Any way to make single player easier?

[ClayburnGriffin]

I think I'm doing things right. I have a lot of catcher nets, but I'm not always sure which way I should be traveling. Sometimes there isn't any debris coming my way. But the hardest thing is keeping the water and food meters up. Seems I spend all my time doing the same thing. Fishing, cooking, purifying.

It seems like an interesting game but probably works better with a small group of friends. It's a lot of work for one person. I'd like to have some time to relax and build, but I have to survive 24/7.

[ClayburnGriffin]

Also, I'm assuming for multiplayer, each person needs to buy the game and have their own Steam account. Is that the case?

[Anonymous Helper]

Originally posted by ClayburnGriffin:

I think I'm doing things right. I have a lot of catcher nets, but I'm not always sure which way I should be traveling. Sometimes there isn't any debris coming my way. But the hardest thing is keeping the water and food meters up. Seems I spend all my time doing the same thing. Fishing, cooking, purifying.

If nothing is stopping it (sail, anchor, being stuck etc.), the raft should be floating to the direction debris should be spawning from.

Best way to save on food and water is to get advanced versions as soon as possible. Saves you lot of work and resources. Also get the bottle to drink as it can carry several gulps of water. You may even want two; one for fresh water and one for salt water to fill the purifier.

Originally posted by ClayburnGriffin:

Also, I'm assuming for multiplayer, each person needs to buy the game and have their own Steam account. Is that the case?

Yes, everyone needs the game in their steam accounts.

[Moriibund]

If you learn the timings for fighting the shark you can eat your fill of shark meat.

[Moonstone Mom]

Check out https://www.raftmodding.com/

'Your Balance' mod allows you to adjust many things in the game, including hunger and thirst, for a more satisfying play experience.

[Grezko]

Originally posted by ClayburnGriffin:

I think I'm doing things right. I have a lot of catcher nets, but I'm not always sure which way I should be traveling. Sometimes there isn't any debris coming my way. But the hardest thing is keeping the water and food meters up. Seems I spend all my time doing the same thing. Fishing, cooking, purifying.

It seems like an interesting game but probably works better with a small group of friends. It's a lot of work for one person. I'd like to have some time to relax and build, but I have to survive 24/7.

The game is pretty relaxing even on normal with a bit of experience.

[steveman0]

Originally posted by ClayburnGriffin:

But the hardest thing is keeping the water and food meters up. Seems I spend all my time doing the same thing. Fishing, cooking, purifying.

Yes, unfortunately the current content of the game is fairly limited so the food/water system is overtuned to keep you busy. Hopefully as the devs fill out the content they'll relax these a bit so that they don't take such an inordinate amount of time.

Once you get the hang of things you'll get pretty quick with managing the basics and you'll find that outside of this there isn't all that much to do.

[Tevirik]

Playing solo most of the time, I choose Easy mode. Then thirst and hunger are manageable.
But if you play solo, don't die. Because nobody will come and save you. (The game saves when you die, so there is no way out of death.)
You will respawn, thouh.

[Defektiv]

Island hop early on. There are lots of fruits and coconuts and stuff you can eat directly that give you water and food. Once you get the grill and water purifier researched eating and drinking become less of a chore. You can also do quick dives near the island to get metal, sand and such while you're there. Get into the habit of fishing all the time early and you'll never run out of shark bait.

Salvage while you look for islands and try to build a row of nets. I used to run my raft up against islands to save on anchor mat costs, but then you gotta run your raft sideways into things to straighten it back out again. Once you've researched real anchors and the sail, control gets a lot easier. But one trick I picked up that I use often is to anchor away from islands/encounters and use a paddle to fine tune position the raft closer to the land.

I keep my anchor and sail one block away from each other, and raise the sail up on a platform so it doesn't block my view as I'm driving. And then when I need to stop I just turn around and drop the anchor. Protip: Turning the sail sideways makes you go sideways. Turning the sail backwards brings you almost to a stand still in the water while you paddle into position.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1950719235

For islands, build yourself stairs and ramps off the edge of your raft. Then you can just pull up next to an island, run up the ramps and jump off onto the top. No parkour shark bait required.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1950724756

[ClayburnGriffin]

The main problem I'm having is the shark. I want to get more rare resources underwater, but the shark is there. And if I use the bait and stab him with a spear, it takes nearly a whole day to kill him.

[Defektiv]

Use the bait and go diving while its busy. When you get the metal spear he takes a lot less hits to kill, and you can get 3 hits in on him each time he's chewing on a raft piece. It is possible to fight the shark directly from the water, dodging sideways and attacking right before he strikes. But it takes a lot of practice and you gotta see which way he's coming from.

[iambear.]

As soon as the shark opens his mouth spear him.
I swim right at the shark, stab, turn to stab again. (You can get up to 4 hits on him if you time it right.) repeat until sharky dies

[ClayburnGriffin]

It doesn't seem like the bait distracts him for long, though. More time if he's dead, but it takes an eternity to kill him. I have been able to hit him 3 times when he attacks the raft, but that's too random to plan.

[listless]

I park on one side of an island and do my diving on the other. Sometimes I'll even kick on the engine to park over a barren zone. Haven't had to stab that thing in ages.

As for food, once you have access to recipes, you should only have to fill up once a day.
Three cooked pieces of meat and a hot bowl of something, and you don't have to eat anything else for 24 hours - no point in keeping that bar full all the time.

[Defektiv]

I can usually get 30s to a minute out of a bait. If I dive quick with oxygen bottle and flippers, focusing on the things I need, I can make it down and back before getting attacked. And even if he does see me on the way back, I can take 3 or 4 attacks before I'm in trouble. And you can usually wall walk up the island if you really need to gtfo.

[niemandel]

It's only difficult in the beginning where you need to focus most of your energy on survival. Later in the game it gets much easier even on the hardest difficulty. Just hang in there.

I don't think they should make it easier as that would take all the fun out of it. I personally find the early game struggle for survival to be the best part. And after all, it is a survival game.