Singleplayer: Do you stay on the island?

[Musical Jacob]

Hello all singleplayer and non-dedicated multiplayer fans!

I'm curious what y'alls first goals were for your island setup? And when you decided to go beyond to other maps like scorched earth.

I'm lvl 100 in singleplayer and nothing is a threat. I could do what most online people do, breed an army and take a raid boss, but I'm curious if anyone has just left island to progress further, and come back to the island later to kill boses?

I feel like I'm pretty far and I'm ready to move on. I like the idea of maturing an army for the bosses but IDK if I have the patience for another 20 hours on island just taming. (.012 maturation rate still take a long ♥♥♥ time)

So, has anyone just upped and moved from the island when you got bored, and came back to kill the bosses later?

-----
Extra credit questions.... Other than dinos and top quality gear, what did you bring to your new map? I'm thinking electronics, polymer, honey, crystal.... stuff that's hard to get.

I look forward to your opinion!

[Serangel]

I guess it depends on the decision you make, you can follow the story 100% and ascend each map in order or you can play how ever you want, ascend, skip it and go to SE, skip SE and go straight to EXT, play genesis, go to a non story map ect.

Technically you bring just your character how ever with how ark is designed you can bring what ever you want. So if you decide to full story commitment, leave everything thats on TI on TI. If you dont care about the story that much, bring what ever you feel is nessecary.

[Musical Jacob]

Originally posted by Serangel:

.....Technically you bring just your character how ever with how ark is designed you can bring what....

Thanks! So the devs actually designed it to start anew each map? As you said, I can play really any which way I want, but I am curious!

[Migromul]

I didn't fight any bosses alone... yet. Even in SP. I have a SP-Char with some tek unlocked, but this was, because I joined a non-dedicatet session of a friend, who did some bosses. (still no overseer / other ascension.) I play across all maps except of Genesis and Aberation with a single Character. At the moment I'm on extinction. But I play with the thought to deactivate my Genesis-Character and go there with my main, claiming all buildings and creatures (including a motorboat) there.

On aberation, however, I play with an exclusive one, becaus of the difficulty to change the map without a Tek-Transmitter... And I won't unlock the tek-grams per cheat. With none of the charactsrs. Only exception: I kill a boss, and the according Tek-Grams didn't unlock.

I even didn't go to any cave yet on Island (and other maps). I know, how to summon the extinction-bosses, however. (I did this with a friend on my MP-Server-cluster,).

Originally posted by Mordors Legions:

Originally posted by Serangel:

.....Technically you bring just your character how ever with how ark is designed you can bring what....

Thanks! So the devs actually designed it to start anew each map? As you said, I can play really any which way I want, but I am curious!

Originally posted by Mordors Legions:

Originally posted by Serangel:

.....Technically you bring just your character how ever with how ark is designed you can bring what....

Thanks! So the devs actually designed it to start anew each map? As you said, I can play really any which way I want, but I am curious!

You can play any map you want, and change any time. However:
- you can't take any items with you directly in SP
- you must transfer all items you want at another map via an obelisk
- a Tek-Transmitter is another option.
- because of that, you have the difficutly to reach an obelisk with nothing on a new map.
- on aberration, this isn't possible! (at least not without cheating...)
- on extinction, however, this is easy. But the obelisks there don't function. You have to use "city-Terminals". There are plenty of them, especially in the sanctuary. (normal starting zone.)
- on Genesis, the mission-Start-points act as Obelsiks.
- all items (and dinos) you take to an obelisk to transfer are available with another character on another map. But: you can only have one character at a time on a map, and every character has its own tribe. Although, I think there is a way to get all characters to the same tribe, But I don't know how. Best thing is to google for it, or look at the official (english) wiki.
- If you change to a map with structures of another character of you, you won't own them with the new character. There is a cheat to claim all buildings and dinos, however.
- you can safe your old character, if you upload it at an obelisk.
- uploading and downloading your character is the only way to change maps in SP. This is the reason, why you can't take any items with you...

