New Player Tutorial? Where to start first village? near Gostovia?

[Ulthar]

The game says I can start a village, tells me to cut down 5 trees and leaves it at that.

Do I just pick anywhere? As soon as I chop two trees, I am overweighted down, so I had to drop the trees. Should I build near Gostovia?

[Uncredited Bunny]

You can build anywhere you want. Sticking near Gostovia in the beginning is a good idea, if it's your first play through. I like to set up at the cave between Baranica and Branica as selling copper and tin ores is a good way to get coin in the beginning

[terry]

You can build anywhere you want to. You dont really need to rush building your first house so you might want to explore the map a little bit.
You can also collect stones and sticks and make a bunch of stone knives, sell them, then go to Danica. There is a vendor there that sells backpacks, buying one of those and equipping it makes things a lot better because you will be able to carry more weight.

[Ulthar]

I am so confused. I picked a spot that was flat near the fork of a river.

Then it says "Survive for a season" (I set the game on 15 day seasons to enjoy it longer, that was a mistake I guess.)

Then I went hunting. I set a rabbit trap, and noticed deer nearby. I hit a deer with three spears and he is just running around with them sticking out of his body - like an invincible deer.

Any hints?

How do you know what time it is in the game? When should my character go to bed? should he start a fire in the cookpot first?

[Cautious]

Originally posted by Ulthar:

Then I went hunting. I set a rabbit trap, and noticed deer nearby. I hit a deer with three spears and he is just running around with them sticking out of his body - like an invincible deer.

Aim for the head... or to quote the Mighty Minsc... "Go for the eyes, Boo, GO FOR THE EYES!! RRRAAAAASSK!"

[Chug E]

Having 15 days seasons was a big mistake. It’ll take forever to progress. Start over and just use default setting unless you want a bigger building limit. Spears are terrible for hunting but in the beginning you really don’t have a choice.

[Ulthar]

Thanks, that sucks I had done so well as this character.

Okay, couple more questions. How do you remove a field once you place it if you are not happy with it?

Can I change my character name?

[Fel]

Well, "anywhere" is a bit of an exageration since you need quite a lot of flat ground to build your village and there is no way to flatten existing places.
For a first village, stick to not too far from at least one village, lot of flat land, water nearby, near but not too close to a forest", that's the best way to have fun with it without having to constantly fight "not flat enough" or having to run far to refill your water meter.

For hunting, stick to the ones that will attack you like wolves or boars, it's easy to aim for the head when they charge at you and you don't have to run all across the map to finish them off.

3 days per season seems too quick at first but stick to it, and don't try to absolutely squeeze a lot of progress in each and every day.
The whole game is designed to be played in a more relaxed maner, doing things at your own rythm.
That way, you will end up unlocking things before you really need them instead of being in a constant rush to grind exp and technology points.

The map is quite large despite being technically on the smaller side for an open world, mostly thanks to the fact that there aren't really any of those wide areas with nothing, later filled with side activities that constantly try to divert your attention from how empty the world really is.
In this game, everywhere is quite unique, even the various mountain roads all have very different feels to them, not to mention each village.

EDIT: you can't rename your character, or anyone else.
To remove a field (or anything you built), right click with your hammer in hand to change the mode to destroy and left click on the field.

[Milinia]

You should check out GoldiRie's video on finding the perfect spot for your village on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCvVOrZH6hY

Also check out her other tutorial video's if you get stuck, they'll be of great help.

[House Gnome]

Originally posted by Ulthar:

I am so confused. I picked a spot that was flat near the fork of a river.

Then it says "Survive for a season" (I set the game on 15 day seasons to enjoy it longer, that was a mistake I guess.)

Then I went hunting. I set a rabbit trap, and noticed deer nearby. I hit a deer with three spears and he is just running around with them sticking out of his body - like an invincible deer.

Any hints?

How do you know what time it is in the game? When should my character go to bed? should he start a fire in the cookpot first?

I will try to answer each question in the order asked with my lessons learned but will try to avoid being spoilery.

My first few attempts I built my town near a fork just west of Gostovia and NE of Denica, it was an OK location but this play (my longest so far) I built almost directly south of Branica, just west of the creek near its mouth. That has been a nice location so far. You will go to Gostovia A LOT and this isn't so far as to be obnoxious while keeping me close to several towns with important vendors, trees (don't scalp the trees, travel if you must), and water.

