Is my playing mindset wrong?

[2mg]

'Sup, Starvationeers!

I'm gonna need you to tell me what am I doing wrong in regards to my gameplay.

Here goes:

- default world settings, Wilson, RoG

- always start in autumn

- I have ~20 days to get prepped for winter

- a max of 5 days of running around trying to find a place to settle, collecting stuff in between

- can deal with Hounds with 1% effort

- all the time gathering for:

 

     Science->Alchemy Station, Backpack, Spear, Shovel, all the neccessary stuff, 1-4x Ice Boxes, 2x Crock Pot, up to 10 Drying Racks, maybe a Chest or two, 1x Bird Cage, few Turbo Farms, at least 2x Honey Box. Insert "Shaving some Beefalos and have Thermal Rock with me" somewhere.

 

     Now, in 20 days, this is extremely hard to do all, usually I can't find enough Spider Nests, or Gears, or build Honey Boxes. Winter comes, make Beard+Thermal+Rabbit Earmuffs+optional Breezy Vest, until I hunt down Winter Koalefant.

 

    This was and worked way before Caves update came. It was really nice, trying to play Adventure Mode, etc. Yes it was easier due to lack of Wetness/Overheating and 4 seasons...

 

   But in RoG, by the time I am done with all of this it's around middle of the Winter or later. Then the DEERCLOPS comes. If I run away from my base, it's AI is to find it anyway. At best I have Boomerang, Log Suit and Spear.

 

And that's when it all ends -  DeeCee is destroying my world, including non-renewables. Or he is in my base. Or he just killed a pack of Pengulls and a Pig Village. Or I try to kite him into woods to spawn Treeguards, but hey, I'm starting to freeze and night just started - the end.

I don't know how, or better yet, when do you find the time to make Flutes, Darts and explosives!

 

So, any input about my gameplaying style - feel free to shoot to kill!

 

[2mg]

PS: I don't even want to know how would I handle summer, the very fact that knowing that there is a huge flying monster simply burning whatever it likes and possibly irrevertably destroying non-renewable stuff, well, makes me want to turn the game off...

[Starved123]

Give yourself more than five days to find a settling spot.

When the hounds come, if there are too many to fight... let something else deal with them. Beefallo/spiders/eyeplants/pigs/tenticals/etc.

As soon as you hear the Deerclops warning sound. Sprint somewhere out of the way at least 3-5 screens away from camp. Once he appears... sprint back to camp. He should be far enough away to be deactivated.

You don't require a backpack or shovel or an Ice Box (Winter already slows spoilage), farms or even drying racks. You definitly don't require bee boxes or a breezy vest.

I do recommend the bird cage though.

Make at least two thermal stones... (in case a mole eats one somehow).

Rabbit earmuffs are a waste of time. Make a wool hat if you can't make a beefalo hat.

As long as you have a warm hat and a thermal stone the only thing you need to worry about in winter is food. You can skip farms the first year b/c they don't grow in the winter and using fertilizer in the spring to get a couple crops losses more time then it gains because of the time spent gathering manure. Also, don't pick any berry bushes for a couple days before winter starts... this way during winter every berry bush has berries... if push comes to shove you can survive winter as a nomad, exploring the map eating the berries you let grow and carrots on the ground. Also, being a nomad protects your base from the deerclops.

Don't worry about losing non-renewables... even the stuff that the deerclops does destroy (rather then just knock to the ground for you to pick up later) won't be enough to make a real problem... besides, if you don't survive the winter then having all your non-renewables in pristine condition won't help you anyway.

[Elipod]

Deerclops can be killed with spear, log suit and some kiting, hambat or spike make it easier. Start new world, spawn deerclops with console command, and train to kill it.

If you don't belive that you can kill deerclops and don't want him in your base, hit him once and run leading him from base, have him distracted with something and don't return to that place, till next season. Even if you just run by the road, that might be enough to loose deerclops, as he's slower than you, and don't always use the road for speed boost.

 

I spend as much time as needed to scout good place for base, finding other resources in in process. Besides temporary science machines, that can be hammered down to get some gold back, you don't need base first deason. Setting up the base itself doesn't take much time, once you know where materials are, and have stack of gold, stack of stone and some gears in your backpack.

 

With farms and bees not working in winter, I don't see the point in building them if you satrt in autumn. If you want slow spoiling emergency food for winter, collect birchnuts in the last days of autumn, they last 20 days without icebox.

 

Instead of rabbit earmuffs and optional breezy with mere 60 insulation each, consider beefalo hat which has 240 insulation and doesn't require silk to craft.

 

[Rosten]

Give yourself more time to find the right spot, usually when I play I try to atleast get the outline of the entire map before settling down, settle somewhere near beefalo, close to a grassland, forest, and rockyland if possible, graveyard + pig king optional, but preferred

[imsomony]

It sounds to me like you're doing all the right things... I think you're just rushing it.

 

In vanilla, everything you do is fine because there were limited biomes (comparatively speaking), so you didn't actually need to explore everything. You could, but you didn't need to, so settling down in a decent place after 5 days can totally work.

 

In RoG, you need to know where all your biomes are because they provide essential materials on an on-going basis. You have more biomes now, so settling down your base according to their placement  helps with efficient gameplay. That means you need to explore more and know where your key elements are before setting up a base, which *can* happen in 5 days, but usually more like 10. Heck, sometimes it can even take until day 15 to be sure.

 

I also think you're rushing some of your crafting, which is making your exploration less efficient. RoG is less about collecting stuff, and more about time management. Do you really need 4 ice boxes for winter, or will 1-2 suffice and you can make the rest later? Do you really need 10 drying racks now, or can you get by with 4 and build the rest later? I never work on bee boxes until much later, I've got more than enough food to survive on during Autumn and Winter than to stress myself with them.

 

My mains goals for my base before winter are: firepit, 1-2 improved farms, 1 ice box, 2 crockpots, 2 drying racks, alchemy engine, a couple chests, 10 twigs plants, 10 grass plants. Lets not forget finding Chester and getting my Glommer as well, of course. My "if I'm lucky" goals for my base before winter are: bird cage, extra drying racks, extra ice box, endothermic fire pit, 1-2 flingomatics.

 

My preferred location to set up a base is within a one day walking distance of Beefalo, and half a day walking distance of my Pig King, my Walrus, and my swamp. Using wormholes to my advantage with my base location helps with this. I set up near a swamp so I can more easily run DC into it my first winter, as well as have an easier time gathering silk, fish, frog legs, and tentacle loot. I don't care how far my desert is, as I'm only there strategically. I like to have a rocky biome close by, but that's also not urgent as I'm really only there for one thing. Here's a new save I'm working on that's day 27, if it helps illustrate what I mean.

 

It accomplishes nearly all my goals. My Pig King is a bit too far for my liking, but eh, you get what you get. I also happen to be within half a day walk of both my touchstones and a cave entrance.

 

[2mg]

Well, it seems that I am still have the mentallity of the ole Vanilla.

 

As in, pre-Caves Vanilla: the main point was to get your base operational before Winter, period (you can then go Teleportato, or go Archipelago).

 

So I guess I am trying to do that again: have Birdcage so I can get a bunch of Dragonfruit, so I can stash it among other Vegetables and Fruits, plus another Ice Box for Meats, and another for Seeds. Plus, you gotta have Honey if you want to keep your Health and Sanity up. Build that Effigy the sooner the better! And you also had to explore - know where your Beefalos are, where them Pigs be, where's that damned Swamp...

 

And the way I see it now, that still looked like a general rule... except now there is much more pressure, much a shorter time frame, because A) Giants and B) Aside from Autumn, all other seasons aren't forgiving as much or at all - ie. after Winter you can't build Bee Boxes bcause bees are Killer Bees, plus them Frogs man...

So I am trying to fit as muchas possible into Autumn. And I do succeed more or less. Sometimes an entire day is spent mining or gathering or getting wood, trapping Spiders etc...

 

But then, the Winter comes. I am let's say semi prepared. All's looking okayish, enough food, and trying to tie up what I didn't manage.

 

And than you hear "You are gonna get spanked real hard and buried beneath the Ruins!" and "Give up your earthly posessions and praise your new god DClops!". As luck wants it - it's almost night, you are coming back into your base to heat up Thermal Stone and possibly sleep in a tent or whatever, but no, you gotta hope that the Campfire you built will sustain you and DClops won't come to that location. And it doesn't, so you go to your base only to find him coming RIGHT UP THE ALLEY. You're cold. You're unequipped. He's bashing and smashing, while you are trying to throw a bunch of stuff into the Fire Pit, get that armor up and yer pointy thingy and I just don't wanna write anymore.

And all you have to hope is that it won't rain frogs the next season, or that in summer Dragonfly won't eat a quarter of your world. Also, smoldering. So much fun, fun, fun!

