Winter survival tips.

[emerphish]

I always die in the winter. I can't bring myself to live on a summer only world because that seems like cheating, and then it's not fun. My arrangements are as follows.

 

-80-100 wood for the fire, and plenty of trees to get more.

-3 rabbit holes which i use for food.(My current # is 18) rabbits)

-10 crockpots with various items on them, mainly meaty stew, and a few pumpkins in an ice box.

-Winter just started, I don't know how long it is.(the season setting is on long summer, norm winter)

-I am on a large world, very far from most food sources.

-My char is WX, upgraded to 280 health, 220 sanity, 160 hunger.

 

Any tips/ideas are welcome, thanks in advance! 

[jbeetle]

What exactly are you dying from?

[23rd]

You're overdoin' it on the number of crockpots, in my opinion. All that cut stone would be better put towards walls. Winter lasts for roughly 15 days.

[emerphish]

Well once it was MacTusk, but I learned my lesson that time. It is usually that I run out of food at home and I need to go get some, but I'm no good at all when it comes to venturing out in the cold. The winter hat is all I have to keep me warm, and the heat stone runs out fast.

[AceofSpades88]

I agree with 23rd, you seem to be overdoing it a little. That being said, I don't know how you are dying in Winter either then. An important part I saw you didn't bring up was your clothing. What are you wearing for winter? Proper warm clothing and a heat stone are vital!

 

EDIT: Sorry, you responded as I was posting my response. I know I use far more than 3 rabbit holes throughout the winter, but my camp is also right next to/inside of a Savannah Biome. What Biome/Area did you set up your camp in? That may be an important factor in your food shortage. Also, try to stock up on Rabbits and other foods before winter using container devices.

[emerphish]

You're overdoin' it on the number of crockpots, in my opinion. All that cut stone would be better put towards walls. Winter lasts for roughly 15 days.

Food never spoils on them, and I already have a full set of stone walls around my base. I accidentally burned down a forest because of a fire hound. Twigs are everywhere, so i decided to make use of what I had.

[emerphish]

I agree with 23rd, you seem to be overdoing it a little. That being said, I don't know how you are dying in Winter either then. An important part I saw you didn't bring up was your clothing. What are you wearing for winter? Proper warm clothing and a heat stone are vital!

Winter hat and heat stone. I also have earmuffs, but i can only wear one at a time. The only other time I got a breezy vest it wasn't worth it, and I can't seem to live long enough to go hunt and kill a winter koalafant for the warmer vest.

 

I am on a peninsula with a bunch of fruits and veggies, right next to the wooden thing, so I could get and eat all the gears. It would take me most of the day to get to anywhere worth going, so I would most likely freeze. That being said, do torches provide heat? 

[23rd]

Well once it was MacTusk, but I learned my lesson that time. It is usually that I run out of food at home and I need to go get some, but I'm no good at all when it comes to venturing out in the cold. The winter hat is all I have to keep me warm, and the heat stone runs out fast.

Winter's all about the hunt. Your first summer is best used to scout out places where you can get meat, since veggies and fruits don't grow in the freezing cold. Usually, you'll start near a savanna that's absolutely littered with rabbit holes. That's where you should get your morsels. Occasionally, you'll stumble across a massive forest with spider nests everywhere you turn. That's where you should get your monster meat. The most filling of the three, meat, can be easily acquired by feeding four monster meat to a pig and, ahem, self-defencing it. Suspicious piles of dirt should also take priority when you see them.

[emerphish]

Winter's all about the hunt. Your first summer is best used to scout out places where you can get meat, since veggies and fruits don't grow in the freezing cold. Usually, you'll start near a savanna that's absolutely littered with rabbit holes. That's where you should get your morsels. Occasionally, you'll stumble across a massive forest with spider nests everywhere you turn. That's where you should get your monster meat. The most filling of the three, meat, can be easily acquired by feeding four monster meat to a pig and, ahem, self-defencing it. Suspicious piles of dirt should also take priority when you see them.

I have enough food, I think, I need to be able to live beyond the protection of my base.

