Savanna - Why is it such a popular base site?

[Asparagus]

So, I've seen a lot of players make their bases in the savanna because of the rabbits, and beefalo...

 

Sure, that's good, but it's becoming so... cliche(?) that it gets annoying sometimes...

 

And sometimes, I ask the host where a particular resource/biome would be located (talking about those who have a world day of about 50 to 100+ in) and they say "dunno"

 

O__O they haven't even explored their world and immediately built a base in the savanna, plucking out saplings and berry bushes on their way... is it like instinct or something?

 

Seriously, I've entered a lot of random servers and more often than not, their bases are all in the savanna biomes X_X

 

OK, I'm just going to ask you, dear readers, please enlighten me (not being confrontational but just genuinely asking), what power draws you (maybe not you) to build a base in the savanna?

 

Or it is a case of splumonkey see splumonkey do?

 

     ,///////,

@(O__O)@ (<---- splumokey vacant stare)

 

 

I wouldn't mind it so much if they made the bases look... stylish? or at least had a system instead of just surrounding a campfire with berry bushes, saplings, grass tufts and farm plots... sure that's good for a farm area but what about the base? where's the pizzazz? the je ne sais quoi?

 

...I personally like the mosaic biome or the deciduous forest from DS:RoG because atmosphere

>:_:<

[Auth]

I just like to settle near zillions of beehives because flowers are plentiful for sanity and whenever those big mean bully hounds/deerclopseseseses show up the bees take care of them.

[Asparagus]

bees take care of them.

 

 

 

BEES!!

 

So what does the base look like/what does it compose of?

 

Describe it using daedric language O__O

...

or English... English will do...

[Auth]

 

 

 

BEES!!

 

So what does the base look like/what does it compose of?

 

Describe it using daedric language O__O

...

or English... English will do...

 

 

it looks like a hodgepodge of crap, and some sh*t thrown in occasionally, some cobblestones, a few walls, and some chests, maybe 1 or 2 ice boxes and miles and miles of drying racks.

[Pyromailmann]

Because Beefalo.

[Birdget]

I get where you're coming from. I've tried putting bases down in other spots like next to swamps or in the middle of a rock field. Just the commute to get to beefalo is so time consuming when you could just set up shop right next to them.

[Silentdarkness1]

It's the beefalo. Why else?!

[RobotAccomplice]

I like to have a base close to roads, wormholes, rock biomes, biomes o' plenty, and a beefalo herd if possible. However, beefalo are one of the most important parts of the equation for surviving winter.

[Birdget]

I wonder what people would do without beefalo or manure for that matter

[rezecib]

@Birdget, In RoG I normally set up in birchnut biomes, regardless of where beefalo were. This was before I knew how OP wool was, though... But the easy access to mushrooms, glommer, a cave entrance, and the pig king and his village are pretty compelling.

 

Outside of that arrangement that was introduced in RoG, there aren't really any serious competitors to beefalo. I remember one time on Reddit I was writing up a comparison of different base locations, and when I had them side-by-side, beefalo blew pretty much everything else out of the water... Easy protection from hounds, manure for farms, fertilizer, and fuel, virtually infinite wool for fuel (you can gather 40+ in a night every 3 days...), even protection from some giants if the herd gets big enough, access to renewable meat.

[Asparagus]

miles and miles of drying racks.

 

And streets paved with honey... hams?

 

Because Beefalo.

In RoG I normally set up in birchnut biomes

 

 

Well, telelocator focus and staff that sh*t XD (That's what I did in RoG)

 

... made a beefalo herd in the birchnut forests 

[Affun]

I had a similar feeling too, about the Savannah being too popular. My latest DST adventure as Wickerbottom, I skipped over that particular biome (asides gathering manure for a couple farms) 'til I stumbled upon a huge frog pond biome full of flowers, with plenty of spider nests to the south, and a swamp just to the north.

 

Farm Spiders and Frogs with Tentacles + Bird Cage = Endless bacon and eggs. Beehive and Drying racks = Sanity and Health for years. Amassing frogs to the swamp to hunt for tentacle spots and spikes. Hounds and Deerclops die to tentacles. Spider Queens and Treeguards play with a lureplant until they get bored and settle down. It's become way too easy, and it's only day 40.

 

The sad part is, I'm all by myself because no one wants to visit the crazy old lady who's 3-4 days worth of walking from spawn. (plus, why come to me when there are beefalo by spawn?)

[rezecib]

@Asparagus, Relocating beefalo is surprisingly finnicky. If you don't hit the right herd recalculation timing, then they get really fixated on staying in a particular location. I'd guess that most people who try relocating them give up on it after a few tries.

 

... they should really push herd recalculation once the effects of the horn wear off. That would make it a much more reliable tool.

[Asparagus]

@rezecib, hmm...

 

Alright here's what I did:

1. Make telelocator and surround with walls
2. teleport 1 beefalo
3. wait till said beefalo spawns a little child beefalo
4. kill parent beefalo
5. Little beefalo with no parent wanders around the enclosed space.
6. Little beefalo grows up to be a big beefalo
7. the area where the smal beefalo developed into a  big beefalo becomes its home...

I've done this successfully for 3 of my worlds (3 out of 3)

 

I think that when a solitary little beefalo becomes an adult, that area where it becomes an adult becomes well, I don't know how to put this... um herd area?

