Trex_Crazy

Hey man(gender neutral) you do you, I understand that facing a million enemies head on probably isn't fun for everyone. I'm not gonna gatekeep, I'm just being funny

To preface I'm not going to gatekeep and tell you you're bad or something. Everyone should play on whatever difficulty you want, its a game its meant to be fun. ("And if it's not fun, why bother?") And everyone has different ways they have fun. So I've been playing with creature strength at 150% (Side note: I do wish you could adjust natural creature strength and supernatural creature strength individually) And I really enjoy it, here's why: I have to respect the monsters, and creatures more. If I play on 100% (default) str whether I am killing a few wolves for pelts, bears for armor, or just doing low-medium (sometimes deep, but not often) depth cave diving I can easily clown on them with little trouble. Since I can take quite a few hits even against t3 enemies in just copper chainmail. But at 150% taking a hit becomes much more punishing, especially if you have no armor since some bears (strange that bear species have such varying damage) and higher tier enemies will just oneshot you. That copper chain will help you live a little longer, but not nearly as much. (Note: I don't know how the damage increase effects shields, since I could swear that the enemy hitting me should be doing more than the shield can block with 150% str but it doesn't So idk if the increased dmg is applied after the block or I'm bad at math/the wiki's dmg numbers are incorrect) Personally I find this more interesting, I have to carefully consider each risk whether its a t0 enemy or higher and a single mistake could kill me. It does make armor less effective against higher tier attacks until you get to higer tier armor, which could turn most people away but peraonally I find the knifes edge combat encounters more fitting lore wise and more interesting to play. You can play however you want, but if you're looking for something to challenge you I reccomend giving it a try. (I have considered making enemies 200% but I feel that might be too much, idk I'll get back to you on that one)

I want everyone to know (jokingly) that all your designs for farming during a temporal storm is pure cowardice. I make a 3-4 block high 30×30 (technically a little larger since fences dont take up a whole block) flat arena and face the drifters, shivers, etc. in honorable combat. With only a shield and sword in hand. (I will use armor depending on how much I've progressed but usually its just regular clothes and hope whatever hits me doesn't hit anywhere except the front and that it doesnt go over my shields block limit)

So I'm not sure if I am unlucky, blind, or dumb but I can't seem to find any male mouflon sheep (goat?) I have two mouflon ewe(s?)penned but no way to breed them. When I look atound the areas that I see ewes I either find nothing or male bighorns. The male bighorns are usually accompanied by bighorn ewes so I assume the mouflon have their own male variant, and that they cannot cross breed. (I know this game is quite in depth but I think its unlikely they've added cross breeding yet)

I'm just an extremely cheap person and don't want to use things if I dont have to

So I was playing and I realized that from the merchants perspective it has to look incredibly strange what I was doing. A man shows up in the dead of night asking what you're looking for, you tell him a tin axe, sae, and hammer. He leaves and sets up an entire forge outside. Starts working metal, takes a short break to kill a monster that shows up, continues. Then alternates between hitting metal and shooting an arrow at a creature shooting at him (all while doing a little dance to dodge said arrows), then plays footsies with a creature that runs away every time he blocks the attack, continues working the metal till it comes back, then finishes the tools. Sells them to you, picks up his entire forge and just leaves without another word.

Ah I see, didn't know it actually sped up harvesting, thatalome makes it worth it.

So I have rarely ever made a copper knife, and never anything over that, and usually just use stone knives. On the wiki, which cpuld be wrong idk, the only difference between knives is durability. So why would I ever waste metal on a knife when I can just keep using stone with no penalty?

So I think it'd be nice if you could grow plants in standing water, that can survive it. ie rice, lettuce, wheat, etc. Since then it would always be at 100% moisture so no watering required.

So for the most part after my initial traumatic experiences with temporal storms I usually just hid in a hole and cooked or something while I waited for them to go away. But recently I realized that early game you can store everything valuable, make a ton of flint spears and hunt a tier 6 enemy and just get a ton of money from them. Granted youll die a lot and you'll only kill 1 maybe 2 tier 6 enemies but thats still a lot of rusty gears.

Ah I see, I've just been unlucky or blind lol. I shall go explore more.

So recently I've been exploring caves. Tentatively, as I only have bear hide armor and the only caves near me, that arent short dead ends, is one thats deep enough for t2-3 enemies and the other is deep enough for t4-5. And theres a whole lot of nothing in them, which maybe I am unlucky or something. (there was like 5 blocks of zinc) Now to a certain extent caves are just caves, theres no rule saying that they absolutely must be teeming with loot. However it seems that there is almost no reason to explore them, you can look for the bomb/fertilizer making material (I don't remember the name, and I also don't remember if it even gets tracked by a prospecting pick) or hope you get lucky with some ruins to pillage. But mostly its just a bunch of emptiness. It'd be interesting if there was a resource that can only be found in caves, giving a reason to explore them. (I mean technically the unique armor sets are only able to be found in caves/story locations, but I feel its more consistent and easier to just buy it from a trader.)There are locust nests I suppose but (they seem rare, idk if they are though) you can get most of what they give you from breaking them easier elsewhere. So far the only big motivating factor to go into the caves is to farm enemies. (since I've only found a couple flax seeds, and haven't found a trader selling linen, my best way to get flax is to loot it. (also playing malefactor so that helps))

