The recipe of Winona's Catapult should not change.

[me real life]

Something I like about Winona's catapults is that they change the way the player approaches the game by making them prioritize resources they usually wouldn't. Each catapult takes 15 rocks to craft, meaning the "overpowered cheese" setups take hundreds. Rocks aren't usually something that you're seeking out in large amounts (unless you're megabasing), but some of my friends have even started using moleworm farms to obtain them in bulk.

On the other hand, since it's just rocks, you're able to craft just a catapult or two if you only want to experiment with using them on different mobs. It's really fun to set up a couple near some mobs before fighting them, just to see what happens. After racking up thousands of hours in the game, it's understandable that one might forget that most people don't use console commands and test worlds to find the best strategies for every new piece of content. But when playing with friends, placing down some catapults near a tall fort and desperately running in circles in an attempt to kill the tallbirds can be a magical experience.

This balance of being expensive in bulk and cheap in small numbers is very good design, and I believe it's what the devs were thinking when they chose the recipe.

A common suggestion I've been seeing around the forums is that the recipe of Winona's catapults should require a less common item in place of rocks, that item usually being frazzled wires or gears. Personally, I believe this is an idea that would only make the catapults worse, and I don't think people have been fully considering the consequences of such a change.

From the perspective of an expert player, the recipe requiring some gears or frazzled wires will not make catapults any more difficult to craft. I'd even argue that it'll make them easier for experienced players to craft, since people already seem to love rushing ruins. If anything, it might require an extra slot inventory during the rush for frazzled wires.

But for a beginner? Winona's biggest and most fun perk will be locked behind a horde of splumonkeys, depths worms, and clockworks. You can get either item from tumbleweeds or graves, sure. But both tumbleweeds and graves are RNG-based, with the latter being nonrenewable

If the only options are ruins or an RNG grind, experienced players will be unaffected and beginners will be unable to use the catapults to their fullest. It's important to look at all perspectives when trying to balance a game; players of all skill levels should be considered.

[Ressayez]

2 minutes ago, Sunset Skye said:

snip

 

I agree wholeheartedly. The last thing Nona needs right now is her new toys nerfed into the ground because people think that using hundreds of rocks for a boss farm is "overpowered." Yes, give me more reasons to swap to her, build structures, and immediately go back to using Wicker! Brilliant!

[WilsonGuy_]

I think that there should be added just one component more to the recipe: a single pile of gears. 

Just to be fair, make her recipe slithgly harder to make and reduce complaints about Winona's "Cheesepults".

[cannonball 594]

yeah a single gear wouldnt be that hard to get and it would make crafting hundreds less viable.  you could still cheese them but 10 gears for some boss loot isnt that unfair.

 

either way i kinda like them because automating everything is my favorite thing to do

[JohnWatson]

when you didn't read the post but want to "contribute" anyway