Collision Course - Survival Guide (for v0.08)

The (soon-to-be)Ultimate Survival Guide for Collision Course, Crynosaur's early-access survival game!
UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Updates

VERY MUCH UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Due to the nature of the game and how core mechanics/features (such as the UI and Inventory) are changing fairly frequently, the guide will not be updated as regularly in the early stages of the game as it will be in the later stages, where areas such as the UI/core features will more than likely be nailed down by that time, meaning I will not have to keep going over what I've written/created and re-doing it completely.

- Added toolbar info
- Added Alligator and Spinosaurus
- Rewriting Bestiary (wip)
- Added Followers and Trading
- Added Wires, Mushroom, Flower Swamp Violet and Thermal Shielding to Item List

Survival Basics

Movement and Interaction - If you've played any kind of first person survival game before Collision Course shouldn't be too difficult to get to grips with. You can move your player character with the WASD keys, press SHIFT to start sprinting (stop moving for a moment to stop, or keep going until you run out of stamina) and SPACEBAR to jump a short distance. If you crouch using the C key whilst sprinting, you will perform a slide. You can use F to interact with items and objects in the environment such as picking up items or interacting with draws in a crashed escape pod. If you pick up an item in your hand, hold F to put it away into your inventory, or LMB to throw it.

Combat Controls - With no weapon equipped you can use LMB to punch the environment (not sure why you'd want to however) or any enemies you happen to come across. This might work alright with other humans you encounter, but don't attempt to punch a dinosaur to death. It probably wont end well. If you have a ranged weapon equipped and in your hand, the general rule is that LMB will fire or throw that weapon, and RMB will aim-down-sights (if applicable). Melee weapons can also be used with LMB, and will become your lifesaver when/if you run out of ammunition for your guns.

Stealth Mechanics - The planet that you now find yourself stranded on is full of danger, from electric fish and Alligators inhabiting the Marsh to the massive Tyrannosaurus Rex prowling the land, there isn't really a safe place to be found here, weapons are scarce and ammunition even more so. Often, it may be a much smarter decision to avoid combat with a nearby enemy alltogether and just try and sneak past them. At the end of the day, survival is key, and if it comes down to it, fleeing for your life is also a good option.

Use C to crouch down, making you much less visible but also reducing your movement speed. When crouching, you make less noise than when walking or running and also keep yourself closer to the ground, which means you can hide both behind and in foliage much more effectively, which is the best way of keeping yourself hidden from those who would do you harm, breaking or blocking the line of sight is your number one priority when it comes to stealth.

Climbing and Vantage Points
Certain objects in the environment can be climbed and used as vantage points or ways of escaping the attention of predators. These climbable areas of the environment are highlighted in the same blue glow as items that can be picked up. You can interact with these climbing points using the F key, and then use W and S to move up and down the side of the structure.

If dinosaurs can be avoided, then they absolutely should (unless you really need to harvest the meat to sustain yourself), hostile human targets on the other hand, you should always try to sneak up behind and finish them off with an instant-death stealth kill with [MMB], this will allow you to salvage any items that they had on them, which will often be consumables or even weapons. Some human survivors are fully hostile and will attack you on detection, whereas others will act more defensively, some will even trade items with you or follow you.

Using your Inventory

The following information should be fairly self explanatory for those who are well versed in survival games, as it will be giving a detailed look at the inventory system as well as the vitals gauges that show you just how your player character is doing health-wise. First, let's have a look at how the Inventory tab and all of its information works and what it tells you, the player.

No.1 - Item Inventory
This is where you store all of your regular items that dont fall under the category of weapons or gear (or structures, but those are just built in the world so they dont really count). If you want a full list of the items that go here, go to the Item List chapter of the guide. The top row of four items also represents your toolbar, and can be quick-selected into your hand using the 1-4 number keys.
No.2 - Item Information/Survival Tips
If you have an item selected in your inventory its icon/image will be displayed here at a larger size and a small snippet of information about said item will also be displayed. When no item is selected this space is taken up by a Survival Tip.
No.3 - Objective Window
This window will always display your current main objective, for more detailed objective listings and information you'll need to select the OBJECTIVES tab.
No.4 - Gear Inventory
This is where all of your equipped gear category items will go such as Boots, Breathing Mask or the Headlamp. Gear either provides aditional survival suit functions or general buffs and boosts, such as increased stamina regeneration speed.
No.5 - Vitals Gauges
This is probably the most important part of the inventory screen as it displays the state of your character. The top-most red bar is your characters health, the blue bar is thirst, purple is hunger, yellow is your stamina, and green is the amount of charge your survival suit has. Health is restored via consumable items, Thirst can be restored either via consumable items or by drinking from a fresh water source. Hunger can be restored by eating food. Stamina automatically recharges when you are not actively using it (e.g. Jumping, sprinting, punching). Your survival suit chargen automatically recharges kinetically (from your movements), so the faster and more you move, the faster it charges. Your survival suit charge is used to power certain types of gear such as the Headlight and Bioscanner. There is also a button there to view descriptions of the various diseases in the game and to find out whether you have them or not.
No.6 - Weapons Inventory
This is where all of your weapon category items go, your weapons can also be switched between when in-game using the mouse scroll wheel, allowing for quick changing without having to go back to the inventory screen. Displayed below the weapons are the two different types of ammunition present in the game, which both work with different ranged weapons.
No.7 - Item Notification
This handy pop-up will appear whenever you pick up a new item!

