A Guide for griefing the spawn despite Griefer Spawn Protection

[Viktor234]

Recently a new feature called "Griefer Spawn Protection" has been introduced to DST which is supposed to keep the spawn safe from griefers.
Depending on the setting and the situation, players will gain the "spawnprotectionbuff" buff for 10-40 seconds which prevents aggressive mobs from targeting the player and allows them to walk through structures or other obstacles. The protection actually lasts for only 10 seconds, but it only starts to fade away over a time of 10 seconds after 30 seconds or if the player moves more than 1 pitchfork title away from the spawn.

If the "Griefer Spawn Protection" is set to 'Auto Detect', then the system checks the amount of hostile entities or the amount of blocker/structure entities nearby and triggers if one of the following conditions is fulfilled:

1. There are more than 2 hostile entities 4 pitchfork titles or less away from the spawn
2. There are 4 or more blockers/structures 1 pitchfork titles or less away from the spawn
3. There are 16 or more blockers/structures 1.5 pitchfork titles or less away from the spawn
4. There are 36 or more blockers/structures 3 pitchfork titles or less away from the spawn
5. There are 52 or more blockers/structures 6 pitchfork titles or less away from the spawn

If none of these conditions is fulfilled then the player won't recieve any spawn protection at all.

 

Despite the protection it's still possible to wall up the spawn which will prevent most players from leaving the spawn alive:

12 Wardrobes (48x Boards and 36x Cut Grass) and 12 Fossil Fragments are required to build an impassable wall around the spawn. To prevent the "Griefer Spawn Protection" from triggering, simply build your wall a little bit more than 1.5 pitchfork titles away from the spawn to prevent condition 3 from triggering. Since we are using less than 36 structures for our wall, condition 4 also won't trigger and the player won't recieve a spawn protection, which prevents him from leaving the wall.

Notes:

• Entities like skeletons or Warly's Portable Crockpot do also count as blockers, so placing down a total of 4 dead players/Portable Crockpots or a total of 3 Spiders/Spider Dens will make players obtain the "Griefer Spawn Protection". Keep an eye on the spawn and clean all the available skeletons there over time to prevent players from obtaining the protection buff.
• Wortox can use his soul hop to escape
• Woodie has a chance to break the cage if he joins during Full Moon and turns into a Werebeaver or Weremoose
• Deerclops, Antlion or Bearger are able to break the barrier

 

Here's another example of a different designed wall:

This kind of wall does trigger the "Griefer Spawn Protection" which allows players to walk through structures and blockers, but not through mobs, in this case through Beefalos. By stuffing the spawn with Beefalos, players will in most cases become unable to move and to leave the spawn before the protection wears off.

Notes:

• Make sure to put enough mobs in the spawn to prevent players from leaving the area, you might need to use a voidgate to put the last ones inside
• If players are lucky enough they might be able to escape before the protection wears off
• Regular Walls are required to prevent the Beefalos from leaving while offscreen
• Wardrobes, End Tables, Fossils are required to prevent players from smashing the wall (blocking the player's vision might also be an option as they'll become unable to target the walls. Using 'force attack' will cause them to attack a beefalo which triggers the whole beefalo herd)
• Wortox can use his soul hop to escape

 

While Tentacle Traps will become much less effective, there's still hope for killing players via tentacles. Especially if they join during night since some players might just want to stay close to the spawn to avoid freezing or dying via darkness, or just because they are waiting for the base to come and to pick them up. And even if they don't take any damage at all, they might suffer from the sanity drain of the tentacles because the "ghost form" doesn't protect them against insanity.

The only way to avoid the "Griefer Spawn Protection" with tentacles is not to plant more than 2 tentacles at the spawn to avoid triggering condition 1. But even two tentacles right above the spawn can still do a great job by dealing a total of 136 damage to joining players.

Other than tentacles you can also use the following mobs to kill joining players:

• Ewecus: They'll spit their mucus at players and attack them twice before they become able to unstick themselves, dealing up to 125 damage.
• Hounds: While they can't attack protected players and do trigger the "Griefer Spawn Protection" in most cases, they will keep chasing protected players around until their protection wears off. But players can still escape if they use a Wormhole or Cave Entrance.

Less effective mobs are:

• Lureplant: Triggers "Griefer Spawn Protection" due to all the eyeplants, inactive during winter, burns easily during summer.
• Varg: The summoned hounds do not follow players around but protect the Varg only, triggers "Griefer Spawn Protection" due to all the summoned hounds
• Spider Queen: Quite slow & easy to escape, triggers "Griefer Spawn Protection" due to all the spiders she spawns

 

But then again, there are also other hostile mobs which do count as non-hostile and thus can't trigger condition 1 and one of them is the Merm:

Merms do not count as hostile mobs, but they start attacking everyone who comes too close to their Mermhouse (in this case: 2.5 pitchfork titles), dealing 30 damage per attack.

