Stralgaez

But that, too, is something RNG dictates whenever you are lucky or not to have those traders in your area. If you can manage to spot them. I wouldn't mind a alternative that is considered very inefficient but still gives you a measure of progress if everything else fails.

If that what it takes to get you guys out of your holes that you believe you can safely stay in to outmaneuver a mechanic, then I take it. I won't change my mind.

Because IT IS shitty outside in the world, and they WILL come after you. In the caves, out in the open, even during storms. And when you're digging a hole and hide in it is how you deal with it, then the game does it wrong. So it needs to force you out of it unless you turn it off - When they cannot get to you, then one option they should go for is towards the things you painstakingly made and gathered.

That's part of the 'uncompromising wilderness survival' that the game advertises - And currently the monsters themselves are way too passive other than beelining towards you and not doing anything else.

I second it. Have the monsters be able to attack door and fence gates, rattling at your place and eventually break them down. That Bowtorn you dodged? Did hit the glass behind you and punched a hole through it. If you let them, they'll smash your place and attack your lifestock, trample over your crops and destroy chests. And if you are unlucky, they would contaminate your animals and crops, which can spread and wipe out all of your hard work. So you need to shore up your defenses. Make it sturdy. Make it safe. Because everything should be threatened when a storm hits your place and they spawn in your yard. There you have it - A reason to 'Endure the Temporal Storm' : To protect everything you have worked for.

We can first set the baseline difficulty when talking about it - I assume the most obvious one : 'Create World -> Standard ->Create World', no dabble in settings, no fancy mods. The pure default experience.

And that's fair, though I would have expected a bit more from those storms when it comes to how engaging and deep it can be. We have so many systems in place for mechanical power, smithing, cooking, taking cuts from berries/fruit trees, agriculture and a few others - And all the storm can give you is a trippy sepia filter and having monsters spawn inside your house. And as cool as Dave can be on the horizon, after the second storm the novelty wears off after you realize there is nothing else to gain when actively going outside and fight. Because a new player might be prepared enough by then, only to wear themselves out as nothing else to be found within the storm as they might think "There's GOT to be something out there that pays off going through all of this". But there isn't. A stark contrast to braving the Chapter 1/2 locations or going into caves to find abandoned teleporters, workshops and other ruins..

Picking up upon a thread and following it to reach the point where Chapter 1 kicks off definitely would help garnering interest and finding more about the What, How, and Why one might have as questions when starting up the game. A 'Prologue', if you like. (On the other side giving the beginning of the game a touch-up in itself can also be useful - As not being just placed in the world and instead witnessing a short scenario where it leads the player character being shunted and transformed into what we are now. Just something to put in place and say 'Look, we got this all laid out before you which you can pursue - If you are curious.' Because as for now, you get dropped into the world just like in Minecraft - And some players set their expectations like that when it comes to exploring the world.) (I'm also in favor of cutting down most of the handbook and removing nearly all recipes in favor of discovering them (with some exceptions based on the class you took), either by reading manuals and schematics found in ruins or bought from traders, or finding suitable mentors that share their knowledge.)

Oh, I am aware - That is something you get relatively late as you, in the earliest case, be there in Y2 or even 3 before you get enough information. I'd rather have it pulled from other, easier accessible sources to roughly puzzle it together for yourself at the very start : The Traders and Treasure hunters could spin you a few tales about it, and you then decide to brave those temporal storm affected pockets (which may be generated nearby upon accepting the investigation) for fill in the blanks. And once you got enough information to piece yourself a story together, you could finally get ready to brave Chapter 1.

They just feel like extra spicy nights, with extra annoying moments where they spawn in your house, too. I need more on a storytelling level to show me how the storms are bad: Show me wastelands that display the lingering effect of them, mutated animals beyond recognition that result from it. Something that shows me : "Damn, we need to do something about it."

For me this cycles around on what level those "unnatural disasters" have a impact on everyone else. Because from what I see they are just come and go - Other than harrassing us, the players, they don't wreck buildings, attack lifestock, destroy supplies or otherwise. They aren't a genuine threat to the environment, either, leaving no afflicted/"rusted"/contaminated areas behind. But I would like something coming out of toughing out a storm. Something you only get exclusively by braving it. Perhaps through a portal that offers a trip into a small pocket area of the Rust World where you got a little time to explore, crash and grab what you find, and quickly leave again with loot before the way back is closed. Or worse.

When its just giving me funky colors with no other side effects, I just eat them either way. Maybe not while I am at running speed through a forest, but otherwise it won't stop me from eating them by the dozen if they satiate my hunger just the same. There is no 'challenge' or 'reward' (other than the fun factor) by having spiked shrooms when they just trip you out and you can just wait until the effect is gone.

That's fine, but this is feeling more of one step of several foraging elements that come on the chopping block 'because it's too easy'. What will be next - The mushrooms, with no alternative to cultivate them on your own in a cave or cellar? The wild produce and grain you find? The amount of meat you find from hunting game? ... I think the image I put on here does display the views a few have for the game.

It can help colorcoding the nutrient categories for convenience, making them easier to pick them apart so you don't run into accidental misplants like grain, which comes both in K or N requirements. As for the learning and adapting - The basic gameplay speed of which has the seasons cycle through the year doesn't allow for such depth when it comes to agriculture. That's where, I believe, mods can actually be useful if you decide to go for the slow experience and where such systems actually can work. For the berries - Just feels a bit overcomplicated for something that provides low satiation and has a short spoil time just because they are 'easy' to get early in game.

Other than perhaps improving on the steelmaking process to get a higher quality of steel, we should have peaked in terms of using metals for equipment. Anything else falls into development of steampunk/weird science/tech. And that makes me wonder where it ends, since we already got teleporters, rift blockers and night vision masks - While stilling running in 15h century 'tin can' armor and swinging swords.