Still figuring out how to play this

[Random_Violins]

So, I'm still figuring out how to play this game. When I started I never made it past winter so I gave up on it relatively quickly.

I recently picked it up again. It's an easy game, with no nights and no winter. The thing is, it's dull. I'm avoiding the challenge and the thing's just gonna get gradually more difficult until I die anyway. Also, I'm just surviving, but I know there's more to the game. Going down the caves and facing these bosses and obtaining certain items.

I watched this youtube video with common newb mistakes. One is never taking off the backpack. Check. In another recommendation, they tell you to embrace insanity. Cause you need nightmare fuel for a bunch of stuff. How the &#/* you do that?! It makes the world distorted and hostile and I'd rather run away from that shizzle.

Also, I hate the grind. But there's no other way.

I may never pick up this game again.
But maybe I will...

[Lumina]

Hi,

You can perfectly avoid insanity if you don't like it/can't manage it. The fact that some players enjoy being insane because it's efficient for them doesn't mean that you have to do the same thing. I usually try to avoid being insane and i still have fun.

 

About difficulty, what is your main problem ? Food ? Hound attack ? Sanity ? Spider ? Something else ?

Some quick tips :

Make a crockpot for food. You can use berries and mushrooms as filler.

When you hear hound, equip a spear, an armor or a helmet, and try to find allies (pig, for example), or at least animals/monster that will attack hounds.

For sanity, cooked green mushrooms are great. Cooked blue mushrooms are a little less good but still ok.

Spider : you could use trap against them. Also, if you fight only a small number of spider, you could kite them (you approach, they start to try to attack, you go away, they attack and miss, you come back, hit a few time and repeat.). It's not easy the first time, but when you are able to do it, you can avoid most of the damage (as long as they aren't too many). Spider warriors are a little more tricky...

[GuyNamedChris]

First tip, never watch an Edgy Rick video again, he's not helpful and has a very closed mindset about the game. There's a bunch of other guides you can find floating around the internet, such as the wiki or the Steam Guides. Here's a couple of links:
http://dontstarve.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Guides
http://steamcommunity.com/app/322330/guides/?browsesort=toprated&browsefilter=toprated&requiredtags[0]=english&p=1

Hope I could help.

[Mr Pig]

5 minutes ago, Chris1488 said:

First tip, never watch an Edgy Rick video again,

This one speaks the truth!

I am a Woodie main and anyone that has seen at least 1 edgy rick video can tell he would probably hate me for that.

(Fun edgy rick fact, he calls farms a stupid waste of time yet also in a separate video says winter gear is a waste aside from fashion melons which REQUIRE farms to make, and make you wet which makes you colder along with a bunch of other stuff so kinda counter productive.)

Though edgy rick rants aside as far as tips, crock pots are great, and even watching more experienced player's first episodes of a stream series or something also helps as you can just see what they do and infer from it. A lot of people only cover like 3 biomes of the map in the early game before basing. In truth you want to explore ASAP so you can find the best spot to base outside of just the immediate area (you don't have to but I find locating some things that are guaranteed in worldgen as well as specific biomes comes in handy.) If winter is your struggle (which it sounds like it is) make sure to mine lots of ice as filler for crock pots (1 monster meat + 3 ice = meatballs and those give you almost an in-game day worth of hunger points) and make sure to have winter gear if you want to do much moving around during the season. If deerclops is your struggle... then the best thing to do is to just lure him into a treegaurd or other strong thing that isn't beefalo. Even firing up a new world and spawning in some equipment and deerclops with the console to practice kiting him (the semi-difficult art of moving away from an enemy as they attempt to attack you dodging the hit using various rhythms for different enemies to match their attack frequency.)

 

Now biggest recommendation is to play with other people... especially ones that know a good deal of what to do and are patient to help. (trust me I have things I need to learn still and my friends have filled me in plenty)  Now of course you may not know people that play the game but you can always hop around on pubs and Klei officials to find people that are willing to help you out! It's how I found most of my friends and managed a pretty long term world together with em! Of course if your friends have poor internet/ping or vice versa I can't really help there but trust me friends make this game go from a blast to an all out party!

