tips for new player?

[Coe]

I read the wiki's but starting off of hella hard. I have no cloth chords, no rope, most of the time just an axe, club and bow. Cannot get food adequately from trapping. Cannot find any animals and I just starve to death.

Obviously I am doing something wrong.....How do I get started in this game? Thanks

[A Nickel]

Fishing at some rapids with a high fishing skill is the easiest way to sustain yourself as a new player. Go with the beginner game path and follow the objectives to acquire a fishing rod.

[Kothvos]

find a village then make staffs from small trees trade for food until u get enough traps up and a cellar made

[Draa]

If inexperienced at URW take the Beginners path when you start the game because you get some gear that will help you and it's basiclly a guide for the game.

Pick your starting season very wisely. Winter is brutal. Summer is easy. Spring is harder but doable with some experience. Autumn is moderate difficulty but you have no time before winter.

Pick your starting location wisely because the trading options are limited in the north. People usually go to the southwest coast to trade for some of the best gear. Bring your furs.

Try to start near a village so that you can craft and trade for food early game. Craft a few pieces of lumber and a few paw board fox traps. A village won't take many but they're easy to make and you can find tree trunks laying on most tiles and you can do it near the village.

You can go weeks without food but only a few days without water. There's a stamina(I think) debuff when you get to starvation but you can live for quite a while without food. Without water you'll die soon.

You can make bowls to carry water so that you don't need to stay near water early game. You can find them in the crafting menu. Or trade for a container of some kind.

It's recommended to build your home near rapid or ocean tiles. They don't freeze in the winter and are a good source of fish year round. If you settle offshore on a single tile you'll be safe from Njerps and robbers coming into your camp. Just be sure you aren't blocked in by ice during winter.

Build a raft to travel more quickly along rivers and along the coast. It's 3 tree trunks and 3 ropes. All can be gathered easily now.

Focus on fishing and small animals for food early game. Fishing is somewhat OP so it's a good source of food until you can get on your feet. You can get a rod with beginner's path and/or trade for a net in some villages. Both work fine but the rod is time consuming.

Build small lever traps and either place them spaced out 7-10 tiles apart along a shoreline where you see birds flying or in a straight line of 4-5 together on inland tiles where you see small animals or tracks(birds, rabbits, squirrels, etc).

Hunting with bow or spear is difficult but not impossible. Read up on how to chase and track large game to tire them out before you kill them. I usually trap so I can't speak to the chase method.

Trapping is the easiest way to get large game. I use the bear trap on bears, elk, reindeer, and wolves. Most people use a trap fence though and once built it will catch game for years. With the bear trap though I have trapped over 50 large game animals in a single year so it's very effective and it's the most fun because I constantly move my traps when I find game.

Set movable traps along a river or coastal shoreline when you see large game. Or build a trap fence where you find a choke point between 2 bodies of water that animals will have to travel. Check google or youtube to learn how to build one.

[Coe]

Originally posted by Draa:

If inexperienced at URW take the Beginners path when you start the game because you get some gear that will help you and it's basiclly a guide for the game.

Pick your starting season very wisely. Winter is brutal. Summer is easy. Spring is harder but doable with some experience. Autumn is moderate difficulty but you have no time before winter.

Pick your starting location wisely because the trading options are limited in the north. People usually go to the southwest coast to trade for some of the best gear. Bring your furs.

Try to start near a village so that you can craft and trade for food early game. Craft a few pieces of lumber and a few paw board fox traps. A village won't take many but they're easy to make and you can find tree trunks laying on most tiles and you can do it near the village.

You can go weeks without food but only a few days without water. There's a stamina(I think) debuff when you get to starvation but you can live for quite a while without food. Without water you'll die soon.

You can make bowls to carry water so that you don't need to stay near water early game. You can find them in the crafting menu. Or trade for a container of some kind.

It's recommended to build your home near rapid or ocean tiles. They don't freeze in the winter and are a good source of fish year round. If you settle offshore on a single tile you'll be safe from Njerps and robbers coming into your camp. Just be sure you aren't blocked in by ice during winter.

Build a raft to travel more quickly along rivers and along the coast. It's 3 tree trunks and 3 ropes. All can be gathered easily now.

Focus on fishing and small animals for food early game. Fishing is somewhat OP so it's a good source of food until you can get on your feet. You can get a rod with beginner's path and/or trade for a net in some villages. Both work fine but the rod is time consuming.

