So you have decided to get The Trail, or you're considering it and reading up on it. Either way, this guide will tell you how to deal with the game's start, explain the basics, and give a few tips on how to get through the game with minimal frustration and maximum enjoyment.
With that said, you are free to ignore everything in here. I don't have hard data for any of the things mentioned here and it is only based on my own experiences.

The beginning of the game is simple enough- You don't have much to worry about, and you'll be given some easy challenges to give you some skill coins to start off with while learning the mechanics. So I'll put some general tips in here

- Hoarding slows you down, but the stuff you hoard can be valuable. Make your own decision on whether it's worth spending more food to eat away the stamina loss from being overweight compared to the things you're hauling. It might be worthwhile to just throw out some items you don't need.
- Crafted items are almost always more valuable than the raw good. Before going into trading, it might be a good move to craft your raw materials into something more valuable.
- Similarly, crafted items often weigh less. Even on an ice-covered peak or the middle of a desert it may be worth to just stop and craft to save yourself some weight.
- The other people you see on the trail and at campsites aren't players. They're NPCs using the name and appearance of players when those players passed through that area. So don't feel bad about waiting near one that is hunting or woodcutting so you can swipe their loot.
- If you 'win' a trade minigame by earning more money than the others in it, you get bonus skillpoints or a high quality reward item.
- You can come back for failed challenges. You don't have to do it right the first time. Feel free to prepare for them however you would like and then try it again when you're ready for it.
- Upgrading the trading time skills will give you more money, as the multipliers for the items get bigger. This won't be much early on, but things get expensive pretty quickly.

So you're walking around, enjoying yourself as you wander from camp to camp, picking up bits and bobs, And then you notice your equipment is wearing out. Or maybe you're getting hungry and noticing the berries you've been picking up don't really do that much for your stamina.
Maybe you've seen trees or animals along the side, or found an NPC hunting or logging.
Now would be a good time to think about the future.

There are five jobs that need doing in The Trail.
The explorer, who creates backpacks
The hunter, who creates slingshots and hunts animals along the trail for furs and meat
The woodcutter, who creates axes and cuts trees for fruits and wood
The cook, who makes the finest foods
And the tailor, who creates clothing that both lasts and suits your needs

Early on, you can spread out and do a bit of everything. But you'll need to have picked one and decided what house to go for before you reach the town. If you don't have the skill coins to pick, you're going to have to go back and win some trading rounds to get more. But eventually you'll have your decision.
If you haven't been able to afford the ferry, you're going to have to go back and trade for cash anyway, so you may as well make those times trading count double.

A few things to note and some tips
- The explorer's house is much more expensive in terms of skill coin cost, for reasons I've yet to figure out
- If you need money early, the tailor can make clothing from scraps of beaver fur and cloth found along the path
- Similarly, the cook can make some basic berry jam that sells for a decent amount.
- For hunters and woodcutters, logging and hunting won't get you as much money as making and selling your tools does, most of the time.
- If you're stuck needing to win trading rounds for skill coins, you can save up items and sell them in bulk when the multiplier is better.
- If you fast travel to another camp, you can trade there again. You don't have to walk somewhere to trade, you can just keep fast traveling and keep trading.

This early on it's about figuring out what you want to do. Just make sure you can unlock one of the houses when you reach town so you can keep traveling along the trail when you get there. Going back and threading the same ground over and over is probably not going to be the most interesting experience, but if you need more time to decide what you want to do, or money, that's what you'll have to do.

Once you've made your house, you'll get put in a random town with random people. This is where the multiplayer starts, anything before this has been NPCs pretending to be people, but in your town you'll have actual people to interact with.
Assuming they're not inactive anyway.

Practically nothing about this is explained, so in the same style as before, a list of things you may want to know.
- There is a chat function and logs on the bottom right of your screen. You can talk to people here. This log also displays who upgrades their house and some other things.
- Everything on your shelves in your house can be taken by anyone else in your town.
- And in your machine, that's all public access.
- Don't buy more than one or two chests, you can't sell furniture, you can buy bigger chests later, and you don't want to feed your hoarding addiction, do you?
- As for furniture, the great majority doesn't do anything except look pretty.
- You can store house upgrade materials in the upgrade tab. This will save you a lot of chest space.
- The warehouse in town accepts goods, and when the chests are all filled you will be paid. The town will also get gold bars, which are used to unlock other town buildings.
- If your town is inactive, it may be worth building the stagecoach and finding another town to live in. Early on it isn't a big problem to be alone, but as you progress you will find it difficult to get better gear without the help of others.

After the town you repeat the things from before it. Freezing colds and scorching heats, mud and long trails that take a long time to walk.
River crossings getting progressively more expensive, and items selling for more.

I hope this helped you get the most out of your experience with The Trail, and if there is anything I forgot to mention or got wrong just leave a message and I'll be sure to correct it.