[Veeshan]

I'd never bring anything to a new map, including my character (well its xp anyway). However I've not yet reached the point of needing mutations.

However I do occasionally find myself betraying my own decisions and playing my other saves. Unusually for me, I am succeeding in resisting the temptation to spread my playtime to whatever seems fun at the moment, and instead am putting significant time into my Island. Got so many babies I'm starting to need to stagger births just so I can leave base sometimes...

[Bullwinkle]

Once I felt high level power and got bored, I started focusing on tweaking spawn rates and modifying files for recipes and stuff. For example, I find it immersion-breaking when I encounter dinos that only drink beer or eat birthday cake or breathe fire. Also, I don't like how many X it takes to make a Y. Perfecting that stuff to your own style can take up quite a huge chunk of time and is strangely enjoyable and relaxing.

[Edit] Oh, and then I started over, with personal challenges like: you can only die once every 20 levels, or you must make level 40 before dying.

[retsam1]

Originally posted by Mordors Legions:

Hello all singleplayer and non-dedicated multiplayer fans!

I'm curious what y'alls first goals were for your island setup? And when you decided to go beyond to other maps like scorched earth.

I'm lvl 100 in singleplayer and nothing is a threat. I could do what most online people do, breed an army and take a raid boss, but I'm curious if anyone has just left island to progress further, and come back to the island later to kill boses?

I feel like I'm pretty far and I'm ready to move on. I like the idea of maturing an army for the bosses but IDK if I have the patience for another 20 hours on island just taming. (.012 maturation rate still take a long ♥♥♥ time)

So, has anyone just upped and moved from the island when you got bored, and came back to kill the bosses later?

-----
Extra credit questions.... Other than dinos and top quality gear, what did you bring to your new map? I'm thinking electronics, polymer, honey, crystal.... stuff that's hard to get.

I look forward to your opinion!

Ark is an open world sandbox. You have choises on what you can do for the most part.

However some levels, engrams and achievements are tied to AND progressive with defeating all tiers and difficulties of bosses. Some great cutscenes too.

If you wish to follow that path then all 3 bosses in their gamma beta and alpha iterations should be defeated and then the 3 difficulty levels for the overseer as well. And thats just for the island.

Then in story canon order it goes scorched earth, aberration, extinction then genesis.

But again you can choose not to but then you limit things as previously mentioned... unless you opted to use modded content to supplement and or go around such.

I think there is merit at some point in you playing of ark that you opt to do that but there are people with over thousands of hour who have not.

Choice thus is all yours.


As for what you bring or do on different maps it really depends on your goals and choices. Some maps have different and or additional survival challenges,

[Musical Jacob]

Originally posted by Veeshan:

I'd never bring anything to a new map, including my character (well its xp anyway). However I've not yet reached the point of needing mutations.

However I do occasionally find myself betraying my own decisions and playing my other saves. Unusually for me, I am succeeding in resisting the temptation to spread my playtime to whatever seems fun at the moment, and instead am putting significant time into my Island. Got so many babies I'm starting to need to stagger births just so I can leave base sometimes...

So you have a character for each map is what I'm hearing?

[Musical Jacob]

Originally posted by Migromul:

I didn't fight any bosses alone... yet. Even in SP. I have a SP-Char with some tek unlocked, but this was, because I joined a non-dedicatet session of a friend, who did some bosses. (still no overseer / other ascension.) I play across all maps except of Genesis and Aberation with a single Character. At the moment I'm on extinction. But I play with the thought to deactivate my Genesis-Character and go there with my main, claiming all buildings and creatures (including a motorboat) there.

On aberation, however, I play with an exclusive one, becaus of the difficulty to change the map without a Tek-Transmitter... And I won't unlock the tek-grams per cheat. With none of the charactsrs. Only exception: I kill a boss, and the according Tek-Grams didn't unlock.

