Zaph42nd

Not against this either, would also be good as an addition to further specialize classes out based on particular strengths without necessarily introducing traits/skills. Far as sway goes, I'd actually argue a system similar to that in DX1 would maybe feel good, higher tiered bows/crossbows are more accurate/have shorter focusing times when aiming but you still need to aim, shooting rapidly won't necessarily be the most effective option unless you devote time into an archery-type gadget or upgrade your gear (for example, faster reloading could come at adding a winder mechanism in later tiers, more accuracy by increasing stock-length but at the expense of reloads, etc...). Far as trade-offs go, crossbows could deal slightly more base-damage in exchange for their longer load-time to bows (at higher tiers potentially one-shooting wildlife), making them a more nasty first-hit option, it'd be just enough to distinguish from bows which currently serve as fast-ranged weapons with average damage. Again, all speculative, I'm almost certain a ranged combat rework is possible as part of wider combat tweaks (though I'd argue melee matters more in terms of reworks)

Fair, I think quenching is immensely useful for steel tools given the time commitment to make new toolheads, maybe not as useful for iron tools since iron blooming and forging is a little less intensive time and resource wise. The power gains alone are worthwhile just for falx damage boosts, but if speaking just on tool longevity quenching + tempering allows you to keep a tool going for a long-time (not forever but certainly at least 1.5x the normal durability) which is good for pickaxes, chisels, and other everyday tools... If I were to really add anything to the system, I'd probably add the option to temper and boost durability without necessarily boosting power (quenching still would have a purpose, but for just durability, quench + temper adds a lot of extra time for minimal gains)

Yep, I think crossbows fit in nicely with the world established, an early game equivalent would definitely add more variety to ranged combat which currently really only has two options (slings/stones and crude bows). I'd also be interested in seeing more advanced/high damage options being linked to Jonas-tech or as a late-game reward for story-content completion. I agree in some ways, but gastraphetes feels a little weird as a clockmaker exclusive item, in my mind I'd think clockmaker would have some kind of cocking device they could make to increase crossbow reload speeds (perhaps behaving akin to hunter's recurve bow, clockmaker could have a reasonably fast firing, accurate ranged weapon). As a hunter exclusive item would feel a little too excessive given the crude bow/crude arrows option exists already. Classless could be nice since earliest classless ranged weapon you can get aside from throwing stones is a basic bow (provided you can get the flax setup going and have enough twine), that means ranged combat for non-hunter players is usually off the table till you have settled in somewhere and began to farm. As a classless item it'd give hunter some benefits as the stand-in for a "ranger" class but still afford a ranged weapon option (albeit not the most consistent or fast) to all other classes.

Neat, makes a lot of sense to me, I'm more surprised to see any mention of post-bronze lanterns given the cost/time dedication you need to even get more advanced metals... The nice thing though is regardless of metal type most lanterns look good, as I mentioned, I'm a big fan of the look of small lanterns (despite arguably being less useful in a lighting situation, they are aesthetically great for small rooms or interiors)

Yep that sounds about right, wolves attack and hunt in their territories, at least they don't seem to chase nearly as much as bears do in my experience (I have been killed by more bears than rust monsters or wolves funnily enough)

Question has come up a lot on thirst, my thoughts are while it's conceptually interesting, it would be way too easy to accidentally make an extra bar that's tedious to manage; therefore it should intrinsically support other game mechanics and itself provide some benefit if managed well, some detriment if managed poorly, and some serious harm if neglected (similar to how hunger and food work right now). In my mind that means an effective thirst system should — involve body-temperature in a meaningful way to add more to climate systems, reward the player with reduced draining and maybe a minor health boost if managed well (perhaps water purity could play a part in this? It'd give reason to boil water), not prove overly punishing and be a medium/slow drain based on activity level and climate(s), improve existing or integrate into future hydrology generation (natural springs where rivers start, water-tables, etc...), and be easily hot-keyable/non-intrusive (perhaps water skins, jugs, etc.. could be placed on your back-slot and quick-accessed; each tier holding more water?). No mods currently quite do it right, I know a lot of people love Hydrate or Diedrate but I've never really tried it

Echoing others, garbage collector is probably main contributor (and .NET being finicky as always), I believe GC can be altered in .ini though? via the RAM optimization settings (find aggressive optimization tends to actually have more issues on my system; however MacOS is a bit of an uncommon OS to play on if I'd happen to guess). Otherwise surefire way to force GC to activate is alt + F8 which should help at least a tiny bit. Larger mod-lists and/or long-continuous playtimes also tend to cause the game to eat up RAM, same goes for alt-tabbing or window-switching (anything that changes application priority).

