Right click for finer movement control when looking for landmarks.

When you're adding landmarks with triangulation sometimes you'll be looking at things very far away. The partial triangle and plus sign will appear and then disappear before you can click on it. It can be very frustrating because it seems to move around. You might try right clicking when you think you have the crosshairs very close to the landmark. This will zoom in even though its not noticeable and give you finer movement control over the crosshairs.

It's possible to place objects as visual 'navigation markers,' so you can mark specific forks of a trail or as guides back to a camp when you are in areas that are still hidden on the map.

Plants are the most visible and can be placed by crouching and looking directly down until an icon with a hand and downward arrow appears. Since plants don't respawn, it's best to use those that are revealed to have no use in synthesis after research (there are several), or to use the most common 'basic medicine' plant in the area. You can always pick the plant up again later or replace it with something else.

Fruits, pots/pans, and weapons found in camp can also be used as markers, though they're not quite as visible since they're not brightly-colored. One advantage is that they can be carried in your right hand without limiting your plant-gathering left hand. They must be thrown and can't be placed by crouching, but throwing from a standing position directly at your feet usually works well. Though, if you're throwing on ground that slopes, your apples might just roll downhill!

If you find that you need to go down a steep slope, head for a tree or boulder that is close to you in order to crash into it. You won't get injured and can keep doing this til you get to the bottom. Sometimes moving sideways down a hill helps.

I found that if the creature was approaching, I could hide in the bushes and crouch and most of the time this worked. The more I wandered lost, the more likely I was to have the creature attack me.

Also I got confused on which plants worked singly and which ones needed to be combined. So making notes can help.

Love this game. So much depth to it and the birds and insects are beautiful and fabulous.

If you have your perception to "normal" make sure to stop and crouch/hide for a second. From personal experience I randomly crouched down and the white thing showing that I was in a hiden place came up. I look around and "poof" there he was his back facing me. If I would not have crouched down... O.O

Dunno if sm1 mentioned. I was playing this game a long time ago so maybe they have changed this but anyway:

-Creature locations are scripted. This means that it wont appear randomly on the island. It will always appear in the same places. You can be sure it will spawn near important plants. The other places are pre-defined, mostly there is nothing in them. Eg I can remember that one of such "spawn" places was at some sort of swamp. It is near camp that you can get to by traveling along coastline from D1 (on interactive online map its on square X130/X140 Y140/Y150). The other place I can remember is at coastline around S1

As I say, maybe they have changed it, but back when I was playing the spawn locations where scripted, not random

You are correct that the creature only spawns in certain places, but I wouldn't call it scripted - there are literally hundreds of spawn positions over the island and the creature spawns randomly at any of these points when they are at a suitable distance from the player, influenced by the player's progress towards the cure. There's a creature.spawner.retry_period parameter (set to 60) that suggests that the game will continue attempting to spawn the creature if there is no suitable spawn point in range.

One of the first things I did while reverse engineering the game was to plot the creature's spawn points on the map, and I found that there are 273 calm spawn points and 203 aggressive spawn points.

The calm and aggressive spawns tend to be clustered in certain areas and along certain paths and cover most of the island - as you can imagine all but one of the cure plants are surrounded by aggressive spawns, but there are also certain paths that have more aggressive spawns than other paths, suggesting that finding alternate routes may help avoid the creature.

These are awesome! Thanks for all the great tips. I just started so I don't have any of my own yet, but will report back when I do.

Oprindeligt skrevet af DarkStarSword:

...
One of the first things I did while reverse engineering the game was to plot the creature's spawn points on the map, and I found that there are 273 calm spawn points and 203 aggressive spawn points. ...

That's incredible work!

Do you happen to have this mapped? If not, if you have it in tabular format I'd be very happy to give it a go.

Oprindeligt skrevet af Sgt.Psycho:

Do you happen to have this mapped? If not, if you have it in tabular format I'd be very happy to give it a go.

Yep, I mapped it (MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING!!!):
http://cackle.darkstarsword.net/miasmata/off-topic/markers.jpg
Green are calm spawns and red are aggressive spawns.

Early in game, when your stats are next to dirt, you will encounter this beast. Unless you are some crazy voodoo mastermind psychic who knew exactly to hide before it has even showed up, it's gonna see you before you see it. When that happens, pick up a stick and wave the fire at it. If it refuses to leave or even starts to swat at you just hurl yourself off of a cliff. You may come out injured or even drop some things but if you get up sprinting it will lose sight of you and you're home free.

