Everything you need to know to don't starve

I'm not gonna tell you what to do and how you should play... that would take away the point of playing. I'll tell you what you could do to survive, which things are helpful and which ones will hold you back. Some tips for beginners asking themselves: what should I do with this? ok, now what, how do I progress? etc etc
Just the information necessary to start playing and have an idea of what you can do in the game.

I made a new guide for Don't Starve together: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=645541249

The story

Some people like to know a little about what's going on in the game's world, the purpose and background of the character they're playing with, like I do. So, first let me show you a little about the story:

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0QhvmisGWU

This is Wilson, the first character you're gonna play with, he knows how to grow a beard. And that's probably all that's known about him (and what's seen in the video).

You can unlock more characters[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] as you play, each with different abilities or disadvantages (depends how you want to look at it).

Getting started

If you've got the DLC then it's recommended you start without it and activate it once you've got some experience, the DLC was made to make the game even harder and I'll not cover anything about it here for now.
In the World option you can change how often you want some stuff to spawn, or if you don't want them at all. In Character you choose who you'll be playing with, but for now your only option is Wilson.

• You can expand your inventory using a backpack, piggyback or a krampus sack[dont-starve-game.wikia.com].
  
• Health and hunger are self explanatory, but sanity[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] may need a little more explanation, I do recommend to read the wiki page.
  
• The clock: the yellow zone is daylight, red zone is dusk and blue complete darkness. You'll not need a light source until it's blue, after that if you don't have any source of light you'll not survive the night.
  
• You can access the map taping Tab and the pause menu with Esc.

Why won't you survive the night, you ask? Well... Charlie[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] (a.k.a. Night Monster/Grue) will come for you. She'll attack you until you die when you're in complete darkness.


So, to survive the first night you'll need a controlled fire[dont-starve-game.wikia.com], you've 3 options for now:
Campfire [3 cut grass + 3 logs]: temporal use, burns twice as fast as fire pit, if you add too much fuel* it'll start setting in fire things around it.

Fire pit [2 logs + 12 rocks]: it's permanent (unless you destroy it with a hammer), they're less susceptible to rain and only need fuel to light up again.

Torch [2 cut grass + 2 twigs]: if you want/need to keep moving, it won't last long, it's a small source of light and it's used as a tool so you will be completely vulnerable. You also can also set things on fire if you want.

*Easy to find items you can use as fuel[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] are: petals, twigs, logs, charcoal, pine cones, cut grass.
You can cook food[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] in campfires and active fire pits, just left click them in you inventory and left click the fire, it's better to eat cooked food.

To get the logs you'll need an axe [1 twig + 1 flint]:
Also, see the berries that are in my inventory? Food spoils[dont-starve-game.wikia.com], mine were fresh, so they've a green background, but as they decay that background will start to turn yellow, orange and then red, then it spoils.


It's a good idea to keep at least one renewable source of food in camp: farming [dont-starve-game.wikia.com]or trapping[dont-starve-game.wikia.com].
There are 2 types of farms:

• Basic farm [8 cut grass + 4 manure* + 4 logs] = takes 40 daylight hours and has 20 uses.
  
• Improved farm [10 cut grass + 6 manure + 4 stone] = takes 20 daylight hours and has 30 uses.

After the uses have run out you have to re-fertilize, to plant you only need to put the seeds birds drop, you don't need anything else.
The traps are easier to craft [6 cut grass + 2 twigs], they have 8 uses. The best place for them is outside rabbit holes, but you can use them to catch frogs and spiders as well.
*You can get manure [dont-starve-game.wikia.com]mainly where the beefalos and pigs hang out.


This are the basic things you need to survive. Now go my child, go and explore and don't starve.

Some useful tips

You can see some important things with the map
So if you found something that can't carry with you at the time but seems important, put it close to something that shows in the map and remember it, you don't have to worry that you'll not find it again. Or plant trees in a specific form that indicates where it is.


If you see something like this...
don't try and steal what they're guarding, specially if it's almost night time...
I died. Twice.


If you kill too many innocent mobs (passive), your naughtiness [dont-starve-game.wikia.com] will go up, you start hearing hissing noises as a warning, if you keep doing it then Krampus will come and steal your items. He's able to break chests and will take almost everything he finds (there're certain special items he won't take).

What does this do?

Now, you have grasped the basics, you can go and live and play and try not to die. But, there are things around that you'll find and ask yourself: what the hell do I do with this? should I pick it? will it kill me? is this safe? should I run the other way? is the man with candy saying the truth??

Well, I love/hate this part of starting a new game, where you have to google and read stuff to know or just try it to see it for yourself and die. I love this because everything is new and newfangled, but I hate it because it makes me feel dirty, like a cheater, to search for it, because in old games you didn't needed to do that, the game told you in some way what were you supposed to do with the things you found and if they didn't it was because it was a surprise and an extra or a puzzle. But things have changed now, now googling this things have become the normal thing to do, and that's why you're here.

This are some of the things you may encounter early in-game that you won't know what to do with it, and other stuff that you could do but you won't know about it unless you search for it, but you won't search for it because you don't know about it.

First of all, you should know about prototyping, how to craft new toys, using this and other fancy machines. This is the science machine[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [1 gold nugget + 4 logs + 4 rocks]



If you find something like this , pick it up, you've found yourself a chest with legs, Chester[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]. As long as you have it, he'll follow you and you can store things inside his mouth; but be careful, he can die.




If you find one of this[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]
Activate it. If you die you'll respawn there, make sure to have a camp close to it with some basic things you may need to go and get your items back (you drop them uppon death).



If the overland dangers are not good enough for you, then you can go underground, mine this things and you'll find a sinkhole, the entrance to a cave[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]. Beware, as it's pretty obvious: caves are dark, where there is darkness your sanity drains and Charlie will attack. And what can you find in the caves? well metals of course! and more things trying to kill you.



