Better Than Wolves Forum

Cows and sheep. We all love them. We love their wool. We love their milk. They are lovable herd animals. And although this isn't a new feature, the necessity of eating grass before their wool grows and their udders fill, I have found myself turning in to an early game shepherd. Once the sun comes up and the meat loving denizens of the night are all burned away by the cleansing light of the sun, I wake my lively flock from their underground holding cell and guide them out in the world to graze, bringing them back by nightfall. I am still waiting for my grass blocks to slowly make it down to their subterranean home, but I need their resources. I'm finding myself not trapped in the early game by lack of needed resources so much as thriving on the lower tier technologies available, and enjoying the journey.

It is an interesting change to my play style, and I'm enjoying it. It has given me incentive to build above ground (once I can scrap together the resources). Currently I'm living in the basement I crafted in a boarded up church I found in an abandoned village, which is safe enough, and offers a lookout post during the dark and terrible night.

So, although I know I say thanks quite a bit nowadays for BTW as a whole, just wanted to shoot out a more specific thank you for this single gameplay element that I never really imagined being a part of Minecraft.

Anyone else who has tiny (or what seems like tiny, "small detail oriented" would be more appropriate) yet significant gameplay changes that have developed as a result of the early game changes? I want to hear about them!

Too good! Very bold to take your flock out like that :P
I am ridiculously cautious with my flock especially since HC nothing to worry about. I have backup breeding pairs all over worried about a mistake zombie spawn.

Since the restricted automation and tree growth changes I am loving the extended goal oriented play. Much like don't starve and previously just early BTW play I have to plan my activities to a routine. Chop/plant trees, harvest pumpkin/coca/wheat/cane/hemp, feed chicken/dog/cow, collect grinder drops/xp, build/mine, kill endermen and repeat.

Till I SFS for full automation vice semi I am in this cycle where I feel very connected to my world on a routine. Later I will have time for larger projects; the full automation builds alone will be so satisfying by then.

That a really cool idea, even though i hate leading animals around... they are so dumb =(

Me on the other hand have been playing a lumberjack lately, every time i leave my base to get wood i chop only the second trunk up and leave a stump behind, the end result is an area of deflorestation around my base that looks really cool and fits BTW's corruption motif really well. It works as a great land mark aswell cuz i have a pretty large area around my base cleaned making it easier to find home after a nasty HCS.

Its so funny how wildly different minecraft feels now that FC has reworked and refined some of its core elements. Its still sad that years of playing easy-peasy minecraft still make me rage quit when i HCS, something that im sure will not happen when RTH comes out cuz my brain will know im playing a different game and will adjust to its rules.

I dont usualy post thanks and praises (other people can word my feelings better then i) but I want FC to know that everytime someone posts something like that this person is just speaking the mind of dozens that quietly and thankfully agree with him. Thx for all the fun hours you provided us FC!

I'd be worried about creepers leading my animals outside like that. Creepers love to sneak up on me first thing in the morning. I hate living underground so I usually just make my base an area surrounded by a dirt wall and keep the animals fenced inside there.

Herding animals early game is def something I def do. I used to only gather a few animals once I got shears for breeding pairs as a later date but now I try and gather as many as a can to slowly grow my herds and available food/wool. I haven't tried herding them around yet but it is certainly an interesting concept. I'm thinking of starting a new world with a medieval aspect in mind, restricting end access until I have a fully functioning castle/town hehe.

I have found that digging a pit, dropping animals in, and covering it back up works excellently as a honeypot, thanks to all mobs going after animals, regardless of line of sight. Granted, it is slightly cheaty, but when you are on day 1 (or just died), time is everything, and I usually find remnants of zombies and skeletons near them, making a good bait farm. Usually, I will take them out after the first night and corral them, but it is still something that has stuck with me since that change.

Also, Like Taleric stated, I have developed a full routine once everything is set up, and automation can begin. Interestingly, this has also followed me through vMC, and other games as well (Towns, as an example).

AAAHHHH!!!! Another praise thread!

You guys are just messing with me now that you know I am embarrassed by such things and don't know how to handle them, aren't you? ;)

Just trying to make you blush big guy

FlowerChild wrote:AAAHHHH!!!! Another praise thread!

I wouldn't call it a "praise thread" per se, just how us dealing with animal killing mobs has changed our play style.

Nabetsu122 wrote:I wouldn't call it a "praise thread" per se, just how us dealing with animal killing mobs has changed our play style.

Pro-tip to new forum users: grow a sense of humor :)

FlowerChild wrote:Pro-tip to new forum users: grow a sense of humor :)

I got what you were implying, but it didn't fully click until after I posted. Unfortunately, Dolphin Mobile Browser does not like some of the BB buttons (one of them being the Delete post button).

FlowerChild wrote:Pro-tip to new forum users: grow a sense of humor :)

indeed, some of BTW greatest hidden features are powered by humor, things like booties, socks, unichickens, wolf rinds, and i recently discovered how to unlock the witch hats for hat protection....

back to topic: iv had to develop many new habits to stay alive now, i think the most impactful of all the new features tho has been HC spawn. i never used to leave the general vicinity of my base or originol spawn. now i make days long jouneys in one particular direction, and built little refuge huts, in anticipation for a hardcore spawn in the inevitable future. i noticed HCS always puts me about one or two MC days away from my base, so makeing about a day long journey in various directions should help in the future when i inevitably die.

also, HATS! my god have hats changed the way i plan out my base and navigate my world. im in a large extreme hills biomes with tons of lakes, rivers and oceans all around. iv taken to surrounding all local bodies of water with sugar cane fences, i have yet to test if the sugar cane actually stops hats or not, but my paranoia wins every time D:

I have recently noticed a gradual change in my approach to combat as a result of the HC changes.

