DST multiplayer feels... disappointing

[mochilo]

I got used to play alone, and now I finally got a friend to play with. Everything feels cool... until winter. The couple of times we played, we got one of these annoying worlds with only one Mad Tusk camps (or I'm too dumb to find the rest), and failing to get the Tusk drop the two first times we fight him reduces a lot our chance of getting a Walking Cane for each one of us. Also, only one Eyebrella feels bad. These two items, specially Walking Cane, feel like the real time to start playing the game "right", exploring caves faster, better kite against bosses and much easier survival and playing in general . Going around for a whole year at regular speed is a motivation kill in my mind, so when we fail at getting the Tusk drop at first try I start feeling I am a fail and I don't want to play anymore :/ 

I'm not very experienced on the game (143 hours, only got past the first winter in one of my attempts yet), and I know there must be even bigger groups, with lower chance to get these items for you all. So I think reading your experiences around these things could help me a lot. I really love the game, and want to enjoy it actually "Together" too.

Halp a brother starver to see the game from a different point of view

 

Thanks in advance, and happy starvings for you all!

[Zeklo]

You should never be disappointed in getting something the first try. It's the difficulty and struggle that makes the game more enjoyable. For me at least. 

Think of it more like, in a year in the game you'll get your hands on a nice item. Instead of that you missed out on a nice item this year.

[Sinister_Fang]

1 hour ago, mochilo said:

These two items, specially Walking Cane, feel like the real time to start playing the game "right", exploring caves faster, better kite against bosses and much easier survival and playing in general .

While they are really nice, it's still possible to survive without them. I think the problem is that you're seeing these items as too much of a requirement instead of a pleasant gift for your work. The only time I'd say the cane is a requirement is if you wanted to use a piggyback.

[Schism_989]

Don't Starve is a survival game, so that's what you need to do. Adapt to your current situation to survive. If you miss out on an item, you can still survive, and get it next year. By then, you should have some weapons and tools well enough to achieve your goal.

[AnonymousKoala]

1 hour ago, Sinister_Fang said:

While they are really nice, it's still possible to survive without them. I think the problem is that you're seeing these items as too much of a requirement instead of a pleasant gift for your work. The only time I'd say the cane is a requirement is if you wanted to use a piggyback.

They're luxury, not needed in any stage of the game, but welcome additions in every stage as well.

And when you have just 1 mactusk it obviously takes longer to farm them for their drops which arent guaranteed. So don't feel so bad, OP.

[Arlesienne]

I host servers with 22 slots most of the time. I can confirm you can freely survive hundreds of days with a really big crew. The longer you play, the easier the game gets, actually. If you cooperate, there's always a way to split loot.

Now to the eyebrella and the cane. And the tam, since I guess you covet it as well (if you've ever seen Willow in it, can't blame you).

These are not obligatory things to have. With a group, think of who needs them the most, then let this person have dibs on them. In my case, the first fellow to get the eyebrella is WX. Mind you, he only wears it when it's raining. That's an important thing in multiplayer: waste not, want not. Sure, you can parade about with a hat all the time and mend it with a sewing kit, but it's a waste. If we have Wickerbottom, WX lends her the eyebrella before electrocuting him (obviously, it's a win-win - he gets a boost and she isn't torched on sight).

The tam is usually what is given to Webber, first and foremost. As a Willow main, I don't need sanity that much since I have an extra way to recover it (meaning fires, which are needed at night anyway). He only wears it in winter and when spelunking, mind you.

The cane is shared with whoever is appointed the group's scout and thief. That would usually mean yours truly since I thrive when organising mob wars and stealing their drops. One counter-argument to this is how the admin is expected to think of themselves last. So don't hoard loot. It's also used to eliminate lureplants and destroy tier three spider dens (after they've been vacated) since it has no durability.

None of these are obligatory though. What you should push for are the usual structures - an alchemy lab, a crockpot, a birdcage, lots of drying racks and a lantern. Oh, and the good old thermal stone. You can create a thriving community with more people, you just need to communicate. Need to replant trees? Ask Woodie, he'll get sanity from planting them. Some pesky mobs to take out? Wigfrid will get sanity and health from killing those (also, require her to craft you all her exclusive gear for all the meat she tends to hoard). Spiders blocking passage? Webber is your man. Wicker made books and wants to use them? Have Mister OP Sanity AKA Maxwell read them for her (also, unless he crafted an absurd amount of puppets, don't let him waste your sanity-restoring gear by using them).

Lastly, set giants to lots - more will visit .

[mochilo]

Thanks for the answers, reading everything closely. I guess I'll just have to get used to it :/

[mochilo]

3 hours ago, Arlesienne said:

tam is usually what is given to Webber, first and foremost. As a Willow main, I don't need sanity that much since I have an extra way to recover it (meaning fires, which are needed at night anyway). He only wears it in winter and when spelunking, mind you.

None of these are obligatory though. What you should push for are the usual structures - an alchemy lab, a crockpot, a birdcage, lots of drying racks and a lantern.

What's a "tam"?

I actually have never made a drying rack. I think I never played long enough to make them, food was never a problem, at least playing alone.