[23rd]

Food never spoils on them, and I already have a full set of stone walls around my base. I accidentally burned down a forest because of a fire hound. Twigs are everywhere, so i decided to make use of what I had.

This is going to be a bit controversial but.. if you're going to be taking advantage of gimmicky things like that it's only going to stunt your learning in the long run. Things will go much smoother for you if you play the game the way it was meant to be played, without the loopholes.

 

Yeah, I know, I sound like I'm trying to police how you play. I'm not going to get in a huff about your personal playstyle, just wanted to throw that thought out there.

 

I hope you won't find it too presumptuous of me if I post my current base and mention how the stuff in it helped me through my most recent Winter.

 

 

The stuff in the grassland areas become completely useless during Winter, since nothing will grow when the snow's falling. The things in the wooden areas are just for the sake of me having all the science structures up, and come Winter even the Lightning Rod will become more of a glorified lawn ornament than anything. The stuff that's important is in the marble areas.

 

I never heard you mention drying racks in your posts thus far, so I'm gonna say a little about those. I use drying racks far, far more than I use those crockpots during the Winter, drying any sort of meat improves its quality in every possible way. For comparison, let's say you kill a Koalephant. You've got a whole lot of meat, and you're ready to cook those slabs and shove 'em down your gullet! Cooked meat will replenish 25 hunger and 1 health, cooked meat can go 10 days before it spoils. Now let's say you threw all that up on eight of those nine drying racks in my picture. In two days you'll have eight pieces of jerky that replenish 25 hunger, 20 health and 15 sanity each! (Rainbows make words look super important, probably.) That meat that was only keeping your belly full is now keeping you alive in every possible way.

 

I think there was another point I was building up to, but I forgot what it was.

 

Make more drying racks and less crockpots.

 

EDIT: If your main issue is keeping warm when you leave your base, settle near Beefalo. Shave 'em during the night, do funky stuff with their fur.

[emerphish]

Thanks. I used all my meat, though. And I think the point you were building up to was how to survive when you venture out. I really want to kill the walruses so I can get a walking cane and the Tam-o-Shanter? That fancy hat thing you were wearing, at any rate.

 

May I also ask where you got enough gears for 400 health?

[AceofSpades88]

An important point 23rd forgot to mention when speaking of Jerky is that it also takes 20 days to spoil. It will last you twice as long as that cooked meat. Drying racks cannot be underestimated. I currently use 4 drying racks and only 1 crockpot, so it could be argued it is more important to have more racks than crockpots.

 

I think being able to travel from your camp in winter isn't as hard as it seems, the key is really just warm clothing, maybe a heat stone, and making sure you have good food (of which Jerky is a great choice). Of course, I've only played as Wilson so far and he has that sweat beard, so maybe survivng the cold as WX is more difficult.

 

To be honest, I got my first walking cane and Tam-o-Shatner by inderictly leading mobs to the Walrus' and letting them duke it out with something else. I do that with pretty much any tough mob or encounter though (e.g. hounds). Make the environment work for you, or against itself.

[emerphish]

I just died and respawned at my meat effigy because my armor broke while fighting the walrus camp. I then ripped the power cord from the wall in hopes that it wouldn't save, because I don't want to lose all my stuff that is now being guarded by the walruses/hounds. Think I got travel figured out. A lot of firepits seem to do the trick.

[Deacon_Blue]

I just died and respawned at my meat effigy because my armor broke while fighting the walrus camp. I then ripped the power cord from the wall in hopes that it wouldn't save, because I don't want to lose all my stuff that is now being guarded by the walruses/hounds. Think I got travel figured out. A lot of firepits seem to do the trick.

 

First and foremost, if you're having trouble with MacTusk, try and hunt a winter Koalefant to get a puffy vest. That will be a huge improvement for your heat issues. Once you have heat figured out, you can get a couple logsuits and maybe a football helmet and give MacTusk what's coming to him. Just switch right back to the puffy vest once the fight is over.

