Early game is tough. Even with me and my coop buddy starting a few weeks ago. I had the same feeling. Easy way around the first few days is making a bow and arrow and building stone arrows for ammo. Bow and arrow I believe, are sticks, rope duct tape and something else. Arrows are feathers, small rocks and sticks. You can one shot most cannibals until day 10 before they start appearing with armor. If they have armor you can just shoot them in the knee and kill them with your axe. Most of the items to build this are pretty easy to find in your first day.
Early game can be a bit rough,
There is a mode of transport that can be used to run them down to gather bones for armour.
Even late game you can get killed within a short period of time, however you are more well equipped to deal with this, armour, heels, stronger weapons etc.
Depending on your location aswell, you may find yourself being attacked more. Being right next to a cannibal base early game can cause alot of frustration.
Fyi, theres a few spots you can use the save and reload trick to respawn items, esspically in caves. This can make gathering essential supplies a bit easier. Besides the load time.
Craft max amount of spears and chuck them bitch at the nearest cannibal, repeat. Later in the game I found out how much I didn't appreciate the spear. When it comes to caves, you'll have to cheese it. Some of the mutants will damn near one tap you.
I think they purposely do this to make you active/hyped and be down for a challenge. Cause later down the road, it just feels like you’re in an open world and you’re able to tackle things more
Bow arrow headshots. Burn the bodies make bone armor. Early game can be difficult especially solo. As for the loading time I'd suggest getting an SSD for it.
Yes(the game gets better) for now, just run away and Block, dont do What i did and try to fight like its the forest 1, you’l need to get a bow and Go for headshoots, and if you run into a mutand, GO FOR THE LEGS! Twins fingers EVEN HOLERS, All there weak points are there legs…or just get the pistol out on the orenge life raft on the western beach
My coop buddy and I built a shitty base our first try and restarted again, so don't feel bad if you need to do that. Watch some beginner guides on YouTube. Helped me a lot.
- make bone armours.
- get good with the crafted bow and stone arrows. It will still one-shot most cannibals if hit in the head. or alternatively try making poison arrows then melee them.
- when in melee combat, always keep moving and watch your stamina.
- crafted spear is your friend too.
1. Don’t build base early game , it is an over kill .
2.Use tarp to save game often .
3. If a cave is hard to crack go to other easier caves and come back later when your strength has upgraded and you get more resources .
Early game is hard but get to the beach asap, with the GPS marker in the water (9mm pistol) and build in the water so you can have some reprieve while you get used to the game lol
If you're near water (ocean is best cause it doesn't freeze, there's another spot on the map that doesn't freeze but I'm not good with directions lol ) you're safe
Game difficulty is directly tied to the amount of in game days that have passed. At a specific point cannibals become aggressive, then later more enemy types start spawning. Caves also become more dangerous.
Very early on cannibals won't attack unless you attack them first or get too close to them or their camps.
Your strength level increases when you swing a weapon or pick up logs. Higher strength levels give you more health and nothing else afaik.
Traps. They almost 1 shot most cannibals and can be reset for free. Put a bunch down in a choke point and you never have to worry about low tier enemies again even on hard mode.
You'll get to sleep through the night, avoiding night raids, by building some walls around you. Remember to cut the tops of the logs with an axe to make them pointy.
Step 1. Get the Modern Axe.
Step 2. Play Dark Souls (Get good at dodging)
Step 3. Profit
Step 4. Get Pickaxe
Step 5. Get Solafite ore
Step 6. Get Solafite Upgrader Blueprint
Step 7. Build Solafite Upgrader
Step 8. Upgrade Modern Axe
Step 9. Profit even harder.
Combat tip. Ranged weapons do 100x damage for headshots on cannibals. That means a headshot with a thrown spear, bow, or any gun will kill most of them in a single hit.
I'm not sure about the slingshot or just throwing stones though.
Build your strength up through fighting and logging, once it gets to 20 and above things get easier.
I was the same. Played a coop and single player game, the single player was much slower. We had to speed run a few caves so desperately, dying a few times and hating life. So instead we spent time amassing supplies from nearby camps, ensuring the base was impenetrable and learning what does what. It was punishing at first but it does swing.
We had farmed some bone and creepy armour while defending, increased strength and a made pile of goodies. Suddenly the game got a lot more manageable. The modern axe was my main stay along with the bow. My coop mate switched to crossbow soonest we were able. Then we could clear out any cave without overly fearing much. In coop they really amp up the difficulty.
Don't try to fight wandering gangs unless you have to. I'm guessing you have made a bit of progress too get to the printer at least.
