thelockj Posted January 1 Report Posted January 1 I have been playing for about 26 hours and things have mostly been going well, but I keep running into one big issue. Exploration. Whether it be searching for crops, minerals, or prospecting, it almost feels like I am soft-locked to the area within 1-2 days walk from my spawn point. I'm not sure if I am just missing something, so I thought I would make a forum post to ask for advice. After thinking about it for a while, I think my difficulty with exploration comes down to 3 main issues: Risk of death during exploration Ability to shelter during night and temporal storms Ease of recovery after death Point 1 largely means how do I avoid random deaths during low-risk exploration activities. By 'low-risk exploration' I mean walking around on the surface during the day while making an effort to avoid confrontation. Generally speaking, this just boils down to avoiding/escaping wolves and bears. The wolves are generally fine, since they make themselves known, and seem to mostly just exist in forests. However, I have yet to find a good solution for dealing with bears. They make no discernible noises, are easily hidden by leaves or behind grass, seem to spawn in almost every biome (save for maybe gravel plains and mountainous terrain?), are very fast/persistent, extremely tanky, and can deal around half of my health in a single attack. And to top that off, they seem to be at least twice as common as wolves in my world. From my perspective, I can attempt to either reduce the chances of a confrontation or attempt to make confrontations more survivable. So far, avoiding confrontations seems impossible. I have seen advice to avoid forests, but that frequently requires lengthy detours and I still encounter occasional bears in other biomes. I haven't actually been attacked that frequently to bears, but it is enough to make me seriously hesitant to travel very far from my spawn point. At this point, avoiding bears just doesn't seem like a feasible solution. That just leaves me with attempting to make the encounters more survivable. If I see the bear before it sees me, I have a decent chance at running away. If I don't, it will likely get at least one hit in on me before I can react. At that point it is a toss up in terms of if I can avoid taking damage (ie. death) until it loses interest. Can armor effectively mitigate this risk? Based on what I have read, it sounds like armor can help, but it is very expensive and will be quickly destroyed when attacked by bears. I'm just not sure if it is even worth the cost at this point in the game (late copper age). Is that just the recommended play style? Point 2 is a bit more straightforward. Due to monsters spawning at night and temporal storms, I need some form of shelter to sleep at while exploring. Traders seem like a fairly easy/common solution, but they are not always available and it depends on my ability to find them. From my limited experience, it seems like I need to way-point each one, then do backtracking each night to the last trader I saw. Is this the same for others or are people building tons of outposts instead? If so, what materials do you bring with you? Inventory space is valuable, so I'm wondering how other people handle this (I have hunter's backpacks and don't have enough time before winter to grow flax). Do you try to scavenge materials on site as needed or prepare key supplies (ex: doors, wood, bed)? Lastly, point 3 is how can I reduce the impact of dying. If I can reduce the impact of dying, then I don't mind dying every so often to bears or other enemies. From what I understand, you always spawn at your original spawn point unless you use temporal gears to temporarily move it. However, I don't have any temporal gears at this stage of the game (late copper age). Overall, this makes death during exploration seem extremely punishing. If I die 20min away from my spawn point, then I need to spend another 20min to get my stuff. And that assumes I don't die again in the process. Should I be searching for temporal gears at this stage of the game? I have been avoiding reading spoilers, so maybe this isn't as bad as I am imagining? I have being avoiding most caves due to the difficulty of dealing with enemies and the danger I have heard about online. Overall, it feels like I must be missing something. Does anyone have any tips for dealing with these issues?