 

I've also chased a little beefalo far away from its original herd, corralled it because it still wants to go back to its original herd, and waited till it became of age. after that, it became a fully-grown beefalo and it stopped wanting to go back to its original herd. and in time it produced its own herd.

 

try it O___O

[rezecib]

@Asparagus, That's kind of a huge time and resource investment just to move beefalo. If you can get to that level, you don't need the beefalo at all. Which is why people settle near them

[Asparagus]

s kind

 

You're right, I only did that first part (the use of telelocatos) for laughs... but it is possible

 

now for that last one I did, the one where I chased a small beefalo and corralled it, it only takes about 1-2 days, depending on where you want to put it... a grass wall pen should do the trick for initial entrapment and work your way up to stone walls if the herd get big enough...

 

Idea  

1. Do steps to entrap beefalo to a different place
2. make that place the swamps 
3. The wander around and kill tentacles/mosquitoes/merms
4. reap fruits of their labor
5. if they die, do step 4

hahaha...

 

O__O

[T4T3RGR3NAD3R]

Beefalo and mass scale rabbit trapping are obvious answers, but there is also the huge amount of grass. You can move saplings around as you please, but when you move grass, you have to keep fertilizing it. Finally, people just like the color of the savanna grass.

[Asparagus]

but when you move grass, you have to keep fertilizing it.

 

That's true.... but have you ever encountered a savanna base where the people dig out the grass and replace them near the base... just to make a collection of grass?

 

I have...

 

O__O

 

It's ludicrous!

 

take grass from the savannas and replace them... in the savanna...

[Kuldiin]

Build at portal if you like it rough.

[ryouryou]

Moving the grass into an easier farm is still an eventual goal, just saves time once manure becomes basically unlimited. But at the start, it is a lot less necessary if you are in a savannah, That means I can just move sticks, use all the manure for farms/bushes, and it's just so much easier. Besides, at the beginning it is usually a grass economy for me, that is, grass is much more needed than sticks. Between tons of traps and all the rope for racks, I want to be near a **** ton of grass.


Hole density on the same screen is a biggie for me too. If i see 6+ rabbit holes all on the same screen, I want to be close to that. Being visible means people are more likely to harvest the rabbits and it is easier to replace the traps if someone moved them or they broke.


I dump a fire pit at any location I might want to stay the night at, including pig villages, somewhere next to a swamp, rock field, etc. I don't mind being a few screens from the beefalo, in fact I try to be on purpose because people are, eh, not that bright, and will aggro them when they're having their mating season, leading other not-that-bright people to kill them all. Then you have a sad savannah with no moos. No moos at all.

[XirmiX]

I build my base near the savanna, not right in it. I prefer grass biome, where there's already a lot of basic supplies.

[blaaaat]

Beefalos. The one and only reason is beefalos. There's the easy access to wool and manure and the protection against hounds, frog rain, and non-effect giants. Mating season also has its loot perks - it's pretty much the only time I get to make waffles. Rabbits aren't that interesting as food after day 3 or so and once the hat machine is made, so that's not really a factor to me. The grass is interesting, but also not the crucial factor.

 

If it weren't for the beefalos, I'd love to set up a base near a lot of grassland ponds. Frogs are one of my favorite food sources and they protect decently against hounds.

 

I think that another reason I never even consider certain biomes is that I hate destroying my worlds. So, swamps and deserts and places where catcoons live are out. Also any place that has those non-reproducing pine trees. (Statues and the like I don't care much about, though I tend to leave them standing and wish I could bring them over to my base.) One ill-timed fire hound death or giant and what gets destroyed can never be restored (within the opportunities of the game).

 

Perhaps if more things could be restored, I'd consider new base locations. RoG summer as the one time you can get, say, reed seeds or cactus seeds would do much to balance its destructive negatives out. I'd also love more methods to regulate certain mob movement other than traps to keep them out of the base. Like doors, cattle grids, and maybe stink gas.

 

And maybe we need more herd-like creatures with perks like the beefalos. Volt goats are nice, but definitely not as nice.

 

[saltychipmunk]

this is curious , I almost never settle near beefalo. and infact doing so in the past has bit me in the ass when a deerclops shows  up or when they are in heat and agro the pigmen i have ( i get a shitload of pig men to act as a buffer against deer clops till i get in there and kill it)

 

 

Ususally when i start the game I try and find the brick road (grey road) then i follow it to a pig king / village

then i retrace my steps till i get to what i feel is the middle of the important parts of the map and i settle down.

 

Being next to a road that leads to an infinite gold supply is quite useful since i play wigfrig on  excessivly monster heavy maps ( more tall birds , more merms , lots of hounds , lots of krampus , lots of deerclops ,  more mating seasons  etc. ) the carnage is extensive

[Michi01]

I normally build my camp in a decidious forest or sometimes grassland (If I can't find a forest)
because of the many plants and adorable catcoons :3.
Being near a desert is also a high priority because of cacti and
tumbleweeds.
But yeah, in vanilla and DST I normally settle down in grassland.
 

[BiggSauliz]

F**k savanna. Usually I just build base in the middle of map close to road and if it ain't grassland I make it grassland. Why grassland? Because it looks nice with flowers and all the other things.