Just bought the game :D

[patchcat]

What are some good tips?

[Maelstrom]

You might want to start here:  

 

 

Also, read the handbook for any questions you have.  It can be beneficial to spend time (at night) to read the guides.

[dakko]

Don't purchase a wolf puppy expecting it to be your best friend forever. 

Seriously though, my best tip: meals cooked in a pot will keep you satisfied much longer than raw food.

Oh! And welcome to the forums!

Edited Tuesday at 02:59 AM by dakko

[LadyWYT]

Welcome to the forums and the game!

7 hours ago, patchcat said:

What are some good tips?

Be prepared to die. A lot. This is perfectly normal, since Vintage Story is a fairly challenging game that doesn't pull its punches and makes players think a bit in order to succeed. The good news is that there are plenty of customization settings to allow the player control over exactly how hard the game is allowed to punch, and lots of mods on top of that if the vanilla settings aren't quite enough.

That being said, I would recommend playing the default Standard settings for a little while first, since this is the general intended balance of the game, before you go messing around with the options too much or decide to install mods. This will give you a good sense of what to expect from the game, and which areas you want to adjust. Forgoing mods until you have a good grasp of vanilla is also useful in the event you need to ask for further help, since mods can often cause issues and one of the first questions asked when issues occur with modded clients is "does the issue happen without any mods".

The handbook has pretty much all the information you'll need to figure out the game, but just in case you want a more detailed explanation of what to do during your first few days, someone already wrote up a guide here: 

 

[dakko]

17 hours ago, patchcat said:

What are some good tips?

This one is super important, yet I rarely think to mention it...

Mark where you see surface bits of desirable ores, such as copper. There will be copper ore directly underneath the surface ore, usually needing to mine several blocks to get to it, but sometimes it will be the first minable block.

I mark it on the map, but I also mark the exact spot with a piece of grass (placed as if about to make a firepit).

If for some reason your map is stingy on surface copper for that first pickaxe and hammer, you can always pan sand or gravel blocks to get those last few nuggets. (knife + log = pan; panning requires that the player be standing in water)

Edited Tuesday at 03:07 PM by dakko

[Maelstrom]

21 minutes ago, dakko said:

I mark it on the map, but I also mark the exact spot with a piece of grass (placed as if about to make a firepit).

I use a haybale.  Be careful to pick up the copper first.  Placing a block will delete the nuggets.  (don't ask how I know.  please.)

Edited Tuesday at 03:27 PM by Maelstrom

[dakko]

3 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

I use a haybale.  Be careful to pick up the copper first.  Placing a block will delete the nuggets.  (don't ask how I know.  please.)

HA! Been there, done that with the deletion!

Another method is to dig a hole and place the block on the ground next to the hole (I did corners touching so that it would look less natural). I like the haybale method too.

[LadyWYT]

6 hours ago, dakko said:

If for some reason your map is stingy on surface copper for that first pickaxe and hammer, you can always pan sand or gravel blocks to get those last few nuggets. (knife + log = pan; panning requires that the player be standing in water)

Copper and other bits of ore can also sometimes be purchased from Commodities traders as well. Though trade is only an option with lore content enabled, it's definitely worth keeping an eye on the local traders and building up a small supply of rusty gears to spend, since you never quite know when they'll have something you need/want.

[schrodingers cat]

Remember to not go overboard on the size of your first shelter and that it is perfectly fine to move locations if you find somewhere nicer.  I really struggle with these.

[CastIronFabric]

There is good arguments for playing the standard setting first and good arguments for making the first 20 hours or so easy and restart later.

I personally lean toward making the first 20 or so hours on easy settings for the same reason I do not suggest learning calculus before learning arithmetic