Wildfires

[Yuuko]

5 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

Its suggestions like this that makes me genuinely worried for this franchises future.. not to sound mean or anything but I enjoy a challenge, a REAL hardcore, brutal completely unforgiving challenge- It is what drew me to single player DS and hooked me on the franchise: the slightest mistake meant save file deletion.

I personally LOVE Wildfires, when animals are getting so hot they spontaneously combust into flames, obviously wildfires should be happening.

I like to screw around with my world Gen settings and I have played worlds where you get 6 days of Autumn before 24/7 non stop endless Summer, and for ADDED challenge I remove Ice Glaciers so I can not use any type of Ice to assist in saving my skin.

This game can be as easy or as hard as YOU PERSONALLY feel like playing it at the time, please do not ask for features that you may not enjoy to be removed, just because you dislike them doesn’t mean everyone dislikes them.

Disease on the other hand was a broken incomplete gameplay feature that I never Understood its design intention or purpose, I’m guessing it was used as a way of keeping players active, monitoring diseases plants, uprooting them to keep the rest from also spoiling- But NOW that is what clearing Debris and Weeds from your gardens so they do not turn into Rotting crops does.

If you dislike wildfires so much, continue to toggle them off for your worlds, but DO NOT ask if they should be removed, and besides: You can now easily extinguish Wildfires with the Watering Can.. introduced in the New Update. 

Wow... immediate hate and shame for "this feature is more annoying then fun" thread...  thx

Honestly wildfires don't make the game that much more difficult as much as the make it tedious and limiting.  Notice in the new planting system in order to give you plants to care for during summer they also had to make plants wildfire proof...  They literally HAD TO or they could never involve farming with summer...  This is indicative of the bad design of wildfires in general.  You don't play around wildfires like you play around hound attacks, wildfires present a binary system where you just play in the areas of the game that ignore them, so rather than interacting with the entire game during summer you only interact with the Oasis and caves.  This means they aren't challenging as much as they are limiting...

You can get a wildfire every minute or so if you're out during summer.  Sailing during summer requires constantly putting out wildfires on the boat.  Things like the water pump and flingo don't help either because you have to stop your boat from moving for them to put out the fire.  Base building in oasis is arbitrary.  Sure there is the sandstorm to deal with, but that is almost completely mitigated with 1 item.  Basebuilding anywhere else topside requires a LOT of flingos in order to cover your structures.  Oh yeah, or you could go down to the caves and just ignore it completely.  So its not really a challenge as much as its "summer means oasis or caves."

Wildfires really need some changes.  Right now fire hounds are a better threat of bringing fire in through summer and autumn, you can play around hounds by luring them where you want, and once they're dealt with you get a reprieve where you can just relax about it.  Summer wildfires could be a lot better if we had a "dry spell" similar to spring rains where the world is temporarily hotter and during this time you need to be on guard but otherwise you can just chill yourself and not worry about your structures.

The difference is by having a focused time where you need to care about x and a relaxed period where you don't you get varied game play and can have other things to do.  With the constant and unyielding threat of x with places where x doesn't matter at all, you just retreat to where x doesn't matter and stop playing most of the game for the season...

[Szczuku]

Maybe wildfires could be reworked so that they happen a bit more frequently but instead of starting regular fires this happens: the object is burned in a cartoon-like manner. A layer of flames comes from the bottom to the top and the object is burned.

The trick would be that wildfires would no longer cause mass fires but once something does catch on fire there's no way to save it as it'd be burned after a second.

[Mysterious box]

1 hour ago, Grim the said:

I feel like Summer actually needs something worthwhile. We have cactus flowers and Antlion. That's it.

I agree I think something that would be interesting but take time is to add more seasonal challenges to each season not just in the form of mobs and bosses

[viberr]

1 hour ago, Shosuko said:

Wow... immediate hate and shame for "this feature is more annoying then fun" thread...  thx

mike never said anything bad tho?

