Add more ways to get rocks/flint

[Chesska]

Boulders are typically not plentiful, making rocks a frustratingly rare resource.

It's frustrating because a rock is something you'd think would be plentiful.

The obvious and easiest solution is to just add more boulders around the game, but I also have some slightly more creative ideas

1. Add the ability to chisel a Rock into Flint with another rock (combine 2x Rock for 1x Flint)

2. Add in an obtainable form of sand and a machine to compress it into rocks... a machine of this sort would fit in perfectly with the game's theme.

3. Add a "Rock Farm" that uses Pebbles as seeds. Pebbles should be a refined material like Cut Stone made out of rocks.

4. Chiselable mountains.

5. Add in a Rock Golem/Rock Monster that can be defeated for large quantities of rocks, flint, and potentially other minerals like gold.

Addendum:

Another issue is that rocks are a finite resource. Suggestion 3 and 5 in that list could make it a renewable resource.

Edited December 18, 2012 by Chesska

[Toaster Fu]

Have you found the rock island?

[dra6o0n]

The thing is, a 'rock' island does not always exist in random generation.

Generation does not determine if x amount of resources are there, sometimes you may get barely 3 piles of rocks in a isolated island.

[Chesska]

Have you found the rock island?

Rocks are still finite, and having a Rock Island seems like a band-aid solution to the problem.

I've never made a map where I found a cluster of more than 3 boulders within 3 biomes of the starting area.

The thing is, a 'rock' island does not always exist in random generation.

Generation does not determine if x amount of resources are there, sometimes you may get barely 3 piles of rocks in a isolated island.

So my worry is valid.

Making a Fire Pit shouldn't be so difficult.

[Toaster Fu]

@Dra6o0n: Good point, I forgot that sometimes the generation turns evil.

Edit: The point of running out of rocks has come up before, thing is, no one ever has. Just take a look at this

Edited December 18, 2012 by Toaster Fu
Credit for the image goes to FatPande

[dra6o0n]

In the older builds i ended up with two islands that's linked and there were only enough rocks for 2 firepits. Literally.

After that, no more boulders in the game. At all.

[Chesska]

@Dra6o0n: Good point, I forgot that sometimes the generation turns evil.

Edit: The point of running out of rocks has come up before, thing is, no one ever has. Just take a look at this

I run out of rocks on day 3.

The reason I've died twice now is because I had to wander so far to look for rocks and none of them spawned for me.

Why do you have such a vendetta against my suggestion? Is it really that bad?

[Toaster Fu]

I don't, In fact it's pretty good (which is saying something coming from me). It's just that if there are more ways to get rocks then people like the one who posted the picture would have TONS of rocks, which would make rocks a really common resource. I think this may just be a case of bad world generation.

Edited December 18, 2012 by Toaster Fu

[Chesska]

I don't, In fact it's pretty good. It's just that if there are more ways to get rocks then people like the one who posted the picture would have TONS of rocks, which would make rocks a really common resource. I think this may just be a case of bad world generation.

Yes, by day 169 you are going to have a lot of resources.

That's the way it is with every game of this nature.

If you're that worried about it, then why not suggest limited uses on farms or even the ability for monsters to destroy them? Why not be proactive and -suggest- a way to fix the problem you see rather than shooting down my suggestion and being negative in this thread?

[Toaster Fu]

I'm sorry if I came off negative. Having too many rocks isn't a problem right now but, with more ways to get rocks I think that it might be.

And this is just my opinion, it is in no way better or worth more then yours or anyone else.

[Chesska]

I'm sorry if I came off negative. Having too many rocks isn't a problem right now but, with more ways to get rocks I think that it might be.

And this is just my opinion, it is in no way better or worth more then yours or anyone else.

No more of an issue than having too many grass that you can easily get 200 of in a day which is a renewable resource and used in recipes with other renewable resources like charcoal and twigs to make weapons and tools.

That is to say that this is a complete non-issue. Having an absurd amount of rocks would do nothing more than clog your inventory space. It's not like they're magic kill-everything-on-the-screen-and-heal-you-for-100-points grenades. They're rocks.

Hell, add the ability to weaponise rocks by making them throwable. Make them stack to 10 or 20 and do 10 damage each.

I'm legitimately not seeing an issue here, and frankly I'm a little put down and offended by your doggedness.

[Toaster Fu]

You make an excellent point, perhaps I was looking a bit too much into it.

And I am once more sorry if I offended you, I was just trying to state my opinion.

[Chesska]

You make an excellent point, perhaps I was looking a bit too much into it.

And I am once more sorry if I offended you, I was just trying to state my opinion.

Well I'm not too worked up about it, and I accept your apology.

I just don't want to see this thread get derailed into an argument over something so inane.

Like I said, be proactive. Suggestions can be made outside of the first post... if you see an issue with the suggestion, then suggest a way to eliminate that as an issue instead of just attacking the suggestion and saying it's too exploitable.

[Toaster Fu]

Several people have suggested meteors or earthquakes that would spawn more rocks when they happen. Give me a moment and I'll find the threads.

Edit: Earthquakes and meteors.

Edited December 18, 2012 by Toaster Fu

[Excess]

I, personally, don't see the need to make it renewable.

There isn't THAT much need for rocks, besides a couple of firepits and some farms. Once you have 4 farms, you are set on food for the rest of the game. Flint tools are easily replaced with golden tools; gold you can get from the pigking.

I'm not attacking your suggestions, I simply don't see them necessary.

And the broken worlds issue (only 1/2 islands; few rocks) should be addressed with tomorrows new world generator.

I feel the rocks are just fine like they are now.

[vorpalmusic]

Chesska, I agree.

