Looking for Feedback: First 4 Days in Game

[Onikage]

Hey all! I've been doing some more playtesting and trying to find some more good info to put out there so I wanted to get some feedback from you all about what your first few days tend to look like. What I'm looking for is stuff like:
-What day do you start to hit towns?
-What setup do you have by night 4?
-By day 5, where are your Mineral Extractors?

I've been doing some runs with the Day 5 Swarm of 10 Vambies and I think I have decent setup but I know there's stuff I haven't thought of. Basically its Day 1 Base Focus to get a Cart with 2 Storage Chests, Day 2-3 doing a Clockwise or CounterClockwise tour of the 6 Towns (saving Middle Town for after day 4 unless I'm still missing Advanced Workbench or Power Blueprint) and then Day 4 building everything I can before the first Swarm that night.

Since the "Day 5 Swarm" starts right after 11:59PM on Day 4 its the first 4 days I'm really interested getting your feedback on! Thank you in advance to all who contribute!

[Ambient King]

I usually start off slow. I normally have a base house built with my camp just outside. 3-5 forges, anvil, bed, drying rack, bow and spear, cart, some log/stick/firewood storage, saw bench, and butcher table. Maybe a couple fire pots. If I had day 5 set for horde, then I would have my house set up with some spikes so I can dance around on them like they are walk ways. Since I'm a content creator, I also try to consider what the viewers want. Most dislike rushing to the end game.

Extractors are usually a day 7-10 thing for me. Towns are day 5+. Most of my first 10 days is just me trying to develop a mental "big picture" of what I want to design and under what self imposed rules. It also depends on whether there has been an update or not and what contents that update possesses.

[FallingOut]

I start a new game every time I get settled, and I experiment with different strategies, but this is how I usually start the game.

Day 1:
50% of the time I start building where I spawn, no matter how inconvenient the location is. 50% of the time I run to a preferred location right away. On the way I make an axe and a pickaxe and mine some clay because my destination might not have a lot of it.
At the building site:
Three sawbenches
One foundation (with one wall and a ceiling) with three stone forges and a bed.
One covered campfire next to water source or water basin (if there is no pond).
by the end of the day I have an anvil, a log cart and a workbench. I have also built several storage containers and added one or more foundations.

Day 2:
I spend day 2 mining stone for my forges and adding walls and ceilings to my small cabin. If I built my cabin where I spawned, I can make enough iron ingots to build a butcher table by noon. Otherwise it takes until evening of day 2 to build a butcher table. I start making dried bricks to make a brick forge.

Day 3:
I build my first mineral extractor at my cabin and set it to extract only stone. I build my first brick forge and delete the three stone forges once their fuel has run out. I start collecting iron ingots, nails and bio fuel in a container labeled "Mineral extractor".

Day 4:
Early in the day I fill up with food and water and loot the nearest village. I take the log cart and two empty containers with me. Watermelons and pumpkins I find along the way still my thirst so the small flask is sufficient to get me to the village and back again.

By day 5 I usually still have only one mineral extractor at my base, but on that day I have the resources to build one at the nearest aluminum cave. I choose aluminum because I need to craft the large flask as soon as possible.

This plan of mine is only possible if I manage to keep my forges running all the time. I am constantly re-filling the forges with stones. If I don't do that, it takes longer to accomplish everything. So the first couple of days are pretty hectic.

[Malak]

I don't even have zombies on or Winter at this point because no way to get ready for Winter in time. After the map change, I had no idea where towns were so I did not find any till after Day 30. I play survival games very slowly and carefully. Not dying is the most important thing to me and I haven't yet. I focused on a 3x3 house and perimeter before I even place an ore extractor in a cave,

[kjpcgaming]

Originally posted by Malak:

I don't even have zombies on or Winter at this point because no way to get ready for Winter in time. After the map change, I had no idea where towns were so I did not find any till after Day 30. I play survival games very slowly and carefully. Not dying is the most important thing to me and I haven't yet. I focused on a 3x3 house and perimeter before I even place an ore extractor in a cave,

I'm not sure if you realize this but the entire map is in the game without any fog of war. Just hit the M key. you can scroll in for close up. The towns are clearly visible. I hope this helps :)

[Malak]

Thanks, I had zoomed a bit, but did not realize the buildings were visible till someone else mentioned it. There are so many OCD chores to do daily, even a trip to a town takes a bit of planning. I won't go unless I feel very confidant I will make it back.

[Onikage]

Originally posted by Malak:

Thanks, I had zoomed a bit, but did not realize the buildings were visible till someone else mentioned it. There are so many OCD chores to do daily, even a trip to a town takes a bit of planning. I won't go unless I feel very confidant I will make it back.

