Summer. Wildfires

[Scrubsbarry]

Wildfires are definitely annoying, but I feel like its a good push to encourage players to do caves stuff in the Summer, as in my experience there are plenty of players who just avoid the caves and have no idea what it has to offer besides getting a lantern. Most of the time you'll have tons of food after Spring so you can just bundle a bunch of it to negate the faster spoilage and explore the caves/ruins during the Summer with the large chunk of time you have, which can extend to multiple years if you want to focus on the ruins/guardian/archives/fuelweaver while you're there each time. It only really becomes an issue after you've explored and have obtained all the cave loot and have no reason to go back, but at that point you can just turn it off in settings and nobody would really blame you if it was a 800+ day world megabase that you don't want destroyed.

[ArubaroBeefalo]

1 hour ago, Well-met said:

fire damage is awful. it's like 30 or 40 for one staff use

and you obviously risk wasting the whole boss loot

setting deerclops alight during a dangerous night is probably the only thing youd even consider a fire staff for

i just checked spawning bosses and using epic health bars mod and is 80 damage for bearger and deerclops so i suppose is the same for the rest of the bosses that arent invulnerable to fire damage

i think is something to considere taking in count that is range (safe) damage and very cheap

[Fuffles]

Implying that I actually leave summer on as a season lol. Generally Wildfires are the main reason, but otherwise there is nothing summer specific to make that season worth while.

[HellHeater]

So i dont like wildfires but i think its fair

[Wendy C.]

7 hours ago, GetNerfedOn said:

also was not crop wilting removed in RWYS?

Crop disease was removed. The summer heat will still prevent all berries, twigs, grass, deciduous trees, and certain types of food crop from producing ANYTHING during the entire summer. 

[Mike23Ua]

Can we please for the love of god stop providing input like this to Klei? I mean.. what is the point? When Disease was removed from the game I was SAD because it WAS a staple part of the franchise for many many years and then just like that it’s yanked from existence.

I was genuinely Worried that with all the complaints about Wildfires that Klei would also cave in to the cries & remove Wildfires same as they had disease, But my worry was put to rest when they’re QoL update added a toggle so that the insane people like myself can toggle MORE of them if we want to.

I mean if I have anything to contribute to this conversation at all it’s that Klei gave us OPTIONS it’s there for those who want it or want more of it, but also completely removable for those who don’t like it.

Unlike Disease which was straight up removed... Wildfires still exist, I guess that maybe Klei could alter it so that they’re off by default- but other than that it’s a completely manageable mechanic with MANY ways to counter.

Including some newer ones (such as using the Watering can from RWYS Update)

[Archswifter]

It's not a fun season in general, and wildfires are the most confusing to me. I mean (and I'm sure I've seen this said before), if the main way people deal with this mechanic is to ignore it by either basing in the oasis or caves then it's probably not a very good mechanic to begin with. Unless that was the intention...? I don't know.

[GetNerfedOn]

7 hours ago, Wendy C. said:

Crop disease was removed. The summer heat will still prevent all berries, twigs, grass, deciduous trees, and certain types of food crop from producing ANYTHING during the entire summer. 

i understand that; however, i should have clarified a bit more

with the introduction of RWYS not only did this get removed:

but i've also heard people say that the new crops in the RWYS system are:

 - immune to random summer smoldering

 - do not wilt due to summer heat anymore

having not played for a long time certainly doesnt help

[QuartzBeam]

Farm plants are indeed immune to withering post-RWYS. But they are still susceptible to smoldering, unless they are on wet soil or they are Dragon Fruit Vines, which are completely fireproof.

[Captain_Rage]

8 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

Can we please for the love of god stop providing input like this to Klei? I mean.. what is the point? When Disease was removed from the game I was SAD because it WAS a staple part of the franchise for many many years and then just like that it’s yanked from existence.

I was genuinely Worried that with all the complaints about Wildfires that Klei would also cave in to the cries & remove Wildfires same as they had disease, But my worry was put to rest when they’re QoL update added a toggle so that the insane people like myself can toggle MORE of them if we want to.

I mean if I have anything to contribute to this conversation at all it’s that Klei gave us OPTIONS it’s there for those who want it or want more of it, but also completely removable for those who don’t like it.

