Time to get Compass

[Splee999]

Okay, I'll risk it by breaking in the new subforum.

So, to start out with, I'm loving all the new changes to the early game. I'm an especially huge fan of Hardcore Strata- it adds whole new layers of depth, complexity, and character to caves that vMC never got close to.

However, with these changes, it has greatly increased the time it takes to find an entrance to the redstone layer and to get a pick that can mine the redstone. And because of that, it takes about 4-6 hours for me to get a compass after a hardcore respawn.

As a dedicated SSP player, I haven't been able to use the new soul sand mechanic, so I don't really know how that changes things. However, I think 4-6 hours of grinding might be a little too punishing for a death. I find the grind especially punishing when you are *just* before the age of iron recycling, because you are faced with a grind for a compass, or just a restart that would only take a few more hours than the compass to bring you back to where you were.

So, that's it. I think it takes quite a while to get a compass, and it would be nice if there was another way to navigate home that didn't take quite so long to get.

Thanks again for such an awesome mod, you really showed us what MC can do with some fantastic design with a pinch of twisted humor.

[FlowerChild]

The method of navigating home is to build roads and landmarks. Having to make a compass is a strictly early game measure where dying is intentionally all the more punishing to recover from. A death in the early game may take 4-6 hours to recover from, but later on, if it takes anymore than a few minutes (lost items not included), you're doing something very wrong.

Remember: the real focus of HC Spawn is encouraging building of infrastructure, not compasses :)

[Splee999]

Okay, I'm not quite sure if I phrased that like I wanted. What I'm saying is that in the early-to-mid- game, right when you are starting to build your first machines and large structures, but before you have created anything truly large, like a road network, a 4-6 hour grind right in the middle of your progress feels a bit harsh.

Maybe it's just because I'm used to the standard vMC turtle base that is the only one you ever use, but I'd like a way to get back to your mid-game a bit quicker than you already can.

[FlowerChild]

Yup, I hear what you're saying, but I don't agree, and that's not going to happen. Death is about where I want it in terms of what it does to you in the early game, and I say this after having died a large number of times in the early game (probably 20+) and having worked back from it with each instance.

Any less and it decreases the significance, nerfing the value of infrastructure, reducing the player's "range" (in the sense of how far out they wind up building various bases) and the dread that has become associated with dying.

It's meant to be harsh man, and it's meant to take a long time to recover until you address that problem in-game.

[Splee999]

All right, that's fair enough. Thanks for hearing me out in a polite manner.

Hopefully this will be like most interactions in this subforum, it would be sad to see it turn into the old Suggestion Forum again.

[johnt]

However long it takes, it's not entirely lost time. I usually come back with extra iron and lots of food, which can be nice when you have no animals left at spawn.

[FlowerChild]

All right, that's fair enough. Thanks for hearing me out in a polite manner.

Thank you for posting your concerns in a polite matter :)

I'm generally happy to discuss aspects of the design man when it doesn't feel like I'm trying to fend off an attack, or cover stuff that has been talked to death already.