Does it get any easier? *Spoilers*

[Dad's Gaming Addiction]

Alright. I’m on day 41 and this uphill battle is crazy.

I’m in the bay. I had a rainwater collector, loom, shed, and a decent amount of resources and bam…lost the first two in a storm which I had no idea was coming.

Luckily I had just built the reservoir for water. Then bugs showed up unexpectedly I guess due to the reservoir so I could no longer hang out outside the shed.

Tried going to the beach to set up temporary sleeping (shed had no bed). Got wrecked in another storm.

I rushed the storage upgrade for the shed and built a rustic bed. I’ve been stockpiling food whenever possible for storms so I can hang out in the shed and brought as much as I could inside. The heavy stuff like heavy stone and bricks I left outside.

Now I’m looking into building a mud hut, but my stone axe stinks. I have flint but I guess my skill isnt high enough. I have bird bones from deadfall traps but the bone knife recipe remains locked. Takes 5 swings from a stone axe to fell a large tree in the forest for one log. Saw the mud hut needed 5 and there’s like 10 total build stages that I’m dreading.

Meanwhile I’m getting bitten by sea kraits when spear fishing. I’m barely storing enough food day to day to make it…fishing, lemongrass, tide pools in the rocks, and if I find them, bananas. Yet my weight bar isn’t filling back up to overweight even though I’m constantly keeping my hunger bar full.

I love the game, but when will it stop punching me in the face so I can explore and breathe a bit?

[rassen]

If you want quick solution: Choose safety mode, still very enjoyable but much easier for the mind as you can reset your day.

I'm the type that jump in first plan later and the game was killing me for being so forgetful (going to fish but forget fishing pole, going to hunt but forget spear)

Other than that the game is much easier once you know what to do/need to do. Don't build your base in the bay, do it in the jungle, you can still move around in storm season as long as you dont go to the beach. Are you good with spear ? since i find that there are TONS of goat on highland, I once spent one whole day explore highland and encounter over 10 goats.

Go for resevoir first, then mud hut. Once you have mud hut up in the jungle, bug is no longer an issue. Then it's important to build a stove and cooler. Stove is way better than normal fire as you can leave stuff there for smoking, smoked fish/meat in cooler last like forever.

Also flint axe take only 2 swing to chop a tree so up to you if you want to invest in knapping or not (though Hunter start with 50 knapping I think ?)

[Neomare]

Originally posted by Dad's Gaming Addiction:

Alright. I’m on day 41 and this uphill battle is crazy.

I’m in the bay. I had a rainwater collector, loom, shed, and a decent amount of resources and bam…lost the first two in a storm which I had no idea was coming.

Luckily I had just built the reservoir for water. Then bugs showed up unexpectedly I guess due to the reservoir so I could no longer hang out outside the shed.

Tried going to the beach to set up temporary sleeping (shed had no bed). Got wrecked in another storm.

I rushed the storage upgrade for the shed and built a rustic bed. I’ve been stockpiling food whenever possible for storms so I can hang out in the shed and brought as much as I could inside. The heavy stuff like heavy stone and bricks I left outside.

Now I’m looking into building a mud hut, but my stone axe stinks. I have flint but I guess my skill isnt high enough. I have bird bones from deadfall traps but the bone knife recipe remains locked. Takes 5 swings from a stone axe to fell a large tree in the forest for one log. Saw the mud hut needed 5 and there’s like 10 total build stages that I’m dreading.

Meanwhile I’m getting bitten by sea kraits when spear fishing. I’m barely storing enough food day to day to make it…fishing, lemongrass, tide pools in the rocks, and if I find them, bananas. Yet my weight bar isn’t filling back up to overweight even though I’m constantly keeping my hunger bar full.

I love the game, but when will it stop punching me in the face so I can explore and breathe a bit?

It gets easier but it requires knowledge. Its like.. right now you are a civilisation person on the Island and you are making bad choices because you do not know any better.

With more runs under the belt you will start playing like a veteran survivor if that makes sense.

I personally like this thing about the game every next run of mine is smoother and smoother because you find better ways to do things.

And it is super satisfying.

Now some people do not like that and they call it meta knowledge.. there is some but.. most of the things you could deduce are a bad idea before you do them.


Like you cant make a bone knife from bird bones.. they are not tough or big enough.. you will need mamall bones. But on other hand bone knife will not unlock anything new anway it is just easier to make than sharp stone.


But anyhow... i would like to give some tips but I do not want to spoil to much I will try to go of what you already know but feel free to ask about more details.

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Storms:

Losing things in a storm should not be a huge deal because it should be easier to remake now than at the start of the game but it still sucks i agree. you already found one way to deal with it.. to keep your important stuff inside the Shed. It sucks a bit about not knowing it will happen and having to remake stuff but it also makes the game more exciting in my opinion. Developers wanted that feel of dread loming over players.

Game has seasons btw you must have noticed it is raining way more now than it used to during the start of the game. Adaptation is needed. Setting up camp at the beach to stay away from bugs is a nice idea but not during storm season.

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Bugs:

Yea bug population increased due to the Reservoir. one solution is to just not be where the reservoir is. So spend more time inside shed do whatever you can inside as for the outside activities you can move them to the neighbour area. Oh and you can also make things which repell bugs. In the next playtrough maybe even consider making the Reservoir in the area next to the bay instead.

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MudHut:

it is a big project but it is not to bad. 5 logs are by far the worst step I understand youd dread if every step was as bad as the first one it would be insane. I wish the game would tell you what do you need for each step. Anyhow the rest are way easier than first but still require a lot of time investement.

