Do you make Shadow Chester in the first year?

[lakhnish]

Ever since Shadow Chester's inventory becoame a pocket dimension with Maxwell's rework, I've found myself never making Shadow Chester, even if I'm not Maxwell.

I'm curious what others do.

[lenship2]

the 3 extra inventory slots are nice and he's really easy to make considering how you're more likely to have 9 nightmare fuels before 9 blue gems

if anything (from my experience at least, i can't speak for everyone), its objectively better to make him shadow than to ignore the chance for 3 more free inventory slots

[Dr. Safety]

When I play as Maxwell in a multiplayer game, I always make shadow Chester asap as having a shared inventory between myself and a friend is awesome, and even better if you have a magicians chest for three way shared inventory so long as someone is in base. 

Solo Maxwell, I never bother with it. It still requires an inventory slot for the eyebone, only difference between it and a magicians top hat is that Chester can die. If I want a shadow Chester to act as a base sitting-chest, I can just make a magicians chest, and just use Chester's base form as even more inventory space. 

If I'm not Maxwell, I'll make him for convenience sake, but I'm careful as to what I put in him since if he dies, that stuff is just gone until I can transform him again (as far as I'm aware, I never actually had him die when I wasn't Maxwell)

[lowercase skye]

Unfortunately the fact that the magician's chest inventory can't hold irreplaceables made me completely stop using Shadow Chester in favor of his regular form. I always use the Celestial Orb to give him a map icon because I can never remember to pick the eyebone back up when I relog, so without him having that permanent map icon I would just lose him repeatedly and have to search all over the map to find him again. I used to do that nearly every play session for irl years of my life before the orb existed.

[Cheggf]

I never transform Chester ever, because I never remember to. He dies all the time anyways.

[ShadowDuelist]

I used to try to have Ice Chester before summer, since it removes the overheat con almost entirely, but as @Cheggfsaid above even babysitting him its really hard to keep him alive at all times, so I just use regular chester now.
 

[Brago-sama]

39 minutes ago, finn from human said:

I always use the Celestial Orb to give him a map icon because I can never remember to pick the eyebone back up when I relog

Saaaaame, except i lose him every 5 minutes

Ice chester my beloved

[Cheggf]

21 minutes ago, ShadowDuelist said:

I used to try to have Ice Chester before summer, since it removes the overheat con almost entirely, but as @Cheggfsaid above even babysitting him its really hard to keep him alive at all times, so I just use regular chester now.
 

I made him a house to try to keep him alive :steamhappy:

[SapoLover]

Yes, for me it's the logic step to follow. I mean, 9 less nightmare fuel won't kill me and the 3 extra slots are handy... for some time. I always forget him somewhere and am too lazy to follow my steps backwards.

[Baark0]

Shadow chester until/unless I can get ice chester, since not only does ice negate 1/4 of summer's mechanics, but it's also basically a free insulated pack. 

[GelatinousCube]

Ice Chester always. I answered day 51 as a rough average, I just make him when I can really. 

Free portable fridge and negation of summer is more valuable to me than three extra slots. Nine extra slots is already pretty great.

I find him pretty easy to keep alive. I just leave him at certain nearby spots when fighting bearger, Klaus, Deerclops, when entering dangerous farms I've made (tallbirds, bunnies vs Merms) etc. It's a routine I'm used to so he rarely ever dies. He also makes a good tank decoy for hound waves and spiders.

He does however get caught on structures and statues more than I'd like.. he can also be a little painful on boats somewhat blocking the anchor etc. Again I'm pretty used to it though so it's not so bad. 

He's certainly better behaved than my constantly begging cult of the lamb pet... god do pets need an overhaul to have perks and/or stop begging for food. 

