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  1. #1

    Soloers Guide: Not Carrying What You Can't Replace

    Good evening, my fellow mud hut dwelling misanthropes (thank you, tommybomb, for that phrase, it tickles me still!).

    On to business. My fellow soloers, I'm here to (mostly) free you from the tyranny of the junkpile. It is possible to live on a Homestead that doesn't include a junk pile within the safe area.

    You can do so without stashing tools and rerolling, without resorting to an alt on a second account, without ever carrying anything you can't replace, and without immediately needing to trade for tools, baskets, or anything else. It isn't easy, and it's rather time consuming, but it can be done.

    Here is (one but not necessarily the only) way to do it:

    If you are a preorder:

    Choose picks as your weapon- gives you a pick
    (If you know there are no rocks you will want to break up where you want to settle, you can choose skinning instead, that way, if you kill an animal on your homestead, you can skin it)

    Take Terraforming- gives you a shovel

    Take fishing- gives you a fishing pole
    (If you do not intend to settle close enough to water to include it in your safe area, and/or if you are willing to take the extra time and effort to forage instead of fish, you may substitute any other skill here.)

    Choose Massacre for your pre-order weapon -gives you an axe that cannot be looted
    (I believe there is another weapon that also serves as an axe, but I don't recall the name)

    Choose Wood Crafting for your craft skill- This should give you: A planer, a hammer, a knife, and a saw. (If you do not receive all of these tools, reroll until you do.)

    You have created your character and entered the world. Before you take a step, make sure you have a planer, hammer, knife, and saw in your backpack.

    Now make sure one of your tool crafting recipes has a tool requirement that requires only one of your starting tools. If nothing else, you should be able to make metal stakes.

    If you got a recipe that requires only a knife or hammer and materials you can easily get-stone, twigs, or grass-you are in luck, and this will save you a lot of trips to wherever the nearest junkpile is.

    Run to your selected area and place your totem. If you are killed and looted of any tool, just reroll, it's not worth the hassle of trying to get by without your starter tools.

    (If you are not preorder, you will not have access to an unlootable axe. You will need to choose an axe for a weapon and forgo the pick or knife, and then you should make sure your safe zone covers a tree or two.)

    I hope you noted the location of the nearest junk pile, because you will be making some trips sooner rather than later, unless you're lucky enough to have one of the tool craft recipes that does not require any material scavenged from a junk pile. But first put everything that can be looted into your backpack (fishing pole, pick, and shovel). Then remove your backpack, put it on the ground, and double check that permissions are set to private. Now you carry either nothing, or a preorder axe.

    Once you've done whatever you feel needs doing in your safe area that requires only the tools you now have, feel free to leave your safe area and head to the nearest junkpile for plastic, scrap metal, or cloth, after dropping that backpack, of course. It's time to grind tool craft.

    You can't sort anything without a backpack, so pick up four stacks of material and head back to your homestead with it.

    If you get killed, you lose only your pride, possibly your pants, hopefully not a skill or attribute point, and whatever scrap you have on your back.

    Once safely home, drop your plastic, scrap metal, or cloth on the ground and pick up your backpack. Now you can sort, but don't sort it all at once, you have limited space. Only sort enough to give you whatever you need to make a tool craft item.

    Make the item, hope for a new recipe, and more than likely be prepared to discard whatever you crafted, and to discard any materials you can't immediately use for your next crafted item.

    (If you have stopped to create projects for fencing or housing before going off to the junk pile, you can drop some materials into those projects, however, which is the least wasteful way to go about it.)

    Continue doing this until you have a recipe that does not require trips to the junk yard (if you weren't lucky enough to start with one). My favorite two require only a crafter's knife and some stone. Once you have one of these recipes (I think forager's punch and forager's paddle are two examples), you can grind your tool craft skills up fairly quickly and obtain a lot of tool craft recipes.

    You're looking for weaver and lasher recipes in particular. With these tools you can make baskets (if you didn't start with any basket recipe, you can make other items from grass until you do have a basket recipe).

    Once you can make baskets, you can replace your backpack with a basket (drop the pack on the ground and pick up the basket, it will go on your back, giving you a larger and replaceable backpack). You can also make armor and pouches when you get the recipes. This will save you a lot of time and effort, as you can actually sort at the junk pile without risking anything you can't replace. You can also forage and scavenge on your way to and at the junk pile, and of course you can trade. Nearby neighbors in need of wood handles or baskets will be particularly happy to see you.

