Seriously, we need to discuss Summer.

[rezecib]

Well, I'm seeing several suggestions for making Summer more punishing, but as I see it the problem is that it's all punishment. The only things that are available just in Summer are only useful in Summer. It needs to have something useful you can get; if that's paired with an additional punishing mechanic, fine, but what it really needs is some reward.

 

There was an old (RoG beta) suggestion for a phoenix (special bird) that you could get in Summer. There are a lot of directions you could go with that, like making it have some improved bird cage functionality (always giving 2 seeds for that crop, higher chance of guano from generic seeds, converting generic seeds into dragonfruit seeds, etc), and that could be counterbalanced by some usability issues (such as reverting to an egg in Winter if it gets too cold, that can only be hatched in a fire during Summer). It could be something that wanders throughout the world and leaves a trail that you can follow or something, and then have to befriend with gifts.

 

I hope something like that gets considered for Through the Ages, at least.

 

Locusts/Buzzards attacking crops is kind of cool thematically, but I think that role is already occupied by withering.

[Arcita]

Well, I'm seeing several suggestions for making Summer more punishing, but as I see it the problem is that it's all punishment. The only things that are available just in Summer are only useful in Summer. It needs to have something useful you can get; if that's paired with an additional punishing mechanic, fine, but what it really needs is some reward.

 

There was an old (RoG beta) suggestion for a phoenix (special bird) that you could get in Summer. There are a lot of directions you could go with that, like making it have some improved bird cage functionality (always giving 2 seeds for that crop, higher chance of guano from generic seeds, converting generic seeds into dragonfruit seeds, etc), and that could be counterbalanced by some usability issues (such as reverting to an egg in Winter if it gets too cold, that can only be hatched in a fire during Summer). It could be something that wanders throughout the world and leaves a trail that you can follow or something, and then have to befriend with gifts.

 

I hope something like that gets considered for Through the Ages, at least.

I really like the idea of that phoenix bird. Back when they made that change to birds where they sleep at night, there was a popular suggestion for a special owl bird that you can catch which will stay up at night. Maybe the phoenix bird can fulfill that role.

 

Locusts/Buzzards attacking crops is kind of cool thematically, but I think that role is already occupied by withering.

I was actually thinking that the locusts could replace the withering entirely. It's better because you have more control over whether or not things wither. If you take proper precautions against the cricket population, then you'll be good, but if not, then they will rise up and wreak havoc later on in summer. It's more involved and rewarding than withering which is more of a bleak, inevitable hellscape no matter what you do.

[Machine Reaper]

Well the withering mechanic is sort of like what you have in view is what gets withered, for example, if you passed sapling in summer and it wasn't withered at the moment, it will get withered after a while but if you Don't come and look at it again some other time, it will remain withered all year around, that same thing is about getting withered, if you don't want something to get withered or catch a wildfire, just don't go where it is, it will remain fine throughout the entire summer.This is what I don't like.

[T4T3RGR3NAD3R]

It might be nice to have a Sunbird, an orange variant of the Redbird. It would drop an amber feather, which would make a slow dart, given that the orange gem is laziness. However, the business of songbirds gets rather tricky. Should every season have a unique bird? Does it make sense to not have the redbird in summer? Should crows be excluded from any season? Would new players lose the experience of being first introduced to the redbird and crow? One sure thing is that redbirds for 3 seasons and snowbirds for one is a little unbalanced.

[RalphKastro]

slow dart

I'm not experienced at all in pvp, but why would you want to slow dart something when you can just sleep dart or run away?

 

Aside from that, it'd be cool if the redbird was exclusive to summer, and some other random bird was added for fall and spring(although just crows creeping about would be cool too). but it'd still be pretty useless since nobody uses fire darts AFAIK and the hat only needs three. It would also encourage more turtling, although at least it would add some extra activity to do aside from binge sleeping. 

[T4T3RGR3NAD3R]

I'm not experienced at all in pvp, but why would you want to slow dart something when you can just sleep dart or run away?

