What Do You Do In The Beginning?

[TeSrOy]

At the start of a don't starve world I normally just gather materials for the first 4-5 days and make a beeline for the nearest pig village to hide from most threats hounds, lief, etc and immediately set up a science machine and other structures. What do you guys do? 

[TeoSS69]

I never make a campfire until i find beefalo. I use the torch until then and keep going along the shore. When i find beefalo i set camp nearby.

[Cynical Cynicist]

For the initial 5-6 days, explore your entire map. That means using a torch at night to keep walking along the coastlines, until you have all the biomes marked out. From there you can make educated guesses as to where stuff will be (beehives in the forest/grass biomes, beefalos in a particularly large savannah biome, pig king at one end of the cobblestone road or near a random pig village, etc.) Along the way of course you should be collecting essential materials like flint, stone, twigs, grass. I would focus on getting around 15 gold, because you're gonna need it later on. More is preferable.

 

Set up your base in a forest (not densely forested) or grass biome (preferred, with inherit berry bushes and materials), that's <1 biome from beefalos, <2 biomes from spiders, <3 biomes from swamps, <5 biomes from rocks and <6 biomes from the pig king.

 

First, make a fire pit. Then a science machine and then an alchemy machine. A lightning rod early on helps, especially if you're in a forest. It doesn't matter what order you do this in, but get gold and rocks, make a bird cage, make around 3 improved farms, 4-10 drying racks, 2-3 crockpots, 1 or more iceboxes, 1 or more chests, 1-2 bee boxes and plant a few saplings and grass near your base. Even if you start doing this on day 5 or 6 it should only take you up until day 17 at most to get everything in order. Within that time you should also have found a koalefant or two and create a breezy vest. You won't need more than 1, because frankly it's terrible, so use any excess trunks for steak. Don't bother with rabbits or making traps because that will just limit yourself.

 

For hounds, use any hostile mobs in the area. Preferably, you won't use beefalo unless they have a large population in your world. Pigs are great because they can respawn, Bunnymen are even better because they go all-in and together, sometimes dropping bunny puffs (but this is of course later in the game after you've spelunked some caves and destroyed rabbit hutches). Having pig houses and rabbit hutches together will provide you with 24/7 security, which can be used to farm nearby spider nests and of course as protection from hounds.

 

Don't forget to destroy any spider dens that aren't near your base. This can be done by luring them out into traps, until all of the spiders residing within the den are killed, allowing you to freely harvest it.

 

Some extra notes:

 

Use dragonpies. Once you get a dragonfruit, give it to your bird in the birdcage and get more seeds. Keep doing this until all of your farms are growing dragonfruit. Whenever you harvest it, keep giving dragonfruit to your bird until you have enough to occupy every farm, then use the excess dragonfruit for your crockpots. 1 dragonfruit + any combination of berries or twigs will create dragonpie, which is slightly better than honey ham in some regards. This will be your main source of food during summer and is essential when bringing bunnymen near your base (as they are vegetarians who kill for their cause).

 

Your secondary source of food, also your main source of healing, will be honey ham. From the meat you get from a combination of beefalo, pigs and koalefants, all of your drying racks should be occupied. Use 2 meat + 2 honey from your bee boxes to cook it. Since jerky and honey last an incredibly long time, take full advantage of this by storing them in your ice box (if you find the chess biome and are able to get gears from the clockwork minions). Once you run out of dragonpies your first summer, resort to honey ham. It is also worth noting that you can create meaty stew (+150 hunger, practically a full refill for most characters) from 2 jerkies + 1 monster meat + 1 small jerky.

 

With this approach by the time you reach the second summer food will be a secondary concern for you; you can then focus on more exploration and expanding your base.

[Smidge204]

I usually explore until I find a place to settle down. Beefalo are over-rated IMHO and are really only necessary for the manure to make advanced farms, and even then it's not completely necessary. A good location for a base is on a path or road, and/or near a wormhole that actually goes someplace useful... so I generally explore until I find a good spot to call home:

 

- Near a path

- Near a useful wormhole

- Clear of immovable objects that might block construction

- Savana Biome for rabbits and Beefalo a plus

- Away from the edge because goddamn Penguls.

 

So yeah, in the VERY beginning I start gathering twigs and grass, then I roam around until I find a place to set up shop.

 

 

@Cynical Cynicist

 

Don't underestimate monster meat/jerky. As long is you don't use more than one it's exactly equivalent to normal meat for crockpot recipes. You're pretty much guaranteed to have more mosnter meat than you can use, too, in the long run.

 

I also disagree about rabbit traps. Having a few is a good idea...

 

1 Monster Meat + 2 Eggs + mosel = Bacon'n'Eggs

1 Monster Meat + 1 Meat + 2 morsels = Meaty Stew

1 Monster Meat + 2 morsels + Honey = Honey Ham

 

Plus, gathering ~30 rabbits will be enough to spawn a Krampus.

=Smidge=

[TeoSS69]

 Beefalo are over-rated IMHO

Easy fuel, fertilizer, meat and protection are totally overrated.