One purchase is all you need, game account should allow you to get installer(s) in the client area. Also too in the client area you can install older/legacy builds if you have a modlist dependent on legacy builds of the game.... One catch though, signing in on one install should log you out of the previous install

Love the concept, especially if paired with reworks to food preservation plus giving more than just crafting purposes to saws is nice (since really they are mainly for wood-working and planks at the moment). I'd also say too it'd be good to have more reasons to go up north, maybe could justify northern expeditions if ice-blocks melted reasonably fast in hotter climates (so a southern base might not have excellent food storage since ice melts faster whereas a northern base may not even need to transport ice, adding more trade-offs to moving north/south from spawn). If I were to add or expand further, I'd also make pickling, smoking, charring, and other preservation mechanics a bit more involved or at least rewarding and nerf cellars; stews and potted meals already feel way too strong when stored and can last way more than a year, effectively making them feel a little too "gamey" for me since you can easily make food for a year in a server/multiplayer environment (that eliminates some of the challenge of the hunger system imo)

Good to know for Hydrate or Diedrate. Regarding thirst, I agree largely, maybe a compromise to stay vanilla friendly is adding a dedicated backslot or side-slot item for water storage if a bar-system is kept (hot-key access with a quick drinking animation), water-skins for example would fit nicely I think (amphora for long-term storage and filtering options). Rivers and hydrology features I think would justify this system more too since at the moment you are limited as to where you'd find potable water anyways. It'd also work well if thirst decreased slower in certain climates, faster in others (deserts or high-heat environments drain more water; colder climates are less draining) and activity level played some part (but that's a bit too much maybe?). Generally, I'd just like something non-intrusive or similar-ish to the hunger system if thirst is added (and a toggle option never hurts either) but would need to not be overly punishing (that is to say, diminish slower than hunger in most situations)

Fair, regarding points 1 & 2, I think mainly casual player in the context of vintage story is someone who plays on story-mode or otherwise modifies difficulty settings to reduce some of the tedium of typical survival (the opposite can equally be said for a more hardcore player who prefers higher difficulty) but casual player feels like a bit of a copout way of describing the differences in difficulty choices– I actually associate casual play more with servers/multiplayer since achieving something resembling a relaxed low-stakes gamemode is easier in that situation or, of course, via creative mode (which I suspect has its own dedicated fans, I've never been too into it myself but it's a nice feature for sure). It's actually a great strength for the game since it means can tone down certain difficulty features in world settings (or via admin commands). For thirst, my issue with it in vanilla is just one extra bar to manage, it adds a lot of tedium and that can deter someone who enjoys a slightly more relaxed, albeit semi-realistic, survival game; however, were it implemented, I think it'd be best as just a toggleable feature (off on lower standard settings, on in wilderness survival and Homo sapiens maybe) kinda like how maps/minimaps are at the moment

Huh, more you know. I've never really seem them but I also tend to find myself indoors or mining during stormy weather anyways.... Structure damage side of things, feels like it'd make sense for glass mostly and even then, a low chance to break (1-5%) would be my ideal for that (since it'd otherwise be overly annoying). Heard of it too, it's a nice idea but I feel like it adds more challenge that deters more casual play and doesn't pair well with the gameplay seen in vanilla. Thirst-system seems to add more challenge, cold weather at the moment impacts hunger rates and deals damage over time if not properly dressed, a similar approach for heat would fit in nicely with the current systems (and not require a significant new survival challenge that may put less hardcore players away). I've not really played too much with Hydrate or Diedrate though, does it have a config to just add the heat mechanics and omit the thirst system?

