Here are several things you should know to maximize your survival experience.
Weight Watching
Several aspects come into play for survival, from becoming fully hydrated and stuffed for 20 minutes of no reductions to maintaining your Sanity. However, one of the more underrated is weight. Depending on your character’s weight, your carrying capacity, melee attack speed and damage, stamina recovery and more are affected. Though you can customize this from the character creation screen at the start, it’s also possible to gain weight by eating specific foods (like French Fries). Alternatively, you can consume Fat-Burning Juice to lose weight or drink dirty water and eat spoiled food to cause Gastric Discomfort.
Using Presets in Building
If you’re not into the whole base-building aspect and want a quick solution, the Presets tab in the Build menu can help. Hit B, right-click to open the menu, and navigate to House Blueprints. There will be two options – Drafts and Presets – the latter containing options like a Plain Villa, Survival Cottage, Small Tower and even an Exquisite Villa. You can even have a Travel Trailer for a house on the go. Best of all, these can all be constructed in addition to whatever current base you’ve made within your territory, allowing for easier expansion. Just make sure you have the specified materials.
Moving Your Base
If you need to relocate your base for whatever reason, whether it’s moving towards other essential resources or simply because you hate your neighbors, there’s an easy way. Go to the new location in question, enter the Build menu and press Z. This will allow you to position your entire base to the new spot. It’s ideal if you need to farm a specific material and don’t want to keep traveling back and forth to your base.
Copying Other Players’ Bases
If there’s a player’s base that you really like, it can be copied wholesale for your use. Enter their territory and bring up the Build menu with B. Navigate to Blueprints, and under Drafts, select Save Blueprint (with the option to add notes and such). Of course, there’s a catch – you need sufficient permissions to save someone else’s base design.
Upgrading Mods
Mods are very useful in providing additional benefits to gear and weapons, whether it’s more damage or reduced damage from status effects, but you can also upgrade. You’ll need Energy Link and materials from dismantling other mods, yet they can go a ways towards min-maxing your build.
Recommended Deviations
Deviants may seem the most beneficial in combat, but they’re arguably the most valuable for resource-gathering. The Digby Boy has a chance to drop from any ore source (Silver being the most likely) and will mine ore while you’re out and about. Logging Beaver, who has a chance to drop south of the Mayor’s Market, will do the same for wood. Both are ideal and if you satisfy the conditions of their Securement Environment, their power and Mood recover quicker, thus ensuring you can use them more often. You can also have more than one of the same Deviant, maximizing resource gains even more.
Memetic Specialization
As you reach certain level milestones, Memetic Specializations become available. They’re accessed from the same menu that you unlock Memetics and Cradle upgrades in the upper right, and randomized. Once you’ve chosen a Specialization, it’s locked in till the end of the season (with only a maximum of five resets available). Choose the best ones based on your circumstances. However, for the most part, Portable Rainwater Collection, Backpack Expansion, Stardust Regulator, Supplies Workbench: Ammo Factory and Portable Fridge are some of the best options.
Easy Sanity Restoration
It’s also worth looking into the Compost Bin since this Specialization will convert spoiled food in your inventory to mushrooms. Why is this important? You can then use them to cook Roasted Mushrooms, which are a great way to restore Energy and Sanity. Mushrooms are out in the wild as well, but this ensures a steady supply while you’re busy doing something else. Otherwise, keep a healthy amount of Beets for Sugar to craft Sanity Gummies.
Changing Appearance
If you’re looking to change your appearance or even modify weight without putting your character through awful diets, then it’s worth using the Floor Mirror. It’s unlocked from the start under Furnishing Items in the Build menu and once placed, it allows for modifying all aspects of your character. The only problem is that it requires a Renaming Card, which is only available for premium currency. There currently isn’t a way to get one for free, unfortunately.
Buying Blueprints
Aside from looting Mystical Chests for Blueprint Fragments, you can also get them to drop from the Wish Machine. The only problem is that the latter is essentially gacha, where you gamble Starchrom away for a chance at hitting the jackpot. However, it’s possible to buy the Blueprints directly by hitting G at the Wish Machine. They cost quite a bit, but it’s a worthwhile addition, especially if you’re looking for specific Blueprints and don’t want to waste currency on gacha RNG.
Farming Starchrom
Starchrom is pretty valuable, but it’s thankfully not too challenging to obtain. You can get them from Prime War activities on the world map (though beware of their difficulty), completing Season Goals and even as rewards from the free tier of the Battle Pass. Starchrom can also be earned by clearing objectives in the Journey menu, and while they’re not as hefty, every little bit counts.
Repairing Random Weapons
You may wonder, like I did, what the point of crafting weapons and armor is when you can just find some great loot in the world. However, there are major reasons to do so. Your world drops will deteriorate with use and must be repaired, which can’t be done since they’re technically not yours (such is the scavenging life). Use whatever you find but keep working on crafted weapons and armor for the long run.
Farming Acid
Another material that will become essential later in the game is Acid. It’s required to make Tier 4 and 5 gear, and though it drops from higher-level enemies pretty consistently (Silos are a good source), you’ll still need a lot. Opinions are mixed on how sufficient a Water Pump in polluted areas can be for gaining more, but if you have the means, it’s not the worst thing to have in the background.
V’s Commissions
Don’t forget to talk to your companion V when the opportunity arises, because he has Commissions. These provide separate rewards, from XP to materials, and are relatively easy to complete. He has five each week and you’ll get a final reward for completing them all. However, if the menu doesn’t show up when talking to V, head to Deadsville or Meyer’s Market and look for the relevant vendor to access the Commissions.
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