Build small lever traps and either place them spaced out 7-10 tiles apart along a shoreline where you see birds flying or in a straight line of 4-5 together on inland tiles where you see small animals or tracks(birds, rabbits, squirrels, etc).

Hunting with bow or spear is difficult but not impossible. Read up on how to chase and track large game to tire them out before you kill them. I usually trap so I can't speak to the chase method.

Trapping is the easiest way to get large game. I use the bear trap on bears, elk, reindeer, and wolves. Most people use a trap fence though and once built it will catch game for years. With the bear trap though I have trapped over 50 large game animals in a single year so it's very effective and it's the most fun because I constantly move my traps when I find game.

Set movable traps along a river or coastal shoreline when you see large game. Or build a trap fence where you find a choke point between 2 bodies of water that animals will have to travel. Check google or youtube to learn how to build one.

Thank you so much for tips, I will practice these and put them to use. One of the biggest problems I am having is even finding small or big game. I see them once in a while but hardly ever! I really wanted to learn to play the game where I can survive with starting off with nothing.

How do I get rope and cloth early on to build these trap things? I even see that some require a shovel. Do you just make items and trade them for a shovel? Thanks again for the tips!

[Draa]

You can strip birch bark from a birch tree during spring and summer and use it to make rope. If you don't know what a birch tree looks like you can find one by standing near a bunch of trees and pressing F3, then left mouse button, and checking each tree. Once you find a birch tree you'll remember what it looks like. Move to the tree and press Alt M to bring up the timbercraft skill and you'll see the option to strip bark.

Once you have enough bark stripped press Alt Y to bring up the carpentry skill and you'll see the option to make birch bark rope. You can also make birch bark shoes and cap which I wear around the homestead during the summer and other birch bark items which aren't worth much in trade but might be useful at times.

You can also make a wooden shovel using the same keys as above. Cut down or find a tree trunk. Press Alt M to chop tree into blocks and Alt Y to make a wooden shovel. Later you can trade for a metal shovel which will take less time to dig holes and stuff.

Small game is found by seeing the animals or seeing signs of animals and setting traps near where you saw them at. Trapping or hunting game gets easier as you go from winter into summer. I've just found it harder during the snow period to find some game so that could be part of your problem.

To find large game will depend on where you're hunting/trapping at.

If you aren't near a river or coastline then you should look for animal signs like tracks on the overland map (Alt T while on the overland map). If you go to a hill or mountain tile while in the overland map you can see large areas of the map and you can often see large game on other tiles nearby (if there's any in the area). If you find tracks or an animal you can stalk or trap depending on what method you pick.

If you are near a river or coastline then I would recommend searching for game from a raft or punt. You can cover large areas of coast that way and animals tend to go to water like irl. I use that to my advantage by setting 25-30 large traps along multiple coasts. I'll find a hill or mountain tile and look for animals within 3-4 tiles of the coast and I'll set traps there. It seems to work and it keeps me from stumbling into a baddie or pack of wolves unprepared (using water to move is much safer than land).

You can make a number of things in URW to trade but the best trade goods will be furs. Especially winter furs. And to get some of the top gear you'll need furs. I'd also recommend learning the shortcuts and controls. Look through everything and familiarize yourself with it if possible because this game isn't easy to learn but it is probably the best survival game going (even if the graphics are outdated).

Sorry for the length of this post lol. Let me know if you need any other help and I'll try to do what I can. Here's some links that might help when you're playing. The first link is the one you'll need most until you learn them.

https://www.unrealworld.fi/wiki/index.php?title=Keyboard_commands

http://www.unrealworld.fi/wiki/index.php?title=Item_list

https://unrealworld.fandom.com/wiki/Calendar

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/urwforum/david-39-s-survival-guide-t1651.html

[bulbatrs]

fishing is the easiest way to get food early. even if you can't find fishing pole you can still use a javelin that can be crafted, not as good but will get you enough food regardless of your fishing skill. higher fishing skill makes everything a lot easier and faster, but even with 0 you can survive off fishing with javs.

[Trip]

One thing I've noticed with the new mechanic for chords is that you can make arrows allot easier now. Shorten one chord down to 15 1inch lengths and you can make FIFTEEN arrows from one chord instead of just one arrow from one chord like it used to be.

You can make a decent living as a fletcher now if you want to stay near a couple of towns.

[zenjestre]

drop things.

this is one of the few tips i've rarely seen presented. the amount of weight you carry in UnReal World is one of the biggest influences on every action you will ever take.

