Export thread

I've started a shared save if anybody is interested in playing Grounded. It's kind of like a dedicated server, but not. It will let us all play in the same "world" even simultaneously, just with whoever happens to be playing at the time is the "server" and other people join them, and if nobody's playing when you play you become the server. The actual save file itself is stored in the cloud. It's an interesting way to do it.

The nature of this game's multiplayer is you'll have to register for an xbox online account (which is free and can be done from within the game client).

Then, if you want to join us in this world, I'll need to add you to the whitelist of xbox accounts allowed to share the save.

I don't know if more than 4 people are allowed to share a single save, though.

Overall, first impression of this game is its very good. Feels very, as Nick put it, Subnautica meets "Honey I shrunk the kids." Only I'd add too that combat feels very Valheim.

Death is very forgiving even on normal difficulty, and that's a good thing, because there's LOTS to kill you. Resource gathering is fast and easy, so it's trivial to set up multiple camps/bases. I also like the notification system for when you want to sleep through the night... one person tries, and it tells all the other players online "GasBandit wants to go to sleep" and then everybody can then use their respective (or the same) lean-tos to go to sleep, which are easy and quick to build anyway.

And yeah, I can see why they put in an "arachnophobia" mode that makes the spiders less... spidery... because unchanged, they're pretty fucking terrifying.

GasBandit said:

I've started a shared save if anybody is interested in playing Grounded. It's kind of like a dedicated server, but not. It will let us all play in the same "world" even simultaneously, just with whoever happens to be playing at the time is the "server" and other people join them, and if nobody's playing when you play you become the server. The actual save file itself is stored in the cloud. It's an interesting way to do it.

The nature of this game's multiplayer is you'll have to register for an xbox online account (which is free and can be done from within the game client).

Then, if you want to join us in this world, I'll need to add you to the whitelist of xbox accounts allowed to share the save.

I don't know if more than 4 people are allowed to share a single save, though.

Overall, first impression of this game is its very good. Feels very, as Nick put it, Subnautica meets "Honey I shrunk the kids." Only I'd add too that combat feels very Valheim.

Death is very forgiving even on normal difficulty, and that's a good thing, because there's LOTS to kill you. Resource gathering is fast and easy, so it's trivial to set up multiple camps/bases. I also like the notification system for when you want to sleep through the night... one person tries, and it tells all the other players online "GasBandit wants to go to sleep" and then everybody can then use their respective (or the same) lean-tos to go to sleep, which are easy and quick to build anyway.

And yeah, I can see why they put in an "arachnophobia" mode that makes the spiders less... spidery... because unchanged, they're pretty fucking terrifying.

Click to expand...

I bought Grounded back in November, according to my Steam purchase history. I haven't played it yet, but it looked super interesting at the time. I'd totally be on board with giving it a shot. I'll fire it up after work today. I don't have an x-box account, so far as I know, but I'll get those details worked out in short order.

Looks like I might have power again, but I won't know until I get home. If I do, I'm game to play tonight.

Edit: I must have made an account over a decade ago back when the boys were teens and played X-Box. So I do have an account..just let me know what info I need to send you for whitelisting, please

Tinwhistler said:

Edit: I must have made an account over a decade ago back when the boys were teens and played X-Box. So I do have an account..just let me know what info I need to send you for whitelisting, please

Click to expand...

I need to know your xbox gamer handle.

GasBandit said:

I need to know your xbox gamer handle.

Click to expand...

Irish Whistler

Picking up the game. Sent you my handle.

Tinwhistler said:

Irish Whistler

Click to expand...

I've added you as a friend but you're not showing up in the Grounded list. Maybe you have to log in to Grounded with your xbox account at least once before you will show up.

Shawn said:

Picking up the game. Sent you my handle.

Click to expand...

Added

If a game is supposed to show up on my list I haven't seen it. I go to Multiplayer and "join game" but no luck with anything showing.

Edit: I tried hosting instead, and your save game file came up. Because I'm the only one online I guess as you said above? Weird way to do it but I guess that works.

Shawn said:

If a game is supposed to show up on my list I haven't seen it. I go to Multiplayer and "join game" but no luck with anything showing.

Edit: I tried hosting instead, and your save game file came up. Because I'm the only one online I guess as you said above? Weird way to do it but I guess that works.

Click to expand...

Yeah, if nobody else is on, the first person to play has to host.

GasBandit said:

I've added you as a friend but you're not showing up in the Grounded list. Maybe you have to log in to Grounded with your xbox account at least once before you will show up.

Click to expand...

done

@Tinwhistler is now added to the shared game.

So yeah, it looks like I can share the save with as many people as I want, but a maximum of 4 can be playing simultaneously.

GasBandit said:

@Tinwhistler is now added to the shared game.

Click to expand...

I see it. But I won't be able to get in and play until perhaps my 1:30pm lunch or after 4:00pm (CST)

I won't be able to play until after 430ish cst either.

It's interesting so far. It took me a bit to figure out how to craft (you double click the selected item on the left when you have the materials). Aphids are little bastards and the hit mechanics using spears to target them is not reliable at all. I'm sure it will eventually be easier once I know what to look for, but finding sap is a pain in the butt.

