Valheim - Get your survival fix with this low fantasy game of the year candidate.

[RomanesEuntDomus]

Does anyone else here build elevated outposts? I got into that habit recently, and I've done it enough times to have a "standard" pattern for it already.

Whenever I'm setting up a coastal outpost, I go as far into the water as I can while still being able to hold tools (random rocks in the sea help with that), then use the hoe to raise the ground up about 4 meters above the average sea level (so it's always above the surface even when it's stormy), then expand that into a roughly 6x4 platform I can plank over with 8x6 worth of floors and build a small house on it. Inside there's a fire, cooking racks, a bed, workshop, forge, and as much storage as I can fit while still being able to walk around. In order to enter the outpost, I build a little wooden bridge to the land, with a jumpable gap in the middle so mobs can't walk over it.

So far it's been great for keeping random mobs off my stuff, and I can park the boat right next to it without danger of it getting beached or damaged during a storm. If I'm using the outpost long enough, I'll even build a platform a little further down the side of the stone pillar in order to make boarding, loading and disembarking easier.

I haven't yet sailed to other islands much, but this looks like a pretty smart setup, I guess I will use something similar once I progress in the game and sail to meet The Elder.

One aspect that I really enjoy about this game, is that you can go at everything at your own pace. I've been dicking around for the past in-game month building a big fortress with a giant moat (so I don't have to deal with trolls and other uninvited guests), partially in preparation to defeat The Elder, so I have a location to fall back to, should the mob attacks become too hard to deal with at my home base. Also I wanted to build a fuckhuge castle.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

I died to bonemass, got pissed and haven't played in a about a week. Might just make a new character honestly I'm sorta sick of this one. Or maybe I'll push through. I did get a serious three troll attack at my main and they were deterred by my moat, which was fun. At least that worked.

Bonemass is a bit of a handful, because of how his abilities and the terrain synergize.

Your best bet is to gather as much stone as you can, and use a hoe to raise/level out the terrain around his altar so that you won't get mired down if you step into deep water (it also keeps giant leeches from joining the party). If Bonemass spawns some skeleton archers, immediately go kill them because you don't need them planting arrows in your ass. Since archers can also shoot through enemy mobs, the prospect of said skeletal archers using Bonemass for cover should encourage you to dispose of them quickly. Oozes and melee skeletons are less of an issue, and can be killed while Bonemass pukes out his giant poison cloud (I don't recommend fighting Bonemass inside that cloud, you'll still be taking damage even if your poison resist is on).

Speaking of which, make damned sure you carry healing, stamina, and poison-resistance potions. All three are vital in this fight. While Stagbreaker is good for clearing out the riffraff, I recommend using a fully upgraded iron mace on Bonemass himself -- it swings faster. An upgraded iron mace will also one-shot the spawned skeletons and may even one shot the oozes. Wear iron armor, upgraded, and eat a hearty meal. If you need to sprint around a bit, firing off Eikthyr's power will save on stamina for a time.

 

[TVStactic]

Bonemass is a bit of a handful, because of how his abilities and the terrain synergize.

Your best bet is to gather as much stone as you can, and use a hoe to raise/level out the terrain around his altar so that you won't get mired down if you step into deep water (it also keeps giant leeches from joining the party). If Bonemass spawns some skeleton archers, immediately go kill them because you don't need them planting arrows in your ass. Since archers can also shoot through enemy mobs, the prospect of said skeletal archers using Bonemass for cover should encourage you to dispose of them quickly. Oozes and melee skeletons are less of an issue, and can be killed while Bonemass pukes out his giant poison cloud (I don't recommend fighting Bonemass inside that cloud, you'll still be taking damage even if your poison resist is on).

Speaking of which, make damned sure you carry healing, stamina, and poison-resistance potions. All three are vital in this fight. While Stagbreaker is good for clearing out the riffraff, I recommend using a fully upgraded iron mace on Bonemass himself -- it swings faster. An upgraded iron mace will also one-shot the spawned skeletons and may even one shot the oozes. Wear iron armor, upgraded, and eat a hearty meal. If you need to sprint around a bit, firing off Eikthyr's power will save on stamina for a time.

nigger you just gave me a idea for the next save, i'll try creating thunderdome like structures (with roofs, obviously) to trap the bosses and sic wolves at them. i'll see what i can do.