    While you're running back and forth and crafting, keep an eye on local. If anyone is willing to trade baskets for something you can make or gather (and if they will travel to you or trade for scrap that you can bring to them without risking your backpack or anything else you can't replace), you will save a lot of time and trips, as you can put off getting the weaver and lasher recipes.

    And that's it. Once you can make the weaver and lasher, you're free to go anywhere with full carrying capacity, while carrying nothing on you that you can't replace by scavenging and crafting.

  2. #2

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Odie View Post
    So not obvious to new players.

    But I'll take the rock, I'm grinding tools right now.

  4. #4
    Are they planning on implementing re-roll timers?

    If not, then it's gonna be MUCH easier to just re-roll a few times, stash tools from different crafting selections in a hidden spot until you get every single tool, then head off to set up a homestead. Seriously, you can get every tool in like 15 minutes tops. Your way may be more RP-friendly, but it's not the most efficient.

    And you're still gonna wanna live near a junk pile, unless you just love running...a lot. Even with all the tools, you're reliant on the piles for 80% of the craft materials you need.

    Other than that, nice guide for the RP'ers who don't wanna game the system.

  5. #5
    lol ok...gimme a sec and I'll deal with post...as anyone knows...now one is more anti social than me...unless I ask to hang with yah....heh..
    For solo...the kids Good on some points....and bad on others....ill brb with updates...but forgot the 3/1 wipe happened 3 days ago...busy work week...brb..

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Risk View Post
    lol ok...gimme a sec and I'll deal with post...as anyone knows...now one is more anti social than me...unless I ask to hang with yah....heh..
    For solo...the kids Good on some points....and bad on others....ill brb with updates...but forgot the 3/1 wipe happened 3 days ago...busy work week...brb..
    I know how to do this the easy way, same as you do, baka77, but are we sure that this option will still be available after wipe? What if you have a spot that isn't on a junk pile, but that is otherwise a very good spot someone else might want? You don't want to be in the middle of a reroll, come back, and find out someone has dropped a totem, taking your land and your stuff.


    Hey Risk, you're off by more than 20 years on the 'kid' remark. But even so, if you've got ways to do things better, tell me and I'll edit the OP.

  7. #7
    I have a question. I could have sworn I saw something about Junk Piles regenerating based on discarded items - does anyone know if this is true? And if it is does it work the same with discarded crafted items? Reason I'm wondering is if we can make our own junk piles by grinding stone tools for example?

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by ifireallymust View Post
    I know how to do this the easy way, same as you do, baka77, but are we sure that this option will still be available after wipe? What if you have a spot that isn't on a junk pile, but that is otherwise a very good spot someone else might want? You don't want to be in the middle of a reroll, come back, and find out someone has dropped a totem, taking your land and your stuff.
    1. We aren't sure the "ez" way will be available, that's why I started by asking about re-roll timers.

    2. I didn't go into a lot of detail in my post, but it would be foolish to put your tools in the spot you plan to settle while you're re-rolling. It's best done by taking basketry first & making a big ass bin. Then hide the bin in a spot nobody is likely to find (like in some rocks or behind a tree up in the middle of nowhere. Then, once you're done re-rolling & filling your bin with all the tools, lock the bin so you can't be looted if you die. THEN, you can go find your settlement location & totem up. Once you totem up, drop your bin o' tools & you're set for life....well, at least until your tools break. But by then a smart player will have already made a new, upgraded set & put their bins in a tent to reduce decay.

  9. #9
    First of all...

    You stole (part) of my secret solo build (I have a few little changes)! But... now other soloers might not keep whining about how it's impossible without trading.

    Second of all...
    The whole reason why I am NOT going to do the "15 mins all tools" thing is because creating these tools myself guarantees that I will be able to create them again when they break and I'll have a much higher toolcrafting level. It wouldn't surprise me if some people tried the "15 mins to awesome" and ended up making a lot of gear, breaking their tools, and not being able to re-create them. We don't know how possible that is sense we don't know how quick durability is lost.

  10. #10
    Make a bin. Hide it. Reroll six times. Plant homestead.

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