Don't Starve

Annoyingly enough the newest update borked old worlds...that goes my 40 day survive...

I had a feeling it might do that. I'm not trying to be too attached though, as losing save files is to be expected in a beta.

It's annoying that I didn't kill that character earlier to get some XP though...

Ah, that would be annoying. I wouldn't generally have that issue (semi-)luckily; I don't live long enough. (I think my best was 12 days)

Younger brother preordered to get early access, he's really liking it.

My best one 29 days; I simultaneously froze and starved to death.

My brother is getting pissy because he lost all his stuff in the caves and is threatening to delete the game from his computer.

Woodie has finally been added as well as some new things to try out with the others!

Bah, I searched, didn't find this thread, started a new one, and got linked here. :P

Anyway, the furthest I've gotten is about day 30, just through the first winter, before getting murdered by Deerclops and a Spider Queen in succession. Have unlocked all the sandbox mode characters. Also, there's supposed to be an update out today, did anyone who has the game on Steam see it come down?

I haven't played this game, but it's on my list of things I'm going to play eventually.

I just saw a friend's 12 year old son playing this game. It looks like a great value. I'm considering buying it and seeing if my 7 year old will like it or get frustrated with dying a lot. It looks fairly difficult from what I'm reading.

It's simple, but has a difficult learning curve.

It's very roguelikey, in that you are expected to die a lot and from that learn a new thing about how to avoid death for future characters. On the other hand, unlike something like FTL with its infuriatingly luck-based mechanics, Don't Starve is very good about avoiding deaths that aren't your 'fault.' Most sources of death REQUIRE you to be the aggressor rather than a hapless victim. I'd guesstimate the average to be around ten to twenty deaths before winter, then ten to twenty more during winter, at most, before you really get the hang of it and only die when you feel like taking intentionally stupid risks.

Mechanically it's extremely simple, mouse controls do everything with a few optional keyboard controls for convenience. It can get a little irritating trying to remember what ingredients you have and what recipes are accessible once you've lived a few weeks and have ten chests of stuff, but that's the only major quibble I've got along the lines of its usre-friendliness so far.

It might be too scary for a seven year old, though. It has a very oppressive, paranoia-inducing atmosphere of constantly nigh-impending doom. Then again, not everyone is of a disposition to be greatly affected by such things.

The subject matter can also get pretty grim - pyromania, grave robbing, murdering bunnies for their succulent flesh, the madness meter and all that comes with it, etc. Some parents might have a problem with all that.

I can vouch for the fairness of the deaths. My first three runs I died because of "what would happen if I poked a stick at THIS?"

I feel like I would enjoy the game better if some benefit carried over to future plays, other than your available selection of characters. I can see why the difficulty is said to be fairly unforgiving. I made it to day six in my third game but died in the dark when my campfire ran out of fuel and I couldn't find it to click on it with a log. This after spending two days desperately scrounging for food. Bedrolls seem almost counterproductive in this regard.

This is very much a Roguelike. And my son wants to play it. He seems unperturbed by the horror elements so far, wanting me to poke beehives and jump in holes and pouting when I tell him that would get me killed.

edited 3rd Sep '13 11:40:48 AM by Fighteer

I think my most frustrating deaths have been of the theme "if I go out to try and deal with this resource shortage I might die, but if I don't go out I _will_ die_". The other frustrating ones were when Murphy's Law decided to be a sunnavabitch and hit me with an aggressive enemy right when I needed it the least.

In my first ever game, besides an unfortunate beehive, I encountered in a rocky biome some weird creature with a bird's head on stilt-like legs that pecked me to death when I tried to mine.

It's unclear to me what I could have done to not get killed by it, under the circumstances.

edited 3rd Sep '13 1:12:55 PM by Fighteer

Tallbirds generally leave you alone so long as you stay away from them or their nests.

Unless you try to take their egg. Then they will literally chase you to the other side of the map.

My most horrible death was when I stole a tallbird egg and leapt into a warp hole. I came back, and it was waiting.

When in doubt, run away. Nine times out of ten, you can outrun what's trying to kill you, and it will either lose interest or be lured into fighting something else. Just don't forget about the day/night cycle and winter cold while you're fleeing!

That's why I like the pyro girl even though the consensus seems to be that she's underpowered; with her, you can just totally ignore nightfall even if you don't have torch materials. It allows her to be very time efficient at exploration and supply gathering. And if anything attacks you, you can just run with your lighter out through the entire night until your train of bad guys bumps into something that distracts them.

That said, even after internalizing the safest tactics, I managed to die on day 130ish from hounds attacking at wintertime dusk just because I got extremely complacent. It gets easier, but it's never a free ride.

Bah, I had a day 7 character die to a Tallbird because they decided to nest in the only rocky biome I could find. Also, I stupidly pilfered an egg from its nest, thinking that it was far enough away that it wouldn't notice. Oops.

How do you get fertilizer? I replanted a dozen berry bushes near my camp but there was no obvious way to make them grow.

edited 4th Sep '13 7:29:57 AM by Fighteer

You need manure for that, of which the most readily available source usually is a beefalo herd, which is in a savanna. Another easy method is to just let food decay in a chest until it turns to a second kind of fertilizer, rot, which is usually what I end up doing with monster meat. And if you're really desperate, you can find a plugged up sinkhole and mine it out to unleash a swarm of bat monsters upon the countryside that drop a third fertilizer, guano. Oh, and there's also rotten eggs primarily acquired from pengull camps in winter, although not in sufficient quantities to be that useful to a starting character.

The catch is that only beefalo manure works for building farms, although once they're built you can use any type of fertilizer. Farms are also very optional so you may not care about that.

edited 4th Sep '13 7:56:14 AM by Karkadinn

ninja'd

edited 4th Sep '13 7:55:31 AM by Farnion

Im in ur base, respondin to all yer poop-related kweschunz.

I bet you keep a chart in arm's reach.