[Seero]

7 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

Its suggestions like this that makes me genuinely worried for this franchises future.. not to sound mean or anything but I enjoy a challenge, a REAL hardcore, brutal completely unforgiving challenge- It is what drew me to single player DS and hooked me on the franchise: the slightest mistake meant save file deletion.

 

Caves.

[Mike23Ua]

28 minutes ago, Seero said:

Caves.

Caves.

Caves only exist if you allow them to exist, and even then some characters have to leave said caves to avoid dying to other cave related threats such as earthquakes, and uhm oh yeah insanity and uhm shadow monsters that spawn when low Sanity.

Depending on the character you pick to play will determine how beneficial caves are to you, not to mention various other factors such as if your dangerously low on health that cave dangers are actually harder to fight and kill for food then surface dangers, for example: It is significantly harder for Wigfrid to Not Starve in the Lunar Grotto Biome then it is the Beefalo Savannah where Beefalo and Rabbits are relatively easy food sources, I also have a pretty rough time managing Sanity in caves as a Wigfrid due to lack of being able to rely upon the various shrooms that are down here.

I laugh at anyone and everyone except Klei themselves trying to provide guides on how to play this game: there are many different factors that go into playing DS, first and most obvious- Character Choice, Second and also obvious luck of World Gen, third and a little less obvious but still worth mentioning: The various settings people may or may not have tweaked for their world Gen. and last but not least: The players knowledge and personal playstyle preferences as to how they want to approach the challenges of an open sandbox game.

You can’t live in Caves forever.. well you can but at that point you should just be playing a Surface-Less lights out cave only mode.

[Seero]

11 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

Caves only exist if you allow them to exist, and even then some characters have to leave said caves to avoid dying to other cave related threats such as earthquakes, and uhm oh yeah insanity and uhm shadow monsters that spawn when low Sanity.

 

So do all the things the world gen screen allows you to tweak. By your logic, just put resources on less for a challenge.

[BeeClops]

11 hours ago, Grim the said:

I feel like Summer actually needs something worthwhile. We have cactus flowers and Antlion. That's it.

I think there are things to do in summer, i find autumn the more boring season tbh, it is only good for building but the night lights are so pale in autumn.

Fishing for christmas lights is a bit boring but very worth it imo, and since summer farming is a thing now fishing and farming in the oasis is quite chill and nice, love it. It is also the best time to map caves/clear ruins, don't have to worry about anything weather related.

As for wildfires, i don't go in the main area for the 11 smoldering days except at dusk/night, i find flingomatics very annoying to place and maintain if the base gets big. But if the best way to deal with the mechanic is avoiding it completely, it's probably not that good of a mechanic tbh.

[LEX-7O2]

As much as I dislike wildfires impeding mega basing out and beyond the oasis, if it were to be removed summer would be 15 days of just managing your thermal stone and tending to Antlion, resulting in an absolutely boring season. Additionally, if wildfires were to be removed, what would be the point of the oasis desert storm? Making the oasis desert a pain in the ass with little to no intensive to stay, in the process killing the whole biome. Yeah how about no.

I've also heard rumors that Klei might be adding something to summon rain, which would be quite nice giving players a chance to fight wildfires on a much larger scale. But of course, rumors are rumors.

[Monkey Cups]

13 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

Maybe this is my own personal selfish highly biased opinion here but if your going to build a Massive mega base expanding across several of the games biomes, and completely forgo the games original design intention of Uncompromising Wilderness Survival, then maybe play in a less harsh mode dedicated exclusively to mega base builds or turn some of the features that interrupt your mega basing fun off..?

This feels like Applied Horticulture 2: Electric Boogaloo. The megabasers won that particular debate despite being a very small portion of the fanbase, likely because most of them are also streamers/youtubers and heaven forbid we make the free publicity angry.

Nothing about wildfires and the way they work now is realistic but there's also really no need to remove them either. Just turn 'em off in world gen.