 

edit: ok, I understood what tam is xD

[mochilo]

I'm about to give up playing this game :/

[Kittydub]

1 minute ago, mochilo said:

I'm about to give up playing this game :/

You should consider playing with a bigger group like @Arlesienne kind of suggested. You see that loss of a cane way more when you're with two people, but in a bigger world, more people, I can tell you you won't even notice it's missing. It might help you learn get through winter too. If you wanna give up playing the game because you can only manage to get one cane.. Well, that's a little sad to be honest  

[AnonymousKoala]

4 minutes ago, mochilo said:

I'm about to give up playing this game :/

why?

[An Artifact]

4 hours ago, mochilo said:

What's a "tam"?ever made a drying rack. I think I never played long enough to make them, food was never a problem, at least playing alone.

Drying racks are a very very useful thing to make. Much bigger priority than a Walking Cane or an Eyebrella if you ask me  Not only does it make food last much longer, it also is a really nice way to regain both health and sanity. Plus, you'll already need to get a bit of coal for the crockpot, so you might aswell just burn a few more trees for a good six or so drying racks anyway.

[Arlesienne]

44 minutes ago, MeingroessterFan said:

Drying racks are a very very useful thing to make. Much bigger priority than a Walking Cane or an Eyebrella if you ask me  Not only does it make food last much longer, it also is a really nice way to regain both health and sanity. Plus, you'll already need to get a bit of coal for the crockpot, so you might aswell just burn a few more trees for a good six or so drying racks anyway.

Definitely. Pushing racks is one of my personal priorities, since jerky can be used to cook OR be eaten dried for sanity, unlike meat you didn't dry. They're very valuable, work reasonably fast (small jerky in a day, big one in two), and you can get a lot of charcoal on your very first night (since I tend to find a cluster of trees and just light them on fire - gets me charcoal AND saves grass for a campfire, heh, even chopping; or I can chop while a close cluster is burning... you see my point).

In fact, I rarely ever make farms. They're hardly my priority, because they make vegetables only during three seasons (unlike racks, which dry all year long), require gathering lots of manure from beefalos or feeding pigs, take up space and generally are less needed for my carnivore!Willow (or Ayenth for this case) than racks and apiaries. You usually see only two-to-six farms in my camp, tucked away somewhere out of sight, while about nine racks or more.

...

Usually way more.

58 minutes ago, Kittydub said:

You should consider playing with a bigger group like @Arlesienne kind of suggested. You see that loss of a cane way more when you're with two people, but in a bigger world, more people, I can tell you you won't even notice it's missing. It might help you learn get through winter too. If you wanna give up playing the game because you can only manage to get one cane.. Well, that's a little sad to be honest  

THIS. We don't need canes, they are expendable commodities. Why even this idea? Surviving winter is not hard, in fact, it's probably the funniest season (I don't find the constant rain, possibly with frogs, and lightning strikes of spring fun, summer is annoying unless I go spelunking, which I tend to do, and autumn can be used to do pretty much anything BUT hunting the walruses). I think @mochilo is having such problems surviving it BECAUSE he/she hasn't learnt the importance of drying racks yet. I wonder what character they main.

Really, @mochilo, if you need help with winter and onwards, drop me a message. Our group will be glad to help you.

PS

4 hours ago, mochilo said:

What's a "tam"?

I actually have never made a drying rack. I think I never played long enough to make them, food was never a problem, at least playing alone.

 

edit: ok, I understood what tam is xD

A tam is the tam o'shanter, the beret MacTusk Senior drops. Actually much more valuable than a walking cane.

 

[mochilo]

1 hour ago, Kittydub said:

You should consider playing with a bigger group like @Arlesienne kind of suggested. You see that loss of a cane way more when you're with two people, but in a bigger world, more people, I can tell you you won't even notice it's missing. It might help you learn get through winter too. If you wanna give up playing the game because you can only manage to get one cane.. Well, that's a little sad to be honest  

I don't have a group from my area to play with them and avoid the lag. Only one friend, who has only played like four times this game. I was playing alone today.

1 hour ago, AnonymousKoala said:

why?

 

18 minutes ago, Arlesienne said:

I wonder what character they main.

Really, @mochilo, if you need help with winter and onwards, drop me a message. Our group will be glad to help you.

PS

A tam is the tam o'shanter, the beret MacTusk Senior drops. Actually much more valuable than a walking cane.

 

All I do during winter is walk from "base" to Mad Tusk again and again, which normally is a really long walk. When I finally get the Tam and Tusk I'm on day 30+, all my time wasted, Deerclops pops up before I can get my things going. Last time I couldn't find him anymore after running away to get some hp before the fight. I ended up dying to a spider after feeling I was just doing a really bad run in general and lost the motivation to keep going. My 5th and 6th thermal stones broken too, and everything started to look bad in general and gave up.

That is what has happened to me the last few times I reached winter, normally I just die before winter by being dumb.

I don't have a main character. The only time I passed winter (stopped playing on day 142, everything was fun until BEARGER happened in my base and destroyed a lot of my (not many) things), I played Wigfrid because it is the only way I found to just not die on everything, and because I wanted to avoid the super ugly ham helmet all other characters need to craft (please, how can the most used helmet be so ugly :/). After that I told myself I was ready to play a not so OP character so I feel less retarded, tried Wickerbottom because she looks useful to play alone. Now I really don't even see a character I would like to play. I can stand in front of the character select for long minutes just looking and passing them away trying to figure out "what do I want to play"

 

I didn't know dry meat gives you HP and sanity. I always try to burn the less trees possible/not kill animals because I feel bad doing it. Very bad experiences burning all my inventory things on a burning tree, too. But I will take note of that.