Notes:

• Merms do not respawn during Winter and their houses can burn during summer, make sure to keep them safe via Ice Flingomatics during summer
• Merms are neutral towards everyone if the King of the Merms is alive
• Merms are neutral towards Wurt
• Wortox can use his soul hop to escape if he reacts fast enough
• Wigfrid can survive the attack if she reacts fast enough and equips her Battle Helmet
• Don't forget to hammer the resulting skeletons, 4 skeletons might be enough to trigger the "Griefer Spawn Protection" which protects them against merms

 

Another non-hostile mob is the Killer Bee. While Killer Bees perform quite bad on their own since players can outrun them, they might become much more dangerous if combined with Anenemies:

Neither Killer Bees nor Anenemies do count as hostile. Killer Bees require you to run to avoid their damage, Anenemies require you to approach them carefully to avoid taking damage. Killer Bees and Anenemies can't damage each other which should make them a quite good team in terms of killing players. Also even if the "spawnprotectionbuff" does trigger, Anenemies will still attack the player even if they are supposed to be untargetable.

Notes:

• Killer Bees can fly away over time
• Abigail can finish all the bees with no effort
• Wigfrid might be able to survive the attack with her Battle Helmet
• Killer Bees are neutral towards Wormwood
• Wortox can use his soul hop to escape

Instead of Killer Bees you can also use walls to support the Anenemies by hiding them behind the walls. Most players will die before they notice all the Anenemies around the spawn.

 

While the newly introduced "Griefer Spawn Protection" does prevent players from generating cheap but highly effective Bone Shard Farms Tentacle Traps near the spawn, it is not enough to protect the main spawn against any kind of trap. It also does not grant any kind of protection for other kinds of spawns like Touch Stones or Cave Entrances.

Instead of planting your tentacles at the Florid Postern, you can still plant them at cave entrances/exits or Touch Stones since these spawns do not have any griefer protection at all. To bait players into your trap, simply use directional signs leading from the spawn to the next cave entrance and a sign right at the cave entrance and write down "base" on each of the signs, that should do the job in most cases.

As we can see, even with the "Griefer Spawn Protection" feature there are still possibilities to grief the spawn or any other spawn.

 

Disclaimer: This guide was not made to aid griefers at killing players but to demonstrate the inefficiency of the current "Griefer Spawn Protection" feature.

Please leave your comments here if you use or encounter one of these traps and share your experience about how effective they were in terms of killing joining players.

[Lukmendes]

At this rate, might as well make players start with a spear, and invulnerability, for at least a few seconds, with how many loopholes can be made with spawn traps lol.

[trinket_4]

Holy forking shirt balls, this is The Bad Place

[Blue Three]

Klei be like: Dude, this was not an invitation.

[KeshS]

Wicker camping near spawn with "End is Nigh" is it still an effective method? Also I think mosslings can be replaced with beefalo as well.

[Notecja]

If this is something for devs, not an invitation for griefing harder, then why it doesn't go directly to devs?

I pretty sure many people will get inspired with that.

[ShadowDuelist]

It should probably always trigger unless specifically changed in the settings not to, and let you move through everything, mobs included. 

The problem of not having light or warmth was fixed by giving late joiners some grass and twigs.

 

[zarklord_klei]

Thanks for the report, this will be fixed in the next hotfix

[MondayNight]

Frankly, after reading OP, am left wondering what actually does the KLei "Griefer Spawn Protection" efficiently. Because 1-1.5-3 pitchfork titles is a laughable distance for what types of spawn griefings happen in the wild unmoderated pub populace out there. At least a radius of 5-6 tiles is needed for any semblance of efficiency to occur. Likewise 10s protection is like a thin joke: 30s default should be the bare minimum. Don't be afraid, KLei, to go "balls deep" into squashing the griefers methods, as any quarter/half hearted measure won't make much difference, as seen in OP, in the end.

PS: pretty amusing Anenemies weren't apparently even considered in this "Griefer Spawn Protection" as a possible Florid Postern griefing device. Is like all those past threads about spawn trolling were glossed over..

[CaptainChaotica]

4 hours ago, trinket_4 said:

Holy forking shirt balls, this is The Bad Place

A person of culture, I see!

(Edit:  Got rid of the rest of my message 'cos I thought it was kinda stupid sounding.)

