Beginner questions 2024

[Sun_S]

In the solo game, I'm at the end of my first summer and have hardly unlocked anything yet - a few skill points and in most crafting menus, either nothing is available or one item (the well, the compost heap, a material storage, etc.)

Looking at guides here and online, I found that either they explain stuff that comes later in the game (where to put a mine, how to woo your future partner, etc.) or they give info that became outdated with balancing changes via patches ("sell berries/stone knives to make money").

With the way the game is currently balanced, what's a good way at the beginning to ...

... make money?
So far, it seems to me: Exploring and finding money and sellable stuff in abandoned buildings, wrecked carts and lone treasure chests.
Currently craftable items sell for pocket change only, from the ones I've tried.

... stay fed and hydrated?
Currently, I've built the rabbit trap which gives some meat now and then for cooking on a fire.
Also, I've built the target and trained some spear throwing (~20 throws), and I can get close enough to kill ravens, pigeons and (if they're on land) ducks with one spear throw.
Scavengeable food items like mushrooms and berries on their own seem hardly worth it, I assume they'll only become useful when the tech tree allows for soups etc.
For drinking, I use the river, but surely, there are flasks somewhere to allow for trips into areas with no water source?

... increase carry weight?
IIRC in-game hints mentioned bags to increase carry weight, but near the starting location, I haven't found any merchants selling them. I can't craft them yet, either.
I saw a carrying increase skill in the skill tree. Best option for now?

... get warm clothing?
Maybe that's not possible at the start, in other threads here, people wrote that your first winter/s will focus on just surviving via proper food & carrying a lit torch.
Also, I guess one should put points into temperature tolerance.
Since warm clothes are quite expensive, is there one or multiple garments that give a broke beginner character some helpful bang for their buck?

[UglyBird]

From the start, you follow the main quest line.
Get your axe, your knife and hammer and build your 1st house, keep it basic.
Travel around the map and collect loot, this will give you food, water flask, some weapons and plenty of stuff to sale for coins.
Following that main quest will give you all the info you need to advance in the game.
You will find warm clothes in loot before Winter.
Collect sticks, stones and straw, you will need plenty to get started.
I usually romance from the 1st season, bring that girl to my settlement and build a second house. Romance every morning and if you can collect enough coins, buy a 600 coin gift for that girl of yours.
By the Winter you should be married even sooner if you do it right.
Build a well for water, a woodshed for logs and planks and put your wife to work.
Hunting shed is your best starting building, employ someone and get meat, some leather and fur. meat you roast yourself, last 2 you sell for coins.
Water, you have collected buckets from loot or stole a few, fill them and put in house chest with roasted meat until you build your food storage.
Resource storage should come first then food storage.
If you have a hunter before you get a food storage and a resource storage you will have to collect meat etc... in the hunter's hut chest.
Same for the woodshed.
Coins are not a big deal, just sell anything you do not require right now, do side quest for people and make sure to only accept quest you can readily achieve.
An axe will kill boars, foxes and any small animal. Spear and bow are needed for deer and bigger game.
Start farming as soon as you can and grow flax for coin.
Plant fruit tree seedlings you find on your travels, they will give you some coins in 2 years.
Make stone pickaxes and collect copper and tin ore, sell for coins.
Personally I don't bother manufacturing goods for sell in early game, only later when I have villagers to produce them.
Carrying weight is limited and will slow you down, you can change that in the setting with unlimited weight if you like. food, water and cold is not an issue to fulfill.
Your villagers will do OK with water and roasted meat, improve their housing with stone walls and plank roof to increase their happiness.
Logs, planks and sticks can be bought from traders for little coin so buy each season.
Buy limestone and daub as you can afford to insulate your houses.
Once you got thinks going the game is easy and you can spend your time travelling around and beautifying your village.

[Relendis]

Are you playing on The Valley or Oxbow?

I'll assume The Valley because you mentioned solo, but you can play solo on either.