[AnonymousKoala]

9 hours ago, mochilo said:

I don't have a group from my area to play with them and avoid the lag. Only one friend, who has only played like four times this game. I was playing alone today.

 

All I do during winter is walk from "base" to Mad Tusk again and again, which normally is a really long walk. When I finally get the Tam and Tusk I'm on day 30+, all my time wasted, Deerclops pops up before I can get my things going. Last time I couldn't find him anymore after running away to get some hp before the fight. I ended up dying to a spider after feeling I was just doing a really bad run in general and lost the motivation to keep going. My 5th and 6th thermal stones broken too, and everything started to look bad in general and gave up.

That is what has happened to me the last few times I reached winter, normally I just die before winter by being dumb.

I don't have a main character. The only time I passed winter (stopped playing on day 142, everything was fun until BEARGER happened in my base and destroyed a lot of my (not many) things), I played Wigfrid because it is the only way I found to just not die on everything, and because I wanted to avoid the super ugly ham helmet all other characters need to craft (please, how can the most used helmet be so ugly :/). After that I told myself I was ready to play a not so OP character so I feel less retarded, tried Wickerbottom because she looks useful to play alone. Now I really don't even see a character I would like to play. I can stand in front of the character select for long minutes just looking and passing them away trying to figure out "what do I want to play"

 

I didn't know dry meat gives you HP and sanity. I always try to burn the less trees possible/not kill animals because I feel bad doing it. Very bad experiences burning all my inventory things on a burning tree, too. But I will take note of that.

You haven't seen so much of the game. Don't give up. Now you know to focus on more things during Winter. Also if everything goes to hell so early in a run...embrace it. You'll miss it when you "git gud", trust me.

[Sinister_Fang]

29 minutes ago, AnonymousKoala said:

You'll miss it when you "git gud", trust me.

I can vouch for this. The game is great and I still enjoy it, but when you "git gud" you'll miss those days when you were inexperienced. Nowadays the only time things get interesting is when everything begins to slowly fall apart due to a couple of ill-timed situations and/or some poor choices.

[Arlesienne]

15 hours ago, mochilo said:

I don't have a group from my area to play with them and avoid the lag. Only one friend, who has only played like four times this game. I was playing alone today.

 

All I do during winter is walk from "base" to Mad Tusk again and again, which normally is a really long walk. When I finally get the Tam and Tusk I'm on day 30+, all my time wasted, Deerclops pops up before I can get my things going. Last time I couldn't find him anymore after running away to get some hp before the fight. I ended up dying to a spider after feeling I was just doing a really bad run in general and lost the motivation to keep going. My 5th and 6th thermal stones broken too, and everything started to look bad in general and gave up.

That is what has happened to me the last few times I reached winter, normally I just die before winter by being dumb.

I don't have a main character. The only time I passed winter (stopped playing on day 142, everything was fun until BEARGER happened in my base and destroyed a lot of my (not many) things), I played Wigfrid because it is the only way I found to just not die on everything, and because I wanted to avoid the super ugly ham helmet all other characters need to craft (please, how can the most used helmet be so ugly :/). After that I told myself I was ready to play a not so OP character so I feel less retarded, tried Wickerbottom because she looks useful to play alone. Now I really don't even see a character I would like to play. I can stand in front of the character select for long minutes just looking and passing them away trying to figure out "what do I want to play"

 

I didn't know dry meat gives you HP and sanity. I always try to burn the less trees possible/not kill animals because I feel bad doing it. Very bad experiences burning all my inventory things on a burning tree, too. But I will take note of that.

Don't despair. The problem lies in incorrect priorities, likely derived from Adventure Mode in DS (where indeed, you want to get a tam, especially for Lights Out and the King of Winter).

Just follow the usual way of things...

The default time of autumn in a new world is about twenty days. Winter will start on the next day and should last about fifteen. It's plenty of time to handle creating a good camp. I'm putting this into spoilers as it will be lengthy.

- You don't make a fire on the first night. Yes, you gather as much grass, twigs and flint as possible, but you make a torch or use Willow's lighter to set a cluster of trees on fire. This gives lots of light (you can even chop etc. nearby, just don't overheat) AND charcoal you'll need very soon. Don't eat until you're nearly starving, there's no time for that when you're searching for a good spot for a camp.

- On the second night, make a fire to cook some food. Chop or mine while doing this. Remember that if you find two flint and even a single boulder, you want to make a pickaxe, not an axe, since mining a boulder (any but flintless) will give you more flint, unlike chopping. Wander about the map, uncovering it. Look for the swamps and the desert. Raze some gold boulders as you'll need at least nine before winter starts: one for a science machine (which you can plop down incredibly early on, somewhere you visit often, not necessarily in the camp, prebuild a crockpot, an alchemy lab, a drying rack and PREFERABLY a beebox), two for the transistors needed for an alchemy lab you NEED before winter too (4 boards, 2 cut stone, 2 transistors), finally six for a birdcage. Two more should be acquired for a fridge, but if you don't manage, well... you can survive.

