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This guide is currently written from the point of view of Normal difficulty. I did play Hardcore however I find most who play Hardcore including myself are aware of how to manipulate save files to their advantage. Also this is the grindiest game ever and that's coming from an original Runescape player so it requires no increased animal density or heightened senses to trap a player forever into small pockets.

Before we get started it's important to be aware you can respawn basic loot by saving and exiting to menu then reloading. This works on animals, crates and bags and most mining spawns. This does not appear to work on pearls and crystals. This does appear to refresh hunters at a fire.

Also be aware you can delete your most recent save and edit the number of another save to match the deleted one. This will become your existing save file. This is handy as when you die you will lose one third of your loot. If you have been farming for an hour and get killed by raiders heading to your base you will likely smash your keyboard through you monitor. Also if you are far from base, in a cold region during winter, carrying weapons you have spent weeks upgrading and you die; you can get into a situation where your body is not retrievable causing you to quit the game and leave a terrible review.

BASE LOCTION

This is hands down the best base location in the game and here's why;
- Lithium is one of the rarest resources in the game. Even in the regions it spawns there are no reliable spots for obtaining en masse. The only way to harvest it with any degree of haste is to put down a mining drill in a region where it is available, ie; Clearspring Falls or Maplestone Grove
- Pearls are one of the rarest resources in the game and this location is central to arguably the best spot to collect them
- This location is directly above a cave entrance for late game crystal farming
- Finally it is at the water's edge which is crucial
If you are only after brutal efficiency in a base I advise you build a single foundation centrally placed to a 3 x 3 above. Use a stairwell to connect early game then replace with a ladder hatch. This will give you a raised shooting position with cover and provide enough protection for your infrastructure for the most part. Hunters and raiders will not attempt to access your base so excessive fortifications are not required.
Don't rush to build your Base Control Unit (BCU) on the first day. Once it's up hunters move in so stockpile a little and get your foundations down first.


EARLY GAME
GOALS
- Build a wood stove
- Build three vegetable patches
- Build a workbench
Chase chickens. Chasing chickens is where early game is at. Jump while you chase them. Feathers equal arrows for large game. Pick berries. Try not to let your fire go out or it will cost you twelve Medical Herbs for another Fire Starter Kit. I would keep one or two spares. I don't recall if rain puts out your fire. I build my fire under my first foundation. The first winter will be tough. Stockpile 2-3 stacks of wood for your wood stove. Running out of wood or fire starters in winter could spell your doom. Vegetables will be a hurdle. If you manage to get a veg patch or two up and going you might just make it through. You will likely die during the first winter and be aware you may face situations where retrieving your kit and making it safely to your base / fire / sustenance are extremely difficult.


TIPS
- Acquire small game at every opportunity. Feathers and cloth are valuable!
- Pick medicinal herbs and stockpile early game. They are used in cooking and med packs later.
- Pick and stockpile fibre / make cordage at every oportunity. It is used in quantity to make rope and make / repair fish traps.
- Save burned meat for the Recycler and spoiled food for fish traps.
- Save protein bars and bottles of water for the cave. Add blueberries to bottled water.
- Make a couple of Antidotes.

BIG GAME

Grizzly (Brown) bears have the most fat. Fat can be rendered into bio fuel at the stove to power your generators and be required in huge amounts later on. Moose yield sinew and antlers also required in large amounts. Level three wolves also have a good return on fat for arrow investment.
Moose and Bears can be kited through trees where they will become caught on a tree mid pursuit. Large game are particularly susceptible due to a large hit box / clipping. Gently weave through the trees as you pass them to cut off line of sight. I have found jumping while running to increase the effectiveness of this technique. Pursuers seem to briefly lose track of you when you jump. Often large game will appear to get their head stuck in the tree and you are free to finish the poor beast at your leisure. Be close to trees when you attack a Moose. They are faster than bears. Also ensure you carry splints on your hot bar as large game can break bones and end your run in a flash.
The cougar is a different beast. It is extremely fast and seems less prone to clipping on trees. I build a foundation to hunt these. Just high enough to jump on while providing the impediment to prevent the cougar from running onto. Fire from off the platform. The beast will charge. Jump on the platform and fire again once the cougar has closed the gap. The cougar will hit the foundation once and flee. Rinse and repeat then deconstruct you platform on completion. Later these techniques can be replaced by the bow pull into double barrel shotgun.
RANGE METHOD
You can hit animals at long range with a bow by aiming two and a half to four centimetres, that's one to one and a half inches, above them. Turn and flee immediately and the beast will charge you and give up the pursuit quite quickly. Rinse and repeat.
WATER METHOD
With a body of water interposing between you and your quarry the beast will be forced to swim allowing you to dispatch it at your leisure. It will not track around the edge of the water unless there is almost a direct line.
SKILL METHOD
When a bear attacks you while chasing, you can jump, draw your bow, spin around and fire all at once. The jump is crucial as it carries you forward at the same speed and direction despite you spinning to face backward. This provides you with the vital distance to turn and flee once more. Each time the bear attacks rinse and repeat. I have not tried on smaller predators. Let me know of it's success in the comments, if you are game...

EFFICIENCY
You can pack a lot of infrastructure into a little space. This three by three boasts fifteen solar panels, six planter boxes, five boxes, 4K power storage, 400 mass storage, work bench, electrical bench, lathe, dive station, distiller, oven, three generators and a mass generator. The base has strategically placed walls to; provide visibility for incoming raids, protect infrastructure and allow cover and space for effective combat. The base is elevated to allow flooring to provide cover where required.

