Can't Get The Hang Of This!

[Triplicide]

I can't make it past day four. What am I doing wrong?

[Dr Tanner]

That depends - what's killing you?

[qwerm]

you're not being proactive enough, take note of what kills you and take steps to avoid it

that said, let's have some details to see what's going down for you.

[Massah]

What they said. We need more details.

You can also consult the guides on the wiki for more help:

Don't Starve wiki

[NippleKing]

uuuh research a spear or get a science machine first.Use berries and carrots to feed your hunger until you can get better food.Research a logsuit too,if you feel you need more protection.Oh and STAY AWAY FROM THE SWAMP WHICH IS A PURPE-ISH COLOR, or at least wear a logsuit.

[Triplicide]

Nothing in particular. I have been killed by tallbirds, spiders, and the tentacle things. It's not that I don't avoid them, I do. It seems mostly I get stuck in a situation where I can't get enough food. Then I starve. Or if there is nothing else available I go get tallbird eggs. I can kill a few but end up getting killed by one in the end. Other than that it seems starvation or running out of resources is killing me.

EDIT: I feel much of my problem stems from attempting to stick to a location where I make my science machine. Is it better to continue to wander? Also, I can't find fertilizer to make plots. I haven't seen one beefalo in the 20 or so times I've played and my brother hasn't in his 15 or so.

Edited December 23, 2012 by Triplicide

[pdodd]

If you aren't already, make sure you cook all your food before you eat it. Cooked seeds usually last me until I can start trapping some rabbits with berries as bait.

[qwerm]

If you aren't already, make sure you cook all your food before you eat it. Cooked seeds usually last me until I can start trapping some rabbits with berries as bait.

berries attract rabbits?, huh, good to know

another alternative using the traps, set the trap right OVER the rabbit hole and the trap will snag them when they pop their heads out of the hole, even at night.

seeds and berries are usually pretty prolific, even AFTER the nerf to seeds dropping; whenever you see a bird, chase it off, they have a fairly good chance of dropping seeds.

get a fire pit as Soon as you are humanly capable of doing so. Will require a fair amount of rocks, but it makes restarting a fire MUCH easier, meaning you can dump a handful of grass onto it and do some cooking even in the middle of the day.

but yeah, berries seed and morsels from rabbits should have you fairly secured against starving. like pdodd said, cooking food is always better.

[Zzinged]

You don't actually need anything to hunt rabbits. One of the better methods is standing between the rabbit and the hole, then running to it and attacking. They'll run towards the hold and you'll take a swipe at it as it runs past. There's a vid of this method on the wiki: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OQ_7s3LUzI4

[Captain Potato]

most efficient way to hunt for rabbit meat is probably to ambush them at night.

[w00tyd00d]

Nothing in particular. I have been killed by tallbirds, spiders, and the tentacle things. It's not that I don't avoid them, I do. It seems mostly I get stuck in a situation where I can't get enough food. Then I starve. Or if there is nothing else available I go get tallbird eggs. I can kill a few but end up getting killed by one in the end. Other than that it seems starvation or running out of resources is killing me.

EDIT: I feel much of my problem stems from attempting to stick to a location where I make my science machine. Is it better to continue to wander? Also, I can't find fertilizer to make plots. I haven't seen one beefalo in the 20 or so times I've played and my brother hasn't in his 15 or so.

This is just how I like to start out the game, but what I do is try to get a full perimeter done on all of your islands so you know where each biome is located. Keep in mind that beefalo only spawn in savannah biomes (orange on your map) so if you're just sticking to the grassland you spawn in you'll never find any. But once you get a perimeter set and know where everything is i suggest exploring a grassland or a forest biome completely to see what else you can find (grassland is the best considering the diverse amount of resources available). Along the way (even when doing the perimeter) pretty much harvest anything you can find at least up to 1 full stack so you don't have to worry so much later (backpacks are nice for this case). Once you find a place you feel you can make a camp that's not too far away from everything else, set up your goods (science machine, fire pit, etc); that way you don't set everything up only to find out your miles away from any other resourceful place. Last and foremost, Cook everything you want to eat. Can't stress that enough lol.

That's all you get outta me, though. The rest you'll have to discover on your own, which is what makes the game so fun.

EDIT: Actually I will say this, investing in a spear and logsuit is highly recommended by day 7. You'll know why...

Edited December 23, 2012 by w00tyd00d

[HanPL]

Well I started to play few days ago but here are few tips I can give you.

Day 1.

Gather as much supplies as you can and meanwhile look for place where you want to set up camp site. (Somewhere near Beefalo ) to pick up Manure. If you still have time before darkness look for stones to mine (on my map they are near tallbirds ) and set up few rabbit traps.

Day 2.

Go check rabbit traps and collect supplies. Try to set up few small "farms " and plant seeds.

If you have Tallbirds near Beefalo try to provoke Tallbirds and then run to Beefalo usually Tall will stop chasing you after a while and attack Beefalo, who ever wins you get free meat.

If you found the spot for campsite build research machine + stone campfire and try to craft Spear and Log suit this will help you survive against first 2-3 hounds and Tallbird if they accidently start to attack you.

Later on it will start to get easier just collect mats and expand your base (more farms, plant berry bushes, grass etc near your place so you will have easier access to it instead of running around and searching for them )

Edited December 23, 2012 by HanPL

[Triplicide]

Well I got to day 7 this time and killed by hound.

[Aftoby]

Well I got to day 7 this time and killed by hound.

You should consider moving to a savannah biome then. Beefalos are great for defending you against hounds. If you run far enough away from them they will eventually attack one, causing every nearby Beefalo to attack it. They are also good for getting manure to build farms, if you are having trouble with food.

[tigbits]

Personally I always fully explore each island thoroughly and I end up with full stacks of grass, sticks, logs, berries and carrots so im never pressed for food or materials so I spend the rest of my time finding a perfect area to set base

[Dr Tanner]

Personally I always fully explore each island thoroughly and I end up with full stacks of grass, sticks, logs, berries and carrots so im never pressed for food or materials so I spend the rest of my time finding a perfect area to set base

That's my strategy, too. I've yet to ever die from actually starving and anytime anything happens to me it's because I've gone somewhere and done something stupid.

[Ora]

That's my strategy, too. I've yet to ever die from actually starving and anytime anything happens to me it's because I've gone somewhere and done something stupid.

^ ^ ^ ^

This.

[The Pig Whisperer]

With the new spiders and the new map generator, and the map I finally liked so much I haven't been generating new maps for the past few lives, I have a strong incentive to take (moderate) risks. My chosen campsite is in the middle of a spider-infested forest. Until Day 7, they are all level-1 nests, so with a spear for speed and a log suit for those times I mess up the timing (or Wilson sees a pretty flower...) I can clear out maybe six-ten each day... Unfortunately, there's almost zero naturally occurring food in that region, and without a crock pot, spiders are not a food source. I think I need to make crockpot a day 3 priority on my next attempt (when, I hope, I switch from my food-rich starting island to the spider forest) On Day 7 I can start farming (there's a tiny little savannah in the middle of my evergreen forest, and it has a decent-sized herd of beefalo) and on Day 9 I can go back to the rich island to collect honeycomb, grass tufts, and berry bushes.

Erm... That was a lot of babble irrelevant to the current topic. The point was... Taking (stupid) risks is part of the game, and making (stupid) mistakes is part of being human, so dying, at least until you have a meat effigy cycle running, seems to be part of the game.