Thread by @BeeBug_Nic

Your first few (in-game) hours in @FringePlanet - a thread :-)

This will take you from your peons waking up, to starting research, to creating a small (temporary) base which should be good for the first few nights :-)

#gamedev

Best way to start is to get food, so initially I scout the map for cherry/plyme fruit and send the peons to collect the tasty food while I take a look around. At this point it's best to gather the fruit, rather than harvest the entire plant as that takes a lot longer to do.

The peons have harvested the orders queued and are now returning things to storage - an initial storage chest is always spawned at the start of the game relatively central in the island - this can be moved/destroyed later on, but just speeds up the early game

Now we have some food in storage, we need to start building, wood grows relatively quickly and is the main ingredient in a lot of recipes, so it's a good idea to grab as much of it as you can - you can always plant more later (every tree will drop a seed that can be replanted)

After partial deforestation :-) Final two trees are going to be cut down and Hans is heading back to dump the wood he is holding in storage - as he can't hold any more.

Peons are returning with the wood, it's time to clean out some space to start building a base. This is done with the "clear snow" icon (handily not in this screenshot, nice planning on my part :-)). This clears a space & will provide us with a stock of snow (which will be handy)

The snow has been cleared, but the peons are starting to get cold, so I lay down a fire. The next step is going to involve crafting, so I've also built a crafting table. Keeping it near the fire means any peon who crafts will also get toasty warm - a win win :-)

So we are going to build this temporary base out of a material called pykrete - it's a mixture of wood fiber and snow (and a real thing - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pykrete) So, we open up our crafting window by clicking on the crafting table, and start ordering wood fiber to be made :-)

The peons - being an industrial bunch generally - make the wood fiber relatively quickly - it's one of the quickest recipes to craft. Now we have wood fiber, the pykrete crafting menu option unlocks, so pykrete can be crafted (and you get a LOT of it compared to just using wood)

The peons will need beds, but alas, beds are hidden behind a research lock. So we place down a research bench for the peons to start uncovering the mysterious of bed making. As Seymour researches he is holding a tool - this is just debug atm (will be replaced with a book or anim)

Commence the research! :-)

Now that things are being researched, let's start using that pykrete we crafted to start enclosing this base. For temporary bases I tend not to raise/create a floor, but that means it isn't the most efficient heat wise - but it will do for now :-)

Always a nice idea to add a door. Doors aren't perfect at keeping heat in, but they are much better than leaving a hole in the wall. The wooden door is a first tier door, cheap to make, not that strong, but perfect for a temp base. The peons also seem to be talking about trees:-)

As the peons are talking about trees, I decide to butcher some more - wood is incredibly useful for building, as well as for fuel, so it's worthwhile grabbing some more. I'm going to chop these down (they are quite close) and then plant the seeds outside of the base.

Adding more walls to the base, I discover I'm running low on pykrete, so I decide to craft some more. Can never have too much :-) It's actually incredibly useful as a temporary building material - quick to craft and place down, so useful for small bridges and staircases :-)

I've planted some of the tree seeds outside the base. But for some reason they seem to be floating, will have to fix that bug :-) Peons will often use items they have in inventory to complete tasks and as Seymour has just returned from chopping trees down, he has a seed :-)

Beds have been unlocked! Yay! I've placed some down for sweet peon dreams. The black & white model that Seymour is standing is basically a "WIP" indicator- once he finishes building that will be removed and replaced with a bed. Conversation of the day seems to be trees & food :-)

The seeds we planted outside grew *very* quickly (need to tweak this) - but that is only model wise, they don't contain that much wood. Trees (like all plants) will grow during the day (aside from mushrooms that will die if exposed to sunlight (yes mushrooms aren't plants :-)))

That's the majority of the walls built now, no roof yet (and you can see the peons talking inside). I've made a little staircase at the back, because the next big job is building the roof - which will seal the room, making it weather proof and providing bonuses to warmth :-)

And a roof is added :-) Sure it's ugly, and sure it's made mostly of ice mixed with wood, but it is sealed now, it's safe(ish) & will keep the heat. It's not quite a home, but much better than sleeping outside :-) This will be a safe(ish) place for the peons to sleep tonight :-)

A look inside, it's nice and warm and cozy (well cramped, cozy is prolly a Realtor phrase), three beds, research bench, crafting table and a fire to keep everything warm. This will do the peons well for the next few days as they look into building a more permanent settlement :-)

A final view from outside, hopefully the thread wasn't too spammy - let me know what you think :-) If this has piqued your interest, there is a very in-depth #devblog you can view here: fringeplanetgame.com/blog/ & as always DMs are open should you want to chat :-)

#gamedev /thread

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