[Yuuko]

1 hour ago, LEX-7O2 said:

As much as I dislike wildfires impeding mega basing out and beyond the oasis, if it were to be removed summer would be 15 days of just managing your thermal stone and tending to Antlion, resulting in an absolutely boring season. Additionally, if wildfires were to be removed, what would be the point of the oasis desert storm? Making the oasis desert a pain in the ass with little to no intensive to stay, in the process killing the whole biome. Yeah how about no.

I've also heard rumors that Klei might be adding something to summon rain, which would be quite nice giving players a chance to fight wildfires on a much larger scale. But of course, rumors are rumors.

I'm pretty sure most people don't just want wildfires deleted - but rather replaced with something more interactive and interesting and less unrelenting and oppressive.  Something that is actually a challenge, not a chore.  Currently wildfires mostly encourage players to just not play most of the game for the season.

[wigfrids hat]

41 minutes ago, Monkey Cups said:

The megabasers won that particular debate despite being a very small portion of the fanbase, likely because most of them are also streamers/youtubers and heaven forbid we make the free publicity angry.

i think you are being a bit silly here. the majority of mega-basers are not personalities. they are just regular players who prioritize the building over the fighting/exploring. being bitter at the whole community because a few of them were part of the notibly large contingency of people who didnt like the nerf only makes you look like you are unaware of the situation or else just dislike base makers and want an excuse to be insulting. perhaps not using absolutes when they are dishonest would be a nice idea, yeah?

 

as for the wildfire thing i am 100% in the camp of there being a toggle to turn it off and that being something that people should invest in if they are not keen on fires. unlike disease which almost noone wanted wildfires are a feature that many people find to be a reasonable part of the game to leave turned on and should be allowed their freedom to choose it

13 hours ago, Orange gear said:

I wish there was an item similar to the howling conch to create rain

yeah, dripple pipes for together would be nice too

[Mike23Ua]

8 hours ago, gaymime said:

as for the wildfire thing i am 100% in the camp of there being a toggle to turn it off and that being something that people should invest in if they are not keen on fires. unlike disease which almost noone wanted wildfires are a feature that many people find to be a reasonable part of the game to leave turned on and should be allowed their freedom to choose it

This! thank you.. I want to see huge changes done to this game, changes that Klei may be hesitant to budge on because they don’t want to upset the Mega-Basers. But as long as there is an option to turn content OFF.. then there shouldn’t be any problems with it?

Spoiler

Things like elevated land, flooded land, tornadoes, earthquakes, landslides, heavy harsh blizzards, etc.

in fact: maybe have some features set to Off by default that the players can toggle on if that’s something they wish to experience. When it comes to Summer Season in particular it’s boring compared to Winter, needs more summer exclusive content, mobs and dangers. 
 

When the Webber Rework happens I hope that Klei will add Magmatic spiders to DST, like the skin Webber has already- these could maybe even spit puddles of Lava. 
Just something that makes Summer harder, gives Wigfrids Fireproof song more use, and makes everything going up in a blazing inferno of wildfires 99.9% higher chances of happening.

If you remove wildfires or the threat of unique Summer exclusive mobs being the cause of starting more wildfires then there’s really no need to have a Summer Season at all left is there?

[Gi-Go]

Wild fires should not be a thing. Anyone who thinks otherwise most be a noob. 

[CaptainChaotica]

Well, while I'm fine with summer wildfires existing as they are...I don't know about moveable entities that spit or leave fire trails everywhere.  The dragoons from Shipwrecked are SO ANNOYING.  Of course, in Shipwrecked's Dry Season you've got actual flaming boulders falling from the sky, so it's already worse than normal RoG summer, but then the dragoons are like an _extra_ slap in the face...

Let's put it this way:

The Dragonfly was changed into a _stay-put_ raid boss...FOR A _REASON_.  You want more danger of your base burning down, go base near her.  That'll simulate what summer is like in regular DS well enough.