...Notorious

[wigfrids hat]

colour me not the least bit surprised that you'd do something like this.

[LinknAllie]

Thanks for the helpful tips.  I'll save this for later.

[Mike23Ua]

I tried to warn them that trying to combat grieving is a losing battle.. No matter how many methods they try in preventing it people will always come up with creative ways of killing other players.

I mean even if they made an ENTIRE ISLAND and Dedicated that to Grief Prevention- 

And the way it worked would be like the Two Worlds chapter in DS Solo (Aka taking a One Way trip through a Wormhole and can never return to the Starting Island)

Griefers are just going to jump THROUGH the Wormhole and block in the area the Wormhole teleports you to..

Literally the ONLY Way I can truly see Klei Eradicating Grieving spawns completely is to make players spawn in Invulnerable 100% AND stay invulnerable until they get so far away from spawn- now that is very very important BECAUSE-

A player who remains Invulnerable to all sources even IF blockaded in by Jerks... has a brand new Nifty Option: the “Rescue Me” Button!

And while currently: I don’t think Rescue Me does much.... but what it SHOULD DO is be like the “Rescue Me” Button in State of Decay 2

AKA: If a survivor gets stuck or if they crash their vehicle.. they can use this button and the game “unstucks” them or their vehicle by relocating it to a valid location.

How this would work in DST: Pretend the “Rescue Me” Button is identical to playing the game in WILDERNESS Mode- Meaning.. Anyone who presses this button will be instantly teleported & respawned in a random location anywhere on the map.

Your Spawn traps all fail: GG Go Home.

There are of course new problems that having such a feature would bring- How’s it work and can it be exploited in Malicious ways? Obviously people would use it beyond its intent.. but that’s my entire point.

Even with an entire island dedicated to two worlds play or a Wilderness style Rescue Me there will always be flaws & unintended use.

Klei is better off focusing on more content updates- And I’m Better off playing in private locked worlds with only the few friends I actually trust.

What should NOT be happening however is wasting time, development costs and resources into a losing battle over instead providing more excellent content for those of us who know how to host private sessions to enjoy.

But that’s just my opinion & Ive played enough games in my life time to know that when the developers take on the task of combating grieving/jerk players- most the time they are fighting a fight that can’t be won.

[bruhmoment23]

1 hour ago, Mike23Ua said:

What should NOT be happening however is wasting time, development costs and resources into a losing battle over instead providing more excellent content for those of us who know how to host private sessions to enjoy.

Ah yes, the "feed the rich and kill the poor" arguement, how thoughtful and compelling from you as always. Yes, i totally agree, disregard any feedback about the newly brought up system and dismiss any loop holes found in it, that sure will give everyone a fun time i'm sure of it because your consumerism needs have to be sated. It's TOTALLY pointless to fight against something that has mountains of counter range methods provided even by griefers alike, but who cares am i rite?!? Better start pumping out more skins!!!1!1

[Mike23Ua]

35 minutes ago, bruhmoment23 said:

Ah yes, the "feed the rich and kill the poor" arguement, how thoughtful and compelling from you as always. Yes, i totally agree, disregard any feedback about the newly brought up system and dismiss any loop holes found in it, that sure will give everyone a fun time i'm sure of it because your consumerism needs have to be sated. It's TOTALLY pointless to fight against something that has mountains of counter range methods provided even by griefers alike, but who cares am i rite?!? Better start pumping out more skins!!!1!1

That’s.. not what I was saying, if you actually read the post- I brought up two ways to counter grieving but it would in the end be a battle you can’t win, when you prevent one method, They WILL Find Another.. and it’s a never ending cycle like that.

Even if Say Klei decides okay let’s create a Two Worlds style grief prevention system

Players start on one island and can’t place any structures on this island, resources here regenerate naturally and relatively fast- INCLUDING generating resources directly for fresh spawning players.

Once a player gathers enough resources: They are then Ejected from that world (in Single Player DS you took a ONE WAY TRIP through a “Sick Wormhole” never to return to the Previous area again.)

once player reaches their resource gathering cap- Then a wormhole opens under their feet and sucks them to the Second Island- One that isn’t grief protected and you can place structures on.

In the Scenario above: Klei just dedicated an entire island location to grieving prevention.

But what will happen: The Grievers will just take the One Way trip Wormhole & then Block off the other side your supposed to spawn at once you leave the “Anti-Grief Zone”

It is IDENTICAL in Everyway to shooters and MOBA games that create Restricted Zones that kill you if you get too close to player spawn.. in the end it solved nothing, because the players just set right on the area they WERE allowed to Camp outside of your spawn and still spawn killed as you left protection.