 

 

[LuxuryHeart]

18 minutes ago, Chris1488 said:

First tip, never watch an Edgy Rick video again, he's not helpful and has a very closed mindset about the game. There's a bunch of other guides you can find floating around the internet, such as the wiki or the Steam Guides. Here's a couple of links:
http://dontstarve.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Guides
http://steamcommunity.com/app/322330/guides/?browsesort=toprated&browsefilter=toprated&requiredtags[0]=english&p=1

Hope I could help.

I'll never watch that guy again.  He pretty much trashed Willow (who I used to main) and was a huge jerk.

My favorite guide is personally Enjee.  Simple and to the point.  Others I like are RazingHel and Skull24 because they are just simple and quick.  

[GuyNamedChris]

Just now, Mr Pig said:

(Fun edgy rick fact, he calls farms a stupid waste of time yet also in a separate video says winter gear is a waste aside from fashion melons which REQUIRE farms to make, and make you wet which makes you colder along with a bunch of other stuff so kinda counter productive.)

He does that a lot; he made another "10 Mistakes you make in DS" video recently where he made a tier list with Webber with the top characters, and the very next video closed out with "If you don't subscribe you're probably a Webber main."

[LuxuryHeart]

2 hours ago, Random_Violins said:

So, I'm still figuring out how to play this game. When I started I never made it past winter so I gave up on it relatively quickly.

I recently picked it up again. It's an easy game, with no nights and no winter. The thing is, it's dull. I'm avoiding the challenge and the thing's just gonna get gradually more difficult until I die anyway. Also, I'm just surviving, but I know there's more to the game. Going down the caves and facing these bosses and obtaining certain items.

I watched this youtube video with common newb mistakes. One is never taking off the backpack. Check. In another recommendation, they tell you to embrace insanity. Cause you need nightmare fuel for a bunch of stuff. How the &#/* you do that?! It makes the world distorted and hostile and I'd rather run away from that shizzle.

Also, I hate the grind. But there's no other way.

I may never pick up this game again.
But maybe I will...

I struggle with this as well.  Though here are tips.  Collect a LOT of green and blue mushrooms (like over 20 for green only).  Now before we get into specifics, you need armor.  Make a logsuit (8 logs and 6 grass for 2 ropes) and spear (2 twigs, a flint, and 3 grass for a rope).  You will have to leave your backpack since the logsuit replaces the backpack.  Now the mushrooms.  The average character has 200 or 150 sanity.  Eat 3 or 4 to go completely insane.  Eat 5 mushrooms for Wicker.  After you get that insane, you should have that aggressive nightmare monster after you.  Keep hitting it to get nightmare fuel.  

A passive aggressive way to get nightmare fuel would be to build a prestihatitator.  This is going to be very long, so listen up!  First you need to catch rabbits.  One trap should be more than enough to catch 4 of them needed for the machine.  Though you need two traps, maybe more, overall.  A trap is 6 grass and 2 twigs.  If you see a rabbit, lay the trap down and bait so that they come to you (step away from the trap though because they run if you're close enough).  A longer way would be to make a trap, put it over a rabbit hole, and stop by later on to collect it.  After you caught those 4 rabbits, you need to get silk.  Yep, a top hat (6 silk) is needed.  Use the traps to catch spiders.  Keep using them until you get 6 silk.  After that, get 16 logs to make into 4 boards.  Now you should have 4 rabbits, 6 silk, and 4 boards to make the prestihatitator (purple machine that looks like a giant hat).  After you make that, you need 4 evil flowers to make 1 nightmare fuel.  

If you need more advice, just look at the Don't Starve forum with videos: https://forums.kleientertainment.com/forum/25-dont-starve-videos/

[Auth]

2 hours ago, Random_Violins said:

So, I'm still figuring out how to play this game. When I started I never made it past winter so I gave up on it relatively quickly.

I recently picked it up again. It's an easy game, with no nights and no winter. The thing is, it's dull. I'm avoiding the challenge and the thing's just gonna get gradually more difficult until I die anyway. Also, I'm just surviving, but I know there's more to the game. Going down the caves and facing these bosses and obtaining certain items.

