Darkness falls, tips for the the first few days?

[Skillo]

I played a bit of DF this weekend and decided to start a permadeath run, which seems fine in theory. I don't play with horde nights, but zombies run during the day / daily 15-30 hordes appear.

I got used to the mod early mid game, but my first days are miserable. For instance how do i reliably get water? What to at night, since im somewhat powerless? Good early game weapons? Things like that.

Reminder, its darkness falls, not vanilla game.

[Razorfish]

1. find a dich/pond.....
2. mine.
3. club bow/spear, if you find a gun don't waste the ammo, on trivial kills

[Brevan]

Stamina
For me, making some clay bowls is priority 1. Use them to collect Sap from trees for free and endless (if you find a tree) Stamina boost.

Water
Fill bowls with murky water since the camp fire purifies them quite a bit faster than murky jars.

Food
Carrots and Potatoes don't need the cooking pot or grill to be cooked.

Wellness
Don't be afraid to drink Beer as soon as your "good drink" buff ends, that way you get the full +5 Wellness (+5 max HP/Stamina). Same with Vitamins (+3) and whatever foods you find (that give Wellness). You start with 100 Wellness, and can get another 100 via Food/drinks, and a final 100 via a perk under Athleticism.

Don't be afraid to spend points into the non-class perks like farming, vehicles, forges, and workbenches. There are books that would have saved you that point, but late game yields as many skill books as you've the patience to make. Being able to plant a farm, chicken coops, and beehives as soon as possible makes the game quite a bit easier.

For your first days, it's probably best to prioritise points in a melee skill to reduce stamina use, athletics to jump better (to get safe) and have better stamina (both the +Wellness perk (survive another hit) and Stamina Regen perk (run to safety)), and the perk that lets you carry more encumbrance (every point of encumbrance is -1% mobility). Don't forget that all clothing lets you carry more, so get clothes early.

[Khissi]

Sneak is your friend in early game. Learn to stay inside at night, at least until you get decent weapons and armor, and READ your journal! He's worked hard to update that thing with all sorts of information that will help you. Do your crafting, sort your loot, dig a mine. Mining is fast and easy xp if you're wise enough to set player damage to 300%. I'd lose my mind at the monotony otherwise.

Always remember that it's NOT vanilla. Don't try to play it like vanilla or it will get overwhelming very, very fast. The biomes don't make a huge difference in lootstage like in vanilla. Wasteland does, but you won't be going there in early game. If you spawn in the cold, get to the green. Sneak the entire way if you have to.

If you're near the desert, yucca and coconuts will keep you hydrated. Get glass jars made as soon as you can make or find a working forge. Don't forget that you can just dig a 3 deep hole and drop a rain catcher into it (only takes a bit of wood and iron) and it will fill with water and keep filling with water. I usually dig a 4x4x3 hole and put 2 rain catchers into it. Later on, hoe around your little pond and drop what seeds you find into the dirt. Farming is your friend and you can easily start farming even without taking the profession. If you don't find the books that open it, spend the points. It's worth it.

I play vanilla in perma-death. I don't ever play Darkness Falls that way. But, that's after a few thousand hours so... everyone plays differently.

[Skillo]

Originally posted by Brevan:

Stamina
For me, making some clay bowls is priority 1. Use them to collect Sap from trees for free and endless (if you find a tree) Stamina boost.

Water
Fill bowls with murky water since the camp fire purifies them quite a bit faster than murky jars.

Food
Carrots and Potatoes don't need the cooking pot or grill to be cooked.

Wellness
Don't be afraid to drink Beer as soon as your "good drink" buff ends, that way you get the full +5 Wellness (+5 max HP/Stamina). Same with Vitamins (+3) and whatever foods you find (that give Wellness). You start with 100 Wellness, and can get another 100 via Food/drinks, and a final 100 via a perk under Athleticism.

Don't be afraid to spend points into the non-class perks like farming, vehicles, forges, and workbenches. There are books that would have saved you that point, but late game yields as many skill books as you've the patience to make. Being able to plant a farm, chicken coops, and beehives as soon as possible makes the game quite a bit easier.

