Beginner Walkthrough and Tips
Credits to WhiteHowler02, byu/b4rttVP-Mod (Reddit), The Players from The Pack, and the Members of Subsistence Discord. Images courtesy of @Akeel of Subsistence Discord.
Last updated
Credits to WhiteHowler02, byu/b4rttVP-Mod (Reddit), The Players from The Pack, and the Members of Subsistence Discord. Images courtesy of @Akeel of Subsistence Discord.
Last updated
This game is a hardcore survival game that is hard for first time players, but once you have a couple hours under your belt, it is fairly easy. This tutorial/tips hybrid is going to tell you things you need to know in order to survive the first couple of days with no deaths, or maybe just one. Or many if you do some of the inventory steps listed.
So first things first, you need to mess with your settings. If you have a lower tier computer, I highly recommend turning off dynamic shadows and lowering shadow and texture detail. This will reduce a lot of lag that you might have.
I recommend that you keep the draw distance high or very high because either way, it will be about the same and it'll help you greatly when it comes to finding loot and locating hostiles.
Reset your control keys to mimic your favorite game, this makes it easier to operate the game in stressful situations.
After you have done this, make sure that all the controls are set to be the easiest on you and the graphics settings are set to create minimum lag.
If you're playing with friends, send this to them so they can know what you're talking about, and maybe print it out too.
Now, when it comes to basing, don't build until sunset. As crazy as it sounds, focus on gathering materials so you don't have to try and get more fiber at night, it's impossible. Build a foundation, a wall, and a roof. Having a roof will increase the warmth in your base. Closing your door will increase the warmth in your base. Door open -1ºC / Door closed +3ºC.
Try and build close to water and if you can, build on a big rock. This way, you can see your base from far away and it reduces the number of sides a hostile can attack from.
Within a few hours, you should have a base and a BCU. Follow this plan: BCU > Woodburner > Refinery > Power Storage > Mass Storage > Power Generator > Mass Fabricator > Workbench
As soon as you can, try to build a Plant Bed with tomato seeds. Tomatoes give a lot of fruit/veg stats points, which is the stat that seems to be harder to maintain. You can use ash as a fertilizer,or animal feces, so save them!
Power generator has a max storage of 17 biofuel. 1 power generator charges BCU with 1500 power in 16minutes (1477 power in 16,41 min being more precise). If BCU power is higher than 500, it will reduce very slowly through time until it reaches 500 again. Instead of over driving a power generator (2x power per 3x fuel), build another power generator. They are cheap and this will give you 2x power with 2x fuel (You can craft 3, 4, as many as you want). Wood Burner has a max of 20 fat storage which will give you 53 biofuel. Fridge permanently preserves the meat (unless you run out of power for a while).
Now, everything is important, gather as much stuff that you can, even if you have a lot of it, you can never have enough, unless you have a chest full of something, but I highly doubt you would fill a chest with a sole item, fully stacked.
Always carry a Lock pick (or two) with you. There are Specialty Crates that you can only open with lock pick that give you a lot of good items and you don't want to miss those since they are pretty rare to find. I always bring one with me when I am roaming.
Crates seem to randomly generate whenever you die/exit the game. So If you don't loot that crate before you quit, it might not be there!
There are four types of Crates. Blue =Medical Pack, Green= Ammo Pack, Wood=Building pack, Green Wooden that is Locked=this one gives you double the loot and its rarer loot like sinew, which is used for rope, gun parts to upgrade weapons. However, it requires a lock pick to open.
I recommend looting everything you see. There are also additional things out there, like potatoes and carrots. When you look around, anything that looks different then the normal grass and shrubbery, look to see what it is!
For moving items (single or stacked) between crates and your inventory, you can shift-click (hold sprint key). Left click for the full stack, right click for singles.
You can deconstruct any of your built items by looking at them and holding delete. This returns half the resources used to build the item (although not the power and mass).
Every time you die, store the blue/purple light stick on a box. Since it's free and doesn't really help a lot it will become handy to convert it to mass. Each light stick gives 36 mass per 72 power. You can have an unlimited supply of cloth: tear pants into cloth, store cloth, kill yourself, respawn with brand new pants and do it as many times you want.
Find FIBER! It is very useful, you use it to craft cordage, which is used in a lot of recipes, so gather as much of this as possible. Fiber is much more common then people realize. They are hard to spot at close range but from far they are easy to find.
LOOK FOR a grub tree, they give you 6 wood instead of 3 or 4 a normal tree does, but what's really special is that it gives a tree grub, it's like a maggot. You use it for tackle for fishing or you can eat it for a tiny amount of protein, but don't eat it unless you're desperate
Look for these medicinal plant. They are used to craft most medical items and bio-fuel. This is a lot easier to spot than the fibers.
You will occasionally get seeds from the veggies to grow more, allowing you to be able to eventually hopefully make 5 star meals. Also, keep all ash from fires, you'll need it later. HINT: After killing all the hunters, go to their campfire and steal their ashes. Also remember to check the wood burners for Biofuel! Ashes = Easy fertilizer for growing your tomatoes and cotton.
Always carry a Pickaxe with you and mine all the ore you find. Iron, Copper, Zinc, and Potassium ore is extremely rare and it is the main resource to upgrade guns/equipment/etc. If you want to mine an ore that is too high, you can jump and swing the pickaxe in mid air.
You need food. It is vital, especially protein because it can be difficult at points to get protein. Want to know how you can save food? Patience, most people sprint around, but they fail to realize that they are using a ton more food, especially protein when they sprint.
