Expedition members used for carrying?

[Hugh Manatee]

Only got the game a couple of days ago and I'm on my second fresh start. After learning more about the game, I stopped playing the first. It was a wise move since my second attempt has been easier to get my head around.

Currently, I am waiting for an opportunity to have my sixth child born, enabling me to go out with 2 other males each carrying 2 babies, like I am. From what I've learnt so far, it's suggested to do this when you want to seek out the crashed meteor.

Naturally, I want all three males to carry a spear and many guides suggest having a grindstone or the basalt tool in your left hand. However, after watching a clip where the player did that, but kept having issues because he would often drop the spear and tool. So, I wondered if there's a way around this.

If I swap to the apes following me before we leave for the expedition and equip them with tools in the left hands, will they drop them? I reckon it would be a great way to use them as the carriers of the tools and only select them when I need to craft a new weapon, or grind some food.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Cougarific]

There are neurons that control the dropping of items. Eventually it will stop being an issue at all.

The drawback to using companions as pack mules is that they will not be able to feed themselves if they have anything in their right hand. So they will not eat when you eat and can eventually starve to death.

I like to equip my companions (two males carrying two babies each, as above) with bone clubs because they will never break, making them the perfect long-term defensive weapon. (You get bone clubs from large animal carcasses - boar, cat, croc, etc.)

Eventually you will be able to order your companions to change the club to their left hand so the right hand is free for eating. At the start you will have to Switch to them and change it yourself.

Tools are not difficult to make and stones are not hard to find. I carry a sharp stick and basalt chopper, but giving tools to companions is not worth the trouble IMHO.

[Catsim]

Just have some clan mates follow you around to learn the "monkey see, monkey do" neurons so you can make them swap hands when you double tap B (the communication button) after swapping something in your hands yourself.

Eventually you can make them all grab branches and order them to strip them down to sticks and put them all in a pile (you have to put one stick down yourself, then get another stick and add it to the pile then double tap the communication button). This is good for having a quick stick pile to grab from in your settlement. Then you can have them all grab sticks when you want to roll out and learn the clan defense neuron so they'll defend themselves.

But honestly I think having a bunch following you is more trouble than it's worth. If they get attacked without defending themselves you've got to cure their bleeding after driving the predator off yourself. You'll just want all those clan upgrades for later on when you want to form a party to go pick your new settlement manually to advance the game. I don't think the Evolution random settlement change will pick one that's too far away so you gotta do it yourself.

Don't underestimate the "prevents dropping items when you dodge". Sometimes you get caught out without a weapon in your right hand and you'll drop the nice rock you're carrying in your left hand. And sometimes even if you have a weapon you can't see where the attack is coming from because the camera glitches out.

Don't worry too much about meteorites. They're just two extra neuron locks so you can still make good progress between generations with 6 kids. The attachment need neuron helps making generation leaps less annoying since breeding pairs will already form when you change generations.

[Cougarific]

Originally posted by Catsim:

Don't worry too much about meteorites. They're just two extra neuron locks

This is true but don't forget that's two per baby - which is why having two companions carrying two babies each is a good idea when meteorites are around.

When you're talking about SIX extra reinforcements per meteorite, that's a game-changer in terms of how much exploring you can do before needing to do a generation leap.

Originally posted by Catsim:

Don't underestimate the "prevents dropping items when you dodge".

This is an excellent point and a mistake I see many new-ish players make. Once players know how to reliably counterattack they forget about dodging. Don't forget about dodging - it has many benefits in the long run. Try to dodge every animal in the biome at least twice.

[Hugh Manatee]

Thanks to you both for your insights. It appears that everyone has their own spin on how best to play this game, which is understandable considering how little information the devs provided concerning gameplay. While I understand the logic behind this, I feel it hasn't helped the game's overall popularity in the long run. After all, every guide I've read is either incomplete or contradicts each other.