New player, frustrated

[YarrowPyxie]

Been wanting this game forever since I saw Markiplier play it. Bought it last week, have only made it 20 days at the most so far. I'm determined to do well but I'm really frustrated with the maps. I know why everything gets blacked out each time you respawn (because essentially its a new game) but I'm wandering aimlessly and wasting time because i'm looking for all the areas to try and decide where i need to put my initial base and i feel like i could get further along if i establish myself sooner. Any tips?

[Destros09]

Basing tips

- Be near pig king,

this is for gold, glommer, and a sinkhole don't get to close though

-be near beefalo,

lifesaver with hounds and giants, don't be overly reliant on them, don't kill them shave them

-be near rockylands,

this is obviously for rocks, can be substituted by certain parts of caves

-keep your distance from Goose nest and walrus camps, but don't be to far either

 

this is for near perfect basing, not always available though so settle down somewhere close to this

[Donke60]

Welcome to the forums
Yes I have some tips for you.

• In the first few days explore as much as possible
• Try not to get so hanged up on finding the perfect spot for your base most resouces can be moved with a shovel
• protize the crafting machines and one crockpot so that you can have the most open to you and get the most vital recipes first
• Explore the edges of the map and not the center as this will tell you how large a biome is and lead you into other biomes most of the time

These are the tips I can give you now with out spoiling anything and DS is about finding out how to do stuff on your own and I would hate to spoil mobs and strages for you though if you have a spefific problem I'm sure I and other forum members would be glad to help.

[Maslak]

19 minutes ago, Destros09 said:

- Be near pig king,

this is for gold, glommer, and a sinkhole don't get to close though

I disagree. Gold is useful, but you don't need to camp near PK for it. Just make trip if you want a lot of spare meat to turn into gold. Glommer is something you just pick up once, that's all. Unless you want to farm it every full moon, which is good idea. But again, no need to camp at his statue for this. If you do this, all the Krampi may steal your stuff, so it's another point. Sinkholes can be found in swamp and mosaic biomes, too. And once again, no need to camp by them. Maybe small outpost-like base to prepare for spelunking, but definitely not main base.

19 minutes ago, Destros09 said:

-be near beefalo,

lifesaver with hounds and giants, don't be overly reliant on them, don't kill them shave them

They can save you from Goose and Deerclops, if there is enough of them. But both Bearger and Dragonfly wipe them all in seconds. It's good to learn fighting giants on your own, what if they get you when you're away from beefalo, on the other side of map? Killing beefalo is nice, because it yields meat. Meat is neat. And if you don't kill beefalo, at some point there will be too many of them. You also didn't mention that they go in heat during mating seasons and turn hostile against everything, including player.

19 minutes ago, Destros09 said:

-be near rockylands,

this is obviously for rocks, can be substituted by certain parts of caves

Mining whole rocky biome may take 1, 2 or maye 3 days. That's all. After you clear it, there won't be anything interesting. No need to camp close to it.

19 minutes ago, Destros09 said:

-keep your distance from Goose nest and walrus camps, but don't be to far either

Goose nests don't exist in Don't Starve. I agree with walrus camps, unless you put some kind of traps there or just place bunny/pig houses. In this case you will get teeth and gems quite often.

[JohnWatson]

5 minutes ago, Destros09 said:

-be near beefalo,

lifesaver with hounds and giants, don't be overly reliant on them, don't kill them shave them

Don't do this, it will cause you to become over-reliant of beefalos. Beefalos are a luxury, not a necessity.

Just wear armour, grab a good weapon, and learn how to fight, your F key exists.

Kill hounds yourself. Kill giants yourself. Kill beefalos yourself. Beefalo horn and wool can be crafted into a beefalo hat, it's the best winter headgear.

5 minutes ago, Destros09 said:

-be near rockylands,

this is obviously for rocks, can be substituted by certain parts of caves

Don't do this either. Once the rock biome is cleared of boulders, it's useless. Boulders are a non-renewable resource.