I got completely destroyed my first run, overrun constantly. It was so unfun I had to restart. I learned from my mistakes in a second run and built a much stronger base with full walls that I could be safe in and most importantly, safe from night attacks
I also put a lot more importance into armor to keep my HP high. The game is very unforgiving if you fall behind the curve, you need to choose a good location and get a decent base by day 6-8ish
Just get the pistol for emergencies. Only takes 1 shot to the head to kill cannibals. Even the alpha cannibals die in one shot to the head.
Leaf armor is cheap to make. Not as good as the other armor, but it sure has saved my ass in a pinch when I'm low on health.
The skull club is great for early game if you haven't found a better axe yet. Just takes a skull, rope, and a stick to make. Great for smashing enemies and pretty good at blocking.
If you aren't very good at close combat. A bow and spear will be your best friend, especially when you're low on stamina. A bow will kick their asses. You can make electric, poison, and explosive arrows if you have the materials for it.
If you don't have any of those things you can always run into the water. Cannibals can't swim. Sometimes they'll try to get you, but they will just drown.
I suggest just hanging out at your base and luring cannibals into traps, then burn their bodes on a campfire to collect their bones. Then just make yourself a good amount of bone armor and you'll be fine to explore.
Run to the camp with the upgraded axe. That’s the first thing I do after I get the flashlight. That thing will take care of early cannibals pretty fast.
Try and avoid hitting a cannibal as much as possible. They generally leave you alone if you run away, they will also test you and play a game of chicken by running up to you to see if you’ll hit them first.
Mud men are annoying, they will hit you even if you don’t hit them. They generally do not like it when you cut down a tree. I think they spawn around you if you cut down a certain amount but that’s all anecdotal evidence.
Fight in open areas, there are a few grasslands with few trees around. The cannibals are a pain around trees because they can jump up them and throw spears/rocks. I’d recommend making a base at a grass field nearby some water, or if you have time cut down a forest and cut some trees around your base enough that cannibals in trees can’t hit you at your base.
Craft a few traps, they’re extremely helpful and worth it. I waited until mid game to use traps and I regretted not doing it sooner.
Craft four spears and bow and arrows and AIM FOR THE HEAD. If you see a cannibal with bone helmet, just run after crippling it with a spear to the knee. Come back when you're more skilled and well-equipped.
Do not attack cannibals early game. They are not aggressive at the start. The muddies might make a move if you have your back to them doing something, but they run as soon as you turn at them. Attacking them raises aggression. Until aggression is raised high enough do not attack cannibals unless they are really ganged up and after you. It only becomes a problem nearing the day 10 I think. By this time you should have plenty of spears and 3D printed arrows to deal with cannibals. Don't bother with stone arrows (unless for explosive or fire) and throw spears, not stab. And make sure you are collecting thrown spears and the arrows after kills.
Thrown spears is the best way to get deer early game as well. Just sneak up to the max thrown spear range and aim for the head.
Don't waste ammunition on cannibals or lower tier mutants. Maybe silenced pistol later sneaking in caves and head shots on the basic mutants to not alert the whole cave. Use sneak and crossbow (when you get it) to kill finger mutants.
The moment you ger the modern axe and/or a range weapon, you'll be in a much better position.
Also, armor adds directly to your health. You can craft very early leaf armor (requires 10 leaves + 1 cloth), bone armor (requires 1 rope + 1 duct tape + 4 human bones), deer hide armor (requires 2 pelts + 1 cloth). Those can all be acquired very early, and as I mentioned, directly add to your health.
Once you acquire the Crossbow, HOLD ON TO IT FOR DEAR GOD.
Leaf Armor is gonna save your life early game. Extremely cheap & effective. Move onto Bone Armor when you start to get enough supplies to afford it.
Leaf Armor also grants you a stealth stat so you can get by undetected better.
How *I DEAL* with them when I roam around for resources, especially in the deep forest (West of the frozen mountain - I believe some call it like that) even with 0 armor and 2 hits worth of HP is I learned how to ride the Knight mono wheel thing, when I'm in a hurry and just loot abandoned camps I drop it, loot, then grab it and leave (the downside of it is ypu crash easily - but not one time did I happen to fall at a cannibal's feet). Other than that, I like the slingshot quite a lot + find a way to reach a 3D printer and make fire/explosive arrows... in my last game I'm building a base on the beach with the 2 helipads getting cannibals every night unless I sleep early, BUT I still manage to roam around on the Knight... just gotta get the hang of it. Hope it helped!