I watched this youtube video with common newb mistakes. One is never taking off the backpack. Check. In another recommendation, they tell you to embrace insanity. Cause you need nightmare fuel for a bunch of stuff. How the &#/* you do that?! It makes the world distorted and hostile and I'd rather run away from that shizzle.

Also, I hate the grind. But there's no other way.

Phew, Okay. First of all, there is a LOT of opinion going on in this thread rather than fact. While I don't personally appreciate how the creator of that video you mentioned's attitude towards not only the game but other people outside of the game, I also don't appreciate people calling them out and stooping down to the same level. I am really sorry that this is an introduction for you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, there's a reason why you can customize the world as you wish. That's because, believe it or not:

You can play it however you want to! Yes, yes, it's true. You can have free will when it comes to decision making.

Every character in the game has very different playstyles. I'd recommend for starting off you just stick with Wilson, as he doesn't have any wacky mechanics to confuse you on your path to learning the game. Once you get the base mechanics down, feel free to try other characters.

Something you should know, is that it's good to fear everything. When you're learning, feeling too comfortable is never a good thing. Heck, I have 800ish hours chucked in and a world at over 1,000 days and I'm still afraid some curve ball could smack me in the face. The game's like that.

Another thing is that the game will not hesitate to PUNISH your mistakes. Be thankful that Don't Starve Together is a little more lenient than the base game- One mistake in the base game and, in an instant, all your work is gone. But, don't let this scare you too bad - usually what causes these problems is hermiting and crying in a corner in the first place. After all, the best way to learn is to fail spectacularly and realize maybe you shouldn't do things like that again in that same way. As for that video, well, it's full of very questionable and opinionated advice rather than factual things. Like, you can keep beefalo around as long as you like, they are a very valuable asset if you know how to work them around. 

As for insanity, well, that's for more experienced players. The thing is, is that you just aren't supposed to fear it. The more scared you are of it, the more it will punish you. All the insanity monsters can easily be outrun just by walking and you can easily regain it via food or flowers or tons of other things.

Ah yes. As for winter, you need to spend most of autumn getting food sources ready, and harvesting resources in abundance, and getting winter clothing ready. After winter comes spring, which is full of rain and some players can find spring rougher than winter. But, after that, comes by far the toughest season, summer. In summer, your structures can light on fire and burn down if you don't build them within the range of an "Ice flingomatic" Now that doesn't necessarily mean "Don't build your base until you build one of those", but just keep in mind, you may not want your base to span miles as their range is limited and they aren't exactly easy to produce hundreds of. Also, they extinguish normal campfires, so don't make that mistake.

In fact, if you need any help or have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask around here, or, even to personally ask me.

 

And again, a lot of these things being talked about in both the video and on here are very advanced and can confuse you. If you're confused on anything, and I mean ANYTHING, ask around or just ask me.

 

Best of luck with your surviving!

[Mencken]

3 hours ago, Random_Violins said:

So, I'm still figuring out how to play this game. When I started I never made it past winter so I gave up on it relatively quickly.

I recently picked it up again. It's an easy game, with no nights and no winter. The thing is, it's dull. I'm avoiding the challenge and the thing's just gonna get gradually more difficult until I die anyway. Also, I'm just surviving, but I know there's more to the game. Going down the caves and facing these bosses and obtaining certain items.

I watched this youtube video with common newb mistakes. One is never taking off the backpack. Check. In another recommendation, they tell you to embrace insanity. Cause you need nightmare fuel for a bunch of stuff. How the &#/* you do that?! It makes the world distorted and hostile and I'd rather run away from that shizzle.

Also, I hate the grind. But there's no other way.

I may never pick up this game again.
But maybe I will...

In a way I envy you, I remember trying half a dozen times to make it through winter.   It was very hard but also incredibly exciting, especially when little discoveries are made along the way (for the first few hundred days I didn't read any information on the game).   At this point for me the regular game is dull though I still enjoy playing with other people, but we are often done with the ruins by day 20.   

