Resource Costs and Harvesting

[Venrez]

Hi folks

I've been loving ARK so far and have sunk a significant amount of time into my singleplayer game, enjoying it every step of the way.

Although some elements of the game seem to surprise me. Such as how much stuff weighs versus how much you need to construct / get anything done.

Even with 200 personal weight and 4 Dino's following me (Carno, Parasaur, Phimio and Ptera) it seems like constructing any sizable base requires such an enormous amount of everything. I've trudged through the effort to build two wooden forts and a single stone fort, each being a 3x3 central building with wooden spike walls all the way around it - but even that requires so much I simply dont understand how there are so many screenshots of bases that'd likely require tens of thousands of stone alone.

Is there something Im missing? How do people manage such exorbitant costs?

I mean look at this

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=510280989

2333 Iron Ingots? Holy bloody hell. For something you can easily lose by dying unfortunately somewhere, such as falling through the ground or being flung way up into the air by opening doors in your home?

This is a bit of a ramble, but it is also a serious question.

How are people managing such vast amounts of resources, unless it truly is supposed to take days upon days upon days to build anything significant?

[Ophias]

For that ascendent rifle, yes it requires huge amount of resouces as it's the highest tier of item.

For bases, it's easy to build a base, just take some time.

Tips: use dinos to gather resouces.

[Charnel]

Also for bases gather all the materials and put them on the dino's following you and then contruct the parts and put them back on the dino's..constructed parts weigh less than materials.

Ascendant gear is the highest and rarest gear in the game so yes it costs a crapload

[Firestorm672]

^pretty much what this guys said, with the new armodilo(cant spell its name atm) making rock bases has become alot easier then it was before. the best thing i can say is try and get a mammoth, pump attack and weight and watch the thatch and wood come in, then get urself an armodilo and u can pretty much make as much stone buildings as u want in a very short time

[That Cat]

While the costs are doable, they are a bit excessive.

[Charnel]

With an established base making ascendant items is easy...if you can get your hands on them xD I had an ascendant flak chest piece once it was very costly but the armor value was well worth it

[Venrez]

Originally posted by Firestorm672:

^pretty much what this guys said, with the new armodilo(cant spell its name atm) making rock bases has become alot easier then it was before. the best thing i can say is try and get a mammoth, pump attack and weight and watch the thatch and wood come in, then get urself an armodilo and u can pretty much make as much stone buildings as u want in a very short time

I know about the collecting-crafting-put back on Dino strategy. Its more that even doing so takes such a ridiculous amount of time and effort for just a few walls, floors and ceilings.

Like 80 Stone or so per foundation segment? It just seems like a ~lot~ given how much it weighs. The weight AND the harvesting of the resource combined makes it doubly worse.

Im just used to games like 7days where its block-based and inventory is limited to a number of slots. Most RPG / Survival games tend to choose one or the other, either weight but "limitless" capacity or no weight but limited slots.

Just makes building easier when you can carry 640 Blocks of Reinforced Concrete and plonk it all down, for example. The difficulty is in making it before hand, but not carrying it around - making the building process itself easier rather than having to make 10 trips to carry the same load even if you already have it all.

Is the point to increase the attack on the larger Dinos so that you get more resources when it hits something?

I didnt even know attacking resources whilst riding a Dino gave you anything. I've tried it on rocks and trees with the Dino's I've mentioned aswell as Raptors, Argents and Spinos but never received a single resource.

- - -

I realize that Ascendant is the best quality, but I still think 2333 Iron Ingots is absurd.

Originally posted by Nakts:

While the costs are doable, they are a bit excessive.

Given I went with all 4 of my Dinos up onto the mountain and harvested all the metal, returning with only about 200-300 ingots worth, I think 2333 is going to take a while.

[Diarrhea Blaster]

I'll make stuff instead of just leaving materials on my dinos, like turn it all into some walls since they take up less inventory space.

I recently joined a server that has like 7X harvesting and haven't looked back since.