Most of your issues sound like they are down to not being familiar with the map. Your options there are to; ask villagers about particular traders, or search online for a map (even better an interactive map).

Bags, pouches, and warm clothing are all sold by clothing vendors. Familiarise yourself with how the temp displays on your inventory and decide from there your budget and needs.

Hunting is very reliant on equipment. And good equipment relies on either: finding it (interactive maps are great for the random loot locations), buying it, or making it (very long process). Once you start going after bigger game like Bears, Wisents, and Mooses you will have more meat then you can eat (great for salting and storing or selling).

You can get waterskins for drinking, but because you can drink from rivers and streams I've never had an issue with thirst. If you struggle with it, make sure to top up when you are at a source, even if you aren't very thirsty.

In respects to money... the economy isn't really built around you being super rich. I'd actually argue that being even moderately well-off quickly eliminates the vast majority of the challenges in the game. Mid-level equipment makes the game not very challenging. High-level equipment makes the game simplicity itself. Oxbow is problematic in this space because it is crazy easy to make a lot of money by exploring. By the end of the first year in Oxbow I had every tool, weapon or clothing I could want and a sizeable amount of coin spare.

[Mowglia]

Originally posted by Sun_S:

With the way the game is currently balanced, what's a good way at the beginning to:

Make money?

Sell everything you don't need. I'm at the start of my second year (15 day seasons) on Oxbow, and end up with a lot of excess leather from hunting, and copper from the excavation buildings. So I make waterskins (Sewing Hut) and copper knives (Smithy) to sell at vendors. It's already enough to drain the coins on all vendors each season.

Stay fed/hydrated?

I kill a lot of large animals and roast/dry the meat. It's always been enough, not just for me, but for my entire village. When my farms are up and running properly then I'll try some of the more advanced recipes in the kitchen given less of them are required (significantly higher food values), and they have some interesting/useful buffs. As far as hydration goes then I do carry a full waterskin, but have never had to use it.

Increased Carry Weight?

The Mule skill, a pouch, and a backpack. Better versions yield higher capacities. And a mount. I went from "Never gonna ride a donkey" to "Love my donkey" about 30 seconds after buying one. It's fast, carries a lot, and can be upgraded to be faster and carry even more.

Get Warm Clothing?

Don't sweat this one too much. I was panicking through my first year thinking the winter was going to kill me, so I made the best stuff I could at my Sewing Hut (about 45% cold mitigation), stocked up on torches, and even spent a couple of points on the Insensitive (Survival) skill to give myself every possible edge. When winter finally arrived it was so pathetic I just lolled.

I don't know. Maybe they nerfed it or something, but I expected winters to be dangerous. I'm returning after a few years away, so perhaps my memory is off? But yeah, winters aren't a thing - you could do it in your underpants :)

[simeon]

The temperatures impact got adjusted and the seasons will become more likely to be extreme over the years.
So winter in the first years is not as harsh as the later following one’s. And same goes with summer. As example, my last summer brought temperatures above 40°C and constant overheating, despite best summer cloth (year 29).

[Mowglia]

Originally posted by Relendis:

In respects to money... the economy isn't really built around you being super rich. I'd actually argue that being even moderately well-off quickly eliminates the vast majority of the challenges in the game. Mid-level equipment makes the game not very challenging. High-level equipment makes the game simplicity itself. Oxbow is problematic in this space because it is crazy easy to make a lot of money by exploring. By the end of the first year in Oxbow I had every tool, weapon or clothing I could want and a sizeable amount of coin spare.

I'm at the end of my first year on Oxbow, but am having a more interesting time of it. I realised the economy was broken after my initial efforts in the Valley.

I set my own rules :D

I can sell to vendors (need 1 million coins after all), but can't buy from them, except for seeds, animals, gifts, and the odd annoying item I need to wrap up a quest.

I can't touch/use loot that I can't make myself, other than to sell it. Except potions, because they're cool and don't break the game.

