What iron tool would you make first?

[Vitreous]

I am to the point in my early game where I am about to have to decide what iron tool I should make first. In earlier times I would think that making an iron hoe would be a terrible idea, but currently it is the only way to start farming. I have pumpkin seeds and chickens currently and I think I could knock food off the list of my problems more easily with a hoe...

Although the sword and pick and even the axe are all very tempting...

[jorgebonafe]

Although that comes down a bit to personal preference, I think its best to make a pick first. If you have an iron pick, collection coal becomes a breeze, which in turn makes exploration much faster, and finding the next 27 iron should take a very small fraction of the time it took before. Usually in less then 10 minutes you can get enough iron to make another pick, in my experience.

So, in short, what I do is iron pick, iron hoe, chicken+mushroom farm, getting a steady source of seeds, steady supply of food, then back to caving until I find diamonds. After the hoe, all my iron goes to one backup iron pick, one sword, and the rest to make iron armor, one piece at a time.

[Vitreous]

Yeah, I guess I wasn't really thinking about the coal... But it definitely would make exploration faster... Now I have a lot more to consider than I thought...

[FlowerChild]

Yeah, definitely pick. I tend to treat the iron pick the way I do the axe and pick at the stone level: if at some point you break your tools without making a new one, you've basically thrown yourself back down into the previous tech level.

So, not only do I make a pick first, I always make sure I gather enough iron with it to make another one before making other iron tools.

[Taleric]

If you die often I would start farming. There is the real potential to wipe all food if you are HCSing again and again. Making a huge pumpkin/chicken complex will be progression even if you die.

If you seldom die go ahead with the iron pick.

[Vitreous]

Yeah, death is not an option... If I die it'll take hours to find anything I have...

[craniak716]

So, not only do I make a pick first, I always make sure I gather enough iron with it to make another one before making other iron tools.

Yep. To get the full value of my first iron pick I HAVE to mine 27 iron nuggets. After that I make a hoe and then a sword. I love the iron axe, because of how damn fast it cuts through trees, but in the early game, it just isn't on my radar.

[Gilberreke]

Pick first, hoe second for me, unless I'm really hurting on food.

[dawnraider]

I generally get pick first, then sword, then hoe, since I get enough food to last me a long time by going on overnight hunting trips to warrant a hoe first. I never really make an axe, as I have no motivation to, since it has no benefits other than speed. By the time I feel that the cost of the axe is mitigated by being able to melt equipment from a mop trap, steel is just around the corner and I can make a battleaxe.

[Shinxy]

I feel like I'm in the minority on this, but I always make a hoe first, then shears, then bucket, then a pick, with the other tools coming shortly after. I always like to make sure I can have a stable food supply before getting into serious caving/exploration expeditions, but that's a personal preference.

[destineternel]

I'm with Shinxy on this, my latest run through was iron hoe first to help build up a hemp farm to support a chicken farm.

[Gunnerman21]

If I die, I never ever EVER find my base/hut again. And I die in the first 2 days of a new world, no exceptions. It's really not possible for me to survive in BTW anymore. It's been a long time since i've made an iron anything in a new BTW world. And yes I know, Haha.. Noob.

[FlowerChild]

Haha.. Noob.

Word :)

You might want to ask for help in analyzing your play style man, to determine what it is that's getting you killed. I only tend to bust out the "Haha...noob" line when people are complaining that the mod is too hard in terms of wanting BTW itself to change, rather than being willing to change their own playstyle to be able to overcome the challenge.

Really, that line is meant to send a clear message of "you'll get no sympathy from me so no point in asking for the mod to change" rather than to represent me actually insulting the player's ability, because those kinds of requests rapidly get very tiresome for me and I'd rather discourage them if at all possible. In other words, I use it as a way to taunt people into trying to improve themselves rather than to reflexively look for me to make it easier on them whenever they run into trouble.

[micrometalus]

I'm in the same boat as Gunnerman for now. The last time I was able to though, I started with an Iron Hoe since I already had a few pumpkin and hemp seeds. It wasn't too long after that until I got an Iron Pick, but it wasn't too long after that I died and lost it and my base. I've been on a forced exploration of my world for several lives now. I'm almost used to picking up from scratch at a moments notice.

Next chance I'll probably go Pick first. One thing these respawns have taught me is lighting is everything. Poorly lit homes and surroundings only lead to more forced exploration.

