Tips for progression

[Leak]

So, I really want to progress the story but I'm facing some challenges and I'm not sure how to tackle them. So I'm on a houseboat, sailing around the peninsula. It's fully loaded with supplies(food, water, explosives, etc.) And currently, I'm on day 13. I know Virginia and the armsy will start to spawn from day 7 but I haven't encountered one yet. Probably because I'm playing it super safe and I'm avoiding the main patrol paths. So I know that as days pass, the game becomes harder and more mutants will spawn especially creepy mutants. I would like to go into caves and progress the story but caves are a massive nightmare for me. The only cave I went to was the cave with the rebreather and I just went there to get the rebreather, I went there fully stacked on armor but I got knocked out on my way out and I only encountered maybe 5 blue cannibals. The caves are just too dark and tight for me. I tried changing the tones and I found out that texas is the brightest but still, it's very very dark and when I can't see and the combat is close quarters, then I get totally screwed. Lol, I cannot imagine fighting against some creepy mutants there. So right now I'm just chilling on the surface and I'm not making any progress. And as days pass, I get more screwed. So I'm kinda stuck in the stapler, if I go into caves I die, if I do nothing I would die but in the long run.
So any tips and tricks would be very welcome.

[ColdNhungry]

You will have to go into the caves eventually to progress, since they hold key items. I'm not sure if you technically have to explore them all, but you might have to, since you won't know which ones exactly you need unless you look it up (but where's the fun in that?)

You can always build a shelter at the entrance/exit of caves, that way you'll know which ones you explored, and will see their locations from far away from the icon. This will also allow you to save just before entering the cave, that way if you die you will only have wasted a few minutes. Just make sure you properly explore every nook and cranny in the caves. They have good items in them too, weapons and a bunch of medicine/food lying around if you look properly.

Anyways I'd say that's your best bet and the next step that you need to take in order to progress in your game. Get prepared, make weapons, armor etc. before going in and you should be good.

Edit: if you still can't see anything after trying out the different in-game lighting presets, then check your video cards brightness settings because you should be able to see properly with at least a couple of the in-game presets, even without a light source, at least to some extent (i.e., seeing the outlines of the walls and such).

[RequiemsRose]

The caves can be dark, tight, and creepy but as you get used to the game they will also (surprisingly) become sanctuaries for you. Caves have certain perks to them that end up making them far easier than they seem at first, namely everything in a cave respawns when you re-enter it EXCEPT the enemies you already killed inside (there are like 3 areas where enemies respawn in caves in the entire game and that's it).

If you have been sticking to your boat and largely avoiding patrols I'm not sure if you have found the main village yet, but it can be a good place to start (and if you are in single player you will end up in the cave just under it the first time you "die"). That cave underneath it contains the map and compass (and other goodies further in) which can help you figure out what you have and haven't explored yet. Plus the village itself has a good amount of resources to collect as well.

The fear is a common roadblock for newer players. Multiplayer can help with that, especially if you already have a couple of friends who play that you can co-op with instead of dealing with public servers full of strangers. Whether you are in single or multiplayer though, dying isn't as scary as it seems at first. In multiplayer, other players can revive you if they reach you before the timer runs out. If they can't reach you then you just respawn at the plane and have to go back to grab your backpack again. In single player you get a "second chance" so to speak. The first time you die the cannibals just drag you to that previously mentioned cave and you can keep playing. If you die again in the same session then it's a game over and you reload from your last save, but you can bypass that by saving, leaving, and restarting the session which will make it so your next death just has them dragging you to the cave again instead of a game over.

[ColdNhungry]

A quick note, unless they changed it since the last time I played which was a few months ago, the first "death" where you are dragged off to the cave actually resets after 2 in-game days (2-day cooldown basically, repeatable). If you can avoid any combat for that length of time you'll be able to "survive" once again.

I imagine it's a mechanic that's meant more for survival mode to at least have one chance every couple days perhaps as a way to make up for the sometimes janky mechanics or random bugs that can lead to deaths. Maybe it's even there to help players progress when they are having a hard time figuring out what to do next. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Zac's Dad]

My two cents. I use M131 Color setting inside of caves - you can see so very much better. Kinda white washes out when you get topside so change it back. I have tested all the color settings and M131 makes the most sense to me.

Placing a small base next to each cave entrance is a good idea. I place stick markers. Last I looked you could only place one stick marker of each color once. But you can have multiple white stick markers. So I place a white stick marker next to all the cave entrances.

They may of changed the color limitation on the flag markers - but placing one certain color for all the cave entrances does help.

[Leak]

Thank you all for your responses, So I played a bit more with the color values to see if they can boost my vision in any meaningful way while I'm in the caves but nothing so far. However, I have to test M131 more carefully. So I ventured in the submerged cave as the entrance was the nearest to my current location and a cowman annihilated me. I respawned in the cave underneath the main camp and gathered some supplies, healed myself and headed back to my boat. On my way back I encountered an Armsy with 2 pale mutants which they also kicked my ass. I ran to the beach and defeated them on the beach as there was lots of space to maneuver around the armsy and it was easier to beat it there. So I restocked on armor and arrows but that was my first surface encounter with a creepy mutant on the surface and I barely made it out. So I'm not sure if I already screwed myself by waiting so much and I'm heading towards a brick wall which I cannot see right now. Well I know as long as I'm on the boat I'm untouchable, but I know that the worm will spawn someday around the 40-day mark and well it can swim and fly, so what the hell am I supposed to do against him. You guys think I should just restart my game and focus more on actual progression or theoretically it is still possible to go through the game and finish the story? (Btw right now I'm on day 15/16)

[MekaDovah]

Originally posted by Leakbang:

You guys think I should just restart my game and focus more on actual progression or theoretically it is still possible to go through the game and finish the story? (Btw right now I'm on day 15/16)

Doesn't sound like you have to. Increasingly dangerous surface patrols is just how the game works so sooner or later you'll have to figure out how to get past these surface dangers anyway.

There really shouldn't be any real "brick wall" to run into though. Surface patrols get more dangerous, but they alone shouldn't be enough to stop you from exploring the caves. If you want some added safety (though this is kind of a cheese tactic) building bases in the caves you clear is about as safe as you can get (caves have a set difficulty and fixed population you can eliminate entirely). You still have to surface some of the time, but cave bases are virtually untouchable otherwise.

So yeah, you should be able to just progress from where you are.

[Disastra]

A few single player cave tips. Throw flares to light up an area so you can see to aim. Get up onto the higher bits of the rock formations and fire flame arrows at them from where they can't reach you. Make a big stack of arrows before you go in. (Bird houses give feathers).
Set a fire going in front of you and stand in a crevice, you can see more, they set themselves on fire trying to get you, you can polish them off as they try.
The enemies in the caves don't get harder the more days you go.