Maelstrom

Yes. Bell peppers in 1.15/1.16 (can't remember which) were extremely buggy, up to and including crashing the game if attempted to be harvested. But they also couldn't be planted, although 1 streamer seemed to have somehow glitched the game into allowing one to be planted, but serious issues arose after that if I recall, it wouldn't grow and if it was "harvested" would crash the game.

Pretty sure you addressed this, but I see that you've got only 1 grass in the hotbar your using. I'm sure it will work if you shift over to the stack of 64.

Whew. I thought this was some kind of continuation of that one TOBG ARG about the King in Yellow.

My tips for new players... First and foremost - EVERYTHING is a resource. Not just the items you collect. Your inventory, time, even that green hunger bar. Use them wisely. If food is scarce, walk don't run and don't hold anything in your off-hand unless absolutely necessary. Don't pick up every item that you find use for, pick up only the ones you need right now and mark the map for other items. Don't sleep at night, it only consumes hunger; instead do things from the safety of your cave or clay hobbit hole. Do things like knap tool heads and form clay items for firing. Here's an example of what my first few days look like: My first day I focus on picking up every piece of loose flint and sticks, 64 reeds (40 for inventory baskets and 24 for a reed basket), food and then up to a stack of 16 logs. I finish the day by finding a clay deposit and dig in for the night when I form 1 clay vessel, 1 bowl, 1 crucible and 2 cook pots and get them firing in pit kilns (be careful to dig out enough space so you don't set yourself ablaze). While the clay items are firing I knap 4 axe, knife and shovel tool heads (flint tool heads stack to 4) but I don't finish crafting them into tools and take them with me on the next day's adventures. During that first day I mark everything I'll be needing in the future; copper nuggets, resin, bees, all the crops and any berries that I'll want to collect later. And sometimes that later is almost the end of the summer. Since farming and animal husbandry take quite a while, you'll be foraging/hunting for most likely 2 months or longer. Make those calories last as long as you can, which means cooking meals in the cook pot; this is why I fire cook pots and the bowl the first night. I only eat raw food the first day. Once I have my cook pots, I cook meals to increase the satiation from the food a hunt/gather. Day 2 I start looking for the place I'm going to make my permanent home, marking resources as I find them and only picking up sticks, flint, food and enough logs or peat to cook meals. After I find my "forever" home, I build a dirt hut and begin moving my worldly possessions, which are purposefully kept meager because of the known move. Once I've moved then I begin digging up the copper I marked, dig up some medium fertility soil and start a farm in a lake/pond so that I can have a reliable source of food and collect a few stacks of logs to convert into charcoal for the upcoming copper smelting. All of that is optimized initial game play from a few years of playing, the early game stresses me out a bit so I like to get to a self-sufficient state where I have my own production for meat, veggies, and bees before I get to winter rather than hunting and gathering (coz I suck at hunting). Find a pace that is fun for you. I've seen utoobers or streamers that take their time and don't even begin prospecting for ores until the second summer. I hope this helps. Sorry for the wall o' words.

Alright, digression on hoppers, chutes and associated mechanics aside. Let's get back on topic. Things we think newbies should know to help them in their first few (dozen) hours of the game...

Especially considering that VS does have some stone tools.

Not only should. They DO! I had a farm over 10,000 blocks from my main home. Planted 4 stacks of flax, came back in the dead of winter to harvest an absolutely unholy amount of flax grain and fibers.

Chutes and hoppers: Am I a joke to you???

Experiment. Connect them in series and then connect them through a large gear and note any different speed of mechanical device.

Every so often it seems good for us experienced players to pass on some well earned wisdom gained from the School of Hard Knocks so the less experienced *cough*newbies*cough* don't go through the same pain. So. Add to this list of things you wish you had known as a new player. Consider absolutely EVERYTHING in this game as a resource to be managed. Not just items you gather, but more importantly, time, inventory space, that hunger meter. Use those things wisely. Target an item with the crosshairs and pressing "h" brings up the handbook entry for the item. Target a block with the crosshairs and pressing "shift-h" brings up the handbook entry for that block. Be sure that no flammable blocks or items are within 1 block, horizontally or vertically, of a pit kiln; lest it get destroyed (like tools in a tool rack above the pit kiln).

For completion - wood blocks should be avoided. I'm not sure if this has changed, but even shelves or wood chests/trunks can have an impact on spoilage rates. The amount of impact depends on how much wood, wood blocks for walls, floors or ceilings have the most impact.

Forgetting the new sea water was not conducive to farming and planted my first crop in a "lake" within the first few days of May, year 0. This after playing the game for over 3 years.

Not the Ethoslab!?!?!?!?

I put a block next to the fence and slab on top of the fence to chase some sheep into my pen back in 1.19. Not even I could walk over the slab into the pen.

Use wood fences. Certain goats and big horn sheep can climb stone and dirt blocks up to 2 blocks high. Nothing can run over the top of fences, even seraphim.

That's why I need to do another deep dive into the lore. I figured my 256k memory stick had lost some lore since I did the 2nd chapter about a year ago.

Nope. Work smarter not harder I say. Smarter to isolate dangerous lethal laden prey in a pit and at your leisure dispatch said mangy morsel from a safe vantage point. I should take some time and do the same to my ursine laden forests. The bear armor I had is in dire need of repair.

I agree that 1.22 seems to have some loose ends left to wrap up before Tyron goes to work on the next update. I was going to test increments of 8 flint up to 24 to get a good indication of where my breakpoint is for using bloomery over firepit. Then again, I typically go all hermitcraft and go massively overboard on stuff like fireclay, charcoal, bees, crops, etc.

The Compostor mod is a great tool for rotting things. The default rotting rate is insane, but it can be configured to be slower. I set it at 50, iirc, and things rotted over about a 4 or 5 day period. I highly recommend this mod if someone wants to intentionally spoil food.

At least Tyron increased the amount of flint that can go into a bloomery. The original limit of 6 was ridiculous. 24 is better, but it'd be nice if it could be 32. This afternoon I'll probably test out how much fuel and time it takes to cook different sized batches of flint in the fire pit. My current recommendation is fire off 6 in the firepit then switch to cooking it in bloomeries. A lot less fuel and micromanagement involved.

My unpopular opinion? Jonas is the source of the whole problem. Tobias then compounds the problem, but without Jonas in the first place Tobias wouldn't have springboarded off of him. Lore discussion spoilered for those that don't want to be spoiled about lore.

It wasn't so quiet. Tyron announced it in one of the changelogs. I wonder if 1.22 is done? It's been almost 3 weeks since the last patch. I really, really hope the delay is Tyron adjusting the heating time for flint and the cooling time for metal items.

That was me with the new berry bushes. And I've been playing since 1.14! My first world I nearly starved to death the first night coz I couldn't see what was in front of me the whole time! Once I knew what to look for berry bushes were popping out all over the place.

Spyglass - Vintage Story Mod DB - Adds a new object, the spyglass, that can be used to magnify far off landscape.