 

I was just like you, hated even getting close to insane and avoided the caves for quite a while.   Once you get acclimated though it becomes easy, I think the most valuable lesson I learned is always to have the ability to run, even for a long time, that will get you out of trouble 100% of the time.  

[NeddoFreddo]

On 09/09/2017 at 7:47 AM, Chris1488 said:

First tip, never watch an Edgy Rick video again, he's not helpful and has a very closed mindset about the game. There's a bunch of other guides you can find floating around the internet, such as the wiki or the Steam Guides. Here's a couple of links:

I have to kind of disagree with you there; Rick does provide some good information. There's no need to direct new players away from him, but yeah, he definitely has a strange view about the game, strongly encouraging everyone to rush the ruins as Wolfgang or whatever without getting a grip on things at their own pace. Also, don't comment on his videos.

Just don't.

Spoiler

And we are kinda derailing this topic here by ranting about edgy rick, probably should get back on topic or whatever

[JohnWatson]

this is assuming you're playing for the long term:

- death is natural and is important for your improvement, learn to accept your failures

- any character is fine, wigfrid isn't a requirement, you can play just fine with any of the characters

- farmplots are just for decor, they're one of the worst possible sources of food you can use

- rabbit or spider traps are a huge waste of time, it's a very slow and inefficient way of getting food

- kill butterflies for food, they're very abundant and takes only a second

- you don't need to carry a backpack 24/7, they're just a tool for when you really need to carry more slots

- you can use the F key to kill things, it's pretty nifty, and a cheap hambat can let your F key kill things faster

- don't forget that the magic tab exists, it has the dark swords and resurrection stuff, it's nice

- also don't forget that the caves and ruins exist, the caves have nifty stuff like bunny hutches and you can move them to your base

- the ruins have even niftier stuff like the magiluminescence, it's great

- spend half of your first autumn outlining the entire map, yes the entire map, this gives you a good idea of where things are

- for the first autumn, priority is learning where certain resources are located, which is important in the long run

- a good base site is nearby biomes with unmoveable resources such as deserts, swamps, etc

- don't base near beefalos, savannahs are empty and boring, you can relocate beefalos anyway

- you can lure beefalos with grass or twigs to kill them, the loot is worth it

- winter is just autumn but you wear clothes to not freeze

- top priority for the first winter is getting a cane

- speed boosts are underrated, always equip that cane when possible

- don't waste your time on mining fifty stacks of ice, stop relying on meatballs for food, it's not as rubbish as farmplot food, but it's situational and overrated

- oh btw deerclops will come and wreck you if you're unprepared, but you can kill him with a hambat, some armour, some healing, and a campfire, hold down F

- spring is just autumn but you wear clothes to not get wet

- frog rains happen in spring, it's annoying, be prepared

- there's Goose things that drop feathers and lots of meat when you kill them, pretty nice

- summer is just autumn but everything is on fire

- i hate summer

- you can pretty much just start mucking around if you're good at the game now, go do stuff like killing raid bosses on day 1 idk if you find that fun

- i probably forgot a lot of stuff i wanted to say, who cares

- written or video guides aren't perfect, they're mostly drivel that won't hell

- as with everything in life, you'll only improve if you leave your comfort zone

- many people, including me, will tell you that what they know is the absolute best, but it's most likely not, make sure you're able think for yourself

- in the end, nobody can control how you play, do your own thing

a

[Rellimarual]

There's a lot of good advice above, but the main thing is not to get swept up in the fundamentalism of some long-term players.

Sure, farms are not super efficient, but I've made it to 400+ days using them (even if I don't use them much anymore). You don't really need a dark sword (again, made it to basically infinite sustainability without ever bothering with one). I hate the insanity effect, so it never seemed worth it. The two (mini)boss drops that are essential are the tam o shanter and the tusk/walking cane. Concentrate on getting those in the winter. Use thermal stone and a winter/beefalo hat to stay warm. It's fine to cook meatballs with ice if you're having a hard time with food. It's fine to use traps to get rabbits and spiders if that gets you through the winter and you haven't gotten the hang of kiting yet. Over time, you will realize which items work the best for you and which are more trouble or resources than they're worth. Staying insane all the time is completely unnecessary to survival, though it comes in handy when you are a more advanced player.

