Several Ramblings

[mumbojumbo]

Hi,

Firstly, just let me say I love the game. Great fun. I have a funny feeling everything I'm going to say has been thought of already by the esteemed developers or enthusiastic community, but maybe the following ramblings are useful in some way to some body. Weirder things have happened. And so, without further ado:

1. Can we please have the moon phase always on display? Werepigs seem slightly broken right now - howling away at a gibbous moon - but, once they get their "time of the month" properly synced, it would be nice to know the current/next moon phase even during the day.

2. It seems to me the spider AI isn't quite right. When they are in "traversing mode" they just move in a straight line for several seconds before checking to see if they need to activate other behaviour. This leads to effects like them "moonwalking" on the edge of an island, brushing past the player without noticing, or walking straight through a campsite like they own it.

3. In addition, I think spiders should fear light more. They sometimes do their "scared" animation in the presence of strong light, but it's pretty incidental behaviour. I feel it would be far more atmospheric if spiders prowled around camp fires, yearning for the man-flesh that would be within their reach if they were but willing to forsake the shadows. They would scuttle about, only their eyes and a few spindly limbs visible in the dimness, hissing their frustration to each other. As the fire dies and the light weakens, they creep a little closer... closer... then, as the light ebbs (to about the level of a torch?) they move in for the feast. On the other hand if the fire burns well all through the night, they scatter before the first rays of dawn reveal them.

4. I noticed elsewhere plank requirements are being reviewed to reduce "log grind". Even though "log grind" sounds like an awesome - if somewhat dirty - dance move, I'm in favour of reducing it too. However, I think plank requirements are only half the issue. Every night, I find myself burning an entire finely-aged pine tree - roots, branches and trunk - just so I have enough light to keep the night terrors at bay. Or several trees worth of charcoal, if I fancied a barbeque that evening. It seems to me another way to reduce the amount of log grind would be to make mature trees provide more usable wood and/or charcoal. Perhaps as a trade-off, trees could grow significantly slower - encouraging forethought and planning to ensure access to sufficient burnable resources. It might also discourage setting half the map aflame just because it's faster to pick up charcoal and tree guardians seem unphased by their charges suffering a slow, burning death. I think forest management could be interesting, but right now in my view it's fairly mundane.

5. I know food is being tweaked constantly, but... 40 cooked berries are worth about 10 crockpots full of meat. Fruitarianism for the win!

Lastly, I humbly submit that no co-op is a crying shame. The game is ripe for it. Maybe as a feature that's only activated after beating it once in single player mode? More replayability never hurt a title...

With respect and gratitude,

mj

[Nickdy]

Good ideas here, but i dont really have trouble with the fire problem, i often at times use grass from my grass farms for fires.