Shawn said:

It's interesting so far. It took me a bit to figure out how to craft (you double click the selected item on the left when you have the materials). Aphids are little bastards and the hit mechanics using spears to target them is not reliable at all. I'm sure it will eventually be easier once I know what to look for, but finding sap is a pain in the butt.

Click to expand...

Handy tip: aphipds go down in one hit with a bow and arrow. Chase 'em up a blade of grass and shoot 'em down.

Also, you can shoot down water droplets with a bow and arrow if you can't reach it.

Very, very tempted to pick this up. I may only be able to play from about 10 or 10:30 CST to 12:00am CST. Not sure anyone else would be on at that time except me.

How does the save file work when it comes to the characters? Is your personal progress saved so that no matter which character you are playing at the time that all of your items and gear are available, or is gear and items saved to a specific character and whoever plays it has access to those items?

Shawn said:

How does the save file work when it comes to the characters? Is your personal progress saved so that no matter which character you are playing at the time that all of your items and gear are available, or is gear and items saved to a specific character and whoever plays it has access to those items?

Click to expand...

Progress like unlocking mutations only work on that saved game. So if you've leveled up on GasBandit's server but then start your own, separate save file, you'll need to start completely from scratch. Which kinda sucks.

ThatNickGuy said:

Progress like unlocking mutations only work on that saved game. So if you've leveled up on GasBandit's server but then start your own, separate save file, you'll need to start completely from scratch. Which kinda sucks.

Click to expand...

I figure things save specifically per game. What I mean is that since there are only 4 characters, and you can choose any of them that are not currently being used by someone else (at that specific time), is your personal gear that you have crafted swapped over to the character you are currently playing or do you just have to make do (or triumph) with the gear that someone else put on that particular character?

Shawn said:

I figure things save specifically per game. What I mean is that since there are only 4 characters, and you can choose any of them that are not currently being used by someone else (at that specific time), is your personal gear that you have crafted swapped over to the character you are currently playing or do you just have to make do (or triumph) with the gear that someone else put on that particular character?

Click to expand...

From my experience, you're locked into whatever character you choose when you join the server. So if you choose Hoops, you're always Hoops on Gas's server. And that's the same for whatever gear or inventory you have when you log out. Though I'm not sure how that works if other people on his list also choose Hoops. I haven't had a chance to really play with the shared worlds. Just joining someone else's saved game.

You can also knock down dew droplets by throwing spears at them, and if the spear sticks in the grass blade, it will fall out after a few seconds.

R is the throw button. Throwing spears is a very good early game ranged solution until you can make a bow. It takes 3 spear stabs to kill a weevil, but only one hit with a thrown spear.

Sap is very plentiful at the fallen log to the northwest, but watch out for the orb weaver spiders.

GasBandit said:

You can also knock down dew droplets by throwing spears at them, and if the spear sticks in the grass blade, it will fall out after a few seconds.

R is the throw button. Throwing spears is a very good early game ranged solution until you can make a bow. It takes 3 spear stabs to kill a weevil, but only one hit with a thrown spear.

Click to expand...

You can also knock down a droplet by just meleeing the grass blade. Any melee attack. Spear, axe, hammer, etc. I think punching it, too.

I played for 5-10 minutes...figured out how to get water. I evidently scared the food out of an aphid. I got killed by an ant, and rezzed in a 'house'. I got lost, killed a mite, and found my way back to the starting area.

It started out daylight, I thought, but it's been night-time every since, which I hate.

Oh, and the 2nd time I logged in, it let me pick my character again. I chose the same one, so I can't say what happens with a differing character.

I do know when I died, I got "Irish Whistler's Backpack" and not "Willow's Backpack", and when I quit, it was saving 'Irish Whistler's' state. So I think the avatars are just that, avatars. When you log on and choose an avatar, it's loaded up with whatever gear you had when you logged off with. That's my theory pending additional testing, anyway.

Important information about the game:


Link

Man, I've largely solo'd Grounded for the past year or so, but it really is a different gane when playing with others. Especially when you have others helping you with killing bugs, gathering resources, and building bases.

Really hope I didn't come across as a pushy know it all or anything. It was weird being the experienced player in a multiplayer game for a change.

But I don't think I could play this solo again now after tonight.

ThatNickGuy said:

But I don't think I could play this solo again now after tonight.

Click to expand...

I hear you. There's many a game I can't go back to alone after playing it multiplayer.

And don't worry, you weren't pushy at all.

Interesting trivia I just learned... the voice actor for Max is Luke Youngblood.

AKA, Magnitude from Community and Lee Jordan from the Harry Potter movies.

The voice actor for nerdy Pete is the english VA for Saitama from One Punch Man.

Hoops' voice actress also was D.Va in Overwatch.

Bigger names than I would have thought for such an indie game.

GasBandit said:

Interesting trivia I just learned... the voice actor for Max is Luke Youngblood.

AKA, Magnitude from Community and Lee Jordan from the Harry Potter movies.

The voice actor for nerdy Pete is the english VA for Saitama from One Punch Man.

Hoops' voice actress also was D.Va in Overwatch.