I've felt from the beginning that rocks should be laying around the way flint often is. After all, regular rocks are far, far more common than flint in the real world. If anything, flint should be more difficult to obtain than regular rocks (not that I think this would be a good idea for game balance).

Another idea is that perhaps there is a small chance of coming up with rocks when digging up a tree stump or bush.

[tommy]

@Dra6o0n: Good point, I forgot that sometimes the generation turns evil.

Edit: The point of running out of rocks has come up before, thing is, no one ever has. Just take a look at this

L OH FREAKIN L.

that is marvelous toast.

[Toaster Fu]

Don't thank me thank FatPanda.

[Chesska]

I, personally, don't see the need to make it renewable.

There isn't THAT much need for rocks, besides a couple of firepits and some farms. Once you have 4 farms, you are set on food for the rest of the game. Flint tools are easily replaced with golden tools; gold you can get from the pigking.

I'm not attacking your suggestions, I simply don't see them necessary.

And the broken worlds issue (only 1/2 islands; few rocks) should be addressed with tomorrows new world generator.

I feel the rocks are just fine like they are now.

NOTHING is necessary, and I find that argument asinine.

If the next update can add in the Spider Queen, the update after that can add in Golems that drop rocks and flint.

[Thursty]

1. Add the ability to chisel a Rock into Flint with another rock (combine 2x Rock for 1x Flint)

2. Add in an obtainable form of sand and a machine to compress it into rocks... a machine of this sort would fit in perfectly with the game's theme.

3. Add a "Rock Farm" that uses Pebbles as seeds. Pebbles should be a refined material like Cut Stone made out of rocks.

4. Chiselable mountains.

5. Add in a Rock Golem/Rock Monster that can be defeated for large quantities of rocks, flint, and potentially other minerals like gold.

1. I don't really like that idea, I might be wrong, but you can't just turn a stone into flint without transmutation.

2. A machine with compresses sand to stone? Sounds a bit to far advanced for the world of don't starve to me.

3. Maybe not a rock farm, but some sort of ravine which you can find on the map. You'll build a basic derrik out of boards and ropes on top of it, which brings up a rock once a while. Someone posted this idea before I believe.

4. Mountains might be nice, but it must be in an specific biome, so it's just like the 'rock island'.

5. I really like that idea. We already have a tree guard, why not a stone guard? This would be a really nice idea.

[Chesska]

1. I don't really like that idea, I might be wrong, but you can't just turn a stone into flint without transmutation.

2. A machine with compresses sand to stone? Sounds a bit to far advanced for the world of don't starve to me.

3. Maybe not a rock farm, but some sort of ravine which you can find on the map. You'll build a basic derrik out of boards and ropes on top of it, which brings up a rock once a while. Someone posted this idea before I believe.

4. Mountains might be nice, but it must be in an specific biome, so it's just like the 'rock island'.

5. I really like that idea. We already have a tree guard, why not a stone guard? This would be a really nice idea.

1. Magic

2. SCIENCE

3. I second this. I just thought planting pebbles to grow rocks would fit in with the game's weird and quirky theme

4. "Rock Island" is dicks, change it to a mountain biome

5. I felt like this was the best of the options, myself.

[genocide]

My personal idea was that rocks should "respawn", in a non-literal sense. How it would work;

Currently, there are three stages to a rock when you are mining is; partially mined, almost entirely mined, and then completely mined. These three stages are shown visually by three different visual versions of the rock in-game.

My idea is that for each stage(where the rock isn't completely mined) the rock should drop flint/rock. This makes sense because you have already partially destroyed the rock, so where are the pieces you have broken off? The other difference here is that the rock will "regenerate" very slowly over time, as long as you didn't completely destroy the rock itself. The con here is that the rock only has a chance to drop gold if you COMPLETELY destroy it.

[Ora]

Going back to Toaster Fu's worries about there being too many rocks, I think you are forgetting that all of those turbo farms, ALL of them, will be useless when winter comes. And that's not even to mention what other springtime pests the development team may introduce to blight our farms. You know, since farming is kinda OP right now?

[Excess]

NOTHING is necessary, and I find that argument asinine.

Well I'm sorry you feel that way, but that's how I feel. Considering the time it takes to develop, implement and maintain each update, adding something that is unnecessary to an already balanced environment because... reasons?... is counterproductive, to both the game as it is now and to all the possible new and challenging ideas that could be implemented instead.

I'm just respectfully giving MY opinion on the matter, as everyone here is entitled too. There's no need to be over jealous of ones suggestions, as there will ALWAYS be people who simply won't be convinced for reasons as valid as yours to be convinced. That's the nature of the suggestions subforum.

[jackd23]

Being an open-ended game, I think you should be able to obtain all resources in infinite quantities. Of course with consideration of how much per day/harvest/whatever you are able to obtain. Just because someone got a rock rich map and built excessively many farms and made a screenshot of it, doesn't mean that there's no need for it.

Some people will always do something in the extreme, and it will appear unbalanced and/or overpowered.

Or just because right now there is no way you lose your structures that require stone, doesn't mean there won't be at a later date, or more structures that require a lot of rock and/or cut stone. Saying that there would be too much stone is a wholly empty argument, because all renewable resources are infinite unless you destroy your environment. Lose all pine cones (wood), kill all Beefalos (manure), etc.

Personally, I'd like to see actual mines, as in caves. Possibly with the ability to actually dig tunnels with a chance of a cave-in if you don't reinforce the walls and/or ceiling.

Yay for cave homes!

It's all about how you phrase your opinion. First you're appearing blunt, lecturing, and mortifying, then you're coming back to cry some more because someone told you that your "facts" are not entirely correct.

Edited December 19, 2012 by jackd23