I know this is probably a waste of time....

FeignedSanity · 2019-04-16 06:50:47

But it's 2AM, and I'm in the mood to waste some time. So fuck it.

Now, how about that milkweed? It's a real pain in the ass as it is right now; but what if it regrew after you picked it, like the days of yore?

What always struck me as odd about milkweed, is that it has always had an unnecessary phase. "Milkweed" and "Flowering Milkweed" are basically the same and always have been, at least as far as I can remember. Maybe you can attempt to muster up an argument about for it, but for me, they're just redundant. You could easily get rid of one, and the only thing you'd lose is a bit of newbie confusion.

While I would be fine with that; how about instead, we give flowering milkweed a purpose. What if milkweed regrew when you picked it in it's flowering phase? Now I know this would kind of bring back the old problem of the "don't do that's" Jason was trying to do away with a while back; but you can still burn geese, rabbits, and fish by trying to cook on a fire or waste soil by tilling a full soil pile.

So here is my proposal, for anyone interesting in shooting it full of holes We can go ahead and keep the "Milkweed" stage. Maybe it could be the initial growing stage (work just like it does now) and after 5 minutes or so, it turns into flowering milkweed. After that, it stays flowering for....idk, let's say 20 or 30 minutes. You can pick it at any point during this time, and it will start to regrow after it's been picked. Maybe the regrowth process takes an hour (subject to change), like branches. You can dig them up like berry bushes.

After the flowering stage, it would turn to fruiting milkweed. This stage would function basically the same as it does now. If left unpicked, the fruiting milkweed would turn back to flowering milkweed after 5 minutes. It would alternate between flowering and fruiting.

And that's basically it. I'd appreciate it if you'd be so kind as to let me know what you think. And with that, I'm off to bed.

Psykout · 2019-04-16 08:11:03

Although I agree that the Flowering Milkweed phase seems odd, it does let you know at a glance that you will be getting a fruiting phase that will produce seeds in twenty seconds or less. If anything make it so when you pick it during flowering stage it goes right to a stump instead of being debris for a minute before being a stump. It's actually quite annoying when someone picks a dozen milkweed plants in a farm all at the fruiting stage stopping you from using that tile for 11 minutes as opposed to 2 minutes.

If you are wanting to buff milkweed/rope I'd say make natural milkweed give stalks and domesticated milkweed just give a thread. Milkweed is one of the few or perhaps only plant that when farmed doesn't change it's behavior. Seeds are the same, product is the same, does not regrow, does not leave a hardened row. I think that is part of the frustration of milkweed, there is no way to manipulate it through player action other than to just plant a bunch of it.

breezeknight · 2019-04-16 09:00:52

HEMP is the answer

- - -

Tarr · 2019-04-16 10:10:20

Originally the difference between stage two and stage three was the amount of seeds you received after harvesting. As of right now the only difference is to punish you for picking them late (when you don't want extra seeds) which leaves milkweed debris there for ten minutes, or it punishes you for picking too early making it so you don't get seeds at all.

Milkweed/thread/rope can all be buffed without screwing anything up in game balance minus stone hoes would probably be the preferable hoe type after a change. We've seen first hand with the wild lasso bug that infinite rope doesn't screw up the game as it only increases your storage ability, hoe type, or building variety which were all good things.

On average I'd say I can make around 20~25 ropes per life if I focus solely on milkweed farming but I don't think milkweed farming is very fun or engaging gameplay. I like the idea of a buff either going where wild milkweed regenerates (if picked at the right stage) just like wild gooseberries do, or something like the stalk vs thread option depending on whether its wild or domestic.

Whatever · 2019-04-16 10:34:37

Or a very simple change:
If you pick milkweed it has a 50% chance to regrow in 1 hour (doesnt matter at what stage you picked it)

futurebird · 2019-04-16 11:50:12

A milk weed garden can be taken down by one greedy baby who wants to make the 23983459th rabbit trap because no one gave them a pack. I once watched a kid make two traps AND take thread (to sew in a town with sheep and shears) from the patch I planted. I say "you need to replant"

"I don't know how"

Really? Well, I show him how, I still think he was bluffing with the "I don't know how" But I was so noisy about the milkweed and replanting that some other people had mercy and helped to plant some more.

But it's just never satisfying. I think the 50 chance to regen would help. Or how about this wild idea: the more generations you cultivate milk weed the higher the chance that you will get string rather than a stalk.