Before: Attack the mob by flailing my weapon around. I will win if my axe durability lasts the battle, right?

Now: Run! Get to safety and think of the best strategy for killing the mob while taking the least damage necessary. I have what none of the other creatures have after all... a brain!

The lack of empowerment was frustrating at first, but with time I grew to love how frail I was!

EpicAaron wrote:I have recently noticed a gradual change in my approach to combat as a result of the HC changes.

Before: Attack the mob by flailing my weapon around. I will win if my axe durability lasts the battle, right?

Now: Run! Get to safety and think of the best strategy for killing the mob while taking the least damage necessary. I have what none of the other creatures have after all... a brain!

The lack of empowerment was frustrating at first, but with time I grew to love how frail I was!

I really liked that sense of being frail, even when those changes started being implemented. It just didn't feel right that you could go down so much health but have no adverse affects, which a lot of games seem to be doing these days (Well, since always, really). It feels so tense when that skeleton is behind you and your practically crawling to your door. But your ability to empower yourself by lighting up your perimeter or making armor really balances it out.

Really, just changing speeds and mining speeds at different health amounts has a HUGE impact.

Also, when you're "injured", you have vanilla mining times with an iron pick I believe. When I'm injured I'm so annoyed because that rhythm of sound, and amount of time it takes to break stone is so reminiscent of vMC that I cant help but just wait until I heal up to start mining again.

Shadowhawk36 wrote:Also, when you're "injured", you have vanilla mining times with an iron pick I believe. When I'm injured I'm so annoyed because that rhythm of sound, and amount of time it takes to break stone is so reminiscent of vMC that I cant help but just wait until I heal up to start mining again.

Also depends on what kind of stone too :)

Deeper strata layers take longer to mine, which further promotes better/enchanted tools for diamond level branch mining and such. Like, I think I now consider a diamond pick with an efficiency enchant to be my minimum equipment for that kind of mining as it tends to be painfully slow otherwise in the deepest strata.

I've been alternating quite a bit between branch mining (to amass large quantities of cobble) and building out my nether transportation network (which is what I use all the cobble for) as I search for villagers, and at one point when I switched from an enchanted pick to a non because I was short on xp levels, it was quite a significant downgrade, to the point where I decided to go mob hunting before returning to mining.

FlowerChild wrote:AAAHHHH!!!! Another praise thread!

You guys are just messing with me now that you know I am embarrassed by such things and don't know how to handle them, aren't you? ;)

oh fc i love you ur the ultimate game designer cant wait for rth you made such a good mod for mc i dont play vmc anymore ur mod is so well balanced

Anyways...

FlowerChild wrote:

Shadowhawk36 wrote:Also, when you're "injured", you have vanilla mining times with an iron pick I believe. When I'm injured I'm so annoyed because that rhythm of sound, and amount of time it takes to break stone is so reminiscent of vMC that I cant help but just wait until I heal up to start mining again.

Also depends on what kind of stone too :)

Deeper strata layers take longer to mine, which further promotes better/enchanted tools for diamond level branch mining and such. Like, I think I now consider a diamond pick with an efficiency enchant to be my minimum equipment for that kind of mining as it tends to be painfully slow otherwise in the deepest strata.

I've been alternating quite a bit between branch mining (to amass large quantities of cobble) and building out my nether transportation network (which is what I use all the cobble for) as I search for villagers, and at one point when I switched from an enchanted pick to a non because I was short on xp levels, it was quite a significant downgrade, to the point where I decided to go mob hunting before returning to mining.

I hadn't even thought of strata, but your play habit of that makes it so that enchanting is important, which requires a mob grinder for continuous enchanting

and

wait

i see it all now

u made a balanced mod

omg

i can envision your interconnected tunnel of design

nope
wait
gone

After my first few failed attempts at herding cows back to my base (I killed EVERYTHING within a days travel by the time I decided to do this) I too became a shepherd.

Nothing better then spending your nights cuddling your cows while you huddle together in that newly minted dirt hovel waiting for morning to continue your journey home... wait, that came out wrong.

I'm going to stop while I'm ahead.

quick tip for those of you struggling to get a cow early game. (befor finding a village) i saw this on one of icynewyears videos and it was a total game changer in terms of early game food. i dont know if this is meant to be a hidden feature or what not but i didnt know about it and coulnt find it mentioned anywhere in the change logs. so ill spoiler it just in case...
EDIT: ha! found it, this feature was added in Version 4.62. must have over looked it....

i guess those can also be considered new gameplay habits as iv never really kept animals like this so early on in the game. after all food was never an issue befor hc hunger. and even hc hunger still feels very new to me. in the greatest of ways of course :)

When I see a bunch of pumpkins outside, and I haven't got a hoe yet, I... I take a few. And I... spread them out a little, you know? Like, just... dropping one every now and then as I hunt.

I do it because... you know... it's just wrong that there's so many pumpkins just there in that one little spot.... It's just... wrong for them to all get together and... and hide from me when I'm hungry! I'm hungry, dammit, and the pumpkins are all wrong!