- The place for a camp differs with every map, but I advise camping right by a swamp and some other biome. Evergreens, birches and saplings are the only things really worth replanting as they don't require being fertilised. Don't lose time making a giant berrybush and grass farm, try to pick an area where the plants are within less than a day's walk. It's something most fall prey to. Instead, make as many drying racks as possible while having at least two stacks of grass when winter starts. You need to have a swamp at hand to get at least 8 cut reeds (for two papyrus for the cage). When you reach such a place, plop down the alchemy lab you prebuilt near a science machine (similarly to the other structures), craft your birdcage AND a bird trap (for which you'll need silk; therefore engage in careful spider homicide, remembering to wait until the den is tier three before taking it down and replanting closer to the camp - preferably near a mermhut in the swamps, since merms won't eat meat; you can use normal traps like for rabbits to effortlessly dispatch spiders and frogs). You don't have to bait it, just wait.

- All meat you get, you dry. Big meats dry in two days. Everything else (except koalefant trunks, which are better spent on vests, and lureplant meat) dries in one day. If you don't need fast healing with fishsticks or froggle bunwiches, use fish and frogs on the racks. Jerky lasts long, stacks nicely, is essential for healing and sanity regeneration when fighting, AND can be used in the crockpot. Similarly, chop birches during autumn (the biggest ones) to gain birchnuts - they have a long shelf life, can be replanted, and when cooked, together with berries, make the cheapest healing dish, trailmix. Having a beebox a few screens' away from your camp, surrounded by lots of flowers, is recommended. Honey is great filler, lasts for ages, can be used for honey poultices, as a sweetener... Oh, and if you put it fat enough, the simplified honey production model should kick in to allow harvesting in winter as well.

- Once you have a bird and a source of monster meat, you can make eggs from cooked monster meat, virtually refreshing your filler; ice is cheap in winter (just preserve at least 15 cubes for a flingo if you don't plan on going spelunking during summer)... For sure shave beefalos (either for a beefalo hat if you're lucky to get a horn, for instance by having a tooth trap kick off on a single beefalo, or a winter hat if you don't find one). Remember to take walks through the swamp DURING THE DAY to collect loot from spider-merm-tentacle wars.

- DO NOT KILL TENTACLES. These are tough buggers to help you greatly decrease the health of your unwelcome guest deerclops. If, say, spiders or merms kill one, though, get the meat, or the spike, or the spot, or a mix of these.

- Before winter starts, you want to take your pickaxe with the least durability left (you can fully mine about four boulders, being left with 9%) and make a thermal stone. Avoid it dropping back to grey if you want to preserve its durability. Having tents is nice to regain health and sanity, but not obligatory. When you don't need eggs, leave the bird unfed, but check every so often if its hunger meter hasn't dropped to orange; you can limit the expenses spared on it by not feeding it too often.

- For the deerclops, when you hear growling, grab your weapons, armour, jerky, thermal stone, enough fuel for several fires (a lantern is very useful if you have caves), and run into your safe zone - into the swamps where the tentacles are the most numerous. The giant spawns near you. Don't aggro it, let mobs weaken it, then if you have none left and it is still standing, kite it. Jerky will deal with the huge sanity drain. About two dozen beefalos can make it very weak, yet you'll still lose the animals. Having a field of tooth traps is useful.

- The tam o'shanter and the cane are nice, but not obligatory. Don't waste time doing nothing but trying to hunt the MacTusks. Surrounding the igloo with enough tooth traps is an excellent idea to handle them. Similarly, Senior will, with little luck stalking you, engage other mobs, beefalos and pigs in particular. Use this knowledge to your advantage.

DISCLAIMER: using Wickerbottom will mean making your birdcage, tents, thermal stones and most of winter clothes (a beefalo hat and rabbit earmuffs can be made with a science machine) with just a science machine at the expense of requiring fresh food and inability to sleep. Wilson will have an easy time during winter with a full beard. Webber will be able to live off monster meat even without a birdcage, but has low sanity. Willow can regain sanity easily through fires. Woodie will chop faster and regain sanity by planting pinecones. Maxwell won't be struggling with sanity. Wendy will have an easier time with sanity as well as having Abigail handle most spider dens (while going suicidal at tentacles). Wolfgang, when mighty, will do much damage, yet require more food. WX, if upgraded with gears, will be able to tank (even better if you get overload). Wes... Wes will look the sexiest of them all!

 

 

[An Artifact]

40 minutes ago, Arlesienne said:ts

 

- You don't make a fire on the first night. Yes, you gather as much grass, twigs and flint as possible, but you make a torch or use Willow's lighter to set a cluster of trees on fire. This gives lots of light (you can even chop etc. nearby, just don't overheat) AND charcoal you'll need very soon. Don't eat until you're nearly starving, there's no time for that when you're searching for a good spot for a camp.

- On the second night, make a fire to cook some food. Chop or mine while doing this. Remember that if you find two flint and even a single boulder, you want to make a pickaxe, not an axe, since mining a boulder (any but flintless) will give you more flint, unlike chopping. Wander about the map, uncovering it. Look for the swamps and the desert. Raze some gold boulders as you'll need at least nine before winter starts: one for a science machine (which you can plop down incredibly early on, somewhere you visit often, not necessarily in the camp, prebuild a crockpot, an alchemy lab, a drying rack and PREFERABLY a beebox), two for the transistors needed for an alchemy lab you NEED before winter too (4 boards, 2 cut stone, 2 transistors), finally six for a birdcage. Two more should be acquired for a fridge, but if you don't manage, well... you can survive.