Teach yourself to drop all before performing any action. Ideally, at any given moment, your inventory should be literally only the clothes you wear on your back. You should only be carrying something if you plan to use that thing for a specific purpose, and only if you are on your way to that purpose.

There are a lot of actions, like crafting, hideworking, timbercraft, etc., that will use items on tiles under or around you, even if they aren't in your inventory.

Drop everything that isn't explicitly related to whatever specific task you are trying to accomplish at the moment. Unless you're travelling several days away from camp, you can ALWAYS go back and pick it all up again.

[Wespe]

make lots of javelins kill njerpez with javelins = profit

[murdockwan]

Originally posted by Wespe:

make lots of javelins kill njerpez with javelins = profit

Based on my experience, it is a bad advice for a new player to attack a njerp (bandit).
It is much healthier to avoid/run away from any confrontation with bandits as a new player.

Once again it's a RP game and you do whatever you want to do.
There is no right/wrong. There is no one true path.
Immediate fight (with a high risk death) might float your boat better if you're role playing a badass for example.

Having said that, most such confrontations are likely to result in a quick trip to main menu.
As long as new players are aware of that, no problem.

[katsuragi]

Hunting big game with a spear isn't as tough as it might seem at first. The thing about big animals is that they can run much faster than you but they don't have a lot of stamina. If you can track and are persistent, you will eventually come upon a tuckered out beast that can barely walk. Lob them spears and get yourself more meat than you can carry.

Honestly most times I don't even throw spears. At this point in the hunt you can run up and stab them.

[gnorf73]

Originally posted by katsuragi:

Hunting big game with a spear isn't as tough as it might seem at first. The thing about big animals is that they can run much faster than you but they don't have a lot of stamina. If you can track and are persistent, you will eventually come upon a tuckered out beast that can barely walk. Lob them spears and get yourself more meat than you can carry.

Honestly most times I don't even throw spears. At this point in the hunt you can run up and stab them.

Better to use the blunt end of the spear at that point as you'll do less damage to the hide. I like to knock em out and stab in the neck. You can continuously bash them in the head but I like a bit of role playing and I could see myself knocking out an exhausted animal but bashing their head into pulp after seems a little crass. I like to reserve that treatment for Nerps and robbers

[Fins]

Originally posted by A Nickel:

Fishing at some rapids with a high fishing skill is the easiest way to sustain yourself as a new player. Go with the beginner game path and follow the objectives to acquire a fishing rod.

Nope, i found fishing is not the easiest way. Timbercraft is - as long as player owns an axe, that is. And OP does.

It goes like this:
- find a few tree trunks near a village (or chop few trees if spending extra time is no problem); cut trunks to boards;
- move all the boards in however small batches doable into the village and drop them all into one and same spot;
- pick up all the smoked / dried / salted food in the village, with a few roasted pieces on top; possibly pick up few other items depending on how many boards are piled up and how much food there was available in the village;
- then stand on the spot with the boards and pick up all those boards, as it's entirely possible to pick up loads exceeding character's weight limit - as long as one picks up things in single batches each of which is lower than character's weight limit;
- this will render player character immobile until the trade is done, but still able to trade to any NPC in "talking range";
- so now do the barter selling all the boards in one deal (skip some turns to have any adult NPC to come into talking range if there is noone around momentarily), buying helluva lot of food and possibly some great items on top.

This allows to get massive amounts of food in short order, most of which won't spoil for months (except roasted bits, which are to be consumed 1st). The village won't accept any more boards, and villages connected to it by road(s) are likely to get their share of boards and then deny any board trade too, but other villages will still take more boards in, and so this can be repeated in other villages, many times, providing food for well over a year even without leaving starting cultural area.

Having splitting axe and/or higher quality axe helps to get higher-quality boards, which worth more per trade. So does having higher Timbercraft skill. Which skill increases pretty fast by making boards, too.

At ~60 skill and Masterwork Splitting axe, average quality of boards is somewhere between Fine and Decent, means each board is worth ~9 on average (decent board worth = 8, fine board = 10, inferiour = 4, and perfect = 12). With 20 boards per trunk, and ~5 trunks made into boards and transported into the village in a single day, and with dried/smoked food price being ~1.5/lb, it's possible to get ~600 lb of smoked/dried food for just _one_ day of making boards! if there is that much in a village (usually it's way less, of course). Even with, say, ~40 Timbercraft and say some regular quality starting axe, it's still 20 boards per trunk, quality is somewhere between inferiour and decent (so average boards' worth ~6), and ~4 trunks per day, which still gives ~480 barter value - enough for ~360 lb of smoked / dried food. In a single day! No fishing compares to this, obviously.

