Greydwarves overaggression

[Ɣɪ¢♰ɪɱƧ]

I've started a new world and so far I got much luckier in terms of content density (bigger black forests instead of small patches with nothing to spawn, more dungeons, etc).
But I guess since Black Forests are bigger they also spawn an unconfortable amount of greydwarves. On the very first day, naked because I started with an old character that got soft-locked in another world, I found close to spawn a big patrol of 6 greydwarves, one shaman and a brute all in the meadows (there was a tiny patch of black forest near the coast and they walked out of there I guess).

The thing is... Greydwarves are really annoying and tiring. I'm chilling minding my business, not bothering anybody and all of a sudden someone slaps me in the back of the neck while I'm chopping wood.
I can understand their pressence in the black forest but I can see them walking all the way from the black forest to my base in the meadows (I don't see them from that far but I see them walking down a hill and the forest is right behind) and they hound me as if they have wallhack or something because I'm between buildings. Every minute there's a greydwarf or a greyling around to interrupt me and, even during the day, I've found patrols of 6 + shaman.
When you have like 200 resin, 200 eyes and plenty of wood around, there's zero incentive to kill these things. They're not challenging, they're not fun to hack through, they just interrupt whatever you're doing.

So I was wondering, other than piting my "village" is there any way to deal with this and make my base safe and quiet? I managed to stop the raids (which are also very annoying, they happened every other day and when the raid ends they don't despawn or walk away, they forever pursue except for brutes who walk away when very low) littering the map with "burrowed" workbenches but my grey neighbours won't stop throwing rocks at my bees.

P.S.: The game is really nice, I'm loving it. Congrats to the devs, honestly. I don't mean to be whiny I guess there's so many things done so well I only have feedback for the few things that interrupt the fun.

[Mandos]

Originally posted by Ɣɪ¢♰ɪɱƧ:

On the very first day, naked because I started with an old character that got soft-locked in another world, I found close to spawn a big patrol of 6 greydwarves, one shaman and a brute all in the meadows

I don't really know how the game measures progress, but I would not be surprised if your game progress is tied to your character and not the world itself. If that is the case and you use an advanced old character in a new world, you will encounter tougher enemies.

Originally posted by Ɣɪ¢♰ɪɱƧ:

is there any way to deal with this and make my base safe and quiet?

Enemies will always be around one way or the other, but if you surround your home with walls and cover the inner area completely with workbenches to prevent spawns you will be pretty much left alone (excluding the occasional raid events ofc).

[Complaintdesk]

I use tamed 2 star wolves as bodyguards and for security. When I am heading out to gather resources like wood or ore, I will take 2-4 tamed wolves with me. They take care of Greydwarves which are attracted by noise. When I am exploring by longship I will take a couple of wolves along with me ordering them to stay beside where I moor my sailing craft.

[Ɣɪ¢♰ɪɱƧ]

Originally posted by Mandos:

I don't really know how the game measures progress, but I would not be surprised if your game progress is tied to your character and not the world itself. If that is the case and you use an advanced old character in a new world, you will encounter tougher enemies.

I've read that it measures by distance from spawn, but I guess it'd make sense to take character progress into account as well.

Originally posted by Mandos:

Enemies will always be around one way or the other, but if you surround your home with walls and cover the inner area completely with workbenches to prevent spawns you will be pretty much left alone (excluding the occasional raid events ofc).

I guess I have no choice but to fortify the perimeter or to find a nice island.

Originally posted by Complaintdesk:

I use tamed 2 star wolves as bodyguards and for security. When I am heading out to gather resources like wood or ore, I will take 2-4 tamed wolves with me. They take care of Greydwarves which are attracted by noise. When I am exploring by longship I will take a couple of wolves along with me ordering them to stay beside where I moor my sailing craft.

I'm a bit far from being able to tame wolves but I'll certainly will look for some later on. Sounds like a solid plan to chop wood in peace. Can they be left outside any pens to "patrol" the village?

Thank you both for taking the time to answer.

[Behind_You]

its a big part of the game that NPCs are drawn when you chop or mine, the further in the game the worse it gets.

for the raids you can just dig a mote around your base and nothing will get in besides flying enemies that come later on. just make sure its far away from the walls or else log trolls will be destroying anything within reach. then you just build and destroy a bridge into the base when you need to bring tamed animals in your base or anything like that.

"Can they be left outside any pens to "patrol" the village?"
you will want them on the outskirts because they howl like hell, and just build the standard work bench all over the base so every inch of ground is within the range of the bench so then nothing will spawn in your base. then you can just do a circle around your base and collect all the items they have farmed from anything that happened by. took me weeks of pain to get a level 2 wolf though and rolling back my save to the .old file because it got killed

[retsam1]

Chopping trees triggers spawns and lures them to you as well. So the not bothering anyone thing really isn't applicable. Think on greydwarves as forest rangers and you're an illegal logger :P

[KingKickAss]

There is a sound mechanic in this game where doing stuff causes noise and attracts attention. There are also ruins and stuff that have a bunch of graydwarves spawned around them.