The 5 vitals gauges can also be seen at a much smaller scale in the bottom left of the game screen when playing the game normally, out of menu.

Inventory management can be an important aspect of survival games and this one is no exception as you will pick up a lot of items in your travels and your fairly small initial inventory capacity will probably fill up rather quickly. Prioritise which items you really need to carry and use ones that you can if you need to make space instead of discarding them, for example if you were going to discard a spare medkit, if you dont have full health then use it instead. You can also build shelters to store your items in for later use.

Collision Course has a fairly simple and intuitive crafting system. You can access the crafting tab by selecting "crafting" on the Inventory screen. You can select the various items displayed here in their categories and it will show you the crafting recipe (the materials/items required to craft the item) as well as the button to craft it, providing you have the necessary materials to fulfill the recipe.

Crafting new items out of ones you already have but dont need can also be a great way of reducing the amount you have in your inventory by at least one item, granting you more space to pick up new items that you might find. A good example of this is the Electrical Grenade which is crafted out of a Droid Head and Energy Cell, both of which have other uses but are certainly not essential to your survival, the Head can be thrown like a rock to create noise or knock down a human opponent, whereas the Energy Cell can refill your Survival Suit's charge, if you use your charge-draining gear smartly, you probably will have little to no use of these items, with use of the Headlight at nighttime being a possible exception.

Bestiary (*NEW*)

The world you find yourself in after evacuating your escape pod is not like the one you left behind... well, it is actually, if you rewind the clock more than a few million years! The planet is populated by many different species of dinosaur, from the tiny Leaellynasaura that run about amongst the plant life, to the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex that stands tall as the planet's apex predator. You are no longer at the top of the food chain.

Diet: Carnivore
Corpse Inv.: 8x Raw Meat
Behaviour: Aggressive and territorial
Besides the environment itself, Tyrannosaurus Rex is the biggest threat that you will face on this new planet, they can grow to an extremely large size, reach pretty fast speeds in pursuit of prey, and are extremely lethal. Due to their size, Tyrannosaurs need to eat quite a lot, so you'll certainly be on the menu if you are discovered. T.Rex has excellent eyesight and can spot you from a long distance away (assuming you aren't trying to be stealthy). Luckily for you, the T.Rex itself has a fairly large bulk and is very hard to miss stalking the wilds, so you should be able to avoid it by staying low to the ground and hiding behind/under vegetation. Fallen trees at a horizontal angle can also be good ways of escaping the Tyrannosaur, but it will be waiting for you down there, so unless you have a weapon you can attempt to kill it with whilst you're up there, you're simply delaying the inevitable.

The Tyrannosaur only has two main attacks, the first is to bite you and knock you down, which will deal a fair bit of damage, and you can be killed with only two hits like this, the other is to grab you and carry you off to be devoured in its mouth, which means instant death, regardless of your health when you get grabbed. Believe it or not, one of the best weapons you can use against the T.Rex is the spear! It has a wide impact, so if you manage to get a heart-shot on the great beast, it will fall just like any other!

Diet: Carnivore
Corpse Inv.: 8x Raw Meat
Behaviour: Aggressive and territorial
Spinosaurus is a huge carnivore and rivals the Tyrannosaurus Rex in size, and it behaves in a similar way to the other apex predator. This dinosaur's most defining traits are its long, crocodilian-like head and of course its large, long blue and black patterned sail that travels down its back. Due to this, the Spinosaurus is, luckily, extremely easy to spot roaming the wilds. If you have the misfortune to provoke the Spinosaurus, it will likely attack you, sometimes staying back a moment to observe you. The Spinosaurus attacks by biting the player, this attack will knock you to the ground most of the time if it doesn't kill you outright, sometimes it will pick you up into its jaws and eat you whole.

