Overview
Beginners Tips to RDO
Welcome to RDO
Greetings and welcome to Red Dead Online.
RDO is not one to hold your hand as you play or guide you down a fixed path. You are a Cowboy/girl and it is up to you to figure what kind you are. Will you save a stranger from some outlaws? Rob the General Store? Will you cause a bar fight that leads to a fist fight on top of a train?
Until you figure that out here are some tips to help you survive and make some cash at the start of RDO.
The Town of Valentine
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Welcome to your first taste of life in RDO. The Town Of Valentine has everything you’ll need to start.
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You can find Gun Oil in the General Store.
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The Butcher will become your best friend. Bring him meat, fur, feathers, fish and animal carasses for some easy money.
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You can sell Herbs and Plants to the Doctor.
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This camp and many like it can be found all over the world. Check them for FREE items like canned goods, health tonics and more.
Your Camp
Your camp is your home. At camp you can cook, craft, rest and change your clothes.
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Your Tent plays a big roll to determine the starting level of your Cores. Make sure to upgrade it when you can.
You can get your horse to automatically walk back to the hitch post in your camp by getting off of it near your Tent.
Improving Your Cores
When you create your character you will get to spend 2 points towards Health, Endurance and Dead Eye. I suggest Health. Past that you will need to do certain things to raise them to max.
Health
- Fishing
- Fist Fights
- Throwing Knifes/Tomahawk
Endurance
- Run
- Run More
- Whistle for your horse and run away from it
Dead Eye
- Shoot Animals or People
- Headshots give extra XP
Gold Cores aka fortified give you a temporary boost; take twice as much damage, run longer or get more Dead Eye time. A cheap way to get Gold Cores is from Big Game Meat and the correct seasoning. Cook a bunch of Seasoned Big Game Meat and stow it away for later.
- Creeping Thyme – Gold Dead Eye
- Oregano – Gold Stamina
- Wild Mint – Gold Health
Hunting alligators north of St. Denis is the fastest way to get Big Game Meat.
Hunting Tips
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The game will randomly generate the Quality of the animals it spawns. (Though certain animals are ALWAYS 3x Quality) Take your time before shooting to scan over the animals with your reticle to check the Quality.
Small Game > Small Game Arrow or Varmint Gun
All other Game > Arrow or Bolt Action
We’re not mounting them on the wall so……ALWAYS GO FOR HEADSHOTS
Things That Lower Quality
- Where an animal is hit
- Finishing off a wounded animal
- Letting and animal Bleed Out does not lower the quality, just your Honor
- Shooting or hitting an animal more than once
- Using a weapon that’s too powerful
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You can store a deer and lasso a 2nd deer. Note the Release Action if done correctly. Dragging does not lower quality.
The Fence
You’ll sometimes find things like Gold Watches or Gold Teeth. To sell them you’ll need to find a Fence. You can also buy rare Pamphlets to create unique things like Explosive Slugs or Small Game Arrows. To unlock Fences across the map you’ll need to find one and interact with them.
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The closet Fence to Valentine will be found in Emerald Ranch.
Land of Opportunity
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These missions are perfect place for beginners. Help Mrs. LeClerk avenge her Husband and get revenge for being wrongly jailed. The first time you complete a mission you’ll get a lot of money and gold. After the first 4 mission you should have plenty money to buy a new gun or clothes!
If The Hat Fits… – From the start run to the objective stopping at a ravine. You’ll quickly find yourself looking down at the Outlaws having a meeting. From here shoot them all or wait to over hear the Con-man con the other Outlaws. The Con-man you want will hide until you hogtie him giving you time to loot the first group of Outlaws. Don’t take him by horse. The Outlaws will use explosives to spook your horse. The Police Chief IS an idiot. He’ll still pay you if you give him the right guy or not. If you want more money then take the offer.
The Right Side of The Tracks – Don’t call for your horse when the chase starts. Your horse is all ready in position to take off after the Outlaws. DON’T SHOOT THE OUTLAWS. Shoot their horses. Then you must use your lasso on them. Hold down aim to keep them tied as you get off your horse. Once close enough to them you’ll see the action to hogtie.
Bring A ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Posse – This mission will task you with defending both ends of Valentine. The Fire Bottle is OP in this mission as you can take out the large groups of enemies that spawn and best of all setting the Armor on fire takes it out.
What are these Roles and why should I save 15 Gold
You completed some Missions and have a general idea of what is going on. In your travels you may have noticed people running around looking for eggs and cards, hunting every darn animal they can or collecting NPCs for Bounties. These players are completing objectives for one of the three starting Roles. You’ll want to save up enough Gold to choose one that sounds interesting to you.
Bounty Hunter
- Go to the last know location and hunt down the Bounty
- A blinking skull will appear on your radar to indicate the Bounty
- The Bounty will escape quickly if your not paying attention
- Can hunt down and jail other Players that have a Bounty greater than $20
- Pays out little bit of money and gold. Best for XP
Collector
- Every 24 hours hunt for new items all over the map for Madam Nazar
- Madam Nazar moves around the map every 24 hours
- Not only must you lookup where the items are but also Madam Nazar location every 24 hours
- Make $1000s if you can collect all items in a set
- This Role is most effective after buying two more items beware the hidden cost
- Pennington Field Shovel – $350 + 1 Role Token
- Metal Detector – Collector Rank 5 + $700 + 3 Role Tokens
Trader
- The better the Star Quality of an Donation the more the resource bar is filled
- It is far better and faster to hunt deer to fill the resource bar
- Skinning is time consuming and barely makes a mark on the resource bar. Only donate unskinned carcass
- When selling the Buyer might be under attack. If the Buyer dies or the Goods get destroyed you fail
- Pays out only money but you make a lot at a steady rate ($50 – $600)
Other Role Tips
- R* wants you to take a certain route as you level up.
- Finish Online Story Missions which earns you around 10 gold
- Player farms out Stranger Missions and completes Daily Challenges
- Earns first 15 Gold and chooses Bounty for Gold or Trader for Money
- Grinds away until next 15 Gold earned gets Trader or Bounty
- Grinds away until next 15 Gold and fueled by Trader Cash gets Collector
- Earn Abilities/Upgrades as you rank up in each Role. Like bigger satchel bags or better Dead Eye
- As of Jan 2020 Moonshiner will be the last Role you’ll get. The missions are full of powerful NPCs and should only be taken on after leveling up your Cores.
Other Tips
If your trying to stay Honorable or want to raise Honor. Take care of your horse. Feeding, Brushing, Patting all raise Honor and are easy to do.
You can replay any mission you completed via Progress found in the menu(ESC). The difficulty can be changed to increase payouts.
Defensive Mode only reduces damage taken. Other players can still rope you, shoot you and blow you up.
By going into 1st Person Mode your default moving speed is increased. It’s also easier to buy items off the shelf in stores.
Shoot into the air by taking out a gun, Right Mouse Button, U Key, Left Mouse Button.
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For KB+M use the L button to bring up the Free Roam Menu.
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Where there’s smoke, there’s trouble. Smoke in RDO indicates an Open World Event. Sometimes it’s Travelers in need of help other times Outlaw Hideouts. Be on your toes and make sure to use Dead Eye to look for Loot.