Grounded (2022)

The Game Room
41

Getting into this game has been a bit of a slog. Looking back in the thread, I started playing July 12th. Last week I had a grand total of 12 hours played after almost 3 weeks. That’s not great. Honestly it was daunting on every level. Combat seemed super hard, there are so many weird looking menus, and so many (too many?) potential build choices in creative mode. It was almost too much. There were a few days there where I considered giving up entirely.

However, this past week I started to get into it a little more. Not a huge amount – still only 17 hours in – but I made real progress and started to understand a little bit more. I ultimately decided to stay on normal instead of lowering the difficulty.

First I learned how to perfect block. Put my armor and shield away and armed myself with just a pebble axe with zero defense. My first experience was against an orb weaver jr, who killed me like five times before I got the hang of it. On the sixth try I killed it fairly easily, though it did hit me once. Then I started beating up on some larvae, though I assume they are one of the weaker enemies. Tried another lightning bug but got my ass kicked, but that’s okay. Haven’t bothered with a ladybug only because I’m not really interested in that armor. I kind of have my heart set on koi armor.

Now that I can perfect block I feel much more comfortable just wandering around. Imagine my surprise when a wolf spider jumped out at me. Yikes! Continuing to run without armor and just a pebble axe, I immediately held up a sustained block as I backed away. He hit me once, which poisoned me. Then I said fuck it, let’s see if I can perfect block this guy. I perfect blocked his next three attacks perfectly (heh), but then apparently died from the damage over time from the original poison. Still, that was quite a confidence boost. It’s not like I had practiced the timing or anything since it was the very first time I had ever seen one out in the wild. I recognize that the weakness of perfect blocking is when you face multiple enemies, but still, good enough.

I also started building some more stuff. I built a little 2x3 two-story base off near the larva in the southeast when I was practicing perfect blocking on them. I used half walls as my foundation to get a flat surface and put the flooring over those. I like that technique a lot. My only complaint is that stairs are so wide that it ends up taking up a huge amount of space inside a base to have interior stairs. I don’t love the idea of a spiral staircase but I may switch to those simply because of space concerns.

I figured out mutations a little bit, slotting my now level 2 perfect block mutation as well as axe chopping. I’ve also started to build some more tech in my two bases, including a smoothie station at my first base and a water container at both, both of which are now full. Plus a canteen, obviously.

I’m sort of getting better at doing stuff during combat, like applying a bandage in between perfect blocks. It’s the shoveling larvae that teaches that skill, since combat starts when you’re holding a shovel so you have to change items while under threat. I’ve also gotten the hang of spearing aphids hiding in the tops of grass, which definitely opens up the food sources in areas without weevils. I expect the smoothie station and the grow bed I’m about to place for mushrooms will greatly improve my food sources now that water is largely handled.

So I’m pretty sure ants right outside my walls are eating stuff out of my chests that are pressed up against the walls. I already noticed them eating food right out of my roasting pit that had been up against the wall, which I moved once I noticed. I also put up some basic decorations, mainly mounts and stuffed critters, plus of course lamps. That means I’m starting to get a rudimentary understanding of how a base should be arranged. Still no raids as of yet, though.

The game still hasn’t fully captivated me, but I feel like it’s about to. There’s just a way higher learning curve than there was with subnautica or raft, but I think I’m starting to make my way up that curve.

42

Yeah, they do that. I ended up putting chests and stuff on my 2nd floor and just put all the trophies stuff that they don’t care about on the 1st.

43

While I was rearranging my second base – the more advanced one with floors and ceilings – I had my first raid. Red ants.

Seems my layout isn’t terrible since they took out several floor and wall sections plus a staircase, but nothing higher up collapsed. Fortunately I had moved my chests upstairs, so the only items I lost were my lean-to, a roasting spit and a lamp that was on the wall.

All repaired now, but I’m way into construction at the moment. I think I’m going to expand it from its two-story 4x2 layout to a three-story 4x3 layout. Starting to figure out how to tuck the stairs into the corner, though after looking at the spiral staircases, maybe I’ll switch to those.

Building deep into the night I saw a wolf spider patrolling on the other side of the giant log my base is built up against. Scary! Also, larvae keep attacking me, which is honing my perfect block skills. This is largely a pointless location for this base but I’m starting to like it more and more.

So fun.

44

I’m having a hard time getting motivated to play. When I find myself with a couple hours to kill, movies seem to be my first choice. I started grounded a little over 6 weeks ago, but yet only have 32 hours logged. Played an hour last night, which was the first time I’d even opened the game in 7 days. Averaging 45 minutes a day means I’m still not really hooked. For comparison, I played raft for 6 months and logged over 500 hours, which works out to a little under 3 hours a day.

It’s still really fun when I do play. I fine tuned my base design into something I legitimately like, especially now that I have a dew collector. I found the second lab up in the tree by the birdbath. I started practicing perfect blocks on regular orb weavers, not just the juniors. Haven’t killed one yet, but again, when I practice an enemy I do it naked with a pebble axe, so the odds are stacked against me. Just trying to get good at it, and am getting better. So I’m slowly making progress.

I think my main issue is that the game itself is daunting. There are just so many systems to learn. Inventory, hot bars, mutation loadouts, combat timing, coziness, smoothies and meals; so many things to learn and get comfortable with. It’s exactly the kind of stuff that’s perfect for me, but in aggregate it’s almost too much of a good thing.

But like I said, it is really fun when I do play. Last night I decided to check out the ant hill near the baseball so I slapped on some ant armor, grabbed a torch and headed in. It was cool and new and unsettling as I dodged all the ants scurrying past, and then I came upon an ant egg. So like a knucklehead I picked it up, and immediately every ant aggro’d on me. Doh! I did my best Monty Python “Run away!” and made it back to base unscathed. Such a derp move. heh.

45

Just an fyi re:ant eggs. Don’t put them in your storage and forget about them. Use them as soon as possible. Otherwise they’ll hatch and it will tear your shit up.

46

Ha! I saw that it had a timer like food, which I assumed to be the timer until it hatched. So I just put it on the ground outside my shelter. It’s not there anymore so it must have hatched.

Went back to the red ant hill and explored it more fully. That thing is way bigger than I expected. I got a bunch of materials for upgrading weapons and armor, but I still am unable to make the smithing station and I also do not have any weapons or armor that I’m interested in upgrading yet.

Oh, turns out I did not really explore the hedge lab. Apparently the tiny section I went into is a separate area compared to the main base, which is much bigger. So I’ll be heading back there next. I’m thinking acorn armor and red ant club, no upgrades on anything.

I’m also learning that windows are a source of danger. It seems that enemies can see you through windows, and then aggro on you. A firefly flew up to my top story window and looked very interested in my dew collector. So nosy. I wondered: “Can I hit it through the window?” Yes. Yes I can. But then it wreaks havoc when it busts down the wall and actually flies into my base. Fucker destroyed my dew collector! Easy kill for some nice glow goo, at least. Plus I have plenty of extra webbing to make silk to replace the collector, no harm no foul. So much so that I built a dew collector in my secondary base, though I’m starting to really not like having to keep two bases stockpiled with materials.

When I inevitably restart to do a more efficient “opening” I’m going to just focus on a single base, almost certainly next to the first research station across from the baseball. That’s a ways away, though. I still don’t really have a good feel on what I’m doing yet.