Bigger names than I would have thought for such an indie game.

Click to expand...

Not really an "indie" game, since it's made by Obsidian, who made The Outer Worlds, Pillars of Eternity, and Fallout New Vegas. And are owned by Microsoft. It was apparently made by a smaller team from the whole studio, but definitely not indie.

But that's really cool about the voice actors. Pop pop!

Whoa, you're right about the bigger names. Zachary Levi, who played Shazam in, well, Shazam, is Dr Wendell Tully (the voice of the guy on the taps you pick up).

Played around a bit on GasBandit's server. Didn't progress anything, but continued on the work Gas or someone else did on building the base. Collected resources, build a second dew collector so we'll never be wanting for water, a smoothie station, and some armor stands. And built armor to fit each one. The armor stands are handy for switching out to a different army without rummaging through chests to find armor pieces. Which is good if you want to, say, explore an ant hill without being attacked, so throw on some ant armor super quick.

And of course, being a good multiplayer guy, I made sure to leave as much bug meat on the spit and in the chests as there was when I logged on.

Wish my internet was working so I could have joined >_< new modem is supposed to get here saturday.

GasBandit said:

Wish my internet was working so I could have joined >_< new modem is supposed to get here saturday.

Click to expand...

I have the next three days off. Whenever you're free, we'll play the hell out of it. Just let me know.

The more I think about it the more impressed I get that that one ant was able to path up our stairs into the new base to try to get at the meat cooking on the roaster. Few other survival/crafting games I've seen have MOB AI more complex than "run at player in straight line and try to damage anything in your way"

Alright, I'm off work, and miraculously, my internet seems to be holding out. If anybody's up for Grounded, I am too.

Base was upgraded a bit tonight. We now have 3 dew collectors along with a meat drying rack.
Ladybugs go down fairly easily now, so we're collecting ladybug parts for armor etc. It looks like our biggest gate to the next tier of goodies is berry leather.

We got kinda cocky though after taking on ladybugs and bombardier beetles and orb weavers... and tried a single solitary wolf spider.

I haven't seen 3 dudes get merc'd like that since the last boss of Valheim.

Shit, sorry guys, I was actually playing it solo in my own game. Wanted to start it from scratch to see what changes were made since I missed the opening stuff. If I'd known, I would've joined. Someone should've messaged me.

ThatNickGuy said:

Shit, sorry guys, I was actually playing it solo in my own game. Wanted to start it from scratch to see what changes were made since I missed the opening stuff. If I'd known, I would've joined. Someone should've messaged me.

Click to expand...

Ah, ok, next time I'll PM you. I forget that not everybody obsessively refreshes Halforums like I do

Well, despite helping Gas (and his friend Adam) as best I could, I died a hell of a lot. I don't think I realized how much I realized on quick saving and reloading when I played solo.

Managed to solo kill a wolf spider with my crossbow! No real feat actually, I cowered screaming inside the house we built and fired about 65 times into its eyes through the windows. I can't believe it didn't try to chew through the walls and kill me. But hey, if it works, it works.

Adam and I built a secondary (well, tertiary, this is the third) base over by the hedge for when it's time to go in there and we'd like a closer respawn point. By a happy coincidence, the base's parapet is higher than a wolf spider can jump.

With a crossbow it takes exactly 40 arrows to kill a wolf spider.



Don't look so tough now, DO YA

Turning off Depth of Field is a real game changer. Makes things SO much easier to look at. I hate DOF, my eyes decide what to focus on, not my targeting reticle.

Unfortunately the game doesn't give you this option in menus so you have to add a line to the engine.ini file.


DOF on (default)
DOF Off:

On:

Off:

An argument could be made that in this particular game, the DOF helps convey the sense that the ordinary world is now massive and colossal while you are tiny, and that even trekking 100 cm is an incredible hike, but it's just SO much easier on my eyes. I hate DOF.

The grass, dandelions, weeds, and clover are all definitely growing back. We deforested our immediate environs all the way past the toadstools, and it's all grown back again.

The most important thing I note from your screenshots is how much your gear has progressed. I need to log in and up myself to tier 2 stuff lol

Tinwhistler said:

The most important thing I note from your screenshots is how much your gear has progressed. I need to log in and up myself to tier 2 stuff lol

Click to expand...

We've already made you some armor and an insect axe. Also got 4 gas masks ready (they can be "repaired" with gnat fluff to replace the filter, they don't last very long under dangerous conditions). Until we can find some more crow feathers, I'm the only one with a crossbow. Been looking, and chasing that noisy bastard around the yard, but he just ain't dropping shit.

Oh and I FINALLY got the bow mutation yesterday. It took FUH REV URR

And now I have too many other good mutations to have room to use it.

GasBandit said:

An argument could be made that in this particular game, the DOF helps convey the sense that the ordinary world is now massive and colossal while you are tiny, and that even trekking 100 cm is an incredible hike, but it's just SO much easier on my eyes. I hate DOF.

Click to expand...

DOF doesn't have much place in FPS games. It probably has some good use (like how motion blur is good when used per-object to make spinning gun barrels look like a blur, but is terrible when applied to camera movement), but DOF just doesn't make sense when applied to a players field of vision.

