Do the droughts just continually go up with no end ?

[Senpainick]

I just reached a 6 day drought is there no mercy ? lol

[fractalgem]

Even in hard mode, droughts will not exceed 30 days even after the handicap period ends.
I don't recall the cap for normal and easy.

If you think 6 day droughts are bad, imagine prepping for a 6 day drought with only 3 days of wet season like I did once XD

[grilled.dev_Mechanistry]

It depends on your settings, but there's a cap on each one. You can customize it further with the custom difficulty settings.

[t.jacobs]

On normal difficulty droughts last 6-9 days (randomized each cycle). To prepare for them, try to create a dam that will not let your river dry out for that entire timespan. Thus your trees and farmland will be watered all the time and you can pump out drinking water as usual.

[Senpainick]

Originally posted by fractalgem:

Even in hard mode, droughts will not exceed 30 days even after the handicap period ends.
I don't recall the cap for normal and easy.

If you think 6 day droughts are bad, imagine prepping for a 6 day drought with only 3 days of wet season like I did once XD

oh god lol

[Smashing]

Originally posted by Senpainick:

I just reached a 6 day drought is there no mercy ? lol

As has been mentioned, 30 days is the cap but I think mods can push it further (although tbh it become tedious beyond that).

Quick tips to help you if you are struggling:
1 - Beavers consume 3 water a day. Multiply the number of beavers you have by 3 and that tells you approximately how much water you need to have stored per day of drought (best be a bit over as other things can also use water).

2 - You will usually start next to a sizeable river on most maps. Look to dam is before the first drought if you can but don't worry too much if you can't.

3 - Particularly on harder difficulties, you need to have a LOT of water pumpers. Eventually the drought periods are much longer than the wet seasons and you need to pump as much as possible in that time to refill your storage. You do not want your overall storage to be lower at the start of one drought than it was before the start of the previous one.

4 - Drought lengths are still variable, sometimes you will get shorter ones again later game, although it won't drop right back to the starting amounts.

5 - Water channels that are deep and narrow store water more efficiently than ones that are wide and shallow. This is because during the drought, water evaporates and this is based on the surface area. If you can choose between making your dammed area deeper or wider, deeper is generally better.

6 - Water tanks store water more efficiently than having it as a water block behind a dam and don't evaporate. Dammed water later on is primarily for irrigation rather than necessarily water supply for drinking.

7 - Early game it's fine to spam the small water tanks all over the place. Larger ones are more efficient materials and space wise but it's better to have slightly less efficient storage in place earlier and filled than wait for more efficient storage but not have it filled.

[h2g2 | noobs.gg]

Originally posted by Smashing:

Originally posted by Senpainick:

I just reached a 6 day drought is there no mercy ? lol

As has been mentioned, 30 days is the cap but I think mods can push it further (although tbh it become tedious beyond that).

I saw a playthrough where someone used a custom difficulty to tackle 90 day droughts. It was crazy, but they managed it.

[Wuik]

Hello,
I don't want a nervous breakdonw ^^so i play only on normal mode , so like wrote more hight the maximum was 9 days...
After manage that , you may able to do what you want but if you are playing actually with badtides that is another story ^^

[stonelock99]

I'm too old for a nervous breakdown and only play on EASY mode. Much more fun, even if less challenging. I want to build, not struggle to survive.

[Sholomar]

Once you get the game mechanics down 30 day droughts nor badtides will really be a problem. Just got finished moving my water pumps from the shallow area where I farm cattails and spatterdock to the deeper area after a bit of explosive use.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3137747554

Admittedly though the Waterfalls map as it's set up is easier to start out in than Helix Mountain. Hard mode becomes more about your map because the hardest part is the start. My mistake my first hard playthrough was not going deep enough with the water, given water evaporates by it's surface area. Still managed to survive though.