LadyWYT Posted January 1 Report Posted January 1 Welcome to the forums(and the game)! Just now, thelockj said: Risk of death during exploration Exploration is something that's going to be a risky business regardless of skill level, as there's always the potential for something to go wrong. Making sure that you're appropriately equipped for what you're doing and paying attention to your surroundings are the biggest keys to staying alive when away from base. For equipment, make sure that you are adequately armed and armored, with some healing supplies to patch yourself up should you run into trouble. Also make sure that you have adequate food for your travels, or at least, the means of acquiring and cooking more food should you run out. For new players though, the biggest way to counter this fear is to just turn on the "keep inventory" rule. You can change the rule either at world creation, or by running the command /worldconfig deathPunishment keep after world creation(reload the world for the change to take effect). It doesn't lower your chances of dying, but it does make death much less frightening when it happens since you won't need to worry about losing your stuff(clothing and armor will never drop on death, regardless of the rule setting). Once you get more confidence and skill, you can easily switch that game rule from "keep" to "drop". 8 minutes ago, thelockj said: If I see the bear before it sees me, I have a decent chance at running away. If I don't, it will likely get at least one hit in on me before I can react. At that point it is a toss up in terms of if I can avoid taking damage (ie. death) until it loses interest. Can armor effectively mitigate this risk? For bears specifically, armor can help, but you'll need tier 2 armor or better before they really stop being a threat. The more effective way to counter them is to simply pause every now and then and carefully examine your surroundings for danger. It's much easier and safer to avoid them if you can. As for outrunning them...it can be done easily enough but your chances of success depend heavily on your own navigation skills and what kind of bear is chasing you. Polar bears and brown bears are faster than the rest, but bears(and enemies in general) don't navigate rough terrain that well. It's also very possible to dig a deep hole and trap them, but if you go this route make sure the hole is at least three blocks or more deep, with no other way for the bear to climb out(they can climb ladders). 12 minutes ago, thelockj said: Ability to shelter during night and temporal storms Hiding in trader wagons is a good choice, and they tend not to care if you use their bed either. You can also get away with sleeping in the open, but it is risky and I really don't recommend that for the average player. The general strategy is to just dig a hole and seal yourself in and then wait until day, if you don't want to run around in the dark. When it comes to temporal storms, it's best to save your extended travels until after they have passed. They follow a predictable schedule--by default, a temporal storm will occur every 10-20 days--so as long as you're keeping an eye on the calendar you can plan around them. If you do happen to get caught in one, it's best to either dig a hole and seal yourself in, or hide in a trader wagon and wait for the storm to pass. If for whatever reason neither of those are options, then it's best to just keep moving and avoid the monsters as best as you can(though it will be a harrowing experience). 17 minutes ago, thelockj said: Ease of recovery after death If you have keep inventory turned on, there's nothing that you'll have to worry about. The worst that you'll have to deal with is lost nutrition, as that is halved upon death, but that's also quite easily recovered with a couple of good meals. 19 minutes ago, thelockj said: Due to monsters spawning at night and temporal storms, I need some form of shelter to sleep at while exploring. Just a side note on monsters, but if you're really struggling with combat, you might consider setting creature aggression to "neutral" so that things will only attack you if you attack them first, or even "passive" so they don't attack at all. This does make the game easier, but you can always turn the aggression back up once you feel ready. I'll also note that you might also consider adjusting your health pool and damage outputs(for you and other creatures) as needed in the world settings.
PoisonedPawn777 Posted January 2 Report Posted January 2 1. I think the best thing to help keep you safe during exploration is experience, coming from someone who died regularly when I first started playing. One habit I've adopted is sprint jumping whenever I'm in an area of heavy underbrush as it tends to be full of wolves and bears, the extra height helps me see the danger and avoid an encounter. You also learn to keep an eye out for easy escape routes should you get ambushed, I know what type of terrain I can use to outrun bears and usually know where the closest body of deep water is. Keeping a couple spears on you early game can also help as dealing a bit of damage may cause the bear to retreat briefly before reengaging, giving you time to escape. Takes time, I also always do a quick scan before opening my map to place a pin or stopping to knap a tool, worst time to get ambushed is when you have a tab open on your screen. 2. Assuming you have a light source, bed, source of food. Just burrow into a hillside, place a bed, start a fire and you're good to go. Temporal storms are always a pain early game, I tend to stay near home as the risk of death is fairly high. 3. If you're new a dying a lot I'd recommend either turning on Keep Inventory or setting item despawn to a longer period like 60 min, it's really annoying to run all the way back to your stuff just to see the bear that killed you camping your gear. Gives you a bit more flexibility in regaining your items. 2
pigfood Posted January 2 Report Posted January 2 10 hours ago, thelockj said: However, I have yet to find a good solution for dealing with bears. They make no discernible noises, are easily hidden by leaves or behind grass They do make attack sounds, giving you decent warning that they want to eat you. They are relatively easily visible, when they are not sleeping. They are nice enough to frequently stand up so that you can spot them more easily. I'm FAR, FAR more afraid of pigs than bears. The adults are silent and can lurk and hide anywhere. If there is a piglet around, they attack without sound or warning. 10 hours ago, thelockj said: [bears] seem to spawn in almost every biome (save for maybe gravel plains and mountainous terrain?) They only spawn in forest areas. However, they are relentless insatiable killing machines that hunt something, take a brief nap and go killing again. They will often move hundreds of block from their spawn location. 10 hours ago, thelockj said: I have seen advice to avoid forests, but that frequently requires lengthy detours and I still encounter occasional bears in other biomes. That is the correct advice. If you are concerned about dying, you should stay away from forests until you have gambeson armor. The reward for the risk isn't there. If you really need to travel through a forest, clear a path with shears. 10 hours ago, thelockj said: At this point, avoiding bears just doesn't seem like a feasible solution. I don't think I've ever been killed by a bear, I've always been able to run away. I'm almost always able to avoid even taking a hit - the attack sound is enough warning. Other animals like pigs (silent killers), wolves (I've been ambushed by several at once) and hyenas (huge density, impossible to see in tall grass, especially when they nap) are a different matter. Go dig up ruins and their basements and bony soil under or around them. You can pan bony soil for gems. Selling them is very lucrative. You can purchase linen or gambeson armor itself from traders. Storage vessels in ruins sometimes have good amounts of flax fiber or even twine. (Tailored) gambeson is the armor to use for day to day surface exploration and not too deep caves and makes a dramatic difference in survivability (excellent protection with relatively minor debuffs). \\ Animal movement and path-finding is very janky. They easily get stuck and slowed down when climbing stuff. Slightly rough terrain is firmly in your favor, if you time your jumps correctly. Depending on your class and (armor) debuffs, you may even be slower on flat terrain.
