Wall Rework + Enemy Navigation Change

[A.P.Erson]

It makes me so so so sad to know that my dream of a log fort in Don't Starve Together is dashed when I have to chop multiple forests to get the walls to max level, only for some spider to just gnaw at it until it breaks down instantly, or worse, just walks around it. I do have some suggestions as to how walls could be made to actually be useful beyond cheesing things so they are actually used instead of the unintended walls of cornucopias that all enemies are braindead to even notice is blocking their path.

For starters, make repairing with walls give more health. If you place a wall, it usually starts with half the health by default, but if you then repair/upgrade with another wall item, it does not add the same amount of health that it started with, and any lesser items will always have much lesser effect than if you crafted them into walls. Change this, make it so all the materials, crafted or not, will equate to the amount of placing a wall, meaning you would only need to place one wood wall, then place a second one on top to fully max out the wood wall. I'm okay with walls being weak, and I'm okay with walls being expensive, but making them BOTH is frankly overkill.

Speaking of weak walls, I think all wall type items should have an increasing damage resistance depending on the material (except for grass walls, obviously). I'd say once you get to dreadstone it should have like 40% damage reduction, since if you get to the point of having that much dreadstone then you deserve to have an invincible wall.

Then there's the topic of enemies pathfinding around it. I feel like there should be some nuance to how they find out if they can go around the entire wall or if they decide to plow through it, so here's an idea:

• Each type of enemy has a general sight range for how they pathfind around walls, where if they do not see a path around in their sight range, they will just target the closest wall until it breaks. Spiders would have a relatively short range as well as many smaller creatures, making it easier to pen them in fences and such. In general, the "smarter" an enemy is or how large they are, the better the sight range.
• Depending on how high the walls AND how tall a mob is will determine if they can see past walls, with especially high walls and shorter enemies not even bothering to go after you in the first place if you are sufficiently hidden behind cover. For example, if you manage to box yourself in a max level stone structure and then a pack of spiders show up, they will literally not be able to see you, even if you are in the correct distance for normal aggro. HOWEVER: Hounds have a special exception, where when they first spawn they will see through walls and if you stay in their aggro range for too long, they will smell you and detect you anyway. If a wall is damaged enough to make an enemy that would normally not be able to see over it able to now see over it as is reasonable, then they will be able to pathfind around it, assuming the first condition is met also, otherwise they will just attempt to break through.
• If there is a gap in a space of walls, BUT there is no direct line of sight for the enemy to see it, such as if there are fully built walls in the way, then the enemy will not be able to see the gap anyway despite it being close enough to normally detect it.
• Giants, as a rule, are 100% except from all of the wall rules, and will logically just smash through them anyway, completely ignoring them in all forms.

I do think adding ALL of these changes at once would most likely make walls immensely overpowered, so maybe only pick a couple of them. I just wanna be able to use walls without it being a meme, man. I'm tired of making walls of statues!

[GreenCactus]

On 6/30/2025 at 8:55 PM, A.P.Erson said:

It makes me so so so sad to know that my dream of a log fort in Don't Starve Together is dashed when I have to chop multiple forests to get the walls to max level, only for some spider to just gnaw at it until it breaks down instantly, or worse, just walks around it. I do have some suggestions as to how walls could be made to actually be useful beyond cheesing things so they are actually used instead of the unintended walls of cornucopias that all enemies are braindead to even notice is blocking their path.

For starters, make repairing with walls give more health. If you place a wall, it usually starts with half the health by default, but if you then repair/upgrade with another wall item, it does not add the same amount of health that it started with, and any lesser items will always have much lesser effect than if you crafted them into walls. Change this, make it so all the materials, crafted or not, will equate to the amount of placing a wall, meaning you would only need to place one wood wall, then place a second one on top to fully max out the wood wall. I'm okay with walls being weak, and I'm okay with walls being expensive, but making them BOTH is frankly overkill.

Speaking of weak walls, I think all wall type items should have an increasing damage resistance depending on the material (except for grass walls, obviously). I'd say once you get to dreadstone it should have like 40% damage reduction, since if you get to the point of having that much dreadstone then you deserve to have an invincible wall.

Then there's the topic of enemies pathfinding around it. I feel like there should be some nuance to how they find out if they can go around the entire wall or if they decide to plow through it, so here's an idea:

• Each type of enemy has a general sight range for how they pathfind around walls, where if they do not see a path around in their sight range, they will just target the closest wall until it breaks. Spiders would have a relatively short range as well as many smaller creatures, making it easier to pen them in fences and such. In general, the "smarter" an enemy is or how large they are, the better the sight range.
• Depending on how high the walls AND how tall a mob is will determine if they can see past walls, with especially high walls and shorter enemies not even bothering to go after you in the first place if you are sufficiently hidden behind cover. For example, if you manage to box yourself in a max level stone structure and then a pack of spiders show up, they will literally not be able to see you, even if you are in the correct distance for normal aggro. HOWEVER: Hounds have a special exception, where when they first spawn they will see through walls and if you stay in their aggro range for too long, they will smell you and detect you anyway. If a wall is damaged enough to make an enemy that would normally not be able to see over it able to now see over it as is reasonable, then they will be able to pathfind around it, assuming the first condition is met also, otherwise they will just attempt to break through.
• If there is a gap in a space of walls, BUT there is no direct line of sight for the enemy to see it, such as if there are fully built walls in the way, then the enemy will not be able to see the gap anyway despite it being close enough to normally detect it.
• Giants, as a rule, are 100% except from all of the wall rules, and will logically just smash through them anyway, completely ignoring them in all forms.

I do think adding ALL of these changes at once would most likely make walls immensely overpowered, so maybe only pick a couple of them. I just wanna be able to use walls without it being a meme, man. I'm tired of making walls of statues!

walls definitely need buffs and reworks after decade of dead state!