This game feels impossible to solo.

[TXI]

My friends are getting the game soon but I attempted 15 hours solo. Everything was going great, set up a house on the coast, made spike walls and a big ditch / mote around the house... Day 35 "The ground is shaking" they went ALL THE WAY OUT TO SEA (Even after I lifted ground at the coast to stop them doing that) to get into my base and I basically lost everything. I couldn't even fight a single enemy, I died like 5 times in one raid... This game is impossible solo, especially with events like that, don't even get me started on how depressing it was to fight the elder solo for the first time... There needs to be Borderlands esque difficulty setting where the less players = the easier the game is, or the enemies have less health. Any advice for this prediciment? I really liked the first 14 hours soloing but after that raid I'm super demotivated to keep going if the enemies are going to go to great lengths just to get into my base...

To expand: I lifted ground at the coast, literally way out of my base, I made a deep mote and put up spike walls. They still walk all the way out and then all the way into the sea just to get in through my boat port... That just feels a little unfair.

EDIT, PLEASE READ: So some people have said this game does have a difficulty depending on players, yet after playing with 3 of my friends I noticed no difference, greydwarves were still 2 taps, ogres took around 20~25 arrows. Another thing is I said this game **FEELS** impossible to solo. Can you solo it after 150+ hours? Yes of course you can, but the solo grind feels impossible and for the AVERAGE player who would only sink in 20~80 hours, it IS impossible. That was my point.

[RENGOKU]

As someone who’s only 65 hours into this game so still relatively new don’t fight in your base anytime I’ve had in the attack go out to meet them especially if it’s trolls you want to leave them away and ping them with arrows or at least get away from your base so they don’t do structural damage.

[TXI]

Originally posted by RENGOKU:

As someone who’s only 65 hours into this game so still relatively new don’t fight in your base anytime I’ve had in the attack go out to meet them especially if it’s trolls you want to leave them away and ping them with arrows or at least get away from your base so they don’t do structural damage.

Thanks for the suggestion, I did try that but there were like 4 trolls outside my base and 2 swam in, they were already whacking my stuff before I could even react, I'll try running further away next time but it just rattled my jimmies how they went all the way out to sea just to get in.

[Fat Cat]

Originally posted by Ghost:

Thanks for the suggestion, I did try that but there were like 4 trolls outside my base and 2 swam in, they were already whacking my stuff before I could even react, I'll try running further away next time but it just rattled my jimmies how they went all the way out to sea just to get in.

Normally there would be 2 trolls in the raid event. The simplest way to deal with it without fighting is to kite them around the raid zone. Once the raid ends run far away and they should retreat.

The better way is try to fight and kill them, even if you die in the process. Learning how to fight and learning from mistakes is very important in this game. Every mob, including bosses, is not too hard once you're experienced and familiar with their attack and moving patterns.

[Ɣɪ¢♰ɪɱƧ]

The game is very doable solo. I think bosses have less hp when soloing but don't quote me on that.
The biggest difficulty I've seen is that the game doesn't have an organic progression, so it can be deceiving sometimes and some things are hard to know without guides or dying.
Regarding your problem, moats usually are more than enough to stop raids on their tracks. Unless your moat is not deep or steep enough. I trapped a troll and a few greys in a hole that wasn't even troll-deep.

Oh and by the way. Trolls and greys will follow you into the sea and attack you even when swimming. They can sink your raft pretty easely if they come in a full patrol and you don't have arrows (you can't hit things downwards except with the 2-handed hammers, which could potentially deal damage to your raft also, or bows).

[Gladi8er65]

Originally posted by Ghost:

My friends are getting the game soon but I attempted 15 hours solo. Everything was going great, set up a house on the coast, made spike walls and a big ditch / mote around the house... Day 35 "The ground is shaking" they went ALL THE WAY OUT TO SEA (Even after I lifted ground at the coast to stop them doing that) to get into my base and I basically lost everything. I couldn't even fight a single enemy, I died like 5 times in one raid... This game is impossible solo, especially with events like that, don't even get me started on how depressing it was to fight the elder solo for the first time... There needs to be Borderlands esque difficulty setting where the less players = the easier the game is, or the enemies have less health. Any advice for this prediciment? I really liked the first 14 hours soloing but after that raid I'm super demotivated to keep going if the enemies are going to go to great lengths just to get into my base...