thelockj Posted January 5 Author Report Posted January 5 On 1/1/2026 at 2:57 PM, LadyWYT said: Making sure that you're appropriately equipped for what you're doing and paying attention to your surroundings are the biggest keys to staying alive when away from base. For equipment, make sure that you are adequately armed and armored, with some healing supplies to patch yourself up should you run into trouble. Also make sure that you have adequate food for your travels, or at least, the means of acquiring and cooking more food should you run out. What sort of equipment do you recommend for regular use? My inventory space is quite limited in the early game and I find I quickly run out when collecting miscellaneous items. I have hunter backpacks, so I have 26 total inventory slots. At the moment, I keep 1 of each common tool (spear, knife, axe, shovel), a crude bow and arrows, spare materials to make tools (ie. a stack of sticks and flint), and sometimes mining tools (pickaxe and prospecting pick). I generally scavenge food on the way from berry bushes. I want to make the linen sacks, but I'm too close to winter and I can't plant any more flax for the materials. For healing supplies are your suggesting keeping a stack of horsetail reed poultice? On 1/1/2026 at 2:57 PM, LadyWYT said: For new players though, the biggest way to counter this fear is to just turn on the "keep inventory" rule. You can change the rule either at world creation, or by running the command /worldconfig deathPunishment keep after world creation(reload the world for the change to take effect). It doesn't lower your chances of dying, but it does make death much less frightening when it happens since you won't need to worry about losing your stuff(clothing and armor will never drop on death, regardless of the rule setting). Once you get more confidence and skill, you can easily switch that game rule from "keep" to "drop". idk. I'm on the fence about this, since it feels like it takes away all of the stakes involved in playing the game. If I disable it here, then I would also be disabling it for hunting, caving, temporal storms, and everywhere else that I still want some challenge. I would prefer to find a way to play within the base game before taking shortcuts with console commands. On 1/1/2026 at 2:57 PM, LadyWYT said: For bears specifically, armor can help, but you'll need tier 2 armor or better before they really stop being a threat. The more effective way to counter them is to simply pause every now and then and carefully examine your surroundings for danger. It's much easier and safer to avoid them if you can. What type of armor do you recommend making first? On the wiki it looks like maybe maybe cloth gambeson armor is the way to go? Will it last many hits from a bear? It seems like black bears are the dominant bear species in the area, but I think I may have seen some a couple of brown bears too. On 1/1/2026 at 2:57 PM, LadyWYT said: Hiding in trader wagons is a good choice, and they tend not to care if you use their bed either. You can also get away with sleeping in the open, but it is risky and I really don't recommend that for the average player. The general strategy is to just dig a hole and seal yourself in and then wait until day, if you don't want to run around in the dark. When you do this, how do you pass the time? Unless I am mistaken, it doesn't seem like there is a waiting mechanic and straw beds only let you sleep for 7 hours. Depending on the season, there are still a few minutes in the night before it is safe to go out. On 1/1/2026 at 2:57 PM, LadyWYT said: When it comes to temporal storms, it's best to save your extended travels until after they have passed. They follow a predictable schedule--by default, a temporal storm will occur every 10-20 days--so as long as you're keeping an eye on the calendar you can plan around them. Okay, that helps. I assumed they were random or somehow related to the rift status in the character page.
