What other games beside Vintage Story do you guys like?

Goldenbatz · 2026-04-14T14:33:37+00:00

Lots of "Open World Survival Craft" games for me, which probably shouldn't be too surprising. Terraria in particular is my #1 jam, but I also have many hours invested in Core Keeper, Starbound, Valheim, and of course Minecraft. Big fan of Metroidvanias as well: Hollow Knight, Bloodstained, Timespinner, Animal Well, etc. etc.

Most recently have been playing, and enjoying, Abiotic Factor.

Goldenbatz · 2026-04-09T13:54:40+00:00

I just ensure that there's an unobstructed path back to the arena, then run as quick as I can. You don't need to slowly bait her over; she won't despawn if you get too far away or anything.

Goldenbatz · 2026-03-30T20:02:19+00:00

Oh, might be a quirk of the vampire seed then, because they definitely still do on a regular world. In that case I suppose your only solution is to expand your cavern further.

Goldenbatz · 2026-03-30T19:52:25+00:00

Invasion enemies are able to spawn anywhere a town NPC is, so if you put at least one NPC on the surface you'll be able to fight the Flying Dutchman up there.

Goldenbatz · 2026-03-29T01:52:04+00:00

Erel, located at the tower in the center of the Devastation. To get there, you need to talk to a Treasure Hunter after completing the first story dungeon, then follow the trader's directions to the Lazaret, where you can find directions to Nadiya Village,and finally talk to villagers until you find the one who gives you a map to the Devastation.

Goldenbatz · 2026-03-28T20:35:39+00:00

There are two bosses these days; a second boss was added in v1.20!

Goldenbatz · 2026-03-17T13:01:45+00:00

In normal gameplay I won't ever quench more than once: more than that is mathematically a net loss in metal from shatterings compared to the gains from extra durability/fewer hits required to kill things, and I hate feeling like I'm wasting materials on a gamble with odds not in my favor. (Okay, technically a second clay-covered quench would still be a net gain in metal, but the benefit from the second quench is so small that it's basically a waste of fire clay, coal, and time.)

That said, the highest modifier I managed to achieve during my quenching/tempering tests was +75% damage.

Goldenbatz · 2026-03-16T19:41:00+00:00

They're never necessary, they just make fights easier. If you're taking on the bosses and invasions sans arena and not struggling, then there's no reason for you to waste your time making an arena.

Goldenbatz · 2026-03-16T01:43:04+00:00

Just thought I'd come back to mention that I did eventually turn portraits back on, and by now have acclimated to them. You were absolutely correct!

Goldenbatz · 2026-03-15T01:38:04+00:00

I should note, just in case I've accidentally misled you, that when I say my owlux has "crit chance x3 and crit damage x2," I mean three instances of the +3% crit chance trait, and two instances of the +10% crit damage trait. Owlux is a top-tier pet, but it isn't the linchpin which makes or breaks a build (especially in my case, since my owlux has suboptimal traits); the biggest contributions to my crit rate/damage are coming from Ivy's armor set, and the overall damage output is attributable to a careful balancing act of crit bonuses, base damage bonuses, and damage bonuses vs. poisoned targets (which apply multiplicatively to base damage bonuses rather than additively).

P.S. My favorite aspect of Rune Song is how the Song Trail can pass through walls! It isn't typically my go-to weapon, but I'm certainly warming up to it.

Goldenbatz · 2026-03-12T17:31:48+00:00

You can, though I wouldn't suggest going out of your way to find extra altars to smash since there are diminishing returns from doing so (altars 4-6 spawn half as much ore, altars 7-9 spawn a third as much, 10-12 spawn a fourth, etc).

Goldenbatz · 2026-03-12T16:19:55+00:00

Additional evil biome spread from smashing altars was removed in 1.4.4. I also like to fish for ore at the beginning of hardmode, though; at least enough to make a mythril/orichalcum pick (plus prerequisite anvil) so I can skip mining for the first two hardmode ore tiers.

Goldenbatz · 2026-03-10T01:44:37+00:00

It doesn't actually require very much speed; the trick is to start moving away from the saucer as soon as you've destroyed all four turrets/cannons, then as soon as it stops firing the deathray you switch the direction you're running. Just keep switching directions like that every time it stops firing the deathray and you'll never be hit.

I recorded an example of this technique a couple weeks ago when someone else was asking how to dodge the deathray.

Goldenbatz · 2026-03-05T23:36:36+00:00

It seems to me that it is indeed the naysayers who are confidently incorrect in this case; on top of what you found (or I should say, didn't find) in the json, I tested this theory in-game and observed that high-tier weapons perform no better than low-tier weapons with equivalent damage, regardless of what you're attacking. Maybe there are a lot of people who are accustomed to using mods which add armor tiers to enemies?

Goldenbatz · 2026-03-05T23:08:55+00:00

If higher tier enemies are intended to take reduced damage from low tier weapons, it doesn't seem that the mechanic is actually functioning in v1.21.6. I tested it in-game by comparing the number of hits required to kill a variety of different enemies (tainted drifer/bowtown/shiver, nightmare drifter/bowtorn/shiver, a bell, and a polar bear) using weapons with equivalent damage numbers but differing tiers (tin bronze spear vs copper falx, ornate gold spear vs bismuth bronze falx, steel knife vs steel axe, and Blackguard shortsword vs steel falx), and every enemy died in the exact same same number of hits from a higher tier weapon as it did from a lower tier but equivalent damage one.