- The place for a camp differs with every map, but I advise camping right by a swamp and some other biome. Evergreens, birches and saplings are the only things really worth replanting as they don't require being fertilised. Don't lose time making a giant berrybush and grass farm, try to pick an area where the plants are within less than a day's walk. It's something most fall prey to. Instead, make as many drying racks as possible while having at least two stacks of grass when winter starts. You need to have a swamp at hand to get at least 8 cut reeds (for two papyrus for the cage). When you reach such a place, plop down the alchemy lab you prebuilt near a science machine (similarly to the other structures), craft your birdcage AND a bird trap (for which you'll need silk; therefore engage in careful spider homicide, remembering to wait until the den is tier three before taking it down and replanting closer to the camp - preferably near a mermhut in the swamps, since merms won't eat meat; you can use normal traps like for rabbits to effortlessly dispatch spiders and frogs). You don't have to bait it, just wait.

- All meat you get, you dry. Big meats dry in two days. Everything else (except koalefant trunks, which are better spent on vests, and lureplant meat) dries in one day. If you don't need fast healing with fishsticks or froggle bunwiches, use fish and frogs on the racks. Jerky lasts long, stacks nicely, is essential for healing and sanity regeneration when fighting, AND can be used in the crockpot. Similarly, chop birches during autumn (the biggest ones) to gain birchnuts - they have a long shelf life, can be replanted, and when cooked, together with berries, make the cheapest healing dish, trailmix. Having a beebox a few screens' away from your camp, surrounded by lots of flowers, is recommended. Honey is great filler, lasts for ages, can be used for honey poultices, as a sweetener... Oh, and if you put it fat enough, the simplified honey production model should kick in to allow harvesting in winter as well.

- Once you have a bird and a source of monster meat, you can make eggs from cooked monster meat, virtually refreshing your filler; ice is cheap in winter (just preserve at least 15 cubes for a flingo if you don't plan on going spelunking during summer)... For sure shave beefalos (either for a beefalo hat if you're lucky to get a horn, for instance by having a tooth trap kick off on a single beefalo, or a winter hat if you don't find one). Remember to take walks through the swamp DURING THE DAY to collect loot from spider-merm-tentacle wars.

- DO NOT KILL TENTACLES. These are tough buggers to help you greatly decrease the health of your unwelcome guest deerclops. If, say, spiders or merms kill one, though, get the meat, or the spike, or the spot, or a mix of these.

- Before winter starts, you want to take your pickaxe with the least durability left (you can fully mine about four boulders, being left with 9%) and make a thermal stone. Avoid it dropping back to grey if you want to preserve its durability. Having tents is nice to regain health and sanity, but not obligatory. When you don't need eggs, leave the bird unfed, but check every so often if its hunger meter hasn't dropped to orange; you can limit the expenses spared on it by not feeding it too often.

- For the deerclops, when you hear growling, grab your weapons, armour, jerky, thermal stone, enough fuel for several fires (a lantern is very useful if you have caves), and run into your safe zone - into the swamps where the tentacles are the most numerous. The giant spawns near you. Don't aggro it, let mobs weaken it, then if you have none left and it is still standing, kite it. Jerky will deal with the huge sanity drain. About two dozen beefalos can make it very weak, yet you'll still lose the animals. Having a field of tooth traps is useful.

- The tam o'shanter and the cane are nice, but not obligatory. Don't waste time doing nothing but trying to hunt the MacTusks. Surrounding the igloo with enough tooth traps is an excellent idea to handle them. Similarly, Senior will, with little luck stalking you, engage other mobs, beefalos and pigs in particular. Use this knowledge to your advantage.

DISCLAIMER: using Wickerbottom will mean making your birdcage, tents, thermal stones and most of winter clothes (a beefalo hat and rabbit earmuffs can be made with a science machine) with just a science machine at the expense of requiring fresh food and inability to sleep. Wilson will have an easy time during winter with a full beard. Webber will be able to live off monster meat even without a birdcage, but has low sanity. Willow can regain sanity easily through fires. Woodie will chop faster and regain sanity by planting pinecones. Maxwell won't be struggling with sanity. Wendy will have an easier time with sanity as well as having Abigail handle most spider dens (while going suicidal at tentacles). Wolfgang, when mighty, will do much damage, yet require more food. WX, if upgraded with gears, will be able to tank (even better if you get overload). Wes... Wes will look the sexiest of them all!

 

 

 

-lots of very intricate and helpful advice-

Just to be clear, you don't have to do everything listed here; playstyle obviously differs from person to person, but it still helps to give some of the tips Melady suggested here a try.

One alternative for the first night is a little technique I like to call "Dancing With Charlie". It is perfectly possible to get through the first night on a single torch, because I'm stingy and need those sticks for all the axes I'm gonna make. What you can do is unequip the torch and keep walking in darkness until you hear Charlie make her sounds, then quickly equip the torch again. That will reset the damage timer, so you can put the torch away again. Do that a few times, then the durability of the torch will last you the entire autumn night and you saved some basic resources that you probably have no shortage of.