DOF should be saved for cut scenes, 3rd person games with fixed cameras, and other instances where the only things that get blurred is stuff that's not anything you're supposed to be focusing on anyway. In an FPS, anything on screen is something I'm supposed to be looking at, I should be able to focus on it.

base is looking nice.

I accidentally logged out with the mint in my inventory. I'll put it in the whatever chest tomorrow.

So fun fact... if steam's friends backend goes down, like, say, for regular weekly maintenance, it will kick you out of a multiplayer game.

Even if you're alone, hosting a game.

Even though it supposedly uses the xbox live multiplayer thing and not necessarily steam.

Well THIS was darned inconvenient.



Guess we need to keep that door closed after all

THIS, however, is exactly why I built stairs to the roof.



Jeez what is it with you wolf spiders today

Jibbers crabst, and a third wolf spider the next morning. Wonder if that's all the ones in the oak tree dead.

It was!



I kinda expected more loot in there, being guarded by 2 wolf spiders. But there was a couple of big brittle quarzite deposits. So that's a nice bonus.

GasBandit said:

It was!

View attachment 42670

I kinda expected more loot in there, being guarded by 2 wolf spiders. But there was a couple of big brittle quarzite deposits. So that's a nice bonus.

Click to expand...

There's also a breakable wall via a bomb, which has a little extra prize behind it. It's the cracked wall on the right in that screenshot, just to the left of the hanging sap.

How it feels to fight in the anthill after strolling in wearing red ant armor

"hey buuuddy!"

I tried fighting a bee. They have surprisingly low max health. I would have defeated it easily if I wasn't at the top of my zipline tower. He got a hit in and I got knocked off, and died from the fall because my dandelion tuft wore out.

GasBandit said:

I tried fighting a bee. They have surprisingly low max health. I would have defeated it easily if I wasn't at the top of my zipline tower. He got a hit in and I got knocked off, and died from the fall because my dandelion tuft wore out.

Click to expand...

You'll have to BEE more careful next time.

Update 1.01!

Nothing really earth shattering for changes. Mostly just little fixes and tweaks.

I know we’re getting into hibernation season but yeesh.

—Patrick

@ThatNickGuy @Tinwhistler

You guys wanna do the next lab tonight? Adam says he's down for it.

GasBandit said:

@ThatNickGuy @Tinwhistler

You guys wanna do the next lab tonight? Adam says he's down for it.

Click to expand...

Heck yes, I'm down.

GasBandit said:

@ThatNickGuy @Tinwhistler

You guys wanna do the next lab tonight? Adam says he's down for it.

Click to expand...

ThatNickGuy said:

Heck yes, I'm down.

Click to expand...

yup

Alright, shall we shoot for 7 mountain/8 central/9eastern/10 atlantic?

GasBandit said:

Alright, shall we shoot for 7 mountain/8 central/9eastern/10 atlantic?

Click to expand...

Works for me, though I may log in and piddle around a bit early. That said, as we discovered, my upload speed is horrendous compared to my download speed...once everyone else starts showing, someone else should probably act as host.

Adam has given us the go ahead to proceed through the game without him, as he can't guarantee his presence for a while and doesn't want to hold us up.

GasBandit said:

Adam has given us the go ahead to proceed through the game without him, as he can't guarantee his presence for a while and doesn't want to hold us up.

Click to expand...

I'm sorry he won't be joining us. I liked Adam, even if I'd just met him. We could look for a new fourth to join us, though we'd have to figure a way to introduce them to the game instead of throwing them right in if they haven't played it.

That said, I'm down to play tonight if you guys are. @Tinwhistler?

Update 1.02!

There's a lot, but these are the highlights for me.

-Doubled base durability of most weapons and armors.
-Doubled duration / durability of all torches.
-Relocating a building will no longer be canceled if you stumble into combat with a creature.
-BURG.L will now only give Artificer quests for items the player has not yet crafted.
-Doors at player bases will properly have the door open state synced if the open state was changed while a client was far away.

Good! Lot of good fixes there.

Added a "Sort" button to the Inventory and Storage screens.

Finally!!

Toxicology Badge now provides 90% gas damage resistance instead of full immunity.

Aw man!

Pinch Whacker now properly classified as a club instead of an axe, no longer deals chopping damage.

Eh, makes sense. It didn't work like an axe to chop things, anyway.

A few more that I think have pertained to us:
-Players will no longer disconnect from multiplayer after being online for 4+ hours.
Heh, I think we hit this one every single weekend

-Wolf Spiders will more reliably sleep during the day.
You know, I THOUGHT that was kinda odd

-Addressed additional use cases where creatures could become stuck in the terrain.
AT LAST no more aphids hiding in rocks squeaking constantly!

- Non-diagonal buildings can now snap to diagonal rotations at specific angles.
This was a MAJOR annoyance at that MIX.R fort we built

GasBandit said:

A few more that I think have pertained to us:
-Players will no longer disconnect from multiplayer after being online for 4+ hours.
Heh, I think we hit this one every single weekend

-Wolf Spiders will more reliably sleep during the day.
You know, I THOUGHT that was kinda odd

-Addressed additional use cases where creatures could become stuck in the terrain.
AT LAST no more aphids hiding in rocks squeaking constantly!

