Resource Management and Early Game

[DeadSilent]

(This post is for those players who are having difficulties with running out wood/food early in the game. Please keep your "Git gud" or "I'm not having any problems, therefor there is no problem" comments on hold, as they don't actually help those who are struggling.)

There's no two ways about it, this game isn't meant to be easy or hold your hand. If you were like me when I first started, I had cleared all the reachable resources on the map and still frustratingly ran out of wood about 3-4 hours in. One thing I want to stress is that in the early stages, you CAN NOT take your time to leisurely explore the map like you can in other survival games. You have to keep pushing forward to stay ahead of food and wood running out. Trust me, you'll eventually get to a point where you can relax and just run your sled all over the map to explore and collect the things you've missed.


(NOTE: These are suggestions only and NOT listed in any order of importance!)

Here are the things in the early game that helped turn my frustration into satisfaction:

1. Go after the resource nodes before going after the white dots on the map. Limited inventory space is your enemy right now and you'll need every slot to loot the lumber and meat you get from your first harvest/kill. Pick it all up, even the tainted stuff as it's very important for reasons I'll explain later. Some have argued that this isn't required if you've already recruited your first survivor, that they will pick it all up for you- even the first harvest/kill. I haven't personally confirmed this, so use this info as you will. It's fine if you want to grab some of the stray loot from a white dot with any left inventory, but prioritize loot from resource nodes first.

2. Have a torch in your hand at all times if you're not fighting or riding a sled. If you're just starting out, you'll get cold pretty quick. Torches keep you warmer and will help stave off the cold until you can make a cloak or get enough warmth shards to mitigate the temperature. The best part is, you'll get tons of torches just looting out in the world and you can break down the extras for wood if you need to. I still use torches, as the areas get colder and colder as your progress.

3. Build Huts asap. 1 hut per survivor. When you have the means to do so, upgrade them asap with the vestibule, larder, and 2nd floor. This will require followers with Construction and Metal Working( to make copper bars for nails). You may not get the followers you need early on, which is why you have to keep pushing forward. Other survivors will start showing up to join you and there seems to be a follower event per map section, but this won't happen if your not actively pushing forward.

4. Build a Butcher and Woodworker hut as you get survivors with the corresponding skills. This is crucial in the early game, as the tainted meat and wood you've been collecting will be your biggest source of wood and food. You'll need survivors with Hunting and Woodworking to convert this stuff to usable material, but just about every survivor has one or the other or both skills. This will help you stock-pile supplies and give you more breathing room later.

5. Take the Outposts early, don't wait until you've explored that section of the map. Many have suggested this be your top priority and I can agree for the most part. Outposts make a big difference in that they allow you to quick travel between them and your main base, plus they contain a small treasure trove of wood, food, and other vital supplies you'll need for equipment upgrades and general survival. Taking an outpost will reveal all the resource locations left on that particular section of map, so it makes planning your next move easier.

6. Build the Sledding Kennel as soon as you get two wolves. You should get two wolves when taking your first outpost, which is another reason to do this as early as possible. The Sled dramatically cuts down travel time and has a modest amount of storage on it. Trust me, it'll make things so much easier.



This is no way a HOW-TO guide. It's just a simple list of suggestions to help new players or those of us who were/are struggling to stay ahead of the food and wood crisis in the first hours of the game. The thing to remember is that the game will punish those who sit idle for too long or put progression on the back-burner. Keep moving forward.

[VeraelHasta]

Another thing why you should keep pushing early:

7. Get outposts cleared fast. They are not hard, the difficulty picks up from the third region, so you should take first two pretty fast. Outpost give you big boost of basic resources to keep you going.
8. Don't bother with the Stalker places at first. In my first run I didn't explore faster to the east because the stalker scared the ♥♥♥♥ out of me. But you can just leave him there and go further, stalkers are not as common.

[Mr. Fibble]

I find hut, kennel, hut to be a good start order to building with processing after that based on what follower abilities I get.

With a bit of practice you can get one follower and first outpost before the first blizzard hits with at least an axe to fight with. The follower can either be sent back to camp for building or used as backup if needs be. Hitting that first outpost should get you the wolves especially if you tagged the corrupted spots on the way up,it'll also net you enough stuff to complete buildings without too much node tagging or foraging.

Follower builds while you get number two from the east and then either hit that outpost with them in tow. By this time the kennel should be done and you can go about tagging nodes and using its storage for the stacks of tainted stuff.

Only time I've deviated from this are those times when I've not found a woodcutter. If thats the case its a foray north or a lot of napping to try and trigger a visitor event.

[Včelí medvídek]

I ahve question abot followers. Once I get first he seems crazy depleting any resource I gather (particularly all wood I gathered before just vanished shortly as he seems to keep fire 24/7 while playing alone I dont need it... (he was neither hunter or woodworker too) - so as I already died and starting from scratch - do yout hink ti is better harvest/mark some resource nods (possible 3+3?) first myself prior getting first follower so there is at least enough stored wood for build hut and something right away? Or wait until I can egt 2 followers in short time so they cna both hunt and harvest wood at same time..

They just seems crazy resource eaters so far,

[Mr. Fibble]

Followers can get into a spiral of ever decreasing morale (or so it seems) keeping them fed and warm stops this but it can be quite hard to reverse if you don't catch it in time as they'll spend more time eating and burning wood than out working.

It doesn't hurt to tag a couple of nodes for food and wood, you're likely going to get three hunting patches anyway as you get the basic warm clothing made up.