Unlike Disease which was straight up removed... Wildfires still exist, I guess that maybe Klei could alter it so that they’re off by default- but other than that it’s a completely manageable mechanic with MANY ways to counter.

Including some newer ones (such as using the Watering can from RWYS Update)

Agreed, although I am happy that the disease mechanical got removed. It was not fun, detrimental and a tedium in general. Wildfires are more than manageable with (some) planning in regards to base building, with items like ice staves. Wildfires are really not that bad that people are claiming, even when it comes to bigger bases. Just like in real life, leaving spaces between structures and using firewalls does the trick.

[Cheggf]

15 hours ago, W0l0l0 said:

Beequeen I already mentioned, it's mostly chip damage setting her ablaze, and maybe also quite useful as a marker during the night because she tends to wander around. I don't know the exact amount of damage you're going to deal, but I doubt it'll be more than 1,000 damage (someone correct me please) throughout the fight.

I don't know exactly how much damage the fire staff deals, but I just tested it against a hound and it took a whopping five hits to kill it. That would put the damage per use at somewhere between 30 and 37. About as much as one spear swing. Not terrible considering how safe it is to hit her with it and damage is damage, but not particularly amazing.

Rstaff is good utility in some situations, but I think bstaff is good utility in a lot more. Rstaff has soft CC, minor damage, and is potentially very destructive, while bstaff has hard CC that breaks on damage received, no damage (allowing it to pull things safely and do some funny stuff), and no potential for being destructive.

15 hours ago, W0l0l0 said:

Toadstool sounds like a nightmare, getting rid of spore caps with fire just sounds horrible in my inexperienced view. I really want to see videos of this.

Rstaff can be useful for toadstool fight, but it's definitely the bargain bin version of other things. Moon glass axes and weather pains are far superior, but the rstaff can safely burn every single tree at once regardless of whether or not they're currently obscured by smoke. It doesn't burn particularly quickly and it creates smoke everywhere, but it can be helpful.

14 hours ago, Scrubsberry said:

Wildfires are definitely annoying, but I feel like its a good push to encourage players to do caves stuff in the Summer, as in my experience there are plenty of players who just avoid the caves and have no idea what it has to offer besides getting a lantern.

I don't think someone who exclusively goes into the caves because it's summer is going to suddenly learn about what they have to offer. Every time I see people go into the caves on a public server because it's summer they either sit at the sinkhole until it's not summer or barely explore the surrounding area.

People also don't naturally know to go into the caves during summer, they're told to. People spread the information that going into the caves is a good idea during summer because it's easier. Why not instead spread the information that going into the caves is a good idea always because the caves are based?

7 hours ago, Archswifter said:

I mean (and I'm sure I've seen this said before), if the main way people deal with this mechanic is to ignore it by either basing in the oasis or caves then it's probably not a very good mechanic to begin with.

From what I've seen on public servers and on Reddit the average player does not like anything that poses a threat to them and will do anything they can to avoid anything dangerous for as little perceived effort as possible. Players will avoid wildfires by basing in the oasis (even though unless you're megabasing it's way more effort than just putting a flingomatic down), players will avoid hound waves by kiting them into other mobs or just running a lot, players will avoid bosses by kiting them into other mobs or just running a lot, players will avoid freezing by just sitting next to a fire pit all winter, players will avoid starvation by just letting other people gather food for them, players will avoid sanity loss by just sitting next to glommer or a sisturn all day.

Just because people avoid the mechanic doesn't make it automatically a bad mechanic, or else that would mean the entire game is bad. It's a bad mechanic because it's very easy to circumvent and mostly just serves to force you to put ugly structures everywhere.

[ArubaroBeefalo]

20 minutes ago, Cheggf said:

I don't know exactly how much damage the fire staff deals, but I just tested it against a hound and it took a whopping five hits to kill it. That would put the damage per use at somewhere between 30 and 37.