 

[thejackal]

Thanks @Capsaicin Addict for that info, I was really close to defeating him but I ran out of potions and I wasn't focused enough on killing the support mobs I think. I was getting swarmed. In general I sorta think I've reached my "take a break from the game" time at around 50 hours now and on day 110 in game. I'll maybe wait for the first big update (should drop in a month or two) and then pick it back up again. I had a lot of fun building bases all over and exploring the swamps but that really burnt me out and it felt really grindy at the end getting ready for Bonemass. Don't really have it in me to try again yet.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

nigger you just gave me a idea for the next save, i'll try creating thunderdome like structures (with roofs, obviously) to trap the bosses and sic wolves at them. i'll see what i can do.

Don't count on that working. I don't know if it's true for all the bosses, but I know Moder wrecked half the mountaintop when I was fighting her.

 

[Vlinny-kun]

I can't afford to play this game lately due to it being the addictive timesink that it is. I just have too many things going on at one time and I'm a sucker for putting things off in favor of having fun now.

I have something like 160+ hours and have yet to defeat Bonemass due to the iron debacle, building shit in the most inefficient and time consuming way possible, and just fucking about for the sake of map completion on nearby islands. I spent something like 50 in-game days "modifying" the area around the Elder's spawn building a huge fuck you ground wall around it to trap him and then another one for myself further down so that I have an elevated place to shoot fire arrows at him without worrying about trolls and other shit interrupting me. All this came after my original plan of building a huge pitfall trap to lure him into before I realized that the ground becomes flooded after you dig so deep.

I'll probably do the same for Bonemass when I eventually get to him; making a ground wall around the spawn and then another further out in a circle so that I have a place to run without worrying about enemies and then connect it to the entrapping wall in a cross shape to deliver blunt attacks when I can. All I have to worry about then, in theory, is not falling off the wall and not getting too close when he sends out a poison cloud. I haven't studied how far he spawns enemies, but I'll design traps for them so that they spawn and can't do anything to me because they're stuck (deep water pools maybe).

I'm mostly rambling about how my time gets wasted on stupid shit, but that's the point I'm trying to make here. It would be pretty bad for me to try to do all the shit I want to do in the game on top of a mountain of school work and assorted life shit. And I know what you guys are going to say, "use mods to make shit quicker." That would probably tempt me to playing the game again and wasting many hours on something else. This sounds dumb I know, but I know myself well enough to understand that I'm going to find something even more time consuming to do even with the time saving mods in place, because reasons. It's like a game to me and I always end up doing this kind of shit in survivalcraft games, like deforesting the whole map or building giant sky castles out of rare materials. It's like I'm allergic to progress or efficient time management.

If my schedule ever clears up, I might jump back in. I really want to after putting the game down for a bit, just not right now.

 

[Sable]

before I realized that the ground becomes flooded after you dig so deep.

Sort of.

There's minimum and maximum levels to which you can dig, and you can usually dig to water level when it started out low enough or near the coast, but sadly you can't always dig to water.

You could always build up the area around the hole to make it deep enough.

 

[Jan_Hus]

That's the last time I try building a castle in the swamp. First one sank into the swamp. Same with the second. Third one burned down, fell over, got gangbanged by skeletons and leeches and then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one?

The fourth one is a portal back to the meadow so I don't have to deal with unannounced skeleton gangbangs

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

That's the last time I try building a castle in the swamp. First one sank into the swamp. Same with the second. Third one burned down, fell over, got gangbanged by skeletons and leeches and then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one?

The fourth one is a portal back to the meadow so I don't have to deal with unannounced skeleton gangbangs

Swamps are a stone bitch to fortify. You have to find some halfway solid ground and build on that. That doesn't even get into the giant leeches, draugr, and skeletons that will pop by to harass you. It's a toss up for me which is more annoying terrain: swamps or plains. At least the plains, you have good lines of sight and the terrain is less likely to bog you down.

Do critters attack undefended portals? I know they'll attack workbenches and chests.

 

[Sable]

Do critters attack undefended portals? I know they'll attack workbenches and chests.