The game has a wiki though if you agree the player should be aware what they need to build the MudHut before they start you can check the resources for each step there:
https://cardsurvival.fandom.com/wiki/Blueprints_%26_Improvements

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Food and weight.

Why do you want to be overweight? Card Survival simulates the human body as well as it can. YOu lose weight all the time due to metabolism... and well the more weight you have the faster you lose it so gaining weight is a bad goal to have since the more sucessfull you are the harder it gets.. its like fighting a losing battle really.

You can gain weight it is not impoislble but it requires fat rich diet and a really good foundation behind it.

You are not there yet but you do not need it either.

Oh also.. the less weight you have the slower you lose it.. so in a way is best to be fit but not to fit ( underweight ).


As for what to eat hmmm... Spearfishing can definatly work but it takes time to get good at it. Sea Kraits are definatly a problem.

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I also have some questions it seams like you are playing a harder run than intended by the developers for people not yet very experienced in the game.

So from your knapping comment it seams like you are not playing a Hunter because he should have all the flint tools unlocked.

so.. are you playing a Perkless character then? But they should start at the Beach.

so how did you end up in a bay? Bay start is harder than beach start.

Have to spoil something here i guess...

There are no Sea Kraits when fishing at the Beach and if I was playing a Sperfishing character I would spearfish there.


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I can give you way more tips and knowledge and tell you how to play what to prioritize but I do not think that is the point.


Oh does this game ever start getting easier?


Well the game ramps up to dificulty until day 90. after that it does not get any harder. So if you can survive to day 90 that is it you should be able to survive for 1000 if you like.


Now I do not want to spoil why is that so.. what still awaits you and how to deal with it but the game gives you enough tools to do so.



Anyhow good luck if you have any specific question i will be happy to spoil. It is better to get spoiled a litle bit and be able to enoy this amazing game then to get stuck.

I think.


Cheers!

[Neomare]

Oh and Safety mode that rassen suggested will not help in the longrun you because you are struggling with the game challenge curve and not because you are dying from doing risky stuff..

Save mode only helps if you want to cheese the game by doing stupidly risky stuff and restarting the day if it does not pay of ( hunting a boar or climbing a palm tree ).


The game is not intended to be played that way. If you want to thrive you have to avoid the risks until you are ready to deal with consequences.



Finally.

Game became a LOT harder during the 1 year it was in the Early access so it is highly advisible for people who did not beat the game yet to do it with one of the easier characters first ( Hunter or Farmer ). This is why this characters got introduces. To make the game resonable for new players and that is fine. This is a hard game.


There are also some really strong Perks unlocked at the start of the game (LIfe Raft ) that should give you a good headstart on the challenges game will be throwing at you. So if you are making a new character pick as many good perks as you can.

Good perks are the ones which reduce the game score. ( which give negative points basically in the top right corner. ).


However. You do not have to pick those.. or anything that unlocks via suns and moons.

This is not a standard roguelite which will pound you into a ground and force you to farm suns and moons in order to have a chance at beating the game.


Game is easily betable with a Character without any Perks ( or even a bunch of bad ones.. the ones which increase the game score and make the game more dificult ) but you will need to either have a very good survival instinct and be on the same page with what developers think makes sense... OR just have to play it and gather some experience and learn it that way.





So yea. Play and win with hunter or farmer or both and then try something harder.



Again feel free to ask for anything really here I will be happy to help.



Cheers!

[Dad's Gaming Addiction]

Thank you both! I created a custom character so I could start with that new survival trunk, in addition to the life raft and bags of supplies / med kits. I didn’t think the hunter character had that. My goal is to only draw from them in emergencies. So far I’ve only needed them twice, as I keep falling out of trees while climbing. It’s nice having the containers so animals don’t keep stealing the important stuff.

I’ll have to take a look at that wiki as I dislike not knowing what all the materials I need in future steps.

I forgot to mention that I built the stove in the shed, but I’ll be happy to move to something larger to store all my stuff. I’m a huge hoarder in these kinds of games so if there’s a hut that has a ton of storage then I’ll rush it.

I vaguely remember the overweight descriptor in setup saying something about food reserves draining more slowly. I was thinking maybe I could go back to being overweight again so I didn’t have to eat as much, but oil is such a pain when my climbing skill starts at 0 and coconuts are rarely found by walking.

I may end up moving to the forest. I was worried about the bug population but I’m getting that now anyway with the reservoir at the bay. :)

Anyway, thanks again!

[Drayn]

There's good spearfishing at the rocky location by the Bay. Never seen a sea krait there and seem to produce a good amount of the bigger fish.

[Dad's Gaming Addiction]

Thanks! With 3 tide pools discovered there I never thought to try spear fishing.

[Trifoilum]

I feel you.

Made my first character. Died after 20 frigging hours. My second character died after 30 frigging hours. It's painful. I also learned a lot.

I can spoil things out if you want, but basically the game requires you to move fast and develop as many safety net as possible. The first 30 days are very, very important. I built my first base in the Bay as well but I'll say that by day 30 you should have find another safer base to rest.

<spoiler>You can either build a mud hut in the Jungle Path or rest in the Cave by the rocks. The cave doesn't require you to build a lot but it will make further exploration much longer. </spoiler>

Regarding axes, Flint axe is alot better for chopping large trees than stone axes. <spoiler>Flint axes can chop a large tree down in two turns while using stone axe costs you five. But I find stone axes more economical for the second step.</spoiler>