Overview
Strategic advantage on the Beach.Covers:-Using cliffs to hide campfires-Creating a choke point for approach-Having exits-Taking advantage of natural spawning fauna and flora-Controlling trees for ease of collection and stealth-Placing Turtle shells to catch water.
Strategy
Hi, I’m Mikanis on The Forest map[theforestmap.com].
So, your plane crashed and you tinkered around for a while at the crash site, and then what? Cannibals. Dragged you down into a cave with a bunch of lunchmeat, and you escaped, stumbling quietly in various directions looking for clean water. Miserable. Cold.
Here’s a beach, and how to survive on it:
More on that later.
This beach does not start easy, however. Supplies are acquired over time, and the most desperate is water. I freely admit that I built 40% of this camp in a drunken stupor because turtles are tempermental things that do as they please, and I had ten bottles of alcohol on hand before enough of them wandered into axe distance. Perk, though, they frequent this beach and the small island within swimming/rafting distance.
So, let’s get started.
Water
Far and away the most deadly aspect of this is dehydration. It’s sneaky, it makes you weak, and it requires constant vigil. Build a water skin as soon as possible. This will allow you to carry two portions of clean water everywhere you go.
Now, call this my roleplaying, but if the AI is advanced enough that the cannibals can (reportedly) be intimidated into neutrality, then why-t-f. wouldn’t it make sense that you catch more rainwater in natural eddies? After killing a turtle and acquring four sticks:
Naturally, this requires rain to work. It rains twice a week here, but I’ve realized that spending more time in the forested areas up the hill triggers rain more frequently. What you really want is three or four of these in rotation. Two to sip, two to keep the water skin full.
Shelter
I have successfully made-do with a hunting shelter. It’s the first build that doesn’t fly apart when you wake up. It’s small and stable enough that you can tuck it into the crag a bit and it’s not visible from the cliffs.
Stealth is very important aspect of this beach, one that I find underrated in the guide maps and other locations. I am 15 days in and aside from ducking an occasional scout, no one knows I’m here. How? Cliffs.
Have a good look at that campsite. The fire pit (again, stable!) is tucked alllllllll the way into the mountain. This effectively mutes its visibility from above and the sides. Unless the cannibals discover rafting or steal mine, they can’t see me and I’m warm and fed.
Beautiful. And Sneaky.
Now that I’m established, I think this is going to be my main base and I’m building a small cabin.
Food
My primary argument for this as a camp is admittedly based on my ability to manipulate the environment is a way that I deem….functional. This is a natural spawning point for seagulls, turtles, fish, small birds, squirrels and deer. All are readily accessible within ten yards of the beach mouth.
Cliffs are your best friends, people, here’s my argument.
Bambi:
These guys spawn four and five at a time on the cliffs above where they are easier to kill, but…say I’m dumb and I rile up the locals a little and patrols increase? Once every four days or so, a deer spawns DOWN ON THE BEACH WITH ME.
And, spoiler alerts, bambi don’t swim.
They quick though.
Did you know they fly? Oh yeah.
Using the ashamedly European massacre tactic that endangered the buffalo, I present cliffside venison:
If you run them at a cliff, they get stuck in the edge, just within axe range. You axe them, and some beautiful physics engine riff raff vaults the deer off the cliff to your camp below. You don’t even have to kill them first, it’s just kinder.
Resources
Lawd ha’ mercy.
Looks like I live here.
Now, if you’ve played longer than five minutes you probably know you can only carry two logs at a time. And it makes you slow. What you may not know is that if the cannibals see you destroying trees, carrying tree parts, or starting bonfires, you have pretty much declared war (according to chiconspiracy’s guide)
They go on at length about island etiquette, it’s a fascinating read for anyone who is seriously hoping to roleplay through this adventure. I am one such. I have taken pains not to be caught with an edged weapon in my hand, and despite this beach resting between two main camps, I have not yet been attacked or raided. I attribute this to judicious clearing of my woods, quick gathering of materials using the landscape to my advantage, and my being a general cowardly T**T.
SO, let’s talk resources and their gathering.
This is not a pretty screenshot but it illustrates the fact that I have rocks coming out of my ears:
This hill is the kind of beast that makes you lay on the jump button to get up the sheer side. I got so annoyed with that that I admittedly built stairs before anything else. Before my drying racks even, I think.
I discovered pretty quickly that you can manipulate which direction trees fall by changing where you stand. They will ALWAYS fall away from you. And therefore, the log explosion can be…aimed, more or less. And the physics at this location is just spot-freaking-on, for felling trees over the edge just like I did my bambis.
In that bottom picture, I did not carry those logs, they rolled there. Think of how much time you can save dropping logs over the cliffs instead of carrying them and turning your back to the woods.
Naturally, I had to build a wall. I realize in hindsight that I built a domestic wall at the bottom with just locking door, but i haven’t been attacked yet and I don’t know how sturdy that’s going to be. I’ll update if/when that happens.
Cool things about my wall:
A) I built it in half a day, using the terrain to collect my logs.
I also realized that this gradiated slope is hosting a lot of other flowers and my roleplaying mind said you can’t plant a garden in the sand of the beach, so I added this lovely box to fill the space at the top of my stairs. I have all the plants growing there now.
Some warnings on clear cutting. You do not want to run wild and cut every tree within ten feet of the cliffs for a few reasons. Mainly, the clear line of sight is a double edged sword. Sure, it allows you see a few yards further into the brush, but it also silhouettes you against a bright blue sky literally everytime you leave the freaking house. Just…leave some shrub. I personally advocate leaving two or three swathes of trees and their shrubs untouched. It promotes fauna like rabbits, squirrels, lizards, birds…etc. It provides you with shade to be stealthy as you venture further inland looking for safer trees. I also advocate setting up a rabbit trap and another water shell here, in case you eventually get run off. Look at the difference in the light after I cut TWO trees. Just two.
Before Cutting:
After Cutting:
Most importantly, clear your stumps. The locals take offense to the tree carcasses, and you don’t want them investigating.
Coolest(?) thing about this location thus far is that it is largely invisible unti you walk up to it. The drop in terrain is so steep that this giant wall I built can’t be seen through the tall grass.
That wall is twelve feet high. I mean…what? Thing of beauty.
In closing!
This beach is the best beach.
Here’s the bad news.
It is literally in a corridor between two major cannibal camps. So far, I have not been attacked through vigilace, cowardice, and blind luck. I am on day sixteen. I have more food than I can eat, clean water on stand by and a small raft to go exploring in. I’m giving it another week to see how much the vegetation recovers from my tampering, and I’ll report back.
If you don’t hear from me, I was eaten. Cheers.