eMander

I like the overall idea, but I feel like the buffs don't do enough to make it stand out from other classes. I'd also say bosses are uncommon enough that the Chivalrous trait doesn't seem like it would be worth it. I've played a good ways into the game and have yet to fight a boss. Maybe have the buff also carry over to any monster more powerful than 'deep' (tainted, corrupt, nightmare, etc.) One suggestion I'd have for such a class would be to have several exclusive crafting recipes for items that traders will buy at a high price (with the trades not even being offered for other classes).

Ladders with gaps in them are useful in conserving ladder pieces, as well as providing spaces to periodically test for ores with a prospecting pick in mines. However, they aren't the prettiest thing to look at when used. I was thinking it would be nice to have an alternative ladder type the would look better with gaps: The recipe would require the same amount of resources as the regular ladder recipe; with only a slight variation in the arrangement: It would be functionally the same as a regular ladder; it would just have a different appearance more suited to spacing the segments.

Though in the early to mid game, temporal storms are a hazard that can be a fun survival challenge, once they become trivial to survive, they basically become little more than a nuisance; forcing you to put all activities on hold and effectively just wait. Of course, turning on the option to sleep through temporal storms is one way around this, but that would also nullify the early game challenge. So instead, I propose a late-game item that would allow for this. Once crafted with various late-game ingredients, it can be placed in any location that the game counts as an enclosed space (it will not work outside). It will need to be fed a temporal gear to fill its fuel meter, which will only drain during temporal storms. As long as there is fuel, the enclosed space will be immune to the effects of a temporal storm: the player's temporal stability will not drain, monsters will not spawn within the space, and the distortion effects will be greatly reduced within (though still visible through windows). The player will also be able to sleep through the storm in a bed so long as it is within the protected area. A single temporal gear will be enough to shield from a few temporal storms (I'm unsure of an exact number, but probably between 3 and 5), after which another temporal gear will need to be supplied. Even if someone does want to fight the monsters during a storm and gather valuable loot, the shielded area would provide a much more secure place to retreat to between skirmishes.

Right now, wolves and bears, I think, are excessively aggressive, with any and all of them attempting to kill you upon detection. To make the mechanic a bit more realistic, as well as causing more uncertainty-induced tension, I propose this: Each time an animal spawns, they would also be given one of four random temperaments: skittish, calm, touchy, or aggressive. Skittish animals would immediately try to run from the player upon detecting them. Most animals would switch to skittish if their health went low enough. Calm animals will generally ignore the player, even if they are right next to them. However, if the player attacks them, they will immediately become aggressive and try to attack the player. Touchy animals, upon detecting the player, will first try to warn them away (for instance, a wolf would growl). If the player does not approach further, the animal will continue to hold its ground and warn them for up to 20 seconds, then become aggressive. If the player continues to approach past a certain threshold, the animal will immediately become aggressive. But if the player retreats, the animal will resume its previous activities. And of course, aggressive animals will immediately try to pursue and attack the player upon detection. Different species would have different probability tables for spawning as different temperaments. As a few examples: Rabbits would always spawn skittish, and not change that when attacked. Small carnivores such as raccoons and foxes would be most likely to spawn skittish, but sometimes spawn calm, and rarely spawn touchy, without ever spawning aggressive. Wolves' and bears' temperament likelyhoods would vary by season. In the summer, they would mostly spawn as calm or touchy, but spawn aggressive more frequently in the winter (when food would be more scarce, so they'd have more motivation to hunt you). Animals with their young nearby would be more likely to be touchy or aggressive. Animals that spawn in groups would be more likely spawn with the same temperament as one-another. I think this could make the game's wildlife interactions much more immersive, and create more seasonal variation in playstyle.

I can think of a way of doing it, though it may require significant edits to world generation: Beyond world generation radius, also generate a list of coordinates within a much greater radius of the player. Each of these coordinate sets will correspond to a surface deposit of some material. A coordinate set will have metadata associated with it, such as material type and rough amount. The world generator will then use these coordinates and their data to determine what to place in a given location. Of note is that this would still all be decided by the world seed: The seed would determine both preliminary coordinates of resources, as well as actual generation. But the computation of the world would be split into two stages, so that some of the data becomes available early, without the hefty computation expense. This would allow for traders to be able to give players information about distant locations without the associated computation issues. Whether the potentially significant overhaul of the world gen algorithm would be worth it is a different question, but I do think it can be done.

