Salem

Hi all,

Recently, my friend introduced me to Haven and Hearth, and I played it for couple hours and I am enjoying the game so far. Similarly, I found out this game in their forums, so I am interested in seeing if anyone could give me a quick run down on the difference between the two games. I am currently 1 hr into Salem, and the game feel similar to HnH so far.

galaxyw wrote:Hi all,

Recently, my friend introduced me to Haven and Hearth, and I played it for couple hours and I am enjoying the game so far. Similarly, I found out this game in their forums, so I am interested in seeing if anyone could give me a quick run down on the difference between the two games. I am currently 1 hr into Salem, and the game feel similar to HnH so far.

They are both sandbox games and you make them what you want them to be. Honestly, a few hours playing H&H cannot even begin to give you a feel for that game. The same is true here. You need much more time in game and in the community to be able to appreciate them.

It is not possible for me to give you a rundown on the differences in the games. I have played each for more than three years (each) and the only thing conclusive I can tell you is that they are not the same.

I believe that Haven has the stronger visual feel to it and that Salem has the stronger mechanical feel to it simply put.

If I recall correctly, Haven's world is wiped every "X" amount of months while Salem has the permanent server known as "Providence" so if you don't like starting over for no good reason I suggest giving Salem a try aswell.

galaxyw wrote:Hi all,

Recently, my friend introduced me to Haven and Hearth, and I played it for couple hours and I am enjoying the game so far. Similarly, I found out this game in their forums, so I am interested in seeing if anyone could give me a quick run down on the difference between the two games. I am currently 1 hr into Salem, and the game feel similar to HnH so far.

Essentially they are the same game with minor differences. Mainly the theme. You will be looking at either viking era type characters or america colonial type characters.

Getting down into the actual mechanics you will find a bit of a difference in the games. There isn't really a better game between the two but thats the opinion different to every player. They are both solid games that can give you countless hours. The biggest difference I find is the community. You will find friendlier people willing to take on new faces with haven. Salem is plagued with autism, paranoia and secrets.

Play them both and explore what each offers for your playstyle. My biggest advice in finding which is for you is to get in with the community and play with other people. They can show you the ropes and it will be much more interesting talking with people and working towards a community goal.

MaxPlanck wrote:If I recall correctly, Haven's world is wiped every "X" amount of months while Salem has the permanent server known as "Providence" so if you don't like starting over for no good reason I suggest giving Salem a try aswell.

I don't think this is true anymore. Last wipe I believe was required because of the changes they made to the game to make map generation better. That being said Salem's main server will always be here and if you feel daring there should always be a expedition server with a theme and win condition to end the server.

Salem is better

I came from haven, lots of fun, but I felt it imbalanced. If you were late to the party your room was at a severe disadvantage. The combat system is complicated, but when you understand it was cool, though again even if you were a great pvped, if the other guy was to stacked up and buff it didn't matter.

Salem to me is much better, dispute what some people say, this game is well balanced compared to haven. You'll hear it all the time a 200bile can take out a Titan. The combate on this game is more skill based. The crafting is also a lot more fun.

The only thing I miss about HnH is the quality system. I think they did a really good job with that. Also their criminal system I enjoyed greatly.

Lazun123 wrote:Salem to me is much better, dispute what some people say, this game is well balanced compared to haven. You'll hear it all the time a 200bile can take out a Titan. The combate on this game is more skill based. The crafting is also a lot more fun.

The only thing I miss about HnH is the quality system. I think they did a really good job with that. Also their criminal system I enjoyed greatly.

This is how a majority of players who switched from hnh to salem feel. Combat has gotten a bit better with hnh but salem is really more skill intensive and satisfying.

I really wish we had the quality system.

For me, biggest difference was prohibition bots in Salem. In Haven bots doing everything, they collect curiosity, dig mines, build walls, make food, harvest crops, patrol your lands and much more. Someone even made robot-warrior, but I dont know how it ended. So if you played hh longer, you would have faced with this and would quickly realized that without bots you just cant compete with anyone. If you are not able to create bots or not member of group with programmer, you will always be just a hermit. Perhaps someone uses bots in Salem, but at least he risks get a ban.

JohnSnow wrote:For me, biggest difference was prohibition bots in Salem. In Haven bots doing everything, they collect curiosity, dig mines, build walls, make food, harvest crops, patrol your lands and much more. Someone even made robot-warrior, but I dont know how it ended. So if you played hh longer, you would have faced with this and would quickly realized that without bots you just cant compete with anyone. If you are not able to create bots or not member of group with programmer, you will always be just a hermit. Perhaps someone uses bots in Salem, but at least he risks get a ban.

For the short time I played Hafen I can tell you I didn't use any bots nor did my townies, and we did just fine. I agree that with removing the level cap again they allowed for the gap between newbies and vets to grow again, but allowing botting for everyone is never gonna be the answer to closing that gap. Salem did it right with firearms and all the other vulnerabilities to big chars, and the fact that you can't catch up to veterans doesn't mean you can't still be a substantial thorn in their side should you want to. Meanwhile it'd help to see your time in salem as being the stuff you experience as well, rather than valuing just the development of your physical base. Because in the end spending 2 months becoming well equipped enough to mess with a bigger faction is fun in and of itself, regardless of what you end up having left after that.