[mochilo]

1 hour ago, Arlesienne said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

- You don't make a fire on the first night. Yes, you gather as much grass, twigs and flint as possible, but you make a torch or use Willow's lighter to set a cluster of trees on fire. This gives lots of light (you can even chop etc. nearby, just don't overheat) AND charcoal you'll need very soon. Don't eat until you're nearly starving, there's no time for that when you're searching for a good spot for a camp.

- On the second night, make a fire to cook some food. Chop or mine while doing this. Remember that if you find two flint and even a single boulder, you want to make a pickaxe, not an axe, since mining a boulder (any but flintless) will give you more flint, unlike chopping. Wander about the map, uncovering it. Look for the swamps and the desert. Raze some gold boulders as you'll need at least nine before winter starts: one for a science machine (which you can plop down incredibly early on, somewhere you visit often, not necessarily in the camp, prebuild a crockpot, an alchemy lab, a drying rack and PREFERABLY a beebox), two for the transistors needed for an alchemy lab you NEED before winter too (4 boards, 2 cut stone, 2 transistors), finally six for a birdcage. Two more should be acquired for a fridge, but if you don't manage, well... you can survive.

- The place for a camp differs with every map, but I advise camping right by a swamp and some other biome. Evergreens, birches and saplings are the only things really worth replanting as they don't require being fertilised. Don't lose time making a giant berrybush and grass farm, try to pick an area where the plants are within less than a day's walk. It's something most fall prey to. Instead, make as many drying racks as possible while having at least two stacks of grass when winter starts. You need to have a swamp at hand to get at least 8 cut reeds (for two papyrus for the cage). When you reach such a place, plop down the alchemy lab you prebuilt near a science machine (similarly to the other structures), craft your birdcage AND a bird trap (for which you'll need silk; therefore engage in careful spider homicide, remembering to wait until the den is tier three before taking it down and replanting closer to the camp - preferably near a mermhut in the swamps, since merms won't eat meat; you can use normal traps like for rabbits to effortlessly dispatch spiders and frogs). You don't have to bait it, just wait.

- All meat you get, you dry. Big meats dry in two days. Everything else (except koalefant trunks, which are better spent on vests, and lureplant meat) dries in one day. If you don't need fast healing with fishsticks or froggle bunwiches, use fish and frogs on the racks. Jerky lasts long, stacks nicely, is essential for healing and sanity regeneration when fighting, AND can be used in the crockpot. Similarly, chop birches during autumn (the biggest ones) to gain birchnuts - they have a long shelf life, can be replanted, and when cooked, together with berries, make the cheapest healing dish, trailmix. Having a beebox a few screens' away from your camp, surrounded by lots of flowers, is recommended. Honey is great filler, lasts for ages, can be used for honey poultices, as a sweetener... Oh, and if you put it fat enough, the simplified honey production model should kick in to allow harvesting in winter as well.

- Once you have a bird and a source of monster meat, you can make eggs from cooked monster meat, virtually refreshing your filler; ice is cheap in winter (just preserve at least 15 cubes for a flingo if you don't plan on going spelunking during summer)... For sure shave beefalos (either for a beefalo hat if you're lucky to get a horn, for instance by having a tooth trap kick off on a single beefalo, or a winter hat if you don't find one). Remember to take walks through the swamp DURING THE DAY to collect loot from spider-merm-tentacle wars.

- DO NOT KILL TENTACLES. These are tough buggers to help you greatly decrease the health of your unwelcome guest deerclops. If, say, spiders or merms kill one, though, get the meat, or the spike, or the spot, or a mix of these.

- Before winter starts, you want to take your pickaxe with the least durability left (you can fully mine about four boulders, being left with 9%) and make a thermal stone. Avoid it dropping back to grey if you want to preserve its durability. Having tents is nice to regain health and sanity, but not obligatory. When you don't need eggs, leave the bird unfed, but check every so often if its hunger meter hasn't dropped to orange; you can limit the expenses spared on it by not feeding it too often.

- For the deerclops, when you hear growling, grab your weapons, armour, jerky, thermal stone, enough fuel for several fires (a lantern is very useful if you have caves), and run into your safe zone - into the swamps where the tentacles are the most numerous. The giant spawns near you. Don't aggro it, let mobs weaken it, then if you have none left and it is still standing, kite it. Jerky will deal with the huge sanity drain. About two dozen beefalos can make it very weak, yet you'll still lose the animals. Having a field of tooth traps is useful.

- The tam o'shanter and the cane are nice, but not obligatory. Don't waste time doing nothing but trying to hunt the MacTusks. Surrounding the igloo with enough tooth traps is an excellent idea to handle them. Similarly, Senior will, with little luck stalking you, engage other mobs, beefalos and pigs in particular. Use this knowledge to your advantage.

DISCLAIMER: using Wickerbottom will mean making your birdcage, tents, thermal stones and most of winter clothes (a beefalo hat and rabbit earmuffs can be made with a science machine) with just a science machine at the expense of requiring fresh food and inability to sleep. Wilson will have an easy time during winter with a full beard. Webber will be able to live off monster meat even without a birdcage, but has low sanity. Willow can regain sanity easily through fires. Woodie will chop faster and regain sanity by planting pinecones. Maxwell won't be struggling with sanity. Wendy will have an easier time with sanity as well as having Abigail handle most spider dens (while going suicidal at tentacles). Wolfgang, when mighty, will do much damage, yet require more food. WX, if upgraded with gears, will be able to tank (even better if you get overload). Wes... Wes will look the sexiest of them all!