 

Aside from that, it'd be cool if the redbird was exclusive to summer, and some other random bird was added for fall and spring(although just crows creeping about would be cool too). but it'd still be pretty useless since nobody uses fire darts AFAIK and the hat only needs three. It would also encourage more turtling, although at least it would add some extra activity to do aside from binge sleeping. 

 

 

The sleep dart is better for an escape or gunpowder. The slow dart could be used to get more hits in. It would be more of a combat aid.

[blaaaat]

I would really love more to do in Summer, but rather not things that make it mirror Winter even more. I approve of a special mob, but rather not one that's in anyway connected to MacTusk. How about in Summer something comes living in TNTs? Like an owl or moth or hybrid or whatever (Howlmouth has a ring to it). Don't know what they'd drop - would probably require TNTs to become renewable. Something like two living logs and three nightmare fuels for one TNT sapling. You know, just something new rather than mirror-winter! 

 

One thing that bothers me about Summer is that it's nearly impossible to make use of endothermic fire while travelling because nitre is rare and limited, or at least until you go underground (and then it's still rare). Meanwhile, you will want to hold onto nitre too for gunpowder for the Dragonfly and other Giants. I would love to have some spot that allows you to trade something for nitre. Perhaps a mob that takes durians for nitre. The two items sorta look the same and I'd like to see more uses for food other than eating (like the hambat and watermelon hat) to make food management more integral to the gameplay. I always get sad when I hear people consider farming a waste of time or only farm dragonfruits.

 

Another thing I'd like to see is some way to keep crops alive during summer. If the ice flingomatic isn't upgraded, I accept a water tower-sprinkler system to keep the crops from withering. Pretty much, I spend a good deal of summer hunting for poop to rush-grow the crops. If I can get a little more chill with a water bassin I could, like, add ice to and that fills itself during rain, that'd make the longer growth time of summer days more worth it and I could ease up on the poop collecting.

 

Tentacles spawning in Summer is a nice one. I hate how the swamps become empty after a while, not to mention the spike is my favored weapon.

 

A general thing I also feel DS could do with is more season-cooperation. Like items made from multiple season-exclusive products. Or which follow from each other. Like, if we had random dustdevils during Summer and they could only be destroyed with the feather fan and then there'd be a chance at a pitchfork weapon. It'd require a Spring-item to be used in on a Summer-phenomenon to get something new. That's something I think would help lengthen the fun of longtime survival.

[Arcita]

The sleep dart is better for an escape or gunpowder. The slow dart could be used to get more hits in. It would be more of a combat aid.

Currently drowsiness acts like a slowness effect, so at the moment there'd be absolutely no reason to choose a slow dart over a sleep dart. I do hope they change drowsiness though. The power imbalance is way too extreme, especially since you can stack the sleep and drowsiness timers.

I would really love more to do in Summer, but rather not things that make it mirror Winter even more. I approve of a special mob, but rather not one that's in anyway connected to MacTusk. How about in Summer something comes living in TNTs? Like an owl or moth or hybrid or whatever (Howlmouth has a ring to it). Don't know what they'd drop - would probably require TNTs to become renewable. Something like two living logs and three nightmare fuels for one TNT sapling. You know, just something new rather than mirror-winter!

I'm having a blonde moment. What do you mean by "TNT"? All that comes to mind is the explosive. o_O

 

Another thing I'd like to see is some way to keep crops alive during summer. If the ice flingomatic isn't upgraded, I accept a water tower-sprinkler system to keep the crops from withering. Pretty much, I spend a good deal of summer hunting for poop to rush-grow the crops. If I can get a little more chill with a water bassin I could, like, add ice to and that fills itself during rain, that'd make the longer growth time of summer days more worth it and I could ease up on the poop collecting.

Rejoice because flingomatics already do keep crops alive during summer.

[RalphKastro]

Howlmouth

this?: http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/dont-starve-game/images/7/78/Skreecher2.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/160?cb=20131024164906

 

Tentacles spawning in Summer is a nice one. I hate how the swamps become empty after a while, not to mention the spike is my favored weapon.

cool, but with a huge potential for ruining worlds.

