December 21, 2024

I have accomplished much in the last few days! I built a house (and didn't notice the janky beam until just now)

and started a very modest little vegetable farm. The pottery and copper ages are well underway. I managed to scrounge enough copper off the ground and via panning that I was able to make my first pickaxe and hammer last night.

One of the things I appreciate most about this game is how challenging the early tech tree is, even if you've played the game before. Even getting charcoal to smelt copper over a normal campfire is a multi day process involving layering firewood in a pit, lighting it, smothering it, waiting for it to burn out, and then digging it out. And EVERY tool or material more advanced than flint tools and campfire roasted meat requires a lot of foresight. Grinding grain to make bread requires a quern, which requires quarried stone, which requires a copper pickaxe, which requires native copper, a cruicle, tongs, a mold, charcoal, and a campfire, which require clay, rope, tinder, firewood, sticks, and for you to not die in the process of collecting everything. My Quern and Kitchen

Now that I have a hammer, I can break up the copper ore I've collected and am no longer totally reliant on surface bits of native copper. Access to metal opens up so many new tools and to make the excperience less about surviving and more about thriving.

I do eventually want to move house again. My current location is unfortunately situated smack in between a bear spawn and several wolves. It's also kinda ugly. I'll finish getting the metalworking stuff set up, then move house to a really pretty location near some ruins (and limestone!)


I did download quite a few mods that expand the survival experience. I like having more options for cooking as well as the ability to fish and trap. All the ones I'm using have been added to a list here.