Even if there is times less food for sale in the village, this still works: buy other items instead, then sell those in other villages for more food; barter in UrW comes without any bias against player, i.e. we pay no extra when trading, and so there is no loss of value provided exactly same-worth items are being exchanged during barter times.

As long as there are villages with plenty smoked / dried food for sale, Timbercraft is thus much superiour to fishing as one "sure way, no investment / high skills required" way of getting food. And as it's total easy to travel around to other cultures in the game for great many more villages, the method can be used even for a few in-game years. Comes with the bonus of often getting great items on top of food, too.

[Fransjakob78]

Never tried the board-making-tactics and Ive read that it was nerfed. Earlier villages would buy unlimited amount of boards. By selling to different villages I assume this tactic still works and I dont think the developers should change that. Villages needs boards and someone have to be a board-carpener in Unreal World!

Im still a beginner, my best game got me to late autumn (I always start in spring) with my cellar filled with meat and fish i smoked myself. Drying and smoking is easier now when you can make withe from birch and spruce saplings.

In my last games I always manage to kill a larger animal pretty early on, when its possible to dry meat. That gives you a way to preserve larger amount of meat before you even build a cellar. So far I've always started as a Kaumolainen with high strenght, agility, and endurance and some dexterity. This is considered a easy beginner-character. That gives me high spear and bow skill. Depending on my starting gear I either get a spear or a bow (I always have played the "unfortunate hunting trip") and I get some good loot from my respected dead father. Only once I manage to find and kill the bear lurking nearby.
My hunting tactics is to track down animals and get a first quick shot with bow or javelin/spear. If I hit I then stalk the animal with my full stamina knowing the animal will bleed blood and/or stamina. When Im not hunting, I fish. I try to barter for a fish-net early on. (If you start with the "I want to be a fisherman scenario you get 2 that will render a mass amount of salmon/trouts) I never have high fishing skill but with around 40 its possible to survive for me. After drying season is over I start building my cabin wich usually are ready before midsummer. Then I can smoke inside my cabin.

I built light-lever traps for birds and trap-pits with fence for reindeers and elks. Once you start getting some bigger animals you will likely have enough for the winter.

Im not sure how valueble my current game will be - I actually use agriculture and have 3 fields sowed and ready for the late summer/autumn. My harvest will likely fail because I only have below 20 in agriculture but time will tell.

I dont barter and travel a lot- since Im to busy building cabin and traps/fish. My characters are always very alone and hermit-like. My earlier games I got some loot from fighting with adventurers (my very first game I felt so bad from killing a lone wanderer so my character drowned himself because of his guilt). Now I avoid robbers and njerpez as the plauge because one unfortunate counterattack or one hit I'm history. Ive lost a dog I named after my wife and Ive died many times to engagement with Njerpez and robbers.

However if you dont have a knife and an axe the game will be difficult. (for example if you get robbed) Try to get a woodmans axe for cutting trees, a crafting axe, a splitting axe and a broad knife for hide-working. If you go for bow and arrows - try getting a long bow if you find it. Had a lot of luck with that weapon.

I fully agree with other advices : Follow the Living in the wild turtorial. You get some gear.
Drop items before hunting/crafting. Extra weight gives you penalty.
Dont take risks. Grind. If you need food, fish, place the extra in the cellar. Food and water first, then build and get ready for winter and repeat. Remember that you can survive a while on spoiled fish and meat as well. You'll puke yes but you will get by. Its not pretty but its the north of Finland damnit, just endure!

My top tip is to do some random starting location where you see there is water, lakes and rivers. Find a open rapid during spring and settle there. In rapids you can fish trouts and salmon and you dont have to spend 30 minutes to make a hole in the ice. To reach the deep water walk out on the ice at the beginning or end of the rapid. Build a raft (also needed for the Living in the wild turtorial) before the ice starts melting to get access to better fishing spots. Use the raft for recon and to carry barter items closer to villages.

Im still very inexperianced and never reached the winter but most games I have a cellar full of smoked meat/fish/berries and enough wood for the winter, even made my fur clothes and skies are ready. However I usually die from careless game-play. Froze to death while stalking a badger for example. What a way to go! Killed by Njerpez/wrecked by robberes as mentioned.

