Some noob questions

[Jon.Topps]

So far I am loving this. A very unique twist on the survival genre. I love difficult games, and so far this is pretty cool.

1. Does clothing really matter? I'll get the ill-equipped negative stat for a while, but if I rest or fire out of rain, it goes away. Does it get colder/hotter as I progress or something?

2. The big thing for me is, is there some kind of "health" that I'm unaware of? Like I understand the four main bars (health, thirst, tempt, fatigue), and I understand the statuses, but I don't see what actually kills you. For example, if I get multiple lacerations, at what point do I just die? If I have an infection, how do I know how far along to death I am? I get the worsening aspect, where a laceration can lead to infection then sepsis, but how do I see where I actually finally die?

3. Is there a way to see all the possible uses an item has? I love how the game explains things really well in the crafting system (that's HUGE), but I'd love to know what uses things have, so I know what to work towards, and what to throw out. For example, I know dandilions are quite useful IRL, and the tip says so in-game, but if it's just the tea, then I'll make a tea and toss the rest.

4. Is there a downside to just booking it down the river? Like, the four bars don't go down very fast, and you can replenish them quite easily.

5. What is a "workbench" where I'm supposed to make the knife and stuff? I don't think I've seen anything like that? EDIT: I found one, but I've only found one, out of the like 50 places I've visited. Are they just that super rare?

6. I don't get how to hit things with arrows. I got a bow and an arrow, I lined up my shot perfectly straight, aimed right at a bunny, and the arrow just flew super fast right over the bunny. Is there a trick to it? You're supposed to be able to kill everything with a bow and arrow, so it can't be that bunnies can't get shot.

[amaraganore]

It's definitely a fun albeit challenging game! The community is pretty dead, but since I've been playing it for a while I'll help you out.

1. Yes, clothing will definitely matter, especially on endless mode. The campaign is structured so challenges slowly start stacking. Each area has its own stats and challenges. The further down river you get in the campaign mode, the colder the days will become. There are ways to get around this (you can camp all night for example), but if you want to preserve your items and maximize efficiency then you'll want to upgrade clothing. Odds are you'll hit a boulder and fall into the river at some point, and it's quite easy to freeze to death before you can make it to shore.

2. There is no health bar. In your inventory, the second tab (skull and crossbones) shows your health stats. If you're healthy, it won't really show anything. Once you get an affliction (shown by a little red dot and unique symbol above your picture), you can go to that tab and read about what you have and how to cure it. I believe (although may be wrong, it's been a while) that it will tell you if you will die if you don't cure it. Watching how fast the red bar progresses will give you a good idea of how long you have until the next action occurs, but you usually have at least 1 full day to resolve it.

3. There's no option to filter by item, although that would be nice in some cases. The best you can do is scan the crafting categories (campfire icon in your inventory) and get a better understanding of what is needed to make what. My advice would be to take a few minutes at the very beginning of your next run (the time doesn't start and your stats don't diminish) and look through all of the items and what they will need.

4. The biggest downside to booking it down the river at the beginning of the game is that the beginning is the easiest and will provide you with the most supplies to carry you further down the river. That said, I finished the last ten miles of the campaign by just booking it down the river since I had a ton of food and water. It also depends on what difficulty you're playing on I'd assume. I never tried the easiest difficulty, so I have no idea how easily you could survive with skipping the beginning areas. On endless and survivalist, if you don't prep early it's probably not going to be a great run.

5. No, workbenches aren't that rare. They just are in specific locations, and those locations don't exist in the beginning of the game. When you dock your raft, start taking note of what each location provides you with guaranteed. You'll start realizing that certain places will always provide you materials which becomes essential when you desperately need a specific item to craft.