[emerphish]

Just killed him and the Tam-O-Shanter fell into the water! Anyways I think I have winter figured out at this point. Halfway through now, I just need some slik and I'll have that puffy vest. Deerclops decided to pay me a visit (and died) and smash some crock pots, so now i have materials for drying racks. Thanks for all the help everyone!

[The Letter W]

Put a chest full of winter items such as at least a heat stone and a hat, as well as some material to make a fire near your touch stones or meat effigies. 

Unless your effigy is right close to your camp. 

That's about the only advice I got. 

[AceofSpades88]

Put a chest full of winter items such as at least a heat stone and a hat, as well as some material to make a fire near your touch stones or meat effigies. 

Unless your effigy is right close to your camp. 

That's about the only advice I got. 

THIS!

 

Dying in general is bad, dying in winter is really bad, dying unprepared in winter is game over. Things will snowball (pun!) quickly if you don't have a winter death insurance plan.

[The Letter W]

THIS!

 

Dying in general is bad, dying in winter is really bad, dying unprepared in winter is game over. Things will snowball (pun!) quickly if you don't have a winter death insurance plan.

I learned this after I survived on solely a torch for a day until I got back to my camp via lighting things on fire everytime I started to freeze. 

[Squiggymonster]

I've died this way twice, being willow helps a little, I love the idea of a chest of supplies.

[23rd]

Thanks. I used all my meat, though. And I think the point you were building up to was how to survive when you venture out. I really want to kill the walruses so I can get a walking cane and the Tam-o-Shanter? That fancy hat thing you were wearing, at any rate.

 

May I also ask where you got enough gears for 400 health?

Yes! That was where I meant to go! Pardon my scatterbrained personality.

 

There's two things that can happen before you leave your base in Winter. The first is that you make sure to manage your inventory properly (nix the backpack, wear something snug over your chest instead) and the second is death. Yeah. I like to go with the first option.

 

Whenever you leave your base for any amount of time longer than a day during Winter you need to run a checklist.

• Do you have a heatstone?
• Do you have warm clothes?
• Do you have the big four (grass, twigs, flint, logs)?
• Do you have food? (Forget this if the purpose of venturing out is actually getting food, obviously.)

Do's and Don'ts are an easy format to remember.

• Do take the time to investigate suspicious dirt piles. It is always, always worth it.
• Don't panic when ice begins to show on the screen. The first warning means means your internal body heat is at 5 degrees, you won't start taking damage until you hit zero. Assuming you played it smart and made insulated clothing (Breezy Vest/Rabbit Earmuffs provide the least insulation paired together, and even they'll give you plenty of time) you're safe to stop, look around, and plop down a campfire where you can get the most work done while you wait to heat back up.
• Do keep a log suit handy. Being able to quickly switch from insulated clothing that won't protect you from a butter knife to what I swear has to be magically enchanted wood that can stop the force of boss mobs from seriously hurting you is going to save your ass.
• Don't mix pills and alcohol. Good. Yes.
• Do light trees on fire when you need to keep warm and can't stop to sit around a fire. Spiders, man, they've got no respect.

..anyways you should be able to keep you from finding yourself in Scooby-Doo level shenanigans every time you go out to do your Winter Wonderland stuff. As a last bit of advice, since you want to take out MacTusk specifically, you should make blow darts. Assuming you know where he is it shouldn't be too hard to kill off the hounds that follow him around for teeth. It's on you to make sure you've got reeds and bluebird feathers before you head out, though. It only takes two darts to drop MacTusk. His son's a wuss, so don't worry about retaliation.

 

Now to finally get to that question about the gears, I use the Teleportato a bunch. It's refreshing to start on Day 1 with whatever I want, and I don't have to worry about that pesky "there's only a limited amount of these in the world!" garbage. Those screenshots are from World 3.

[Squiggymonster]

I've not ever made a breezy vest or a log suit. I'll look out for those today.