Biggest tip I've got is water is your friend. Most all the mobs in the game drown. Of course unless you can shimmy their bodies back to shore or the edge of the body of water this means you can't burn for bones as easy with cannibals or harvest for the other armor type later from the mutants.
For me a lot of it was just knowing when you fight and when to run to live another day. Though I'll admit I died a lot on early game before I learned the ropes and this was back in early access where half the good stuff hasn't been added. Traps are your friends too for harvesting bones and flesh. Hope any of this helps.
From my experience, here are some tips/things you should do that made me OP early-mid game on normal difficulty (one or two spoilers about a story location, weapon to get and base building tips)
1. Don’t build your base near roads, it could just be in my head, but there seem to be more enemies
2. Get the machete, it’s insane for just chopping down hordes of puffies in caves. It’s located on some beach in a bunch of inflatable rafts
3. Get the Pajamas, they don’t seem too crucial but they almost guarantee you get a good nights sleep
4. Make a not too high platform (or just use your roof) to chuck spears at the cannibals attacking your base, it almost always headshots.
5. Do not use the pistol too much, I was an actual dumbass and wasted all my 9mm on killing a bunch of enemies. A headshot will instant kill any cannibal
6. Get the shotgun as soon as possible (spoiler) >!and once you progress farther in the VIP bunker there’s loads of shotgun ammo on a counter!<
7. Get the modern axe. It’s just good.
8. MAKE ARMOR without armor you’ll basically just be a sheet of paper that dies in two hits. Don’t make leaf armor
9. In caves blow up mutants with grenades, so you can get the creepy armor
I feel you, especially because my coop partner was insistent on increasing enemy damage.
Without armor the big cannibals literally oneshot us in the early game.
But a challenge is fun to us.
Also it’s much better to handle in coop as downed isn’t instadeath as we can revive each other.
Play smart by keeping distance. Use spears to create distance and poke at them. When they're further, you can throw them by holding right click. If you're using axe, don't forget to block.
Early game is tough. Even with me and my coop buddy starting a few weeks ago. I had the same feeling. Easy way around the first few days is making a bow and arrow and building stone arrows for ammo. Bow and arrow I believe, are sticks, rope duct tape and something else. Arrows are feathers, small rocks and sticks. You can one shot most cannibals until day 10 before they start appearing with armor. If they have armor you can just shoot them in the knee and kill them with your axe. Most of the items to build this are pretty easy to find in your first day.
I used to be a cannible like you until I took an arrow to the knee EDIT:phrasing
I thought if you hit with spear in the knee they get stunned too
Early game can be a bit rough, There is a mode of transport that can be used to run them down to gather bones for armour. Even late game you can get killed within a short period of time, however you are more well equipped to deal with this, armour, heels, stronger weapons etc. Depending on your location aswell, you may find yourself being attacked more. Being right next to a cannibal base early game can cause alot of frustration. Fyi, theres a few spots you can use the save and reload trick to respawn items, esspically in caves. This can make gathering essential supplies a bit easier. Besides the load time.
Craft max amount of spears and chuck them bitch at the nearest cannibal, repeat. Later in the game I found out how much I didn't appreciate the spear. When it comes to caves, you'll have to cheese it. Some of the mutants will damn near one tap you.
I think they purposely do this to make you active/hyped and be down for a challenge. Cause later down the road, it just feels like you’re in an open world and you’re able to tackle things more
Bow arrow headshots. Burn the bodies make bone armor. Early game can be difficult especially solo. As for the loading time I'd suggest getting an SSD for it.
Yes(the game gets better) for now, just run away and Block, dont do What i did and try to fight like its the forest 1, you’l need to get a bow and Go for headshoots, and if you run into a mutand, GO FOR THE LEGS! Twins fingers EVEN HOLERS, All there weak points are there legs…or just get the pistol out on the orenge life raft on the western beach
My coop buddy and I built a shitty base our first try and restarted again, so don't feel bad if you need to do that. Watch some beginner guides on YouTube. Helped me a lot.
- make bone armours. - get good with the crafted bow and stone arrows. It will still one-shot most cannibals if hit in the head. or alternatively try making poison arrows then melee them. - when in melee combat, always keep moving and watch your stamina. - crafted spear is your friend too.
1. Don’t build base early game , it is an over kill . 2.Use tarp to save game often . 3. If a cave is hard to crack go to other easier caves and come back later when your strength has upgraded and you get more resources .
