New to the game

[Skeletal Tyrant]

Hey everyone!

Me and a few friends only recently started to get into Vintage Story but we haven't had much luck when it comes to developing equipment other than tools, is there anything that we (there's 3 of us) should look out for or look into making before the winter hits?

Still kind of confused on what things would be easier to make and manage.

[Zane Mordien]

Welcome to the game. Start growing food as fast as possible.  Look for copper nuggets on the ground and mark where you find them because there is copper below them you can mine when you have a hammer and pickaxe. 

 

There is tons more but it would take pages. Good luck!

[LadyWYT]

Welcome to Vintage Story! I would say your first and most important goal should be just surviving the winter, which primarily means making sure that you have enough food stockpiled and some pelts for warm clothing. Everything else will pretty much click into place while you're working towards that goal. Also don't be afraid to mark down whatever you think might be important on your map; even if it's not immediately useful to you at that time, it could be something you'll need/want later.

Otherwise, the handbook is going to be your best friend when it comes to figuring things out. If you have downtime in the game and don't know what else to do, you can always unpause time while flipping through the handbook and read up on various information. It also comes with a chapter or two outlining the main progression tiers, which is handy if you're looking for more advanced goals to work towards(like steel or cheese-making).

[gilt-kutabe]

@Skeletal Tyrant
There are a few things you can’t get in winter, so I’d say:

Make a farm with a vegetable, flax, and optionally another grain (but flax will suffice). Vegetables and grain (flax or otherwise) will fill out your nutritional bonuses over the winter, and flax for the fibers. You don’t need a huge farm to produce a lot of food. You’ll need fibers to make a windmill, which you’ll need to process certain materials with a pulverizer and automate the quern. 
For preserving fruit - I don’t believe fruit trees produce anything your first year, and their fruit tends to last through the winter. Since you won’t have access to that, you’ll need to make do with berries. You can turn them into jam with honey and put it in crocks in a cellar, or ferment them in barrels. Bees are only active in warm weather, and you’ll want beeswax for candles anyway, so going for honey/jam is a good option. The first stage of fermentation preserves the nutritional bonus, and only takes about an in-game month. This will require a fruitpress, though. Meat in winter isn’t a huge problem, though you’ll need to hunt more to make up for the decreased drops. You can preserve the meat in crocks, or use salt if you buy some from traders or get lucky finding halite. You can keep pigs for meat and hides, and goats/sheep for milk, though keeping animals doesn’t have to be done before winter. Make sure to make rawhide clothes (raw hides) and fur winter clothing (raw hides cured after being rubbed with fat).

Cattails, tule, and grass are annoying to harvest with snow and ice, so stockpile some of those. Trees also don’t grow in the cold, so if you want certain kinds of wood, you might want to plant a few.

Edited April 7, 2025 by gilt-kutabe

[Maelstrom]

Start with the handbook ("h").  Read the Starter Guide then the Progression Guide.  Assuming you've done that...

First day goals - torch, reeds for inventory/storage, 1-2 stacks of clay, 16+ flint.  At night (while huddling in dirt shack 1.0) mold clay items (be sure to dig up a stack or two of clay your first day, or better yet, dig a hole in a clay deposit for your initial "dirt shack" 1.0) and knap axe, shovel and knife tool heads.

Apart from initial survival (gathering food from berry bushes, mushrooms, etc.) focus on getting copper tools quickly.  Along the way, harvest EVERY wild flax plant you find; even the immature ones (wild crops grow geologically fast, as in not at all!), also harvest vegetable (turnip, onion, etc) and rye or spelt crops.  Plant said crops on medium fertility soil (unless you're lucky enough to find some high fertility soil (definitely use that if you have it) by placing said soil in a nearby pond/lake so that every crop is adjacent (either on the side or diagonally) to a water block for maximum soil moisture.

Starting a charcoal pit asap can make firing those first clay items quicker as charcoal fires a kiln in 10 hours versus 16 or 24 for peat and firewood respectively.

Be sure to hunt some animals before winter, cure their hides to make fur clothing (coat, boots and gloves).

Targeting an item with your crosshair and hitting "h" will bring up the handbook entry for that item.  Targeting a block and hitting "Shift-h" will do the same for the block.

 

Go forth and be horrified (and have fun).