It's best to base near renewable and immoveable resources. For instance, reeds and tumbleweeds. This is why many (competent) players choose to base near swamps and deserts.

Savannah and rock biomes are the worst places to base in. Also, don't base on Day 2, that's a common mistake and you will regret basing immediately. Take at least 7-10 days running along the ocean shore to get a good idea of the map and collect resources along the way.

Don't build walls unless for decoration and penning animals. Walls take too much time and resources to set up. They don't do much except get eaten by mobs and eat up your time and resources. They can also cause your death. If hounds corner you into a wall, you can't escape and you'll get stunlocked to death. Walls are stupid.

Don't make farmplots (the ones you put seeds in) unless for decoration purposes. If you want food, there are better sources. For instance, berries, bunnymen, golt voats, bee boxes, or even punching butterflies. Even eating seeds is a better source of food than growing crops. Farmplots are stupid.

You might also see extensive use of traps for small animals such as rabbits and spiders. Don't do that, it's stupid. Just use a weapon, it's faster and doesn't eat up resources. Most characters can two-shot spiders and mighty Wolfgang can one-shot them. Traps are stupid.

You'd also grow fond of having a bird cage and a walking cane. You can convert cooked meats, spoilt or not, into eggs with a bird cage. Even cooked monster meat or cooked eggs can be converted into fresh eggs. It's nice. Walking Cane increases your speed by 25% when held. It can and will save a lot of time. A lot more time than you think.

 

Anyway, what matters the most is having fun, I guess. So have fun.

[Arlesienne]

One word for all your base-building needs...

THE SWAMP.

[TheKingDedede]

With the Swamp being a dangerous biome and the Merms being green, it just reminded me of this:

 

[Arlesienne]

7 minutes ago, TheKingDedede said:

With the Swamp being a dangerous biome and the Merms being green, it just reminded me of this:

 

Wading through it. And stealing your tentacle drops.

I will forever spread the love of swamp loot to people.

[wefoij]

I just ditch the surface world for caves.

1. Caves don't have giants spawning that wreck your entire base.

2. Caves have significantly slower temperature problems. This means you get hot/cold a lot slower.

3. Caves don't have spontaneous combustion in summer. If you're in the surface world during summer, your entire base will catch on fire and burn down every day.

SO, what I do is

1. Spend the first 20-30 days gathering supplies and dropping it off in the caves.

2. Build a cave base and live off of spiders.

3. Once you get efficient you'll have time to do other things.

 

As Wendy, I farm spiders really easily and turn all the monster meat into edible meat with the birdcage and crockpot.

[Starlogy]

3 hours ago, Arlesienne said:

One word for all your base-building needs...

THE SWAMP.

I'm agreeing with Arles 100%. You get food for days here, and if you have a Reed Trap, then you can use Bunnymen to clear them out.

And you can even eat the remains of the tentacles and the bunnymen!

[minespatch]

I'm a new player myself and I've been using the pig village and beefalo savannah as my go to places for Hound destruction. It's best to take notes on where your frustrations are and then go to the wiki for ideas on how to avoid your grievances. Learning from my failures is really fun in this game for me, making me want to improve while learning the lore as I go on.

[YarrowPyxie]

God damned Tree guards are my nemesis. i plant the pine cones, i try to listen for the spawn noise but the majority if my deaths have been at the hands of a tree. LET ME CHOP WOOD IN PEACE DANGIT!

[Maslak]

Hit 4 times, avoid his swing, hit 4 times, avoid. Repeat until success. If you're a PC player, I recommend using WSAD and F key. F to attack, WSAD to move. Combat with mouse is impractical.

[Thieverpedia]

I usually go for a bunch of exploring for a few days, maybe plop a cheap science machine down for the basics. Once I get a good feel of the areas, I make my base fairly close to the middle. Easy access for everything.