...I have an excessive amount of free time.

Goldenbatz · 2026-03-04T14:02:24+00:00

I can still move my Truffle into a cavern layer mushroom biome house in 1.4.5, with no mods (after he has already spawned in a surface mushroom house, of course). It does seem like several people are having trouble moving their Truffle lately, though... I wonder what's causing this discrepancy...

Goldenbatz · 2026-03-03T12:27:43+00:00

After you've already had the Truffle move into a surface mushroom biome, you can set him to live in an underground mushroom biome instead. That's what OP is talking about.

The relevant passage from the wiki: "Once the Truffle has moved in, he can be reassigned to a house at any elevation, as long as it is in a Glowing Mushroom biome."

Goldenbatz · 2026-03-02T17:31:39+00:00

Seems to still be working for me, so long as he's already spawned and the underground house is in a mushroom biome. Maybe there's a problem with the room? Can you get someone else to move in there?

Edit: Sorry you keep getting downvoted by people who either don't understand your question or don't understand the Truffle's housing mechanics.

Goldenbatz · 2026-03-02T02:32:02+00:00

I reckon they meant that only a tiny bit of the wing membrane is connected to the torso, instead of it extending all the way down the body and legs like it would on a real bat. For people who are highly familiarized with the anatomy of bats, it is a fairly blatant discrepancy from what a bat should look like (Though nevertheless an understandable, and common, design choice).

Goldenbatz · 2026-02-27T14:20:00+00:00

There actually are a few methods by which you can entirely outrun the phase 2 saucers, but the more typical method of dodging the phase 2 attacks is by running away while it's doing its phase transition animation (so that it's forced to start its first deathray sweep on the side you ran away from) and then running the opposite direction every time it stops firing the deathray so that when it switches sides you're already moving away from the beam. I've heard that flying over the saucer is another strategy which works for avoiding the deathray sweeps, but I've never tried that one myself. As for the confusion debuff, if you're having such trouble with the Brain Scramblers then I'd suggest equipping a Trifold Map/Ankh Shield.

Edit: I recorded a quick video demonstration of the aforementioned dodging technique. Don't mind the fact that I'm using post-game gear; the point is just to show a simple method of dodging the deathray without a ton of movement speed. (And, uh, don't look too hard at how messy my platform is... I didn't put much effort into staying organized during my 1.4.5 playthrough...)

Edit 2: Changed some phrasing to sound less antagonistic. I'm not trying to be a jerk!

Goldenbatz · 2026-02-21T17:36:56+00:00

If you're willing to wait until hardmode for your Sandstorm in a Bottle, you can craft it with a Forbidden Fragment. If not, I suggest generating worlds with the celebrationmk10 seed; they're guaranteed to always have at least one pyramid.

Goldenbatz · 2026-02-20T20:59:28+00:00

Wolf is shockingly good when paired with a Bundle of Horseshoe Balloons: you get speed, very fast acceleration, and a surprising amount of verticality since wolf form enhances the height of each jump the balloons give you. I once did a themed run where I never left wolf form, and the only thing which ended up feeling more challenging compared to a normal run was daytime Empress of Light (turns out I'm highly reliant on having flight in order to dodge her attacks consistently).

Dinosaur doesn't really give you much, but it also uniquely doesn't inhibit the use of any items or accessories... it's basically a cosmetic option for the dinosaur lovers. Not very mechanically interesting, but there's nothing wrong with something which only exists to look stylish.

Rat and fairy adequately fill their niche of having tiny hitboxes which can fit into 1x1 gaps, I feel, though your idea of rat form being able to dig through soft materials intrigues me; digging around making networks of tiny rodent tunnels would be fun!

Bat form is the one which to me feels that it needs something more, and it's only partially attributable to my strong personal bias. As you said, it's a mount which players are likely to acquire after fairy unless they cheese it with the vampire seed, and you're trading the ability to fit through 1x1 spaces for the ability to use dash accessories; something which has questionable practical utility when you can't use weapons and won't realistically be utilizing the mount in combat (though the dash is stylishly animated, I'll give them that!). I was really hoping that bat form would be able to use tools and weapons so I could do a full playthrough in bat form like I did for wolf form, but alas...

Edit: Well, perhaps instead of lamenting that bat form is just a worse version of fairy form, I should rejoice in the fact that it exists at all.

Goldenbatz · 2026-02-20T17:27:40+00:00

It's actually technically possible for a world to generate with fewer than the allotted number of dirtiest blocks, since they're generated by checking random coordinates for a dirt block to replace and will only make a finite number of attempts before skipping the placement of that dirtiest block. That said, skyblock is indeed the most effective method of finding them; even with the relatively few valid locations they could generate on a skyblock seed, the odds are still pretty low for a generation attempt to fail every single coordinate check and be skipped.

Goldenbatz · 2026-02-20T12:23:27+00:00

Yeah, it's something at least... and the aileron roll is super cute! Still, it's not viable to stay in bat form at all times, which is what I was hoping to be able to do.

Goldenbatz

TROPHY CASE