Long distance travel and plot

[Jubal]

I've played quite a bit now: I'm about to start Autumn of Year 1, and that's already been 50-60 hours of gameplay I think. I'm also now at a stage where I'm thinking about the plot: I won't have to worry about starvation this second winter, though I also won't be travelling much so I guess mining might be quite a big time sink.

But also, I have a little X on my map, and it's 5000 blocks south, and that's quite a long distance. I've been exploring south by building myself canals and taking my raft further south lake by lake, which has advantages like not risking unexpectedly falling in holes, but I'm not sure if this is a viable strategy for longer distance travel, or indeed really how to go about it. My worry isn't supplies, I can keep building canals or set up supply depots though that is a bunch of effort, it's more problems of sheer time and frustration: I don't have a huge stack of temporal gears (and I'm not sure if the spawn reset they do is permanent or not?), and my biggest general feeling is that basically every new segment I work through entails a steadily higher probability of being mauled by a bear: the game's general status of "you're fine until you're suddenly entirely dead and need to do a super long and frustrating corpse run" is really quite offputting for tackling long distance travel. I could travel light to reduce the corpse run problem but then I wouldn't have the stuff I will presumably want to explore the place when I get there, and there don't seem to be any ways to significantly speed up the journey times.

So I kinda feel like I'm weighing up how and indeed if I want to tackle this part of the game, or whether as a solo player it'll just be more frustrating than fun. Any not-too-spoilery advice?

[LadyWYT]

16 minutes ago, Jubal said:

Any not-too-spoilery advice?

After you complete the first story location, you'll have easy access to better land transportation for chapter two. Make sure you bring food and healing supplies, as these are good standard supplies to have for any adventure. Tools and rope ladders are useful for traversing the wilderness, but aren't needed for story locations since story locations cannot be altered due to claim protections, so you'll want to leave that stuff at home or in a box outside the location.

Regarding general equipment, tier 2 is the minimum for the first location, and tier 3 is the minimum for what comes after, though in singleplayer you may wish to opt for tier 3 on the first location as well since it can be quite tough.

21 minutes ago, Jubal said:

I don't have a huge stack of temporal gears (and I'm not sure if the spawn reset they do is permanent or not?), and my biggest general feeling is that basically every new segment I work through entails a steadily higher probability of being mauled by a bear: the game's general status of "you're fine until you're suddenly entirely dead and need to do a super long and frustrating corpse run" is really quite offputting for tackling long distance travel.

Temporal gears are limited to 20 respawns by default before you'll need to refresh your spawn point; this number can be changed to infinite respawns though, either at world creation or via the command /worldconfig temporalGearRespawnUses -1, where 20 is default and -1 is infinite respawns.

Setting you spawn point via temporal gear when you reach a location and expect trouble is always a good idea, though if you happen to have built a terminus teleporter that won't be necessary since that device will allow you to teleport to your last point of death for the cost of one temporal gear. I will also note that it's not unusual for certain locations to have a few temporal gears available as loot, so you'll be able to replenish your supply.

Regarding death by bear...most bears can be outrun, and if you have tier 2 equipment or better(which you should have), that should allow you to survive a fight with a bear if necessary. Medical supplies will allow you to heal after the fight. Though when it comes to story content, bears are the least of your worries. In general, it's best to be mindful of your surroundings and proceed with caution in unfamiliar territory.

[DarkGold]

I just finished chapter 1 for the first time recently. I would add that if you would like to loot the area, it's a great idea to bring 1 or more trunks to leave just outside the claim protections so you can dump loot you find there.

Something I found challenging when I arrived at the destination marker was figuring out where to go from there (it was not immediately obvious). I googled what it was I should be looking for in order to narrow my search. If you also need guidance, I'm sure someone on this thread will provide it.

[DarkGold]

If you are doing a lot of travel by water, the sailboat is a very worthwhile upgrade from your raft, for the sheer amount of storage you can put on it and the increased speed. It took me a couple years of harvests to save enough linen, so you might still be waiting a while, but it was well worth the investment for the world that I spawned on (in the middle of a large sea).

[Jubal]

3 hours ago, DarkGold said:

If you are doing a lot of travel by water, the sailboat is a very worthwhile upgrade from your raft, for the sheer amount of storage you can put on it and the increased speed. It took me a couple years of harvests to save enough linen, so you might still be waiting a while, but it was well worth the investment for the world that I spawned on (in the middle of a large sea).

Does the sailboat require a lot more space than the raft/does it require deeper water? I've been considering working on one, but I'm not sure my canals will be big enough.

And thanks LadyWYT, those are useful thoughts

[Nathan Flaminio]

2 hours ago, Jubal said:

Does the sailboat require a lot more space than the raft/does it require deeper water? I've been considering working on one, but I'm not sure my canals will be big enough.

And thanks LadyWYT, those are useful thoughts

2 deep and 4 wide (at least 6 wide looks better, though) should work. 

[Chuckerton]

You can also turn down the distance that story locations spawn at in the world generation settings. Some people like the long journey, i do not. I set mine to like 50% i think. I find the journey to be quite tedious