They won't spawn and attack if you're not there, but if they're there and they can get to a portal they'll attack it, even if you run through.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

They won't spawn and attack if you're not there, but if they're there and they can get to a portal they'll attack it, even if you run through.

So it's probably a good idea to keep your portals behind stout walls and closed doors. OK. Just wondering.

Has anyone seen Thor during a thunderstorm? I've seen Odin once. Startled the fuck out of me.

 

[spergfan]

It's pretty good for early access and only $20 but it's not very differnt from any other survival crafting game

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

I would really appreciate it if using tools didn't cost stamina. I know why they put it in, but it makes chopping down trees or flattening soil a bit slower and annoying. And when you get blindsided by a troll or some other strong mob, you can only limply stroll away without even the ability to jump over a tiny obstacle or fight back. During combat, the stamina-system is fine, but being slowed down when gathering resources and the risk of being caught with your pants down doesn't feel like some positive addition to the gameplay, babysitting your stamina-bar feels like busywork.

 

[Corn Flakes]

I would really appreciate it if using tools didn't cost stamina. I know why they put it in, but it makes chopping down trees or flattening soil a bit slower and annoying. And when you get blindsided by a troll or some other strong mob, you can only limply stroll away without even the ability to jump over a tiny obstacle or fight back. During combat, the stamina-system is fine, but being slowed down when gathering resources and the risk of being caught with your pants down doesn't feel like some positive addition to the gameplay, babysitting your stamina-bar feels like busywork.

That's the point, though. If you're out and about chopping wood or mining, you need to keep an eye (or more likely an ear) out for enemies. In an actual Souls-like game you don't sprint around dangerous areas or you might get ambushed on low stamina. Same principle here. If you're worried about monsters, top up on your food, make sure that stamina bar is nice and long, and never let it fully empty unless you're somewhere safe.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

That's the point, though. If you're out and about chopping wood or mining, you need to keep an eye (or more likely an ear) out for enemies. In an actual Souls-like game you don't sprint around dangerous areas or you might get ambushed on low stamina. Same principle here. If you're worried about monsters, top up on your food, make sure that stamina bar is nice and long, and never let it fully empty unless you're somewhere safe.

Which is drawing out a menial task unnecessarily. I could wait for my stamina to fill up after every chop and be super safe from being attacked, but that doesn't create fun, it's not a challenge, it's not some super-pro hardcore game mechanic to master with great skill, it's just boringly dragging out something that you do a shitton of anyway.
And with shit like using the hoe, construction hammer or flattening tool, it's not exactly something you do out in the open. When you want to flatten a big area in your base or tear down a large structure it's annoying to wait for the recharge between every click. Breaking down boulders is the worst, cause it takes forever to take them down.

As I said: I understand why the devs put it into the game but it's not a meaningful addition to the gameplay/difficulty as far as I'm concerned. For every situation where I get caught unaware by some mob there is 5-10 situations in perfect impeccable safety of my fort where I need to sit idly by while a bar fills up before I can finish what I was doing.

Having stamina as a game mechanic for running, jumping and fighting, is fine by me. For the use of tools not so much. And it's certainly not something that makes the game unplayable for me, it's just kind of a nuisance.

 

[Corn Flakes]

Gonna have to disagree with you there. As I said, this sort of stuff is there to make sure you have cleared the area of enemies before you start building or mining. We all know how easy it is to cheese trolls and other non-ranged enemies with the hoe: just carry a stack of rocks, point down and spam "raise ground" until you're out of range of them. That's the kind of stuff tools consuming stamina is meant to help address, even if it doesn't do it perfectly. And with two pieces of food I barely have any downtime while mining (which I usually spend organizing the inventory/throwing out rocks).

Besides, the axe is also a weapon. How do you want it to work? You get a refund on your stamina if you hit a piece of wood but not if you hit air or an enemy? What if you hit a rock that "technically" takes damage, even if it's just 0? The alternative is to disable being able to use tools while enemies are within a certain radius, and I don't like that. I much prefer the tools to work consistently and just mind my surroundings a bit better.