[UncleAcidic]

early game i would put campfires down around a copper mine. that seemed to keep most of them outta my hair. wile cutting trees it's just best to kill them. you're gonna need all those eyes

[Complaintdesk]

Adult wolves no longer howl, their incessant howling was patched out late last year. Wolf pups do howl occasionally, but I never take pups outside. When you terminate a wolf's order to follow they pretty much stay put. They sometimes will deviate from their designated location if alerted to the presence of a deer or boar, and chase it down for some distance before killing it, but most of the time they return to where they were last fed or commanded to stay. Finding and taming a 2 star wolf requires cold resistant gear and a bit of patience. Starred wolves almost only ever spawn as nightfalls and most often are found in a pack of 2-4 wolves. Dig a 4x4 by 10 foot deep pit, on sloped land where the mountain biome borders meadow or the black forest preferably, then travel a little deeper into the mountain biome until a wolf pack comes along. Building a platform over or near one's taming pit will allow you to pick off the unstarred wolves, and can be used as a taming platform. After a day or two to tame the wolf, dig it out (hence my advice to build the pit on sloped land), and you have a companion that can kill a troll in 2 or 3 bites.

I have at least a dozen packs outside my HQ. I always get out of my base quick during an invasion to avoid my defences taking damage, but most times I do not even get the chance to engage, as packs of 2 star wolves are extremely effective killers. I almost only ever have to pick up wolf parts after a Foul Smell From the Swamp invasion, as my wolves are weak against poison.

My biggest problem is they multiply quite quickly. A recent patch increased the spawn locations and rates of boar and deer in the area of my HQ, allowing them to feed themselves, while I am present in or around HQ. Fortunately I am partial to Wolf Skewers and prefer wolf fur carpeting to bare wood and stone.

[esbenmf]

Sleep at night. Chop in the morning

[Ɣɪ¢♰ɪɱƧ]

Originally posted by retsam1:

Think on greydwarves as forest rangers and you're an illegal logger :P

Yeah that's more or less the idea I got of them. Like that movie where some scientist moves to inspect some ancient trees or something and some faes see it as an invasion so they invade his house back. I think it was The Hallow but I might be wrong.

Originally posted by esbenmf:

Sleep at night. Chop in the morning

That's what I do, I chop during the day at the meadows mostly, and that's why I thought that the aggro being so constant all day was odd. The thing is that it's neither dangerous nor rewarding, it's just an interruption, and thus asked myself "why?".

Thanks everybody for answering. I guess I'll try to fulfill my rl dream and will move to a lighthouse in the game.

[Van N00b]

May i suggest to lower aggro of Mobs, especially grey dwarfs in relation to the character level?!

[GunsForBucks]

I look at it this way... it is a means to balance skill progression.
If you could just chop wood all day you wouldn't be working up your weapon skills at all. Being attacked not only breaks up the tedium of just chopping or pickaxing but allows you to level up your other skills to be ready to advance to the next biome.

Basically your day one character should be afraid of the black forest.

[Ɣɪ¢♰ɪɱƧ]

Originally posted by Campin Nubi from Hell:

May i suggest to lower aggro of Mobs, especially grey dwarfs in relation to the character level?!

I'd be happy if greydwarf aggro would be put on par with the other mobs. No other monster leaks into my base looking for me. I know in more advances biomes you can find things like a Deathsquitto chasing a deer into your meadows camp but that's different.

Originally posted by GunsForBucks:

Basically your day one character should be afraid of the black forest.

Indeed, no complaint in this regard. Although a patrol of 6 greydwarves with brute and shaman very close to the spawn (because there's a tiny BF patch next to the meadows I spawned in) is serious business because they never give up the chase and you can't kill them even with a veteran character if you're naked and gearless. They're the only ones that do that so you can't survive that encounter even if you run (you can run away from trolls, serpents and even skellies I believe). Unless you find a wasp nest nearby and you bait them into it.

Originally posted by GunsForBucks:

If you could just chop wood all day you wouldn't be working up your weapon skills at all.

I have no problems with mobs in the black forest, but with mobs coming down from it into my base in the meadows close to spawn (which is in a clear and has a few trees still in the meadows biome on the side). Just in case it gives that feeling, I'm not asking to make the game easier or reduce enemies, etc. Just commenting on this unique behaviour of a certain mob which leans more on the annoying side rather than challenging or fun. Because I wipe them out easy, but they interrupt me in the base while crafting or building because if I don't dispatch them they kill my bees. NOT THE BEES! Or my crops.

I found a temporary solution to make them less annoying and is to mod the audio. Now they make the noises of a spanish comedian so at least the give me a giggle. Meanwhile, I found a good island to build a good lighthouse in.

[TheQuixote]

Spawning in general is just annoying. Oh, you've been whacking on a tree or rock for 10 seconds? Spawn another mob.

Think my record is up in the mountains at a silver vein. 4 whacks, drake, kill. 4 whacks, drake, kill. 4 whacks, wolf, kill. Went on for almost half a game day.

What's missing is there is no sense of having cleared an area. Which is great if you're farming a mob drop. ( And never seems to happen if you are ) But feels unrealistic because things are obviously popping out of nowhere and 4 whacks, fight, is annoying.

[Complaintdesk]

May I suggest building a trench-type waterless moat, either around the area from which they spawn, around your area of operations or simply between yourself and the path they generally take to get to you. Kite them into the trench when they do attack you, or get them between you and the trench then shieldblock/parry them, so they are knocked backwards into it. Don't kill them just leave them there. If they remain alive it should reduce their spawning frequency.