LadyWYT Posted January 5 Report Posted January 5 6 hours ago, thelockj said: What sort of equipment do you recommend for regular use? My inventory space is quite limited in the early game and I find I quickly run out when collecting miscellaneous items. I have hunter backpacks, so I have 26 total inventory slots. At the moment, I keep 1 of each common tool (spear, knife, axe, shovel), a crude bow and arrows, spare materials to make tools (ie. a stack of sticks and flint), and sometimes mining tools (pickaxe and prospecting pick). I generally scavenge food on the way from berry bushes. I want to make the linen sacks, but I'm too close to winter and I can't plant any more flax for the materials. For healing supplies are your suggesting keeping a stack of horsetail reed poultice? That's a pretty good list, and yes a stack of horsetail poultice is good for fixing basic boo-boos. You might consider some basic armor like the improvised chestpiece, bear armor set, or gambeson. Improvised armor and bear armor won't make you impervious to attacks, but they can soak up just enough damage to keep you alive in situations that you might otherwise die in, while still being lightweight enough to avoid impeding movement. Gambeson is the best option for general purpose armor though, as it's much more effective at negating damage while still having few penalties. The only real adjustments I would make to your supply list, is leaving the axe and shovel behind, as well as the mining tools as well potentially, and making sure you have some rope ladders instead. Rope ladders will help you scale mountains or clamber out of holes without needing to dig. As for tools, they are useful to have, but you don't really need axes, shovels, or mining equipment if you're not doing a related task. When inventory space is limited, it's usually a better idea to only take what you really need with you, which can mean planning different trips for specific tasks. As for food...foraging is good, but you're much better off in most cases bringing some pies or a cookpot to cook the raw ingredients into something tastier, especially for extended trips. Foraging isn't bad, but raw ingredients don't last as long, and foraged items can easily take up several inventory slots since the items can't be stacked if they aren't the same variety(for example, blueberries can only be stacked with other blueberries). 6 hours ago, thelockj said: idk. I'm on the fence about this, since it feels like it takes away all of the stakes involved in playing the game. If I disable it here, then I would also be disabling it for hunting, caving, temporal storms, and everywhere else that I still want some challenge. I would prefer to find a way to play within the base game before taking shortcuts with console commands. Fair enough, I just mention it as an option since it's a useful safety net to have while you're still learning survival skills. When I first started, this is the option I opted for to take some of the sting out of the risks; once I got more experience I turned the rule back off. 6 hours ago, thelockj said: What type of armor do you recommend making first? On the wiki it looks like maybe maybe cloth gambeson armor is the way to go? Will it last many hits from a bear? It seems like black bears are the dominant bear species in the area, but I think I may have seen some a couple of brown bears too. As I said before, gambeson is the best all-around armor(durable and prevents a decent amount of damage), and while it's very good against bears do keep in mind it's not a guarantee they won't kill you. You'll still want to be careful when dealing with tougher opponents. Bear armor is the next best option, in my opinion, though that also requires you to have killed at least two bears. Bear armor isn't as protective as gambeson though, and will wear out much faster. When it comes to bears, you'll generally want to avoid them, unless you're planning on killing them. When it comes to killing them, you're going to want better weapons than the crude bow and arrows--flint spears are a better early-game option here. Spears do not stack or travel as far, but they do much more damage per hit when thrown. 6 hours ago, thelockj said: When you do this, how do you pass the time? Unless I am mistaken, it doesn't seem like there is a waiting mechanic and straw beds only let you sleep for 7 hours. Depending on the season, there are still a few minutes in the night before it is safe to go out. Usually I'll sleep, and then wait the rest out as needed. Traveling when it's darker isn't too bad, provided the rift activity is calm. If you still need to wait for daylight, that's a good time to review your map or do some handbook reading--just make sure the game is unpaused while using the handbook if you opt for the latter option. I'll also sometimes just tab out of the game for a couple minutes and browse the web/refill my drink. 6 hours ago, thelockj said: Okay, that helps. I assumed they were random or somehow related to the rift status in the character page. To my knowledge they have no relation to the rift activity. Temporal storms are somewhat random, but they are limited by certain windows of time, which by default is every 10-20 days. When it comes to guessing when the next will arrive, I always calculate by the lowest possible count since it's not a big deal if the storm takes longer than expected to arrive, but can certainly throw a wrench in the works if it comes sooner than anticipated. If I'm not sure how long it's been since the last storm, then I'll usually wait until a storm occurs and passes before leaving base for an extended period(that is, a trip lasting a few days instead of a few hours). As for how long temporal storms last, if I'm recalling correctly it's between 2-4 in-game hours.