To expand: I lifted ground at the coast, literally way out of my base, I made a deep mote and put up spike walls. They still walk all the way out and then all the way into the sea just to get in through my boat port... That just feels a little unfair.

It may not feel fair, but mobs aren't restricted by such things as drowning or stamina... Usually, if there is a way in, they will probably find it and use it, such as going out in the water to go around a wall.... To stop trolls from gaining access you need to either have an earth wall all the way around or dig a trench all the way around or combination of both as long as you leave no feasible pathway for them to get in.

The game is very "doable" solo... I have played through all the current content more than once, solo, so i know it's possible... and oh by the way, when you say the game should be "easier" when playing solo, well... guess what... it already has that dynamic in the game already, but it's not the news you want to hear... the solo play is the base difficulty for fighting bosses... the difficulty ramps up harder if there are multiple players fighting the boss... it get's "harder" the more people are fighting them.

Just like I said in your other thread... If you want to have a base out in the open, you will need to set up defenses, and that means placing work benches around to block spawning inside your compound, and building earth walls or digging moats all around etc OR find other creative ways to set up "safer" bases.

By the way, using earth walls and / or trenches is only going to protect you from "ground" mobs... they will do nothing to protect your base against flying mobs... just FYI

[GunsForBucks]

Building along the shore is one of the biggest traps in the game. It takes a lot of work to pull off properly and even then to stop trolls you would need to set up a no spawn zone enough around the area to prevent any spawns from sight aggro.

Safest is to build on top of a hill top and terrace the sides then outside of that dig a ditch/ things can't climb.

It isn't too hard to have a 100% safe base especially at your level.

The game does scale for difficulty depending on player count. I feel solo is well balanced if you plan ahead. Bosses you summon when you are ready... so prepare the area first.

First time through you will die a lot learning the game mechanics. Once you do though it isn't difficult at all as long as you are careful. I do nothing but no death runs now.. if I die I start a new world and new character. So I tend to be overly cautious.. but it certainly is doable for an old man like me.

[Brew]

Originally posted by Ghost:

Day 35 "The ground is shaking" they went ALL THE WAY OUT TO SEA (Even after I lifted ground at the coast to stop them doing that) to get into my base and I basically lost everything.

Sounds like an opportunity to troll the trolls :) If they are willing to do that to get to you from outside to inside, perhaps they would be willing to do that in reverse to get to you from inside to outside? Wait for the trolls to make it most of the way around to the inside, then jump to the outside of the moat and let them make that long walk in reverse. Then jump back to the inside, let them walk around around the long way again, etc. When the raid times out, just lead them away.

Echoing rengoku, a creature will not attack your base if it can attack you. So make sure it can get to you (e.g. can path to you), and your base will never be attacked. Make sure it can see you. Trolls (and some other creatures) have big AoE attacks, so are very dangerous to have near your base. Even if they attack you and not your base, your base can incidentally take splash damage. So get them away from it.

During raids, creatures continue to spawn until it times out. So if you don't want to deal with more creatures, don't kill any until after it times out. Just run them around in circles. (On the other hand, if killing them is easy, it's an endless loot stream until timeout!)

I have only played solo. You will likely get yourself into some pickles from time to time, but it's not impossible.

[Tiramisu]

It is soloable, but I gotta say this is definitely a game thats far more enjoyable with friends. And I say this as someone who generally likes SP games, or even some MP titles solo.

The game already scales hp/dmg with player count - so you are playing it in the easiest form just in terms of hp/dmg. Of course, it is actually easier with a friend to dispatch mobs with team work.

If you got the earth shaking raid, then your best bet if you are able unable to kill Trolls effectively is to lead them away. They will despawn when the raid timer is up. I know its no fun seeing your base get mashed up as you repeatedly die :/

You can get more creative with your base building to prevent raids (look up guides). Some also only kill bosses in seperate worlds, so the only raid type that happens in your main world with no bosses done is the basic one with necks and boars.

[GunsForBucks]

Originally posted by Tiramisu:

It is soloable, but I gotta say this is definitely a game thats far more enjoyable with friends. And I say this as someone who generally likes SP games, or even some MP titles solo.