Unless you have Darts, Bells, Staffs and Gunpowder. Which conflicts with getting a sustainable base, and in turn yourself ALIVE.

 

Now how do you two fit these into Autumn/Spring, it's beyond me... Because when Winter/Summer hits, that noose around your neck is just enough you can breathe.

/EOR (end of rant)

 

[2mg]

PS: Dragonfly is what actually worries me - since Deerclops has an affinity for your base or yourself, Dragonfly is simply somewhere turning things into Ashes as I understand it.

[the truthseeker]

Looking at you using the term TURBO FARM, that suggests you played a LONG time back indeed, before early 2013. Reading your play style (respectively,) it also reads like you haven't updated your collecting/building styles with the updates since then. 

 

 

The game's fundamentals still work, but bluntly, with the RoG add-on activated, it's almost a brand new game. Weather effects (and 3 of the 4 seasons having them, even in caves) finished food rotting, animals trapped starving, Giants (well duh,) and a remake of many crafting recipies (the hammer no longer needs a crafting machine, ice boxes using gold and stone, etc.)  make this not your old DS game anymore! I had to completely relearn my playing style for many things and I was only away for four months! 

 

All that written, basic fundamentals will make or break your game. 

 

(Having mastered "the nomadic game play" which means I could travel the lands and get the four things/wooden thing before day 21 on the old vanilla, then pop into a new world and see if it was "worthy" for sticking around or repeat, I learned what was truly rare and what could wait. Fundamentals allowed me to survive this way or it never would have worked.)

 

 

There is absolutely no shame if you uncheck that RoG box if you need to build up these things. Having the basics mastered helped me survive better once I started playing the RoG (and became addicted to Wigfrid, but I digress.)

 

 

Vanilla tips (mostly)

 

As noted by the last three users, location is KEY. It's still vital to find a location near diverse resources for building (grasslands) and/or beefalo for winter season/protection needs (savannah.) having Pigs nearby is a plus but not necessary. Even if beefalo are not near, know where they are before it's close to winter! (If you have the rare game with no beefalo, plan accordingly and consider leaving after winter/summer ends for a new world.) 

 

Chester now has a couple of new tricks! If filled entirely with nightmare fuel before the full moon rises, he becomes a shadow chester and gains more slots. Doing this instead with blue gems makes an ice chester and acts like a cold box  (Ice/ice cubes still melt but everything else does chill or stay cold, excellent in RoG summer also.) 

 

From my traveling/nomadic tricks, I learned I could establish a base as late as day 11 and still be ready for winter. 

 

If playing RoG make no more than 2 crock pots. Food rots when stored there. If not, you may still make multiple crock pots to store unused food for winter/emergencies, like you would farm plots.  

 

Drying racks greatly store meat durability times, especially in the (old pre-RoG) times when gears are hard to find. Even when you do find them, they greatly allow you to store more stuff longer if you are stockpiling for winter. I like a minimum of 4.(If Playing the RoG only eats meat dishes Wigfrid, you may make more minimum drying racks. Just remember RoG finished jerky spoils on the rack then as well, so move to your cold box or cook/eat before it goes stale/rotten. ) 

 

As noted a birdcage is key. Not only can it convert monster meat to eggs (or any meat or old eggs  for that matter, but you may need to cook it first,) it can be fed produce for specialty seeds (and if playing RoG even watermelon) Many players make Dragonfruit/Pumpkin exclusive crops this way (saving about 1/4 of their crop to feed to the bird for seeds again.) (Monster meat may or may not be in excess in your world, depending on placement of spider dens, hound mounds, other monsters, etc.)

 

 

Bee Boxes are fantastic with the power of honey (Ham, taffy and pumpkin cookies, poultices, etc) but it can take time to hunt down. Spiders (especially in RoG it seems those nests are not as spread out as they used to be and are "rarer" because of concentration) beehives, flowers and-even when bee boxes are up-production time to make enough honey all are a difficulty factor.

if you can't get at least one bee box up and running with 12 flowers (technically you need 6 nearby flowers per bee box but the rate of production doesn't really work until you get 10 or more flowers even with one single bee box)  around day 15-16, don't bother making the Bee boxes until after winter. if you can, great! Honey lasts a LONG time. if so lucky consider even making and dropping a beekeeper hat next to your boxes when harvesting the honey (that should be dripping to the ground before collecting.)

 

DO make a shovel backpack spear and log suit  ASAP (like your first science machine whether a temp or perm one.) 

Not only does it vastly improve inventory, having the ability to gather more logs and transplant pickables is a key game changer in your starting game. Depending on your starting location, you may need to transplant twigs/grass. If you need to move grass or choose to transplant berry bushes, they MUST be fertilized of course so make sure you have either enough manure or rot (or even rotten eggs if need be.) Spears save you using tools and the log suit is your first real armor. (But I personally like Football helmets and Ham bats to start which are easily made if you hammer pig heads on poles next to touchstones and/or fight werepigs by feeding pigs four monster meats. ) 

 

Make a Lightning rod as soon as you make your base of course. I can't count the number of times I stupidly forgot and burned down all my transplanted trees/grass/twigs (and with RoG, chests, houses, machines and other structures are now flammable! hammer them down and start over again if that happens or build that lightning rod!)

 

 

Make a tent ASAP if silk is not a rarity. It will save your bacon during winter when mushrooms/taffy/pumpkin cookies are not longer easily renewable and flower garlands won't cut it. 

 

Around 2-3 days before Winter, if not done earlier, go off to your Beefalo with a Razor and prepare to make a nighttime camping trip. I'll leave it up to you whether you want to make a fire or use a torch to shave them at night but do so. If you know how to kite them and fight only one at a time, you may also kite them until getting a horn for a beefalo hat. Else just make a winter hat as noted in other posts. rabbit earmuffs are the absolute worst things to use, as in desperate. 

 

When you find spider nests, either kite spiders and kill them one at a time or use traps. Don't fight near the nest of course to get swarmed/warrior spiders. Don;t harvest the nests UNLESS they are a tier 3. you may relocate them to wherever you wish after they are and you kill them for additional silk of course. This is called spider farming.   

 

 

Brreezy vests are not a good idea. Not only do you lose your body slot, the PUFFY vest is a MUCH warmer option you get by hunting the Kolalafant in the winter. It's the difference between a winter hat and beefalo hat, minus the backpack. If you forgo the extra storage, always take the puffy vest! 

 

Besides freezing people in RoG so he has a shorter attack reach also, the Deerclops has not changed. 

He roars when he is coming, allowing you go somewhere to decide WHERE he will spawn. if you are not ready, you may run far from your base and have him spawn elsewhere. if you need to distract him, placing signs is something he can swat and you can collect with doubled use as warmth fuel in Winter. 

If you wish to attack him, hit and run always works, as well as sleep dart/pan flute gunpowder if you need an easier way. there is nothing wrong (actually it's encouraged) with multiple armors like football helmets or log/marble suits. Have at least a ham bat or Tentacle spike or better though; a spear is not going to do it until you're an advanced player. And do I need to remind you to carry a lot of healing items and foods? Even if not that hungry, healing foods work well also! Depending on your camp, you may or may not have pigs to help you. They can't beat it alone, so go in, hit and run away letting them take the aggro and repeat. For obvious reasons, bring them to it not it to their structure homes. Same goes for Beefalo unless you want a lot of meat/wood/horns to collect and make sure it doesn't kill them ALL. Hit, run and have them take the aggro. of course, if you spawn a Treeguard, you can get another enemy to attack it/plant pine cones and keep it docile for Deerclops as well. 

 

 

 

 

 I'll skip hounds except by saying around day 100+ if you don't have a stone corridor of tooth traps or a big circle of them with a fire pit somewhere for either, you'll be in trouble. Allies help of course. 

 

 

RoG tips

 

 

Many items that are structures and some electricity items use electrical doodads. This increases the rock and gold you now must mine. This means the Alchemy Engine for example must have 4 cut stone,10 gold, and four planks. The ice box doesn't use doodads, but now does use gold and cut stone (not a plank) instead as well as a gear. 

 

If you are playing with RoG, harvest ice in winter. yes I know it's plentiful pengulls renew it and you can freeze faster. but it does NOT renew any other time of year, and will melt by summer! This should be a given, but store it in your ice box so it does not melt. If you need to make a second ice box for those 2 thermal stones and ice in spring, that's fine. I like a minimum of 2 stacks of 40 but more if I can. never eat it if overheating unless desperate as it is too rare to waste!  