- Non-diagonal buildings can now snap to diagonal rotations at specific angles.
This was a MAJOR annoyance at that MIX.R fort we built

Click to expand...

Oh yeah, we did wonder why we suddenly got booted. Now we know.

And yeah, aphids not stuck anymore is a bonus. And the building parts not lining up properly.

ThatNickGuy said:

I'm sorry he won't be joining us. I liked Adam, even if I'd just met him. We could look for a new fourth to join us, though we'd have to figure a way to introduce them to the game instead of throwing them right in if they haven't played it.

That said, I'm down to play tonight if you guys are. @Tinwhistler?

Click to expand...

yup, I'd like to play

As much as I'd like to, this weekend is the closed beta event for Darktide, and I'll probably be playing that as much as possible before it closes up shop on sunday night.

But if you guys want to go ahead and do the haze lab, I'm ok with it.

I'm willing to wait until you're ready to play.

Played it a bunch today. Didn't do any labs. Did a bunch of side mission stuff. And explored the edges of the sandbox, fighting antlions and collecting their parts. Got enough to build the antlion sword and armor, but not enough for everyone else yet. I left the armor on the stand for anyone to use and the antlion sword in the arrows box. The antlion armor is a level 3 armor and essential for getting through the sandbox since it gives you full sizzling protection.

Also built a really uneven ramp up into the sandbox to save time having to go through the picnic table every time. It's located at the front of the of the sandbox, below the zipline anchor.

I also tried making a zipline network so it'd be easy getting to and from the sandbox. Made an anchor and attached it going both ways. It kinda worked, but it was slow as fuck going either way.

And then asshole antlion went and destroyed the anchor. Fuck.

I saw you were on when I started steam, and I was downloading the game update when someone started chatting with me on messenger, so I got all distracted.

Alright, the Darktide closed beta has ended, so I'm back in the mix for Grounded whenever you guys are.

I'm down. I'm not doing anything these days, so I'm down any time.

Also Update 1.03 dropped today.

No major changes like last time. This was mostly to fix crash issues some people had with sorting. There are some other little things, but a lot of people were complaining about this one.

Hah, about that whole "no more quests to make things you have already made" thing... I got a quest today for an acorn face mask. "Well, maybe it just needed once more to set the flag that it had been made..." immediately got another quest for an acorn face mask.

Patch 1.04!

A lot of it is later game patches that don't affect our current game, anyway. Though I do like this:

• Natural Explorer movement speed increase changed from 3/6/10% to 20/35/50%.
• Natural Explorer now gets disabled when fighting creatures.

Zoom zoom zoom! Combine this with aphid slippers and you're basically The Flash.

And this:

• All flavored arrows now craft in stacks of 10 for 1 piece of candy/salt.
• Gas and Super Gas arrows now craft in stacks of 5 for 1 gas/super gas sack.
• Super Venom Arrows now craft in stacks of 10 for 1 super venom gland.

I'm guessing people were hoarding their candy and salt since you didn't get many special arrows from them. The extra gas arrows is nice, since I use those pretty often.

@Tinwhistler

Hey @GasBandit, @Tinwhistler , up for a game tonight? I briefly jumped on the server and fiddled around a little and now I'm hankering to tackle some labs.

Oh, and Patch 1.05 dropped awhile ago. I forgot to post it. But it wasn't anything major, anyway.

ThatNickGuy said:

Hey @GasBandit, @Tinwhistler , up for a game tonight? I briefly jumped on the server and fiddled around a little and now I'm hankering to tackle some labs.

Oh, and Patch 1.05 dropped awhile ago. I forgot to post it. But it wasn't anything major, anyway.

Click to expand...

I'd love to. I've missed playing with you guys. But for reasons I prefer not to post, I have to decline for a little while. I'll send you a message about it on Discord.

Tinwhistler said:

I'd love to. I've missed playing with you guys. But for reasons I prefer not to post, I have to decline for a little while. I'll send you a message about it on Discord.

Click to expand...

Too much womanizing, shame. Bros before hoes dude!

(this is entirely in jest, obviously, not prying, hope it's nothing too bad)

Bubble181 said:

Too much womanizing, shame. Bros before hoes dude!

(this is entirely in jest, obviously, not prying, hope it's nothing too bad)

Click to expand...

Nah he found some power lines running to his house and thought "better cut these"

Bubble181 said:

Too much womanizing, shame. Bros before hoes dude!

(this is entirely in jest, obviously, not prying, hope it's nothing too bad)

Click to expand...

Nothing bad

Tinwhistler said:

Nothing bad

Click to expand...

Here's hoping you weren't up all night.

--Patrick

This guy has been posting some guides for some great buildings. I really like this one. A small, clover tent to use as a small outpost base.

Just when you thought it was safe to re-enter the backyard...Update 1.1 is coming! No release date yet, but they have a live stream tomorrow to go over everything (and probably announce the release date with it).




Oh, there's some GOOD stuff a-coming. And now I'm really itching to get back into it.