 

16 hours ago, W0l0l0 said:

I don't know the exact amount of damage you're going to deal, but I doubt it'll be more than 1,000 damage (someone correct me please) throughout the fight.

maybe mobs has different fire resistance like how they have different sleep and ice resistance. Hounds gets less damage from fire but tried the staff with deerclops, bearger (dont use fire on bearger...), beequeen and toad and it deals 80 damage. Fire staff has 20 uses so you can deal up to 1600 damage per staff. Against beequeen i have use 2 or 3 (cant remember since im playing with wurt lately), that is a minimum of 3200 damage (for just 2 gems and 4 NF) which imo is very welcome and more taking in count that there is moments of the fight where you cant hit her (unless you use pan flaute method)

I didnt said that the fire staff is used to destroy the mushtrees, i was refering to use it when he is summoning them. Is a decent way of keep dealing damage meanwhile you chop the mushtrees

[rainman895]

9 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

Can we please for the love of god stop providing input like this to Klei? I mean.. what is the point? When Disease was removed from the game I was SAD because it WAS a staple part of the franchise for many many years and then just like that it’s yanked from existence.

I was genuinely Worried that with all the complaints about Wildfires that Klei would also cave in to the cries & remove Wildfires same as they had disease, But my worry was put to rest when they’re QoL update added a toggle so that the insane people like myself can toggle MORE of them if we want to.

I mean if I have anything to contribute to this conversation at all it’s that Klei gave us OPTIONS it’s there for those who want it or want more of it, but also completely removable for those who don’t like it.

Unlike Disease which was straight up removed... Wildfires still exist, I guess that maybe Klei could alter it so that they’re off by default- but other than that it’s a completely manageable mechanic with MANY ways to counter.

Including some newer ones (such as using the Watering can from RWYS Update)

Oh no i don't push Klei to remove this mechanic, they already made it possible to just disable it and that's good.

The biggest concern i had with smoldering is that if i wanted to build a megabase in my solo world i would need 9001 ice flingos for that. But i decided if i ever go past 1000 days or more i would just disable smoldering and build and decorate my base in peace

[Szczuku]

Smoldering and wildfiress fit summer thematically and are a decent mechanic. Summer has the potential to be an interesting and engaging season.

It's just that it's way too dangerous and hostile when compared to other seasons' mechanics.

Winter limits your ability to gather resources and forces you to wear/use special equipment, however it allows you to gather special resources which come in handy throughout the entire year. Plus your food lasts longer

Spring forces you to wear special clothes and avoid certain mobs. Other than that everything is pretty easy, in fact common rain means that plants grow faster and your crops and constantly watered.

Summer, however, has nothing that the player could benefit from. It forces you to spend a resources whether it is to build a summer base or an oasis base. It forces you to wear special equipment either to walk through the sandstorm or to keep yourself cool for longer. It forces you to avoid every non-protected part of the map, unless you're willing to risk a wildfire or use an ice staff. In return you get nothing- lazy deserter is way to situational

Summer is high risk, low reward season. That's why going to the caves is usually the best option

[rainman895]

33 minutes ago, Szczuku said:

Summer, however, has nothing that the player could benefit from. It forces you to spend a resources whether it is to build a summer base or an oasis base. It forces you to wear special equipment either to walk through the sandstorm or to keep yourself cool for longer. It forces you to avoid every non-protected part of the map, unless you're willing to risk a wildfire or use an ice staff. In return you get nothing- lazy deserter is way to situational

Summer is high risk, low reward season. That's why going to the caves is usually the best option

THIS. I hope Klei adds more Summer exclusive things like mobs and special resources that are only available during this season. 

[.]

We call summers' cave seasons boy.

[Tuesday Pidgeon]

I don't like summer wildfires. If you want to properly manage them, you either have to base in the Oasis biome, line your base in flingos (rip megabasers,) or just head down to the caves for a season. Even if you stay above ground, you risk burning stuff down just for walking out of your base. I've recently started disabling them in my solo worlds, and it makes summer less tedious and annoying for me at least.

[Archswifter]

16 hours ago, Cheggf said:

Players will avoid hound waves by kiting them into other mobs or just running a lot, players will avoid bosses by kiting them into other mobs or just running a lot.

This is sort of common, at least for beginners and players who were caught off guard by them or something.

 

16 hours ago, Cheggf said:

Players will avoid freezing by just sitting next to a fire pit all winter, players will avoid starvation by just letting other people gather food for them, players will avoid sanity loss by just sitting next to glommer or a sisturn all day.

This just sort of sounds like something a beginner would do.

 

16 hours ago, Cheggf said:

It's a bad mechanic because it's very easy to circumvent and mostly just serves to force you to put ugly structures everywhere.