[DaveYanakov]

I used to say pick as automatically as breathing but with every change I am leaning further and further toward a hoe. Getting a sustainable chicken farm up and running along with a couple milche cows Allows you to cave deeper and further afield, resulting in finding the next 6-8 veins of the dull grey stuff much more easily. Once I have a pick after that the third tool is always a pick that lives in a chest back at base rather than an actual tool. Then come swords followed by a third pick. Hoe = abundant food and abundant food is life where you can survive without an iron pick nine times in ten.

[TheAnarchitect]

I too go for the Hoe. I'm Pimp like that. Plus, I like to dick around in the stone age a bit longer than most. I'm super into historical civilizations that were barely beyond the stone age, and the sort of monumental architecture they got up to even without silly luxuries like "Metal tools" or "written language"

[johnt]

i almost always make a hoe first when i first make a world since it's so essential to get sustainable food going near spawn before the animals all die. After a death I always make a pick, because food is plentiful if you're just wandering around and i'm mainly just trying to get redstone for a compass.

In general: Hoe, Pick, another pick, sword, shovel and maybe an axe if I have an incredible amount of extra iron -- usually by then I'm using it to make diamond tools though.

[Taleric]

I had no idea an iron axe pre SFS was so unpopular! I get attached to the stone axes early and almost opt for an iron axe over a sword justified as a multipurpose tool :P

[Jesar]

I go pick -> another pick -> hoe -> sword -> shears -> cauldron -> more picks

also, i used to not be able to get by without dying, then i decided to keep at it and improved myself. now i've only died twice in my current world, and the second time i was basically asking for it.

[mark790]

I have started a recent world and after a couple of early deaths (starvation 1st/2nd night) I have a large, if basic base set up.

I too went with the hoe first after being lucky enough to find pumpkins, then pick, flint&steel (if one nugget counts!), shears to capture cows, bucket to milk cows, compass, another pick.

A cauldron just looks impossible at the moment at the speed I find iron and I would never even consider a sword, in fact the only weapon I make is an axe or eventually a battle axe.

The hardest part for me at the moment is diamonds because I usually avoid combat (I'm rubbish at it) so navigating caves to the deepest part is taking forever with my over tentative play (the upside being I rarely if ever die in the game).

[DaveYanakov]

I had no idea an iron axe pre SFS was so unpopular! I get attached to the stone axes early and almost opt for an iron axe over a sword justified as a multipurpose tool :P

The trouble with that is I find it impossible to justify giving up that much gameplay advantage for theme. Anything that is not a sword takes extra durability damage when striking a mob with it, which is why you can chop so many more logs than you can smack cows. You also cannot block with an axe at all. Blocking is vital to survival once you start fighting your way into deeper caves instead of running from mobs and occasionally expending an axe when cornered.

[TheYaMeZ]

I must be crazy then, because i've taken to making shears as my first iron tool. Mainly for its ability to double my current leather supply so I can don a full suit of leather armour for extra survivability, but also for the ability to snip a creeper right before it explodes and takes half my health.
I think it's just because i'm paranoid that I will die with my new iron pick so I beef up my survivability just a little. The first time I made this decision it paid off because I was reduced to 1/2 a heart by a creeper ambush and if I didn't have a full set of armour i'd be dead.

[Wibbles]

I must be crazy then, because i've taken to making shears as my first iron tool. Mainly for its ability to double my current leather supply so I can don a full suit of leather armour for extra survivability, but also for the ability to snip a creeper right before it explodes and takes half my health.
I think it's just because i'm paranoid that I will die with my new iron pick so I beef up my survivability just a little. The first time I made this decision it paid off because I was reduced to 1/2 a heart by a creeper ambush and if I didn't have a full set of armour i'd be dead.

You're not the only one. I wouldn't say it's crazy at all, it's a good defensive option! Discombobulating creepers and having faster access to leather armour is well worth it.

[DaveYanakov]

Yeah, shears are a viable first tool choice and would probably be mine as well if padded armor did not exist.

[Ribky]

I must be crazy then, because i've taken to making shears as my first iron tool. Mainly for its ability to double my current leather supply so I can don a full suit of leather armour for extra survivability, but also for the ability to snip a creeper right before it explodes and takes half my health.
I think it's just because i'm paranoid that I will die with my new iron pick so I beef up my survivability just a little. The first time I made this decision it paid off because I was reduced to 1/2 a heart by a creeper ambush and if I didn't have a full set of armour i'd be dead.

Definitely not the only one man. Shears are my first tool choice too. The double leather and creeper defense is a huge early game advantage, and it does help ease the paranoia ;)