-Additional Inventory Row
We are adding an additional inventory row that is unlocked automatically when you start the game.

FINALLY.

-Hot Pouch Expansion
With this update, there are now three rows of HotPouch items that you can switch between. With keyboard and mouse, you can move between them with the mouse wheel. With a controller, you can move between them using the HotPouch radial.

Ooh, that'll come in handy for when you want to quickly switch from an explorer inventory to combat.

-New Decorative Furniture
We are adding several new vanity items for your base, including the Koi Scale Chair.

-Build from Storage
An often request feature is to build directly from storage containers and pallets. This works very similar to how crafting works.

FINALLY!

-The ZIP.R Zipline Upgrade
Will now be able to be found during your adventure, which will allow you to go up ziplines.

HECK YES.

Uuuugh yes I can't believe this game launched without multiple hotbars you can switch between. Odd that they're using the mousewheel to switch between them instead of the established standard of hitting shift-and-a-number.

Update 1.1: A Holiday Treat

They're slapping this on the test server first. Not sure how long before it's on the official game.

ThatNickGuy said:

Update 1.1: A Holiday Treat

They're slapping this on the test server first. Not sure how long before it's on the official game.

Click to expand...

Some really good changes in there. At last, a solution for accidentally depositing ranged ammo!

GasBandit said:

Some really good changes in there. At last, a solution for accidentally depositing ranged ammo!

Click to expand...

OMG!!!! lol

Does this mean you can’t throw your gun at them when it runs out of ammo? LAME

—Patrick

Hey @GasBandit, @Tinwhistler, you guys up to play tonight? We can tackle at least the haze lab.

It's launch day for Darktide coming out of beta, but if Tin is down, I am too.

I have a coffee thing on Wednesdays--trying to make and keep local friends. My best days to play these days are usually Sun, Mon, Tue, and sometimes Friday (though not this Friday..I have a date, lol)

Though, I was just thinking the other day it's been some time since we've played and I've missed it...can we schedule in advance for one of those days?

I should be available any of those days.

I'm available pretty much any evening.

Cool..let's go this Sunday then

yay!

Haze lab and antlions were fun
I like how the haze lab boss totally kicked our asses twice, so rather than giving up and waiting until we were more buff, we developed a different strategy and gave it a try. It was close but we persevered. That's the kind of gaming I find immensely satisfying.

I just want to apologize for last night. I think it's clear I'm really not used to playing with other people because I kept going off and doing my own thing, sometimes getting myself killed. Even the haze lab raid, I just kind of rushed in mostly because I'm so used to save scumming. When I play by myself, if I screw up, I can just say "It's fine, I can reload the save from just before."

Plus, Gas pointed out my tendency for "verbal tunnel vision," where I wasn't paying attention to someone sayingsomething, which absolutely is part of the ADHD hyperfocus. I'm also sorry about that. I don't intentionally mean to cause frustrations.

ThatNickGuy said:

I just want to apologize for last night. I think it's clear I'm really not used to playing with other people because I kept going off and doing my own thing, sometimes getting myself killed. Even the haze lab raid, I just kind of rushed in mostly because I'm so used to save scumming. When I play by myself, if I screw up, I can just say "It's fine, I can reload the save from just before."

Plus, Gas pointed out my tendency for "verbal tunnel vision," where I wasn't paying attention to someone sayingsomething, which absolutely is part of the ADHD hyperfocus. I'm also sorry about that. I don't intentionally mean to cause frustrations.

Click to expand...

It happens to all of us, I wouldn't fret about it too much.

Also @ThatNickGuy , after thinking about things in my head while I showered this morning, I realize that when I said what I did about "auditory tunnel vision" I had "called you out" about it way more than I meant to or would be appropriate, so I want to apologize for that. This is not some kind of huge transgression, it's just something that's very easy for anyone, myself included, to fall into in a multiplayer game - in fact it was a frequent source of frustration when it happened to Terrik and I when we were playing Overwatch with Dei and Snuffles, very often I'd find myself hyperfocused on the kill I was trying to get and I'd inadvertently "tune out" what my teammates were saying, and then when I came out of being "focused" to rejoin the conversation I'd end up reporting the exact information that someone else (usually Dei) would already have said, to their frustration.

So, I'm sorry I pointed the finger like I did, I didn't mean that that way.

for what it's worth, I wasn't experiencing any frustration. The only time I've ever experienced frustration playing with you guys was the underwater lab...and that's because the swim mechanics suck

GasBandit said:

Also @ThatNickGuy , after thinking about things in my head while I showered this morning, I realize that when I said what I did about "auditory tunnel vision" I had "called you out" about it way more than I meant to or would be appropriate, so I want to apologize for that. This is not some kind of huge transgression, it's just something that's very easy for anyone, myself included, to fall into in a multiplayer game - in fact it was a frequent source of frustration when it happened to Terrik and I when we were playing Overwatch with Dei and Snuffles, very often I'd find myself hyperfocused on the kill I was trying to get and I'd inadvertently "tune out" what my teammates were saying, and then when I came out of being "focused" to rejoin the conversation I'd end up reporting the exact information that someone else (usually Dei) would already have said, to their frustration.

