First Time Player Problems

[IXI_playz]

Heya! First-time player here!!
Need some advice from the public, how do I start in this game? I keep creating new worlds, but I am not actually able to stay with them for a long time. I can get as far as four baskets and some nuggets. Any suggestions?

Seriously, anything helps.

[LadyWYT]

Welcome to the game and the forums! Rather than type everything out here, I recommend reading this guide instead: 

You don't need to follow it to the letter, necessarily, but it provides a solid walkthrough of the basic first steps of progression.

22 hours ago, IXI_playz said:

I keep creating new worlds, but I am not actually able to stay with them for a long time.

I did this quite a lot when I first started too, as I found it easier to just start over with a new world when I messed up rather than continue the old and try to fix my mistake. Once you get more experience, it becomes easier to hold onto worlds rather than start anew.

Do note that I'm not encouraging you to start a new world whenever you make a mistake! That's really just up to you based on your own preferences. I'm just saying it's not necessarily a bad strategy when learning the game.

22 hours ago, IXI_playz said:

I can get as far as four baskets and some nuggets. Any suggestions?

Aside from the guide I linked above, I would say that your first big goal should be establishing a secure food supply and surviving your first winter. If you can't establish a secure food supply, you'll struggle doing everything else in the game, surviving winter included. If you can establish that supply though and survive the winter, you should be able to achieve anything else you set your mind to.

Also don't be afraid to make the settings easier or harder as needed. Most settings can be adjusted via console command after a world's creation; you'll just need to reload the world for the changes to apply. 

[ItzWalterino]

How do you mean it that you're unable to stay with them too long? You can't find food or something in the same category? Or wander too far away, die without respawn point set and lose everything?

[PoisonedPawn777]

If you're starting off a vanilla world my personal goals tend to be to grab basic resources (Flint, sticks, wood, grass and reeds); enough to get basic stone tools, handbaskets, torches, firepit and ideally a few pit kilns. Then I get some clay, sand and dirt and build a dirt hut on top of a water source. This allows me to make and fire a cooking pot, bowl, crock and crucible on night one and spend the rest of the night panning through my sand or gravel for copper nuggets. Getting pottery for cooking is a game changer and allows me to spend more time prioritizing things other than constantly gathering food. Day 2/3 is exploring, gathering food and copper, making charcoal (if I don't have coal nearby) and firing clay molds for copper tools. Usually get 12-15 nuggets of copper a night panning so should be ready to smelt copper tools by day 3-4 and then you're off to the races. You've got tools, can cook food and have basic shelter. Oh and side note, if you're new to the game, avoid any sort of combat you can for the first few days. Healing takes a big chunk out of your hunger, meaning you have to spend a lot more time gathering food.

[IXI_playz]

On 2/15/2026 at 6:44 AM, ItzWalterino said:

How do you mean it that you're unable to stay with them too long? You can't find food or something in the same category? Or wander too far away, die without respawn point set and lose everything?

I start the world get somewhat of a sturdy food supply then get pretty bored or get lost— I have tried what some of the posts said and it has definitely helped. I actually laid out a goal sheet for each season so the things that I want to try to get done for each season and that’s been pretty helpful! 

[IXI_playz]

On 2/14/2026 at 12:25 PM, LadyWYT said:

Welcome to the game and the forums! Rather than type everything out here, I recommend reading this guide instead: 

You don't need to follow it to the letter, necessarily, but it provides a solid walkthrough of the basic first steps of progression.

I did this quite a lot when I first started too, as I found it easier to just start over with a new world when I messed up rather than continue the old and try to fix my mistake. Once you get more experience, it becomes easier to hold onto worlds rather than start anew.

Do note that I'm not encouraging you to start a new world whenever you make a mistake! That's really just up to you based on your own preferences. I'm just saying it's not necessarily a bad strategy when learning the game.

Aside from the guide I linked above, I would say that your first big goal should be establishing a secure food supply and surviving your first winter. If you can't establish a secure food supply, you'll struggle doing everything else in the game, surviving winter included. If you can establish that supply though and survive the winter, you should be able to achieve anything else you set your mind to.

Also don't be afraid to make the settings easier or harder as needed. Most settings can be adjusted via console command after a world's creation; you'll just need to reload the world for the changes to apply. 

Thank you! This was very helpful!! Much appreciated!!

[IXI_playz]

On 2/15/2026 at 12:29 PM, PoisonedPawn777 said:

If you're starting off a vanilla world my personal goals tend to be to grab basic resources (Flint, sticks, wood, grass and reeds); enough to get basic stone tools, handbaskets, torches, firepit and ideally a few pit kilns. Then I get some clay, sand and dirt and build a dirt hut on top of a water source. This allows me to make and fire a cooking pot, bowl, crock and crucible on night one and spend the rest of the night panning through my sand or gravel for copper nuggets. Getting pottery for cooking is a game changer and allows me to spend more time prioritizing things other than constantly gathering food. Day 2/3 is exploring, gathering food and copper, making charcoal (if I don't have coal nearby) and firing clay molds for copper tools. Usually get 12-15 nuggets of copper a night panning so should be ready to smelt copper tools by day 3-4 and then you're off to the races. You've got tools, can cook food and have basic shelter. Oh and side note, if you're new to the game, avoid any sort of combat you can for the first few days. Healing takes a big chunk out of your hunger, meaning you have to spend a lot more time gathering food.

Thank you!! The last point of avoiding fighting things was pretty helpful! I actually didn’t notice how much hunger I was using just trying to fight things off especially during the night. Do you have any suggestions for what to do during the nighttime before I have access to clay or any kind of cooking pot or crucible etc.?

[LadyWYT]

1 hour ago, IXI_playz said:

Do you have any suggestions for what to do during the nighttime before I have access to clay or any kind of cooking pot or crucible etc.?

I like to sleep through the night with a hay bed, but do keep in mind that will drain hunger, so if food is tight you might not want to do that. Panning isn't the most exciting thing to do, but if you can hole up with some water it can be a nice way to get some goodies. You can also spend the time reading through the handbook(make sure the game is unpaused while reading), or otherwise study your map and make a plan of what to do when daylight arrives.

[PoisonedPawn777]

2 hours ago, IXI_playz said:

Thank you!! The last point of avoiding fighting things was pretty helpful! I actually didn’t notice how much hunger I was using just trying to fight things off especially during the night. Do you have any suggestions for what to do during the nighttime before I have access to clay or any kind of cooking pot or crucible etc.?

I tend to pan sand or gravel through the first few nights as it can kickstart getting copper nuggets. You can also get some other useful things like zinc and flint or even a rusty gear or two. Is it exciting? No, but it returns value the first few nights. If you are very low on food, I'd recommend sleeping through the night with one caveat, don't eat what little food you have before you go to sleep..save it for the morning. Sleeping does drain your hunger but less so than panning or other activities BUT the damage you take from starvation while sleeping is very minimal compared to time passed. If it's 9pm and all you have is a mushroom or two but you're almost out of hunger and there are drifters around, sleep the darkness away, take a couple ticks of damage, eat what you have when you wake up and get back outside.