Originally posted by Achivai:

You still need X-amount of pickaxes though, otherwise the cart is useless since you still need to head back to base and repair the pickaxe

You can make a workbench to repair it at the vein. Either in a nearby existing shelter or one you make yourself.

Originally posted by MrDugan:

Originally posted by fmalfeas:

Cart recipe comes with the creation of nails. Which doesn't take much bronze at all.

This is sincerely helpful. I had zero intention of crafting the nails until I had dealt with other things that needed bronze. Be honest though, how much of a pain is lugging the cart around? With some of the other choices they made for the game I can see me disliking cart usage if it's going to be how I imagine it.

It also gives you the first ship which can carry 4 full stacks.

Cart recipe comes with the creation of nails. Which doesn't take much bronze at all.

Originally posted by fmalfeas:

Cart recipe comes with the creation of nails. Which doesn't take much bronze at all.

You still need X-amount of pickaxes though, otherwise the cart is useless since you still need to head back to base and repair the pickaxe

Originally posted by Beautiful Ham Sandwich:

The nice thing about the black forest biome is the fact that there are already stone structures that'll make building a new camp pretty easy, it's best to make a base using a stone structure or just a decently defended base with something like a trench with a smelter and actually craft your items there rather than hiking back to your main base every single time. Remember, you can't teleport ore or ingots but when they're fully crafted you can teleport with them.

Also this is something that's very commonly stated in Youtube videos, and you probably know this, but just to be safe I do want to mention that there's more copper ore underground. Even if you get all the copper from on top of the ground, if you keep digging using your pickaxe you will find more. You probably know this, but just in case you don't it's really necessary knowledge for people who've gotten to the bronze age.

Edit: Maybe stop trying to find realism in this game. Some things are a bit realistic like smoke damage, however certain things still need to be balanced a certain way for gameplay reasons, so realism being your benchmark is going to really make this game difficult to enjoy.

Other people already basically covered how I would respond, but the one thing I want to make clear is that I wasn't looking for realism. My complaint is that they stuck realism in the game everywhere it's detrimental, like wood rotting in the rain and the rain putting out your camp fire, but didn't put that same realism in anywhere that would make a positive difference, like not needing literally 180 pounds of bronze to craft a tier 2 bronze pickaxe that weighs 2 pounds, or letting any kind of awning protect fire from the rain.

Originally posted by Crasharr:

I think the main problem is just the low yield from mining, the rest is fine, a bit of grind is fine but especially copper mining is just a huge time sink. No one making a good faith arguement should be against a tweak in copper yield. Iron is okay, so is tin and silver but copper..... you need way too much to make bronze. Either give us 3 bronze from the 2 copper 1 tin equation or increase the mining yield. I think this would quell many arguements.

I would honestly be good with one situation or the other. If durability as a mechanic was used sparingly and I wasn't having to constantly do maintenance and could just put things where ever I could let the low yield, high weight, dozen trips for materials thing slide. If I didn't have to make 20 trips back and forth or build a whole new base and didn't need nearly 100x the weight in bronze to craft a single tool I could probably let the constant maintenance slide. Having both is getting on my nerves and detracting from the fun I was having just screwing around in the woods.

Originally posted by fmalfeas:

Cart recipe comes with the creation of nails. Which doesn't take much bronze at all.

This is sincerely helpful. I had zero intention of crafting the nails until I had dealt with other things that needed bronze. Be honest though, how much of a pain is lugging the cart around? With some of the other choices they made for the game I can see me disliking cart usage if it's going to be how I imagine it.

Originally posted by Achivai:

Originally posted by fmalfeas:

Cart recipe comes with the creation of nails. Which doesn't take much bronze at all.

You still need X-amount of pickaxes though, otherwise the cart is useless since you still need to head back to base and repair the pickaxe

I honestly only carry one pickaxe. I limit myself to only what I need when I head out, but even with low start weight I can't get through a whole vein of copper before I'm at max load cap, and my pickaxe usually still has life left in it. It just weighs so damn much.

Originally posted by Darth Invader:

Originally posted by MrDugan:

No offense, but I'd really rather not have to be doing experienced strats and speed run tactics gained from multiple runs on playthrough one. I'd rather the game not be balanced toward that kind of stuff because it feels really off to me right now.

I'm not offended, but I'm also not experienced or a speedrunner. I was just giving a little advice that I picked up along the way. But go ahead and spend hours running from point A to point B instead of building closer to resources. You do you.

The thing is, I'm more into building nice structures and don't really enjoy having several small but functional outposts everywhere. Like I don't typically leave my NPCs in commie blocks in games like Terraria for very long. Rebuilding everything to be closer just rubs me the wrong way and wouldn't be needed if the material economy wasn't so harsh.

Originally posted by Achivai:

His problem is that the game is poorly balanced, not that it is unrealistic. I happen to agree. Being able to craft pickaxes more cheaply would allow you to carry several, which would reduce the travel time to bases because the pickaxe broke, and thus reduce the grind. The grind is the number one issue with the game at the moment to me.

I don't know, I find the game still balanced before the iron age, 10 bronze isn't that much. If we're talking about crafting every single thing using bronze then maybe I could see it being less balanced, but even then it didn't take me that long, and you don't really need to craft every single thing bronze offers in the first place, I never even made bronze armor and stuck with troll armor.

