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[Suggestion] More Players, Slower Game Time


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    This may sound a bit crazy, but the more players on the server, the less time I have to do things. Trying to set up my base with two other people is not harder. However, we need to collect more food than in single player because we are sharing resources. This takes more time away from our daily tasks, and getting clothes for winter and a good base setup is constant work. That wouldn't be too bad, but I want to actually do things with my friends instead of breaking up each day so we can be as efficient as possible. Our hunger rate is perfect for 1-4 player camp, I just want the days/nights/seasons to slow down.

 

   I made a plan to set the settings to Long Summer, then work with my friends to build a base on a password locked server. Once the base was complete and we were ready for winter, we would then open up the server for any player to join in and go on adventures with us. The intent was to skip to the part where we could play together without losing valuable time. 

  

   Our results are pretty good. We had more fun under the relaxed time, it is Day 30 and we are ready for a fourth random player, there is plenty of things to do, and we are mostly ready for winter. Setting the world size to medium made it huge, and I have no idea where the beefalo are, but we have everything else covered.

  

   I am not suggesting this to make the game easier, but watching everyone split up every day and sometimes spend nights away from camp took away the fun of multiplayer. Trying to get four times the normal resources just makes the game feel too fast. I don't want a 80 day summer because 8-16 players are running around, nor do I want a hour long day, but a 20 day summer is not enough.

  

   To server hosts: I would turn on Long Summer if I were you. I would also consider locking your server until you get a steady base setup, unless you want to build a base with strangers who might come and go. I also play with no rules. If someone wants to attempt raising a small bird, or use items in the chest, or die and float around me as a ghost; than that is fair enough for me. Everything they can pick up is theirs to use, and anything they need from me I will try to give. Anyone else got any good server ideas? ( Don't say Lights Out, that doesn't end well :grin: )

 

   To Klei : Playing with 4 players is fun, but I prefer most of them to be regular server players. This makes it fun with friends, though I am eager to play with strangers too. I would also like the server to progress while I am not playing, just to pop in and see the changes player have made, can I give files to my friends so they can load up a copy of a server? Mostly, I would enjoy jumping onto a big Klei server and see a lot of players all doing things as a community. Being able to choose between playing with mostly friends or a lot of the community sounds pretty cool. 

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Okay. I like this idea, but I think one rule needs to be established: No spamming haunts while in ghost form. Don't forget, hauntings have a chance to smash structures, turn pigs into werepigs, light trees on fire, so on so forth. We don't need a player to become a giant luck-based troll on all the living players.

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Okay. I like this idea, but I think one rule needs to be established: No spamming haunts while in ghost form. Don't forget, hauntings have a chance to smash structures, turn pigs into werepigs, light trees on fire, so on so forth. We don't need a player to become a giant luck-based troll on all the living players.

 

Obvious griefing is of course bannable.

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Okay, but this should be mentioned in the rules. It could happen even if the player doesn't think he's trolling. Not knowing about the ill effects of hauntings and immediately ending up screwing up several players' stuff. Better safe than sorry. Also, the thread name should be "[suggestion] More Players, Longer Seasons". Sounds like your complaint is more about seasons being short, not day cycles being too short.

 

Just a tiny heads up :3

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Okay. I like this idea, but I think one rule needs to be established: No spamming haunts while in ghost form. Don't forget, hauntings have a chance to smash structures, turn pigs into werepigs, light trees on fire, so on so forth. We don't need a player to become a giant luck-based troll on all the living players.

 

I haunted a butterfly and it burned down our entire berry bush crop. :(

 

Anyway, for the food issue, my group has had the best luck with sending one person out to hunt the Koalafant (seeing as footprints seem to appear like every 5 seconds) and then lead it back to base while the rest of us focus on other resources. We have a constant supply of rabbits as we settled in a small savannah, and I've planted a Spider's nest not too far away as Monster Meat can be a nice crockpot filler (either the meat itself or converted to eggs) and you're going to need the silk for winter items. 

 

It certainly takes a lot more management as you add people (I've usually been playing with 3) but it's doable. If you've got Skype, the voice chat can really help out as you don't have to waste time typing. Or the Steam chat. If you don't though, use the night time to make plans for the day, as most of you are probably staying in one place anyway and can type. 

 

That being said, I wouldn't mind slightly longer cycles. 

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Okay, but this should be mentioned in the rules. It could happen even if the player doesn't think he's trolling. Not knowing about the ill effects of hauntings and immediately ending up screwing up several players' stuff. Better safe than sorry. Also, the thread name should be "[suggestion] More Players, Longer Seasons". Sounds like your complaint is more about seasons being short, not day cycles being too short.

 

Just a tiny heads up :3

 

But the game time in general is the problem. Running back to the base for a brief night before a chore labored day is not good either.

 

Obvious griefing is someone who keeps trying to ignite my grass after I tell them that haunting will do that. The purpose of saying, "No rules" and letting people do almost anything is to try to keep a open mind. Yes, the line is drawn at griefing, but after seeing players hesitate for the tools and food that I am leaving for open use at the camp, I think  the "take what you think you need" mentality without examining if every thing they are doing is a act of trolling is the best thing to do. Some players leave the server with the only beefalo hat and don't realize it, but it is not upsetting me because I am not trying to govern it. 

 

The goal is to keep a open mind to player behavior. Technically, the No Rules rule invalidates itself. I will ban and kick badly behaved players, but I don't want to show resentment for just bad-at-the-game or shy players.