It's hard to say if it's bad or not, in DST they added new ways to deal with Wildfires/Summer in general, with the addition of the oasis desert and it's sandstorm and making the caves more bearable by making it cool. So if the intention was to make you go with one of these two options then it's not a bad thing. It's really only bad if you don't go with one of those two for the 11 days you have to. It does get old though, having to go with those two options every summer if you don't want anything to burn or deal with the old flingomatic method.

[EirikGerhard]

In my experience, wildfires usually translate into rollbacks, so I think they are just as annoying as disease was. They force you to go to the caves or the desert, and in late game that gets rather annoying if you have other projects in mind. Having to deal with high heat, resource scarcity and red hounds is already a good challenge for a beginner. As an advanced player, it just forces you into places.

Summer as a whole is a bit lackluster in terms of excitement: neither sinkholes nor wildfires provide any benefit, unlike frog rain, penguls, or mcTusk. Hooray for cactus flowers I guess?

 

 

[Atkvin]

I've heard plenty others asking for something like it elsewhere, but a late-game item or method of summoning rain would alleviate summer and dealing with wildfires greatly. Or imagine if all-blue-gems Crab King dropped an item you could carry around that would radiate a cooling aura (taking notes from its aoe freeze attack) in a huge radius so you could travel with no fear for smoldering in the area your player loads.

 

On more resources and perks Summer could provide, I would change the hound attacks in Summer into Guardian Pig attacks that try to siege your base. They would spawn around your base and try to place down Pig Torches to mark their territory and respawn more of themselves, then charge at players. This would change up the hound attack formula (which needs to not be unique to this season), make MEATa plentiful Summer food resource players would miss out on simply hiding underground from the heat, and more importantly the non-craftable Pig Torches they might be able to make farms or infinite light sources out of.

 

Also, as the following season Bearger comes knocking on bases to eat food (*cough* or at least, i wish she was designed to. I seriously have never experienced her raiding a base of mine) I think it would be interesting if rather than futile attempts to try starve players through withering & faster spoilage, Summer became the perfect season to cook up and prepare the players' mountainous stockpile of food from Winter and Spring for the future.

To that end, cooking ingredients on a fire would be as fast as Walter's campfire perk for all players, all Crockpots on the surface would cook way faster in the summer heat, and drying racks would dry food almost instantly (somehow wasn't a thing, thanks @QuartzBeam). Bee Queen would spawn more bees for bearding in the heat, but drop more honeycombs for beeswax, melting and weakened from the summer heat to grant more bundling wraps and preserve more food. 

 

And one last left-field idea I had were a chance of pinecones from wildfire-burned pine trees germinating into redwood trees instead. A dapper new tree that only germinates from fire that softens the frustration of wildfires. Redwood trees would never catch on fire, drop logs that could be crafted into  log suits that grant both fire-resistance and insulate heat, and it would last 3x as long as normal logs when used as fuel.

[QuartzBeam]

57 minutes ago, Atkvin said:

its faster drying racks perk

Its what now?

[Atkvin]

1 hour ago, QuartzBeam said:

Its what now?

Did.. did I seriously make that up for the longest time? There's no sign of it on the wikis or anywhere else. It seems so natural and logical that meat dry faster in Summer since they dry slower due to rain in Spring...

Well add that to things that should be a thing then.

[axxel]

Do people fear they have to repair/replace burnt structures? I know it's a shame if a valuable, not-replaceable source is destroyed. But there's a line between creative building and survival. Turn it off if you are turned off by it. Otherwise, you can struggle against it among many other things the game has to offer. 

[Guille6785]

On 6/12/2021 at 4:34 AM, ArubaroBeefalo said:

I didnt said that the fire staff is used to destroy the mushtrees, i was refering to use it when he is summoning them. Is a decent way of keep dealing damage meanwhile you chop the mushtrees

the torch is indeed a thing that exists

[Terra B Welch]

On 6/12/2021 at 2:02 AM, GetNerfedOn said:

i understand that; however, i should have clarified a bit more

with the introduction of RWYS not only did this get removed:

but i've also heard people say that the new crops in the RWYS system are:

 - immune to random summer smoldering

 - do not wilt due to summer heat anymore

having not played for a long time certainly doesnt help

I think the new crops do smolder if the soil they're on isn't hydrated enough.