The DST Tips n' Tricks Thread!

[Prakhar]

5 hours ago, JellyUltra said:

Depending on Beefalo like this is a bad habit and just makes you seem like you don't know what you're doing. You can take out hound attacks with just a hambat (which can be bundled up in a bundling wrap so it never spoils), and you can get manure with a werepig and some berries far faster than Beefalo can produce it.

Hey!

I use only beefalo for hound defense, and now that they have 1000 hp, its even better (i play solo so not many hounds). I don't like to engage in combat unless necessary, so i even take the deerclops through trees to kill it via treeguards.

Everyone has their playstyle, if someone assumes i don't know what i am doing, its their fault.

Also, i did not know that foods in wrapping papers don't spoil. Thanks.

Now heres my tip:

1. Use 2 thermal stones and you can last the entire day without needing to use a fire/endofire.

2. It is quite easy to get rid of all giants if you build enough torches and run through trees.

3. Using mods like always on status, wheres my beefalo and season text really increase the quality of play. Use them.

[BiddoBams]

15 minutes ago, Prakhar said:

Hey!

I use only beefalo for hound defense, and now that they have 1000 hp, its even better (i play solo so not many hounds). I don't like to engage in combat unless necessary, so i even take the deerclops through trees to kill it via treeguards.

Everyone has their playstyle, if someone assumes i don't know what i am doing, its their fault.

 

Exacly this. I play with my friend and we've played for quite a long, 400 hours each and we still use beefalo to deal with hounds. Why? It works. You don't need to prepare for it, you don't need to risk anything. All you do is when you hear hounds, no matter what you're doing, find some beefalo and you're safe.

I also carry a bush hat with me, putting on a bush hat near beefalo during a hound attack will clear the hounds up super quickly and saves you running around like a headless chicken.

[Sicko Hog]

But why drop everything you're doing and run across the map to beefalo every hound attack when you could just use one inventory slot for a bundled hambat and take them out in 30 seconds? Admittedly the "you don't know what you're doing" comment was a bit rude, but beefalo are something that new player cling to and act like they're one of the most important things when they're: a bad source of manure, inconvenient hound protection, will try to kill you for a full season unless you carry around a beefalo hat, and will breed to the point of extreme lag in long term worlds unless tended to.

Anyways, I haven't given any actual tips so:

- Volt Goats are an amazing food source, 3 meat and 1 electric milk as long as you can get a hit on them with a morning star. They breed fairly quickly too.
- Volt Goats herds can be moved by killing all but one goat and then chasing it slowly to your base. Stop every screen or so while you're chasing it and watch the goat, if it wanders in the general area then the herd's been moved and you can chase it for another screen.
- When hunting MacTusks, just run up to him and chase him a few screens away from the igloo, let a friend take care of the hounds or hope that they lose interest along the way. After he's far from the igloo he'll turn back and walk slowly in it's direction, you can kill him like this without him fighting back.
- After you get a tam from MacTusk you should wear it instead of a beefalo hat, the insulation is just as good AND you get a sanity boost.
- Your first in-game week or so should be spent walking around the ocean to get the shape of your world and a basic idea of where the biomes are.
- Wherever you decide to base doesn't really matter, pretty much everything but reeds and cactus can be moved to anywhere on the map. Pigs can be moved, bunnymen can be moved, beefalo can be moved, volt goats can be moved, moleworms, bees, tentacles if you're wickerbottom, berries, everything necessary for survival and then some.

[BiddoBams]

4 minutes ago, JellyUltra said:

But why drop everything you're doing and run across the map to beefalo every hound attack when you could just use one inventory slot for a bundled hambat and take them out in 30 seconds? Admittedly the "you don't know what you're doing" comment was a bit rude, but beefalo are something that new player cling to and act like they're one of the most important things when they're: a bad source of manure, inconvenient hound protection, will try to kill you for a full season unless you carry around a beefalo hat, and will breed to the point of extreme lag in long term worlds unless tended to.
 

I guess it depends on where you are, In my current world Beefalo are absolutely everywhere so it's really not that hard to find some. Second, the current world I'm playing on with a friend is later on, and therefor hound attacks are huge. They also live in an entirely different continent to me, so combat for them is quite laggy. Its just a simple case of "It works." And it does work. Perfectly fine. There is zero risk.

I guess for me they're convenient. Just do whatever works for you! If you wana fight off hounds, go nuts, I wont judge you. If you wana use Beefalo, tentacles, pigs, bunnymen, teeth traps, hey as long as it works, it works.

[Sicko Hog]

The hound attacks being huge doesn't matter (you can dodge once and then hit three times for each hound with a hambat), but if you're playing with a friend that's far away I can see that being a problem. Try making them turn off lag compensation to see if that makes things better? Not being able to fight things is a huge disadvantage.

And yeah, as long as you're having fun it doesn't really matter how you deal with imaginary video game wolves    

[Rellimarual]

I just played through a Spring that had FIVE frog rains. They killed three geese and all their moslings. We had 300 frogs legs, not to mention the meat from the geese and chicks. Then, because we're playing ANR, we wrapped it all in waxed paper to keep til autumn.

