Tips and Info for New Players [PVE]

[HeavenlyFriend]

Welcome to Cryofall!

Let me just start by saying that I do not claim to be an expert on the game.  As of today I have ~60 hours in the game.  However, I would like to share some tips and information with new players to help speed them on their way.

Here is a 'How to play guide' that I would recommend looking at: https://cryofall.gamepedia.com/How_to_play_guide_for_CryoFall

When you first begin your journey your map is black until you have explored it.  To get an idea of where you are and what's around you follow this link to the NA PVE Server Game Map: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1704305623

To my understanding you first begin the game in the southern part of the world. The southernmost west and east sections of the map are the tropical forest. I believe these areas lack access to coal mining nodes and oil. The tropical forest is the only area you can find banana trees, pineapples, and durian. The game world is an island surrounded by ocean (salt water / salt water fish).

You can build up to 3 land claims. If you want to keep your land claim I would advise you to upgrade to at least land claim tier 2 (Tier 2 Construction), so that it will not degrade too quickly. My first land claim disappeared on me because I was logged out for too long.

Completing the quests is an excellent way of gaining LP, which are used to research new tech.

Economy: Making use of the economy is a good way of speeding progression by accessing equipment and materials ahead of what you might have access to on your own. To purchase or sell things to other players, take a look at your world map. You should see little white building icons all over the map. Those icons represent player vending machines. The machines can either be used to purchase or sell items. Since it may be awhile before you can craft your own coins, I suggest looking to see who will pay the most money for your early game materials (ores, wood, whatever) to get started on building wealth. Gold nuggets, which you collect randomly when mining ores, tend to sell really well. You do want to keep some for yourself though as they are needed for high tech items. You may have to wait until you've accessed tech tier 2 before you can safely move around the map.

Getting drones ASAP can really speed things up. You do not have access to creating drones until tech tier 3, but you can purchase them! You use drones by having them in your inventory, equipping/using a drone controller in your hotbar, and then clicking on trees or ores that you want them to harvest. You can shift+left click to have all drones harvest the selected item type. There are 2 types of drones and 2 types of drone controllers. The lower tier controller lets you control up to 3 drones at once, and the higher tech controller lets you control 4. 

Fruit salad (Tech Tier 1 Cooking) - Grants the healthy food buff, which gives a good boost to stats (see: https://cryofall.gamepedia.com/Healthy_Food). When you are just starting out in the tropical forest area you should craft and consume this item.

Salt: Salt is a very useful material.  It can be crafted either by scooping salt water into a jar, then cooking it in a furnace; or, it can be harvested in large quantities by mining in the salt flats which are located in the desert to the east. If you decide to venture into the desert go prepared with a gun and ammo as the creatures tend to be aggressive and fast moving (honey badger, I'm looking at you).

Rubber: Rubber is found by harvesting rubber trees, which are found in the tropical and temperate areas (the southernmost and central areas of the map). Rubber trees have a yellowish look to them. You can see a picture of them here: https://atomictorch.com/Post/Id1182/CryoFall-DevBlog-20-Production-chains

Hunting: Combat can be expensive, as the resources required to craft weapons and ammo can be costly. I made a practice of avoiding most fights with wolves, boars, etc and not trying to fight and kill everything that crossed my path. Hunting is a good way of gaining LP though.

Sprinting: Your athletics ability is improved by sprinting. Try to sprint as much as you can. I highly recommend researching energy tablets (Tech Tier II, Medicine).  They are easy to craft, requiring only sugar, charcoal, and red herb. Upon consumption, they FULLY refill your stamina bar. You can run faster by consuming energy drinks (a found item, or crafted Tier V Canning), or coffee (Tech Tier II Cooking). It only requires roasted coffee beans and a cooking table.  To create coffee beans look for a round shrub with red berries, harvest them, and roast the berries in a furnace. Don't make your coffee in bulk as it will deteriorate.  Roasted coffee beans last forever, so just roast your beans and save them for when you need to make and use the coffee. You can also get high on cigars for a speed boost.

Boosting LP and Skill Gain: You can increase the rate at which you gain LP by eating certain foods that provide the savory food buff. I learned this from another guide, but farming milk melon, crafting milk, and then making cheese is a good way of doing this. The downside is that you do not have access to milk until tech tier 3, but it is something to keep in mind. You might look at the different foods and determine if there is another one that provides the savory food buff that is worth your time farming.

Durability: Over time your gear will lose its durability. Try not to let the items you want to keep completely break. Store them in a container, as you can repair them with a tinker table (Tech Tier 2 Construction). You repair the item by combining it with the exact same item that is also damaged at the tinker table with duck tape.  The repaired item gets a 20% bonus to its durability (up to 100%). Improving the maintenance skill increases how much durability the repaired item gains.

Farming: I like to use bones, fur, and leather as mulch (once you are no longer using them for armor).

Thank you for reading.

God Bless

[HeavenlyFriend]

Mid - Late Game Tips and Info

Exploring Ruins: This is challenging to do early on, in my experience. Try not to let your radiation level get much higher than 35-40% or you may begin to mutate. Mutation can be reversed with certain medication. Equip a respirator, HAZMAT suit, or A.P.A.R.T. armor, to reduce radiation levels. Purchase, or craft, radiation prevention aid (Tech Tier IV) to block some radiation.  Do not consume it immediately before entering the ruins; wait until your radiation level is ~10% as it heals that much upon consumption. Consume an energy drink or coffee to get the 'Energy Rush' buff, which grants +75 stamina, -10% Stamina Depletion, and +100% Stamina Regeneration.  You can also smoke cigars to get the 'High' status effect, which grants +10% movement speed, 10% damage (melee weapons), -50% stamina regeneration speed, and -50% pain.
Some ruin locations:
1248;440
1115;816
1322;738
563;1145

Transferring items between distant bases: The mechs have their own inventory space. The Manul mech has extra cargo capacity.  Mechs and hoverboards can be instantly teleported between vehicle bays.  Therefore, if you want to transport your items between bases more easily you can load up your Manul(s), move them off the vehicle bay, run to your other base/vehicle bay, and 'teleport' them to that one.

Mining Pragmium: Pragmium spires are located in the desert to the east. They are protected by Pragmium Beetles. Do not mine pragmium spires to 0%, as they will explode and kill you. Follow this link for more details on mining pragmium: https://cryofall.gamepedia.com/Pragmium

Pragmium Hatchet: This is a neat tool that can ONE SHOT ores, stones, and pragmium spires.  Don't one shot a pragmium spire though, as it's unlikely you'll outrun the blast radius when it explodes. It does not one shot meteors or pragmium queen pragmium nodes.