Your best chance of survivng an encounter with a Spinosaurus is to avoid conflict alltogether; which can be done by hiding in vegetation or finding a high vantage point from which you cannot be reached, however if this is not possible you should attempt to gun it down with your heaviest weaponry before it gets to you and knocks you down, which can leave you defenceless for a follow-up attack. Aim for the head or chest to inflict maximum damage.

Diet: Carnivore
Corpse Inv.: 6x Raw Meat
Behaviour: Watches the player for a moment before attacking directly
Ceratosaurus is the second most deadly predator you'll have to face on this planet, second only to the Tyrannosaurus Rex. It is fast, can kill you very quickly, and is typically very hungry. Despite not having the excellant vision of the Tyrannosaur, you will not have to get particularly close for the Ceratosaurus to notice your presence. Upon noticing you, it will inspect you for a very short amount of time before beginning its attack, which will result in one of two attacks, the first being a simple bite which knocks you down, just two of those is enough to kill you. The other, being a one hit kill where the Ceratosaur carries you off in its jaws to feast on your elsewhere.

Diet: Carnivore
Corpse Inv.: 4x Raw Meat
Behaviour: Stalks its prey silently and attacks from behind
Small and agile, Utahraptors are sneaky and quiet, and if you dont pay attention on your treks through the wilds, you might just get pounced on from behind, as this is their primary method of attacking you. Utahraptor's aren't particularly perceptive and will stalk you slowly at first, so it is possible to get away before they begin their attack. They will circle you and then pounce, knocking you down. Once on the floor, they may grab you and drag you off in their mouth, which will always result in death.

If a Utahraptor crosses paths with a Tyrannosaur, the result is very unlikely to go in the raptor's favor, as Tyrannosaurs will attack and kill the smaller raptors, shaking them to death in their powerful jaws. Due to their small size, they tend to be much easier to defend yourself from than other, larger dinosaur species such as the T.Rex or Ceratosaurus. Utahraptors can be seen guarding nests of their eggs, or watching over a group of their offspring, which are a darker, more camoflauged brown colour.

Carnivore:
Corpse Inv.: 5x Raw Meat
Behaviour: Water-based ambush predator
Look out, the water is no longer safe. I mean, not that it really was in the first place either, actually. Alligators will lie in wait for the player, partially or fully submerged under the surface of the water and will turn and attack if you get too close to its resting place. It is fully capable of travelling onto land in pursuit of you but is more comfortable in the water. If you can get back to land it is very easy to avoid these animals by simply running away, however they are fairly easy to dispatch with basic weapons, if you have to resort to melee make sure to attack from behind, as those strong jaws are deadly.

Diet: Herbivore
Corpse Inv.: 8x Raw Meat
Behaviour: Defensive herbivore
Stegosaurs are typically docile herbivores but will act very defensively if you wander too close to them. They do not ever straight-up attack you like the carnivorous species will, but they will stand with their side to you, head low to the ground and tail high above the ground, ready to strike at you if you get too close. If you do, they can shove you away, which can get you killed pretty quickly, but at least you won't have to worry about a follow-up attack, generally, Stegosaurus' just want you to leave them be.

Diet: Herbivore
Corpse Inv.: 8x Raw Meat
Behaviour: Defensive herbivore
Xenoceratops is a tough, medium-sized herbivore. Its most prominant feature is its impressive crest and horns. These are also its best defensive or territorial weapon, and it will use these on you with great effect if you get too close to the animal, knocking you back a good distance as well. Unless you need the meat from it, you should try and keep your distance from these herbivores, as they will not go out of their way to attack you if you do so.

Diet: Herbivore
Corpse Inv: N/A - Invincible
Behaviour: Docile Grazer

Followers and Trading

You aren't the only person who managed to survive the crash of the Neva, there are survivors, hostile and friendly, out there as well. The behaviour of other people who are stranded on the planet can be variable, some will attack you on sight and are incredibly hostile, looking to loot you for any items you have, others will warn you to keep your distance and stay back, not looking for trouble. Unless you want to loot them and take their stuff, you should probably do as they say. Sometimes however, certain survivors will be particularly friendly, and you will be able to trade items with them and sometimes convince them to follow you in a group.

Forest Crash Site

At this stage in the game, the most important are you can reach is the Forest Crash Site (for lack of a better name). It is located decently close to the spawn area and contains a whole host of items inside and around the broken section of ship.


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You can use one of the fallen trees to climb up and onto the top of the ship segment, if you move over to the left you can drop down into it and collect some items. You'll also be able to drop down again to another layer that is slightly too high off the ground for you to jump to. Items will be blocked off by a door, to get through here you need to have a steel bar to pry the doors open. Luckily, one can be found in the wreckage nearby.