[Sicko Hog]

Bundling wraps are amazing. Not great at combat? Throw some blue caps in one and wrap it up. Trouble managing sanity? Some non-spoiling cactus flesh will fix that up quickly. Don't like having to go back to base to stock up on food every few days? Meatballs have a ten day spoilage time but that doesn't mean anything to a bundling wrap. No space in your inventory but you really want to pick something up? Wrap up some of your junk and you've got three free inventory slots.
And what does this cost? Some honeycombs, papyrus, and just three grass every time you want to wrap it up. I'll honestly be surprised if they aren't nerfed in some way before ANR is officially released.

[HamBatter]

On Hound attacks, you can kite for the first few, tank the next few with armor, and after that by then you should have something for when alternating bites makes it annoying.

 

If you're new, you really should have some gos at it alone. Experiment and be reckless, because you can always reset on death. That experience will carry over to future worlds, where you can be more committed to 100%ing recipes and base-building.

[Sinister_Fang]

Here's a small tip for dealing with treeguards. If you get two treeguard to spawn and you don't have anyone to help you distract the 2nd one, just freeze one with an ice staff. Freezing it will cause it to lose agro when it thaws out so you can fight them one at a time instead of both at once.

[Electroely]

T be honest at least 25% of the things in this thread are new to me. Anyways, here's another tip: Excluding boss drops, the best items for surviving each season's natural effects are: puffy vest and beefalo hat for winter, rain coat for spring and floral shirt + straw hat for summer. All the chest slot items mentioned have as much insulation/coolness/dryness value as the boss drop that would normally replace them (which is 240).

[Kzisor]

@Electroely, what is your criteria for 'boss' drops. Are we talking about raid bosses where they require multiple people to kill or over a specific amount of health?

[Electroely]

Just now, Kzisor said:

@Electroely, what is your criteria for 'boss' drops. Are we talking about raid bosses where they require multiple people to kill or over a specific amount of health?

I'm talking about the Hibearnation Vest (for winter) and the Eyebrella (spring and summer). I don't think any other boss drop items have a weather protection factor.

[Pelliway]

Ewecus/Spider Queen/Varg getting you down? Use werepigs! Turn a pig or two and let them chase you over to the mini boss. They'll  aggro on it while you rub your palms together and cackle. You can even give them head slot armor before turning them to tip the odds a little.

[Kzisor]

Tip:

Homeless bees will produce flowers after every sixth flower they've pollinated as long as there is room for a flower to be created. This currently works during winter. I looked at the code to fact check and as far as I can tell it still works but may be changed in the future.

[HutGenerator]

17 hours ago, JellyUltra said:

Depending on Beefalo like this is a bad habit and just makes you seem like you don't know what you're doing. You can take out hound attacks with just a hambat (which can be bundled up in a bundling wrap so it never spoils), and you can get manure with a werepig and some berries far faster than Beefalo can produce it.

Fighting seems a lot harder if you are not the host. Sometimes the server run smoothly, and suddenly and unfortunately a spike happens during hound attack will just kill you. Spike will still hurt you even if you are running around beefalo =( but it is better if you are using mouse to move.

Of course you need to learn to deal with them as time goes on.

As I said, those are for sudden unprepared hounds attack xD. I usually starts building up hounds trap after few waves of hounds attack.

[CaptainChaotica]

Nonono.  You don't always "run across the whole map" to the beefalo whenever you're caught unawares, all by yourself, by a large hound attack.

You run to whatever _the nearest thing that will fight them_ is, and let THEM take care of it!  I've used tallbirds, spiders, treeguards...heck, even bees.  Whatever was the _closest_ to my location (that I knew about).  THAT'S how you do it.  One time they attacked me near the Bee Queen's hive!  I lured them over to it and ran.  Didn't get to see what happened ('cos it was dark) but when I came through there later there were lots of stingers on the ground--but also no hounds...

I often find myself alone, 'cos not only is my server (normally) not very populated, but I also do a lot of exploring and gathering off to the far ends of the map, especially during the bad seasons.  So, yeah.  Knowing where the nearest backup is doesn't make you a bad player.  It's just common sense.

Anyway, my "tip" is:  ALWAYS.  CARRY.  GRASS. And twigs. And logs.  Do not underestimate how insanely useful/necessary those most basic of crafting tools are!  I've seen way too many noobs who don't know this and keep getting caught without even campfire/torch supplies at night, 'cos they don't yet have the instinct to just naturally pick stuff as they go.

Also don't leave nitre behind just because "it isn't gold".  Not only can you use it for gunpowder, but carry some of _that_ with you along with your grass and you can explore in summer.  Turtling at base is boring, and you run out of supplies.  I used to do all kinds of elaborate things to deal with summer, including (expensive to make) icecube hats, chilled amulets, shirts that take away my backpack slot and such, but now I find I can get around just fine with a chilled thermal stone, umbrella, and the ability to cool myself (and the stone) back off again when necessary.   Just don't put the stone down next to the endothermic fire anywhere near moleworms.  I found this out the hard way.  : P

And on the food front:  One of the other things you can make with eggs from your caged bird is pierogies.  One meat of any kind, one egg, two veggies/one fruit and one veggie and you get a whopping FORTY health.  That last hound attack got you down?  Feed your bird some cooked monster meat and pick some carrots!  You'll be better in no time.