 

 

If ever starting in Spring, make sure you make a pretty parasol until you can make something better like a rain hat and/or  umbrella. Wetness not only drains sanity it also lowers your temp eventually freezing you. Wetness also spoils stuff faster and can make you drop it or it burns less. Chests are waterproof but backpacks are not (but Piggybacks and Krampus sacks are.) Once wet, you dry off over time when it stops raining, when you are almost dry and the wetness you are getting is negligible (as in immediately using just an umbrella when it first starts to rain and you barely got wet) or you are next to any burning. Remember, high wetness and dusk/night is dangerous for sanity and for cold! Also, lightning can strike you, with all fire risks included as well as damage. 

 

As noted before, crock pot and drying rack foods spoil when done, so move them to a cold box asap. Also, there are MANY more crock pot dishes that help regulate warmth and cold for summer and winter (go here to look at the RoG new dishes.) But now there are many more places to get gears including mini chess biomes, tumbleweeds and catcoons. Make that cold box asap and make 2 thermal stones to be ready for summer even if you didn't need 2 in winter. 

 

Trapped animals need to be fed or they too starve and die. Rabbits eat veggies, birds eat seeds and berries (caged birds act as normal,) moleworms eat minerals, bees and butterflies I do not know if anything can be fed to them.  

 

Summer is horrid, making crops not only wither and not grow, but (along with anything else that can burn) even catch fire like a lightning strike. While you can go around with manure or rot or an ice staff (or even your hands with damage) to put them out, making an Ice Fling O Matic for your base like a lightning rod works is best. it uses anything you can burn, and stockpiling stuff for it during the day to run is a great idea! Just remember to turn it off at night because it extinguishes all fires, including fire pits.  (Deciding what to explore outside this range risking stuff smouldering and burning offscreen is like asking how far you go without freezing outside your base, as in it takes time and experience.) 

 

Overheating works when you get too hot like Freezing when you get too cold. Anything (including standing next to  burning items for too long) heated can overheat you. In summer, freezing thermal stones works like they do in winter, but in reverse colors. Like in winter, the stone alone is not enough. If using the body slot, the best item is the Eyebrella followed by the Summer Frest. (The eyebrella does double duty also completely protecting you from wetness especially in spring and is worth making sewing kits for.) if going for the top cooling clothing, the floral shirt wins, but flowers from cacti only can be collected when summer starts. 

Summer requires anti-fire or endothermic fire, such as endothermic campfires and endothermic fire pits. Along with the Fling O matic, you'll now notice a huge demand for Nitre. make sure you mine it like you gather gold! But since there is no Nitre Pig King, treat as a limited resource starting with abundance (like gold) until you get to the caves. Also, make a Siesta lean to which not only works like a tent at dusk/night, it works during the day to bypass heat at the cost of hunger. Speaking of the King...

 

 

The Pig village now is (almost) always in the middle of a Deciduous forest with those beech nut trees. They still can show up at the end of a cobblestone road. 

 

Even if not made for the season, all (non specialized seasonal)hats provide 20% resistance to the weather condition. However, all hats now have durability because of this. 

 

 

Beefalos and bees go perma-aggressive/in heat in spring. If you dont want to fight them, avoid them or lure enemies there to distract them. 

 

Food grows back much faster in spring both due to the season and due to the constant rain. Now is the time to stockpile food/pickables and get as many farms growing as possible! 

 

(But jackalope holes are flooded out in spring, so make sure you use things like moleworms, frogs, fish and/or merms for that morsel, replacement.)

 

 

There is absolutely no question the DragonFly is the worst of the giants. When passive, they burn down stuff to feed on ashes, and when attacked, spit rings of fire you really can't avoid. best thing to do is fight it and dodge the personal attack but not go too far so its area attack happens. Since it's summer, it also overheats you so do this around a endothermic fire (either kind) Like fire hounds, if done near your base, do it near non flammables. (remember, many structures and your crafting machines now also can burn.)  The sneaky way out is to feed it 20 ashes (when docile of course) and let it go to sleep. Then gunpowder it. Unlike other enemies since it resists fire, its drops can't be burnt so you can use 15 gunpowder without worry. (Leaving with any sleeping giant offscreen also despawns it if you need an exit.) 

 

(As noted above, the best fighting method against ALL giants is sleep dart/flute them and use gunpowder to almost kill them and go in for the finishing blows except the dragonfly whose drops are immune to fire and can use all gunpowder.)  

 

 

The Bearger goes after all food anywhere including honey; Including Bee Boxes. It will eat the honey no matter what is near it. This is a subtle hint to bee ready when you finally kill it. Stay armored. Like the Dragonfly, feeding it honey (10) will put it to sleep (and you can move it off screen to despawn if you need to.) 

 

The Goose/Moose is pretty easy for a giant. The only trick it does is make you drop your weapon. The only tip to remember is NOT to attack it until it makes its nest and lays an egg. Then you may kill it, attack its egg later and kill any of them if you wish. 

 

 

The new desert biome is great! Tumbleweeds mean frequent (even rare) resources, hound mounds mean teeth aren't rare until winter, buzzards go after dropped meat and can be attacked like gobblers for turkey dinners and cactus not only can be used with foods, but in summer can be flower harvested for the best summer protection: the floral shirt!  Just remember the rocks there often give stone and nothing else. Overall, if near other biomes, once advanced enough a player, the open space and resources make it a nice place to make a camp as well! 

 

 

Dirt tracks may sometimes lead to a Varg superwolf (that can summon other hounds)  instead; note this if you're 'pant hunting. 

 

Moleworms can eat minerals or anything made from them. They also can be lured to you attacking them this way as bait. if you need them as components, using a hammer (get it, whack a mole) will only stun them and can be fed minerals to not starve until used as crafting components. 

 

Volt goats can give you an additional item, but only when "charged." by using its own drop to craft something. However, they are MUCH more aggressive this way. if you're feeling "uncool", you may need their additional drop to feel "cool" again. However, there might be some items that protect you against electric volts......

 

 

Catcoons can be given "food or toys" which means they can follow you coughing up useful gift stuff (ewww) or even killing simple enemies like birds. The catch is they are attacked like any other follower and only die 9 times and are gone forever. Remember that when planning it following you. if they do die, they may drop cat tails 33.3% of the time which can be made into a tier 1 rabbit earmuff-like cap winter-level item which also restores sanity. Not recommended to kill for, but can be used if they do happen to drop. 

 

 

You might have noticed you can see on a full moon as well as mushrooms become trees, flowers become evil, ghosts rise from the graves and pigs still go Were'.

Another change is a creature called Glommer. Only coming out to its shrine (always found in a deciduous forest) when its flower blooms twice in a cycle, the flower can be picked and glommer can follow you. It occasionally makes gloop which acts both as a fuel and a fertilizer. Since it is defenseless, you can also drop the flower somewhere safe as a goop-producer (again, EWWWWWW.) 

Also if you mine its shrine, you'll notice blueprints that can make an old bell. This means glommer must be killed for its wings and this plus the flower can be crafted to make something called an old bell. Ringing it (even by accident like enemies trying to steal the bell left on the ground)   causes the area after a few moments to be stomped by a giant foot. Not only can this be used on enemies, but it can clear out an area of harvestable items like a forest or planted bunch of trees. 

Also, instead of gunpowder, you can use the old bell the same way for sleeping enemies, especially giants. 

All this comes at a price. Killing glommer (with a force attack) directly is so against an innocent creature, you instantly summon Krampus. (Of course some heartless people kill glommer, kill Krampus, go after the flower again in the second night and repeat this horrendous process until they get the krampus sack! Shocking, I know.) if you need the Old Bell components but don't want to kill Glommer directly, enemies can target him like Chester and do this work for you. Area damage like forest fire also works, but know his gloop is flammable. He is the only friendly that drops monster meat BTW.  

 

 

 

 

Work on the winter tips first. I REALLY recommend you play vanilla and master your basics first, as (respectfully) it reads like you still need to. 

 

When better played, you can make a new game with RoG checked and try to do these new add on things. 

[2mg]

Looking at you using the term TURBO FARM, that suggests you played a LONG time back indeed, before early 2013. Reading your play style (respectively,) it also reads like you haven't updated your collecting/building styles with the updates since then. 

 

 

The game's fundamentals still work, but bluntly, with the RoG add-on activated, it's almost a brand new game. Weather effects (and 3 of the 4 seasons having them, even in caves) finished food rotting, animals trapped starving, Giants (well duh,) and a remake of many crafting recipies (the hammer no longer needs a crafting machine, ice boxes using gold and stone, etc.)  make this not your old DS game anymore! I had to completely relearn my playing style for many things and I was only away for four months! 

 

All that written, basic fundamentals will make or break your game. 

 

(Having mastered "the nomadic game play" which means I could travel the lands and get the four things/wooden thing before day 21 on the old vanilla, then pop into a new world and see if it was "worthy" for sticking around or repeat, I learned what was truly rare and what could wait. Fundamentals allowed me to survive this way or it never would have worked.)