I think the main problem is just the low yield from mining, the rest is fine, a bit of grind is fine but especially copper mining is just a huge time sink. No one making a good faith arguement should be against a tweak in copper yield. Iron is okay, so is tin and silver but copper..... you need way too much to make bronze. Either give us 3 bronze from the 2 copper 1 tin equation or increase the mining yield. I think this would quell many arguements.

Originally posted by MrDugan:

Originally posted by Darth Invader:

You gotta be more strategic in where you build your camps and main base. I'm on my fourth playthrough (mostly on my other acct.), and my plan is to make a small base close to a forest biome with good copper and tin deposits, then make my main base close to 2 critical biomes swamp and mountain later on. You can always connect the two with a portal. GL.

No offense, but I'd really rather not have to be doing experienced strats and speed run tactics gained from multiple runs on playthrough one. I'd rather the game not be balanced toward that kind of stuff because it feels really off to me right now.

I'm not offended, but I'm also not experienced or a speedrunner. I was just giving a little advice that I picked up along the way. But go ahead and spend hours running from point A to point B instead of building closer to resources. You do you.

This game is essentially a mining simulator at the moment.

Originally posted by TheSlav007:

This game is essentially a mining simulator at the moment.

Yup. But people like to pretend like it's some immersive deep exploration experience, which is not.

You gotta be more strategic in where you build your camps and main base. I'm on my fourth playthrough (mostly on my other acct.), and my plan is to make a small base close to a forest biome with good copper and tin deposits, then make my main base close to 2 critical biomes swamp and mountain later on. You can always connect the two with a portal. GL.

Originally posted by Often:

Double click on the map to mark it.

Also, built a cart to transport large amounts of ore around. It makes large trips easier.

I cannot build something I don't have the recipe to craft.

Originally posted by DarkSlayerofDarkness:

About the pickaxe, well, you might have a point there. But, maybe there's also a lot of wasted material, because this is your first attempt at making the tool? Also, it's a huge pickaxe. And, finally, it's a mythical world = so some things probably would not be very logical. But seriously, yes, it's kinda skewed = the price to enter the bronze age is very steep. But then to enter the iron age, the price is steep, too, as you are asked to go into a very dangerous biome. Then the price to enter the silver age is 'high' because of the wolves and such, who guard it. So, theoretically, there is some sort of balance. Although to me personally, the bronze age was a lot more grind than the subsequent metals.

For the pickaxe, the game says it takes 180 pounds of bronze to build a 2 pound pickaxe and then upgrade it to level two. In no world does that make any sense. I get where it could be for game balance, but the economy type balancing is where I'm having the biggest issues.

As for the "mythical world" or "it's just a game" type reasoning: They put in smoke physics so that you can't breathe in an area with an enclosed fire. They made it so wood rots in the rain unless you have a thatched roof over it, which I'm also just now discovering. They added in all of this unnecessary durability to things for "realism" (everything doesn't need durability guys.) The more stuff I'm having to micro manage the less enjoyment I'm getting. I loved the first 10 hours I've spent and now it's REALLY starting to wear on me. Everything doesn't have to be breaking and depleting constantly. You can't put in all that real life constant maintenance and then make it take 180 pounds of bronze to make a single hand tool.

Originally posted by Darth Invader:

You gotta be more strategic in where you build your camps and main base. I'm on my fourth playthrough (mostly on my other acct.), and my plan is to make a small base close to a forest biome with good copper and tin deposits, then make my main base close to 2 critical biomes swamp and mountain later on. You can always connect the two with a portal. GL.

No offense, but I'd really rather not have to be doing experienced strats and speed run tactics gained from multiple runs on playthrough one. I'd rather the game not be balanced toward that kind of stuff because it feels really off to me right now.

The nice thing about the black forest biome is the fact that there are already stone structures that'll make building a new camp pretty easy, it's best to make a base using a stone structure or just a decently defended base with something like a trench with a smelter and actually craft your items there rather than hiking back to your main base every single time. Remember, you can't teleport ore or ingots but when they're fully crafted you can teleport with them.

Also this is something that's very commonly stated in Youtube videos, and you probably know this, but just to be safe I do want to mention that there's more copper ore underground. Even if you get all the copper from on top of the ground, if you keep digging using your pickaxe you will find more. You probably know this, but just in case you don't it's really necessary knowledge for people who've gotten to the bronze age.

Edit: Maybe stop trying to find realism in this game. Some things are a bit realistic like smoke damage, however certain things still need to be balanced a certain way for gameplay reasons, so realism being your benchmark is going to really make this game difficult to enjoy.

His problem is that the game is poorly balanced, not that it is unrealistic. I happen to agree. Being able to craft pickaxes more cheaply would allow you to carry several, which would reduce the travel time to bases because the pickaxe broke, and thus reduce the grind. The grind is the number one issue with the game at the moment to me.

Double click on the map to mark it.

Also, built a cart to transport large amounts of ore around. It makes large trips easier.

About the pickaxe, well, you might have a point there. But, maybe there's also a lot of wasted material, because this is your first attempt at making the tool? Also, it's a huge pickaxe. And, finally, it's a mythical world = so some things probably would not be very logical. But seriously, yes, it's kinda skewed = the price to enter the bronze age is very steep. But then to enter the iron age, the price is steep, too, as you are asked to go into a very dangerous biome. Then the price to enter the silver age is 'high' because of the wolves and such, who guard it. So, theoretically, there is some sort of balance. Although to me personally, the bronze age was a lot more grind than the subsequent metals.