 

 

 

 

I have no words for such a huge post of super nice helpful points, you are awesome bro. But I have to say I'm sorry I know everything you said, the only thing I didn't know is having home close to Swamps was a good thing. I have played 150 hours, but I think I have spent more than the double reading around forums and wiki, and watching videos of experienced players making it look super easy,

I feel bad maybe you spent a lot of time typing all that :/ I'm sorry about that. Hopefully some other new forum lurkers see this too.

46 minutes ago, MeingroessterFan said:

Just to be clear, you don't have to do everything listed here; playstyle obviously differs from person to person, but it still helps to give some of the tips Melady suggested here a try.

One alternative for the first night is a little technique I like to call "Dancing With Charlie". It is perfectly possible to get through the first night on a single torch, because I'm stingy and need those sticks for all the axes I'm gonna make. What you can do is unequip the torch and keep walking in darkness until you hear Charlie make her sounds, then quickly equip the torch again. That will reset the damage timer, so you can put the torch away again. Do that a few times, then the durability of the torch will last you the entire autumn night and you saved some basic resources that you probably have no shortage of.

I've done that a bunch of times too, not only on first days, and not only with the torch xD.

 

Thanks a lot for the answers!! Seems like I just will need to git gud or find another adiction. I just got rekted on the world I was enjoying the most, and with a pretty cool base going. Day 30, as Webber. Feels so bad. I have to start a new one everyday.

[AnonymousKoala]

19 minutes ago, mochilo said:

I have no words for such a huge post of super nice helpful points, you are awesome bro. But I have to say I'm sorry I know everything you said, the only thing I didn't know is having home close to Swamps was a good thing. I have played 150 hours, but I think I have spent more than the double reading around forums and wiki, and watching videos of experienced players making it look super easy,

I feel bad maybe you spent a lot of time typing all that :/ I'm sorry about that. Hopefully some other new forum lurkers see this too.

I've done that a bunch of times too, not only on first days, and not only with the torch xD.

 

Thanks a lot for the answers!! Seems like I just will need to git gud or find another adiction. I just got rekted on the world I was enjoying the most, and with a pretty cool base going. Day 30, as Webber. Feels so bad. I have to start a new one everyday.

I get that. At first its hard. But remember, you haven't lived for enough to truly accomplish anything. And once you did, you'll most likely have so many failsafes that losing that will kind of be impossible. You have so much left to exprience.

[fimmatek]

1 hour ago, mochilo said:

Thanks a lot for the answers!! Seems like I just will need to git gud or find another adiction. I just got rekted on the world I was enjoying the most, and with a pretty cool base going. Day 30, as Webber. Feels so bad. I have to start a new one everyday.

I can understand that feeling, I did it too int the first few month...

What I could suggest is, that the goal in Don't Starve is not just how to survive, but how to revive yourself, especially if you solo DST. You could find a few touch-stones and leave some quick supplies there (a torch, an axe, some twigs, grass and logs), so that if you resurrect there, you won't die immediately. You also should build a Prestihatitator (sound difficult, but with a bit of luck you can make it in one day, especially if you play as Webber). Than you can craft a meat effigy or a life giving amulet, which you can take with yourself. They are not as easy to get, I know. For a meat effigy, practice with Wilson, so that you can easyly resurrect. And you can find gems in the cemetery or in earthquakes.

The easiest way, as to my oppinion, is if you set your game to "endless". You could make your base near to the portal, or leave some stuff there, so that you will allways be able to resurrect. It's really good for practising, I have still one endless world with more hundred days.

As a conclusion: if you play with others, it won't be a problem to get revived, if you solo, learn how is it the easiest for you to revive yourself, and with that method you'll have much less troubles!  

[VarsoZergy]

6 hours ago, MeingroessterFan said:

 

7 hours ago, Arlesienne said:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

- You don't make a fire on the first night. Yes, you gather as much grass, twigs and flint as possible, but you make a torch or use Willow's lighter to set a cluster of trees on fire. This gives lots of light (you can even chop etc. nearby, just don't overheat) AND charcoal you'll need very soon. Don't eat until you're nearly starving, there's no time for that when you're searching for a good spot for a camp.

- On the second night, make a fire to cook some food. Chop or mine while doing this. Remember that if you find two flint and even a single boulder, you want to make a pickaxe, not an axe, since mining a boulder (any but flintless) will give you more flint, unlike chopping. Wander about the map, uncovering it. Look for the swamps and the desert. Raze some gold boulders as you'll need at least nine before winter starts: one for a science machine (which you can plop down incredibly early on, somewhere you visit often, not necessarily in the camp, prebuild a crockpot, an alchemy lab, a drying rack and PREFERABLY a beebox), two for the transistors needed for an alchemy lab you NEED before winter too (4 boards, 2 cut stone, 2 transistors), finally six for a birdcage. Two more should be acquired for a fridge, but if you don't manage, well... you can survive.