I very much enjoy the monster design and how they work in this game. Since they have multiple behaviors, idle behaviors, tactics, etc. And I think bowtorn are quite interesting, for several reasons, because instead of standing there eating damage and point blank shooting you they try to retreat to get a better shot. (Also they usually retreat to other enemies to distract you, but idk if thats their ai or that monsters tend to spawn with other monsters. And the enemies just happen to be there) That said one thing I'm not a fan of is that when retreating and they reach a dead end, usually in caves, they don't realize "theres nowhere left to run" and just kind of tweak in the corner trying to run harder into it. Obviously I don't know the technical side of this but it would be nice if they had a way to realize they're stuck in a corner and the only option is to fight. (I mean they do turn around every once in a while to poke you when chasing them, whether they're in a corner or not, but that seems to have a long cd inbetween attacks.)

Well I don't need a million dollars, but ai would like it. But in all seriousness I've just got a thing for the ocean. Been playing bioshock again (for like the 5th time) so just in the ocean horror mindset I guess.

Why...? As it stands I think there should be more drain. About the only thing it seems to accomplish, as of now, is to make me take a short break from mining or stab myself with a gear. Id like if there were more sources of drain and more negatives/punishments for low stability. Thats probably a me thing since I love horror, I didn't really consider people not wanting more horror lol. Yes I understand it isn't a carbon copy of lovecraft. Also spoilers???? I stoped reading but you should say something before you start writing spoilers. I can see that I suppose, though I like go on long monster hunting trips. Since flax takes awhile to grow (or never in winter) its the next best place to get the stuff. (except a merchant but I'm currently stranded on an island with only a survival goods and treasure hunter)

Well I'd want it to be its own seperate meter/mechanic. And when I say draining sanity by looking at them I mean, very, very, very slow. Not like amnesia. Id want it to be more of an overarching thing that would, much like many things in vintage story, take a long time. Like being around traders, smelting ore? restoring some sanity or maybe not looking at monsters but taking damage from them if thats a better alternative (since it'd be easy to tell your brain "oh it was super dark and I couldn't make outthe shapes" or "that couldn't have been trueI was just making it scarier than it was" But having to wrench a sharpened spine out of your shoulder isn't so easy to cover up) etc. In relation to having more things drain temporal stability I agree and have some, half baked partially thought through, ideas. What if there was a bell variation that had similar health to the regular one but only spawns one or two low tier drifters. But while its ringing it has an aura that drains temporal stability akin to standing in a rift. Another idea would be an enemy that instead of having the normal metal bits and gears sticking out of it it has temporal gears and fluid tubes in it and its attacks do very little physical damage but do large chunks of temporal stability damage. My idea, that I just had while writing what it does, is that it would have cloth (like locust nests) draping from it and it would float (not fly) which would let it go over fences and whatnot. (Honesty just have it graphically float but the collision box is just a regular one that can climb, so it'd "float" over fences) and would hover over water maybe? With some temporal fluid staining it and gears and fluid tanks sticking out of it. As well as make it tanky and slow. It'd be a wraith sort of thing (whether its a mechanical or living being idk, but living would mean it could have flesh for the objects to stick out of and add to the spook factor) itd only be about the size of the player as well. The idea is that its a risky enemy to fight. Slow and easily kiteable but chunks your temporal stability if it hits you, making it more likely for dangerous monsters to spawn and overwhelm you. Or just kill you with the damage from low stability. And it would have a (comparatively) high chance to drop temporal gears (considering you might need to use one after a fight) but also no chance of dropling rusty gears. (maybe have it hold a temporal blue lantern? idk)

No, no thank you. The bears are terrifying enough. lol Also my bad I didn't know he was dave.

That would be absolutely hilarious (and terrrifying depending on what type of locust it was)

So being semi-lovecraftian and eldritch truth/horror themed one would expect a sanity mechanic to be likely in the game. Now I do understand that temporal stability is sanity adjacent with how it works, but its negatives and mechanics aren't really sanity like. Since specific, random?, areas just have randomly low stability isn't sanity like. And spawning more dangerous monsters is maybe sanity like but not really. Like looking at monsters drains sanity very slowly. (since itd be in line with the gnawing drain on your mental health beholding these abominations) Or have fake monsters appear/fake monster noises gaslight you at low sanity or something. You all know the sanity tropes. I'm not certain adding another balancing act would be the best for the game, especially people who just want to craft and explore, but moreso I'm just curious if this is something even being thought of being developed.

