Legit DS - Stories and Tips

[Flopjack]

This game is hard but I hear people surviving for like 400 days or something. But what I really want to know is how many of you are playing legitimately? Here is what I mean by "legitimately":

 

Legit DS:

 - No spawning/giving yourself anything via console/other cheats

 - Must use default settings (or harder, more bad stuff or less good stuff is fair game, no longer days/shorter nights, etc...)

 - No "exploits" like getting infinite resources by setting up spider and pigs near each other or something of that nature.

 

Other notes:

 - Legit DS, in my opinion, allows you to force start on autumn (instead of randomly between spring and autumn. I can't handle the frog rain transition into summer as a starter.

 

Now, I've got nothing against people who play a little more casually or goof around for fun, but I'm curious of survival days and strategies when these things are taken into account. No fibbin' now!

 

My personal best is 57 days and it just ended. I had 9 basic farms, ~20 berry bushes,  ~30 grasses, 9 pig houses, either constructed where about 7 were constructed, if I recall correctly. I started in Autumn, survived winter by not leaving my fire and eating, I had a Goose-Moose attack, but luckily it got distracted by Birch tree monsters and kind of went off. I endured the Frog Rains of spring due to my pig army, ghost (I was Wendy), and a few lucky Birch tree monster spawns nearby. Then, I get to summer and get my coolant objects in order when like 6-8 hounds attack and my stuff randomly gets set ablaze! I loose 6 farms, 6 pig houses, all my berry bushes and half my grass (I thought I spaced things out enough to avoid that!). After that catastrophe, I immediately got a full moon and the remaining (5) pigs turned into wearpigs! I had low hp at this point so I tried to lure them to an Eyeball plant thing but I ended up getting too close to one of the eyes... dead. No res-stone, no amulet, nothing. I was toast!

 

My general strategy is being nomadic until I find a pig village. I tend to hold up in the Deciduous Forest(s) and surround myself with a layer of pigs. From there, it's just about gathering resources, food, and the various materials to make it happen. Over time, I try to expand my pig influence (and protection) and tools at my disposal. I tend to die to over confidence. I want to grab that dangerously placed item or underestimate a creature's fighting power, etc... one time I died to a Catcoon! A cat scratch did me in!

 

Feats and strategies, anyone, in Legit DS™?

[Malafight]

 - No "exploits" like getting infinite resources by setting up spider and pigs near each other or something of that nature.

 

 

Well yeah, because i'm gonna run like and idiot to a spider den 3 minutes away from my base every day instead of getting some materials legitemately and building some pig houses near me + a spiderden that i destroyed earlier with my bare hands.I don't see how that is "not legit".

[Flopjack]

If that wasn't an option in the game, you'd still make do, wouldn't you? Would you like to continue cherry picking my post or do you have something to add? Or perhaps you'd like to discuss "legit".

 

Touchy.

[Rosten]

I don't think your definition of "Legit" is really fair,  would you consider Default+ Legit? Or even though it has a ton of balancing features (E.g. the fact that there are most likely MILLIONS of spiders) is it still "Cheating"? 

 

And what you listed as Exploits aren't really exploiting the game, as it's merely a neat trick, similar to just farming dragonfruit to get by, since its an (more or less) easy strategy to get resources, would you consider that cheating as well?

[Flopjack]

Well, I can see farming various items being legit, but there's something about a self-sustaining farm of spiders/pigs/whatever that doesn't sit right with me. I'm not saying you're a bad person or something if you do it, but if you sit on top of infinite [insert resource] I'm not nearly as impressed that you survived 2 years in game than if you didn't do that. You follow?

 

It's an affect from how the game works, I get that, but if it was intentional (meaning, Klei say down and said "We have to have pigs and spiders infinitely kill each other to get infinite whatever or the player will get frustrated or [insert reason]..." rather than them looking at the effect and leaving it in the game.) then where is the infinite automatic wood, stone, and grass machine? It's a grey area.

 

So, it's debatable I suppose. Everything else I think is pretty clear cut.

[Maximum124]

Well, I can see farming various items being legit, but there's something about a self-sustaining farm of spiders/pigs/whatever that doesn't sit right with me. I'm not saying you're a bad person or something if you do it, but if you sit on top of infinite [insert resource] I'm not nearly as impressed that you survived 2 years in game than if you didn't do that. You follow?

 

It's an affect from how the game works, I get that, but if it was intentional (meaning, Klei say down and said "We have to have pigs and spiders infinitely kill each other to get infinite whatever or the player will get frustrated or [insert reason]..." rather than them looking at the effect and leaving it in the game.) then where is the infinite automatic wood, stone, and grass machine? It's a grey area.

 

So, it's debatable I suppose. Everything else I think is pretty clear cut.

 

It balances itself out by the mobs eating the loot, spiders eating meat and pigskin, the pigs eating the monster meat. So they planned for situations like that

 

Plus what if the world just spawns with a spider nest right by a pig village, I didnt put it there. Are you saying I need to either destroy the nest (before it actually becomes useful for reasources) or the village in order for my game to be fair?