The hut helps a bit and once you are able to upgrade them things do become much easier.

If the first follower hasn't got the ability to process remains then its a good idea to go for a second but be aware that doing so will increase the demands at camp.

[snuggleform]

I would heavily emphasize take the the first two outposts ASAP, don't even get a follower until you cap both. At the top of the stairs of each outpost is a strongbox with like 200 wood and a bunch of other materials in it. The first two outposts are not that hard to do with basic equipment. The windfall from the first two gives you a comfortable margin for supporting a follower or two.

The third outpost can be troublesome when you're new because it potentially asks you to fight 3 green monsters at once (2 of which are ranged and very annoying if they stagger their attacks), so after you cap the first two I would go get followers, tag all resource nodes in the first two regions, and then clean up all the white nodes in the first two regions. This should give you a solid foundation to move on to region 3. As annoying as it is clearing all the white nodes is helpful for future runs as well as current ones because of the permanent shard bonus you can find. Of course like the OP said, it's a lower priority than capping outpost/resource nodes but it's the best thing you can do after those.

[Sanginius]

3rd Survival Run now and I've got Rhys First Ezra second every time so far. Neither of them is a wood cutter, thankfully Ezra is a hunter Rhys seems to take forever to build his own hut. Also seems to use far more firewood than necessary. I've had to bring in 3 or 4 times the amount because he keeps lighting fires rather than finishing the building. somewhat frustrating.

[R.J.Travis]

Wait no ones going to point out you can make 100's of wood fast and easy?

craft 24 arrows out of the wood logs break the 24 arrows into 24 fire wood you can make so much fire wood this way. If you break the log into fire wood you only get 6 fire wood vs 24 :P

[snuggleform]

Originally posted by R.J.Travis:

Wait no ones going to point out you can make 100's of wood fast and easy?

craft 24 arrows out of the wood logs break the 24 arrows into 24 fire wood you can make so much fire wood this way. If you break the log into fire wood you only get 6 fire wood vs 24 :P

There are two important considerations you didn't take into account:

-you have to be at a campfire to do the transaction you are talking about
-more importantly, pristine wood is a precious resource that is hard to come by early game and a huge requirement for almost all the early game buildings, so breaking them down just for firewood is not advised

[Mr. Fibble]

That little exploit was reported by myself during beta (accidentally) and the release version they actually made it work better.

I also reported the revamped version so don't expect it to stick around.

While its true that using pristine isn't ideal if its the difference between a downward spiral on resource consumption thanks to a camp full of moody gits and having shelter for them its an alright stop gap measure.

Until its patched anyway.

[snuggleform]

I agree it's an exploit, since even if you have a woodcarver buliding the best you can get out of a pristine wood is 12 firewood, you shouldn't be able to get 24 out of it by making arrows and whatever.

However, again I hugely emphasize busting up your pristine wood is more likely going cause a downward spiral since you can't even build shelters without it. And the forge costs a whopping 53 pristines and is necessary for you to start getting better gear so it's a really bad idea even if you can make some firewood out of in the short run.

[R.J.Travis]

Originally posted by Mr. Fibble:

That little exploit was reported by myself during beta (accidentally) and the release version they actually made it work better.

I also reported the revamped version so don't expect it to stick around.

While its true that using pristine isn't ideal if its the difference between a downward spiral on resource consumption thanks to a camp full of moody gits and having shelter for them its an alright stop gap measure.

Until its patched anyway.

exploit .... they had enough time to change it if it wasn't something they wanted you to do as it also takes more time to do. If anything they could make chopping wood give 24+ wood.

[snuggleform]

Point number 1 is false information. You do not need to pick up the stuff from first kills, as followers will pick it up for you (even if you first kill a deer and the corpse disappears, the total number of resources from that node does not decrease, I did the scientific experiment in another thread). You will waste a lot of time by collecting stuff from first kills when you simply don't need it.

If you actually need the resources from first kills asap, then yeah pick it all up.

You really need to reorder that list, taking outpost should be #1 before everything else.

[DeadSilent]

The list I created are things that helped me enjoy the game after a few frustrating game overs, and I wanted to pass that on to those who are just getting started or struggling with resource management. It's not listed in any order of importance and I never stated it as such. I was also very clear at the bottom of my original post that it's not a how-to guide, just a bunch of suggestions to help stay ahead of the wood/food situation.

[snuggleform]

I'm ok with your explanation of the ordering, but the false information about first harvesting is a very bad way to influence newcomers. Don't feed them bad information like that.

I would also mention to craft 2 pouches as one of the first things to do. It immensely helps with inventory management but it took me a while to figure this out.

The reason your information is bad in this specific case is because you are telling newcomers to waste time by picking up first kill resources, when followers will automatically pick them all up for you. Wasting time is not a good suggestion to stay ahead of the wood/food situatoin as you claim to be trying to help.

[Just a dog]

I don't like this order. I got butcher and woodcarver really early and only now started using them when I have 4 strongholds and 5 or 6 followers (I lost track). Get huts and kennels and rush the northern stronghold as it's incredibly easy (also gave me two wolves, not sure if that's rng or always happens).
It's a good idea to pre-build huts to have them ready before the next follower arrives. Also to get crafting shack & smith to get to the T2 equipment and hut upgrades. Butcher and woodcarver are good, but they can wait - I believe they get important when you have enough followers to be able to dedicate two for these two activities, while others still build/hunt/etc.