15 days is far too long. I set this run for 5 days, with 3 days I rarely made it past year 1, but now that I actually got to year 3 I am finding 5 too long. Maybe the sweet spot is 4? I still think I would find 3 too fast. Once I have a mount I may wish for 3 days, but having to travel by foot just eats the time (medieval walking simulator).

At first hunting is a pain, it takes a ton of spears to kill anything unless you can manage headshots, which are tough as a new player.

The map shows the time of day, it's in that timeline bar at the top. Technically you never have to go to bed except at midnight on the day of season change, then it forces you to bed no matter what you are doing. I don't know if eventually there will be a penalty for no sleep but right now there is not. No need to start a fire unless you are going to cook something.

My tips/lessons learned in the order I thought of them - take them or leave them.
1. Make and sell knives, as many as you can. It's good money and you can craft them immediately.
2. Delay the story quest for Unigost once he wants you to go see Sambor for a bit. It does not have to be completed in the first season, wait until summer. I thought I had to do it first season and prioritized it over other things I should have done instead until this play through. It will not fail at turn of season like the side quests, but you don't have forever either. (Same for Alwin)
3. Get the best bag you can as soon as you can, the added weight capacity is such a relief!
4. Build the hunting lodge so you get access to bow/stone arrow crafting. It is much cheaper to buy the linen thread than to buy a bow. The rest of the mats are easy to get. You can also craft bows and wooden arrows at the smithy if you get that building first.
5. You can build crafting buildings and not staff them. I don't have either the workshop or the sewing building staffed but I crafted them so I could access their blueprints. Assign your labor wisely and move as needed to optimize them. Having a functioning village actually removes a lot of the hunting/gathering in the game, I underestimated this my first few files because I found recruiting/housing a pain but it's totally worth it.
6. This could just be me, but I am far more likely to die at night so I travel as much as I can during the day then work on my village stuff at night.
7. Talents I personally like: Mule, Tracker, Barter.
8. Rocks/bunnies are hard to see outside of winter, especially if you have bad or failing eyesight (mine is awful). Tracker helps with bunnies, avoid side quests that ask you to kill things until you have that talent if your eyesight is questionable. Rocks are plentiful by the river and near trees. I find they are easier to spot in rain because it gives them a shine.
9. Read the tooltips. Seriously, read them well, info in the middle of a paragraph like "bags don't stack with pouches" will save you gold.

[Ulthar]

thank you so much.

I found "Alt" allows me to see where my stuff is - including rocks and my thrown spears.

[Mouse]

Originally posted by Ulthar:

thank you so much.

I found "Alt" allows me to see where my stuff is - including rocks and my thrown spears.

And later on there is a perk u can get by hunting that allows u to see animals, great for hunting.

[Ulthar]

I started a new campaign and just started roaming to find an ideal place to settle. I plan to restart and beeline for that location. Any suggestions?

Someone said a cave between Baranica and Branica - I found it but no reeds at the creek.

I need Close to water, reeds, flat land, hunting not far, plenty of trees around, easy living - ideal start? maybe clay/mines close? I tried to find something ideal.

[Fel]

It's a bit north-east from branica or west from baranica but it doesn't have that much land.
It's still a fairly nice place.

I prefer the south bank of the wide river that runs west of gostovia with my prefered spot being near the bridge that leads to baranica.
There are even reeds (or whatever, the plant that grows in water and that gives you hay) slightly further west.
It's in a fairly central location in the map, with easy access to most villages except the ones at the bottom of the map.
The ground is pretty much all flat and there are several roads that can help structure the village (when you don't have a gift for planning the roads really help).

[Mouse]

Originally posted by Ulthar:

I started a new campaign and just started roaming to find an ideal place to settle. I plan to restart and beeline for that location. Any suggestions?

Someone said a cave between Baranica and Branica - I haven't found it yet. Close to water, reeds, flat land, easy living - ideal start?

My actual one is the road that u take from denica to tutki, there is a huge flat area there lots of birch trees and im abut 300m from 3 villages and 600m from the mine they mention, but keep in mind u can always switch your village somewhere else.

[Ulthar]

I did choose that tip of road on the south bank, but quite by accident. I couldn't imagine that I thought of it right away. This game reminds me a lot of Skyrim without the Rim..or maybe Kingdom Come: Deliverance.

Is there much interaction with the villagers or is this basically a survival simulator with minimal story?

I am thankful for all your help so far.

Lastly, as the developers promise add-ons, do I run the risk of wanting to start over/needing to start over?