keeping my sanity!

[jmorris2532]

I am a noob at this game for sure, my sanity starts falling fast in winter and im not sure how to keep it up. are there items I should not  keep in my camp or a certain area I should camp in to help this. all I know is that I cant pick flowers and invent stuff fast enough.

[RetroGamer2000]

If I remember correctly, then catching live butterflies with a Bug Net and planting the butterfly on the ground gives you flowers, also taffy can be made in a crockpot with honey I believe.

 

OH! And a dapper vest, top hat can raise your Sanity.

 

My memory is not that good from last summer, so I can't remember the rest.

 

Let me guess, NINJA'D?

 

EDIT: Hmm... Really? No? Ok then...

[Deacon_Blue]

The vast majority of clothing (not armor) items give a sanity boost. There is garland (which requires 12(?) flower petals) and the winter hat and both winter vests to help. All but the first also give a nice warmth boost. When all else is failing, you can befriend pigs and get all up in their personal space while they're cutting trees for a huge sanity aura.

[aredshroom]

You can make a garland from 12 flowers, though flowers do not respawn, so it's not a long-term solution for sanity. If you can get silk, make a top hat, or the winter hat (silk + beefalo fur) which will protect you from freezing ever so slightly, with a small sanity boost.

 

If you make ranged weapons like the blow dart/ ice staff with boomerang, you can try to hunt Mactusk for his hat. That's the best sanity-equipment for the entire game, and you can only find him in winter.

 

Of course, I got ninja'd. If you have a crockpot and bee box (stockpile honey before winter!), make taffy.

[RetroGamer2000]

Oh, and also your very first prototype gives you back about a chunk of Sanity. And yes

@Deacon_Blue 12 petals it is.

[Deacon_Blue]

Of course, I got ninja'd. If you have a crockpot and bee box (stockpile honey before winter!), make taffy.

 

That's a bit tough to do in the first winter if you didn't plan to do it from the beginning.

[aredshroom]

That's a bit tough to do in the first winter if you didn't plan to do it from the beginning.

True, depending on knowledge and skill. That's why I left it till the end, the best bet for a beginner would be to get a top hat/heatstone combo to survive winter or the winter hat, offering at least some winter protection rather than none (for the top hat). What you suggested about pigs is good, provided the player has enough meat to spare while surviving in winter.

 

The "first-level" prototypes no longer give a sanity boost, btw (like the axe, pickaxe), since they're already known by the characters. So you only get the boost from things requiring the machines to build (shovel, backpack, etc).

 

Edit: Personally, I don't like to use the winter vests because armor+backpack are higher priorities, and you need to spend time hunting koalefants for it. It's just a different playstyle though.

[Deacon_Blue]

True, depending on knowledge and skill. That's why I left it till the end, the best bet for a beginner would be to get a top hat/heatstone combo to survive winter or the winter hat, offering at least some winter protection rather than none (for the top hat). What you suggested about pigs is good, provided the player has enough meat to spare while surviving in winter.

 

The "first-level" prototypes no longer give a sanity boost, btw (like the axe, pickaxe), since they're already known by the characters. So you only get the boost from things requiring the machines to build (shovel, backpack, etc).

 

Edit: Personally, I don't like to use the winter vests because armor+backpack are higher priorities, and you need to spend time hunting koalefants for it. It's just a different playstyle though.

 

Hunt a Koalefant, get 8 meat, turn the trunk into a coat, befriend a pig, eat like a king, be warm.

 

I always end up with an excess of monster meat, even in the winter. Even using as little as a single morsel from a trap is enough for a huge sanity boost from a pig. Whether or not you can get away with trapping depends where you set up camp, I suppose.

[Crown_king]

Eat my magic cooked green mushroom caps!

[the truthseeker]

(Sometimes to recap what has been said here as well as my own suggestions; overall it's long so I've bullet pointed it and closed it in spoilers. I'll include a TLDR after: )

 

 

 

• In the beginning after the night ends, I pick flowers which give 5 per until my sanity is back, then when hitting 12, make a garland in the very early days.

 

 

• I also look out for green mushrooms at dusk which are the best way (cooked) to restore sanity before I have a base/without major structure building or if I need to quickly lose sanity (uncooked) for things like (non-Wilson) character beard hair acquisition. It also can be carried and used to boost when you are going too low for comfort and are exploring or do a event that rapidly lowers sanity when away from a base (I tend to carry them uncooked so they last longer when I do this.) Of course if you have a base and use them, keep them in an ice box to have them last as long as possible. If they are not needed in the short term, they are vegetable fillers and safe to eat in crock pot recipes.  However, even after it rains, it takes a long time for mushrooms  to regrow (a total of 10-20 hours of acquired rain.) This means unless you find a woods or swamp of them, they are not reliable unless you set rain to more. Again, this is a temporary measure either in the early days or just need a quick boost from where I am. 

 

 

• But pigs are your friends when you need help early on. Feed them meat, have them chop trees, and stand next to them. Of course, for a notable boost, it's recommended you have enough meat for many of them, like at least 2-5. Their duration is based on the meat hunger value, so early on, (when you can finally craft via the crock pot,) meatballs actually become useful to you. Until then, feed them monster meat once or twice (but of course, make sure you don't feed them this four times unless you want to fight werepigs of course.) Even one MM feeding to several pigs will tremendously help. Also, when dusk/night comes, have a fire ready and stand on top of them after moving them all together when they finally sleep. 

