You spawn on the beach of a generated island.
your first few hours go into completeing the quests to level up your character, Of cource i'll be helping with some of them...

As you spawn the first quest will ask you to pick up a chipped ruby,
it's near you on the ground and should be located with ease if you use the space bar.
you will have to either open a window (crafting window for instance) or press space bar to be able to see what lays on the ground and pick it up manually with the mouse, or you can just press Left ctrl.

Sticks are found almost everywhere, you can chop bushes in the forest with a axe for sticks, or simply kick a tree or bush. (if it gives palm leaves, it's not the right bush.)

Stones are gathered by mining the rocks near the beach.

Craft your first set of tools and level up.

Killing a goblin.

To kill a goblin you at first need to be on more them 50 % stamina or you may risk dying.
you will ofcource also need a weapon.

Cudgel: its a weapon with a relatively high swing speed, and it gives a small amount of manouvrabillity.

Mace: this is a rather slow weapon and gives you little to no manouvrabillity.

So pick your weapon and craft it. (check the craft tab to see what it requires).

To kill a goblin.
Do not try to kill multiples at a time, and do not under any circumstances attack foxes or bears yet.
Get your weapon in one of the quick acces slots and select it, run up to a goblin and clobber it up good.
If you picked the Cudgel, you can time it so that when you run up to him, you can avoid the first hit by going back a little and then going in for the kill.

After a few goblins you should have enough gold and copper coins to level up.

As i have not been playing for all too long, i recommend finding out yourself where to and how to build your base, but if you are new and really have no idea, i have a few tips.

Near your spawn on the beach. right in front of you is a small forest area next to the iron pocket you will first spot (if you lost the area, you can save and quit and respawn on the area. Unless you have a portal) and next to the iron pocket is a small open area, if you include that area in the patch of land on the beach, you have a monster spawn free area to build your settlement.

Put fences or palastines at the edge of your base to protect it so you have time to kill off any goblins that try to destroy your base.

Dont put torches in the jungle, goblins will destroy them.

around 6 seed beds is enough to last till even after finding your first fragment, building more will reduce your efficiency, you can build more, but only use 6 of them unless you really need the resource.

you need water for your crops and animals, as soon as you have the possibillity to build a second well, build a second. it will give enough water that you can use up to 6 seedbeds and 2 animals after every water harvest.

As for me i found this quest rather difficult because the game gave little information on what to actually do with the trap.

So here is a few pointers.
You can tame chickens, roosters, pigs, sheep and i think one more animal,
to use the trap itself, get it in the quick acces slots, select it, and a green bar with golden arrow like figures appears, get the green bar near your target and click the button you correspond with melee attacks.
and it will fly at your target.
There is a chance it will catch it, and a chance it misses.
if you manage to net a creature, you have to quickly run up to it and press and hold the space bar, and click the (tame) button.

Next get the creature to follow you by again holding the space bar and clicking on the rooster, and in the interface that appears clicking follow me.

So you have the quest wich requests you to grow something.
Well it's fairly simple, just like the other quest in wich you needed soil, just gather around 45 soil and a bunch of planks and craft 3 seed beds (2x2)

Get a bunch of logs and craft most of them into planks (30 planks and i think 5 logs are required for the well) get the other resources and place the well near your seedbeds and it will start producing water, just collect the water and you can use it as you please.

get crop seeds by gathering wheat and strawberry plants.
Go towards a seed bed and click on it (again while holding space) and the seedbed UI should appear, select wich crop to grow (wheat for instance) and it will start growin providing you have enough water as well as seeds.

The plants you grow should be self sustaining (meaning u get seeds from full grown plants wich can be reused.

Getting there is easy, taking it is harder.

when you aproach the rock wich holds the fragment multiple guards will be waiting.
*2x bear LVL4
*about 3 Goblin (white) LVL4.
*about 4 Goblin (Black) LVL4.

lure them out 1 by one, or actually group by group,
goblins will charge you in groups, bears will charge you alone.

they are about twice to 3 times as strong as their level 1 forms, so be carefull and heal both your health and stamina to full before attempting each group.

Portals are a handy way of transportation,
they are (for what i have seen in game) unmovable and indestructable by monsters.
(i think they are indestructable, both because of that when you teleport and your other portal is gone, you cannot go back.
and because they are white when repairing stuff and most other stuff is green or red.

when you place a portal, be carefull about where you put them, because it's permanent (unless you destroy them yourself, this yields less recources.)

getting the required materials is easy when you are this far in the game, perhaps you already have enough after getting your first fragment. If not, just get them from wild boars and bears.

the materials (claws, bones and fangs) are all combinable in the crafting recipe for ash.
so don't bother getting them in one stack of 1 material.

Before attempting to make one, be sure to make the shovel first, this saves a lot of time.

Creatures i have found untill now include:
HOSTILE
* Goblin (white LVL1.) you can 2 hit this creature with a studded cudgel.
* Goblin (black LVL1.) You can 3 hit this creature with a studded cudgel (sometimes 2 hit)
* Goblin (white LVL2.) Slightly stronger then the weaker LVL.1
* Bear LVL1. has about 3 times more health then a black goblin, hits hard like a fox and has 2 attacks.
* Fox LVL1. hits hard, fast, high health. don't engage unless you have at least a studded weapon.