[Smidge204]

Easy fuel, fertilizer, meat and protection are totally overrated.

Never had a problem with fuel - it's easier to maintain a tree plantation just offscreen frmo the main camp. I have three chests of logs plus several stacks on the ground. Bonus: The occasional Treeguard.

 

Never had a problem with fertilizer. Not only is it not used that often, I have piles of rot that I can use instead. Might not be as effective but what it lacks in potency it makes up for in quantity. It's only needed for building farms; a one-time cost what can be paid from other sources anyway.

 

Never had a problem for meat. Thanks to monster meat and morsels from rabbit traps, plus the bee boxes, a single koalephant will last me half a season. That's supplemented from meat dropped by pigs and MacTusk & Son as well.

 

Since about day 20 I have a large patch of tooth traps for protection... tooth traps will never go extinct unless I allow trees and grass to go extinct, which is very unlikely. The traps also do a better job since they don't wait to be aggro'd before doing their damage.

 

So yes, overrated. I don't even do anything with the wool anymore... a Tam O' Shanter and a Heat Stone is all I've ever needed.

=Smidge=

[Boar Head]

Never had a problem with fuel - it's easier to maintain a tree plantation just offscreen frmo the main camp. I have three chests of logs plus several stacks on the ground. Bonus: The occasional Treeguard.

 

Never had a problem with fertilizer. Not only is it not used that often, I have piles of rot that I can use instead. Might not be as effective but what it lacks in potency it makes up for in quantity. It's only needed for building farms; a one-time cost what can be paid from other sources anyway.

 

Never had a problem for meat. Thanks to monster meat and morsels from rabbit traps, plus the bee boxes, a single koalephant will last me half a season. That's supplemented from meat dropped by pigs and MacTusk & Son as well.

 

Since about day 20 I have a large patch of tooth traps for protection... tooth traps will never go extinct unless I allow trees and grass to go extinct, which is very unlikely. The traps also do a better job since they don't wait to be aggro'd before doing their damage.

 

So yes, overrated. I don't even do anything with the wool anymore... a Tam O' Shanter and a Heat Stone is all I've ever needed.

=Smidge=

Nah not really overrated. The fact that they can do all the things you just mentioned here kind of proves that they aren't. At least in my opinion it does.

[TeoSS69]

Never had a problem with fuel - it's easier to maintain a tree plantation just offscreen frmo the main camp. I have three chests of logs plus several stacks on the ground. Bonus: The occasional Treeguard.

 

Never had a problem with fertilizer. Not only is it not used that often, I have piles of rot that I can use instead. Might not be as effective but what it lacks in potency it makes up for in quantity. It's only needed for building farms; a one-time cost what can be paid from other sources anyway.

 

Never had a problem for meat. Thanks to monster meat and morsels from rabbit traps, plus the bee boxes, a single koalephant will last me half a season. That's supplemented from meat dropped by pigs and MacTusk & Son as well.

 

Since about day 20 I have a large patch of tooth traps for protection... tooth traps will never go extinct unless I allow trees and grass to go extinct, which is very unlikely. The traps also do a better job since they don't wait to be aggro'd before doing their damage.

 

So yes, overrated. I don't even do anything with the wool anymore... a Tam O' Shanter and a Heat Stone is all I've ever needed.

=Smidge=

Wool as fuel only needs a razor which has infnite uses and shaving 20 beefalo is less time consuming than cutting 20 trees.

They produce manure faster than food can rot.

Meat from beefalo requires less materials to catch bunnies or kill spiders, and is less time consuming than hunting down a Koalefant.

Protection before day 20.

 

[Anelyn]

I completely freak out and continue telling myself that is only a bad dream and I will wake up in my bed soon.

[Gigahappytown]

aquire 1 stack of grass and twigs 2 stacks of logs 2 stacks of rocks 2 stacks of gold locate beefalo herds beehives rocks atleast one cave  and a swamp then build build build

Wool as fuel only needs a razor which has infnite uses and shaving 20 beefalo is less time consuming than cutting 20 treeguards.

They produce manure faster than food can rot.

Meat from beefalo requires less materials to catch bunnies or kill spiders, and is less time consuming than hunting down a Koalefant.

Protection before day 20.
 

Pigs

problem solved

They  kill the treeguard while you keep chopping down trees.

[TeoSS69]

Pigs

problem solved

They  kill the treeguard while you keep chopping down trees.

And what does that have to do with my post?

[Gigahappytown]

And what does that have to do with my post?

You said using wool as fuel is better then logs because you don't have to waste time fighting a treeguard

Pigs can effiencalty solo a treeguard.

[Craig_Perry]

You said using wool as fuel is better then logs because you don't have to waste time fighting a treeguard

Pigs can effiencalty solo a treeguard.

actually I tried that yesterday the treegaurd killed both of my pigs

[zazori]

You said using wool as fuel is better then logs because you don't have to waste time fighting a treeguard

Pigs can effiencalty solo a treeguard.

