Experiences of a long time player returning

[Sarudak]

So a few years ago I tried to do a post AAAAHHHHH play through that ended in a death spiral. I'm pretty sure that game is unrecoverable without cheating. That pretty effectively put me off the game for a long time. With the idea of the mod being open sourced I got a little excited about the idea of playing with the code. In the meantime that got me excited about playing again. I'm on my 5th Hardcore Spawn.

My initial run I got an iron axe and pick (also shovels and swords from zombies). I had 6 hampers and some nice resources stored. It all ended while trying to cave for diamonds when I forgot that skellies shoot through lava. Instead of protecting me that lava flow was my death.

My next spawn was relatively quick to not being able to dig a shelter. I left finding shelter a bit late and every place I tried to dig was grass -> rocky dirt -> loose dirt -> stone which is of course impossible to deal with using a stone shovel. Trying to get back to my old shelter killed me.

My third spawn I was more careful. I spawned in a snowy forest and through careful management moved to a mountain biome where I got up to an iron pick. Which I promply lost while caving when a creeper dropped down on me from above/behind. I left no usable iron tools behind but did get sugarcane so a couple full stacks of meat in baskets.

My fourth spawn I spawned in a jungle. I was frustrated and ran around the nearby mountain biome a bit looking for signs of previous Steves. I took a break and came back to try to salvage things. Barely survived the night but pulled my meat off the campfire prematurely twice because I couldn't see well enough because there was a block above the fire. Tried to eat raw meat and got unlicky three times with food poisoning. Died from starvation in the morning.

Fifth spawn. Again in a snowy forest but does not appear to be the same. Found a nice hidey hole in an open surface cave with a dirt deposit. Got a bone club and two string gifted to me in the morning so things are going alright.

Learnings and Strategy

1. Play cautiously. Ensure shelter before overreaching to grab a little food. While caving only grab resources when you feel confident in your safety.

2. Hidey-holes are death traps. Upgrade to something with a lookout ASAP. Bonus points if it's close enough to the water to fish. Fishing is a great supplement to your food especially with the cautious play style

3. Iron Picks are not King. Yes they are the awesome. But caving the third strata is so dangerous consider creating other iron tools first to improve your infrastructure. An axe gives you more storage and base building potential. Getting hoe and shears will let you start hemp production. Shovels give you so much dirt + gravel for road and base building. It's so disheartening to lose your iron pick and have no progress to come back to. Infrastructure investments may feel less meaningful than goild/redstone/diamond but they are safer and will provide you something to come home to when you find a base after HCS.

4. When you die take a break. For me this is critical because if I try to play frustrated I'll do stupid things. Do something else or play something else. Come back when you're ready to tackle building up a new base. And remember that every bit of infrastructure or value you leave in the world is something to come back to.

Observations on the state of the Game

Overall I think the early game is really really good. The adjustments since AAAHHHH make the game feel more fair generally. One element of continuing frustration is that I would like to get to the nether to open up the midgame but everytime I get my iron pick I die caving. When I say every time I really mean twice as a major element of the frustration is that in order to try and learn from my mistakes I have to go through many hours of pre-iron play again. Since returning from HCS it is generally expected to have a compass that feels a little out of reach given that is after the part I die on. That said the above perspective adjustments have helped attenuate my frustration somewhat. Also I've forced myself to not restart from a new world which was my goto before.

Any tips or strategies others have on surviving the early game with sanity intact? :D

[jakerman999]

String is usually the make or break resource in my experience. I found limited success with building floating platforms as a 'base' out of logs from the third axe or so. Being airborne for nights causes enemies to cluster underneath you. Most will safely burn as you flee in the morning, and the creepers can be useful for killing the spiders, or for explosive mining. It isn't without downsides though, you mustn't get shot off, or be caught by gloom before you've got a proper fire spot. It's also fairly limited in terms of growth, and I've not used it lately as I prefer to live in something that will hold me all the way to end game.

Iron pick is my preferred route, but going straight to third strata is a very rare thing for me. Acquiring more iron to get a replacement pick, axe and bucket is my goto nowadays. This slows things down a bit but water on the hotbar has saved me so many times, and I will admit to a small hoarding problem in resource management games so getting hampers always makes me smile. I know the rush to get diamonds/redstone is always strong but taking an extra few days ingame to make sure food supplies and other consumables are at good levels paces things out so that, at least in my experience, one is less likely to make mistakes.

Most of my deaths are from looking at a risk/reward equation, and going for it when I shouldn't. Best advice to not die I can give from that mindset, is to always be asking the question "Is there a safer way to go about doing/acquiring this?"

[Sarudak]

Oh yeah! Creeper mining is super valuable. Acquiring dirt even with a stone shovel is a huge pain. You can easily manage a half stack of dirt slabs in the morning. Ugly as hell though.