Definitely on my list as well, I've always found it a little odd that there's no consequences for being in an overly hot climate (such as a desert) and migrating south really doesn't have any major downsides (aside from travel time and distance from spawn). It'd be interesting to see how an overheating/heat exhaustion system could work in game, maybe slow your movement down and increase hunger rates if not wearing climate-appropriate clothes? Another one that comes to mind is the lack of extreme weather, hail storms would be a nice additional challenge and would force building enclosed shelters, albeit maybe better suited as a rare weather event (same goes for strong winds that could damage structures or worsen heating/cooling effects)

Rarely keep a dedicated shed building just for tools, for quick access my house tends to just have a tool-rack near the door (or, in the case of spears, leaning against the wall), dedicated tools fit well at their respective workstations (I store my hammers and tongs near my forge for example). I think sheds are still semi-useful, but more for long-term storage since otherwise house clutter gets a bit much... Equally related, I've actually found myself building cellars with exterior access, seems more convenient than having to cut through my house constantly

Minmaxing is definitely easy to get into, my suggestion to work around it is either changing the duration of months (timescale) and slowing down in each age, mods can help with this a lot too but I recommend using them sparingly (can easily throw off balance and flow). Personally been doing 30 day months which makes the game admittedly a lot slower (that helps mitigate the min-max related to season length/duration) and beautifying my structures helped a lot too (my greenhouses aren't efficient or even that effective but they stand out and look nice) in breaking up the tedium. Multiplayer is also nice for reducing that fomo and grinding since you can delegate specific progression milestones to players (I find myself taking on the role of being an explorer or scavenger when I play w/ friends, dedicated smithy makes the tools, farmer does all the crop upkeep, etc...) and focus on what you enjoy in the game most

Curious about y'all but about a year ago I jumped ship from Discord; however I've never really found a social media platform that is quite as expensive or popular as it and with IRC being a bit niche, finding the same affinity/interest groups has been a challenge. Any thoughts on similar platforms to Discord? I'm particularly interested in federated and FOSS alternatives

Related question for y'all, anyone ever make a steel lantern? I always forget that technically they exist and honestly always seemed more like a flex than a practical choice for lantern metals....

Wholeheartedly agree, for me Eidolon feels a little disjointed from all the other combat encounters up until it, but still beats the devastation boss by a long-shot (Mad Crow is just very annoying to fight and feels like it was designed with melee as an afterthought imo)

Hard to say, I find myself making more tin bronze than anything, but I really like the black bronze ones (even if they are pretty expensive). Also small lanterns I think look a lot prettier than regular lanterns, but that'a just my 2 cents

In theory yes to gliders being fast and efficient, in practice requires a lot of patience to build structures especially over flatter terrain. For me as mentioned previously, super useful when wanting to get down from a mountain fast or just for fly-by shots of builds, but not really something I equip often enough to justify the slot (especially when could carry more storage)

Totally agree on that, really helps with mods like Better Ruins too, losing several days to some of the mod's bigger structures sucks but is buffered a little by the 20-30 day months. Same goes for migrating south (more time to prep and travel, not really more time for crop growing though) or playing without a map (longer months make it much easier when you can't easily pin/mark locations)

For me it's the pacing and early game that really drew me in, which is strange since I never was too into survival-games; however, Vintage Story strikes just the right balance between realism, sense of danger, and rewarding the player for planning ahead during the stone/copper age where resources are often scarce or time-intensive to produce/harvest. Aside from that, the chiseling system is a big draw since late game becomes less about surviving and more about maintaining supplies and building/larger projects which is also somewhat fun (albeit I find it a little less engaging than early-game). To also follow suit, time settings for seasons and default day length feel nice, I've become a big fan of 30-day months (or 24 hour months) which makes winters a lot more grueling and springs/summers feel more rewarding (however, I suspect most players don't go for that setting since 288 hours to get to a new calendar year in game is a bit much).

Good point, can't really think of any major anarchy servers really. Main thing is whether or not claims are enabled or disabled by server operators, I suspect hacked clients maybe exist mainly to work around the land-claims system but I'm not sure on that either.... Otherwise aside from metagame things, I'm unsure as to why a player would need a hacked client if the server operator(s) don't have limitations set for building/active claiming

I wouldn't necessarily be against a larger crucible option, but maybe more once a player is already well into the steel-age imo. As for reheating other items, I sorta feel like beehive kilns could accept more than just pottery for firing, would be a good additional incentive to make one (seeing as by the time I typically build a beehive kiln, I've already got plenty of crucibles and pots, mainly use it for bulk firing shingles lol) especially if there were changes to temperature control/regulation

Small change but would love to see the handbook UI include an option to add notes to items/entries, it'd be a way to micro-manage processes and maybe generate cheat-sheets for things like alloy ratios, crop rotation strategies, etc...? Mods already offer some of this functionality but being baked into the handbook would be nice too.... As an addendum to this, would also just love a notes-tab that isn't aliased/linked to items, sure it's not the most immersive thing but would be super handy to have