You can sleep! You don't have to wait for the night to pass just staring at the screen. You can craft tents [dont-starve-game.wikia.com][6 silk + 4 twigs + 3 Rope in Alchemy Engine] or bedrolls [dont-starve-game.wikia.com], sleeping will consume 75 hunger. Tents have 6 uses and aren't movable, it will restore 50 sanity and 60 health; there are 2 kinds of bedrolls: straw [6 cut grass + 1 rope in Science Machine] that restores 33 sanity and is usable once and fur [1 straw roll + 2 bunny puffs in Alchemy Engine] restores 33 sanity and 30 health, it also keeps you warm during winter and has 3 uses.




If one day you find that there's this creep following you around trying to hit you, don't try to kill it (yet), it's a Treeguard [dont-starve-game.wikia.com]and it spawns when you've chopped down a lot of trees, it will most likely kill you if he hits you 3 times and he has a lot of health. To make him stop following you around plant a lot of pine cones close to him until he stops. The best way to kill it is to lead him to mobs like the pigs or beefalos in heat.




Wormholes [dont-starve-game.wikia.com]are safe to use, if you have sanity enough to lose (saw that? I'm so talented). Every time you travel through a wormhole you'll lose 15 sanity and followers (friendly) will travel behind you, what this thing does is connect 2 parts of the map, you go down one you appear in the other one, but there's no way of saying which one until you try it.

Fighting

You'll probably ask yourself at the beginning if that spear in the craft menu is the only weapon you'll be able to use, it's not. This are the craftable weapons[dont-starve-game.wikia.com]:
Spear [dont-starve-game.wikia.com][2 twigs + 1 rope + 1 flint] = 34 damage | 150 hits
Ham bat[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [1 pig skin + 2 twigs + 2 meat in Alchemy engine] = 59 damage | 10 days
Sleep dart[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [2 cut reeds + 1 stinger + 1 jet feather in Science machine] = if the player attacks the mob will wake up, some mobs require up to 4 darts | 1 use
Fire dart[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [2 cut reeds + 1 charcoal + 1 crimson feather in Science machine] = sets the target on fire | 1 use
Blow dart[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [2 cut reeds + 1 hound's tooth + 1 azure feather in a Science machine] = 100 damage | 1 use
Boomerang[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [1 board + 1 silk + 1 charcoal in Alchemy engine] = 27.2 damage | 10 uses. You have to catch it (holding down the action key, space bar) when it's coming back or it will hit you and remove twice the durability.
Bee Mine[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [1 board + 4 bees + 1 flint] = the mine will explode when something comes near it and spawn 4 aggressive bees, though you're safe.
Tooth trap[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [1 log + 1 rope + 1 hound's tooth] = 60 damage to mobs in proximity | 10 uses, need to be reset after every use.

You may use some tools as melee weapons[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] as well, but that's not recommended.

And craftable armors:
Grass suit[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [10 cut grass + 2 twigs] = 225 hp durability | absorbs 60% of physical damage
Log suit[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [8 logs + 2 ropes in Science machine] = 450 hp durability | absorbs 80% physical damage
Marble suit[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [12 marbles + 4 ropes in Alchemy engine] = 1050 hp durability | absorbs 95% of physical damage & slows you down 30%
Football Helmet[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] [1 pig skin + 1 rope in Alchemy engine] = 450 durabilty | absorbs 80% of physical damage

You'll probably find the tentacle spike[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] lying somewhere in the marsh biome[dont-starve-game.wikia.com], they're somewhat common, they're pretty usefull as they do 51 damage and has a durability of 100 uses.

You may also find lying around an ice staff[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] or fire staff[dont-starve-game.wikia.com], they're ranged weapons and can freeze or set fire to the target, they drain 1 sanity with every use and have a durability of 20 uses.

Winter

Winter[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] lasts for 16 days; beginning on day 21 and ending on day 36. This will make your life harder, so be prepared. There are mobs that only appear on winter and others that only do in summer, so you'll be finding different monsters around, some plants will go to sleep and others will awake, just like in real life.

Also, you can freeze [dont-starve-game.wikia.com]to death, so you have to use winter clothing[dont-starve-game.wikia.com] (you'll probably find some around if you explore enough the first 20 days) or let Wilson's beard get long (it'll act as warm clothing) to insulate the heat while you're exploring. Although, this will only give you more time, you still have to go to a fire constantly to get your temperature up again.

If you wish to read a complete guide about winter, go here[dont-starve-game.wikia.com].

Player's Tips

"The basics about weather are rather simple: being in wet gear affects your morale, so wear rain gear when it's raining; excess heat and cold can kill you, so wear the right clothes and use the endo/exothermic fires accordingly (and thermal stones are your friends, so carry one about and leave another recharging); heat spoils food faster; it also makes fires more likely and dries out your crops, so a freezer and a snow flingomatic are wise investments...
...and Wilson's beard is the warmest, almost enough to survive the winter without better clothes, so it shouldn't be cut until after the snow melts ;)." - Maegil

[JakeBlues66]

Thanks this helped a lot.

[KhorneHub]

@no opponent. Thanks, sadly died before I saw your comment but now i know. Also, F*** mosqitos.

[gay]

get out of there haha, look for another biome, just keep walking in one direction

[KhorneHub]

Got any advice if your game is a dick and spawns you in what appears to be a swamp?

[saucy]

nice guide really cewl

[Fistro pecador]

Thank you!!

[Ingfridh]

Has been really useful when i started ! Thanks!

[Jodie_90's]

Cool beans, thanks!

[arcangel]

Awsome thank you . :)

[[HK]Regan]

so useful, thank you so much for your guide, appreciate it