 

 

There is absolutely no shame if you uncheck that RoG box if you need to build up these things. Having the basics mastered helped me survive better once I started playing the RoG (and became addicted to Wigfrid, but I digress.)

 

 

Vanilla tips (mostly)

 

As noted by the last three users, location is KEY. It's still vital to find a location near diverse resources for building (grasslands) and/or beefalo for winter season/protection needs (savannah.) having Pigs nearby is a plus but not necessary. Even if beefalo are not near, know where they are before it's close to winter! (If you have the rare game with no beefalo, plan accordingly and consider leaving after winter/summer ends for a new world.) 

 

Chester now has a couple of new tricks! If filled entirely with nightmare fuel before the full moon rises, he becomes a shadow chester and gains more slots. Doing this instead with blue gems makes an ice chester and acts like a cold box  (Ice/ice cubes still melt but everything else does chill or stay cold, excellent in RoG summer also.) 

 

From my traveling/nomadic tricks, I learned I could establish a base as late as day 11 and still be ready for winter. 

 

If playing RoG make no more than 2 crock pots. Food rots when stored there. If not, you may still make multiple crock pots to store unused food for winter/emergencies, like you would farm plots.  

 

Drying racks greatly store meat durability times, especially in the (old pre-RoG) times when gears are hard to find. Even when you do find them, they greatly allow you to store more stuff longer if you are stockpiling for winter. I like a minimum of 4.(If Playing the RoG only eats meat dishes Wigfrid, you may make more minimum drying racks. Just remember RoG finished jerky spoils on the rack then as well, so move to your cold box or cook/eat before it goes stale/rotten. ) 

 

As noted a birdcage is key. Not only can it convert monster meat to eggs (or any meat or old eggs  for that matter, but you may need to cook it first,) it can be fed produce for specialty seeds (and if playing RoG even watermelon) Many players make Dragonfruit/Pumpkin exclusive crops this way (saving about 1/4 of their crop to feed to the bird for seeds again.) 

 

 

Bee Boxes are fantastic with the power of honey (Ham, taffy and pumpkin cookies, poultices, etc) but it can take time to hunt down. Spiders (especially in RoG it seems those nests are not as spread out as they used to be and are "rarer" because of concentration) beehives, flowers and-even when bee boxes are up-production time to make enough honey all are a difficulty factor.

if you can't get at least one bee box up and running with 12 flowers (technically you need 6 nearby flowers per bee box but the rate of production doesn't really work until you get 10 or more flowers even with one single bee box)  around day 15-16, don't bother making the Bee boxes until after winter. if you can, great! Honey lasts a LONG time. if so lucky consider even making and dropping a beekeeper hat next to your boxes when harvesting the honey (that should be dripping to the ground before collecting.)

 

DO make a shovel backpack spear and log suit  ASAP (like your first science machine whether a temp or perm one.) 

Not only does it vastly improve inventory, having the ability to gather more logs and transplant pickables is a key game changer in your starting game. Depending on your starting location, you may need to transplant twigs/grass. If you need to move grass or choose to transplant berry bushes, they MUST be fertilized of course so make sure you have either enough manure or rot (or even rotten eggs if need be.) Spears save you using tools and the log suit is your first real armor. (But I personally like Football helmets and Ham bats to start which are easily made if you hammer pig heads on poles next to touchstones and/or fight werepigs by feeding pigs four monster meats. ) 

 

Make a Lightning rod as soon as you make your base of course. I can't count the number of times I stupidly forgot and burned down all my transplanted trees/grass/twigs (and with RoG, chests, houses, machines and other structures are now flammable! hammer them down and start over again if that happens or build that lightning rod!)

 

 

Make a tent ASAP if silk is not a rarity. It will save your bacon during winter when mushrooms/taffy/pumpkin cookies are not longer easily renewable and flower garlands won't cut it. 

 

Around 2-3 days before Winter, if not done earlier, go off to your Beefalo with a Razor and prepare to make a nighttime camping trip. I'll leave it up to you whether you want to make a fire or use a torch to shave them at night but do so. If you know how to kite them and fight only one at a time, you may also kite them until getting a horn for a beefalo hat. Else just make a winter hat as noted in other posts. rabbit earmuffs are the absolute worst things to use, as in desperate. 

 

When you find spider nests, either kite spiders and kill them one at a time or use traps. Don't fight near the nest of course to get swarmed/warrior spiders. Don;t harvest the nests UNLESS they are a tier 3. you may relocate them to wherever you wish after they are and you kill them for additional silk of course. This is called spider farming.   

 

 

Brreezy vests are not a good idea. Not only do you lose your body slot, the PUFFY vest is a MUCH warmer option you get by hunting the Kolalafant in the winter. It's the difference between a winter hat and beefalo hat, minus the backpack. If you forgo the extra storage, always take the puffy vest! 

 

Besides freezing people in RoG so he has a shorter attack reach also, the Deerclops has not changed. 

He roars when he is coming, allowing you go somewhere to decide WHERE he will spawn. if you are not ready, you may run far from your base and have him spawn elsewhere. if you need to distract him, placing signs is something he can swat and you can collect with doubled use as warmth fuel in Winter. 

If you wish to attack him, hit and run always works, as well as sleep dart/pan flute gunpowder if you need an easier way. there is nothing wrong (actually it's encouraged) with multiple armors like football helmets or log/marble suits. Have at least a ham bat or Tentacle spike or better though; a spear is not going to do it until you're an advanced player. And do I need to remind you to carry a lot of healing items and foods? Even if not that hungry, healing foods work well also! Depending on your camp, you may or may not have pigs to help you. They can't beat it alone, so go in, hit and run away letting them take the aggro and repeat. For obvious reasons, bring them to it not it to their structure homes. Same goes for Beefalo unless you want a lot of meat/wood/horns to collect and make sure it doesn't kill them ALL. Hit, run and have them take the aggro. of course, if you spawn a Treeguard, you can get another enemy to attack it/plant pine cones and keep it docile for Deerclops as well. 

 

 

 

 

 I'll skip hounds except by saying around day 100+ if you don't have a stone corridor of tooth traps or a big circle of them with a fire pit somewhere for either, you'll be in trouble. Allies help of course. 

 

 

RoG tips

 

 

Many items that are structures and some electricity items use electrical doodads. This increases the rock and gold you now must mine. This means the Alchemy Engine for example must have 4 cut stone,10 gold, and four planks. The ice box doesn't use doodads, but now does use gold and cut stone (not a plank) instead as well as a gear. 

 

If you are playing with RoG, harvest ice in winter. yes I know it's plentiful pengulls renew it and you can freeze faster. but it does NOT renew any other time of year, and will melt by summer! This should be a given, but store it in your ice box so it does not melt. If you need to make a second ice box for those 2 thermal stones and ice in spring, that's fine. I like a minimum of 2 stacks of 40 but more if I can. never eat it if overheating unless desperate as it is too rare to waste!  

 

 

If ever starting in Spring, make sure you make a pretty parasol until you can make something better like a rain hat and/or  umbrella. Wetness not only drains sanity it also lowers your temp eventually freezing you. Wetness also spoils stuff faster and can make you drop it or it burns less. Chests are waterproof but backpacks are not (but Piggybacks and Krampus sacks are.) Once wet, you dry off over time when it stops raining, when you are almost dry and the wetness you are getting is negligible (as in immediately using just an umbrella when it first starts to rain and you barely got wet) or you are next to any burning. Remember, high wetness and dusk/night is dangerous for sanity and for cold! Also, lightning can strike you, with all fire risks included as well as damage. 

 

As noted before, crock pot and drying rack foods spoil when done, so move them to a cold box asap. Also, there are MANY more crock pot dishes that help regulate warmth and cold for summer and winter (go here to look at the RoG new dishes.) But now there are many more places to get gears including mini chess biomes, tumbleweeds and catcoons. Make that cold box asap and make 2 thermal stones to be ready for summer even if you didn't need 2 in winter. 

 

Trapped animals need to be fed or they too starve and die. Rabbits eat veggies, birds eat seeds and berries (caged birds act as normal,) moleworms eat minerals, bees and butterflies I do not know if anything can be fed to them.  

 

Summer is horrid, making crops not only wither and not grow, but (along with anything else that can burn) even catch fire like a lightning strike. While you can go around with manure or rot or an ice staff (or even your hands with damage) to put them out, making an Ice Fling O Matic for your base like a lightning rod works is best. it uses anything you can burn, and stockpiling stuff for it during the day to run is a great idea! Just remember to turn it off at night because it extinguishes all fires, including fire pits.  (Deciding what to explore outside this range risking stuff smouldering and burning offscreen is like asking how far you go without freezing outside your base, as in it takes time and experience.) 