Relocating long distances can be quite the ordeal in vintage story, especially after a player has established themselves, and now has an extensive inventory at their base. Though something akin to Minecraft's Shulker Box would go a long way towards easing that burden, it would also trivialize a lot of the challenge vintage story is known for; even if its a late game item. So if something like that were to be introduced, there would need to be a limiting factor that prevents it from being too convenient. My idea for this is the Jonas Spatial Compressor, a late game item with a recipe similar to other Jonas tech. It would be able to hold as much as a 1-block chest, but also be picked up and placed in an ordinary inventory slot with all its items still inside. However, even after its crafted, the process to do this would require a wait time: The compressor will need to be first placed on the ground and items placed inside. The interface screen for the spatial compressor would resemble that of a typical wooden chest, except there would also be an additional temporal gear slot, and a 'compress' button in the corner. Once the desired items are placed inside, and a single temporal gear provided to fuel it, this button can be pressed. Now, the compressor will need to sit for 5 in-game days before it is ready to be collected. The items inside will be viewable but inaccessible. Breaking the compressor before this time has elapsed will cancel the compression process and reset the timer, as well as drop much of its items, but there will be a chance of some of the items stored inside being lost if it is broken prematurely. Once the time has elapsed, the compressor's physical block will appear smaller, and can be collected by breaking. All items stored will remain inside, regardless of whether the compressor is placed on the ground, held in the player's inventory, or dropped as an item. Additionally, when on the ground, it can still be right clicked to view its contents, but the contents will remain view-only. Once the player has moved the compressor to the destination location, they can press a 'decompress' button on its interface (temporal gear is only required for compression, not decompression). The decompression process will require another 5 in-game days to complete. Breaking the block during this time will cancel the process and reset the timer as with compression, but items inside will not be lost. Once decompression is finished, the items will once again be accessible, and may be unpacked. I figure this wait time, in addition to the temporal gear cost, would be a good counterbalance to the convenience of their usage. Rather than something a player could use on a whim to have a massively-oversized inventory, it would require planning ahead, and only be feasible for a larger-scale move to a new long-term residence or outpost. Of course, the exact wait time and the number of item slots in a single compressor may need to be tuned to better balance it, but I'd say this is a good start.

Could you elaborate on this? How can you use hammer/chisel to harvest stone blocks?

Hi all. I've been wanting to try and find a method of mining solid stone blocks which more-or-less maximizes the ratio of blocks collected to blocks broken. I did think of a method which seems promising, but I have no idea how it stacks up against other methods (I've had trouble finding descriptions of block mining strategies in general). The strategy consists of a repeating pattern of mining 3 layers, and goes as follows: Step 1. Mine out an N x N checkerboard pattern on the floor (you can make N as big as you want), then fully mine out the ring of blocks surrounding the checkerboard. Step 2. Mine one layer down on the surrounding border ring. Step 3. Mine the newly exposed sides of the central column, continuing the checkerboard pattern by mining only directly beneath blocks on the top layer. This will cause the outer blocks of the top layer to drop as collectables. At present, the middle of the second layer of the column is blocked off, so a full checkerboard cannot yet be created. Step 4. Mine one layer down on the outer ring once again. Step 5. Again, mine the newly exposed sides, continuing the checkerboard pattern. Step 6. Now, mine out all of the middle (N - 2) x (N - 2) blocks of the bottom-most layer, leaving only the outer blocks. Step 7. Now that the underside of the middle layer is exposed, you can mine underneath it, creating the full checkerboard pattern for the middle layer. Doing so should cause all remaining blocks on the top 2 layers to drop as collectables. Step 8. Only the outer ring of the bottom layer should remain. You should now be able to make a checkerboard on the next layer down (which will cause all current layer blocks to drop), and from there, repeat all the above steps as much as desired, continuously mining down. The attached image illustrates each step. Can I do better?

Currently, there's nothing between having an uncolored map and having no map. I was thinking it would be neat have options that still let the player have some map functionality, while not simply handing world geography to the player. One idea is 'blank map mode', which still lets you set waypoints, and still tracks the player's location, but does not show any of the world's geography. Such a mode could have a built in pencil tool for the map, which lets the player map out the land themselves, drawing landmarks, boundries of geographic features, etc. to whatever level of detail or lack thereof they want. An additional option for extra difficulty could make the player''s location marker gradually become less accurate over time, until the player manually recalibrates by sliding the player marker to be roughly at their actual location, which they will have to determine themselves through use of landmarks. I think this could provide more interesting options for those who like to challenge themselves, while not straight-up taking away the map entirely.

Rather than having to mouse over a food item in your inventory to see which ones you have already partially eaten, a bar over the inventory icon like the ones for item durability would be helpful for telling at a glance whether some of it has already been eaten, and how much is left.

Ahh, that makes sense.

Good idea. Perhaps outside you can see the approaching storm on the horizon, and every so often, it sends out a sort of pulse of distortion, which quickly radiates to where you are. You wouldn't be able to see the approaching storm from underground, but would still experience the pulses. Could also be that at first, even when outside, you only experience the pulses, but as the storm gets closer, you begin to see it on the horizon. Maybe the storm, as it appears in the distance, would have a similar visual effect as the rifts, but stretched out to cover a whole side of the horizon.

I feel a more diagetic early warning for temporal storms would be more immersive, not to mention harder to miss, than a message in the text chat. One potential way it could happen would be a momentary ripple and/or color change in the sky with an accompanying sound effect, which starts happening about a day before the storm, and increases in frequency until the actual event.