LaikaFromSpace

Interesting. I haven't seen any mention of the port open/forwarding thing as a possible workaround for the multiplayer issue (and this article specifically is referring to an Xbox One, which... n/a?). But could be worth looking into, although, as I said, it's now working fine for us. Have you seen anyone else say that updating their port settings has resolved their multiplayer issues? I wasn't looking for a solution but am simply curious to see if there's any overlap. I know I said I'm not a dev but I do work in tech and learned a long time ago to start by asking basic questions and work up from there, rather than vice versa

This might sound a bit weird, but bear with me. My husband bought Grounded so we could play multiplayer. He installed it on his brand-new, custom-built PC. No matter what we did, he couldn't see my lobby to join, and couldn't get host at all (just got the spinning loading screen, or, maybe 5-10 minutes later, an error/crash). The last-ditch effort was to install the game on his older gaming laptop and...it worked perfectly! The computer it was running on was the only different factor -- otherwise, we were in the same house, using the same high-speed internet, both via Steam, etc. His new PC is, on paper, more powerful with better specs than his gaming laptop, so it's weird that multiplayer works on one and not the other, right? It made me wonder if the multiplayer connection issue is some hardware or software compatibility problem (?). Obviously it could be a million things (I'm not a developer lol) but I'm curious to see if there's any link to PC specs... PC (multiplayer didn't work): AMD Ryzen 2700, GeForce RTX 2080, Windows 10, 32GB RAM Laptop (multiplayer worked): Intel i7, GeForce GTX 1070, Windows 10, 16GB RAM (< my laptop's the same, and multiplayer has always worked for me)

Yes, this! I'm a run-of-the-mill gamer who really enjoys survival/resource management games, with hundreds of hours in games like Don't Starve, Subnautica, and RimWorld. What I like about those games specifically is that they're only as punishing as you ask the game to be. I agree there's some great points made by OP about quality-of-life adjustments, but on difficulty levels, I would be incredibly disappointed if suddenly Grounded turned into a hardcore DayZ wasteland with blood test kits and morphine injectors. Removing a save-state system someone thinks survival games "shouldn't" have one actually does nothing to improve the game itself; if someone don't want to rely on save-scumming to advance, then just...don't do it? I'd be leery to start asking for changes that artificially inflate difficulty to the point that people who might otherwise be interested in the game suddenly get turned off by it. (What about folks with kids or obligations that might call them away from the PC/Xbox at any moment? Should they be penalized just for that?)

You're right that brown marmorated stink bugs are an invasive species, but there's also plenty of native stinkbug species in North America (eg. Brochymena, Euschistus)... There's plenty of stinkbugs to go around!

Agreed! I think there's good basics implemented already for base-building (honestly I was surprised we even got things like roof corner interiors and the like), but adding some variety would be welcome too. Your suggestion here of aluminum harvested from the soda cans is really neat. I especially love the idea of being able to tame a bug and ride it, or have it harvest or generate resources for me, or help with hauling. Sometimes I'll hop on a ladybug and have it carry me around for a bit just for fun lol

Are you playing multiplayer or solo? I had this happen when I got onto a multiplayer server, especially when two of us were trying to access the same chest. And despite being in the same house, on the same internet plan and using the exact same connection, I kept getting flashed the "high ping" notification, and I was the only one affected by the vanishing items. I'd guess that it's related to multiplayer wonkiness (that is, if you are on multiplayer, which I'm assuming because you said "we").

I actually like this graphic effect. I think it's meant to reflect that your character is very small and therefore also has a quite short field-of-view, and I definitely think it lends to the feeling of being very, very small. But I can see how it would be bothersome to some people (and, yeah, if I look at the mountains in the distance, they're not blurry, just far away lol). Maybe a crafting item like binoculars or a spyglass could address it.

I have the same problem. I've started three different saves and in each one, after a bit of time has passed in-game (always over a week, probably two or more), the ant population above-ground starts to dwindle, then basically disappears altogether. If I go into the "active" nest, where the eggs are supposed to be found, there's 20+ soldier ants, and they're clustered/glitched out on top of each other. They get stuck in the walls and can't move. I can kill them all, but they respawn just the same, and no eggs. In one save file, I did notice congregating groups of worker ants above-ground around food, etc. But after a little while they vanish too. The world is quite big and I haven't explored every nook and cranny, so it's possible all those worker ants are trapped somewhere, but if they are, I haven't seen them. In the meantime, I think it's a bit annoying but yeah, the game is still in development! Don't worry, BURG.L, one day I'll find that egg... one day.