 

Overheating works when you get too hot like Freezing when you get too cold. Anything (including standing next to  burning items for too long) heated can overheat you. In summer, freezing thermal stones works like they do in winter, but in reverse colors. Like in winter, the stone alone is not enough. If using the body slot, the best item is the Eyebrella followed by the Summer Frest. (The eyebrella does double duty also completely protecting you from wetness especially in spring and is worth making sewing kits for.) if going for the top cooling clothing, the floral shirt wins, but flowers from cacti only can be collected when summer starts. 

Summer requires anti-fire or endothermic fire, such as endothermic campfires and endothermic fire pits. Along with the Fling O matic, you'll now notice a huge demand for Nitre. make sure you mine it like you gather gold! But since there is no Nitre Pig King, treat as a limited resource starting with abundance (like gold) until you get to the caves. Also, make a Siesta lean to which not only works like a tent at dusk/night, it works during the day to bypass heat at the cost of hunger. Speaking of the King...

 

 

The Pig village now is (almost) always in the middle of a Deciduous forest with those beech nut trees. They still can show up at the end of a cobblestone road. 

 

Even if not made for the season, all (non specialized seasonal)hats provide 20% resistance to the weather condition. However, all hats now have durability because of this. 

 

 

Beefalos and bees go perma-aggressive/in heat in spring. If you dont want to fight them, avoid them or lure enemies there to distract them. 

 

Food grows back much faster in spring both due to the season and due to the constant rain. Now is the time to stockpile food/pickables and get as many farms growing as possible! 

 

(But jackalope holes are flooded out in spring, so make sure you use things like moleworms, frogs, fish and/or merms for that morsel, replacement.)

 

 

There is absolutely no question the DragonFly is the worst of the giants. When passive, they burn down stuff to feed on ashes, and when attacked, spit rings of fire you really can't avoid. best thing to do is fight it and dodge the personal attack but not go too far so its area attack happens. Since it's summer, it also overheats you so do this around a endothermic fire (either kind) Like fire hounds, if done near your base, do it near non flammables. (remember, many structures and your crafting machines now also can burn.)  The sneaky way out is to feed it 20 ashes (when docile of course) and let it go to sleep. Then gunpowder it. Unlike other enemies since it resists fire, its drops can't be burnt so you can use 15 gunpowder without worry. (Leaving with any sleeping giant offscreen also despawns it if you need an exit.) 

 

(As noted above, the best fighting method against ALL giants is sleep dart/flute them and use gunpowder to almost kill them and go in for the finishing blows except the dragonfly whose drops are immune to fire and can use all gunpowder.)  

 

 

The Bearger goes after all food anywhere including honey; Including Bee Boxes. It will eat the honey no matter what is near it. This is a subtle hint to bee ready when you finally kill it. Stay armored. Like the Dragonfly, feeding it honey (10) will put it to sleep (and you can move it off screen to despawn if you need to.) 

 

The Goose/Moose is pretty easy for a giant. The only trick it does is make you drop your weapon. The only tip to remember is NOT to attack it until it makes its nest and lays an egg. Then you may kill it, attack its egg later and kill any of them if you wish. 

 

 

The new desert biome is great! Tumbleweeds mean frequent (even rare) resources, hound mounds mean teeth aren't rare until winter, buzzards go after dropped meat and can be attacked like gobblers for turkey dinners and cactus not only can be used with foods, but in summer can be flower harvested for the best summer protection: the floral shirt!  Just remember the rocks there often give stone and nothing else. Overall, if near other biomes, once advanced enough a player, the open space and resources make it a nice place to make a camp as well! 

 

 

Dirt tracks may sometimes lead to a Varg superwolf (that can summon other hounds)  instead; note this if you're 'pant hunting. 

 

Moleworms can eat minerals or anything made from them. They also can be lured to you attacking them this way as bait. if you need them as components, using a hammer (get it, whack a mole) will only stun them and can be fed minerals to not starve until used as crafting components. 

 

Volt goats can give you an additional item, but only when "charged." by using its own drop to craft something. However, they are MUCH more aggressive this way. if you're feeling "uncool", you may need their additional drop to feel "cool" again. However, there might be some items that protect you against electric volts......

 

 

Catcoons can be given "food or toys" which means they can follow you coughing up useful gift stuff (ewww) or even killing simple enemies like birds. The catch is they are attacked like any other follower and only die 9 times and are gone forever. Remember that when planning it following you. if they do die, they may drop cat tails 33.3% of the time which can be made into a tier 1 rabbit earmuff-like cap winter-level item which also restores sanity. Not recommended to kill for, but can be used if they do happen to drop. 

 

 

You might have noticed you can see on a full moon as well as mushrooms become trees, flowers become evil, ghosts rise from the graves and pigs still go Were'.

Another change is a creature called Glommer. Only coming out to its shrine (always found in a deciduous forest) when its flower blooms twice in a cycle, the flower can be picked and glommer can follow you. It occasionally makes gloop which acts both as a fuel and a fertilizer. Since it is defenseless, you can also drop the flower somewhere safe as a goop-producer (again, EWWWWWW.) 

Also if you mine its shrine, you'll notice blueprints that can make an old bell. This means glommer must be killed for its wings and this plus the flower can be crafted to make something called an old bell. Ringing it (even by accident like enemies trying to steal the bell left on the ground)   causes the area after a few moments to be stomped by a giant foot. Not only can this be used on enemies, but it can clear out an area of harvestable items like a forest or planted bunch of trees. 

Also, instead of gunpowder, you can use the old bell the same way for sleeping enemies, especially giants. 

All this comes at a price. Killing glommer (with a force attack) directly is so against an innocent creature, you instantly summon Krampus. (Of course some heartless people kill glommer, kill Krampus, go after the flower again in the second night and repeat this horrendous process until they get the krampus sack! Shocking, I know.) if you need the Old Bell components but don't want to kill Glommer directly, enemies can target him like Chester and do this work for you. Area damage like forest fire also works, but know his gloop is flammable. He is the only friendly that drops monster meat BTW.  

 

 

 

 

Work on the winter tips first. I REALLY recommend you play vanilla and master your basics first, as (respectfully) it reads like you still need to. 

 

When better played, you can make a new game with RoG checked and try to do these new add on things. 

 

As for old, I remember the Gold for Crafting Points system

 

I think I got it figured out, the missing piece - Weaponry.

 

See, in Vanilla, at least the way I played Sandbox mode, all you needed (yes I know you can kite Giants, wow...) was Log Suit and a Tentacle Spike and you could tackle pretty much everything. I had no need for Darts or Gunpowder, they both seemed very expensive and frankly unnecessary. Heck, even Boomerang seemed like a vanity item. Plus Tooth Traps later, that goes without saying.

 

So even then, I hadn't any experience with these mechanics and their value for surviving. But now I understand they are a must. I don't want to get into one of those kiting the Giant fights in the wrong time or place only to die to Grue/Charlie.

 

I am currently playing, I am on day 20 right now. I have the Bell, and a lot of feathers that I'm just about to turn into Darts. I got over the fear of just running rampant in the swamp with a log suit and collecting Reeds, that seemed like a taboo in Vanilla. It's still dangerous, but, yeah...

 

I do have few questions:

 

1.) Catcoon just are 30 Silk on the ground, is there any way to get it back? I killed it (I know about 9 lives), no Silk, but I got Cat Tail.

 

2.) DFly can be pacified with 20 Ashes, does that include if it eats some on it's own on it's spree? Same for BGer and Honey?

 

3.) Can GMoose be pacified?

 

4.) Spider Dens, they seem to be a rare thing now, usually concnetrated in one Forest Biome (sometimes not even there) and Swamps?

 

 

Thanks for the responses so far everybody!

 

[the truthseeker]

Next thing you'll tell me is you're trying to grind up Garden Gnomes in your Alchemy Machine!

 

Seriously now.

 

1) Once the 9th death happens, it's permanently dead. Hammer its stump and move on. Hopefully there're more left. Or else not until the next world...no, literally, going through the teleportato next world.

Catcoons don't death drop anything guaranteed but meat when killed, they MIGHT upchuck specific stuff if you befriend them, but if you KILL them, they ONLY drop meat and MAYBE tails.  Silk is upchucked SOMETIMES when you BEFRIEND THEM alive and again, SOMETIMES they hack it up.

If they take something, it's gone. No returned gifts. Don't leave stuff on the ground in this game. 

 

The cap is made with a tail and 4 silk and I said IF THEY DIED and a tail dropped it's better than nothing and NOT WORTH IT to kill them. (It's like killing for a garland.) 