[the truthseeker]

Several more things:

 

 

• Winter is more than just food and cold, it's about learning how to manage your food and when to warm yourself up and for how long.
• Making any old food isn't prudent when you need to maximize the cost of making the foods versus the benefits it gives you. Since you're playing the robot, I'll explain using the WX-78 analogies. meatballs are great for a weak character only worrying about hunger with a 100 point base, but (even then) it blows when you need to also take care of health and/or sanity. For that food-wise, honey is your friend. But as you have noticed, bees don't produce in winter, so it's important to set up multiple bee boxes AND flowers (6 per box, but can be put in one large patch adjacent to the bee boxes) no later than FOUR days before winter. An absolute minimum is two boxes and 12 flowers or the production won't be good enough. And every day you finish this bee box setup, the more (about 12 per two fully loaded bee boxes) honey you can have to make great things with!

What great things? Why go through all this? 

 

 

Let's start with some basic food prep for winter:

 

 

• Honey Ham, Taffy, Pumpkin cookies, Honey Poultice. The last item  is the BEST (regular dropping renewable non food) healing item around, assuming you can find a swamp of course. 

 

Honey ham gives you SEVENTY FIVE hunger with THIRTY health per ham! often, signature foods take care only of one of those three stats and you gotta choose (like fish sticks/Pierogi for healing or  meatballs for hunger or taffy for sanity) Honey ham is easy when you can use monster meat for 1 meat value and regular meat for the other or any 2 combinations of morsels/frog legs/drumsticks or small jerkified batalisk wings/fish. For that, the reward versus the cost put in for the crock pot foods far exceeds the sum of its parts.

 

 

 

• The second thing you need to invest in for food "prep" is a bird/birdcage. Not only does feeding spoiling foods (meat based) give you eggs, you can feed crops to the birds (best if done before winter of course)  for "custom crop seeds" so you can exclusively farm things like pumpkins (for Pumpkin cookies regarding sanity) and/or Dragonpies (for a whopping 40 health and 75 hunger that makes honey ham its *****!) And when you run out of honey, but are next to creatures that give you meat/jerky big and small, you can then make Ham and eggs which lasts as long as Jerky and only heals 10 less than honey ham (20 instead of 30 health and the same 75 hunger.) Again, if the food is about to spoil you can feed it to the bird to get a new egg. Even spoiling eggs can be (cooked and) fed to a bird for fresh eggs and seeds can be fed for fresh seeds as well! 
• But as mentioned don't discount Jerky! it's stacked hunger, health AND sanity healing are like having mini-gears no mater WHAT character you're playing! Especially if you need to stay in a small area and want to mitigate sanity!  We'll talk about hunting later, but any animal that gives you consistent meat works, followed by the "small jerky" next. Monster jerky like cooked monster meat is an absolute last resort emergency eating and is only done to make the meat last longer for more cooking with crockpots/make into eggs/use to bribe pigs.  

 

 

 

With those crock pots wisely making lots of honey hams, dragon pies pumpkin cookies bacon and eggs and Drying racks of Jerky, you may even have so much to need an ice box! Create as needed.

 

We can now learn how to properly manage warmth in winter.

 

 

We'll start with clothing. 

 

 

• Warmth drops until you freeze. The better insulated, the slower you drop. Clothing items have "tiers" of warmth, the higher the tier the longer the insulation. For headgear, earmuffs are the worst, followed by winter hats then Beefalo hats. Winter hats (while tier 2 compared to tier 3 Beefalo hats,) however recover sanity like a garland while Beefalo hats do not give any sanity back. For body items, the breezy vest then the puffy vest act as a Tier 2 and Tier 3 item respectively. Multiple worn items DO stack insulation time before freezing.  
• While you may be initially "against" body wearing cold gear, it's a HUGE asset since it stacks with headgear and is VERY useful when you have to go to/explore long distances in winter. This especially is true when you have Mactusk a long way away from your main winter base, even if you set up fire pit waypoints. When you fight them, you need to swap to armor and can't carry that pack so proper item carrying management means you don't have to "plan what not to carry into battle then" and are "prepared" when swapping to fight. Secondly, if you choose, you can then swap to headgear armor like pigskin helmets and still have insulation besides only the heatstone. The only drawback is losing your insulation time when swapping to fight if you stack clothing, so it's recommended if using this tactic to fight difficult creatures you know about to warm up when close to them, THEN swap to your protective armors, then swap back to the winter clothing when done.  As an added bonus, going after the Kolalaphants nets you 8 meat per animal and post-vest kills mean a hearty trunk steak meal fit for a DS king! 