 

 

• if you are  crafting, you can (if not vital) try and hold off a bit and wait for the sanity to drop to time crafting new prototypes, but this is only workable for a few days until you run out of basic things to discover (and the more advanced prototypable items you need to find often require facing creatures that drain more sanity.) Sometimes making a temporary machine and crafting a few items as prototypes then hammering it could technically be done if you just can't find a suitable location and you're hitting day 7-9, but it's just best to do all this stuff in a base created ASAP. 

 

 

• Why it's important setting up a base ASAP is so you can craft both sanity-restoring clothes (Top hat, dapper vest, winter hat, etc,) and crock pot food (Taffy, pumpkin cookies.) as well as (non-Wickerbottom players) craft sleeping rolls and tents for sleeping restoring sanity. For this last part, make sure to have plenty of food when you wake of course. Especially in winter, sleep is the best option you  can do if you're turtling and low in honey resource food. (But for obvious reasons, it's best to make sure you stock up with enough food for winter beyond what you'd normally expect so you could sleep and eat sooner than when not sleeping and anticipating hunger)

 

 

• However, It's not recommended to make teeth-requiring dapper vests as many other items take your body slots and teeth can be spent in better ways now (but feel free to make it once for the prototype bonus.)

 

• And winter gives its own rewards in regards to MacTusk. Not only does he drop blowdarts and tusks (the latter for the Walking Cane,) the Tam O' Shanter keeps you warm like a winter hat while  keeping your sanity up even higher than twice of a top hat (6.7 sanity a minute compared to 3.3 of a top hat. Still, until you get this item, 6 silk is a bargain for a top hat.) The Tam also the item of choice in Caves to keep sanity up.  

 

 

• Finally, when you also fight MacTusk, you'll rapidly get teeth from those winter hounds. Once you make the obligatory tooth traps to protect you from hound attacks, any extra can be made into a sewing kit and you can repair the duration-losing clothing much cheaper than re-crafting them. Later as the hound waves increase (and you did make a bunch of tooth traps in a zone of death for them of course) you shouldn't have a problem for teeth supplies.  

 

 

TLDR in this order of availability: Flowers/garland, green mushrooms, pigs, prototype crafting, then finally sanity clothes and repair kits/foods in Winter, especially the prized Tam O Shanter should help.

 

 

Finally, if you need specific info on Sanity and don't mind spoilers, this link will help. 

 

 

[fritoz]

if its about to turn dusk and you dont want to start to lose more sanity, try sleeping in a straw roll or a tent through the night!

 

then you wont lose any sanity, but you will wake up very hungry, so have food ready for breakfast!

 

 

also, taffy is very useful to regain sanity quickly and its not too hard to make once you can get some honey and a crockpot

 

good luck surviving your first full winter!!!

[jmorris2532]

Tanks for the tips very usefull, and I just made it throu my first winter

[julz1981]

Tanks for the tips very usefull, and I just made it throu my first winter

I didnt help but, Congrats XD

always nice to see new players!

[the truthseeker]

Tanks for the tips very usefull, and I just made it throu my first winter

A big congratulations!

 

(And in future games, try not to run towards the roaring in that first winter unless you've got lots of armor, ranged weapons and/or lots of buddies to help you fight that big Sanity-draining-one-hit-killing Deerclops ) 

[TeoSS69]

Oh, and also your very first prototype gives you back about a chunk of Sanity.

That only applies to things you can make after you make a Science Machine now. Axes, torches an the other free recipes don't give sanity anymore...

[the truthseeker]

Or in other words: If you can craft it unaided (without any machine) when you first start a new game, it does not (like it did for a while) count as a prototype (anymore.) 

 

 

A pity for those who are playing hardcore Wes, dealing with new games with an early wimpy Wolfgang afraid of everything, or are self-tormentingly insane playing new games starting out with an un-upgraded WX-78 (but that's what flowers and green-caps are for when you are starting out as we said.)

[TeoSS69]

A pity for those who are playing hardcore Wes, dealing with new games with an early wimpy Wolfgang afraid of everything, or are self-tormentingly insane playing new games starting out with an un-upgraded WX-78 (but that's what flowers and green-caps are for when you are starting out as we said.)

http://forums.kleientertainment.com/statuses/user/243891-teoss69/?status_id=1762

[the truthseeker]

http://forums.kleientertainment.com/statuses/user/243891-teoss69/?status_id=1762

Or you can just be Teo and rule DS like a Boss

[TeoSS69]

Or you can just be Teo and rule DS like a Boss

Wolfgang deserves equal praise!

[Cynical Cynicist]

A pity for those who are playing hardcore Wes

 

Wes just has a higher metabolism. He was also discouraged from working out after partnering with Wolfgang for a while at the circus (hence why nowadays in their pictures, Wes is lifting an umbrella instead of a dumbbell like Wolfgang). To be honest, managing sanity is easy as any character if you visit a swamp to gather reeds (there seems to be a higher rate of green mushrooms there).