*Bear LVL4. very strong, about 2 to 3 times as strong as it's original LVL1.
*Goblin (white) LVL4. same as with the bear.
*Goblin (black) LVL4. same as with the bear.

PASSIVE
*Rabbit. this creature is good for meat, but i recommend not chasing them without a bow, simply because they can lead you to hostile enemys and you might die.

Goblin (white/Black) 1-5 copper coins, +/- 2 gold coins
Wild Boar: 1+ fangs,1+Pelt
Bear: 1+ Pelt, 1+claws

Tips for Combat:

Every monster has their own pattern (AI), wich means that when a monster sees you, he will do 1 of 2 things,
* It will try to flee (the passive creatures).
* Or it will try to fight.

In combat there is, melee and Ranged.
Melee is trying to damage one another by physical means in direct contact,
Ranged, like the name suggests, from a distance.

Some creatures have a way to damage or even kill them without ever being hit:
* Goblins are so slow that with decent aim with a bow you can kill them before they ever get to you.
* Bears are generally slow, so you can try to time walking back and forth while hitting to avoid damage.
*Scorpions seem to have a small oppertunity to get hit without taking damage yourself by counting the amount of "ranged" shots, while running in circles, mostly 2 shots/ or when they are melee, you can keep running backwards and hitting them.
*Skeleton with two axes seems to be hard, in this case, try to damage it up front with ranged attacks, and finish him with melee, try to get him stuck in terrain.
*Demons (Desert), go back and forth for the most part.

You can use two of the same tools to speed up the gathering of stones or bushes, same with combat.

as for a good amount of mobs, here is some info...

DPS= just hit them enough, fast enough to do this correctly (needs citation)
Dodge= walk out, walk in, attack, repeat (or otherwise called "kiting") (needs citation)
Chip, no idea

Fox - dps
Boar - dodge (hard)
Bear - dodge
Goblin - dodge
Scythe Ghost - dodge
Devil - dodge
Skeletons: Archer - dodge
: Fire - use cover or kill it straight up
: Two-Handed - dodge
: Berzerker - dps
: Shield - dps
Scorpions: fast melee - dps
: fast darts - dodge and chip
: poison melee - bow and chip
: poison darts - dodge and chip or tank it when you've been hit
Golem - dodge
Yeti - straight damage, they suck, just way too fast

If your iron pocket runs out, you will have to find more.
Same with all ores.

A good alternative to iron ore is copper ore, it is used in some receipes containing iron, but it is made with copper coins or ore, so it is usefull when you do not have a new iron pocket yet and need it.

It is best to save your iron untill you really need it (don't use it when copper is also possible.)

Strawberrys are a great way to slowly generate health, so out of combat and need more health because you don't want to wait for health regen, then just grab a couple strawberrys.
to make this reliable you might want to spend some time cultivating some.

Coconuts give some energy, but getting them is a pain and costs more then it gives,
so an alternative is Coffee, you can get coffee by mixing water and coffee branches in the cooking table, it costs 5 branches, so it's pricey, but with farming that is managable.

before you go fragment hunting, it might be a wise choice to better equip yourself....

A great way to dispatch multiple enemys is to take them to a nearby bush and let them attack the bush instead of you, and by making a kill zone (by cutting bushes away in such a manner that only 1 creature can pass through at a time) you can make fragment hunting and general combat a lot easier.

TIP for taming Goblins: Have at least 10 traps available & full health. As soon as the goblin starts beating on you, start throwing the traps. Usually about 6 or 7 you will get him to be able to tame him.

TIP on storage: If you have a cow, chicken, goat , or sheep you can continuously feed them without taking out the produced milk, egg, or wool. I've held as much as 12 in each of mine & only take them out when I need it since storage can be a problem.

TIP: there are several uses for tamed goblins. If your settlement is getting attacked at certain spots, where the mean goblins are attacking your fence, put a tamed goblin or two there & leave him. He will actually help protect your property. They can also be a companion for when you go out foraging. They will fight along side of you & also take the first hit or two, lessening the damage to yourself.

TIP: When going out venturing, empty your backpack. Even if you have to throw the stuff in it on the ground at your settlement. It will still be there when you get back. Because when you die, you lose quite a bit of your loot, so keep your important stuff home . Especially extra clothing. You can lose that as well.

TIP: If trapping isn't working for you, build a large enclosed area at your settlement. When you see animals out in the wild to trap, try the trap but if it doesn't work run them toward your settlement. The animals that I have, I've herded most of them. I think I got 4 with traps (but I find the traps are annoying) Even out adventuring around your settlement, push them towards your place. Eventually you will get them :)

TIP: DON'T cut through the natural wall of bushes and trees around the clearing above the starting location (iron rocks, ideal base spot), instead to access the map walk along the beach and make a small tunnel on one side. There's no need to defend or fence in animals if you do this. You get teleporters around lvl5-6 making travelling in and out easier.

Zelite for tips on combat/ gathering.
((TFB))-Szpickids for tips on combat.
Tamzach for tips on storage and trapping
Piratebear for tips on what monsters need what strategy to defeat with relative low risk
diddy for tips on gold mace damage test, and what you can (mostly) instakill with it (citation needed)
Nommy for suggesting a base idea