And, let's look at the problems here for dealing with wildfires as they _already_ are:
1. The main ingredient you need to build them is hard to find, and sometimes _can't_ be found in time while playing alone.
2.  Not everyone wants to play as Wigfrid or coerce a friend to do so just to have access to the Fireproof Song.
3.  I personally play with random seasons, which can make summer come as early as, say, Day 26.  And that's rare I know, but I also know I'm not the ONLY one playing that way.
4.  If you  ARE playing with others, well, gears are a WX's favourite snack...
5.  Fling-o-matics have limited range and need to be watched regularly for refuelling.

Just make it so I can still save my base by _not being there_ and I'm fine with wildfires how they are.  Fire is the most destructive force in the game and the worst one to try and recover from.  Deerclops at least leaves half the materials of everything she smashes.  I'm okay with going nomadic during the summer if I haven't found gears yet, because that can be kind of an adventure.  Way more interesting than turtling at base. (Even including that one time I almost died of overheating.)  But forget about MEGAbases; putting moving creatures into the game that actively spit fire would make it so you can't have ANY base.  And it'd pretty much undo the point of making Dragonfly into a stay-put boss.

...Notorious

[Seero]

20 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

Depending on the character you pick to play will determine how beneficial caves are to you, not to mention various other factors such as if your dangerously low on health that cave dangers are actually harder to fight and kill for food then surface dangers, for example: It is significantly harder for Wigfrid to Not Starve in the Lunar Grotto Biome then it is the Beefalo Savannah where Beefalo and Rabbits are relatively easy food sources, I also have a pretty rough time managing Sanity in caves as a Wigfrid due to lack of being able to rely upon the various shrooms that are down here.

 

oh not to mention if you're a good player character doesn't matter, if you want to mention new players, everything is difficult for them including you

wigfrid can use lichen and monster meat to create meatballs and why would you base in the lunar grotto if there is no meat there?

Wurt can just eat lichen.

Also rabbits are a terrible food source, beefalo are not even a primary source of food.

voltgoats, cactus, spiders, pigs, juicy berries/regular berries

the new farming system

and stone fruit are all much more safer, easier and efficient sources of food.

 

[Maxil20]

Summer has always been that oddball season to me. I never liked it in both DS/DST, and it certainty doesn't help that in DST the only way you can manually stop wildfires without a setting is using teleloctor staffs to force call down rain (and the time it takes is massively increased in summer, so good luck with those).

Summer was always my excuse to go down into caves, but it always felt like I had to compared to if I wanted to. In DST there's a pretty good chance the oasis could be in a really bad spot (meteor field close by, on the opposite edge of key resources, etc.). In DS your options are a lot more viable due to dribble pipes/conch, which basically turned it into a second base building season (which I never really used it for, but I know a fair amount of people who really liked it for that.)

Now, that doesn't mean I also hate summer either. In fact if it wasn't for the fact the wildfires can go offscreen I would honestly find it tolerable. The audio cue easily gives the location away that something is about to burn and in DST you have around 20-30 seconds when a fire starts before you are in any real risk of serious damage. The fact that it's impossible to get wildfires during dusk/night is nice too. And even if I do find it a bit forced, heading into the caves for 1/4th of the year isn't the worst thing in the world, especially since if you do enjoy megabasing there are a lot of projects you can do underground too (if it wasn't for festive light fishing, I would be looking into doing more progress on my ruins project for instance).

Overall, my only wish is for a rain item to be implemented so people that did like the season for base building can still use it for that and would be a viable counter to it. Otherwise, it's a mechanic I don't really mind. It will never be my favorite, but it also isn't terrible either.

[Parusoid]

On 12/17/2020 at 6:12 PM, Archswifter said:

Anyway, wondering what do you guys think? Are wildfires as bad as disease, is it possible for them to be removed like it? Or are they actually a good thing?

It is a good mechanic. It is clearly telegraphed, it has multiple ways to avoid, prevent and fight off once they happen. Which is the opposite of disease mechanic. One thing that could be changed is to telegraph more the fact that using purple stuff increases the moisture of the world eventually leading to rain. But iirc devs confirmed they are planning to add more ways to fight off wildfires.

