Is this a bug or a dumb feature?

[Tarmon]

So I recently started playing DST with a friend of mine that is completely new to the game. We ended up having to start over several times due to normal things (her dying in darkness then me dying trying to get spider glands for a telltale heart, etc.) but then when she got the hang of things we lost a world to the most bullshit thing I've ever experienced in Dont Starve. On Day 3, we had just found a good savannah to set up our base in, and made some chests to store all of our extraneous stuff. The next day we then went exploring trying to find spider nests and saplings to take back to the new base. Suddenly, all the berry bushes and saplings that we came across started withering. I haven't played too much RoG, but I knew that we needed to get something to cool down. Unfortunately, it was day 4, all the nitre was stored at our base which was now halfway across the world, and we ended up dying. I figured it was just a freak heat wave, and since I had set the game mode to endless after multiple failed survival attempts, we made our way back to the spawn portal. We respawned on day 5 and the same thing happened. And on day 6. And on day 7. At this point, the heat wave still isnt over, our max health is down to 30 so we cant survive the hound wave that we can hear approaching, all the food is rotten, all the berry bushes are withered, and we are completely fucked. So we abandoned that world, and havent had that issue since. I thought maybe I had accidentally set the season start to spring because I was changing the presets to add things like more skeletons etc. but I checked the settings afterwards and it was set to autumn. If needed I still have the world and can put up some screen shots. If this isn't a bug, how the hell are you supposed to deal with it? Oftentimes I don't even have a base set up by day 4, let alone have the resources to deal with a 5 day heat wave. Any response would be greatly appreciated.

[LadyD]

Don't Starve sometimes has a learning curve like a brick wall painted to look like sky. 

It has happened to me as well. Sometimes even though it is supposed to start in Autumn it doesn't- you get spring that swiftly turns into summer. Which then turns into heat and death. Thermometers are your best predictor of things turning cold or hot. Also pay attention to the changes in length of day, dusk and night. This also indicates if you are heading for winter or to summer. 

[GiddyGuy]

Um did you ever find a desert with a icebox with a temperature gauge and chest nearby it?

[Derpime]

Punctations

[GiddyGuy]

Thermometers are your best predictor of things turning cold or hot. Also pay attention to the changes in length of day, dusk and night. This also indicates if you are heading for winter or to summer. 

Or just get the always on status mod made by Rezecib which shows you what seasons are coming and what season you're in.

[SuperPsiPower]

To me, This sounds like a set piece messing up a world. One of your friends or you yourself have set off a "Summer Trap" Which looks like a Chest, an Ice box, and a thermal measurer. Many people have done this before and there is no other way a heatwave would strike day 3. Unless world gen options were messed with. And the summer trap lasts 15-16 days because of the seasonal change.

[Johnny5isAlive]

@Tarmon, One of you found an Ice Box, Chest, and Thermal Measurer in the desert and opened it. A classic noob mistake. 

[RalphKastro]

One of your friends or you yourself have set off a "Summer Trap"

wait, it has a Summer trap too? Life just got weirder.

While I do believe your death there was kinda warranted for, this brings up another problem I have with summer: It's survival depends on preparation. You always can, with some difficulty, start a world in Winter and live if you're good at the game, but it's nigh impossible to do the same with summer, as the first cooling item you get is locked behind a science machine, and requires nitre, all grass and twigs become unavaiable instead of unrespawning, and the early insulation items are kinda worthless(although that may be different with the Whirly Fan. Gotta test that). 

[Dipps]

wait, it has a Summer trap too? Life just got weirder.

While I do believe your death there was kinda warranted for, this brings up another problem I have with summer: It's survival depends on preparation. You always can, with some difficulty, start a world in Winter and live if you're good at the game, but it's nigh impossible to do the same with summer, as the first cooling item you get is locked behind a science machine, and requires nitre, all grass and twigs become unavaiable instead of unrespawning, and the early insulation items are kinda worthless(although that may be different with the Whirly Fan. Gotta test that). 

 

One could argue that this is singleplayer... but considering the new mechanics, doesn't seem all that much impossible. Oh, yeah, the Whirly Fan also can bug out summer and let you constantly have a passive temperature just under the overheat threshold, all of this while moving. So you have straw hat, pretty parasol and whirly fan to cool you down from start; which is pretty exponential considering that in the solo version of the game, you merely have the first two which are only able to slow down the heat, whilst the latter (whirly fan) can actually cool you down under certain circumstances.

 

...Also, he did it with Wes. Not Wickerswotty. (how did she learn to make alchemy engine recipes so quick?!)

[Tarmon]

To me, This sounds like a set piece messing up a world. One of your friends or you yourself have set off a "Summer Trap" Which looks like a Chest, an Ice box, and a thermal measurer. Many people have done this before and there is no other way a heatwave would strike day 3. Unless world gen options were messed with. And the summer trap lasts 15-16 days because of the seasonal change.

 

Now that you mention it, I think she might have found something like that while we were exploring separately. I still find it a bit frustrating that something that devastating exists without any warning. Ah well, we're now on a new world and halfway through winter so its water under the bridge now. Thanks for all the replies

[RalphKastro]

@Dipps, fair enough. Guess I'm just not good enough...