- The place for a camp differs with every map, but I advise camping right by a swamp and some other biome. Evergreens, birches and saplings are the only things really worth replanting as they don't require being fertilised. Don't lose time making a giant berrybush and grass farm, try to pick an area where the plants are within less than a day's walk. It's something most fall prey to. Instead, make as many drying racks as possible while having at least two stacks of grass when winter starts. You need to have a swamp at hand to get at least 8 cut reeds (for two papyrus for the cage). When you reach such a place, plop down the alchemy lab you prebuilt near a science machine (similarly to the other structures), craft your birdcage AND a bird trap (for which you'll need silk; therefore engage in careful spider homicide, remembering to wait until the den is tier three before taking it down and replanting closer to the camp - preferably near a mermhut in the swamps, since merms won't eat meat; you can use normal traps like for rabbits to effortlessly dispatch spiders and frogs). You don't have to bait it, just wait.

- All meat you get, you dry. Big meats dry in two days. Everything else (except koalefant trunks, which are better spent on vests, and lureplant meat) dries in one day. If you don't need fast healing with fishsticks or froggle bunwiches, use fish and frogs on the racks. Jerky lasts long, stacks nicely, is essential for healing and sanity regeneration when fighting, AND can be used in the crockpot. Similarly, chop birches during autumn (the biggest ones) to gain birchnuts - they have a long shelf life, can be replanted, and when cooked, together with berries, make the cheapest healing dish, trailmix. Having a beebox a few screens' away from your camp, surrounded by lots of flowers, is recommended. Honey is great filler, lasts for ages, can be used for honey poultices, as a sweetener... Oh, and if you put it fat enough, the simplified honey production model should kick in to allow harvesting in winter as well.

- Once you have a bird and a source of monster meat, you can make eggs from cooked monster meat, virtually refreshing your filler; ice is cheap in winter (just preserve at least 15 cubes for a flingo if you don't plan on going spelunking during summer)... For sure shave beefalos (either for a beefalo hat if you're lucky to get a horn, for instance by having a tooth trap kick off on a single beefalo, or a winter hat if you don't find one). Remember to take walks through the swamp DURING THE DAY to collect loot from spider-merm-tentacle wars.

- DO NOT KILL TENTACLES. These are tough buggers to help you greatly decrease the health of your unwelcome guest deerclops. If, say, spiders or merms kill one, though, get the meat, or the spike, or the spot, or a mix of these.

- Before winter starts, you want to take your pickaxe with the least durability left (you can fully mine about four boulders, being left with 9%) and make a thermal stone. Avoid it dropping back to grey if you want to preserve its durability. Having tents is nice to regain health and sanity, but not obligatory. When you don't need eggs, leave the bird unfed, but check every so often if its hunger meter hasn't dropped to orange; you can limit the expenses spared on it by not feeding it too often.

- For the deerclops, when you hear growling, grab your weapons, armour, jerky, thermal stone, enough fuel for several fires (a lantern is very useful if you have caves), and run into your safe zone - into the swamps where the tentacles are the most numerous. The giant spawns near you. Don't aggro it, let mobs weaken it, then if you have none left and it is still standing, kite it. Jerky will deal with the huge sanity drain. About two dozen beefalos can make it very weak, yet you'll still lose the animals. Having a field of tooth traps is useful.

- The tam o'shanter and the cane are nice, but not obligatory. Don't waste time doing nothing but trying to hunt the MacTusks. Surrounding the igloo with enough tooth traps is an excellent idea to handle them. Similarly, Senior will, with little luck stalking you, engage other mobs, beefalos and pigs in particular. Use this knowledge to your advantage.

DISCLAIMER: using Wickerbottom will mean making your birdcage, tents, thermal stones and most of winter clothes (a beefalo hat and rabbit earmuffs can be made with a science machine) with just a science machine at the expense of requiring fresh food and inability to sleep. Wilson will have an easy time during winter with a full beard. Webber will be able to live off monster meat even without a birdcage, but has low sanity. Willow can regain sanity easily through fires. Woodie will chop faster and regain sanity by planting pinecones. Maxwell won't be struggling with sanity. Wendy will have an easier time with sanity as well as having Abigail handle most spider dens (while going suicidal at tentacles). Wolfgang, when mighty, will do much damage, yet require more food. WX, if upgraded with gears, will be able to tank (even better if you get overload). Wes... Wes will look the sexiest of them all!

 

 

 

-lots of very intricate and helpful advice-

Just to be clear, you don't have to do everything listed here; playstyle obviously differs from person to person, but it still helps to give some of the tips Melady suggested here a try.

One alternative for the first night is a little technique I like to call "Dancing With Charlie". It is perfectly possible to get through the first night on a single torch, because I'm stingy and need those sticks for all the axes I'm gonna make. What you can do is unequip the torch and keep walking in darkness until you hear Charlie make her sounds, then quickly equip the torch again. That will reset the damage timer, so you can put the torch away again. Do that a few times, then the durability of the torch will last you the entire autumn night and you saved some basic resources that you probably have no shortage of.

 

Especially useful with maxwell

[Arlesienne]

37 minutes ago, VarsoZergy said:

Especially useful with maxwell

Exactly, because he can nullify the huge sanity loss of remaining in complete darkness.