The game already scales hp/dmg with player count - so you are playing it in the easiest form just in terms of hp/dmg. Of course, it is actually easier with a friend to dispatch mobs with team work.

If you got the earth shaking raid, then your best bet if you are able unable to kill Trolls effectively is to lead them away. They will despawn when the raid timer is up. I know its no fun seeing your base get mashed up as you repeatedly die :/

You can get more creative with your base building to prevent raids (look up guides). Some also only kill bosses in seperate worlds, so the only raid type that happens in your main world with no bosses done is the basic one with necks and boars.

They actually changed raids so things spawned won't despawn anymore. You have to go out and kill them after the event.
Not seen it myself with trolls but other events I have had will now leave lots of stuff to kill after it is over now.

[Tiramisu]

I literally did this twice last week!

After starting a new playthru recently, the first time this raid happened I went out to try kill them. It wasnt working out and so I kited them a bit away from my main base and then ran to another. I never saw them again.

A 2nd raid of the same type, this time I killed one and saw the other turn around and run off! I was annoyed actually because he was nearly dead but ran into the ocean - never saw him again.

So either its mods thats doing this (because I am using plenty), or is this a recent change - because without enemy mods on my first playthru just some months ago I also did this.

[GunsForBucks]

Originally posted by Tiramisu:

I literally did this twice last week!

After starting a new playthru recently, the first time this raid happened I went out to try kill them. It wasnt working out and so I kited them a bit away from my main base and then ran to another. I never saw them again.

A 2nd raid of the same type, this time I killed one and saw the other turn around and run off! I was annoyed actually because he was nearly dead but ran into the ocean - never saw him again.

So either its mods thats doing this (because I am using plenty), or is this a recent change - because without enemy mods on my first playthru just some months ago I also did this.

The change was very recent. Not sure on damage mechanics though.. I do notice things like brutes run off after damage but that isn't even tied to raid end and they have always done that in my experience. Trolls will also run off if far enough away and damaged even outside of events... seems that happens more often now.

Again I have not personally witnessed it with trolls <not had a troll event since the change> but I know other events will leave lots of stuff around like skels and dauger etc.

Wonder if they changed it back due to the bats or something?

[Tiramisu]

*shrug*

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2812863019

Even took a pic of the 2nd encounter. Was freaking coz it was a 3 star Troll and I knew that was just game over on anything it touched. But they were unable to get up to the base (thank you dodgy sea floor!), so I was cheesing them with spear throw spam. But the 3 star obviously has a lot of life and so after a couple of minutes it just turned around and went off :/

[electricdawn]

Six trolls raiding your home at once seems nearly impossible unless you used mods to make the game harder.

You usually get two trolls in a raid. You need to get out, kite them away and stick them with arrows. Usually the timer will run out before you killed one. Which is important, because every enemy you kill during the raid will spawn right back.

Kill them after the event expired.

Once you know the mechanics, the game becomes much easier. Especially the Elder. You fight it from behind the pillars that corner its altar. When it sends roots, you move to the next pillar, where you will be sufficiently safe from its flying tendrils. Just kite it around its altar.

During the whole time you pepper it with fire arrows.

Use lvl 3 Troll armor and a lvl 3 finewood bow. Eat deer stew and carrot soup. The third meal can be either deer for more health, boar jerky for a good mix of both health and stamina or just honey for stamina only.

Should be not too hard this way.

I can relate to your experience, though. Fighting the Elder the first time was a disaster for me as well. Now I know better.

Edit: 3 star trolls should not appear at the usual bronze age level. You probably used a mod to make that appear.

[GunsForBucks]

Originally posted by Tiramisu:

*shrug*

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2812863019

Even took a pic of the 2nd encounter. Was freaking coz it was a 3 star Troll and I knew that was just game over on anything it touched. But they were unable to get up to the base (thank you dodgy sea floor!), so I was cheesing them with spear throw spam. But the 3 star obviously has a lot of life and so after a couple of minutes it just turned around and went off :/

3 star troll during a raid?

Yeah I calling mods on this one ha ha ha!

You should probably avoid difficulty discussions ha ha ha.

[electricdawn]

This is one reason why I'm critical of mods, even though I sometimes use them myself.

Players often just don't know what they're getting themselves into and then blame IG for the problems the mods create for themselves.