[Bloomada]

the 9 nightmare feul is usually pretty cheap for me after the first couple seasons and while it does make it rough when chester bites the dust its still not so expensive
i use chester as a wheelbarrow though, after i make a base i usually keep him there except when i know im going to need a lot of space i.e. log/rock harvesting or getting trinkets.
though if the caves weren't a good way to cool off in the summer i probably would make ice chester, just completly stops any problem with overheating

[GelatinousCube]

2 hours ago, Bloomada said:

though if the caves weren't a good way to cool off in the summer i probably would make ice chester, just completly stops any problem with overheating

He's a great option if you cbf doing ruins reset, archives, werepig etc during Summer. Or if you want to fish at oasis, gather cactus flowers, catch sunfish etc.

[Horsheen]

I just leave chester in base as soon as I'm finished making said base, he later becomes my grass gekko spooker

[JazzyGames]

Even with the nasty shadow dimension shenanigans, 12 extra inventory slots is hard to turn away. I'll usually go for it year 1, then after paying the Crab King ice staff tax I'll gladly save up for an Ice Chester.

One change I'd love to see is if the last shadow container in a world is destroyed, the items should drop out. Way too easy to soft-lock items into the void for up to 20 days; it can't possibly be an intended punishment for letting Chester die.

[Horsheen]

1 hour ago, JazzyGames said:

Even with the nasty shadow dimension shenanigans, 12 extra inventory slots is hard to turn away. I'll usually go for it year 1, then after paying the Crab King ice staff tax I'll gladly save up for an Ice Chester.

One change I'd love to see is if the last shadow container in a world is destroyed, the items should drop out. Way too easy to soft-lock items into the void for up to 20 days; it can't possibly be an intended punishment for letting Chester die.

Yeah it feels a little silly to completely lose access to whatever items you stored inside

Having to swap to Maxwell just to access your items (unless you want to wait and entire season) feels like a bit of an oversight

[Yuuko]

No, I don't - but I really should.  tbh it never crosses my mind...

[BezKa]

I play so slowly I don't even bother transforming Chester for a looong while. And when I finally do, it's on a whim.

[goblinball]

I usually get shadow Chester in the first year but I don’t consistently do it on a specific day, I just do it whenever I remember to

[Axoshlotl]

on console i do try to get him when farming since the shadow dimension rots stuff faster and you cant throw stuff in the water on console, otherwise i just actually dont bother doing anything with him except early storage

[bloopah]

I keep forgetting he exists.

[mima_]

if there no maxwell chest, i do not bother making shadow chester. since if chester died the item locked in those with no access till next fullmoon.
but if i have blue gem for upgrading, ice chester ftw.  

[Evelo]

I make shadowchester on day 11 then convert him over to an ice chester by 2nd summer since the early game 12 slots while exploring the map is quite nice.

[GelatinousCube]

I wish hutch had some more useful permanent forms.

Don't get me wrong his spiky form is super useful but it's only temporary while the spear lasts. 

Music box doesn't last long but is also useful. 

Would be nice if he had a permanent transformation like Chester. 

Hmm I wonder if he has different skins in his two forms when you change him to frog Prince skin.. will have to suss tonight.

Also will add this to unknown mechanics thread as well but if you put a festive light in Hutch he has a light aura forever. Way better than putting lightbulbs which degrade in him. Once I discovered this I've always kept one in him. Makes an amazing emergency light source when clearing ruins or hanging in caves I'm general. Yes he doesn't always stand that close and can be a bit slow but if you position him well you can use it to fight clockworks etc without needing a light source on your person or the use of starcaller staffs.

[Jakepeng99]

On 9/19/2023 at 9:24 PM, lakhnish said:

Ever since Shadow Chester's inventory becoame a pocket dimension with Maxwell's rework, I've found myself never making Shadow Chester, even if I'm not Maxwell.

I'm curious what others do.

It is worse than before since the inventory is linked, so you need to share it with everyone in the server who uses it. If you are not in a Maxwell server it is worse since you lose your items for ages after it dies. I see shadow chester made alot though for no reason really just for the sake of it, ice chester is always on top.