 

2) I don't remember if the count total works when they are enraged them docile or vice versa, but I believe so. But the count total doesn't matter as long as it gets the 20 ashes/10 honey. It's just you can't feed them when they are in combat mode. 

 

3) No. 

 

Edit: 

 

4) As noted in my previous reply, spider dens aren't rarer, but more "concentrated together." Same number, fewer places.

You won't find "isolated" dens as much anymore except maybe in the Savanah. Swamps appear unchanged (unless you get one of those "no spider dens almost anywhere as the rare resource worldgen" load sometimes the game does with one resource.)

Try looking at rockylands and swamps and forests as those are the primaty areas they nest now. If there are pigs anywhere, they also like sometimes spawning there as well still, even singularly.  

 

[Palpetinus]

Weird, I got RoG and I still play like I did back in early 2013, yet it's still just as easy for me.

[2mg]

Next thing you'll tell me is you're trying to grind up Garden Gnomes in your Alchemy Machine!

 

Seriously now.

 

1) Once the 9th death happens, it's permanently dead. Hammer its stump and move on. Hopefully there're more left. Or else not until the next world...no, literally, going through the teleportato next world.

Catcoons don't death drop anything guaranteed but meat when killed, they MIGHT upchuck specific stuff if you befriend them, but if you KILL them, they ONLY drop meat and MAYBE tails.  Silk is upchucked SOMETIMES when you BEFRIEND THEM alive and again, SOMETIMES they hack it up.

If they take something, it's gone. No returned gifts. Don't leave stuff on the ground in this game. 

 

The cap is made with a tail and 4 silk and I said IF THEY DIED and a tail dropped it's better than nothing and NOT WORTH IT to kill them. (It's like killing for a garland.) 

 

2) I don't remember if the count total works when they are enraged them docile or vice versa, but I believe so. But the count total doesn't matter as long as it gets the 20 ashes/10 honey. It's just you can't feed them when they are in combat mode. 

 

3) No. 

 

THE GNOMES! This smiley wouldn't be exist if there weren't Gnomes' efforts!

 

Well, all in all, I guess I needed a slap back to (new) reality. I guess this thread can serve as a "guide" for returning players. I also edited a 4th question in my previous post, but it's off-topic, no need to answer it.

 

I think I have one final question to ask: Giants - do they always spawn a few screens next to me, regardless of their intended target of destruction?

 

*If you got any other suggestions (yes, I've read them guides and them wiki entries!) feel free to post them.

 

 

 

[2mg]

Weird, I got RoG and I still play like I did back in early 2013, yet it's still just as easy for me.

 

Frowns in your direction, sir! In your own words - i report u.

 

[the truthseeker]

THE GNOMES! This smiley wouldn't be exist if there weren't Gnomes' efforts!

 

Well, all in all, I guess I needed a slap back to (new) reality. I guess this thread can serve as a "guide" for returning players. I also edited a 4th question in my previous post, but it's off-topic, no need to answer it.

 

I think I have one final question to ask: Giants - do they always spawn a few screens next to me, regardless of their intended target of destruction?

 

*If you got any other suggestions (yes, I've read them guides and them wiki entries!) feel free to post them.

 

 

Exactly. They will spawn a few screens screen adjacent to you in the end wherever you are in that spawning They then follow their AI for items to interact (and destroy) with. This is why it's nice to run to a reed trap when you hear their first roar and wait, find them, and lure them over the final few steps.

 

(It seems I have gotten a lot of reed trap set pieces lately; your other killing distraction for giants may vary.)  

[brummbar7]

So, any input about my gameplaying style - feel free to shoot to kill!

 

Good tips so far.  Especially regards buildings I would reiterate you don't really needs farms, bee boxes, drying racks, or bird cages for first winter.  I almost never use drying racks at any time with any character except wigfrid.    And you sure as heck don't need 4 fridges in one spot. 

 

If you keep your base simple - 1 fridge, 1 crock pot, 1 firepit, 1 lightning rod, 1 science/alchemy engine, and whatever chests you need, it's pretty fast to set up and you can wait a long time. 

 

Something nobody else has mentioned, get a miner hat.  Keep it on you at all times.  This is always one of my first season priorities.  Autumn biomes are loaded with fireflies, it's the easiest place to get them.  miner hats are great for dealing with nighttime giants, and later surprise hound raids you have to run from when caught away from your hound defense.  

 

Do not rely on the 3 structures rule for giants appearing.  The last time deerclops appeared was in a forest with nothing but a lone pig house within 2 screens of me.  Either the building detection radius is huge, the count is off, or it in fact does not matter, he'll just show up wherever you are.

 

For Deerclops specifically, though other people advise using a hat for warmth, I like your vest strategy - it is good to get used to packless travel.  Because in winter, if deerclops comes and the battle is going to run into night, you'll want that body warmth in order to be able to use your miner hat at night and have hands free for weapons.  Assuming you can kite well, you can get by with a helmet fighting deerclops, but unless you're SUPER confident do not engage him in melee at night with no armor.  I usually melee him at day and finish him off with darts at night.  No point in wasting darts if you don't need to.   You'll need them for the firefly - 28 of them if possible (and that's VERY doable - just hit those snowbirds hard!).  But by that time you can also have lots of gunpowder, so don't panic if you end winter without enough darts or feathers to make them. 

 

Other option is to also carry sleep darts/pan flute and put him to sleep for the night, retreat to base, and come back next day.  

 

I usually have lots of sub-bases, so I tend to always have 1 slot of Chester taken with a stack of 20 blowdarts, just in case the giant comes at a sub-base. 

 

As for base location, I try to find within a half day of beefalo, half day of pig kind, and half day of swamp, ideally.  If you have a triple-McTusk setup that's also great to be close by.    But often he'll be a ways away, and it's common for me to set up a sub-camp nearby (1 fire pit, 1 crock pot, 1 fridge).  You don't really need to outline every land mass to pick a good base spot.  You should be able to recognize the world 'hub' by the number of roads converging, and it's also usually got the chunk of savanna with no beefalo but LOTS of rabbits.  It's never a bad thing to have a base set up in the world hub, even if you later find something more ideal.  If you can recognize a hub spot that's near the autumn biome and the swamp and/or beefalo savanna, 9 times of 10 that's going to end up as your best base spot anyway.

 

If you can hit a triple McTusk camp hard all winter (say, 4 times), you can easily end up with a dozen blowdarts just from McTsuk drops, plus 16 hounds teeth.   If possible bring a pack of 4 pigs each time.  If they can all ninja-chop McTusk at once before he runs, he'll die.    From there its simple to get the 20 darts you need, assuming you always carry a boomerang and hit those snowbirds every chance you get for the feathers.  I always carry a boomerang all winter for that, since the feathers are the limiting factor given that you can only get them for 1/4 of the year.  If you just have one McTusk, it'll be harder, but doable.   Raid the desert hound mound if you don't have enough teeth by mid-winter.

 

If you do have a lot of hounds teeth, consider setting up a tooth-trap run along a road.  Tooth-for-tooth you'll get more damage from a trap then a dart, but you'll probably have to reset them, so string them out along a road so you can lead DC up and down it and reset them ahead of him.

 

To go the gunpowder route for first DC, you'd need to get a very early birdcage and get lots of eggs started rotting.   I wouldn't bother, it's a lot of hassle. 

 

It's useful to note that DC will attack natural beehives just like he would a structure.  So if you can lead him into a bee field, he'll destroy a lot of hives making your job easier later, and that will distract him allowing you to do other things if needed, like heat up or heal.  

 

Along those lines, if you know where you're going to be fighting DC, set up small groves of trees and light them on fire for warmth.  They're not structures and DC won't attack them.  

 

Also try to keep a few green mushrooms in your fridge, and when you first hear DC's moans, grab those and cook them, to help with DC's insanity aura, which can be harsh.  Jerky also works, but it doesn't heal as much sanity as a cooked greeny.

 

It should go without saying, have a plan for what you're going to carry when you fight DC.  make sure you'll have enough slots without the backpack.  Know what you're going to drop and what you're going to keep in hand.  i.e. drop all your tools, chester, and even your flint if your weapon is topped up.  You'll want weapon, body warmth, head armor, miner hat, blowdarts, food, cooked greenys, torch (for lighting trees), grass-twigs-logs.  That's 11 things right there.  You can also have ice staff, sleep items, healing items and head warmth if you want to switch the head stuff during daytime.  Do not bother trying to boomerang DC.  damage is too low and number of uses too few.

