When did you tame the beast that is ROG winter?

[Lilliana]

hehe I just had to make this...

 

 

Personally I've played 70 hours and I still can't beat winter in ROG. Whether its the giant, freezing or starvation, winter is daunting. So, now I'm curious, about how many game hours did you clock in before you finally beat the winter of ROG?

[Mobbstar]

Erm, RoG winter is similiar to base game winter, expect for two key differences:

1. Pengulls generate ice, a cheap crockpot filler that makes starvation a ridicliously unlikely problem.
2. The winter giant can freeze anything it attacks. If you're good at the "hit-run" strategy^[1] or worked out a plan^[2], it's not a big issue.

 

Also, you might have found an abandoned walrus camp before... I think I said enough

 

EDIT: Honestly summer is way harder, like winter with fire. And the summer giant is harder too, but can be put asleep in peaceful manner.

[Gotheran]

Summer and Spring are much harder if you're not prepared. Especially spring, if you can't stay dry you'll go insane quickly, especially if you're like me and use RPG hud so you have a backpack, clothes, and hat that are all wet contributing to full 1s and 2s of sanity drained per second.

 

If all else fails duck in a cave, if you can setup a livable base down there and negate or mitigate the sanity drain I think you don't get cold as quick so you can stay away from your fire longer. It is tricky to navigate however. And if you're not up for that you could at least bring a herd of Rock Lobsters topside, they make good Giant defence.

[1v0]

I beat winter this way - 
1 Make a fridge and start saving food for winter
2 Get 30-60 woods for the fire
3 If you can make marble suit if not a lot of log suits + pig helms and tentacle spike
4 If you have a lot of food you can sleep most of the time to skip time and save woods for the fire

[Lilliana]

I've never played vanilla Don't Starve (I started with ROG activated and I have never turned it off), I had just heard that ROG made it harder.

 

I appreciate the tactical advice. I understand what to do, it's doing it that is hard. I desperately need beefalo wool and silk (for winter attire), but sometimes I have to travel all the way across the world to find beefalo or spiders, which takes up a lot of my collecting time. The winter clothes dont offer much protection either, so the hounds can be troubling.

 

How long did it take you all to beat winter (ROG or not)?

[Ridd]

It took me three winters before I survived an in-game year, to answer your question. 

[emerphish]

Well, I started on the vanilla game, and beat winter maybe the fourth time it came, RoG took me another six worlds to beat winter, (how should I have known deerclops could kill a spider queen, to pengull herds, and 3 dens, plus me?) which I did literally 2 or 3 days ago.

[TemporaryMan]

I actually survived my first winter, but I watched a dozen episodes of Sips Plays Don't Starve (with Willow) before I bought the game...

[Lilliana]

I've went through 9-ish winters and just died again. (hunger, freezing and terrorbeaks were hurting me)

[Mobbstar]

I've went through 9-ish winters and just died again. (hunger, freezing and terrorbeaks were hurting me)

 

Rather than wasting efforts on clothing, you should try to get a thermal stone and emergency firepits.

 

Also, try to get a birdcage. Being able to convert monster meat to eggs is invaluable, especially since you then can make ham'n'eggs using 3 monstermeat and 1 morsel or alike.

 

Sanity might be harder due to the longer dusk and night. Try to gather mushrooms in the dusk and cook them in the night. A top hat should stabilise your mental state.

 

By the way, there's a rare and special hat that solves problems #1 and #3 at the same time... I think I've said enough

[keagan]

Winters a cruel mistress

[ARamblingSpider]

Pretty easy, not much difference from vanilla's winter.

[emerphish]

Pretty easy, not much difference from vanilla's winter.

And the fact that since the starting season is harder, you're less prepared. And the deer is harder to kill as well. At least that's how I feel, I mean I have far from mastered RoG.

[imsomony]

It took me quite a while to initially survive through winter... this was back in the vanilla days, pre-RoG. I was purposely avoiding the Wiki, and wouldn't click-through to read most forum posts, as there was something intriguing about not having any sort of tutorial or guide. Normally I'd like at least a little bit of direction on what to do, but something about this game made it fun to discover the mechanics on my own.

 

The first time winter hit, I didn't realize it was winter. I thought I was in a colder landscape, and tried to run like hell out of there to warmer places. I did that a few times before it dawned on me that perhaps the game had seasons.

I can't even begin to guess how long it took me to survive winter. Easily 70 hours, I'm sure. I had innumerable deaths to walruses - anyone else remember when the city was a thing? 3-9 camps circling around each other? Terrifying! I figured out winter clothing after a while, but wasn't so good at hunting, so I starved quite a bit or died trying to kill something for food. I died to Deerclops a few times, usually the result of him destroying my base and not being able to recover.