You'll be fine in towns, just bring 2 Bone Spears if you don't have a steel one. You'll get 2-3 Med Kits per town and they fully heal when used.
I'm a little confused what you're referring to with OCD Daily Chores? Maybe it seems that way since you haven't gotten into Blueprints because they are a huge quality of life improvement and make a lot of your manual labor become automated.
In the Guide I wrote in the Tips forum I dedicate a section to Combat, but TLDR is just walk backwards thrusting your spear and you shouldn't be dying to any vambies if you get attacked, you'll probably survive against 3 at a time with that method

[Malak]

I don't have them on. OCD chores are keeping all nutrition and rest stats up. Killing fish for spoiled meat/biofuel. I know there is an oil extractor, but I am not there yet. Cannot even find the junc box BP yet. I have to water plants and make food. People near endgame forget what people in newer saves have to do daily. I just built the greenhouse, but no pump/water house yet.

What weapon do you think works best for a bear up close and personal? Katana or one of the spears. If I am at base or near water or a mountain or a town, I can handle them fine.

I am early 60s and quitting nicotine at the moment, so not at my gaming best for awhile. lol

[Onikage]

Katana isn't viable currently. Backpeddle with a bone spear and you can handle Bears without taking damage (not Gators tho, they have a huge hitbox with their bite).
Are you building Plant Beds? (Bonus fact: You don't need a greenhouse, anything indoors in winter that's heated keeps them alive). Check the Stats of the different crops, Potatoes are a great option that has a long shelf life (8 hours) and restores all 4 Food Stats for early game. Also for Spring-Fall just leave them outside and almost every day you'll get Rain so if you've got like 10 Plant Beds going, statistically you don't need to ever water them and they'll all grow eventually giving you plenty of food
One really important thing I would say, and its a mistake I made early on, is don't make ANY assumptions about Game Mechanics. Try everything. The only things you Carry that slow you are Animals, everything else is zero penalty.

[FallingOut]

Originally posted by onikage:

Katana isn't viable currently. Backpeddle with a bone spear and you can handle Bears without taking damage (not Gators tho, they have a huge hitbox with their bite).
Are you building Plant Beds? (Bonus fact: You don't need a greenhouse, anything indoors in winter that's heated keeps them alive). Check the Stats of the different crops, Potatoes are a great option that has a long shelf life (8 hours) and restores all 4 Food Stats for early game. Also for Spring-Fall just leave them outside and almost every day you'll get Rain so if you've got like 10 Plant Beds going, statistically you don't need to ever water them and they'll all grow eventually giving you plenty of food
One really important thing I would say, and its a mistake I made early on, is don't make ANY assumptions about Game Mechanics. Try everything. The only things you Carry that slow you are Animals, everything else is zero penalty.

You can save a lot of time if you make a ration every time you butcher an animal. This is possible quite early on. You need to collect the other ingredients of course, but with a supply of rations you can eat one in the morning and it will last all day. They are also great for long journeys. I hope you get the power blueprint soon and can build a waterhouse. Watering plants is a real time-consuming chore. I love the greenhouse even without the waterhouse because I hate having to move my plants indoors for the winter. As a temporary measure I sometimes place a greenhouse over my outdoor plant beds in the fall and remove the greenhouse in the spring so the rain can water the plants. Only when I have a waterhouse do I move greenhouse and plant beds to their permanent location.

[Onikage]

Thanks for everyone's feedback. I made a new guide and took a lot of this information into consideration. Its focused on Ration Making as well as having 12/14 BPs by Day 5 and the Large Backpack by Day 6 or 7. I suppose you can be making Rations and get the large backpack on day 2 or 3 if you don't go BP Hunting.
I'm gonna be trying a "Max Stats" run in the next week. Basically I'm gonna make a base next to the Croc Swamp and just focus on rations, killing crocs for livers whenever I have the rest of the mats and eat Rations more often than needed to get the Health/Stam/Thirst up. Might need to at least get the Stove BP so I can do Onion Soup too for the Thirst buff.

[KiwiGal]

I set my priorities for making a small starter base and getting food etc. Visiting the villages is not even on the radar.

First day, make way to fish area first doing some of the tutorial along the way, then:
1. Build a very small cabin (or even just the foundation if late in day) and the bed.
Build a campfire/s and it's shelter, workbench, couple of sawbenches, go fishing and boil water.

Below is what ever i chose to do at the time over the following few days and is usually very busy.
1. Finish building the small cabin if necessary
2. More fishing and chopping trees
3. Make rope for drying stand from the fibre
4. Collect stone and build 3-4 small forges
5. Go exploring in vicinity for cucumber etc
6. Start making iron ingots. (Even glass in preparation for the glasshouse a little later).
7. Build an anvil for making nails
8. Build the log cart along with a couple of wooden water storage containers, a number of storage crates and planter boxes.
9. Try to start making the mineral extractor so can mine aluminium to make a couple of water flasks.
10. Try to visit the crocodiles to stock up on some hides.