Inside the forest crash site is a map of the area, a pistol with several magazines of ammo as well as multiple energy cells and hypostims, med kits as well as a Headlight and Bioscanner.

Hallucination Zone

Because the in-game map is not yet complete, there has to be some way to stop inquisitive players from going where they shouldn't be just yet... the psychadelic mushrooms around the map borders serve that purpose. When your character walks through these mushrooms, a light haze will be sent up from them and your vision will begin to blur, shortly finding yourself in a trippy hallucination area, being chased by an animated T.Rex skeleton!

The hallucination area is relatively small but has several glowing "portals" that can at the moment be used to escape from the zone and to teleport to different areas across the map, typically ones that can also be quite hard to get to. Though it can be a real pain trying to escape this place with a hungry T.Rex in tow, luckily its pretty slow. It can however, be killed just like any normal dinosaur, so if you want to take a look around or see what the hallucination zone has to offer then thats what you should probably do.

Bestiary/Enemy Log cont.

Due to a really strange glitch with repeating text I have had to split the bestiary into two chapters for now, sorry.

The security drone's from your crashed ship have gone slightly haywire... now unfortunatley, they tend to attack on sight with a lethal assault rifle that rapidly shoots blue lasers. They are extremely durable, but shooting out the laser sight on his shoulder will help you disable them easier. Sparks will start to fly out from its body as it is low on health, try and use cover to shield yourself from its gunshots, as they can wither down your health almost immediatley.

Leaellynasaura are small grazing herbivores that run around the world in moderate-sized groups. They tend to inhabit a singular area and are very easily spooked, making them hard to catch up to.

When killed, they can be picked up and harvested for 2 raw meat.

-

Survivor - more info coming
You aren't the only one that managed to survive the crash, fellow survivors are just trying to survive on this planet as well, and they'll stop at nothing to do just that. Survivors equipped with a Pistol will attack you on sight, where ones with knives will warn you to keep your distance and attack only defensively. The best way to defeat your fellow survivors is to get up close quickly and smack them with a melee weapon, and repeat until they die. Like what will happen if you get hit, they will be knocked down after a successful attack, which will momentarily stop them from attacking you. Survivors weapons can be looted after they've been killed.

Item List

Cooked Meat - Type: Natural/Consumable
-
Raw Meat that has been cooked over a campfire. Once cooked, the meat is 100% safe to eat and will provide a boost to your health every time.

Appendix - Controls Reference Sheet

Movement Keys	W, A, S, D
Crouch	C
Sprint	SHIFT
Slide	SHIFT + C
Jump	SPACE
Use	F
Place Item in Inventory	F [Hold]
Inventory	TAB
Flashlight	E
Bioscanner	Q
Hide HUD (Toggle)	H
Free Look (Silent)	Alt [Hold]
Left Melee/Fire	Left Mouse Button
Right Melee/Stealth Kill	Middle Mouse Button
Zoom/Scope-in	Right Mouse Button
Reload	R
Cycle Weapons	Scroll Wheel
View Controls	H [Hold]

Config Edits

Edits will need to be added to the following file:
Steam Library -> steamapps -> common -> CollisionCourse -> system.cfg

Removal of Motion Blur: r_MotionBlur=0
AI will Ignore Player Presence: ai_IgnorePlayer=1
Temporary Workaround for Texture Loading Glitch: r_texturestreaming 0

Credits

Screenshots used from:
WarBear

Certain assets and images provided from developers Crynosaurs

[Lobohiway]

Great guide, thank you so much!

[SNAKE]

@PhantomRaptor
I played a lot this week in order to get somewhere, I walked as far as the map allows but unfortunately the map is blocked and I walked in a circle returning to the base where the game starts

[PhantomRaptor]

@SNAKE
I'll dive back in eventually :P
Probably when the next update comes out of beta

[SNAKE]

the devs have to update this guide, there are many items in the game that are not here, like the motion sensor, the plasma core and the hoist and also it opens up the map more as you explore, the map is practically dark

[ALRO]

How the heck can we know where we are using the map? There's no marker!

[Fusion]

Is there a way i can cure Lysteria, or does it go away over time?

[Stevezy]

@squirrel you can drink water from clear lakes by looking down and pressing F, or by finding water bottles throughout the game world.

[Squirrel_ZA]

Where do you find drinking water in this game. I found one water bottle off a guy I killed and that was it...

[Like love or lemonade]

we got also medium backpack. we can get it by trading in prisoner camp

[Echizen]

good!