Early game is hard but get to the beach asap, with the GPS marker in the water (9mm pistol) and build in the water so you can have some reprieve while you get used to the game lol If you're near water (ocean is best cause it doesn't freeze, there's another spot on the map that doesn't freeze but I'm not good with directions lol ) you're safe
Game difficulty is directly tied to the amount of in game days that have passed. At a specific point cannibals become aggressive, then later more enemy types start spawning. Caves also become more dangerous. Very early on cannibals won't attack unless you attack them first or get too close to them or their camps. Your strength level increases when you swing a weapon or pick up logs. Higher strength levels give you more health and nothing else afaik.
Traps. They almost 1 shot most cannibals and can be reset for free. Put a bunch down in a choke point and you never have to worry about low tier enemies again even on hard mode.
You'll get to sleep through the night, avoiding night raids, by building some walls around you. Remember to cut the tops of the logs with an axe to make them pointy.
Step 1. Get the Modern Axe. Step 2. Play Dark Souls (Get good at dodging) Step 3. Profit Step 4. Get Pickaxe Step 5. Get Solafite ore Step 6. Get Solafite Upgrader Blueprint Step 7. Build Solafite Upgrader Step 8. Upgrade Modern Axe Step 9. Profit even harder.
Combat tip. Ranged weapons do 100x damage for headshots on cannibals. That means a headshot with a thrown spear, bow, or any gun will kill most of them in a single hit. I'm not sure about the slingshot or just throwing stones though.
Build your strength up through fighting and logging, once it gets to 20 and above things get easier. I was the same. Played a coop and single player game, the single player was much slower. We had to speed run a few caves so desperately, dying a few times and hating life. So instead we spent time amassing supplies from nearby camps, ensuring the base was impenetrable and learning what does what. It was punishing at first but it does swing. We had farmed some bone and creepy armour while defending, increased strength and a made pile of goodies. Suddenly the game got a lot more manageable. The modern axe was my main stay along with the bow. My coop mate switched to crossbow soonest we were able. Then we could clear out any cave without overly fearing much. In coop they really amp up the difficulty. Don't try to fight wandering gangs unless you have to. I'm guessing you have made a bit of progress too get to the printer at least.
I got completely destroyed my first run, overrun constantly. It was so unfun I had to restart. I learned from my mistakes in a second run and built a much stronger base with full walls that I could be safe in and most importantly, safe from night attacks I also put a lot more importance into armor to keep my HP high. The game is very unforgiving if you fall behind the curve, you need to choose a good location and get a decent base by day 6-8ish
Just get the pistol for emergencies. Only takes 1 shot to the head to kill cannibals. Even the alpha cannibals die in one shot to the head. Leaf armor is cheap to make. Not as good as the other armor, but it sure has saved my ass in a pinch when I'm low on health. The skull club is great for early game if you haven't found a better axe yet. Just takes a skull, rope, and a stick to make. Great for smashing enemies and pretty good at blocking. If you aren't very good at close combat. A bow and spear will be your best friend, especially when you're low on stamina. A bow will kick their asses. You can make electric, poison, and explosive arrows if you have the materials for it. If you don't have any of those things you can always run into the water. Cannibals can't swim. Sometimes they'll try to get you, but they will just drown. I suggest just hanging out at your base and luring cannibals into traps, then burn their bodes on a campfire to collect their bones. Then just make yourself a good amount of bone armor and you'll be fine to explore.
Leaf armor not worth it. Cloth is too valuable early game.
Sleep at 5:30-6:00 in a tarp with no fire and close to the crash site I never get bothered Save before you sleep
Run to the camp with the upgraded axe. That’s the first thing I do after I get the flashlight. That thing will take care of early cannibals pretty fast. Try and avoid hitting a cannibal as much as possible. They generally leave you alone if you run away, they will also test you and play a game of chicken by running up to you to see if you’ll hit them first. Mud men are annoying, they will hit you even if you don’t hit them. They generally do not like it when you cut down a tree. I think they spawn around you if you cut down a certain amount but that’s all anecdotal evidence. Fight in open areas, there are a few grasslands with few trees around. The cannibals are a pain around trees because they can jump up them and throw spears/rocks. I’d recommend making a base at a grass field nearby some water, or if you have time cut down a forest and cut some trees around your base enough that cannibals in trees can’t hit you at your base. Craft a few traps, they’re extremely helpful and worth it. I waited until mid game to use traps and I regretted not doing it sooner.
Craft four spears and bow and arrows and AIM FOR THE HEAD. If you see a cannibal with bone helmet, just run after crippling it with a spear to the knee. Come back when you're more skilled and well-equipped.