 

A general thing I also feel DS could do with is more season-cooperation. Like items made from multiple season-exclusive products. Or which follow from each other. Like, if we had random dustdevils during Summer and they could only be destroyed with the feather fan and then there'd be a chance at a pitchfork weapon. It'd require a Spring-item to be used in on a Summer-phenomenon to get something new. That's something I think would help lengthen the fun of longtime survival.

that, alongside the season specific upgrades for the very season(winter koalephant trunk) are things I really enjoy about seasons. just needs to make sure that one doesn't neuter the effects of the next season(or any seasons at all. Challenge should still be there.) like a certain parasol hat.

[oCrapaCreeper]

I made a thread covering the issues with summer a long time ago in the RoG forum, but I think it's just as relevant in DST albeit multiplayer changes to things like the Dragonfly.

 

http://forums.kleientertainment.com/topic/35281-theres-really-no-incentive-to-want-to-play-through-summer/

[Pepesito1]

Buzzards stealing things from your chests-but you can do something like... idk, a smelly flooring that prevents that. (guano floor :v )

[blaaaat]

I'm having a blonde moment. What do you mean by "TNT"? All that comes to mind is the explosive. o_O

 

Rejoice because flingomatics already do keep crops alive during summer. 

TNT is Totally Normal Tree. Those trees with a face that spawn about three per world on normal settings and that look like a big deal but aren't. Seems perfect for a Summer mob to me.

 

And, apologies, but my DST experiences have been limited for the past months - have ice flingomatics been updated for DST to keep crops alive?

 

this?: http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/dont-starve-game/images/7/78/Skreecher2.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/160?cb=20131024164906

 

cool, but with a huge potential for ruining worlds.

 

that, alongside the season specific upgrades for the very season(winter koalephant trunk) are things I really enjoy about seasons. just needs to make sure that one doesn't neuter the effects of the next season(or any seasons at all. Challenge should still be there.) like a certain parasol hat.

 

I swear I'll quit DS forever if they put Screechers in it. I love the mod, but those things are scary as all.

 

I was repeating another's proposal, but yes, I can think of a few ways that tentacle respawning could be a problem, not even mentioning marshes in the caves. Still, if the spawn rate/chance is not too high, it shouldn't be a problem as we're talking only a 1/4th of the game time on only one kind of turf. Perhaps rundown houses should become buildable to help with potential overpopulations?

 

Without the eyebrella, I think Summer'd be impossible for me and even as is I can't fully rely on it. It rather amuses me that all giant drops are useful in some way for getting through Summer. It says something about the season's difficulty. Still, it could perhaps do with some management considerations. Winter is a constant switching between the beefalo hat and ToS to keep warm (cold) and sane (long nights) so perhaps a similar catch could be implemented for the eyebrella?

[Arcita]

TNT is Totally Normal Tree. Those trees with a face that spawn about three per world on normal settings and that look like a big deal but aren't. Seems perfect for a Summer mob to me.

 

And, apologies, but my DST experiences have been limited for the past months - have ice flingomatics been updated for DST to keep crops alive?

Ah! Yeah, that's a great call with the TNT. And flingomatics could always keep crops, saplings, tufts, and bushes alive even in single-player.

[blaaaat]

Ah! Yeah, that's a great call with the TNT. And flingomatics could always keep crops, saplings, tufts, and bushes alive even in single-player.

They don't do that for me and have never done that for me. They keep plants just fine - saplings, tufts, and bushes. But they hit crops once and then never again and I end up with gass instead of food. This unexpected event pretty much killed me my first RoG Summer and looking around I am not the only who was unpleasantly surprised. Even the wiki avoids the use of "crops" and only speaks of the aforementioned plants.

 

I mean, it might very well be a common bug that's yet to be fixed some day. I have seen posts that suggest the ice flingomatics can keep crops alive. But I've seen even more that say ice flingomatics are only good for plants and that's my experience too.

