LET'S GOOOO
Achieving water with the other turtles is ~1 in 100 trillion chance with RNG, if my math is correct (requires free digs on obsidian layer AND lucky restore cell placement with straight line digging starting from granite layer, esp. for Grampshell). Not going to bother until future updates, but for now, everything has been unlocked!
ETA: The sand and sticky mud layers are only 40 deep, whereas all the other non-lava layers are 50 deep. Is this intentional?
Congratulations! I'm pretty confident you're the very first person to fully complete the game on hardmode. It's a huge achievement, especially considering how dark it is without a torch. Definitely a good idea to switch over to standard mode for now, since most of the upcoming updates will be focused there first.
And yep, the depth of the sand and sticky mud layers is intentional. They were even shallower in earlier versions (sand was 30, mud was 20), but I extended them a bit while still keeping them shorter than the other zones. The idea was to make those layers feel more like early-game obstacles, since they're light on resources and movement through them eats up more energy (horizontally). They're not really meant for farming, just a little terrain challenge on the way down.
Thank you!! And yup, I have two save files =)
Honestly, hard mode is not that bad up to the lava layer. It's challenging, but the accessories make it interesting. The lava layer is difficult not because of the lack of light, but because of the stamina nerf (no flask/no boots). The minimum optimum stamina cost of the obsidian layer is ~65 (switch out winterheart & switch to gold pick for max strength), which is nearly the entire health of Grampshell. Even with perfect stamina restore right before the obsidian layer, it can only be done with the optimal strategy, but perfect or near perfect stamina restore is nearly impossible (1 in 100 trillion). Using the titanium pick and getting one free dig on obsidian reduces the cost to ~45 and ups the odds, and getting two free digs further ups the odds (two free digs in a row is more likely than lucky restore cell placement), but even then it's a moonshot because you have to get really lucky with RNG
With Griddle, it's a strategy of using winterheart & omnishard to get as high stamina as possible somewhere in the middle of the lava, and then digging straight down to water. The 150 base stamina vs 75–90 is a night and day difference =)
Hats off to you for this breakdown! You've really dissected the game down to its core mechanics, and it's incredible to see someone engage with the systems on such a deep, technical level. This kind of insight is super valuable and really rewarding to see as a dev.
And honestly, I never actually considered how the three obsidian layers could make Grampshell almost impossible to clear in hardmode (due to the lack of footwear). That's such a great point. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
