Exploring: Map's Edge vs Biomes' Center

[astroapyr]

As far as I remember, I've always explored the world maps following the edges from a point close to the portal until I'm back where I started, I could mention some (but not all) pros of doing this: finding the flat part of the map where lunar island is close to or register on the map where all the biomes are. But while exploring using this method I can't stop thinking on some cons, for example: missing whats on the center of each biome as Chester, pig heads on the marsh or setpieces which are pros of exploring the Biomes' Center at the cost of other benefits like finding world branches or at the cost of the previous Map's Edge pros.

So I have the question, in your experience or knowledge: what cons or pros could you share from these exploring methods? Or do you have another way of exploring according to what you need? I would like to know it and change or fix my exploring on early game.

[BezKa]

I usually follow the edges unless I find something important or want to find some parts of the biome. It's common I take detours, and Wormholes are so tempting whenever I see one. 

One example is deciduous biome- whenever I reach it, I always make sure to find Glommer. On savanna, I do a detour to look for Beefalos so I know where they are and if I have a bell to get one for myself. Similar to the mini savanna in the forest. Same goes for Oasis and goats. If I stumble on a brick road, I follow that too, Chester is a good early game friend.

The outlining is super useful in deciding base location, and by jumping in random wormholes I can tell if there are any neat connections I might consider when making farms of different kinds and stuff. I usually end up with my map outlined with random splotches and zigzagz across it from detours. That way I'm sure there aren't any biomes I may have missed. 

The only exception is that I find traveling through killer bee biome an utter pain and sometimes leave it for later. 

[Falkenpelz]

Depends on the version of the game. In DST I always plan to map out the world edges, get utterly sidetracked by collecting 40+ butterflies because I can and then settle down in deciduous for winter without half the map. In DS Adventure Mode I normally get lost, in Hamlet I try to find the Herald Temple asap and in Shipwrecked I cruise the world randomly till I find the slotmachine to spend the rest of my life gambling

[Owlrust]

Edges, I found, generally help me more because they show me the boundaries of an area, so I can save time mapping the center of an area knowing this. I also tend to find a lot more useful resources on the edges such as Wobster Dens and boons. No real downside to edges in my opinion as long as you know where a lot of things are generally speaking.

[ShadowDuelist]

I think its useful to get a general idea of where everything "may" be, and saves time in the long run.
Of course exploring all the map will grant another level of knowledge and resources, but having all the seashores explored quickly gives you an immediate idea of where you'd expect to find most resources, from that point on. Characters with scout perks will further enhance this advantage.
 

[QuQuasar]

I also do map edges: useful biomes are way too often hidden in away in land branches you'd never find following the roads. I also try to be strict with myself about not going off on tangents or doing too much grinding. Chester is the only exception. My goal is a fully explored coastline, full inventory and pre-built base structures by day 10, pick up Glommer on day 11, and settle on day 12. After that it's bee boxes to get one harvest in before winter, and a graverobbing/rabbit catching trip to get resurrection up and running.

Jumping in wormholes is vital for base location planning, but I find it's best to simply make a note of where the hole comes out and then jump back to continue following the coastline. Early game sanity will take a hit, but roast cactus will resolve that issue once you find the desert.

[Dollmaker]

I find it easier to just do the outline, while taking detours here and there for important stuff, such has knowing where Oasis is, also gathering stuff along the way, such has prototyping Alchemy Engine, Lightning Rod, Crockpot, etc. 

Besides i pretty much always find a decent amount of Pig Skin, and when you reach the forests which usually have lone Pig Houses, you can just hammer them, thats plenty of resources (Specially the Boards) you get for free, that way you can leave the pig villages (like the one with Pig King) to later relocate them. 

It usually takes me about 8~ days to finish the outline because of all the stuff i do along the way. 

Theres no real downside to it, other that it takes time. 

Meanwhile exploring just the inner areas will leave you without proper info of the world design, which can be a big detriment when making a base, mainly cause you dont know how big the area is. 