Here be spoilers, turn back now. Now I am sure more hostile fish are on the way at some point, but the "creatures" I am referencing would be on the "eldritch abomination" side of things. It is my understanding, so far, that the unnatural enemies are former humans (dont tell me if I am wrong, or if I'm right). And that would provide some difficulty in making them aquatic, however considering the mangled and altered state of shivers, bowtorn, and double headed drifters etc. I think a lot of alterations could be easily justified. (And there are other, presumably, non previous human creatures since you have greg (the giant giraffe looking monster in the distance during temporal storms, thats just what I call it) Though that also looks mechanical(?)) The question of what exactly it would be I don't know. But it would be interesting to have a threat crossing oceans (especially during high temporal rift activity), rather than nothing since the enemies can't swim very fast. Personally I'd love some sort of giant sea monster but considering the current stage of development something smaller and less mechanically involved would be a better option.

So I had this crazy idea out of nowhere, what if there were a locust variant that exploded after it died? So it'd look different from a regular locust and it wouldn't immediately explode after dying, but it would have a short "charge up" before exploding. A small explosion, maybe like ≈4dmg, that wouldn't break blocks. Have them have a red light, instead of yellow, and maybe look a little bulkier. Have aslo have them move a little slower than regular locusts. And make these ones, specifically, immune to explosion damage to prevent a chain reaction that kills all the enemies you're fighting. (Also give them a specific locust nest that has a slightly longer delay in spawning) I have often found that when I'm fighting a large group of enemies it's best to reposition into a narrow hallway, which sometimes ends up being a dead end, which isn't punished by any current enemies (that I've met) so this would keep you on your feet and on the move.

So I've been making a water wheel (and diverting rapids) and I've two issues/things I'd want to change. I can understand the restriction that you can't just make rapid water anywhere, but it be nice if the water flowed two or three blocks further for the long distance re-routing. Or let you make rapidly flowing water but it has certain restrictions, like it has to fall so many blocks and requires a "lake" at the top. Or make it require a structure demanding strong materials idk. This is just a minor gripe as I understand letting you make a constant supply of mechanical power requiring no input, anywhere. Could be a little unbalanced. My second complaint is the four way part of the waterwheel's middle. Its is absolutely abhorrent to make, mainly because it requires you to fiddle around with the smithing mechanics in a way that a first time player wouldn't understand. But also because if you don't know how it will go together it is almost, almost, impossible to correct after all three ingots have been added. And even when you do know how its just not fun and irritating to make. I have fun manually making plates and chains for armor for the better part of a 10hr play session (this game is like crack I swear) so it isn't the tedious-ness that bothers me but rather that it consumes my hammers (went through four hammers ( two tin and two copper) just to make the first one (had an iron hammer finish it up and make the second one) I feel that tweaking the recipe would be a good change. Now how exactly to tweak it I'm not sure, which could be part of problen solving the issue. Unless you made it smaller and require only two ingots, but make the middle section cost two ingots (in the form of rods or nails etc.) in addition to the four ways. So the overall cost is unchanged.

So I was on a raft prospecting (all of my casserite and sphelarite seems to be in the ocean, so I'm trying to find an easier place to mine it (ocean is set to 85-90% instead of the default 92.75% (i think thats the default I dont remember) and I was under a cliff overhang and had a locust drop onto me. They dont seem to swim well and arent very threatening on their own but it was still quite a surprise. There were two locust nests in the overhang and I'm just curious if this is a normal occurrence with the ocean or just random chance with an upheaved cave? if not I think it would be funny to make it spawn like that to just fall out of the sky on you.

I have to disagree with the "mind numbing" lock a player in the room fight. While I wouldn't say that the boss had mechanical design and dynamics like a bloodborne boss. I don't think it was particularly difficult even alone. The locusts were annoying sure but you can, for the most part, hide behind a pillar, draw your bow, peek out, shoot, repeat. I only had like 20 arrows and a longbow (I didnt make many since they don't break often) and got tge boss to 55-60% hp. The melee combat with it is a little awkward. And without a shield and decent armor will liquify your health very quickly if you cant dodge its, in my opinion, slightly inconsistent hitbox. But all in all I don't think the boss was difficult, or too easy, to be qualified as "mind numbing". (Though I also had the foresight to use a temporal gear to set my spawn at the entrance to the story location.) The boss is not bad, I just think it could do with some tweaks. Maybe instead make it spawn like 8-12 locusts but they don't respawn after killed. As well as add a different attack or two (to account for the change in locust spawning) or breap the pillars during the 2nd phase.

So the description on the gears says they turn with a constant level of inertia even when resisted. Which to my understanding it means that even if something will block it from moving (like a heavy stone gear that is theoretically too large and too heavy for the tiny gear to move) it would move at its constant rotational speed, and in turn move the larger stone gear, anyway. Thus meaning you could theoretically, with several temporal gears and many regular gears to make a gearbox/mechanical power generator that would require no resource upkeep? (ie wind, water, steam, etc.) Or are the "raw" temp temporal gears you get from enemies and loot in a constant state of dimensional flux that they would simply pass through the other gear's teeth, slip, change its own dimensions size, etc. Whereas the other gears you see in use (Like the "large temporal gear") have been "refined" and/or stabilized this losing their temporal instability and being able to be used for machines but also losing the constant spinning property?