Yeah,but if you live with beefalo you won't need to deal with werepigs.

And the trreguard thingy...it depends of the timing.I've seen a treeguard get pwned by 3 pigs and I saw another tiny one backsidecopulating an entire village.

[TeoSS69]

You said using wool as fuel is better then logs because you don't have to waste time fighting a treeguard

Pigs can effiencalty solo a treeguard.

Ah my bad, i meant "trees". Fixed my post.

[Gigahappytown]

Yeah,but if you live with beefalo you won't need to deal with werepigs.

And the trreguard thingy...it depends of the timing.I've seen a treeguard get pwned by 3 pigs and I saw another tiny one backsidecopulating an entire village.

the smaller they are the faster they are

And i placed my huts a good distance away from my base so i don't aggro them at full moons.

[Gigahappytown]

actually I tried that yesterday the treegaurd killed both of my pigs

4 pigs will buy you some time to keep doing what your doing and he will be wounded after killing 4 pigs.

[Craig_Perry]

4 pigs will buy you some time to keep doing what your doing and he will be wounded after killing 4 pigs.

I kite them and its easy enough, treegaurds are also a good way of getting rid of abigail before exploring marshes

[Anelyn]

As long as you remember to pickup those pine cones and re-plant whatever you chop / burn, is all cool, otherwise you may end up running out of trees fast

 

Especially when you go deep in a forest zone and start chopping and guess what, rain & lightning comes to lighten up the area (can't prevent it every single time).

[hectorluis13]

build a campfire, get berries and if i'm lucky i get enough materials to build a science machine

[Lynx of Arabia]

I fight Spider queens 

[Cynical Cynicist]

@Cynical Cynicist

 

Don't underestimate monster meat/jerky. As long is you don't use more than one it's exactly equivalent to normal meat for crockpot recipes. You're pretty much guaranteed to have more mosnter meat than you can use, too, in the long run.

I don't understand where I discouraged use of monster meat/jerky? I even made a note that you could use monster meat in some recipes as a substitute.

[Estel]

Nowadays, I usualy travel the world in search for a best place for permanent camp. Which, msot of the times, man that I play nomadic-style for at least 40 days Of course, it include minning rock biomes I pass by, and creating first science machine somewhere, for making a backpack, log suit, etc. I usually hammer it out, when ready to move out.

I know that it  isn't the most power-gaming style, but I don't care - have different game styles during one playthrough is rewarding. Nomadic playstyle is the least common one, so I gather quite unique experience, too. Like, managing your equipment to really care only things you need, then things that will be useful later, after estabilishing a camp.

Now, i'm not the "let's abuse bugs" type, so after estabilishing a camp, I don't make 234235345435 crockpots with never-rotting food on it, nor abuse birds in cages to "purify" monster meat into eggs. Playing like that, makes choosing a good spot for base worthwhile, even if it means hardship of nomadic life for quite a long time.

BTW, I play in world being replica of "default+" without starting gear benefit = less bushes, less rabit holes, more spiders& other hostile friends.

/Estel

[FDru]

Explore border of map, pick up a full stack each of twigs/grass/rocks/flint/logs. When first finding a piece of gold, build science machine, create backpack. Abandon science machine and continue exploring, collecting at least a full stack of gold if I find boulders (2 stacks if I find more) and a couple more stacks of logs.

 

Then set up a small base in the middle of the map consisting of a crockpot, firepit, alchemy engine and a couple chests. That's all I need forever.

[Doctor H. Derp]

I assume you mean survival:

 

 

What I do is I start loosely tracing the perimeter of the island while gathering any supplies I can except for carrots which I only pluck out of the ground for emergency purposes.

I might also purposely skip over some flint just on the off chance I do something dumb, wind off wandering around this area and not actually have any flint on me.

I skip right over rabbits, take too long to catch for my liking considering the surplus of berries you can pick upon your way.

 

I chop down a large tree or 2, and then after that, reserve most of my tree chopping at night when I build a campfire. That's also when I cook and eat food typically, night time.

 

 

Then I just keep going along until one of three things happen:

 

1. I encounter a swamp biome. Avoid. Pretend it's the edge of the island. Wait until I at least have a log suit before venturing in.

 

2. Find the wooden thing and all the clockwork monsters around it. If I haven't built a science machine yet, I ignore it. If I have, and hence have all my preliminary research done, I kill them all and take their gears.

 

3. Find a rock biome. Break out a pickaxe and start going to town. Usually break enough of the large boulders, and only the large boulders, until I get a stack of 20 gold nuggets. That usually takes care of the sweeping vast majority of my rock and flint needs as well.

 

 

Once I get that gold I build a science machine that night. I research the following items:

 

Backpack

Ropes

Spear

Log Suit

Shovel

Hammer(Optional)

 

I then continue tracing the perimeter until I've nearly looped the island full circle or I've found an awesome base location. Then I go back, if I haven't already done so, to the wooden thing and get my gears. Then I set up.