So, I'm sorry I pointed the finger like I did, I didn't mean that that way.

Click to expand...

Oh god, no, I didn't take it that way at all. The way you phrased it, it sounded more like an observation rather than criticism. And you were spot on, because it was 100% a hyperfocusing situation.

ThatNickGuy said:

Oh god, no, I didn't take it that way at all. The way you phrased it, it sounded more like an observation rather than criticism. And you were spot on, because it was 100% a hyperfocusing situation.

Click to expand...

Like I said, I've been there. Sometimes I still struggle with it in the more intense games, like when Snuffles and I are on the higher difficulty levels in Darktide.

ThatNickGuy said:

it sounded more like an observation rather than criticism.

Click to expand...

I feel pretty confident in saying that the majority (possibly even SUPERmajority) of people on this board are people who experience the same thing. Some are more self-conscious about it (as a potential "perceived defect") than others, so try to keep in mind that, when playing co-op, if someone in your party is urgently yelling, "HEY YOU SNAP OUT OF IT" into their mic, that's not necessarily because they're angry about it or are accusing you of being some kind of maverick, they're probably just trying to break in because they think you might need to refocus your attention.

--Patrick

ThatNickGuy said:

I just want to apologize for last night. I think it's clear I'm really not used to playing with other people because I kept going off and doing my own thing, sometimes getting myself killed. Even the haze lab raid, I just kind of rushed in mostly because I'm so used to save scumming. When I play by myself, if I screw up, I can just say "It's fine, I can reload the save from just before."

Plus, Gas pointed out my tendency for "verbal tunnel vision," where I wasn't paying attention to someone sayingsomething, which absolutely is part of the ADHD hyperfocus. I'm also sorry about that. I don't intentionally mean to cause frustrations.

Click to expand...

So, what you're saying is that "last night the role of Terrik was played by ThatNickGuy"?

figmentPez said:

So, what you're saying is that "last night the role of Terrik was played by ThatNickGuy"?

Click to expand...

No need to get nasty about it!

figmentPez said:

So, what you're saying is that "last night the role of Terrik was played by ThatNickGuy"?

Click to expand...

Lol, there was one moment when we were leaving a lab we'd just raided and I decided to take an alternate route (swimming underwater) to check for collectables.

When I declared this, Tin said, "And then get stuck and die?"

Aaaaaand that's exactly what happened because I thought killing a certain underwater enemy would refill my oxygen meter. It did not.

ThatNickGuy said:

Lol, there was one moment when we were leaving a lab we'd just raided and I decided to take an alternate route (swimming underwater) to check for collectables.

When I declared this, @tinsaid, "And then get stuck and die?"

Aaaaaand that's exactly what happened because I thought killing a certain underwater enemy would refill my oxygen meter. It did not.

Click to expand...

Game/Horror movie mechanics dictate that whenever someone breaks off from the group to go somewhere alone, that's when they die.

I played around on the server tonight. Longer than I planned, but screw it, I had a bad day at work and wanted to relax in the "backyard."

Sooooo...you know that warning we got while raiding the haze lab about pissing off the infected bugs? Yeah, guess who got raided? Died several times fighting them off, only to respawn every time back at red base because I forgot to change my respawn location. Fortunately, I lucked out and a wolf spider strolled into the area and fought the infected ladybug, doing most of the work for me.

UNfortunately, the raid wrecked the front of our base:

So, I spent most of my evening rebuilding it. But I did it with some new style: mushroom bricks! Gas and Tin (or anyone else who joins the server) are welcome to break this down and move it around. I've said before that I'm not great at building aesthetically pleasing things. I made basically a front deck, with just enough space that we can hop onto but an ant can't crawl up onto.

Also built a wall along the raid-heavy side of the base. Not sure what else to do with it, so we'll call it a work in progress.


Oh, and I stumbled across the ant head totem while over by the bird bath near the hedge. Which means I added a little extra to my deck:


You'll see on the roof, there's now a pebblet turret with a basket of pebblets beside it for ammo. Purposely placed on the roof like that so it's pointed to the ground to kite wandering spiders or ladybugs.

After that, I went nuts cutting down mushrooms and baking mushroom bricks. @PatrThom joined me on Discord to chat and I live streamed the game for him to watch along. I definitely went overboard with collecting and baking mushroom bricks. There's now a chest with well over 300 bricks in it. Which is more than enough to make a base with elsewhere (as with planks, only 4 bricks are needed to build one wall piece). Or we could turn our base into a castle.

Next time (probably tomorrow night), I'll see about setting a small outpost inside the sandbox. There's a safe area by the scanner.

Didn't go to work today due to mental health, so played Grounded for a chink of the day. Killed enough antlions that there should now be enough resources to make another antlion sword. Also upgraded Red Base from grass to mushroom walls and spruced the place up a little. Nothing terribly fancy. I might create a second floor so we could walk right up to the zipline network.

Still haven't started on making a new small support base in the sandbox. I honestly don't know what kind of design to use.

Version 1.1 is now officially out on the main server.

Hey @GasBandit and @Tinwhistler, are we down to play on Sunday?