You WILL die a lot, but that's OK.

[Lumina]

Even playing without cane and tam is perfectly ok. Sure, they are very convenients and powerful, and a great boost, but you can survive and enjoy the game without them.

[Rellimarual]

You're right, of course. I just remember my early days of playing DS, when the tam and cane were the big brass rings I was after. Some commenter on the wiki said he had so many tams he put them on his pigs and I couldn't even imagine being that rich!

[Maslak]

1 hour ago, Rellimarual said:

Sure, farms are not super efficient, but I've made it to 400+ days using them (even if I don't use them much anymore).

I bet you stopped using them because they are time sink and are simply boring. The main goal should not be surviving infinitely just for the sake of it. If one has 1000 days world and spent half of this time picking up seeds and feeding crops to bird, it's stupid and boring. There are easier and more efficient ways to get food, so one has more time to do other things, reaching some goals (killing all bosses, building nifty zoo etc).

Trapping rabits and mining ice for food works, but it's bad habit (huge, inefficient time sink). It's not okay to keep doing this, by repeating bad habits player won't learn anything nor leave their ****ty comfort zone. They won't experience some of the stuff the game has to offer. Okay, they may be having fun, but they just have no idea what else can be done.

[LuxuryHeart]

14 minutes ago, Maslak said:

I bet you stopped using them because they are time sink and are simply boring. The main goal should not be surviving infinitely just for the sake of it. If one has 1000 days world and spent half of this time picking up seeds and feeding crops to bird, it's stupid and boring. There are easier and more efficient ways to get food, so one has more time to do other things, reaching some goals (killing all bosses, building nifty zoo etc).

Trapping rabits and mining ice for food works, but it's bad habit (huge, inefficient time sink). It's not okay to keep doing this, by repeating bad habits player won't learn anything nor leave their ****ty comfort zone. They won't experience some of the stuff the game has to offer. Okay, they may be having fun, but they just have no idea what else can be done.

I don't know.  I think players should play to their own style.  Some players may like explorers, conquering (killing pretty much everything), or building.  I personally don't like exploring much outside of getting the stuff I need to build up my base.  I don't care much about discovering things and I don't care much about killing things either.  The fun for me is building up my base.  A player that wants to build an extravagant base may have a use for farms to complete the looks.  Besides...  I usually have a stock of seeds and want to do something with them.  If anything, the annoying part is getting the poop and rocks for the farm.

Though I do think they shouldn't really encourage a style later on.  Players need to be all around in general, though especially to experience different things and learn the most efficient way to play.

[Lumina]

I like having some farms, they are great for emergency food in some situations. They don't require that much work if i manage them during night when i don't usually have better things to do, so it's ok for me.

I don't make a lot of them, now, unlike before, but a couple of farm are ok.

[Rellimarual]

4 hours ago, Maslak said:

I bet you stopped using them because they are time sink and are simply boring. The main goal should not be surviving infinitely just for the sake of it. If one has 1000 days world and spent half of this time picking up seeds and feeding crops to bird, it's stupid and boring. There are easier and more efficient ways to get food, so one has more time to do other things, reaching some goals (killing all bosses, building nifty zoo etc).

No. I used to make big dragonfruit plantations because I liked that crops never spoil, but I stopped when I started playing as Wigfrid. I have a friend who's a Wicker main and she loves farms. Some of my favorite streamers still use them. People have different play styles. It's good to tell new players that they don't need farms to survive, but in fact, for most new players, getting to the point of surviving indefinitely IS their primary goal. They will possibly move on to others, but my impression is that the OP is not at that point yet.

[Random_Violins]

You guys are super helpful. Seriously. Thanks a bunch!

happy surviving

[CaptainCatSleeping]

Hope that you can survive better! Feel free to ask more questions and give us some updates about you survival if you don't mind.