So, first gen domestic milk weed gives string 1/5 times, 2nd gen gives it 2/5 etc.

To make it really intense make it so you need to use the seeds from the plant that gave string to get the better strain growing.

This would make growing milk weed more rewarding since you would be breeding a better strain for future generations. Not just working for 8 min to see it all snatched up by someone who can't be bothered to find the rabbit traps that any large town already has.

WalrusesConquer · 2019-04-16 12:54:12

I think it was a transiation to just show the passage of time, but I agree when you think about it it is a little bit pointless

BlueDiamondAvatar · 2019-04-16 14:51:47

I'm all for a domesticated milkweed that gives us a thread, and regenerating wild milkweed.

futurebird, I like the idea of increasing the chance to get thread over multiple generations, but that would take a lot of additional coding. I think Jason's more likely to go for the steady percentage chance.

MotherofU · 2019-04-16 15:01:31

I think that Milkweed sets a bar at a very early stage in the game. I like the idea that new players will learn the dynamics of the milkweed earlier on. It helped me think more broad about sustainable farming and of course, pple in the game are keen to tell you off straight away when you gather that flowering milkweed.

Spoonwood · 2019-04-16 18:04:52

Tarr wrote:

We've seen first hand with the wild lasso bug that infinite rope doesn't screw up the game as it only increases your storage ability, hoe type, or building variety which were all good things.

Did anyone in a bigserver2 town go around, possibly with a friend or two, try to make dozens of buckets and put them to good use?

Imagine a town with massive amounts of both milk, latex all ready to go for rubber processing because you can spare the buckets, the biggest hangup in getting more carts/horsecarts comes in getting butt logs to slice with a bowsaw, a fair amount of saltwater in buckets, plenty of sledges for storing those buckets compactly, maybe even water in buckets, empty buckets in horsecarts ready to go for getting more water/latex from distant sources.

Tarr · 2019-04-16 18:10:47

Spoonwood wrote:

Tarr wrote:
We've seen first hand with the wild lasso bug that infinite rope doesn't screw up the game as it only increases your storage ability, hoe type, or building variety which were all good things.
Did anyone in a bigserver2 town go around, possibly with a friend or two, try to make dozens of buckets and put them to good use?
Imagine a town with massive amounts of both milk, latex all ready to go for rubber processing because you can spare the buckets, the biggest hangup in getting more carts/horsecarts comes in getting butt logs to slice with a bowsaw, a fair amount of saltwater in buckets, plenty of sledges for storing those buckets compactly, maybe even water in buckets, empty buckets in horsecarts ready to go for getting more water/latex from distant sources.

Definitely seen a lot of boxes/buckets/pine building parts. Some people definitely took advantage of the bug while it lasted but I can remember people just stealing rope I collected instead of walking out and finding their own lel.

Psykout · 2019-04-16 18:44:59

Multi generational plants would be very in depth to code and track. Also involving RNG into farming is a big can of worms. I don't think wild milkweed should regrow for two reasons, one there should be a downside to picking the biome clean and not cultivating, and two milkweed plants would be in the way of building.

There should be some sort of gain to putting in the effort, soil, water and tool use into domesticating the plant. To my knowledge its the only plant that does not change its behavior after cultivation.

pein · 2019-04-17 00:30:16

i think some higher tech rope would help
like hemp
also could work with the loom, but mainly it would give more ropes per soil
then we could have signs and traps and everything
the rest of the game is easy compared to making ropes

Psykout · 2019-04-17 00:37:09

Agree on some sort of way to get rope other than milkweed. The only way we have to store anything requires 4 to 12 bowls of soil, 4 to 8 tool uses and 4 bowls of water, which adds up quick.

FeignedSanity · 2019-04-17 02:45:59

Huh, this thing got a lot more attention than I thought it would. And it's not nearly as negative as I figured it'd be. Not sure what the cause is, and you wont hear me say this often, but shout outs to the forums.

@Tarr

Tarr wrote:

Originally the difference between stage two and stage three was the amount of seeds you received after harvesting.

Really? I don't remember that ever being a thing. Maybe it was before I played, early March 2018 or before. Do you know about when it was changed? Also, not sure I can fully agree with your opinion of a massive milkweed buff not messing with game balance.

@Whatever

Can't say I'd be a fan of that suggestion. Personally me, I'm a pretty adamant detractor of RNG in games.