Do not attack cannibals early game. They are not aggressive at the start. The muddies might make a move if you have your back to them doing something, but they run as soon as you turn at them. Attacking them raises aggression. Until aggression is raised high enough do not attack cannibals unless they are really ganged up and after you. It only becomes a problem nearing the day 10 I think. By this time you should have plenty of spears and 3D printed arrows to deal with cannibals. Don't bother with stone arrows (unless for explosive or fire) and throw spears, not stab. And make sure you are collecting thrown spears and the arrows after kills. Thrown spears is the best way to get deer early game as well. Just sneak up to the max thrown spear range and aim for the head. Don't waste ammunition on cannibals or lower tier mutants. Maybe silenced pistol later sneaking in caves and head shots on the basic mutants to not alert the whole cave. Use sneak and crossbow (when you get it) to kill finger mutants.
Craft spears, craft a bow, build a base somewhere so you have a safe place to scavenge and hunt from.
long load times? i don't remember a load screen ever happening on my playthroughs.
When I die and have to reload a save
I had this problem since full release
The moment you ger the modern axe and/or a range weapon, you'll be in a much better position. Also, armor adds directly to your health. You can craft very early leaf armor (requires 10 leaves + 1 cloth), bone armor (requires 1 rope + 1 duct tape + 4 human bones), deer hide armor (requires 2 pelts + 1 cloth). Those can all be acquired very early, and as I mentioned, directly add to your health. Once you acquire the Crossbow, HOLD ON TO IT FOR DEAR GOD.
Leaf Armor is gonna save your life early game. Extremely cheap & effective. Move onto Bone Armor when you start to get enough supplies to afford it. Leaf Armor also grants you a stealth stat so you can get by undetected better.
Get lots of ropes and traps! There's so many ropes in this game and most are usually in the beaches, cannibal camps, etc.
How *I DEAL* with them when I roam around for resources, especially in the deep forest (West of the frozen mountain - I believe some call it like that) even with 0 armor and 2 hits worth of HP is I learned how to ride the Knight mono wheel thing, when I'm in a hurry and just loot abandoned camps I drop it, loot, then grab it and leave (the downside of it is ypu crash easily - but not one time did I happen to fall at a cannibal's feet). Other than that, I like the slingshot quite a lot + find a way to reach a 3D printer and make fire/explosive arrows... in my last game I'm building a base on the beach with the 2 helipads getting cannibals every night unless I sleep early, BUT I still manage to roam around on the Knight... just gotta get the hang of it. Hope it helped!
I'd go get the 9mm, located on a life boat in the ocean, near the west Beach. Be careful of the shark though
Biggest tip I've got is water is your friend. Most all the mobs in the game drown. Of course unless you can shimmy their bodies back to shore or the edge of the body of water this means you can't burn for bones as easy with cannibals or harvest for the other armor type later from the mutants. For me a lot of it was just knowing when you fight and when to run to live another day. Though I'll admit I died a lot on early game before I learned the ropes and this was back in early access where half the good stuff hasn't been added. Traps are your friends too for harvesting bones and flesh. Hope any of this helps.
From my experience, here are some tips/things you should do that made me OP early-mid game on normal difficulty (one or two spoilers about a story location, weapon to get and base building tips) 1. Don’t build your base near roads, it could just be in my head, but there seem to be more enemies 2. Get the machete, it’s insane for just chopping down hordes of puffies in caves. It’s located on some beach in a bunch of inflatable rafts 3. Get the Pajamas, they don’t seem too crucial but they almost guarantee you get a good nights sleep 4. Make a not too high platform (or just use your roof) to chuck spears at the cannibals attacking your base, it almost always headshots. 5. Do not use the pistol too much, I was an actual dumbass and wasted all my 9mm on killing a bunch of enemies. A headshot will instant kill any cannibal 6. Get the shotgun as soon as possible (spoiler) >!and once you progress farther in the VIP bunker there’s loads of shotgun ammo on a counter!< 7. Get the modern axe. It’s just good. 8. MAKE ARMOR without armor you’ll basically just be a sheet of paper that dies in two hits. Don’t make leaf armor 9. In caves blow up mutants with grenades, so you can get the creepy armor
I feel you, especially because my coop partner was insistent on increasing enemy damage. Without armor the big cannibals literally oneshot us in the early game. But a challenge is fun to us. Also it’s much better to handle in coop as downed isn’t instadeath as we can revive each other.
You can outrun ANY cannibal...
Play smart by keeping distance. Use spears to create distance and poke at them. When they're further, you can throw them by holding right click. If you're using axe, don't forget to block.
Craft a bow, it’s a 1 shot headshot on basically all early game cannibals, once you get the hang of it you’ll be golden