[mr. brj]

if my understanding about the world generation is correct (and correct me if i'm wrong, i know very little about coding but i once decided to read the world generation part of the game log just because i was bored), after the world generates, it scatters useful stuff around the edges of the biomes and close to the roads. exploring the edges of the map not only helps you outline the areas so that you can get an idea about where everything is, it also makes it easier for you to find resources/structures that are relevant to the objectives in the game. then you just need to walk on the roads to find the other stuff that you might have missed. even if i've interpreted the game log incorrectly, walking from the edges is still the most efficient way to get the most amount of information in the least amount of time. the importance of gathering information on the whole world is a whole other subject, but i believe it to be so.

as for how i start a new world, i always start a game by fully exploring the starter biome and then i walk on the edges of the world. if i visit a small biome or a biome that i suspect to be important (some candidates for me include the bee queen's lands, the triple mactusk biome, the mandrake forest, the oasis desert because i like to build a megabase, and the red mushroom forest in the caves), then i walk from the inner edges of that biome as well. of course i take small detours to collect food and resources, and i even leave the exploration part unfinished without thinking if i want to rush a certain objective, but once i return to exploration, i follow the same pattern.

[SecretPizzaMan]

7 hours ago, BezKa said:

The only exception is that I find traveling through killer bee biome an utter pain and sometimes leave it for later. 

Travelling thru bee heaven is a utter joy to my soul, I'm greatly offended.

[Yuuko]

I generally explore by running down roads, jumping through wormholes, and going until the water's edge in areas where I think it might branch.  The biggest pro of doing this is its typically quicker by a few days.  Especially taking wormholes, that can really help speed everything up.

Finding the lunar biome is great, but with new gardening and no disease I don't care as much about finding that early anyway.

[Cheggf]

Edges gets the map done way faster. Wandering around where you think things might be will end up taking a lot longer and depending on your understanding of world gen will vary from maybe to definitely leaving biomes hidden in the FoW.

I like to do the edges and roads if I think the edge is a dead end for the most part and go off further towards the center if I have reason to.

[Spino43]

Edges. But there are certain biomes that I want to the center to find the points of interests, like Bee Queen, Dragonfly, Pig King if I haven't found them at edges.

[Pig Princess]

I prefer sinkhole exploration paired with edge mapping, but with tweaks. The key there is the fact that cave entrances usually are guaranteed to spawn in pig king decidious, both evergreen forests, mosaic, swamp, not sure about grasslands (with BQ or multiple moleworms) though, but never spawn in deserts, and there almost always is a cave exit near blue mushroom biome.

Here is an example of strategy and what I usually do, one can skip to the last paragraph if interested in general rule. When I start the world or join public server, I prefer to go to caves scienceless with a stack of logs (a single flint axe yields exactly 20 logs), so just before that I fully explore starting biome to get my 3 flints (or second one) and some twigs and grass, and go in spiral pattern to find surface branches (mosaic, moonstone and mandrake forests are usually relatively easy to find that way); usually there is at least 1 sinkhole in mosaic biome (and biome itself is usually very close to spawn), and 1 in either of the forests, so I open these and go spelunking. From that moment, I look for muddy biome, and to reach it, for mushroom forests, rock lobster, cave spider or guano biome, as well as go in general direction of bunnymen or regular spider den clusters inside evergreen forest, and avoid bottlenecks on slimy turf, which usually means dead end. But if there are cave exits on the way, I check them (and pick free minerals), that way I uncover surface biomes regardless of distance between them. If it's mushroom forests, I map edges, if other - look for rocky turf path and go in this general direction. When I reach muddy biome, I switch to mapping edges of this biome and check rocky branches, map edges of the blue and red mushroom forests, follow rocky path in cave spider biome if I didn't find red mushroom forest yet, skip branch otherwise, then try to find cave exit behind them and open it. Then I return to the surface and map edges, but the difference is I have an idea where some of the biomes are.

