So what are your not-that-obvious valuable beginner tips?

[Bernd das Brot]

Most tips mention stuff like dont skip the tutorial and choose the mask according to playstyle but this is all very much just common sense. What are your personal tips that made things much easier for you once you did them or understood them?

[Fella In Paris]

One thing I'd tell new players is that despite the survival aspect of the game, the realism has been toned down such that the game does not differentiate between salt water and fresh water, and you aren't required to boil/purify water before drinking it. For the longest time I was using only soups to refill my hydration but eventually learned the surprising truth.

[Chronic Complainer Reviews]

Build a large base, and capture many people early. You can give your members multiple work jobs, so when they are not able to do 1 thing, they can be doing another. You can place a queue for things you need crafted, and your members will gather whats needed to make it as long as those resources are present nearby. Eventually you will want specialized members, some for crafting, some for gathering, other for farming planting and breeding, and others specifically for combat. Random enemies around the map can get stats at or higher than you can achieve on your character, along with other bonus' to specific weapon types, or actions. You can swap and control these characters, level up skills on them, to make them more proficient in what you want them to do.

[Stormquiver]

control your minions. they have better stats than you

[Tachyon]

Well, it could be that the game is set on a landmass that's situated in a gigantic freshwater lake. It's set in an alternate world, after all. Even on our world Lake Baikal is Earth's biggest freshwater lake, 636 km (395 mi) long and 79 km (49 mi) wide and covers 31,722 km2 (12,248 sq mi). This is about the same area as Belgium. The Soulmask map is, so I have seen, 64km2 which makes being set in a freshwater lake feasible. There are no saltwater creatures in Smallmask either, AFAIK, but I've seen piranha, and freshwater crocodiles so far.

[Xandora]

When viewing your character sheet to level up, you can change the name of the minion you are controlling at the top left.

Each Tribe member can be selected, levelled up, and at 30/60/90 choose specialised talents in each level for both combat and crafting skills.

[madfifer5]

Originally posted by Chronic Complainer Reviews:

Build a large base, and capture many people early.

This.
You are not the main character in the game, it's the Mask.
By adding lots of Clan members you get people who's potential is far higher than yours (you'll be capped at 50 in your skills, NPC can get up to atleast 123 to gain the extra bonuses at 60, 90 and 120 skill level).

Also, in each crafting station you can assign a worker, make sure to do this, and try to match the type of station to the appropriate skill on an NPC where their potential is the highest, for example you might have someone with a Smelting skill of 6/100 and another that is 32/50, the one with 6/100 has the higher potential and will get better/more bonuses when levelled up, so go with them.

You can assign a single worker to more than 1 station, obviously they can't do both at the same time, but if you queue up jobs they will swap between etc, so don't be afraid to have them manage multiple stations where their skills match and when sensible (early on i had 1 NPC cutting trees for logs, and another just turning them into planks, the second would then go turn the planks into foundations when they finished/ran out of logs.

[☥ Docdra ☥]

Set anything that uses fuel to ONLY burn things like sticks and thatch - you'll have that stuff coming out of your ears later on, but the logs, hardwood, etc., you'll need.

Once you get things going, you likely won't need to manufacture anything more than once a day or two (24 or 48 hours) via the workbenches. As long as you are making the base parts (planks, linen, etc.) regularly, you can have them make the other things on an as needed basis. This allows your guys to rest more between work, which improves their mood.

The firefly lamps can be stuck anywhere - I stuck them on my turkey coop, capybara pen, on top of posts buried in the ground, etc. They don't need refueling either. After I did all of that, I discovered that I missed one of the unlocks for standing torches and other decorative options...