EARLY INFRASTRUCTURE
PLANTER BOX
Fertiliser; Animal Faeces can be obtained from the Animal House. Ash can be obtained from the fire / stove. Potassium can also be used to great effect in it's refined form.
ANIMAL HOUSE
Primarily a source of fat, feathers and eggs. It will put a tax on your vegetable production. Don't bother with rabbits. FYI a bleed will sap 30 health before it self cures and rarely requires a bandage out of combat. I think two fully upgraded houses with two animals in each is optimal. You can add the third animal each time one is nearing level ten.
ELECTRIC STOVE
Used to add value to your vegetable production at the cost of power. I recommend upgrading the efficiency when possible. The utensils can be arduous to acquire early game. Acquire the boiling pan first for access to tomato soup and boiled eggs. Tomato soup adds a whopping 42 to the food value in the Animal Housing. The frying pan is a good second choice for it's easy to acquire recipe ingredients. I don't bother with the baking dish. The recipes are a little exotic / unrealistic / hard to acquire.
REFRIGERATOR
Chances are you will be killing every living thing for fat so you will not need one.
MINING DRILL
Four speed upgraded drills should fulfil all your needs.

HUNTERS AND ARMED COMBAT
Do not engage in combat with hunters early game. Between head shots and shot guns they can one shot you, sometimes before you know they are there. Steer clear of their base locations. These areas are now forfeit. You must run, hide behind base walls and reload the game where necessary. Hunters will eventually give up the chase. Once you have acquired a full clothing kit including body armour, helmet and garment upgrades can you begin fighting back. When you engage in combat do so from cover. Pop out of cover, shoot and return to cover to reload or allow weapon animation. Rinse and repeat.
The double barrel shot gun is brutal against hunters that wish to close the gap.
Head shots are king if you have the skill and presence of mind.
Bleeds are worse for their blinding animation than the thirty points of damage.
RIFLE
Boasts better zoom and faster rate of fire than the LAR. Excels at range and head shots
LEVER ACTION RIFLE
Boasts more damage than the rifle. Great all round weapon for any situation.
SHOTGUN
Close range. Animation between shots.
DOUBLE BARREL SHOTGUN
Highly effective at close range with no delay between shots. Slugs improve range significantly.
REVOLVER
Highest non shotgun damage output with better range than 20 gauge shotgun shells.
M9
Most commonly found ammunition and my weapon of choice for base defence for this reason.

BOTTLE NECKS

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NAILS - SCRAP METAL - FIBRE - HERBS - COTTON SEEDS
Starting at the north west lake the region east and south east of here is wide open with sparsely populated trees and ideal for spotting crates, bags and natural resources. Use re-spawn if required.




OBSIDIAN - SKYSCAPE PLATEAU
The area high up on the waterfall clifftop and some of the large rocks in the surrounding stream are packed with obsidian. Using the re-spawn method, three picks and a single days daylight sixty to eighty units can be acquired. Use re-spawn.




SILICON
The very large rock, central in picture, with an open cave underneath it is packed with ore deposits on it's top. A good number of these will be silicon. Use re-spawn.






LITHIUM / PEARLS
Lithium is difficult to acquire manually. It is best sought using the mining drill in a region providing this resource.
With six air tanks and a full days daylight every nook and cranny of the shallow and deep sections of the north west lake can be searched netting you around thirty pearls.

POWER AND MASS
Hunt grizzly (brown) bears and level three wolves en masse to acquire fat for generators. Burn the excess meat and feed it to the recycler for mass.

AIMING
I use the steam app CrosshairX. Change it's position three places east and three places south for spot on aim. I think the forced overlay provides minor instability to the game particularly when tabbing in and out of the program.

BASE ASSAULT
The grenade will do 224 damage to a door and the Molotov will do 216. You can attack an advanced base with 11 Molotov's and a little pick work. That's 5 for the external metal door and two for each of the 3 internal wooden doors. Bring more ammunition or explosives if you hate pick work. Placing a BCU cracker at the advanced base on your map will net you a master crate containing five superior weapon parts among other goodies.

PRISTINE FEATHERS
Found in eagle nests on large rocky outcrops at the foot of the mountains. The eagle nests are not found at the very top of mountains. Eagles will not drop pristine feathers even if shot with a bow. Use a shotgun.


MED PACKS - FISH TRAPS
Build four fish traps to farm small fish for fish oil. Fish oil makes medical tonic which makes a number of healing and buff related items. Add ten spoiled food or grubs to the trap. Fish traps will add an upkeep toll to your fibre / cordage storage.

CAVE

- Be ready for a solid fight in the cave system with around six camps of 3-4 pirates each. Only go with a maxed out wardrobe and two repaired weapons with a stack of ammo each.
- The cave is loot dense so take as little as possible.
- One tank of air should get you in and out plus a few pearls.
- Three fresh picks.
- Take a stack of protein bars and berry water. The mining drill will make bottled water which can be mixed with blueberries; ideal for this adventure.
- Take your winter jacket, a stack of bandages, a stack of med packs and some splints if you wish.
- No need for chutney. Cave mushrooms and berry water will be plenty.
- Climbing axes.
There is an awesome little Rough Map Guide here on Steam. Full props to creator.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1356382652

COUGAR SPAWNS
Players have reported seven cougar spawns on occasion however after many laps of the mountain I have found six reliable cougar spawn points. Three quite close together on the south east of the mountain and three spread out from north east to west.







Digital animals were harmed during the making of this guide