One thing I didn't see others mention: in the desert, the termite mounds provide sustenance- termites. You just break the mound and a # of termites fall into your inventory. It's been a bit since I did a desert start but I think they spoil pretty fast, which seems like an emergency food source to me.
Be careful how many cattail roots you eat - without the root they don't regrow/respond!
I've never played on homo sapiens mode. I honestly tend towards exploration mode but fiddle with the settings (temporal storms on, 10 days before creepies appear, but reduce creature water speed to a more realistic 50-75% in water [most land creatures slow in water when walking/running, don't they?].)
I also tend towards a "warm" start climate - I wanted to see what papyrus looked like, and then it seemed like food was more plentiful (and I didn't nearly freeze to death the first night!)
