When should I buy the dlc?

[Red Dragon]

I often don't finish my games so I became more careful about buying dlc... at what point in the game would it make sense (challenge and content-wise) to buy the two main dlcs?

I usually only play through a game once, so if I'm still hooked after 10-15h I may consider buying the dlcs but my fear is I'll lose out on immediately available new content in the beginning or I buy it when I'm in the endgame and then the challenge maybe becomes trivial...

So in the core game we have the four main island groups around the center in increasing difficulty. When should I consider buying the Pale or the Oil Rig? Are both dlcs best experienced after the vanilla endgame anyway?

[Kylnoffey]

Hello, no perfect answer since there is no absolutely better way to play them but even once the main game is done they are still good and a bit challenging, overall Pale Reach. But surely much less than if started quite early/midgame
In my case I think endgame was nice, a bit more chill, more Dredge content to discover and remember a bit the whole game. But I had a pause in the game since Iron Rig released few monthes after I completed the game and Pale Reach

Imo if you are unsure to like the game you can play until you have done at least one of the islands, anyway you likely won't be able to do much of the DLCs before that.
Iron Rig will last you the whole game and have more content, could be a good idea to have it at this point if you are not afraid to get more content.
Pale Reach will be more on it's side, in a good way, and could be nice if you are afraid not to do the whole game but I wonder if done too early it makes forget a bit to follow the main game's progress and story

[PrivateXTC]

Did Pale Reach after about 6 hours into main content, wanted those ice blocks. Haven't started the latest DLC yet but will pretty soon. I'd say mid game with some boat upgrades and you can do any.