I even didn't go to any cave yet on Island (and other maps). I know, how to summon the extinction-bosses, however. (I did this with a friend on my MP-Server-cluster,).

Originally posted by Mordors Legions:

Thanks! So the devs actually designed it to start anew each map? As you said, I can play really any which way I want, but I am curious!

Originally posted by Mordors Legions:

Thanks! So the devs actually designed it to start anew each map? As you said, I can play really any which way I want, but I am curious!

You can play any map you want, and change any time. However:
- you can't take any items with you directly in SP
- you must transfer all items you want at another map via an obelisk
- a Tek-Transmitter is another option.
- because of that, you have the difficutly to reach an obelisk with nothing on a new map.
- on aberration, this isn't possible! (at least not without cheating...)
- on extinction, however, this is easy. But the obelisks there don't function. You have to use "city-Terminals". There are plenty of them, especially in the sanctuary. (normal starting zone.)
- on Genesis, the mission-Start-points act as Obelsiks.
- all items (and dinos) you take to an obelisk to transfer are available with another character on another map. But: you can only have one character at a time on a map, and every character has its own tribe. Although, I think there is a way to get all characters to the same tribe, But I don't know how. Best thing is to google for it, or look at the official (english) wiki.
- If you change to a map with structures of another character of you, you won't own them with the new character. There is a cheat to claim all buildings and dinos, however.
- you can safe your old character, if you upload it at an obelisk.
- uploading and downloading your character is the only way to change maps in SP. This is the reason, why you can't take any items with you...

Aberration as a new start, huh? I've yet to play it, but I hear that getting to "the surface" is nigh impossible without serious planning.

I guess it also depends fundamentally on how much time I want to spend on this game. Bringing my old character to all maps would certainly speed everything up and cause me to "miss" some stuff, but maybe that's a good thing. Personally, for singleplayer, I don't find re-living the lvl 1-80 grind fun at all.

If i'm playing by myself, I feel like I've already done enough work as it is. Being restricted to primitive tools or getting funky with multiple characters and tribes just doesn't sound like fun. :)

Getting caught on aberration with my 100 lvl character and unable to play anything else until 50+ hours and I get back to the surface feels fun though!

Weird huh? Different strokes for different folks. :)

[Musical Jacob]

Originally posted by retsam1:

Ark is an open world sandbox. You have choises on what you can do for the most part.

However some levels, engrams and achievements are tied to AND progressive with defeating all tiers and difficulties of bosses. Some great cutscenes too.

If you wish to follow that path then all 3 bosses in their gamma beta and alpha iterations should be defeated and then the 3 difficulty levels for the overseer as well. And thats just for the island.

Then in story canon order it goes scorched earth, aberration, extinction then genesis.

But again you can choose not to but then you limit things as previously mentioned... unless you opted to use modded content to supplement and or go around such.

I think there is merit at some point in you playing of ark that you opt to do that but there are people with over thousands of hour who have not.

Choice thus is all yours.


As for what you bring or do on different maps it really depends on your goals and choices. Some maps have different and or additional survival challenges,

I've done multiplayer in the island and rag, but i'm DEFINITELY still a new player. Didn't do any of the other maps on purpose because I'm a SP fan, and didn't want to spoil my SP run. :)

It seems like after I hit aberration all tek upgrades will be unlocked for my character. The next question is if I want to do extinction with a new character or not.

Decisions Decisions. XD

[Monster G Dogg]

Aberration I wouldn't mess with unless your ready to be stuck on that map for awhile. The obelisks are hard to get to. On a server drops act like obelisks sadly single player they are just drops. One obelisk is on the surface which you will want a Rock Drake and Glowpet to deal with reapers and another Obelisk is in the Red Zone with the radiation and rock drakes to deal with.

I tend to jump from The Island to Rag mostly on single player. I use rag mostly to find higher lvl'd dino's. Ive done all 3 island bosses on alpha and did the ascension on gamma so far. I do use the same character on every map.