Valheim is very streamlined already. If you follow that sort of reasoning "not a meaningful addition to the gameplay/difficulty", then you might as well remove durability from items, for example. Even though durability serves a similar purpose to stamina: it rewards planning and pacing. Going into a crypt with your weapons with only 10 durability each is a dumb idea, and so is chopping wood or breaking rocks without looking around for enemies.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

(which I usually spend organizing the inventory/throwing out rocks).

Sounds like busywork to me.
I'm just wondering, what does it add to have a stamina system with tools? All I can see is "standing around waiting for a bar to fill up".
You need to clear the area with or without the stamina system, so that can't be it.

If the stamina system sticks around with chopping wood or raising ground I could live with it, but tearing down a giant building with floors and pillars all over the place is such a chore when you run out of stamina. It's really annoying to be forced to wait before you can continue and there is absolutely nothing gained from that mechanic in that area whatsoever.
So I would really welcome a change where some functions (namely: tearing down or reparing structures, possibly even building structures, flattening ground, using the hoe, stuff like that) don't consume stamina.
Building, repairing or removing structures should only be possible when no monsters are nearby anyway. This isn't fortnite.

If you follow that sort of reasoning "not a meaningful addition to the gameplay/difficulty", then you might as well remove durability from items, for example.

Or, you know, I just say "This is one specific thing that bothers me and I wouldn't mind if it was different" and nothing else. So yeah. I might use the same reasoning to change the game in other ways, but at this time, I don't.
A very specific game mechanic doesn't add anything fun to the game in my eyes, but takes fun out of an already time-consuming aspect of the game, of course I think it would be worth it to remove or at least change it. I enjoy chopping down trees. I don't enjoy running out of stamina and then slowing down that process to a crawl while I wait for the bar to fill up. I like item durability. I don't mind being forced to repair them every now and then. It's literally that easy and "there might be other game mechanics that you don't like, so you might want them to change, too" is not a particularly strong argument to be honest.

tl;dr: I guess we agree to disagree. It's really not that big of a deal, the game is still fantastic overall and easily some of the best 20 bucks I ever spent.
There are game mechanics that are much more important.

 

[TVStactic]

Sounds like busywork to me.
I'm just wondering, what does it add to have a stamina system with tools? All I can see is "standing around waiting for a bar to fill up".
You need to clear the area with or without the stamina system, so that can't be it.

If the stamina system sticks around with chopping wood or raising ground I could live with it, but tearing down a giant building with floors and pillars all over the place is such a chore when you run out of stamina. It's really annoying to be forced to wait before you can continue and there is absolutely nothing gained from that mechanic in that area whatsoever.
So I would really welcome a change where some functions (namely: tearing down or reparing structures, possibly even building structures, flattening ground, using the hoe, stuff like that) don't consume stamina.
Building, repairing or removing structures should only be possible when no monsters are nearby anyway. This isn't fortnite.

nigger this is exactly why doing construktion cosooms stamina, because you can do it at anytime, and there is a mod to curb that however... same thing with portaling with ores.

"permanent risk and shit"

 

[thejackal]

There are so many ways to curb stamina drain when harvesting:

1) be rested
2) eat good food, you should have queens jam and sausages by now, or if you don't have sausages do a queens jam / roasted meat / neck combo.
3) make a fire
4) use the powers
5) make a shelter overhead

There are many things that are quite grindy about this game, the stamina drain on harvest is not one of them. If you're using the provided tools (listed above) you'll hardly ever run of stamina.

 

[Corn Flakes]

There are so many ways to curb stamina drain when harvesting:

1) be rested
2) eat good food, you should have queens jam and sausages by now, or if you don't have sausages do a queens jam / roasted meat / neck combo.
3) make a fire
4) use the powers
5) make a shelter overhead

There are many things that are quite grindy about this game, the stamina drain on harvest is not one of them. If you're using the provided tools (listed above) you'll hardly ever run of stamina.

Much like my offshore outposts, I've taken to building little logging/mining huts whenever I'm mining a clump of copper or clearing out a large chunk of forest (gotta keep those kilns fed). Barely any wood needed for a workshop, a fire, a roof and a bed, and if you're paranoid about enemies or events you can either elevate the hut or dig a moat around it. Having Rested bonus on demand is just extremely convenient.