretty well against Hytale, as Hytale seems aimed at a younger audience. Project Glint, I'm guessing, will be more similar to Vintage Story in that regard--not a game aimed exclusively at adults, but a game that appeals a bit more to an older audience than a younger one. It's kind of similar to how both kids and adults can drink coffee, but kids don't usually enjoy the beverage given the stronger, bitter taste and the fact that they aren't old enough to really appreciate caffeine. The competition will also be good for both Hytale and Project Glint, as having solid competition helps keep both from becoming too complacent.

Yeah, I didn't explicitly say it, but I was angling towards having similar but separate animations for first-person and third-person. Third-person animations don't need to be as restrained as first-person animations since there's no concern about cluttering the screen, but they ought to remain at least somewhat similar so the two views feel connected. To me it feels a little strange when first-person animation is relatively grounded, and third-person is a moveset that obviously doesn't match those motions at all.

I'm not sure how many worlds I chewed through when learning to play, but I do know it was several since I found it easier to just start over whenever I had a major mishap. Once I had the basics down and was more comfortable with the game and its settings, the worlds started to actually last and I've had a good handful of 100+ hour worlds since. As for food, I can't really recall that ever being much of an issue, but that may be because I started VS life as a Blackguard. The concept of "food" becomes very thoroughly ingrained in your gameplay when playing that class. I do recall having several ragequits though. At least one of them was due to not putting a door on my dirt box and getting snuggled in the night by a bighorn ram. A few minutes later though I'm back in the game with a fresh start and avoiding prior mistakes.

Charlemagne. And yes, Charlemagne is very pettable.

It's generally only the males that fight back. The females will almost always run away. It does make the deer dangerous but it can be a very handy mechanic if you prefer melee fighting.

To be fair, most media gets knights and medieval times hilariously wrong. Armor doesn't protect, people don't wear helmets, everyone is dirty and no bright colors, etc. Granted, a few concessions are sometimes necessary for storytelling, but there's a lot of tropes that are really just...nope, lol.

I would equate it to building a Lego set. You buy the set, then follow along with the directions as needed to put together a cool toy that you can display, play with, or take apart and reassemble as you see fit. That's the essence of the handbook to Vintage Story. Watching a bunch of videos explaining exactly how to do everything beforehand is more like an adult relative building the Lego set for you while you watch, and then letting you play with the result. Sure, it's still fun, but you don't really get the pleasure of figuring out how to do it yourself, even if the set is taken apart for you to build again. You've already seen it done, you know exactly what's coming next, so the process of building it isn't quite the same. To use a different game as an example--one charm of playing Skyrim for the very first time is not knowing all the locations or characters or exactly how to acquire certain items or combat certain enemies. The Helgen tutorial teaches you the basics, and you can read through the skill trees and loading screen tips to figure out roughly what all you can do, but most of the learning comes from actually playing the game and interacting with the world. In contrast, if you watch someone else play through the game first, then you already know what kind of enemies are where, what to expect from certain quests, and where to look/what to do for specific goodies that might otherwise be missed. Basically, if you watch a set of videos to learn everything about the game before jumping in, the experience might be a lot smoother but it's going to be lacking in the discovery department since you're not actually interacting with the game to learn how to play. You can only be a new player once.

Well that is why Jonas built his machine, right? A vanity toggle would probably be the easiest workaround. Overheating penalty I'm inclined to be in favor of, as wearing full furs in summertime doesn't make a lot of sense outside of the arctic. Encumbrance though, eh, I'm inclined to pass. Inventory is already fairly limited and limiting it further is likely going to make building and exploration/looting a real hassle.

I think it's more a matter of how much hand-holding does a player wish to have when learning how to play a game, coupled with a trend for many modern multiplayer games to be very unfriendly to new players jumping in and figuring things out as they play. MMOs tend to be some of the worst offenders, where the established communities tend to tell newcomers to just go watch some videos and follow certain guides and then come back to actually play the game "properly". Sure, established players understandably get frustrated when new players don't understand the game, but...that's also part of the charm of playing a new game--figuring out how it works for yourself and using that knowledge to improve. In the case of Vintage Story, it doesn't do much hand-holding at all and leaves the player to figure out for themselves how best to play. For players who like to figure out everything themselves and don't like being just told exactly how to do everything, going in blind and using the handbook to figure things out is quite attractive. Players who prefer more detailed explanations or visual tutorials though will likely prefer watching some video guides before diving in. Neither option is bad, but which is best depends on the player in question. Pretty much. Part of the fun of Vintage Story is conquering that steep learning curve, and it's something a player really only does once. The game is still fun after one becomes a veteran, but it's a different kind of fun, as you can only be a new player once. Personally, I'd only recommend watching videos if one is unsure whether the game is something they will enjoy, or if one prefers more detailed tutorials. Immediately getting told to go watch a bunch of videos before even playing the game is going to be a distinct turn off for many new players, especially since it suggests it's either not possible to learn with in-game resources, or too complex to figure out on one's own.

It's a system that's rather tough when first jumping into the game, but after you've got enough experience to avoid most typical deaths it's pretty straightforward.