Finally, I set the game parameters to "Hard" difficulty. Which means animals/bandits do x2 damage and have x2 health, taxes are x2, and some other stuff I don't immediately recall. Bison, wolves, and bears are no pushover, especially as I play with no sights on the HUD. I have to be careful out there :p

Basically, if I need something then I have to make it. Playing this way keeps things interesting for me. At the end of my first year on Oxbow I can make some bronze tools, thanks to setting up outside a mine, but don't yet have enough tin for bronze tools for villagers (they still use copper, and some stone tools - pickaxes, for example).

So far it feels pretty good and suitably challenging. My only complaint is the winters are too mild; personally I'd want a bit more stress/challenge during the winter.

Random Tip: One thing that initially drove me nuts was trying to put fences around fields, as the field boundary kept interfering with placement given they don't always correspond precisely with the graphics. Bring up the hammer and set the function to "Destroy", and this illuminates the boundaries of the fields. Then just build the fences as normal, except now with precision, obviously being careful not to accidentally destroy your fields :)

[Mowglia]

Originally posted by simeon:

The temperatures impact got adjusted and the seasons will become more likely to be extreme over the years.
So winter in the first years is not as harsh as the later following one’s. And same goes with summer. As example, my last summer brought temperatures above 40°C and constant overheating, despite best summer cloth (year 29).

Thanks for this info!

I suspected they'd nerfed winters given they seem way too easy for me now. Personally I'd prefer to have this nerf an option in the game settings. By the time I start getting hard winters I fear things will have become too easy, with superior clothing and all.

I'd prefer to suffer/survive through the first winters, to better appreciate the clothing I had to make.

[Lailantie]

Originally posted by Mowglia:

Thanks for this info!

I suspected they'd nerfed winters given they seem way too easy for me now. Personally I'd prefer to have this nerf an option in the game settings. By the time I start getting hard winters I fear things will have become too easy, with superior clothing and all.

I'd prefer to suffer/survive through the first winters, to better appreciate the clothing I had to make.

It is my observation that changes made by the devs refer to default settings, which would be 3 days per season. If you play like that, you will most probably not be able to craft your own winter clothes before the first winter comes, so you will have to buy them or use torches. However, when each season lasts 15 days, you are way ahead of default mode. It's the same with other changes you make to the settings like unlimited weight or stamina or an increase of tech and skill points and so on - they change the game to your liking, and they might have some downsides too.

[Mowglia]

Originally posted by Lailantie:

Originally posted by Mowglia:

Thanks for this info!

I suspected they'd nerfed winters given they seem way too easy for me now. Personally I'd prefer to have this nerf an option in the game settings. By the time I start getting hard winters I fear things will have become too easy, with superior clothing and all.

I'd prefer to suffer/survive through the first winters, to better appreciate the clothing I had to make.

It is my observation that changes made by the devs refer to default settings, which would be 3 days per season. If you play like that, you will most probably not be able to craft your own winter clothes before the first winter comes, so you will have to buy them or use torches. However, when each season lasts 15 days, you are way ahead of default mode. It's the same with other changes you make to the settings like unlimited weight or stamina or an increase of tech and skill points and so on - they change the game to your liking, and they might have some downsides too.

Yeah sure, there's no way I'd have made the clothing after 9 days playing on default settings.

Although I might have found clothing, or bought suitable clothing from vendors.

When it comes to things like this (difficulty), it's generally better to have more options than fewer options, and to be fair they've already done a pretty good job with all these options.

But at this stage, given that we can extend the time of the seasons by up to 30 days, I'd like to see a "Give It To Me Straight" weather option right from the start. Because at the moment I can basically run around naked in winter, which feels a bit...meh.

[Kszok]

if u want to unlock things faster u can increase xp for skills and technology in menu in "customize your gameplay" (idk if its correct i play in Polish and this is translated) and change it its very usefull but kinda like cheating so u choose

[Tux]

Originally posted by Sun_S:

In the solo game, I'm at the end of my first summer and have hardly unlocked anything yet - a few skill points and in most crafting menus, either nothing is available or one item (the well, the compost heap, a material storage, etc.)

