Cedar Tree Cutting Problem

[Cynlanton 7]

Started playing about 3 weeks ago. Since the first (yes the VERY FIRST day) of playing, I have a TON of issues cutting down Cedar trees, and ONLY Cedar trees.

 

I have tested and reproduced this problem under tons of different player and game conditions, including:

 

1. At Full Health and Nutrition (first day with freebie food)
2. While fasting
3. At night game time
4. During the day game time
5. Different places around Havens Landing, including the newbie tree area, the perimeter of Havens Landing, and out in the wild outside the town limits.
6. With no items in my inventory except for my equipped items and a hatchet.
7. With a normal amount of items under the 100 weight limit
8. Having items equaling more then the 100% weight limit
9. On the same tree 20 times
10. One time on 20 cedar trees
11. On cedar trees of ANY age
12. With any of the several tools that cut trees
13. Before and after cutting down other trees of different types
14. Just as I have signed into the game, or during the last hour after being in game for several hours.

 

And probably more things I'm either not aware of, etc. Currently I am 20 Woodcutting and 30+ Carpentry. I have a level 50 hatchet with maybe level 12 skill, and STILL have the same problems since day 1.

 

Problem Description -  9 times out of 10, if I try to cut down a Cedar Tree, I get this message:

Your muscles weaken as you try to cut down the tree. You just can't bring yourself to do it.

 

This problem is so bad that most of the time, I avoid cedar trees altogether unless I am making a container, at which point it takes me hours to find enough decent trees to make a cart. HOURS. Like an entire afternoon of mind numbing error messages again, again and again, with the rare chance to cut down one of these stupid trees, only to find it dropped a 1 QL felled tree. 

 

Readers: I have mentioned in this in other forum threads, in game chat, etc. Nobody else seems to have this problem, which is why I have finally put it here. 

[Brash_Endeavors 4,735]

[20:51:11] Your muscles weaken as you try to cut down the tree. You just can't bring yourself to do it.

 

This is the message you get if you try to cut down a tree that a GM has marked as PROTECTED.   

 

I assume they PROTECTED a number of cedar trees so that they would have a chance to spread and not all get immediately cut down by eager new players. Cedar trees are probably one of the most popular trees in the game. If they are all cut down, it adversely affects new saplings which are usually spread by older trees.  It might have been that the original tutorial players had cut down all of the previous cedars so they decided to mark a certain number of them as "protected" to ensure new 'unprotected' cedar saplings were always being generated and spreading. 

 

They apparently did not care so much about preserving other tree types as many players head straight for cedars and cut them down regardless of age.

 

 

Edited May 11, 2019 by Brash_Endeavors

[Retrograde 12,013]

We protected no trees, it can become a barren desert if need be, that's what a sandbox is.

 

I'll check it out if you can give more info about where they are exactly

[Brash_Endeavors 4,735]

3 hours ago, Cynlanton said:

 and out in the wild outside the town limits. 

 

 

It's odd they would do this outside of perimeter, but if you go far enough out I can promise you that cedar trees will start behaving normally again. 

[Brash_Endeavors 4,735]

 

 

3 minutes ago, Retrograde said:

We protected no trees, it can become a barren desert if need be, that's what a sandbox is.

 

I'll check it out if you can give more info about where they are exactly

 

 Apparently in and about New Haven, if you cannot locate one there perhaps they can submit a /support ticket and have a GM inspect a specific tree?

 

[Retrograde 12,013]

Good news! you're not going mad! 

 

The old tree cutting area was designed as rows, with sand between, and when we protected everything and removed it for the trees, the rows of sand remained protected. We since changed it to a huge patch of trees and so there were still rows of protection.

 

No protection off the town limits as far as I can see 

[Brash_Endeavors 4,735]

3 hours ago, Cynlanton said:

 This problem is so bad that most of the time, I avoid cedar trees altogether unless I am making a container

 

 

I am also under the impression from this April 2018 comment by Ostentatio that cedar containers no longer give extra preservation to contents, as a "nerf" due to people nesting many cedar containers inside each other to slow decay radically.  (I even did this with cedar tubs inside of cedar wagons inside of cedar knarrs, with a few other layers of cedar containers thrown in for good measure.  Kind of an exploit, I agree.)   If this is true that it has been changed, as Ostentatio reports, it might help preserve the cedar tree population  a bit if we let people know, perhaps via the wiki, that cedar still preserves decay on items but no longer gives special decay protection for the contents of cedar containers. 

 

This is the current wiki info taken from the DECAY page:

"Items made from cedarwood decay slower, and containers made from cedarwood protect their contents better than other containers."

 

If I either misunderstood Ostentatio, or if this nerf was for some odd reason inflicted ONLY on WU players (which seems kind of mean spirited, so I doubt that is true) , it might be nice to let us know that too so that I at least stop spreading my misunderstanding. I know devs prefer not to let out "game mechanic secrets" (a policy I agree on much of the time) but this is one that Wurm players have been passing on to each other for years since it used to be true, and are now apparently teaching to new generations of players.  

 

 

Edited May 11, 2019 by Brash_Endeavors

[kochinac 1,395]

Also not sure if you know but you need only last part to be cedar so the item receives that wood type. For example if your making cart use any wood and just  add last plank to be cedar, you don't need to make it all out of cedar 

[Anarres 246]

7 hours ago, kochinac said:

Also not sure if you know but you need only last part to be cedar so the item receives that wood type. For example if your making cart use any wood and just  add last plank to be cedar, you don't need to make it all out of cedar 

 

This. Cyn, keep this in mind, and stock up some cedar logs in your bsb, then ONLY take a little for the last plank, or the last shaft, of the item you are making. Attach the cedar plank last, and you've done a cedarwood item, even if you did everything else in birchwood.

[Cynlanton 7]

Appreciate all the replies in this thread. The tip regarding only the last plank in a big crafting project be cedar..I did know that, but had not thought of doing bigger things that way. Thanks.

 

In regards to WHERE I am when this happens. For sure it happens 99% of the time in the newbie tree area. I hardly go there anymore, but sometimes I just want to nab a few trees in a hurry. In other locations, I have been within the limits of Havens Landing. Barely.  I need to go somewhere else entirely and test this, then report back. 

 

Also, nerfs to cedar? Yes, we should get clarification on the state of cedar containers. 

[Brash_Endeavors 4,735]

8 hours ago, Cynlanton said:

Also, nerfs to cedar? Yes, we should get clarification on the state of cedar containers. 

 

Yes, clarification would be good especially since the official wiki clearly states that cedar containers DO give better decay mechanics, as Wurmians have been told for many years.

 

Just simply say "No that is simply not true that cedar containers were nerfed", or, "There are differences in code between WU and WO regarding decay and containers and we cannot comment further", or, "Nothing at all was changed in the WU code regarding cedar containers" , or  "We will update the official wiki to remove outdated  information" .... or ... well, whatever.    

 

I can understand the philosophy that "Players must discover for themselves  certain game mechanics," but obviously the matter is different if it's true that the official information on the game (wiki) is inaccurate due to code changes (IE NERFS).  Actually, changes in code that affect gameplay  should ALWAYS be publicly stated in patch notes even if the actual details are vague for-whatever-reason.   A monthly forum Dev Q&A thread, locked after 72 hours (to prevent from dragging on forever) would also not be a bad thing. Or heck even an annual one.  Devs can  always say "we cannot comment on that" if they feel necessary. 

 

Edited May 12, 2019 by Brash_Endeavors