Did the anti-spawn measures help lessen the problem? Of course it did, but did it fully prevent players from camping and killing you as you respawn? No and it never will.

The only way to completely eradicate spawn greiving is to completely eradicate spawning locations.. there truly is no other method that won’t have some one find a workaround for.

[. . .]

make all worlds wilderness, then the problem is solved 

[ArubaroBeefalo]

54 minutes ago, bruhmoment23 said:

Better start pumping out more skins!!!1!1

[minespatch]

18 minutes ago, --- -.- said:

make all worlds wilderness, then the problem is solved 

Clone Pearl and make everyone suffer under a quadrillion tsunderes.

[Monkey Cups]

28 minutes ago, --- -.- said:

make all worlds wilderness, then the problem is solved 

I just generated an endless world that spawned me in like it was wilderness, they're ahead of you.

[Viktor234]

19 minutes ago, zarklord_klei said:

Bug Fixes

• Fixed Griefer Spawn Protection not providing the appropriate level of protection.

Spawn Protection now triggers if:

1. There are more than 2* entities with the "hostile", "_combat" or "trapdamage" tag 4 pitchfork titles or less away from the spawn (Now triggers if Anenemies or Merms are nearby; *since players do also have the "_combat" tag the spawn protection will actually trigger if there are more than 1 entities with the mentioned tag nearby)
2. There are 4 or more blockers/structures 3 pitchfork titles or less away from the spawn
3. There are 10 or more blockers/structures 4.5 pitchfork titles or less away from the spawn
4. There are 15 or more blockers/structures 6 pitchfork titles or less away from the spawn
5. There are 20 or more blockers/structures 8 pitchfork titles or less away from the spawn

Other noteable changes:

• Anenemies don't attack players with Spawn Protection anymore
• Mobs don't block players with Spawn Protection anymore

Notes for griefers:

• Insanity does still affect protected players
• You can still put 1 Ewecus at the spawn without triggering the Spawn Protection
• Hounds do still follow the player around
• Touch Stones or Cave Entrances/Exits do still not protect against Tentacles

[ArubaroBeefalo]

10 minutes ago, Viktor234 said:

Notes for griefers:

shouldnt be "note for devs"?

[HowlVoid]

Something I don't understand is if a server has this much hostility then is there a merit in surviving at all? Surely you can expect recurring aggression from such a toxic individual that set up such traps in the first place.  Personally, if I ever entered a public server with these traps at spawn I would nope out there really fast. You can likely expect to find smash or burned structures later on anyways. 

If its meant to protect a host's public server it would make far more sense to allow restrictions on individuals such as:

Who can light things on fire with a torch

Who can destroy structures with a hammer

Who can attack neutral/peaceful mobs

[Cheggf]

5 hours ago, Viktor234 said:

*since players do also have the "_combat" tag the spawn protection will actually trigger if there are more than 1 entities with the mentioned tag nearby)

Does this mean it triggers if 2 people are already at the spawn? 

3 hours ago, HowlVoid said:

Something I don't understand is if a server has this much hostility then is there a merit in surviving at all?

The only times I've seen spawn get griefed the rest of the server was as friendly as you'd expect. Griefers just join, set stuff up at the spawn, then leave.

[HowlVoid]

20 minutes ago, Cheggf said:

The only times I've seen spawn get griefed the rest of the server was as friendly as you'd expect. Griefers just join, set stuff up at the spawn, then leave.

To the level posted above? I don't see how someone can get that intricate unless they've been there a great while or is wicker. Also, if someone becomes a ghost Im sure they would of be able to get someone to help them out if they are friendly. 

As its been said by others, there's only so much they can do, but if a server is public it will always be vulnerable. The problem doesn't stop at spawn. More direct and "permanent" measures are required. 

[Cheggf]

3 minutes ago, HowlVoid said:

To the level posted above? I don't see how someone can get that intricate unless they've been there a great while or is wicker.

Maxwell could do the wardrobe/fossil one in a few days at most, the beefalo one is pretty ridiculous, the merm one could be done extremely quickly if other players put the resources in chests and the griefer stole them, the anenemy one could be done in a few days as Woodie if lucky, the sign one is basically just as hard as the previous On Tentacles one since a few signs are basically free.

I almost never see the spawn get griefed, but the two times I remember it last being griefed were Wickerbottom reading On Tentacles repeatedly and randomly placing stone walls, and someone placing 10 spider dens. I'd say it's not unrealistic to make some of these designs for about that amount of effort, depending on the situation.