For your first days, it's probably best to prioritise points in a melee skill to reduce stamina use, athletics to jump better (to get safe) and have better stamina (both the +Wellness perk (survive another hit) and Stamina Regen perk (run to safety)), and the perk that lets you carry more encumbrance (every point of encumbrance is -1% mobility). Don't forget that all clothing lets you carry more, so get clothes early.

Very insigful tips! Thank you very much. Yesterday i learned that hunter starts out with a pipe rifle and 100 bullets, that was really helpful. At least compared to my previous character, scientist. It really seems like unlocking/finding a forge is the key point to make my life much easier, as it allows me to make bottles and bowls to solve the thirst issue. I will have a look at tree saps, as i never really interacted with it.

Currently my main concern is finding a good thing to do at night, mining isn't very good without a proper pickaxe and my scuffed character won't be able to dig enough to avoid being heard xD

Originally posted by Khissi:

Sneak is your friend in early game. Learn to stay inside at night, at least until you get decent weapons and armor, and READ your journal! He's worked hard to update that thing with all sorts of information that will help you. Do your crafting, sort your loot, dig a mine. Mining is fast and easy xp if you're wise enough to set player damage to 300%. I'd lose my mind at the monotony otherwise.

Always remember that it's NOT vanilla. Don't try to play it like vanilla or it will get overwhelming very, very fast. The biomes don't make a huge difference in lootstage like in vanilla. Wasteland does, but you won't be going there in early game. If you spawn in the cold, get to the green. Sneak the entire way if you have to.

If you're near the desert, yucca and coconuts will keep you hydrated. Get glass jars made as soon as you can make or find a working forge. Don't forget that you can just dig a 3 deep hole and drop a rain catcher into it (only takes a bit of wood and iron) and it will fill with water and keep filling with water. I usually dig a 4x4x3 hole and put 2 rain catchers into it. Later on, hoe around your little pond and drop what seeds you find into the dirt. Farming is your friend and you can easily start farming even without taking the profession. If you don't find the books that open it, spend the points. It's worth it.

I play vanilla in perma-death. I don't ever play Darkness Falls that way. But, that's after a few thousand hours so... everyone plays differently.

For sure, stealth has always been my favorite way of playing (although i'm quite new to 7d, 60 hours or so). i was not aware of this different form of farming, thought you needed the usual planter box and whatnot. Neat! Will try to set something up.

Oh and despite attempting permadeath currently, some things are also easier. For instance horde nights are disabled, as i feel like it renders you less free to do what you want but grind mats/ammo instead :p
I played a bit with the "no crosshair" option aswell, though by mid game you will have scopes on pretty much every weapon so it kinda trivializes the setting anyways.

[Khissi]

You can make bowls in your inventory. They really help once you find a cooking pot. I usually have to find or make a forge first, though, as cooking pots and grills run from my very presence, evil RNG sprites. However, don't forget that carrots and potatoes can be cooked over your fire, apples can be roasted, as well. Don't ever pass up an apple tree without taking the fruit and you'll learn to see the potatoes from afar after awhile. Empty cans can be filled with water and cooked over the fire without a cooking pot, though they don't hold much water and take forever to cook. It gets better, though. That awful period of scrambling for food and water won't last long and every time you restart the game, you know more about what to do and how. I love those first few days...

[Brevan]

A few things that aren't obvious to new players of Darkness Falls, and some of the details aren't in the journal.

1) Primitive (stone) Tools don't benefit from the Mining perk. They might use less Stamina, but they don't do more damage. Make yourself Scrap Tools when you reach level 5. I wouldn't be surprised if all primitive stuff didn't benefit from their perks, but it's only when mining that I really miss that +20% per point.