 

What I do remember is that feeling of accomplishment and success the first time I hit day 36 and the snow receded. It was such an incredible feeling to realize I survived, I finally made it, and to see what came next.

 

 

[Gotheran]

I've never played vanilla Don't Starve (I started with ROG activated and I have never turned it off), I had just heard that ROG made it harder.

 

I appreciate the tactical advice. I understand what to do, it's doing it that is hard. I desperately need beefalo wool and silk (for winter attire), but sometimes I have to travel all the way across the world to find beefalo or spiders, which takes up a lot of my collecting time. The winter clothes dont offer much protection either, so the hounds can be troubling.

 

How long did it take you all to beat winter (ROG or not)?

Vanilla isn't too much easier, true there's not as much to worry about, but there's also less equipment to deal with the situations. RoG does tend to make the game a bit harder, but it also provides so much more equipment to deal with it, granted it takes some doing to get. I personally have taken up using a mod that reveals the entire map, as I find sometimes forced exploration kills me more than anything else, while it does sometimes bore me that I have nothing left to explore I'd rather be bored and alive than mildly entertained and dead. I can't tell you how many times I've died trying to simply FIND beefalo DURING winter because I hadn't lucked upon their home.

 

And the fact that since the starting season is harder, you're less prepared. And the deer is harder to kill as well. At least that's how I feel, I mean I have far from mastered RoG.

I don't know if he's any physically stronger or hardier, but he does have a freeze effect to his attacks which means kiting him is a bit more tricky. I'm always encouraging people to take up rocklobster herding in these situations, hehe. So far the only Giant I've been unable to deal with is Dragonfly.

[Mobbstar]

[...] I'd rather be bored and alive than mildly entertained and dead.

 

Then you game wrong.

[Lilliana]

 

Also, try to get a birdcage. Being able to convert monster meat to eggs is invaluable, especially since you then can make ham'n'eggs using 3 monstermeat and 1 morsel or alike.

 

Is that what the birdcage does? That would have saved me so much trouble... I even had stacks of monster meat in the fridge... I... I just... . Thank you Mobbstar. I did not know about that! You might have just saved Wendy from an unforgiving winter.

[Caps Lock]

I find summer less forgiving and more difficult, crops wither (wasting seeds), food spoils quite fast even inside an ice box, random fires and even with thermal stones i have to hug my endothermic fire to avoid getting roasted within seconds.

 

Winter is just a truck full of wood,wool and food.

[emerphish]

Is that what the birdcage does? That would have saved me so much trouble... I even had stacks of monster meat in the fridge... I... I just... . Thank you Mobbstar. I did not know about that! You might have just saved Wendy from an unforgiving winter.

I just tried it. If you really can turn monster meat into eggs it isn't as simple as feeding it to the bird, that's for sure.

 

meanwhile, I have to survive ANOTHER deerclops...

http://forums.kleientertainment.com/topic/56813-long-term-rog-survival/page-2#entry662150

[absimiliard]

The bird in the cage will not eat monster meat . . . . raw.

 

If you cook your MM the bird will eat it, and give you and egg in return.

[Staehr]

I usually always play as Webber, he's my favorite guy. I sustain myself entirely on Monster Meat from spider civil wars, chew Spider Glands for cuts and bruises, and chomp green mushrooms to calm the nerves. During my first winter with him I avoided going insane by sleeping in my tent, and mostly stayed around the campfire.

 

So, Webber was the first one I technically survived the whole winter with, but I was totally unprepared for the Deerclops. I had put down my spider's nest next to an existing one, and built a third out of spare resources. Just as the Big Bad approached, one of the nests uprooted itself and turned into a giant spider queen (I fell off the chair in surprise and awe) and started tanking him. Her Majesty put up a valiant effort, but ultimately fell to his freezing attacks, and my base soon followed along with the remaining nests. This was in the middle of the night, and the next thing I felt was Charlie's cold embrace.

The longest I've ever survived (40 days) was with Wendy, starting in Autumn. Having learned from my previous experience I adopted a much more nomadic lifestyle, with sporadic jerky racks and fire pits scattered around a big savannah full of rabbit holes. The jerky I got from them turned out to be enough to keep me sane, plus the fact that I happened upon a Glommer. The Deerclops came again, smashed a few racks, but didn't destroy everything I had, and I managed to evade him and keep surviving, until the rabbit holes collapsed and I went north to look for another source of food. 

A few days later, as Spring arrived, I found the Moosegoose and got stomped by her Moslings. Oh well.