 

We'll now deal with heat and cold

 

 

• As noted, the freezing warning is a "five degree warning" and again, better insulation means the longer you can go before freezing damage begins or even how much worse it escalates. However, what most people miss is while heat can stop freezing, you need to RAISE your body temperature to "reset the time you can adventure again before freezing." Simply stopping by a fire until the icicles on screen melt then going off to search is a waste of resources. Using a heat stone to "track the level of cold" you are experiencing is a good way to see your state without using one of those "always on" mods which literally list your body temp. Long story short, until you are a die-hard expert, stick around any made fires until your heat stone is orange and glowy, especially when transitioning from night to day. The more heat you have, the faster the rise, and the less the slower or even risk not going up past a certain temp limit while at the fire. 
• However, if you stop to make a fire every time you get cold, you'll run out of resources fast and never be able to go anywhere fast if able to go farther than short distances in the first place.  That written, there's nothing wrong with having a minimum of two stacks of logs on/near you constantly. for home bases, make planks and when warming up, use them to start the fire-pits. the burning duration not only is hot, it lasts a VERY long time. If near our furry friends, Beefalo wool also lasts a long time and manure while not as potent per item, is plentiful and easy to burn (and it loses a lot of its purpose in winter once no longer plant farming/transferring to your base.) Another option is to place fire pits intermittently for often-traveled to places (pig villages, Beefalo, etc) on the path and at the destination of these frequently traveled areas.
• Between fire pits or the emergency/traveling in winter at night 3 grass 2 log campfire, burning trees (or if in a pinch, pickables like grass and saplings,)  will not only help warm you up if standing next to it, it saves the above-mentioned resources you could expend otherwise multiple times. burning trees also gives the bonus of charcoal which itself can help boost a fire pit/campfire/help produce more crock pots/drying racks if you find yourself short accidentally. Finally, in swamps, burning spiky trees can net you twigs as well as (sometimes) a log even if torched!   (Go to Adventure Mode, get "The game is Afoot" and see how awesome this works in your starting area!) Try burning several trees (which burn longer than pickables BTW) and look at your heatstone, and notice how it improves from that without having to make a fire, feed it, and wait during the day/early dusk!  

 

 

 

And what to wear and not to wear when lounging around by the fire

 

 

• Most likely (if you have not gotten the Tam O'Shanter) you're using the winter hat and/or Beefalo hat and/or Puffy/breezy vest (short runs can use the winter hat and longer runs the Beeefalo one, sometimes swapping to the winter anyway after heating (for some sanity regaining assistance if the foods alone aren't enough and sleep is too costly ATM.)  What most people forget to do is REMOVE their winter clothing when at a fire or heat source. If being heated, you don't need to waste resources and (testing confirmed) wearing clothing while at heat sources does NOT warm you up faster, just stops you from cooling off better. What actually is a good idea is making a garland (or if you have the additional resources, a top hat instead) when winter begins, and swapping it on when you are standing next to the fire, swapping any hats back when you leave the warmth. This will help gain/lower the loss of sanity when resting at fire-based areas, including burning with torches as well as increase durability time with using items. This also holds true even if you have found the Tam O' Shanter (which you then ditch the other winter headgear save the Beefalo hat for collecting during Beefalo mating heat  in winter perhaps.)  