I've been playing it...a lot this week because I haven't been working. Ran into some black soldier ants, so I made a black ant shovel (and there should be enough material for two more). Dug up some gum nuggets, which allowed me to make the current holiday timed bonus item, the Christmas tree. Which drops some nice bits every day, like coal, salt, and candies. That'll all help with future upgrades.

I also redid the zipline tower at the main base. I made a big brick tower, instead, with a bounce elevator, so it'll be much faster to get up. Also made a short zipline to the base roof to get back down, just in case. Even though we almost never use it now, I might upgrade the green base to bricks, as well.

I'll also start farming gum nuggets so we can all create a new weapon that'll be unlocked soon. I also saw we'll soon be able make our own upgrade pieces instead of the non-renewable resources. So I've started farming larva and I'll start farming grub hide, too.

Basically, we'll be as locked and loaded as possible for whenever we do the next lab.

This video is simultaneously compelling, hilarious, and satisfying all at once.

It's like a cooking show, but for base-building.
"Fortunately, I already have a completed base in my other oven over here..."

--Patrick

ThatNickGuy said:

Hey @GasBandit and @Tinwhistler, are we down to play on Sunday?

Click to expand...

I'm available if @Tinwhistler is but judging from his recent photo posts, he may not be at home.

GasBandit said:

I'm available if @Tinwhistler is but judging from his recent photo posts, he may not be at home.

Click to expand...

I might not be available until later. My best friend invited me to this dance thing that a friend of hers is performing at.

ThatNickGuy said:

I might not be available until later. My best friend invited me to this dance thing that a friend of hers is performing at.

Click to expand...

No problem at all man, go out and have a good time.

(Also, I kinda miss gaming with you guy.)

I'm down to play more. Even if the others have moved on, we can wrap it up ourselves.

MASSIVE 1.2 update coming to the game. Far, FAR too many features to list. It's not live yet, as it's on the Test Server for now.

I honestly didn't think they'd be still making such major updates, but they're adding goddamn WASPS to the game.

ThatNickGuy said:

MASSIVE 1.2 update coming to the game. Far, FAR too many features to list. It's not live yet, as it's on the Test Server for now.

I honestly didn't think they'd be still making such major updates, but they're adding goddamn WASPS to the game.

Public Test Patch Notes for Update 1.2.0

The Super Duper Update Hey there Grounded fanatics! We're totally stoked to reveal a rad new update packed with awesome new features and improvements. New Features Wasps Swarm the Yard Get ready to buzz with excitement as wasps invade the yard. Battle with wasps and drones that guard their mini h...

forums.obsidian.net

Click to expand...

Growing muscle sprouts in gardens = YES PLEASE.
STEAM DECK SUPPORT with no login chicanery!
MUTATION LOADOUT PRESETS. I have been craving this FOREVER.
Spear throwing damage ... reduced??! NOOOOOOOooooooo....

Also they continue to yank good ideas from other games, and I am here for it.

"Coziness" = Valheim's "comfort"
"Handy Gnat" = Empyrion's "personal drone"
"Place many" = Empyrion's multiblock build paradigm
"Hot tub" = Valheim's... well.. hot tub.
" Mantsterious Stranger " = DO I EVEN NEED TO TELL YOU

GasBandit said:

" Mantsterious Stranger " = DO I EVEN NEED TO TELL YOU

Click to expand...

…yes?

—Patrick

PatrThom said:

…yes?

—Patrick

Click to expand...

One of the most iconic perks in the Fallout series is "Mysterious Stranger," which will cause an anonymous individual in a fedora and trenchcoat to assist you from the shadows randomly in combat. His attacks always count as critical hits.

Oh man, mutation preset loadouts are everything I hoped they would be. It has made switching between mutations SO much more convenient.

Something I didn't realize they added in recent updates is how blocking affects flying creatures.

If you perfect block a a flying creature's attack, it briefly stuns them and knocks them to the ground. This has been a GODSEND in fighting annoying mosquitos.

New update, and it's Happy Broodmother's Day!

Wait, what? Oh no.


Yes, one of the most terrifying creatures in the game is getting a lot of love. Including a new Broodmother armor set. And now there's a new boss found somewhere in the Haze: an INFECTED Broodmother.

Oh fucking hell, as if an infected wolf spider wasn't terrifying enough.

Grounded update 1.4 is coming. And with it is console releases for the first time.

Two big things coming with it:

1) New Game Plus. Which is unlocked after beating certain bossses and complete the final Mix.R event. This mode is in a revamped, alternate yard, with raw science infused bugs. Sounds pretty tough.

2) Ant queens in ALL THREE ant colonies! I thought one was coming to just the fire ant colony, but apparently not. So whoa, that's pretty cool.

I've honestly never even finished the game. Every time, I wind up giving up on my game and restarting from scratch. Although I admit I also do that to re-experience the game with all the new updates. Which...I'll probably do again when this update drops on April 16.

Grounded 1.4 is out now.

Full update notes here.



I honestly never finished the game. Of course, I'll restart the game from scratch every time a new update drops. But I never have the patience to reach the end. There's still a lot of later game content I haven't even touched.

TBH, the game starts getting a lot less fun once you start getting under the shed.