Start with the experience you want
V3.0 exposes a much broader set of sandbox controls. The useful question is not “what is the best setting?” but “which pressure should this world create?” A builder world may keep enemy block damage low while preserving dangerous combat. A short co-op season may increase experience and loot while making Blood Moons more frequent.
Settings that change our calculators
| Setting family | Affects | Planning response |
|---|---|---|
| Blood Moon frequency and enemy count | Horde duration and simultaneous pressure | Match the enemy count and manually add reserve for shorter cycles. |
| Zombie block damage | Repair materials and failure speed | Add a larger repair reserve and a second structural layer. |
| Loot abundance and respawn | Supply route value | Compare routes, but do not treat quality bands as guaranteed. |
| XP multiplier | Level and skill point timing | The skill planner still counts points; the calendar time to earn them changes. |
| Party range and shared progression | Co-op game stage | Use the highest active player as a conservative horde input. |
Three practical profiles
Solo builder
Keep standard day length, lower block damage slightly and retain normal loot. This gives building experiments room without removing resource pressure.
Four-player weekend
Increase experience and loot modestly, keep horde count within server performance limits, and make the night dangerous through speed or damage instead of an excessive active cap.
Long survival season
Use slower progression and longer loot respawn. Keep a written world profile so tools and saved blueprints remain comparable after updates.
Version discipline
After a game update, confirm the displayed version in the main menu or server logs. Then review official release notes and recheck the settings that alter progression, loot and spawning. Blood Moon Lab displays its current data profile on every calculation page.