Kolyenka Posted January 7 Report Posted January 7 (edited) Lot of good advice here, just wanted to share what I do, playing with no map (and thus no way to make waypoints, follow markers, etc) and lose inventory on death. Here's what I do: Early game exploration: First, store all valuables (usually including my bags !) at home. Pick a direction I want to head in, and start digging a 1 wide 1 deep path. Replenish shovels and food by foraging sticks, stones, berries. Make outposts along the path using rammed earth (made of dirt but pretty visible) and 2 hay blocks for the doors. That way I don't need to bring anything with me, and if I die, it's optional to go find my corpse since I had nothing good anyway. I do outposts as often as I feel I need them--very often in a forest, maybe 1 each night in plains. When my inventory fills up with dirt I turn around and head home to drop it off (optional--this is for easily making stone paths later. If you prefer wood paths it's not necessary--just place the wood paths directly in the indent and it'll keep you on track). I will usually not do much exploring outside of summer--the nights are short enough that you can sleep through them with a bed roll. Mid-late game refinement: refine all of the existing paths that went past or directly to somewhere I plan to visit regularly. All the other paths can stay, but won't be upgraded. I bring as many stones as I can along with some of the dirt I dug up earlier and make 2 wide paths as they are easier to run on than 1 wide. I often rip out a few outposts at this point because with the added speed boost from running on a stone path, I can outrun danger pretty easily. I bring a saw to upgrade the outposts I do keep, using wood that I gather along the way. I also bring charcoal so I can make signposts, and usually also a bunch of candles (or fat lamps if I don't have honey, but that does get expensive). Then I set up each outpost with a fireplace, a bedroll, a candle right next to a trapdoor window for automatic light (and next to the window so that you can more easily tell you're approaching the outpost at night), a firestarter, a bunch of fuel, fireplace, door, and a sign pointing which way is home. If I have them to spare, I'll bring some berry bushes as well and plant some outside the outpost, so that there's a decent chance there's food when I visit the next time. If it's along a path I plan to travel often, I'll even bring linen beds so that I can sleep longer--this makes it more convenient to travel even when its not summer. That said, once a stone path is in it's really not too hard to run it with a torch at night. Mid-late game exploration: most of this involves branching off of existing paths. Usually by late game I don't have a lot of resources I need to explore for, so it's more to satisfy curiosity, see some sights, and stretch my legs. I explore the same way as in early game, digging 1 wide paths, except it goes faster because I have enough metal for disposable metal tools. I will bring a saw and sometimes some candles to make nicer outposts right off the batt, but like with early game exploration, I dig a lot of paths that I won't walk down a second time, so typically it's just a faster version of early game exploration. If the path ends up leading somewhere useful or beautiful, I will go back and refine it later. Now, if you do use the in game map, then the roads don't really help prevent getting lost since it's pretty hard to get lost with the map, but they do still provide the speed boost, which makes it easier to outrun enemies, and, if you fail to outrun them, to get back to your corpse. They also save time that you would otherwise spend pathfinding (even if you've run the same way a dozen times, unless there is a clear path you will likely take a slightly different route each time, and that may cause slowdowns), and serve as a very clear way to get from outpost 1 to outpost 2. That's just how I do it--I'm sure there's many things you'd want to change if you decided to emulate it--and it works pretty well for me. I really like building roads so I find it fun. If you aren't a huge fan of roadbuilding, then I would stick to only putting roads on routes you OFTEN travel, such as from spawn to your main base, or from your main base to a good mining area. The wooden paths are very good for this because you don't need to dig at all, although they're not quite as good of a speed bonus IIRC and do chew through wood. It's all a trade off. I think it's also important to remember that in real life, exploring the wilderness is very dangerous, and everything you do to make it safer will also make it slower (for example, want to not starve in case the hunting dries up ? Either carry food on your person or on pack animals ! Now you're going slow af, but you'll live longer). You can blaze through the wilderness at top speed, but as you've noted it does shorten your lifespan. If you want to explore without dying you need good gear, which at late copper age you simply don't have. It might work better for this stage of the game to take nothing (including your bags), forage for food, and mark points of interest on your map but leave them otherwise untouched. That way you can go there later, more deliberately, with good gear on you. Or maybe you build a skypath everywhere to keep you out of reach of predators. Maybe you just don't explore until you've got some armor, or at least a lot of healing poultices. There's infinite ways to play the game, but being strategic and deliberate will help you out no matter what ! Edited January 7 by Kolyenka
Marabunta12 Posted January 12 Report Posted January 12 Best way to stop dying randombly is to make tailored gambeson armour and wear it all the time. If you have it you can easily kill all the bears and wolves you will see. It is also cheap to repair as long as you have some flax planted.
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