It is good to keep an eye on your fruits too. You can find berries in the crates and in the wild. I would recommend to always carry a couple berries and if you have them, protein bars when you go and explore.
Water is also needed. It takes longer for it to go down, so just keep an eye on it and when you are getting low or if you eat some food and you're iffy on it, drink water. You can refill your canteen at a water source by walking out in it a little bit, opening your inventory, right clicking on the empty canteen, and filling it with water. It has to boil before you can drink that, so make sure you do that.
It's really important to listen to your surroundings. Bears and wolves always growl to warn you. Even if you get a little close most of the time they will only slowly begin to follow you. This is the last warning ticket to get out of there.
Also, crouching quiets your footsteps, allowing you to move closer to animals before they detect you. It helps to reach that box you want so much.
If by chance you get chased by an animal and you have enough stamina, just keep running until they give up, they cannot hit you. It seems that a Lvl 3 bear will chase you for longer time than a Lvl 1 bear that gives up after just a few seconds. Some bears can break your leg if they hit you.
Shotgun is the worst weapon against AI, so kill animals with the shotgun and save your 9mm and rifle rounds to the hunters.
Chickens can be caught without needing to be shot. They will run for bit then stop for a second, then run again. You can usually grab them on the third stop.
It takes 1 arrow to capture a chicken. With the arrow, you have a chance to just injure it. Don't kill the chicken immediately unless you're about to cook it. Food can spoil and burn in this game, so keep an eye on it.
A rabbit takes 1 arrow. It'll give you rabbit and cloth.
Fish takes one tackle and if you hook the fish too early, you will lose the tackle. If you catch the fish, you lose the tackle.
If you install the 'Free Range' upgrade (and turn it on) the animals will consume only 60% of what they would if they stayed in the coop without the upgrade.
Now here's the fun stuff, predators. I would recommend putting a couple rounds into a wolf using a pistol before taking out a shotgun and shooting it. It takes a couple pistol rounds and, to improve head shot accuracy, crouch, 2-3 shotgun shells to the face.
Same thing with a bear, but I would recommend having a couple extra shells just in case you miss or it's a high level bear, because the higher the level, the greater the health and reward.
If you are hunting for fat go for animals with lvl 3 or higher because they give the most fat. Grizzly Bear (brown bear) is the wild animal that gives more fat (Lvl 1 Grizzly bear can give you more fat than a Lvl 3 black bear).
Make a fishing pole. Use 6 sticks (made from logs) Use 6 cordage (made from fiber) Use 4 Scrap Metal (found on the ground and in building supply containers).
Make tackle: Got tree grubs from chopping the largest old trees that have the biggest girth which give: 6 logs and one grub. Tackle recipe: Use one stick (made from logs) Used one cordage (made from fiber) Used one Grub
FISH ARE IN LAKES AND PONDS and SOME RIVERS Fish can be eaten raw but give more protein when cooked over the camp fire. Large fish (salmon) can be filleted and cooked over campfire. Small fish can be cooked whole. Crawfish must be cooked before eating or they cause illness.
How to fish: With fishing pole equipped and tackle in inventory: 1.) Right click the mouse and hold down. (pole swings back) 2.) Left click mouse to cast. 3.) When float goes under water, you hear a splashing sound. Left click the mouse to set the hook. (Fish Hooked) 4.) Reel in fish: Right click mouse and hold down. 5.) At land fish, click the 'F' key.To retrieve tackle, right click mouse until tackle is in, then click the 'F' key. Tackle is saved.
Fish oil only gained by catching the Salmon or Bass are necessary for Antidotes. And you will need them later.
AI Hunters have 100 health (plus whatever damage protection their clothes add). AI Hunters only start to appear after you place your Base Command Unit. AI Hunters base can be broken (with Hatchet/Pickaxe or with bullets) and they have a storage crate which you can loot. AI Hunters equipment and BCU can't be broken. You are not able to deconstruct buildables placed by hunters.
When you build your BCU, hunters will very shortly begin to spawn in. Build your BCU when you have at least one foundation, four walls and a roof. Try and memorizing nearby monuments and keep an eye on the direction of where your going and where the general location of your base is until you are ready to build the BC
Within hours of turning on Hunters, they should begin spawning in your world. So keep an eye out for weird light from a campfire and an ear for gunshots and tree hacking that isn't you or your friends. After a few days ingame a Hunter Jacket will appear in AI Hunters storage crate. This Jacket gives more protection than the higher tier t-shirt you can craft.
It's not possible to jump to the other side of the fence. There is a 3rd person view (press V). It's really meant only for you to see your character.
Courtesy of Akeel and ᴸᴾCaiser of Subsistence Discord.
Food Item
Fruit/Veg
Hunger
Hydration
Tomato
0
50
24
Apple
0
24
12
Berry Water
0
15
5
Blueberry
0
13
4
Water
0
0
0
Liver
34 (24/15)
4 (2/1)
31 (20/14)
Steak
29 (20/12)
3 (2/1)
24 (15/10)
High Grade Rabbit
35 (25/18)
5 (2/1)
31 (21/16)
High Grade Chicken
31 (22/17)
4 (2/1)
27 (19/14)
Low Grade Rabbit
20 (13/8)
2 (2/1)
16 (10/6)
Low Grade Chicken
18 (12/7)
2 (2/1)
14 (9/6)
Egg
18
0
15
Protein Bar
16
0
8