2) Farming requires water within 4 squares. If you make a Hoe, then the ground you right-click with it will now take a seed, but the blocks on the left and right will be destroyed (so you lose any seeds there), so instead back up a block, Hoe again. You'll end up with rows or waves of clay that look like a farmer's freshly ploughed field. You can plant in the crests (upper parts) of clay, but not in the troughs (so just dig these about 2 blocks deep and put rain catchers to fill the trough with water for the plants). if you use farm plots, then you don't need to worry about the crests and troughs of clay, but you still need to place water. When a seed would grow to a new stage (Seed->Growing1->Growing2->Done) it destroys a block of water within 4 squares, and will not grow if it doesn't find the water. The benefit of Irrigation pipes is that their water doesn't get destroyed (so one pipe could benefit 4 farm plots on either side.

3) Tree seeds take like 5 days to go from Seed to Growing1, so it's totally worth your time to make fertiliser to push a tree seed to the Growing1 stage. If you pick fruit from a tree, it just falls back to Growing2, so it'll have fruit again in just a day or two. Trees don't need extra water from a nearby rain catcher.

[Skillo]

Originally posted by Khissi:

You can make bowls in your inventory. They really help once you find a cooking pot. I usually have to find or make a forge first, though, as cooking pots and grills run from my very presence, evil RNG sprites. However, don't forget that carrots and potatoes can be cooked over your fire, apples can be roasted, as well. Don't ever pass up an apple tree without taking the fruit and you'll learn to see the potatoes from afar after awhile. Empty cans can be filled with water and cooked over the fire without a cooking pot, though they don't hold much water and take forever to cook. It gets better, though. That awful period of scrambling for food and water won't last long and every time you restart the game, you know more about what to do and how. I love those first few days...

Thats amazing news, i never realized that bowls can be made without the forge. I just assumed clay = forge, hah

Yeah i'm a bit used to the early run looting from valheim, which i did something similar there. Gathering useful stuff laying around along the way when doing other important things and whatnot. Getting better in that aspect feels really satisfying. There is the theory aspect of knowing what is good and worth your time/effort, but also skillfully enging with what rng throws at you, both good and bad. I love it!

Originally posted by Brevan:

A few things that aren't obvious to new players of Darkness Falls, and some of the details aren't in the journal.

1) Primitive (stone) Tools don't benefit from the Mining perk. They might use less Stamina, but they don't do more damage. Make yourself Scrap Tools when you reach level 5. I wouldn't be surprised if all primitive stuff didn't benefit from their perks, but it's only when mining that I really miss that +20% per point.

2) Farming requires water within 4 squares. If you make a Hoe, then the ground you right-click with it will now take a seed, but the blocks on the left and right will be destroyed (so you lose any seeds there), so instead back up a block, Hoe again. You'll end up with rows or waves of clay that look like a farmer's freshly ploughed field. You can plant in the crests (upper parts) of clay, but not in the troughs (so just dig these about 2 blocks deep and put rain catchers to fill the trough with water for the plants). if you use farm plots, then you don't need to worry about the crests and troughs of clay, but you still need to place water. When a seed would grow to a new stage (Seed->Growing1->Growing2->Done) it destroys a block of water within 4 squares, and will not grow if it doesn't find the water. The benefit of Irrigation pipes is that their water doesn't get destroyed (so one pipe could benefit 4 farm plots on either side.

3) Tree seeds take like 5 days to go from Seed to Growing1, so it's totally worth your time to make fertiliser to push a tree seed to the Growing1 stage. If you pick fruit from a tree, it just falls back to Growing2, so it'll have fruit again in just a day or two. Trees don't need extra water from a nearby rain catcher.

This will be my first time interacting with farming, and this is very valuable info. Thank you :)

[Special_Kay]

If you need water, dig hole 2 blocks deep. Make rain catcher. put in hole. It makes well for you.
If you dont dig 2 blocks, water make a mess

[Skillo]

Originally posted by Special_Kay:

If you need water, dig hole 2 blocks deep. Make rain catcher. put in hole. It makes well for you.
If you dont dig 2 blocks, water make a mess

yet another useful thing to know, thank you very much. I completely forgot about rain catchers, would only mess with them when deciding to start a farm. well, this can be used way earlier! Will check it out later today :)