Last but not least--when the rabbit holes close up in spring, move your traps to the nearest ponds instead. Frog legs count as meat for Wigfrid and can make healing sandwiches! 

...Notorious

[JohnWatson]

@JellyUltra That's actually a clever advice. I never thought of using the wraps for storing the Ham Bat as I didn't know of their preservative property. Maybe you can even throw in some Blue Caps, Cooked Cactus Flesh/Green Caps, and Meaty Stews as some sort of emergency fighting kit for Wolfgang.

[HutGenerator]

55 minutes ago, JohnWatson said:

@JellyUltra That's actually a clever advice. I never thought of using the wraps for storing the Ham Bat as I didn't know of their preservative property. Maybe you can even throw in some Blue Caps, Cooked Cactus Flesh/Green Caps, and Meaty Stews as some sort of emergency fighting kit for Wolfgang.

Preserving food with bundle wrap is a very good idea. Once I had deerclops killed 2 herds of my beefalo, resulting around 50~80 meats. Before the patch, I will probably just use 30 of them and the others will just rot if I am lazy to keep cycling them as eggs. Now, I turn all of them into jerky and wrapped them up.

In case emergency, just unwrap them and take a few sip and then rewrap them again with a cost of just one rope.

This is a little bit OP in my opinion :/

[Sinister_Fang]

17 minutes ago, ButtPenetrator said:

This is a little bit OP in my opinion :/

Yeah, it really is. The material cost is just way too low compared to how powerful the bundles are. Personally, I feel like they should make the wax paper consumable kinda like the gift wrap. Tweaking the refine recipe for honeycomb -> beeswax should give like 4 beeswax per comb. Maybe even give a small chance to get beeswax from bee boxes too so the wax is just slightly more renewable.

[justjasper]

Don't be afraid to make a temporary base in the first 3 days - just enough to survive and to double back to to store collected loot/use science machine as you explore the map. Yes, you'll probably find a better spot for a main base, but once that's established you'll probably end up with outlying minibases anyway.

Building firepits/planting a few resources near touch stones can save your life/not make them a wasted res. 

Pigs won't come out of their houses at night if the houses are on screen - this makes being around pig villages on a full moon safe, providing you're there and they've all gone inside on day > dusk transition.

 

[Myself49]

When you have a self made pig village or the village near pig king, surround a powdercake or eternal fruitcake by walls and the pigs will never go inside their houses again and instead will constantly try getting to the food.

[HutGenerator]

2 hours ago, Myself49 said:

When you have a self made pig village or the village near pig king, surround a powdercake or eternal fruitcake by walls and the pigs will never go inside their houses again and instead will constantly try getting to the food.

Lol I used to do this just to watch them transforming into werepigs during full moon.

Later on just find myself being too mean to them =[

[Myself49]

You can make a bajillion Festive Tree Planters and decorate them all and then sleep next to them during the night for a crapload of presents.

I got the idea from this guy:

 

[FTR]

On 15.12.2016 at 11:01 PM, Electroely said:

- Lureplants have smoldering priority, so if you only have enough materials for 1 ice flingomatic by summertime, you can build the flingomatic on your farms, and place the lureplant within it's range to prevent your base from burning (I've been doing this for 5 summers now)

Honestly this is the best tip here. I played dst so long and never seen anyone use this strategy and if it works, it's really damn powerful. I am gonna try it next summer.

Some of my tips:

If you want to kill massive group of pigs for as cheap as possible just start pig war. Simply make half of the pigs follow you by feeding them one monster meat each, then make them attack the other half. Before you do it you can try using them for something productive like cutting trees etc.

Always craft telltale hearts BEFORE you actually need them. -40 health is no problem at peaceful situation, you can just restore it with food or tent. But when you are attacked by giant and everyone start dropping like flies, and there are no telltale hearts, -40 health can be big deal.

Killing Shadow monkeys is actually really easy if you have a friend with you that knows what is he doing. Just make him kite all shadow monkeys in the circle and you kill them one by one. You can farm A LOT beard hair and other stuff really quickly this way.

Build crock pots first and fridge last, this way you can make few crockpots right in the range of fridge which makes cooking a lot easier.

If you don't have a way to deal with turkey, harvest berries in the evening, so they won't steal them.

Put Red Medallion on the ground near your camp, so it can be used same way as touchstone by the ghost.

Always pre-craft small blue fire when summer starts. So if you are overheating somewhere in the wild, you can quickly put it on the ground and cool yourself down, and thermal stone as well.

[Electroely]

8 minutes ago, FTR said:

Killing Shadow monkey is actually really easy if you have a friend with you that knows what is he doing. Just make him kite all shadow monkey in the circle and you kill them one by one. You can farm A LOT beard hair and other stuff really quickly this way.

Huh. Never tried it before. All my friends instantly run off when they hear the sounds of a shadow monkey.

Nice tips.