6. Bows and arrows are a bit complicated at first. I missed every shot of my five arrows the first time I used it. Here's how I use it now. Press "3" to bring up your weapons menu. Select bow and arrow. When you bring out your bow this way, the first shot is always ready to go. All you need to do is move your mouse behind the animal and shoot (the mouse aims). After your first shot, your bow and arrow will need to aim before you can shoot accurately. There will be two lines that start at about a 90 degree angle, and if you wait a few seconds they will close into a single line. When it becomes a single line, aim that line at the animal of your choice and then shoot. This is a time penalty to make it so you can't just shoot arrows like a machine gun and kill animals left and right. Also be careful because animals move around a lot, so it can be easy to miss if you aren't doing a good job keeping your mouse behind the prey. Be patient here, but you'll definitely get it eventually!

[auri]

1. Yes, clothing definitely matters, but like amaraganore said, it does't matter much in the early game. Later on clothing becomes critical as it becomes colder and rains more frequently. You might consider skipping levels of clothes and holding out for better types to conserve materials. For example hold out for boar skins or wolf skins; don't waste your sewing kits and rabbit hides on lesser clothing which doesn't have much effect.

2. Afflictions all increase the rate at which your hunger, thirst, and energy deplete. If you accumulate many afflictions you may have a hard time keeping your meters up and you'll die if you don't cure the affliction or it runs its course. Even mild afflictions like being wet will run your meters faster, making you just a little less efficient.

3. Nope, you'll have to read all the crafted item prereqs individually, else just learn from playing.

4. The only drawback to rafting straight through is missing resources. Things get more scarce downriver, so it's sort of a Hail Mary.

5. Workbenches are very common in industrial zones (stop at hardware stores for example). Much like you need a fire to craft cooked meats or teas, you need a workbench to create advanced tools and clothing. Hint: rabbit pelts and hardware (nuts/bolts) are needed to make leather kits, which allow clothing beyond boarskins.

6. You have to hold down the "fire" button (mouse click) and wait for the lines to converge behind your target. The longer you aim, the more accurate your shot can be. Just guide the line through the animal you are shooting and release the mouse button.

[Jon.Topps]

That part about the afflictions increasing the rate that the bars go down is helpful, thanks.

So you guys are saying the earlier parts of the river are easier, making it basically needed to gather supplies there. I'm just wondering, is this only campaign mode? Or is that true in endless as well?
At what point does that stop mattering? Or, does it literally keep getting harder the further you go in endless, endlessly? Like, if I'm in endless mode, and I'm at like 30 miles, and I find an area that says "little supplies, lots of danger", in that case it's probably a good thing to book it through, yes?

[amaraganore]

No, it's in all modes. From my experience, campaign is a lot more polished and smoothly transitions from easy to harder to very hard/dangerous. Endless is much more random (it has to be since it's procedural), but it starts off fairly easy. Sometimes you'll get a very hard area randomly pop up, and if you don't plan well it can ruin your entire run before even getting very far down river.

It keeps getting harder and more difficult in various ways throughout your entire run. For example, I've read that around mile 300 repair docks stop showing up. Still, some people have achieved some amazing runs. Anything is possible if you prepare and also get a bit lucky.

As for your last question, it entirely depends on how you're building yourself out and are prepared for. One time I had like 8 sumac teas, so I would go into snake infested areas without fear. If you have lots of traps, you might go wolf or bear hunting. But if you're not prepared and have plenty of supplies, then moving into a safer zone may be wiser. That's what makes this game fun imo. Some people try to stop at every location they can, some book it, and most are somewhere in between. It's a deceptively simple game because there's a lot of depth here to play with different strategies. And since I haven't made it 100 miles yet, I know my strategies aren't the most efficient yet. Keep in mind that you will almost certainly have a weakness somehow, so it's unwise to move out of zones where you're actually well suited just because it uses descriptors like "dangerous." That glaring weakness might be in the next zone.

[Jon.Topps]

Cool thanks for the advice. I've been getting the hang of it pretty good, almost done the campaign.

One thing, any idea if the achievement for killing all animals with a bow requires the elder and white wolves? I've killed a rabbit, boar, snake, wolf, and bear with the bow, all in this run, and still haven't got the achievement.

[PaganFears]

You also have to kill a crow with a bow for that achievement. I think the boar king and the two special wolves are not required.