I think the risk/reward comment is on point. I tend to get more aggressive once I have an iron pick for some reason even though it's not really justified. Maybe it feels like I'm close to some end so I get the urge to sprint toward it.

[EpicAaron]

The call of the diamond is an old trap. What would you do with them? Build a portal and starve while scouring the nether shelves for a fortress? That is, if a ghast doesn't blow you up first. The fortress itself is a whole new obstacle. Even soulsand isn't always easy to find! I relied on lit netherrack for a long time before I could find sand and build the mechanical infrastructure necessary to sift the souls.

Well actually, diamonds are awesome, but they aren't as instantaneously empowering as some like to believe. If players want to leave the scavenging phase behind, there is hemp to grow, walls to build, and other useful plants to gather. The creative aspects of the game do not start with diamonds, but long before.

In terms of hidey holes, that is a tough one. Keep a sharp eye for caves and pits that could be fortified in a pinch while exploring. The extra dirt you get from clay can be utilized for basic walls, so consider that when you decide what to use your string on.

[Sarudak]

I think I'm just hoping for cauldron cooking and permanent lighting. Crucible would be great but I can wait. OTOH I need a ton more iron for a caudron anyway and I need mechanical power and a saw for premanent lighting anyway so maybe I should be a lot less focused on diamonds. I didn't even consider that perspective.

[EpicAaron]

Have you made shears yet? They aren't just good for hemp farming and creeper snipping. Leather armor is still an effective early defense, and leaves/vine traps can be handy for base building. I like to think of it like a multi-tool, surprisingly powerful.

[dawnraider]

My normal path for iron tools is axe first for improved storage and base upgrades. However, in my latest world I went pick first simply because I ended up getting lots of iron right off the bat. The pick is definitely the greedier option, but it can pay off.

My advice towards players in regards to not dying is just to be deliberate and decisive. If you are too aggressive and play too many risks then it'll get you killed. On the flip side, though, if you play too passively, nothing will get done. This is especially relevant while caving since you are on a continuous timer.

For caving, the best things to do that I've found are
1) Always keep the first torch you light on your hotbar. This lets you know at all times how much time you have left in the cave. While you can overstay this, that often will require lighting your way back out of the cave which can be incredibly dangerous as it leaves you no path of retreat.
2) Wall off any areas you haven't explored. This doesn't need to be a full wall, just something to stop mobs from getting in. This also applies to areas you HAVE explored which dead-end.
3) Keep your head on a swivel and watch out for cave openings above and/or behind you, as those can easily get you killed if you aren't prepared.
4) Have an exit strategy. Know how you can get out and to (relative) safety, which if nothing else can be breaking line of sight to re-engage, which is massively helpful in dealing with skeletons. Repeated line of sight breaking is also quite useful for killing creepers in close quarters before shears. Combined with point 3, this makes sure you always have a way out and won't get pinned down.
5) Be prepared to quickly block off areas, or yourself. Several times I've managed to save my life simply by rushing into a corner and putting down blocks, then waiting to heal.

[Sarudak]

Dammit FC you killed me again... Ok ok... It was really my fault. My fifth spawn had been going great. I got my first post AAAHHHH windmill

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And after cautiously backing out of so many very dangerous third strata caves finally (finally) found a mine that got me some melon seeds and led me to an expansive lava lake where I found my first diamonds.

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I made a compass and linked up my road network to spawn. Got to the nether and achieved saw and cauldron and finally finally permanent lighting. Also found this lucky break close to my spawn portal.

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I have to say the journey from punching wood to here has been amazing. I would say this is some of the best experiences I've had with the mod. The early game is a thing of beauty.

In any case I was starting to feel confident with my well lit base with a 2 high wall around it. Had been a little lazy and hadn't enclosed any of my rooms except the saw room. Occasionally spiders would attack but no big deal. I was futzing with my inventory by my cauldron and suddenly I'm on fire and being attacked! Then I realize I can't move! I had been webbed and it had caught fire almost immediately. I killed the spider and broke the web but only a few hearts left. As I burned I watched my health tick down, too slow and injured to get to the water in time I died.

10/10: Would burn to death again.

[FlowerChild]

I have to say the journey from punching wood to here has been amazing. I would say this is some of the best experiences I've had with the mod. The early game is a thing of beauty.

Thanks man! That's very cool of you to say :)

[dawnraider]

I absolutely love the early game. It's pretty damn brutal, but imo that makes it more satisfying, and it's incredibly polished.

[Sarudak]

I died yet again right after chisel. Was killing animals around the surface lava I was planning on setting my new base around and got lost in the woods. Waited to long to dig in and while I was lighting a torch a wolf that was angry for no reason attacked me.