1. If you are used to go hiking in the woods, please note, that navigating with help of the sun can be tricky, as the sun won't be in the exact direction as you would expect it according to the time on your clock. Make sure to learn the offset early, it will make navigating very easy.

This tip applies to everyone, basically. Every time you look at your watch and compass, look at the sun as well. You will develop a feeling for the relation of time and direction after a while and soon you will know what time it is, if you know in what direction you are heading and vice versa.

2. Take mapping tours along the coast line. Make sure to map the big landmarks on high positions, they will save your day later.

3. If you are lost on an uncharted island, keep an eye open for (sometimes) artificial paths, wooden bridges and things like that. I got horribly lost yesterday, I was trying to get to an uncharted little spot on my map and went to N-W instead of S-W, ending up on an island I have never been before on the other side of my charted territory, so no landmarks to chart anything. Those paths and roads will eventually take you to a camp. Camps usually have maps of the current or adjecent area, giving you landmarks to play with.

4. Unlike most single player action games, this action adventure can be played with a patient friend. I actually found it more fun to play with my good friend, because serious mapping can be boring after a while. It's especially enjoyable, if your buddy used to be in the army and hasn't had a chance to show off his map reading and survival skills in years.

5. The animal does neither eat apples nor bananas.

6. Refrain from reading about the game until you finished it. There is actually a very intense story to be discovered and conclusions to be had. We are not through the game ourselves, but we are far enough to keep us thinking and every thought is "Woah, what if...". Look for details on artificial structures. Read all notes.

Note: As somebody who loves hiking, geocaching and other activities by foot in the forest, I am delighted to say, that Miasmata taught me stuff I was not aware of. If you are really in a forest, you have more senses than your avatar here, not getting lost is easier, because we have a natural sense for direction. In this game, however, cut off of those senses, I have to rely on actual knowledge and mechanisms. We are actually thinking about finding a high-res printable map of the island with all landmarks and play the game again without the ingame map.

@Baltasar good post and helpful tips!

I got a few:
1) Always try to walk with a torch, but if it goes out and you can't find a replacement, keep the burnt out one until then: There are areas (those round pillars with fireplaces, or a campfire) where you can do a quicksave, just in case you're too far from a shelter, or just lost. You never know when Kitty will come...
2) Drink water at EVERY opportunity! You not only refill your canteen, but you'll also have the advantage that you'll only need to drink during an emergency.
3)If attempting to go down a hill, aim at the nearest tree. This way, you won't need to worry about rolling down the hill, which is guaranteed to give you a fever.
4)If you have a fever, keep your cool, and try to find a shelter, ASAP. You'll know you're in critical condition when you suddenly go color-blind, so you have until then.
5)Keep an eye on the little critters (rabbit and squirrels mostly) If they're just frolicking, you're safe, but if you notice a few running in a certain direction HIDE That means the Beast is near.
6)Sometimes, the Beast won't even know you're near, so if you hear that "Tell-Tale Heart" beat, don't panic, and quickly find a hiding spot. In some cases, you can see her, but she can't see you, and she'll walk away after a bit.
7) If you see "stairs" on hills, they'll lead to a shelter, so you can save game, make medicine, have some water, and rest (plus, remember that the Beast doesn't enter the shelters)
8) Good news-bad news time: The bad news, the Beast is near, the good news is, if you survive the encounter, you'll be happy to know she spawns close to important objects (sometimes)

Good ones Pixie, all the ones I would have suggested myself now that I'm about 8 hours in. I would add, that to stop yourself from moving downhill so quickly, a quick tap to your back key (s) will help slow you down. I tap back and forth, w, then s to slow myself. Works pretty good, but on some inclines, there is nothing that can be done, you'll fall anyway. If a tree is near, as Pixie says use it! But if not, have that medicine made and in your pack.
I keep a medicine and one of the enhancers (such as the one that allows you to swim longer) in my journal. That way if I am hurt, the medicine is already there. Keep flowers in your storage compartments. If it's something you don't think you can find again, put that there over one you know how to use and where to easily find it. You can also carry one in your hand. I would like to see them expand the storage system. You can only carry one type of drug in your journal at a time, and only store 6 plants on the specimen board.
Well that's my little two cents :o)

very good tips.