[Fins]

Originally posted by Jakub78:

...To reach the deep water walk out on the ice at the beginning or end of the rapid. Build a raft (also needed for the Living in the wild turtorial) before the ice starts melting to get access to better fishing spots. Use the raft for recon and to carry barter items closer to villages.

Im still very inexperianced and never reached the winter but most games I have a cellar full of smoked meat/fish/berries and enough wood for the winter, even made my fur clothes and skies are ready. However I usually die from careless game-play. Froze to death while stalking a badger for example. What a way to go! Killed by Njerpez/wrecked by robberes as mentioned.

Really bad idea about walking on the ice to reach deep water. Sooner or later this will get you killed by having the ice breaking under your weight. Blistering-cold water, rapid flow, and some bad luck when trying to pull yourself out - is all it takes to go this way. We have stories of the sort...

Carelessness can't be helped, of course, but here's one piece of advice about dying to robbers / njerpez: you _can_ outrun them, provided you are not wounded and have high Speed stat! How do i know - is simple: just recently, i was stalking a lone njerpez warrior, trying to ambush him. Except it was he who ambushed me! He landed a hit to my thorax with a mace from my back - very clever usage of few trees to avoid being spotted by me. He managed to inflict a fracture. -16% penalty right away. I turned to see what i am dealing with, and he was right behind with a mace in hand ready to hit again. Then i RAN, and despite that 16% penalty (and 2% more from items carried), after just ~dozen tiles i managed to built enough distance to turn around and see him already lagging behind enough for me to take a bow shot. This happened late summer, so he wasn't slowed by snow and i had no skis to boost my speed, too.

Small distance, Fine Long Bow and Broadhead arrow made short work of him, then. The point is, however, that i could well keep running away - which option may well be worth trying against groups of enemies. Running also makes you very hard to hit with arrows ("passive dodge" mechanic introduced few major patches ago, plus often you put trees and large rocks between enemy archers and yourself by running away). At least, if you die to them alot, i'd say definitely something to try and see if it works for you.

Next, as high Eyesight as possible seem to help very much. I now play a character with literally maximum possible eyesight, and while it's still 1st year for me (i only started playing recently), - so far _all_ encounters with humans in the wilderness happened _after_ i saw them in the world map. Be them foreigh trades, robbers or njerpez - i always see them 1st, so far, and then i decide how and where i engage, and if i engage at all.

So far, i managed to take out one group of robbers (4 of them in total), and two lone njerpez warriors. Robbers failed to inflict any injury at all; i highly recommend Broadhead arrows against them, as robbers are not any well armored. I had one of them almost having his arm ripped off, instantly unconsious, from just 1 Broadhead shot. I also recommend to engage robbers while zooming in not into the tile they are at, but into some neighbouring tile of the worldmap, and then move towards the direction they robbers should be at; maintain as large field of vision as possible, spot their vanguard early, then walk backwards while taking good opportunity shots, using trees and/or large rocks as cover (if present).

Njerpez' armor is different story, though. Short-distance headshots with Broadheads are still deadly, but long-distance, i think regular (preferably finer grades) arrows to body would be significantly better than Broadheads, as their mail armor makes Broadheads dealing only minor injury even with Longbow.

Last but not least, to fight human enemies, it's best to go with solid armor protection yourself. Iron Spectacle helm is extremely important, as is Mail Cowl (regular or long one, both are OK): this is because head and neck damage are both extremely deadly, and those areas need to be protected very well. Those are really key pieces, and only obtainable through barter; so my advice is, don't fight human enemies until you got those equipped, and if you never barter - then never fight human enemies. Seriously. Trap them, lure them into bad situations, but don't fight them face-to-face and don't duel them if they have arrows / javelins. It's one thing to have bad luck and have a hit to your eye because even Iron Spectacle helm is not perfect protection - but yet entirely worse if your skull is plenty open to concussions and your neck artery is exposed for those cutting / puncturing weapons to slash it open!

As for the body, some folks really advocate not going to fights without wearing mail armor, but i don't think it's a requirement. In my (so far quite humble) experience, Fur Overcoat plus Leather Shirt or alike - is already very solid, overall. Less weight, too.

Add in some metal or leather small pieces for knees and elbows, a pair of leather or fur boots, fur gloves and possibly leggins of some sort, perhaps just linen ones for lightweight - and it's quite significant all-round armor values and also good warmth for winter times. Overall, leather + fur pieces give quite serious protection _and_ warmth, and most of them can be crafted, too.