Maelstrom

I'd say every update qualifies as being closer to being finished. So what's he waiting for?!

I always love the lush green grass. Maybe Etho from that other game will give VS a try sometime. There is that homage (EthoSlab) to him in this game after all. At least there used to be, I think Tyron might have taken it out.

How does one cave? Well usually, one just gives into the other party's demands/requests without negotiation. Snark aside, what everyone else said. I would add that if laddering up, place the first ladder at least one block above the ground, two is preferable. That way drifters don't climb up behind you.

Clyde Meet Clyde. One night of high rift activity Clyde showed up with a couple of friends and, I'll assume the four legged thing with them was their mount. The others weren't too keen on me and were quite rudely aggressive with their handshakes. I won't go into what their mount did, but I assume it was an attempt at a lick of affection - aggressively so, like it's... uhhh... caretakers? But Clyde? He's been a very loyal friend. Not much help around the place so I had to fire him as my butler. But he's always there to welcome me home from my adventures or daily chores around the place though, so I've decided to let him hang out. It's nice to have a friendly face amidst the solitude. He's also very kind to wish me well when I depart for places unknown for who knows how long and he's waiting right there when I gets back. Update: Clyde decided to move on. *sigh* Alone once again.

Check the lower right corner of the title screen. Game will show you which version you are currently running.

What was the solution?

@Daniel Mars That should change. Early in my current playthrough I'd have lots of nights with medium rift activity but nary a mob spawn. I'd go multiple nights without a mob and varying rift activity from low to medium, I think there was a night of high that only spawned a couple of mobs.

There's other ways to prevent cave ins. I'll let you discover those options on your own though.

hoppers and chutes?

I LOVE that mod idea! would love to know how long the females are preggo and how long until offspring will grow up.

Be sure to opt out of cave-ins. I think that option is defaulted to off, but be very, very sure it's off. Once an area has a cave in, cave ins become more prevalent.

Gotta cook beeswax with a flax fiber in a cookpot. Check the handbook for details.

Malachite IS beautiful! Deep deposits are typically bigger and can be two blocks thick. Surface malachite can spawn in similarly large deposits. In one of my 1.17 worlds I had a massive surface malachite deposit that was even bigger than what you picture that was two blocks thick. That one deposit got me through an extended bronze age as well.

There's still the problem of the TL on the other side being buried, potentially very deep underground.

Spawning is definitely a lot less predictable. I've had nights of medium rift activity and not a single mob spawns. Other medium activity nights and it's as if a light temporal storm came up. As an experienced player I kind of like it. Makes the night scary again, but as a new player I'd be frustrated with trying to conquer the learning curve AND deal with mobs.

Hmmm... Variation on a theme to Dueling Banjos?

Sounds like you get the benefit of smithing the hot ingot at the cost of an ingot mold. Sounds like a fair trade.

Most of the time the RNGods are not so gracious. As Queen once said... Lady Mercy won't be home tonight. I hope you got your chickens I'll go with Doug.

Mmmmm... Chocolate dipped ice cream cone!

In a blessing from the RNGods, my first excursion into the RA allowed me to clamber through that pile of rubble and enter the library not only from the top but also avoid meeting Douglas the Death Frog until after I had gawked in the darkened library and I came in from the backdoor to dispatch the... mechanical marvel.

The "cave" was a mine shaft I dug. The picture is all the mobs that spawned on the surface during the night I dug in the mine.

Spent a night in the salt, err.. quartz mines on a high activity night. Came to the surface to be greeted by this. They didn't seem to disperse given the advanced time of day. Had to go to creative to not get murderized. /edit - after watching them for a bit they just milled about and didn't flee to darker environs.

I've had a shiver and a drifter spawn in bright sunny times. The shiver spawned on an apocalyptic rift activity day. I don't recall the rift activity when the drifter spawned. And yes, I watched them appear in the world.

Ores other than iron typically generate multiple deposits, especially in ultra-high readings. Keep on digging. Last night I had 2 rich and 1 medium copper vein spawn right next to each other. Killed 2 bismuth bronze picks during the 60 minute mining. Walked away with almost 6 stacks of rich copper chunks and 4 stacks of medium chunks.

gen 3 pigs.