It is only once I have enough food supply stocked and some warm clothing (just incase) do I feel it is time to start looking for the bp's in the villages. By this time it is late summer - early autumn, Quite often a small cabin needs to be build near the village if the distance is far, so visiting the villages is not rushed. I try to get the blueprints before moving to a permanent place as like to explore the map first and see which area would be a nice place to set up the permanent home.

I usually see out the first winter (even the second winter in one play) in the small cabin. The built glasshouse, mineral extractor/s are moved to the new home along with the majority of other made items.
Vambies are turned off.

[Onikage]

Originally posted by KiwiGal:

I set my priorities for making a small starter base and getting food etc. Visiting the villages is not even on the radar.

First day, make way to fish area first doing some of the tutorial along the way, then:
1. Build a very small cabin (or even just the foundation if late in day) and the bed.
Build a campfire/s and it's shelter, workbench, couple of sawbenches, go fishing and boil water.

Below is what ever i chose to do at the time over the following few days and is usually very busy.
1. Finish building the small cabin if necessary
2. More fishing and chopping trees
3. Make rope for drying stand from the fibre
4. Collect stone and build 3-4 small forges
5. Go exploring in vicinity for cucumber etc
6. Start making iron ingots. (Even glass in preparation for the glasshouse a little later).
7. Build an anvil for making nails
8. Build the log cart along with a couple of wooden water storage containers, a number of storage crates and planter boxes.
9. Try to start making the mineral extractor so can mine aluminium to make a couple of water flasks.
10. Try to visit the crocodiles to stock up on some hides.

It is only once I have enough food supply stocked and some warm clothing (just incase) do I feel it is time to start looking for the bp's in the villages. By this time it is late summer - early autumn, Quite often a small cabin needs to be build near the village if the distance is far, so visiting the villages is not rushed. I try to get the blueprints before moving to a permanent place as like to explore the map first and see which area would be a nice place to set up the permanent home.

I usually see out the first winter (even the second winter in one play) in the small cabin. The built glasshouse, mineral extractor/s are moved to the new home along with the majority of other made items.
Vambies are turned off.

One thing I would say, because I see a lot of people focused on getting to Fish and prioritizing them, is you can live off your Beef Stews for Days 1-3 and that will be plenty of time to get Plant Beds going and have a renewable food source.
If you still want to do fish, one nice trick is that each Fish only takes 1 Spot on the Drying Rack, so its more efficient to put whole fish on the Rack vs. Fish meat pieces.

[KiwiGal]

Originally posted by onikage:

One thing I would say, because I see a lot of people focused on getting to Fish and prioritizing them, is you can live off your Beef Stews for Days 1-3 and that will be plenty of time to get Plant Beds going and have a renewable food source.
If you still want to do fish, one nice trick is that each Fish only takes 1 Spot on the Drying Rack, so its more efficient to put whole fish on the Rack vs. Fish meat pieces.

Yes, I realise this, but I like to go to the fish area, set myself up and go from there and plan as to where I want to permanently move to. I keep the Beef Stews for emergencies only.

[FallingOut]

Originally posted by KiwiGal:

Originally posted by onikage:

One thing I would say, because I see a lot of people focused on getting to Fish and prioritizing them, is you can live off your Beef Stews for Days 1-3 and that will be plenty of time to get Plant Beds going and have a renewable food source.
If you still want to do fish, one nice trick is that each Fish only takes 1 Spot on the Drying Rack, so its more efficient to put whole fish on the Rack vs. Fish meat pieces.

Yes, I realise this, but I like to go to the fish area, set myself up and go from there and plan as to where I want to permanently move to. I keep the Beef Stews for emergencies only.

I like the idea of having a temporary small cabin at the fish pond to start with and later moving to a permanent location. In your description of the first few days you make a workbench before you have nails.

[optOut]

My first time playing. I left all settings as default.

- What day do you start to hit towns?
I didn't realize until around day 7 that towns are visible on the map. Only been to 1 so far and only found 1 bp after searching - what I believe to be - all of the buildings in that location

-What setup do you have by night 4?
I had a 2x2 with a bed, 2 forges, workbench and a campfire. Outside I had 3 planter boxes, 3 water basins and 3 sawbenches. Can't remember if I had a cart yet by then.

-By day 5, where are your Mineral Extractors?
I'm on day 9 and haven't built one yet. Had 99 fires to put out and Mineral Extractor wasn't one - that just means I haven't groked it yet.

Up until this point, I've never had to fight more than 1 vambie at a time. So, I'm not sure what I did or didn't do to not get the horde spawns y'all are talking about. Initially I appreciated them taking the time to announce themselves before attacking so that I'm never surprised. However, I'm secretly hoping for a mod that stops them from screaming so that I'm forced to check over my shoulder every now and then.