[Charnel]

carnivor animals only collect meat/hides/chitin etc from other animals, you want herbivors for collecting berries/fiber/wood anky and doedicorus collect rock and metals

This game isn't easy man it takes alot of effort, unless ofcoarse you play on a server with higher gathering

[Venrez]

Originally posted by Toxus:

carnivor animals only collect meat/hides/chitin etc from other animals, you want herbivors for collecting berries/fiber/wood anky and doedicorus collect rock and metals

it takes alot of effort, unless ofcoarse you play on a server with higher gathering

Its not about it being easy. Its the problem of the pointless chore of having to fuss around with the excessive weight of everything even if you already have all the resources. Its annoying having to make 20 trips even if you already have all the Stone or whatever.

I may increase the gather amount. It seems ridiculous to chop down an entire tree and only get 10-20 wood even on x2 settings. A whole tree. And its not enough to make a Bow.

Yeah, game logic. But sometimes its a bit excessive.

- - -

Also, Im certain I've tried harvesting with a Stegosaurus. Still got nothing.

Is there any actual point to harvesting with a Dino as opposed to doing it yourself, considering everything you gather is likely going to be put on the Dino anyway for transport?

[Firestorm672]

dinos harvest more with higher attack, so a rex who has 290% attack will harvest 8 peices of meat while one at 300% may harevest 9, with a mammoth u can pretty much gather 3-5 stacks of wood in no time, as well as a butt load of berries, but again only mammoths can harvest trees and get wood, all other herbavors will only give u thatch. so basically, think of dinos as an upgradable tool that gets stronger and stronger as time goes one

[dnamein]

Stego is good for berries and maybe thatch.
Use Mammoth for wood, saber for chitin, anylo for flint/metal, doedicus for stone, giganto for fiber.

[AtotehZ]

Costs are fine. You're not supposed to have a huge base if you play alone. Even so, you can. Just try to figure out how to farm better. One man can farm 20k metal in a day if you know what you're doing.

[Venrez]

Originally posted by AtotehZ:

Costs are fine. You're not supposed to have a huge base if you play alone. Even so, you can. Just try to figure out how to farm better. One man can farm 20k metal in a day if you know what you're doing.

Only if you have x10 Resource Gathering amount of whatnot.

I completely depleted Grand Peak and the other large mountain right in the middle of the island. Still only about 500 metal or so. Harvested with Metal Pick. Took two game days.

Seems like increasing the attack power of Dino's to get more resources seems like an unintentional bug or oversight.

I never even really bother to tame Dino's and prefer to do it all myself considering the sheer amount of time and effort it takes to tame one, even on x3 Taming speed, only for them to get themselves killed by somehow aggro'ing 3 Bronto's and a Rex while you're minding your own business chopping wood.

I just use them for carrying stuff or a Ptera for flying. Thats about it really.

- - -

I gave up on using them for combat when a single Alpha Raptor killed all 5 of my Raptors, a Carno, a Stegosaurus and myself in Flak / Metal equipment. It didnt even look injured.

Not when it takes so long to tame them. The cost of meat is irrelevant since you've always got absolute mountains of it. Tranq arrows are a pain too.

I had a problem taming a Spino. After about 30 Tranq arrows it finally fell unconscious, but even giving him nonstop Prime Meat his Torpor drained faster than he would tame despite also being repeatedly, continually topped up with more Tranq Arrows when it was getting low, to the point he had 15 health left and faced death by another Tranq Arrow, or he'd wake up and reset the taming.

I dont see how that could be done any other way.

[dnamein]

Well... don't take it personal, but you seem to make basic mistakes in this game and refuse to learn.

Please, try to use dinos, they don't die that easily when you learn how to manage them.

Harvesting 2 mountains from one stone/metal spawn will by no means take 2 days, unless you played 1h each day.

I am no sure how fast resources respawn, but i'm 100% sure its faster then 2 times per real day.

And dino mechanic with more dmg = more resources is intentional.

Also, while taming, don't use tranq arrows to raise torpor. Put narco berries or narcotics in his inventory and hit "remove use item".

[spellcaster]

Originally posted by dnamein:

Stego is good for berries and maybe thatch.
Use Mammoth for wood, saber for chitin, anylo for flint/metal, doedicus for stone, giganto for fiber.

ankylo for crystals too