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Clearly Don't Starve is a sandbox game, and you have quite a bit of freedom to play the game as you please. (Quite frankly, I've spent a lot of the time wandering around the game fairly aimlessly.)

But, I'm wondering if there are certain tasks that should take a higher priority within the first 20 days.

Clearly, building a Science Machine and/or an Alchemy Machine are very high priorities. And, next I typically have been trying to acquire some warmer clothing.

But, where should I be focusing my attention from here?

Should I be building structures? Farms? Exploring the landscape?

Basically, I'm looking for a Quick Start guide to having a successful long game.

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    I would advise watching a Let's Play of a skilled players early game. It will teach you the answers to these questions, and also help with learning some combat tricks and other stuff that wont be obvious from text
    – Lawton
    Jan 20, 2014 at 4:29
  • I'm not familiar with Let's Play. Do you have a link?
    – David M
    Jan 20, 2014 at 4:42
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    Let's play is a genre of commentated playthroughs. I wasn't specifically suggesting one in particular since the ones i watched were during early beta, but here is an example of what I'm talking about. youtube.com/watch?v=eRsMA_YVVAQ
    – Lawton
    Jan 20, 2014 at 4:51
  • You could watch Volx or joeshmocoolstuff for gameplay and tips and tricks videos...
    – Hiroyuki Jones
    Jun 10, 2017 at 2:51

1 Answer 1

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You said it, it's a sandbox game. Do what you want, there are a lot of different ways to survive 100 days.

Since you specifically asked for the first 20 days (and winter hits on day 21, so that's convenient), here's a small checklist for your pleasure. Feel free to edit in stuff you think is missing:

Days 1-5: gathering

Explore as much as you can, gather food to stay alive, and some basic resources:

  • Twigs, Grass
  • Flint, Axe, Logs, Pick, Stone, Gold
  • Science Machine, backpack, spear

Find a balance between picking up just what you need & picking up everything you can. You'll want to cover some ground.

Days 6-10: settling

Building a small camp to ensure food production. You'll be needing manure, so close to beefalos (or a pig camp) is advised.

  • Science machine, fire pit, crock pot, drying rack, farms
  • Lightning rod, shovel, berry bushes, saplings, grass tufts
  • Chests, log suit, football helmet (if you can).

Days 10-15: improving the camp

Explore the lands around you, bring the good stuff to your camp:

  • Bee boxes, flowers, fireflies.
  • Survive your first hound attack.
  • Dig up graves for the pig king. Find gears and create an ice box.
  • Grab some pig skins and build a few pig houses nearby.

Days 15-20: prepare for winter

Winter is coming. It will be cold, you'll find it harder to find food & sanity.

  • Shave beefalo, kill spiders, collect rabbits. Make winter clothing.
  • Cut rocks, make a heat stone.
  • Gather honey, taffy, jerky. Craft a top hat. You'll need the sanity.
  • Boomerang.
  • Sleeping roll or tent to convert excess food into easy sanity (and skip boring nights)
  • Drying rack, in order to make meat take much longer to spoil and give sanity
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  • +1 will be trying this later. Great looking starter guide.
    – Mkalafut
    Apr 21, 2014 at 17:15
  • Still up to date?
    – R.I.P.30.12.21Baskakov_Dmitriy
    Jun 4, 2017 at 7:13
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    @Baskakov_Dmitriy: for Don't Starve (classic, not Together or Shipwrecked), starting in autumn: yeah, these guidelines remain applicable.
    – Konerak
    Jun 4, 2017 at 7:36

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