@futurebird

Yes, it can be taken down pretty easy as it stands now. But with my suggestion, the only thing they could do (without staking, watering, and shoveling) is pick it during a stage it regrows, or pick it at a stage where it will produce seeds. They don't have an easy option to grief. As far as the multi generational farming, I'm of the opinion of it being far more complicated than it'd be worth. I feel there are many more practical, and easier implemented solutions.

@Psykout

Like I said in the OP, you can muster up an argument for the current flowering milkweed stage, but it wouldn't justify it's existence IMO. I will agree that the debris phase after it gets picked is unnecessary and should be done away with.

And I guess I'm technically asking for a milkweed buff, but I'm not looking at it in that sense. My initial reaction to the idea of a "domestic" milkweed that gives thread is to be against it. I'm sure I could probably be persuaded, I would just want it to come with a pretty decent drawback (maybe soiling and watering?). I wouldn't want it to be too strong.

For the final point of your thoughts on a downside to picking a biome clean and not cultivating it, and that it should change it's behavior once "domesticated". I personally believe you are looking at it the wrong way. I believe you are comparing apples to oranges. Milkweed is not like carrots, corn, sheep, pigs, etc. They are more like trees. They don't provide food, they provide crafting materials. If you think of a milkweed plant as a maple tree, you'll understand where I'm coming from. Just imagine every milkweed stalk as a poplar, maple, or yew tree. You don't have to plant a new poplar tree every time you grab a curved branch; nor do you have to soil and water it. You get one, every predetermined amount of time. I'm not going to waste time typing out every little thing, because I'm sure you can see where I'm coming from.

At least that's my opinion. I don't think you should "domesticate" a milkweed plant any more than you can "domesticate" a poplar tree. I know that milkweed kind of exists in between a tree functionality and a bushes/corn functionality, but I'd like to see it move more towards the prior.

Last edited by FeignedSanity (2019-04-17 02:48:24)

Psykout · 2019-04-17 04:08:40

Damn yeah you are completely right about the fact its a crafting resource like a tree and should be seperate from food. Good thread.

Elsayal · 2019-04-17 08:04:21

BlueDiamondAvatar wrote:

futurebird, I like the idea of increasing the chance to get thread over multiple generations, but that would take a lot of additional coding. I think Jason's more likely to go for the steady percentage chance.

since the randomness of item shape is implemented with dice, it may be easy.

Making people select the best seeds / animals or so, generation after generation is an amazing idea.

Starknight_One · 2019-04-17 22:33:40

BlueDiamondAvatar wrote:

I'm all for a domesticated milkweed that gives us a thread, and regenerating wild milkweed.
futurebird, I like the idea of increasing the chance to get thread over multiple generations, but that would take a lot of additional coding. I think Jason's more likely to go for the steady percentage chance.

It's making the new bush be visually distinct, and yet still recognizable that's the problem. Although it could probably be done with the number of flowers and pods on the plants...

One Hour One Life Forums

#1 2019-04-16 06:50:47

I know this is probably a waste of time....

#2 2019-04-16 08:11:03

Re: I know this is probably a waste of time....

#3 2019-04-16 09:00:52

Re: I know this is probably a waste of time....

#4 2019-04-16 10:10:20

Re: I know this is probably a waste of time....

#5 2019-04-16 10:34:37

Re: I know this is probably a waste of time....

#6 2019-04-16 11:50:12

Re: I know this is probably a waste of time....

#7 2019-04-16 12:54:12

Re: I know this is probably a waste of time....

#8 2019-04-16 14:51:47

Re: I know this is probably a waste of time....

#9 2019-04-16 15:01:31

Re: I know this is probably a waste of time....

#10 2019-04-16 18:04:52

Re: I know this is probably a waste of time....

#11 2019-04-16 18:10:47

Re: I know this is probably a waste of time....

#12 2019-04-16 18:44:59

Re: I know this is probably a waste of time....

#13 2019-04-17 00:30:16

Re: I know this is probably a waste of time....

#14 2019-04-17 00:37:09

Re: I know this is probably a waste of time....

#15 2019-04-17 02:45:59

Re: I know this is probably a waste of time....

#16 2019-04-17 04:08:40

Re: I know this is probably a waste of time....

#17 2019-04-17 08:04:21

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#18 2019-04-17 22:33:40

Re: I know this is probably a waste of time....

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