 

 

 

And dealing with Mac:

 

 

• As suggested, go after him with Blowdarts. They do a heck of a lot of damage to him (compared what he can do to you with one, 100 vs 33 to him/you.) However, sometimes base placement means snowbirds are harder to get (especially true if you are in a quarry and not a savanna or forest.) if this happens, make boomerangs. They don't cost much to make and several hits still brings him down. But due to the extra killing time take out the ice Hounds first, then focus on mac.  If you can afford the sanity, ice staff freezing and smacking with a hambat/tentacle spike can also work, assuming you don't have the resources for other darts. Fire staves are not recommended due to the high risk of burning your rewards. Fire darts are also frowned upon, but you could use one or two only to soften him up then kill him when not burning to safely claim rewards.
• Know your reset times. If you don't get what you want/want more rewards, you have to wait  2-5 days. Hunting one near the end of winter is unwise unless you plan for it to be your final attempt! 

And let's end with old "Dearie"clops

 

 

• Deerclops has a random chance of spawning in winter, and won't spawn until your character speaks the "warning message" about it. This gives you time at "first growl" to NOT be in your base when he spawns and have him be elsewhere. 
• Temperature does play a factor, so he can disappear/reappear after spawning if the final winter days' tempuatures get high/low enough (again.) 
• While there are forums and wiki entries dedicated solely to best combat practices, it's best to soften him up before going for the kill at range. This is where a pre-placed stack of gunpowder, going to him and running a pre-determined path, then lighting it when he's close can work. Since gunpowder does 200 damage per and takes around 3-6 seconds to blow, and "Dearie" has 2000 health at full, having a stack of 8-9 ready to pulverize him then finishing him off with another non-flaming weapon is a great tactic. DO practice beforehand on how to place and run with gunpowder in single amounts until you are comfortable with placement and distance. Also do practice armored.  When in doubt, use the lesser amount of stacked gunpowder, especially if you have "allies" softening him up. 

 

 

So having enough food or multiple warmth items isn't as important as using them wisely (as well as remembering to warm up and simply not just stop freezing.)

 

I hope these tips will keep you living better in winter and even traveling farther safely! 

[Zalyn]

To OP's main question about how not to freeze when trekking out:

 

I stock up on rocks before the winter and to use them to set up firepits at "stations" in key biomes where I'd need resources or where I can collect lots of food: savanna/Beefalo, savanna/rabbits, swamp/Merms, pig village, quarry/rocks.

 

For example, I will set up a firepit in a savanna near Beefalo (so I can shave them, gather grass, check my rabbit traps).  Once the firepit is down, then you can relight it just with the manure you find nearby, which saves on fuel.  Likewise, I set up a pit anywhere else I would need to go to renew resources or food. If you locate it centrally, then you can just spend a day running around collecting, then going back to the pit to warm up as needed.

 

Measure out distance from camp to a station by heat stone color - if you walk straight out from camp (with a red stone) towards the target area, put down a firepit once the heat stone is grey (down from yellow).  That will give a bit of time to grab resources en route when traveling without freezing.  If you located your base well, you probably are already close to key biomes, so you shouldn't need more than one intermediate fire pit. This will allow you to take 2-3 day treks out to collect things without freezing or using up too many resources trying to stay warm.

 

Another tip: turn logs into boards.  You can carry more fuel per stack that way (boards burn 4x longer than logs, a straight conversion), and one board will usually last through the night and burn nice and hot.  Spend the night at the station firepit planting pinecones in the light radius and harvesting logs to replenish a fuel stock at the pit and in your inventory - this way you're always doing something even when away from base.

 

As long as I don't die from resurrection-freeze, I always make it through winters without freezing thanks to this strategy.

 

Good luck!

[Zalyn]

One more tip: Keep a firepit and a fire "ready to place" in your "hidden inventory" at all times. 

 

That means that you start to build one, but then right-click out.  If you go back to your build tab, you will see "Place" for the fire/firepit - they are ready to go, and you don't have to lug around that extra inventory.  Remember to get a new one ready as soon as you have resources!

 

Great to have in case you just ran away from something nasty and are starting to freeze (we all sometimes neglect to grab our firemaking stuff when Deerclops is breathing down our necks).

[justjasper]

Wondering if someone on this board might be able to fill me in: on my world where I have 'always summer' set, if I activate the winter trap will I get a short, normal, or perpetual winter?