I have seen some people use a new character for every map but I think its nicer having 1 character doing the whole game.

[Musical Jacob]

Originally posted by Monster G Dogg DG:

Aberration I wouldn't mess with unless your ready to be stuck on that map for awhile. The obelisks are hard to get to. On a server drops act like obelisks sadly single player they are just drops. One obelisk is on the surface which you will want a Rock Drake and Glowpet to deal with reapers and another Obelisk is in the Red Zone with the radiation and rock drakes to deal with.

I tend to jump from The Island to Rag mostly on single player. I use rag mostly to find higher lvl'd dino's. Ive done all 3 island bosses on alpha and did the ascension on gamma so far. I do use the same character on every map.

I have seen some people use a new character for every map but I think its nicer having 1 character doing the whole game.

GREAT thoughts here, thank you. I feel like I'm a single-character fan, too. :)

[Zolushka]

Yep, I went to Rag and have my main setup there, then from there I got enough dinos and sent the best ones to extinction where I levelled them up a lot with the supply drops, then I went back and did all the island fights.

In hindsight, my preparation was probably overkill because the fights were very easy and faster than it took to clear an underwater cave.

Note: I also didn't realise you could send one character back and forth between the maps so I have made a fresh toon for every map and maxed them all before I even began sending items/dinos between the maps lol. In my defence, I'm still a noob at this game.

[Musical Jacob]

Originally posted by Zolushka:

Yep, I went to Rag and have my main setup there, then from there I got enough dinos and sent the best ones to extinction where I levelled them up a lot with the supply drops, then I went back and did all the island fights.

In hindsight, my preparation was probably overkill because the fights were very easy and faster than it took to clear an underwater cave.

Note: I also didn't realise you could send one character back and forth between the maps so I have made a fresh toon for every map and maxed them all before I even began sending items/dinos between the maps lol. In my defence, I'm still a noob at this game.

This speaks to my style of play. Thank you!

P.S. You must have hundreds of hours under your belt, and yet still consider yourself still a noob...
only in ark LOL.

P.S.S.
and Dwarf Fortress,
Wow,
EUIV,
Cataclysm: Dark Days
Rimworld
Dark Souls

never mind.....

[Monster G Dogg]

There is a setting for single player called Single Player Setting which will make the game a lot easier. It makes your dino's have higher stats. If you don't have this selected which I don't it make the game keep the dino's at official settings unless you manually tweak the settings using the sliders in the adv settings section.

A easy way to lvl dino's is to put your single player on PVP which will allow you to kill unclaimed baby dino's. Breed a ton of baby rex's or giga's and kill them while on the dino you need to level and you get good xp. The higher lvl your baby dino's come out the more xp youll get. This is how I lvl'd up my Rex army.

[Jaggid Edje]

I've only played single player myself (started just a couple weeks ago), and my plan is to have more than one character BUT to have one main character that I take to each map.

The only reason I'm going to have more than one is because when that main character moves on to the next map I'll probably make a new one for the map that they just left, for when I want to check in on things or just mess around there.

There's a admincheat command that I added to my "notes" for the game which will make any new character I create able to join the same tribe as that main character. I plan to use that.

So far though...I'm still on the island with just that one character. haha I have the game customized to have max dino level be 300, halved the rate of my xp gain (I felt it was way too fast), and I do not have the SP setting box checked.....so overall it's been a harder experience for me than standard SP, but I'm having a lot of fun.
I'm up to level 90 now and things are definitely much easier than they were at the start...but some places still scare the bajeezus out of me, like the areas of the deep ocean with tons of those giant shark things and the far north central area where there are packs of dire wolves level 200+ ....and worse.

I do have tames tweaked to be slightly stronger seeing as I AM playing single player but not using the Single player setting. I upped the amount of stats they gain where I put points for them by about 20%. So my combat tames should be a little bit stronger, etc. I'm hoping this will be enough that I will be able to fight the bosses once I'm prepared.