[Arcita]

They don't do that for me and have never done that for me. They keep plants just fine - saplings, tufts, and bushes. But they hit crops once and then never again and I end up with gass instead of food. This unexpected event pretty much killed me my first RoG Summer and looking around I am not the only who was unpleasantly surprised. Even the wiki avoids the use of "crops" and only speaks of the aforementioned plants.

 

I mean, it might very well be a common bug that's yet to be fixed some day. I have seen posts that suggest the ice flingomatics can keep crops alive. But I've seen even more that say ice flingomatics are only good for plants and that's my experience too.

Well to be honest I've never actually used farms! I just keep them as decoration. So my experience is going over to them during summers and visually verifying that they've never withered. If something strange happens when you actually pick them, then that sounds very weird indeed.

[Kobalt6]

For summers effects on characters. why not implement sunburn during the summer, instead of over heating. I think sunburn would be a better option since all of them are fair skinned (except for webster). New crafting recipes could make tanning lotion and how much of this you take with you can determine how far you can travel at a given time. (maybe glommer gloop can help make sun lotion?)

 

As for plant wilting i like the idea but give every plant maybe a 50/50 chance for wilt during a season. Summer is a season where the plants should be thriving not all of em dying and struggling.

 

And concerning fires during the summer i would also still keep this in game but create violent thunder storms during summer with extra lighting. when said lighting strikes thats when a fire would start, rather than just at any random time  as currently implemented. This idea could also be passively avoided by players making sure they build lightning rods

[Machine Reaper]

In the end lets put down the points we want to be in Summer:

 

1: Changes to Withering/Wildfire mechanic.

2: New Mobs/Phenomenons in Summer.

3: New Giant or Dragonfly related Occurrence in Summer.

4: Not much relation of New things to other Seasons.

 

Lets hope the Devs notice this after the Caves/D-Server phase is complete and hey we still have Shipwrecked that's coming, who knows what is that gonna bring in Summer ; )

[ailailou]

[...] and hey we still have Shipwrecked that's coming [...]

 

When it comes to DST I'd be more hyped about Through the Ages. Shipwrecked is going to be a single player experience. The skins have gained almost all the hype lately but we mustn't forget about the many great and magnificent things that're going to be in Through the Ages. 

[TemporaryMan]

Does Shipwrecked even have summer?  I thought it had monsoon season.

[TheKingofSquirrels]

Just make the male Dragon Fly spawn in summer like in SP. It´s weaker, but it doesn´t drop eggs, unlike the female.

[Machine Reaper]

Just make the male Dragon Fly spawn in summer like in SP. It´s weaker, but it doesn´t drop eggs, unlike the female.

 

The dragonfly is Female in general, their isn't a male dragonfly and shouldn't be either or else it will make the game too much creepy if you ask me, I mean shouldn't there be Male Tallbirds, Penguins, Birds then?

[Arcita]

The dragonfly is Female in general, their isn't a male dragonfly and shouldn't be either or else it will make the game too much creepy if you ask me, I mean shouldn't there be Male Tallbirds, Penguins, Birds then?

were do beefalo babby come frum?

[absimiliard]

were do beefalo babby come frum?

 

From Maxwell, of course.

[Pyromailmann]

were do beefalo babby come frum?

Beefalo have no gender.

[Shian]

were do beefalo babby come frum?

 

Beefalo reproduce by binary fission, i.e. they split into two beefalo like some bacteria.

 

 

Also just to play the devil's advocate and because it hasn't been mentioned before, there are four things you can do which are more efficient in summer:

 

- Use pigs. Due to the longer days it's easier to get them to do stuff for you for longer. This was especially useful in single player for cutting wood, but I understand that it's not nearly as useful in DST.

- Farm red gems. Whilst it's true fire hounds can appear in different seasons as well, only in summer do they spawn from Vargs or Hound mounds. Again this isn't so useful in DST because if you really want the gems it's better to farm dragonfly.

- Get butter. Longer days=more butterflies.

- Farm Krampus. The majority of innocent creatures are active during the day. Even if you use wickerbottom's books to farm birds and Krampus, short nights means there is less time when you can't farm.

 

Again, it's mostly end-game or useless stuff in DST, but just putting it out there.