[Flopjack]

I highly doubt Klei had a meeting where they said something along the lines of: "We need to make it so spider and pigs can infinitely fight each other, generate resources infinitely, but consume the resources if possible to balance it out." What's more likely is they said: "We're going to have spiders with X behaviors, pigs with Y behaviors. Oh look what happens when they spawn close to one another! Keep it in the game, that's fun!"

It balances itself out by the mobs eating the loot, spiders eating meat and pigskin, the pigs eating the monster meat. So they planned for situations like that

 

Plus what if the world just spawns with a spider nest right by a pig village, I didnt put it there. Are you saying I need to either destroy the nest (before it actually becomes useful for reasources) or the village in order for my game to be fair?

I'm not saying you have to destroy it. What I'm saying is I'm not as impressed when you use these mechanisms to survive so I don't consider it "as legit". It's kind of like watching someone preform an action super fast in a game, being super impressed, only to find out he was using a macro.

 

"Wow, how does he do that so fast?! Oh, he has a macro..."

 

"Wow, how did you survive for 400 days?! Oh, you had infinite food..."

 

Anyway, I don't want this to bog down into a debate about this because people get too sensitive if you criticize their play styles.

[Maximum124]

I highly doubt Klei had a meeting where they said something along the lines of: "We need to make it so spider and pigs can infinitely fight each other, generate resources infinitely, but consume the resources if possible to balance it out." What's more likely is they said: "We're going to have spiders with X behaviors, pigs with Y behaviors. Oh look what happens when they spawn close to one another! Keep it in the game, that's fun!"

I'm not saying you have to destroy it. What I'm saying is I'm not as impressed when you use these mechanisms to survive so I don't consider it "as legit". It's kind of like watching someone preform an action super fast in a game, being super impressed, only to find out he was using a macro.

 

"Wow, how does he do that so fast?! Oh, he has a macro..."

 

"Wow, how did you survive for 400 days?! Oh, you had infinite food..."

 

Anyway, I don't want this to bog down into a debate about this because people get too sensitive if you criticize their play styles.

 

Probably because everyones allowed to use mods and such to play the game however they want, "Legit" Don't Starve is usually seen as unmodded. You're comparing mods to something thats in the vanilla game, saying its the same as infinite food when really its just how the game is

 

They probably did have a discussion to talk about how the AI works, who fights what etc, heck they added set pieces that's just merms and pigs fighting. If all the mobs where passive to eachother that'd just be boring.

 

If this wasnt intended, it would be gone or nerfed by now.

 

Im not saying that you have to farm that way if thats how you play, do what you want. But saying its not "legit" is just ridiculous

 

[Flopjack]

I think you misunderstand what I mean when I say "legit". How about we call it "Impressive" and "Using not so impressive techniques to survive". Think of it as a handicap, if you like.

[spiritcrusher77]

My strategy? Don't take risks. Every single time I take a risk that I can't actually accomplish, I die. "Oh, I can kill that Tallbird." DEAD. "Oh, I can kill this Treeguard." DEAD. "Oh, I can open this ice box and have Summer start early." DEAD. Story of my life. 

 

Now, if you want to hear my stories... One night, I survived solely by jumping from patch to patch of fireflies. I once survived Summer with one health left, etc. etc. etc.

[Rosten]

Honestly. I dont see what all the argUing is about. That strategy isnt even parTicularly useful. The spiders and pigs eat all the meat so it hardly equaTes to infinite food. Now the Koalephant, THATS an infinite source of food. besides. If people didn't find tricks like that, then you're just repeating the same actions to gather a resource you ran out of the other day. it's like the difference between sPending a day collecting a stack of grass strewn out across a Savannah and attending a minute collecting the same stack fRom a artifiCial farm with all the gas right next to each other

The point is, without tricks like that. The game would just be repetitive and tediOus

[Snob]

Does it really matter? Legit or not, the point of the game is to have fun.

[Vanderer]

I don't see how using tricks can make the fact you survived anything from 50 to 500 days any less impressive. The game would become very repetitive if no such tricks were there. Fact is, I really don't want to run my ass over to the spider den which is 4 mins away from my camp, waste some more time killing the buggers only to get a few silk, then scoot my ass back to a camp and shove my silken treasure away all the time. Sometimes I just like to see the pigs near my base kill them instead and grab the remains. Yes, there is no stopping me, or anyone, from placing a handicap on myself from default, but the game would become boring too quickly if I did the same things the same way, all of the time. It's all about having fun, really.

[Flopjack]

Alright, you guys win.

 

So, what are survival days with people using default (or harder) settings? What key elements do you contribute your survival to?