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If you don't have more food and more resources with multiple players, someone isn't pulling their weight.

You should be able to get a functional, self-sustaining base *faster* with more people.

Everyone needs to collect enough food for themselves, every day, but they only need to find enough resources for 1/2-1/3 of a birdcage, drying rack, crock pot, etc etc.

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If you don't have more food and more resources with multiple players, someone isn't pulling their weight.

You should be able to get a functional, self-sustaining base *faster* with more people.

Everyone needs to collect enough food for themselves, every day, but they only need to find enough resources for 1/2-1/3 of a birdcage, drying rack, crock pot, etc etc.

 

The problem is not the food. The balanced food hunger rate + the extra chores are fine since everyone is pitching in, but the time constraint has everyone splitting up everyday. Everyone is pulling their weight, but we were not enjoying the game that much. That was, until I slowed the pace down by making summer longer.

 

Also, while it is easier to get stuff like a bird cage up; spears, backpacks, hats, tools, etc. can not be shared and may require multiple craftings. Getting a base up in going is not hard, but it is a constant effort that is not fun. I locked the server until now so now when someone joins they can jump right into our adventures. I imagine a lot of players may have been creating bases 90% of the time they have been playing. Finally did we have the chance to do something co-op, in which I smacked a bee hive and someone else killed it while I was being chased by bees. I want to do more of those things, but it hurts our progress too much without everything ready at the base.

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After a few servers, it seems that the pickables do spawn faster. Also the reason you all spawn apart (unless the settings are changed in the server) is to have your own resources the first few days before "meeting" others. A good rule of thumb is as noted, having one person go and get one or maybe two resource types. Multiple "gathering" trips at he same time of different resources with many players can be done. it's best if one food type (if rare) be hunted by one person or brought back to base for group help. This fares true also for weeding one one beefalo from the herd to attack as well. 

 

The key is fair distribution of resources when the returning person doles out the resources. They have to be trusted not only to get the resource enough for all, but to fairly divide it and not hoarde anything they fear they "won't get enough of." it's not always a rational thing of course. 

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The problem is not the food. The balanced food hunger rate + the extra chores are fine since everyone is pitching in, but the time constraint has everyone splitting up everyday. Everyone is pulling their weight, but we were not enjoying the game that much. That was, until I slowed the pace down by making summer longer.

Also, while it is easier to get stuff like a bird cage up; spears, backpacks, hats, tools, etc. can not be shared and may require multiple craftings. Getting a base up in going is not hard, but it is a constant effort that is not fun. I locked the server until now so now when someone joins they can jump right into our adventures. I imagine a lot of players may have been creating bases 90% of the time they have been playing. Finally did we have the chance to do something co-op, in which I smacked a bee hive and someone else killed it while I was being chased by bees. I want to do more of those things, but it hurts our progress too much without everything ready at the base.

I can absolutely promise you that this is due to poor planning, and ultimately about people not pulling their weight.

You talk about needing to craft multiple tools/clothing, as if you don't have multiple people constantly capable of tool crafting.

Don't starve is a survival game. As such, your team needs to be efficient.

You can gather en masse, as a group, or you can divide and conquer.

There's no mechanic stopping you from being more efficient than solo.

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I can absolutely promise you that this is due to poor planning, and ultimately about people not pulling their weight.

You talk about needing to craft multiple tools/clothing, as if you don't have multiple people constantly capable of tool crafting.

Don't starve is a survival game. As such, your team needs to be efficient.

You can gather en masse, as a group, or you can divide and conquer.

There's no mechanic stopping you from being more efficient than solo.

 

 

You are right. The problem is that we are not getting to adventure together. Everyone is doing different things in order to get the base ready, but it is not much fun when you rarely see the other players.

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You are right. The problem is that we are not getting to adventure together. Everyone is doing different things in order to get the base ready, but it is not much fun when you rarely see the other players.

One way you can solve this is by doing things en masse.

Examples:

1) Everyone grabs a pickaxe and mines a stony field

2) Great Beefalo hunt

3) Everyone levels a wooded area, plants the pinecones in a clump for mass charcoal production

Basically, you need to shift from individual tasks to group projects.

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One way you can solve this is by doing things en masse.

Examples:

1) Everyone grabs a pickaxe and mines a stony field

2) Great Beefalo hunt

3) Everyone levels a wooded area, plants the pinecones in a clump for mass charcoal production

Basically, you need to shift from individual tasks to group projects.

 

 

When everyone grabs a pick axe, someone is neglecting their hunger it feels like. Beefalo hunt is not something I have considered, but we did send a slow ghost army to kill a few. Chopping trees like that is easier with pigs though.

 

Tending to the lureplants, spider farms, bee hives, and fighting together against the kolaphant is the things we have done so far. 

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When everyone grabs a pick axe, someone is neglecting their hunger it feels like. Beefalo hunt is not something I have considered, but we did send a slow ghost army to kill a few. Chopping trees like that is easier with pigs though.

Tending to the lureplants, spider farms, bee hives, and fighting together against the kolaphant is the things we have done so far.

You have to look long-term with your projects. At some point, you'll need a lot of stone, and wood, and manure.

It's more efficient to gather a lot of wood as a group (and kill the resulting treeguard) than it is to stop what you're doing later to cut down a few trees.

Same thing with food. It's easy to gather a ton of food at once if you focus on it, which frees up time for other projects after.

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