[Mike23Ua]

1 hour ago, Parusoid said:

It is a good mechanic. It is clearly telegraphed, it has multiple ways to avoid, prevent and fight off once they happen. Which is the opposite of disease mechanic. One thing that could be changed is to telegraph more the fact that using purple stuff increases the moisture of the world eventually leading to rain. But iirc devs confirmed they are planning to add more ways to fight off wildfires.

The easiest way would probably just be to make base structures immune to being able to be caught on fire- the more complicated way would be letting us craft fireproof flooring, or build our own houses.

But WILD Fires (Aka the ones that happen out in the Wild and NOT dead center of your base.) Are an intended and fun gameplay mechanic, entire forests are SUPPOSED to go up in a blazing Inferno during this time... and the best way to combat against that should obviously be to remove the forest from being able to reach your base.

Fires that happen outside of the wild and in your base by having your Stone, metal or other highly advanced magical structures catch on fire should probably be called some Different type of fire altogether- Base fires maybe? 
 

But MY description of a Wildfire (the ones that happen in the actual wild) should not be changed, should not be nerfed or removed from the game.

having entire forests burn down or become petrified stone during summer is an intended part of what makes summer, summer... and more importantly the petrified trees are an additional way (outside of meteor showers or earthquakes in caves) of renewing rocks, flint & nitre on the surface world.

[QuartzBeam]

5 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

having entire forests burn down or become petrified stone during summer is an intended part of what makes summer, summer... and more importantly the petrified trees are an additional way (outside of meteor showers or earthquakes in caves) of renewing rocks, flint & nitre on the surface world.

Trees becoming petrified is not a part of summer...

[Mike23Ua]

25 minutes ago, QuartzBeam said:

Trees becoming petrified is not a part of summer...

They are in my world , remember? Random season starts and random season length.

But nonetheless I just assumed it was, it makes sense that the extreme heat and extreme cold would turn things to petrified stone.

Anyways- Summer as a Season needs more content, and removing Wildfires makes it even more lacking in content.

[Monkey Cups]

On 12/18/2020 at 4:54 AM, gaymime said:

i think you are being a bit silly here. the majority of mega-basers are not personalities. they are just regular players who prioritize the building over the fighting/exploring. being bitter at the whole community because a few of them were part of the notibly large contingency of people who didnt like the nerf only makes you look like you are unaware of the situation or else just dislike base makers and want an excuse to be insulting. perhaps not using absolutes when they are dishonest would be a nice idea, yeah?

Bitter? Hardly. From a business standpoint adding a new book just for them was pretty smart. Klei is a business, not your friend, and a business has to do what they can to make money. If the few people that promote your small, and by now old, indie game to a larger audience want a change to said game that is overall harmless (even if I personally found it silly) it's the smart thing to add it in.

[JosePapp]

I really REALLY like the idea of reworking wildfires, in fact, i was about to make a thread about it since farming recently got reworked. To add to the dry spell/time suggestion, maybe a structure akin to the rainometer or the thulecite medallion or an enviromental thing (like a dry breeze, akin to earthquakes prior to volcano eruptions)  could warn the player of an incoming dry spell to keep them on their toes. Also akin to the volcano, the more summer progresses, the more frequent dry spells would be.

As in for reworking summer, a new mob with valuable items a la mctusk woud be nice

[Majestix]

On 12/17/2020 at 5:32 PM, Easonade said:

While disease is broken. You cannot counter it with a reasonable prevention method other than gathering all your replanted plants...

I completely disagree with this. I found disease to be completely ignorable: I did not make berry bush farms, I used twiggy trees and gecko farms for basic resources, and I only planted stone fruit trees from new sapplings I would find.

I also think that disease was a necessary balancing mechanic. Now we are back to gigantic berry bush farms, made only more ridiculous with the introduction of stone fruit. This really makes a mockery of "uncompromising wilderness survival".

[wigfrids hat]

1 minute ago, Majestix said:

Now we are back to gigantic berry bush farms, made only more ridiculous with the introduction of stone fruit.

um, what game are you playing, coz' noone was stopped from making gigantic berry farms as far back as 2012....