As one can see, resources I want to get and things I want to do define exploration style for me, not vise versa, in that particular case it's a strategy for rushing lantern/miner hat (mosaic, decidious and moonstone forests have fireflies, muddy - a lot of lightbulbs), science and magic (muddy, red mushroom forest and cave spider biomes for rocks and gold (+ red/red+blue gems as a possible bonus), blue mushroom forest for living logs and silk, starter for logs and rabbits, surface evergreen forests for silk, monster meat, glands) with an option to make it ruins rush, beefalo + glossammer rush, summer/spring-on-pub start strategy, griefed/looted surface survival.

If I'm Woodie and want to rush lunar island, I don't spend that much time in caves and map edges of the surface map more while keeping in mind that only shallow water can be between lunar island and mainland, if it's Adventure Mode mod, then in some chapters it has it's own best methods (king of winter, cold reception, darkness - edges for branches, archipelago - full map for wormholes, two worlds - edges + detour for finding a wormhole, game is afoot - mapping central area edges, then - fiding things with dividing rod without mapping full edge length).

General rule is to map only things I need and leave other biomes for later, use the shortest way possible to travel across biome, to discover other biomes and to discover particular resources if there is any (sinkhole generation, rocky path, road, biomes connection order, biomes expected shape, previously found landmarks). In particular, guano biome can branch a lot, is a dead end more often than not, and early game I can find corresponding resources in other biomes I look for regardless, so I skip exploring this biome when I can (otherwise I follow rocky path), even if it means I'll miss potential cave exit, touch stone, toadstool spawner and nightmare fuel generating early game battles. On the other hand, blue mushroom forest nearly always connects to muddy via rocky path, in vast majority of cases connects to cave exit, doesn't branch much, always connects to mutated mushroom forest, has some resources I usually need, so it's worth for me to explore full edge length. The other example is rocky path present which allows to skip full edge exploration of majority of the biomes. As for the ruins, among all monkey villages the one that has blue mushrooms right before it's entrance usually connects to clockwork biomes, others tent to be a dead end from my experience (correct me if I'm wrong, please), military has square area with a single thulecite statue at the beginning of the branch, and double bishop room has square area with relics and without thulecite statue at the beginning of this branch. Same logic for surface: usually mosaic and mandrake forest are dead ends, and unless I'm trying to find sinkholes there, I can map only their entrance and postpone exploration for later. For resources too: to find pig king it's usually enough to find road in decidious, glommer - check area near pig king along the road, following road in the swamp usually allows to find pig heads, in Dfly desert - Dfly set piece, there are guaranteed fireflies near moonstone platform. For the following I'm less sure, but I often find fireflies near critter den in mosaic, moleworms near glommer statue (as well as a group of mushrooms located close to each other), moleworms in moonstone forest in lumpy evergreen area, single bunnymen home with 8 carrots relatively close to lichen field in muddy biome (there are always 2 such set pieces in muddy biome). 

[Horsheen]

For me, I explore the borders of each biome, and I'll only explore the rest if there's something in said biome that's important such as where the mactusk camps are

Exploring the borders saves time and allows me to go to the lunar island for some extra goodies. If I wasn't going for lunar I'd just explore the whole map, personally.

[Falkenpelz]

I think it also depends on the difficulty and the charater you're playing. As Wickerbottom I tend to travel the world for days, looking for the "perfect base spot", since you can pretty much carry an entire prototyped base with you as Wicker early game. If the difficulty is higher however, like in solo DS, Uncompromising mode or darkness worlds, you want to set up a crockpot and firepit asap and make careful attempts at exploration from your safe camp. I'd generally say, if you feel safe, prioritize exploring to find important spots early, if you're having a harder time, use the first convenient spot to prepare yourself before going further.

[goblinball]

I normally don’t explore the edges, and just follow roads or wander through unexplored areas. Walking around the edges of the map in the first autumn seems like a waste of time. You can know where everything important is just by following roads and having a basic understanding of how world gen works.

[SecretPizzaMan]

Okay, I explore the edges until I find these 5 things, which are:

1. Swamp

2. Oasis

3. Dragonfly

4. Pig king

5. Bee Queen.

After all that I leave the rest for later, and during that I would have sufficient information about the map that I can choose a base location. 

[Gi-Go]

First I walk on roads then I'll start using edge method if I still didn't located biome I was looking for