[littlebeari]

I agree with flopjack.  Most of the stories I see of people surviving for hundreds of days are people who are not playing the game by the same rules that flopjack outlined.  There's nothing wrong with someone playing with console cheats or really easy world settings, it's just not the same and shouldn't be compared to someone who is playing by more "legit" rules.  Perhaps "legit" is an inflammatory word.  Perhaps we should say hardcore.  Non-exploitative.  Vanilla.   Whatever.   I'm just not impressed, that's all. *shrug*

[orian34]

106 days as webber without the pig farm trick(cause i don't like pigs...)Started at spring but that wasn't hard...Died by bunnymen in caves cause i don't know that they were angry about webber

[Barbarian]

I think it's fine to ask how long people have survived without mods, and with only default or harder settings, but specifying what strategies they have to use is a bit much, unless it's a specific 'challenge'.

 

Anyway, I'm currently up to day 60, playing as Wigfrid (which actually you could call easy mode), wasted one touchstone already because I got greedy trying to retrieve frog legs that were too near to in-heat beefalo.

 

I used all default apart from an Autumn start, and my aim is to live to 1000 days.

 

I'm currently halfway through Summer, sticking by my Summer base in the desert oasis.  I got very lucky with my oasis as it contains the Potato Head Thing with three basic farms and some twigs and grass, so I just built a crockpot, icebox and summer fire, with a single ice flingomatic, and I have a load of frog ponds next door for catching plenty of frog legs to eat.  I have 2 thermal stones, one stays in the icebox and I constantly swap them over.  When the hounds come I run to some beefalo which are the very next biome, which was also lucky.

 

My main base is still quite basic and I haven't spent much time there yet - been mainly collecting resources to survive Winter and Summer.  I spent Winter in my Winter base, hunting walruses so now I have a Walking Cane and several Tam-O-Shanters.

 

I've been pulling down distant pig houses when I find them, but haven't built any new ones, just saving the pigskin to make umbrellas etc.

 

When Autumn comes around I'll work on collecting more gold, as it's quite scarce, and more spider silks, and then creating some bee boxes at my main base.  I also have a bird cage and I'm slowly building up a supply of gunpowder, which I will use to take out bosses - I found a pan pipe and I have 2 mandrakes so that will help with the first bosses I encounter.  Haven't seen any giants yet though for some reason - I'm hoping for the Dragonfly.

 

I've got a decent collection of teeth as well, from tearing down hound mounds in the desert, so I'll be creating a tooth trap area near my main base to deal with hounds.

 

My main strategy this time is staying focused on collecting what I need (I'm easily distracted), and not doing anything stupid.

[Flare2V]

This game is hard but I hear people surviving for like 400 days or something. But what I really want to know is how many of you are playing legitimately? Here is what I mean by "legitimately":

 

Legit DS:

 - No spawning/giving yourself anything via console/other cheats

 - Must use default settings (or harder, more bad stuff or less good stuff is fair game, no longer days/shorter nights, etc...)

 - No "exploits" like getting infinite resources by setting up spider and pigs near each other or something of that nature.

 

Other notes:

 - Legit DS, in my opinion, allows you to force start on autumn (instead of randomly between spring and autumn. I can't handle the frog rain transition into summer as a starter.

 

Now, I've got nothing against people who play a little more casually or goof around for fun, but I'm curious of survival days and strategies when these things are taken into account. No fibbin' now!

 

My personal best is 57 days and it just ended. I had 9 basic farms, ~20 berry bushes,  ~30 grasses, 9 pig houses, either constructed where about 7 were constructed, if I recall correctly. I started in Autumn, survived winter by not leaving my fire and eating, I had a Goose-Moose attack, but luckily it got distracted by Birch tree monsters and kind of went off. I endured the Frog Rains of spring due to my pig army, ghost (I was Wendy), and a few lucky Birch tree monster spawns nearby. Then, I get to summer and get my coolant objects in order when like 6-8 hounds attack and my stuff randomly gets set ablaze! I loose 6 farms, 6 pig houses, all my berry bushes and half my grass (I thought I spaced things out enough to avoid that!). After that catastrophe, I immediately got a full moon and the remaining (5) pigs turned into wearpigs! I had low hp at this point so I tried to lure them to an Eyeball plant thing but I ended up getting too close to one of the eyes... dead. No res-stone, no amulet, nothing. I was toast!

 

My general strategy is being nomadic until I find a pig village. I tend to hold up in the Deciduous Forest(s) and surround myself with a layer of pigs. From there, it's just about gathering resources, food, and the various materials to make it happen. Over time, I try to expand my pig influence (and protection) and tools at my disposal. I tend to die to over confidence. I want to grab that dangerously placed item or underestimate a creature's fighting power, etc... one time I died to a Catcoon! A cat scratch did me in!

 

Feats and strategies, anyone, in Legit DS™?

Dude, I legit DS so damn hard. Add mods to the list of no-nos, and I fit your specifications. I'm doing a "Light's Out, Reign of Giants, Wes, No Sleep, No Death" run at the moment, aiming for 1k days. Check me out on twitch.tv/flare2v.