How dogs have changed my gameplay

[Riddling Sphinx]

I've started building the log suit and spear much, much earlier (around day 2) instead of waiting almost 7 days to get everything up and running. I also rush to find the beefalo for protection (if all else fails, dogs will attack them and get crushed by the herd).

Anyone else changed their start up routine?

[ViVi]

nope but i have a spare fire pit away from my camp so if i hear them at night time i can get away so the hell hounds dont burn down my camp

[NeedPants]

nope but i have a spare fire pit away from my camp so if i hear them at night time i can get away so the hell hounds dont burn down my camp

I have done this too, it works well to protect all the loot i gathered.

[Riddling Sphinx]

nope but i have a spare fire pit away from my camp so if i hear them at night time i can get away so the hell hounds dont burn down my camp

I've noticed they seems to spawn on me after I make a firepit. Should we start building the firepit away from camp now?

[Abyss]

I wanted to start a new game using the new mechanics so I experienced the full challenge. Here's what I ended up doing:

Step 1) Find the Beefalo: besides a constant source for food and fertilizer, they act as a first line of defense against hounds. Hounds will attack Beefalo. When one Beefalo gets attack, its brethren respond in kind.

Step 2) Setup camp by the cliff edge: provides at least 1 direction that hounds cannot attack in

Step 3) Tree perimeter: while players can no longer build walls, it helps to serve a protection guideline for where to keep flame hounds at bay. While it may not be a solid wall, it still allows for minor directing where I have set up a bottleneck position as well as my step four...

Step 4) Meat minefield: in a thin pathway of trees I have set up a long strip littered with meat morsels and the occasional bee mine in between. Meat keeps them distracted while the bees do their magic. Also prevents 1 hound from setting off all the mines at once.

Step 5) Wilson: you are always the last line of defense, so I have sure to have 1-2 spare log suits and football helmets on hand (one that Wilson wears, one set to keep on hand in case durability fades mid combat, and 1 in camp side chest set up as a back-up back-up)

Step 6) When all else fails there's always the next life: meat effigies ensure that if I get overrun that it is not the end of the world. For every established campsite, I make sure to have 2 of these set-up. And there is a second campsite set up in a completely different area. This way I can always regather my forces and take back any other campsites.

Out of all the steps, step 4 is the most important because it is the most effective. I'm always hunting rabbits to keep the meat mines fully stocked. You can make do with very little offense as long as you have enough tasty distractions. Thought about adding pig bodyguards too, but it seems unnecessary with all the other measures in place. Plus piggies can be costly or unpredictable (full moon pending).

[ViVi]

I've noticed they seems to spawn on me after I make a firepit. Should we start building the firepit away from camp now?

you should have one in my camp as well as off screen just so you can get away from your camp last thing you want is everything to go up in flames