 

Also, old bell.  Use it.  Don't hoard them like rpg gamers hoard potions.  Do some console commanding and practice using it against awake giants.  If you can get the timing down it's invaluable.  Even one hit will shorten combat immensely.  But if not that, in the early game it's very useful for getting wood very fast.  Better than pigs.  Use it in dense forests and just load up on wood.  You can make tons of chests, pig houses, and everything else that uses wood.  And in the process hopefully you'll generate a treeguard or two, which is useful against deerclops.    For this reason it's also useful to have your base somewhat close to a large forest, where you can hopefully generate many treeguards.     Not too close though!  Remember that there can be two stomps before, and two after the spot that you target.  Don't let one of them be your base.   

 

As a side note, old bell is very useful against the M'Moose, because it moves so slow.  Or more specifically, against the mosslings.  It's pretty satisfying to instantly squash 4-5 moslings at once.  And will save you a ton of hassle vs doing it on your own.  Also be aware that the G'Goose, once it has a nest, will only chase you so far from the nest, beyond that it will retreat back to it's nest.  So don't bother trying to lead it to a swamp once it has a nest.  The mosslings will only attack once the parent is dead, so don't try and kill them before the M'Moose, they'll just run away.

 

Bearger is great fun.  Keep that miner hat and some food handy because you're going to run around the woods with him for about a few days leveling the entire place, assuming he doesn't die to one of the many treeguards he'll have after him.  You'll never have to chop wood again.

 

Also, don't be afraid to jump worlds.  This is the world I finally settled on; the third world of this game file:

You can see the start location, and my first base not far away (it's a Wigfrid game, so it's good to get a crockpot and fridge up and running quick)  You can see my many sub-bases, and the key adjacencies.   The main base is in the 'world hub', with pig king down and left, swamp down and right, and savanna with beefalo and a touchstone just to the right of the swamp.  McTusk is also conveniently located just a couple hours to the right.  I placed my tooth trap killing field down and left of the main base, which keeps fire hounds away from base, and also puts the killing field within range of two caves, great for those hound waves that happen immediately after exiting the cave.  Cave location is actually one of my main conditions for final base location, since you cannot move caves.  Summer base is in the mosaic biome, near the other touchstone (with it's own sub-base) and a tallfort for meat and stocking up non-perishing eggs near touchstones (be careful the fire hounds don't get in there though!) and also near the third cave.   Overall the only way it could be better is if there were a triple-McTusk cluster, and maybe a convenient wormhole to the summer base, but it's a great 'starfish' world that puts everything within relatively easy reach.

[the truthseeker]

Good tips so far.  Especially regards buildings I would reiterate you don't really needs farms, bee boxes, drying racks, or bird cages for first winter.  I almost never use drying racks at any time with any character except wigfrid.    And you sure as heck don't need 4 fridges in one spot. 

 

If you keep your base simple - 1 fridge, 1 crock pot, 1 firepit, 1 lightning rod, 1 science/alchemy engine, and whatever chests you need, it's pretty fast to set up and you can wait a long time. 

 

Something nobody else has mentioned, get a miner hat.  Keep it on you at all times.  This is always one of my first season priorities.  Autumn biomes are loaded with fireflies, it's the easiest place to get them.  miner hats are great for dealing with nighttime giants, and later surprise hound raids you have to run from when caught away from your hound defense.  

 

Do not rely on the 3 structures rule for giants appearing.  The last time deerclops appeared was in a forest with nothing but a lone pig house within 2 screens of me.  Either the building detection radius is huge, the count is off, or it in fact does not matter, he'll just show up wherever you are.

 

For Deerclops specifically, though other people advise using a hat for warmth, I like your vest strategy - it is good to get used to packless travel.  Because in winter, if deerclops comes and the battle is going to run into night, you'll want that body warmth in order to be able to use your miner hat at night and have hands free for weapons.  Assuming you can kite well, you can get by with a helmet fighting deerclops, but unless you're SUPER confident do not engage him in melee at night with no armor.  I usually melee him at day and finish him off with darts at night.  No point in wasting darts if you don't need to.   You'll need them for the firefly - 28 of them if possible (and that's VERY doable - just hit those snowbirds hard!).  But by that time you can also have lots of gunpowder, so don't panic if you end winter without enough darts or feathers to make them. 

 

Other option is to also carry sleep darts/pan flute and put him to sleep for the night, retreat to base, and come back next day.  

 

I usually have lots of sub-bases, so I tend to always have 1 slot of Chester taken with a stack of 20 blowdarts, just in case the giant comes at a sub-base. 

 

As for base location, I try to find within a half day of beefalo, half day of pig kind, and half day of swamp, ideally.  If you have a triple-McTusk setup that's also great to be close by.    But often he'll be a ways away, and it's common for me to set up a sub-camp nearby (1 fire pit, 1 crock pot, 1 fridge).  You don't really need to outline every land mass to pick a good base spot.  You should be able to recognize the world 'hub' by the number of roads converging, and it's also usually got the chunk of savanna with no beefalo but LOTS of rabbits.  It's never a bad thing to have a base set up in the world hub, even if you later find something more ideal.  If you can recognize a hub spot that's near the autumn biome and the swamp and/or beefalo savanna, 9 times of 10 that's going to end up as your best base spot anyway.

 

If you can hit a triple McTusk camp hard all winter (say, 4 times), you can easily end up with a dozen blowdarts just from McTsuk drops, plus 16 hounds teeth.   If possible bring a pack of 4 pigs each time.  If they can all ninja-chop McTusk at once before he runs, he'll die.    From there its simple to get the 20 darts you need, assuming you always carry a boomerang and hit those snowbirds every chance you get for the feathers.  I always carry a boomerang all winter for that, since the feathers are the limiting factor given that you can only get them for 1/4 of the year.  If you just have one McTusk, it'll be harder, but doable.   Raid the desert hound mound if you don't have enough teeth by mid-winter.

 

If you do have a lot of hounds teeth, consider setting up a tooth-trap run along a road.  Tooth-for-tooth you'll get more damage from a trap then a dart, but you'll probably have to reset them, so string them out along a road so you can lead DC up and down it and reset them ahead of him.

 

To go the gunpowder route for first DC, you'd need to get a very early birdcage and get lots of eggs started rotting.   I wouldn't bother, it's a lot of hassle. 

 

It's useful to note that DC will attack natural beehives just like he would a structure.  So if you can lead him into a bee field, he'll destroy a lot of hives making your job easier later, and that will distract him allowing you to do other things if needed, like heat up or heal.  

 

Along those lines, if you know where you're going to be fighting DC, set up small groves of trees and light them on fire for warmth.  They're not structures and DC won't attack them.  

 

Also try to keep a few green mushrooms in your fridge, and when you first hear DC's moans, grab those and cook them, to help with DC's insanity aura, which can be harsh.  Jerky also works, but it doesn't heal as much sanity as a cooked greeny.

 

It should go without saying, have a plan for what you're going to carry when you fight DC.  make sure you'll have enough slots without the backpack.  Know what you're going to drop and what you're going to keep in hand.  i.e. drop all your tools, chester, and even your flint if your weapon is topped up.  You'll want weapon, body warmth, head armor, miner hat, blowdarts, food, cooked greenys, torch (for lighting trees), grass-twigs-logs.  That's 11 things right there.  You can also have ice staff, sleep items, healing items and head warmth if you want to switch the head stuff during daytime.  Do not bother trying to boomerang DC.  damage is too low and number of uses too few.

 

Also, old bell.  Use it.  Don't hoard them like rpg gamers hoard potions.  Do some console commanding and practice using it against awake giants.  If you can get the timing down it's invaluable.  Even one hit will shorten combat immensely.  But if not that, in the early game it's very useful for getting wood very fast.  Better than pigs.  Use it in dense forests and just load up on wood.  You can make tons of chests, pig houses, and everything else that uses wood.  And in the process hopefully you'll generate a treeguard or two, which is useful against deerclops.    For this reason it's also useful to have your base somewhat close to a large forest, where you can hopefully generate many treeguards.     Not too close though!  Remember that there can be two stomps before, and two after the spot that you target.  Don't let one of them be your base.   

 

As a side note, old bell is very useful against the M'Moose, because it moves so slow.  Or more specifically, against the mosslings.  It's pretty satisfying to instantly squash 4-5 moslings at once.  And will save you a ton of hassle vs doing it on your own.  Also be aware that the G'Goose, once it has a nest, will only chase you so far from the nest, beyond that it will retreat back to it's nest.  So don't bother trying to lead it to a swamp once it has a nest.  The mosslings will only attack once the parent is dead, so don't try and kill them before the M'Moose, they'll just run away.

 

Bearger is great fun.  Keep that miner hat and some food handy because you're going to run around the woods with him for about a few days leveling the entire place, assuming he doesn't die to one of the many treeguards he'll have after him.  You'll never have to chop wood again.