Looking at guides here and online, I found that either they explain stuff that comes later in the game (where to put a mine, how to woo your future partner, etc.) or they give info that became outdated with balancing changes via patches ("sell berries/stone knives to make money").

With the way the game is currently balanced, what's a good way at the beginning to ...

... make money?
So far, it seems to me: Exploring and finding money and sellable stuff in abandoned buildings, wrecked carts and lone treasure chests.
Currently craftable items sell for pocket change only, from the ones I've tried.

... stay fed and hydrated?
Currently, I've built the rabbit trap which gives some meat now and then for cooking on a fire.
Also, I've built the target and trained some spear throwing (~20 throws), and I can get close enough to kill ravens, pigeons and (if they're on land) ducks with one spear throw.
Scavengeable food items like mushrooms and berries on their own seem hardly worth it, I assume they'll only become useful when the tech tree allows for soups etc.
For drinking, I use the river, but surely, there are flasks somewhere to allow for trips into areas with no water source?

... increase carry weight?
IIRC in-game hints mentioned bags to increase carry weight, but near the starting location, I haven't found any merchants selling them. I can't craft them yet, either.
I saw a carrying increase skill in the skill tree. Best option for now?

... get warm clothing?
Maybe that's not possible at the start, in other threads here, people wrote that your first winter/s will focus on just surviving via proper food & carrying a lit torch.
Also, I guess one should put points into temperature tolerance.
Since warm clothes are quite expensive, is there one or multiple garments that give a broke beginner character some helpful bang for their buck?

from your list it appears to me you are doing everything correctly.

I think there is only one winter clothes item that is in a loot area.

But yeah, try to have around 1500 coin by the start of winter (that would be more than enough I think for winter clothing and spring taxes)

oh and you can buy a backpack.

looting there are two locations I know of that give a single item worth more than 300 coin at market

[Sun_S]

Thank you, everyone, for your advice! Now to test it out ^^

[bnt.colson]

Do the first quest, to have access to tools sells all, you can keep a copper knife, copper axe and copper hammer.
You buy a wooden crossbow and iron projectiles.

Find a place to build your village. Near a mine.
You build your house (with my stone walls), a well and a warehouse as close as possible to the mine.
You go to the mine to mine copper, you get copper and stone.
With the stone, you make stone knives (no need to sell them, they're worthless), all the way up to the forge.
You build your forge and make industrial copper knives ... you'll never have money problems again. Every first day of the season you'll mine copper, then copper and tin when it's unblocked at the forge.
You go to the villages, sell the copper knifes, buy 20 seeds from each crop, fertilizer, clothes to get through the winter and a big backpack.
Then you start cultivating, depending on the sasion, you plant what needs to be planted and you harvest.
You build a barn, a food store, a hunting lodge, a woodshed ... invite NPCs ... and you're well on your way.
After the 1 year you should have a small villages.
After unlocking the stable, you buy a horse and can go on quests.

[CrazyMom]

In regards to setting up a village, I usually do this only after several years of mining (even when not being able to manufacture bronze), always all copper and tin, saving the tin for later on (because it always will be less per season of mining) for the bronze items. In the mean time manufacturing copper knifes, selling these and acquiring proper warm clothing, iron crossbow and bronze bolts, if affordable later on before you have your own Herbalist Hut: poisoned iron bolts. Even a long bow and bronze arrows make a lot of difference, but I prefer the crossbow, less suffering for the animals. Also, this way at least when exploring the map one does not get killed by boars, wolves (or bears, but they are way more difficult, poisoned bolts for those definitely).

In regards to logs at the beginning (without having an additional NPC doing this) : After building a small starter home, I pick a spot with mostly maples, even if is far away, cut trees into logs, pile them up and at the end of the season go there, pick all of them up (totally overloaded) and then "beam me up Scotty", I am inside my home drop them in manageable piles and pile them outside for the future.
Works even when not having a home yet but with the common fireplace inside a village.