 

Also, don't be afraid to jump worlds.  This is the world I finally settled on; the third world of this game file:

2014-08-29_WigfridStarfish1.jpg

You can see the start location, and my first base not far away (it's a Wigfrid game, so it's good to get a crockpot and fridge up and running quick)  You can see my many sub-bases, and the key adjacencies.   The main base is in the 'world hub', with pig king down and left, swamp down and right, and savanna with beefalo and a touchstone just to the right of the swamp.  McTusk is also conveniently located just a couple hours to the right.  I placed my tooth trap killing field down and left of the main base, which keeps fire hounds away from base, and also puts the killing field within range of two caves, great for those hound waves that happen immediately after exiting the cave.  Cave location is actually one of my main conditions for final base location, since you cannot move caves.  Summer base is in the mosaic biome, near the other touchstone (with it's own sub-base) and a tallfort for meat and stocking up non-perishing eggs near touchstones (be careful the fire hounds don't get in there though!) and also near the third cave.   Overall the only way it could be better is if there were a triple-McTusk cluster, and maybe a convenient wormhole to the summer base, but it's a great 'starfish' world that puts everything within relatively easy reach.

Beautiful tips! 

The only thing I'm curious about is why don't you recommend a birdcage by the first winter?

I find the eggs useful for Bacon and Eggs and Pengulls aren't reliable for egg retrieval. (Not saying this is right or wrong just learning different ways here.) 

[Mobbstar]

Beautiful tips! 

The only thing I'm curious about is why don't you recommend a birdcage by the first winter?

I find the eggs useful for Bacon and Eggs and Pengulls aren't reliable for egg retrieval. (Not saying this is right or wrong just learning different ways here.) 

 

The only thing I am curious about is why you don't mention monster meat?

Monster meat is avaible in excess (I'm only playing hounds on more at least, so yeah... After cleaning up some spider dens as well) and can hardly be used, since more than one ruins the recipe. By feeding it to a bird, you can use monster meat to indirectly fill three of four food slots, the last one can be a morsel.

 

EDIT: The way you wrote it doesn't highlight that.

[the truthseeker]

The only thing I am curious about is why you don't mention monster meat?

Monster meat is avaible in excess (I'm only playing hounds on more at least, so yeah... After cleaning up some spider dens as well) and can hardly be used, since more than one ruins the recipe. By feeding it to a bird, you can use monster meat to indirectly fill three of four food slots, the last one can be a morsel.

 

EDIT: The way you wrote it doesn't highlight that.

 if you mean my post with a lot of tips, I thought the birdcage implied all meat could do this, but now I might go back and update my tips. if you meant the person's post i replied to that's another thing. I did mention monster meat to eggs before. 

 

Edit: Edited my original post mentioned the converting monster meat into eggs, underlining it, but I added about the plentiful monster meat thing which sometimes isn't so plentiful (based on the RoG procedural world gen and where you place the base)

 

A player's understanding that eggs are not meat (and are actually dairy) but work as (primarily  meatballs) as filler is a whole other advanced thing. The point is safely using in crock pot cooking/eating. 

[brummbar7]

The only thing I'm curious about is why don't you recommend a birdcage by the first winter?

I find the eggs useful for Bacon and Eggs and Pengulls aren't reliable for egg retrieval. (Not saying this is right or wrong just learning different ways here.) 

 

Ya, sorry, it wasn't so much about being *against* the birdcage, as just saying it's not *necessary*.  It definitely helps a lot.  But you can get by on meatballs about as well.  I mean, I'll build any of those buildings if they fit into the flow of things.  Farms if I find a lot of beefalo (hence manure), beeboxes if I get lots of silk to make beekeeper hat, birdcage if I get plenty of silk to make the bird trap and reeds to make the papyrus.  It's kind of world dependent a little.   And in the context of the op's question, was trying to boil it down to the bare necessities. 

 

Regards monster meat, If I'm not going bird cage, I tend to use a lot of mushrooms and berries.  Birch biome is usually near my base, and has tons of them.  They're a great filler because they have severe downsides otherwise.  The upside to using monster meat with mushrooms is huge, as opposed to monster meat with berries or other filler that is otherwise ok to eat, where the gain over eating the constituent parts is not near as great. 

 

So bird cages get a thumbs up from me, definitely!  But if he's short on time before winter, maybe put it on back burner. 

 

[2mg]

Very nice information indeed. Kudos!

 

But, what about summer? Is it possible to really lose your world because of random fires and BFly burning the world? I'd hate to get to 50+ days and then realize that all the Birches, Bees and Hollow Stumps are gone, or anything in those lines?

 

 

This post could pe pinned. Mods/admins??

[the truthseeker]

Yes yes it is, as much as a lightning strike without a lightning rod can. Technically, the entire world won't burn, but what's immediately around you has a much better chance. Simply build an Ice Fling O matic and keep extra fuel around like you.would to stay warm in winter. turn it off after dusk/when you need to light fires, and build an Endothermic fire pit to cool off as needed.

 

Summer clothes worth the same way with winter clothes (except against heat)  with the heat thermal stone, except you store the stone and spares in your cold box/Ice Chester instead of by the fire (but technically you could drop one off by the endothermic pit to cool down.) Best hat is the Summer Frest and best body item is the floral shirt (whose 5 cacti flowers needed only bloom in summer. Since flowers spoil in 10 days and shirts 15 days, and floral salads 6 days, it's best to pick only what's needed in summer and refrigerate until needed to last 1.5 times longer both for flowers and shirts. Snow Chesters work the same way for these items.) 

[2mg]

Yes yes it is, as much as a lightning strike without a lightning rod can. Technically, the entire world won't burn, but what's immediately around you has a much better chance. Simply build an Ice Fling O matic and keep extra fuel around like you.would to stay warm in winter. turn it off after dusk/when you need to light fires, and build an Endothermic fire pit to cool off as needed.

 

Summer clothes worth the same way with winter clothes (except against heat)  with the heat thermal stone, except you store the stone and spares in your cold box/Ice Chester instead of by the fire (but technically you could drop one off by the endothermic pit to cool down.) Best hat is the Summer Frest and best body item is the floral shirt (whose 5 cacti flowers needed only bloom in summer. Since flowers spoil in 10 days and shirts 15 days, and floral salads 6 days, it's best to pick only what's needed in summer and refrigerate until needed to last 1.5 times longer both for flowers and shirts. Snow Chesters work the same way for these items.) 

 

So there is no Armageddon?!

Phew, I had a horrible feeling while playing RoG... I simply expected that some game mechanic, be it a Giant, or rain/fire/frogs that would simply make the world void of an important resource, like Catcoons or Bee Hives. Or even both (usually there are 2) Pig Villages.

Like, you're trying to do whatever needs to be done, and after a year or so you go to another part of the mape only to find that everything is destroyed or burnt or eaten or whatever.

I can Teleportato, but to me it's something I want to do, not because current world got whacked.

[the truthseeker]

So there is no Armageddon?!

Phew, I had a horrible feeling while playing RoG... I simply expected that some game mechanic, be it a Giant, or rain/fire/frogs that would simply make the world void of an important resource, like Catcoons or Bee Hives. Or even both (usually there are 2) Pig Villages.

Like, you're trying to do whatever needs to be done, and after a year or so you go to another part of the mape only to find that everything is destroyed or burnt or eaten or whatever.

I can Teleportato, but to me it's something I want to do, not because current world got whacked.

Yeah, but all that written before, Summer still sucks.

 

Besides the heat to your body, things can also smoulder and burst into flame when you get near them off screen like other creatures can resume when you get them them after visiting them before (like spiders and pigs.) At least you'll talk about it as a comment (like you would for hounds) before the items burn.

 

Besides building extra Fling O matics (which if you didn't put all your pickables and crops in one area where the fling can reach you should do then, but since it extinguishes all fires, turn if off after dusk if near or in your base,)  using an ice staff or your bare hands (which hurts) to put out stuff (which includes creatures and structures like buildings,) the best bet if you see something out of range of Flings  smouldering to put out; is carry a lot of fertilizers (rot works really well in this example as it stacks to 40, but any fertilizer will do.) 

 

Oh, and the Dragonfly Giant wants to burn all it can to make ash to eat. Hitting it angers it so it spits out rings of fire when not close by. Besides using close-only attacks you need to dodge by kiting like any giant, or a regular sleep method (Flute, darts) with Gunpowder [15] or the old bell, you could feed a Dragonfly 20 ashes and it will go to sleep. again, 20 ashes. (It's wise to start carrying that around with you in summer.) Also, make an endothermic fire put somewhere else away from your base if you want to fight it so it does not go to and burn your base down, like you would lure Deerclops in winter (that's because it uses fire to attack, so your body temp goes up and you overheat.)  If it's too difficult, once the DF is asleep, leaving it offscreen despawns it. 

[2mg]

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