Overview
In a world… where one man’s broken ship is another man’s life raft…Here are some quick tips and tricks to help you begin your journey in a foreign land of islands, sharks, and coconuts.*Newly Updated–Health* (Sep. 12, 2015, 10:45PM CST)As I discover more about the game, I’ll continue to post my findings here.Thanks for viewing!(more to come)Give it an up!Feel free to offer suggestions and criticism.
Getting started
Starting out, you’re completely lost — as both a player and character (at least, if you’re anything like me).
You open your newly bought game and… BOOM!
You’re suddenly THRUST into a survival situation of having little to nothing, but yet EVERYTHING!
You are given:
- a lighter
- a small pocket knife
- a water bottle
- and a… wait, that’s it?
The game gives you very little information to assist you on your journey, but that’s where I come in.
Appreciating the Little Things
One thing that you must take into consideration in playing a game such as Stranded Deep is the sheer beauty of the game.
The sunrises, sunsets, night sky… everything is absolutely perfect! Though this is still in Alpha (with a few kinks to work out) the views are absolutely stunning.
Here are a few:
Supplies
Supplies can be gathered in 3 ways:
- Looting shipwrecks and chests
- Scavenging for debris
- Harvesting
Looting
This is the more rare of the methods.
At each island, shipwrecks are few and loot boxes (tool boxes, cabinets, lockers) ae even fewer.
Search shipwrecks and open the boxes to find usefull tools, such as hammers and axes.
Scavenging
This is useful, yet short lived.
A few sticks and rocks are available, however they don’t regenerate, so once put to use, there’s no reclamation.
Harvesting
This is what you’ll consume much of your time doing.
Sticks can be harvested from the trees by using a knife or axe to chop the wood.
Like I said earlier, the game is very realostic, therefore you will need to chop down the tree, then begin cutting into successively smaller segments until you get to “stick”.
Coconuts are a very valuable food source. They replenish both health and hunger.
You can either cut down a palm tree or climb up the tree (no special requirements) and knock them down by hand (the more conservative option).
These are then made from “green coconut” to “coconut” to “drinkable coconut”, then to edible halves by striking them with a knife or axe.
Lashings are used with sticks to make items such as rafts.
These can be obtained from cutting down Yucca plants with a knife or axe. (2 lashings per plant)
Not to worry, Yucca does regrow to provide with more lashings.
Lastly, Potatoes, which are a viable food source. These are found from chopping down (with knife or axe) potato plants, randomly scattered on the island.
Like the Yucca, these too regenerate to give you a long-lasting (mediocre) food source.
Tree Travel
While out and about, one may ponder, “Dang, I’m going to have to make SOOO many trips to carry all this wood from this supply-island back home!!“
(I decided to make this it’s own section purely because of how handy I’ve found this.)
While at your supply island, I suggest filling your inventory to the brim with coconuts, rocks, lashings, loot etc.
Then cut down preferably a large tree (leave it intact).
Since you don’t plan on staying on this “supply island”, aesthetics don’t matter so much, so you can take everything.
(I like leaving a few palms around home to give it a nice look… and for steady coconut supply)
Drag it to the edge of the water,
Stand on top of the tree,
“Grab” the tree toward the bottom/middle,
Then begin walking/swimming back home.
This saves SOOO much time because you won’t be filling your inventory with wood sticks.
Once you arrive back home, you can disassemble the logs and… idk, do whatever you want with them. 😀
*Btw, you have no idea how odd it was to get this screenshot (F10) when using a MacBook.
Let’s just say I’m glad nobody was watching.
It involved a tongue.*
The very skilled may be able to even “fly” by using this method. (If you’ve ever played Gary’s Mod, you may know what I’m talking about.)
Once you get all the smaller supplies over, you can then break down logs into sticks at the supply island and also use the Tree Travel method.
Building
If there’s one thing you should know, the building mechanics are completely different than most, if not all survival games.
For example, a popular game called Rust has menus that grab items from your inventory and produce products.
Stranded Deep, however, is extremely realistic in everything it does.
To build, you do what you would expect to do in a real survival situation: pile up your scrap and see what you can make.
Your Home
Once you’ve checked your surroundings for possible loot, contained in shipwrecks and tool chests (like shown), you’re ready to begin building shelter.
Just starting out, the need for literal shelter isn’t very great, for there are no looting marauders (I have suspicions about the crabs) to take your hard-earned belongings.
However, I have noticed a need for storage.
Yes, you could keep your belongings organized on the beach, but creating huts for your stuff is great for looks and tidiness.
Walls can be added, but I haven’t gotten around to it.
Another storage option I’ve come across is the yellow rescue raft itself. By dragging it up on the beach and tossing in tools, buckets, and supplies, a fantastic quick storage fix has been made.
Health
Cooking is an essential piece of this game that may not be blatant at first. This health section will be a precursor to the cooking guide.
Every once in a while, you may hear a beeping from a watch, which upon investigation, you happen to be wearing.
In my case, pressing the “F” key allows the character to view the watch.
Initially, it shows you the date and how many days you survived. I have a feeling that the date is important, but I have yet to discover it.
While holding “F”, a click of the Left Mouse Button changes the display to your health.
In this screenshot, you can see
1. Overall Health level
2. Food Health level (don’t ask me why it’s a syringe)
3. Liquid Health level
(1) The Overall health bar tends to stay full if your other levels have at least one bar in them, as seen in the screenshot.
Unless you are physically injured by a shark, or other means, this will be the case.
(2) The Food Health meter indicates hunger. You can raise this to a more comfortable level by eating meats, such as coconut, cooked shark, cooked stingray, cooked crab, and cooked fish.
(3) The Liquid Health meter guages your level of hydration. When this is low, you could either drink coconut milk, or drink purified water.
I will go into the making of these food/water items later.
Island-Hopping + Orienteering
Finding your orientation in relation to your surroundings can be a little tough and intimidating.
The only real compass you have when starting is the sun itself. (Rises in the East, Sets in the West)
Island-hopping can also be a daunting task, due to the risks of being attacked by sharks and getting completely lost.
The trick to NOT being eaten alive in a JAWS remake is to:
- Use your rescue raft! This safely allows you to cross the ocean (at a turtle’s pace).
- Make your own raft from 8 sticks and some lashings. (slightly quicker)
- Carry your pocket knife or spear while swimming.
Swimming is by far faster than both rafts.
I’ve found that the Shark AI reacts very realistically, where it will not attack you on first pass, but try to get you by surprise. Using the knife or spear to defend yourself will help deter the beasts.
When island-hopping, it’s helpful to know which island is your home base. Each island is very similar, but when you run out of resources (like sticks) at home, it forces you to branch out.
When reaching the second island, place a stick and rocks in the form of an arrow pointing back towards home.
(My spear gets in the way, but you get the point)
This is critical in finding your way back because once you reach island #2, more appear in all directions looking (from that distance) exactly like the one you call home.
The same can be done (in different fashion) for islands you plan on going to next, whether it be from island #2, or home.
In my case, I’ve placed 2 sticks followed by a coconut in the direction of my next destination.
Upon reaching said destination, I’ll do the same with 1 stick and a coconut to show succession.
CAUTION
If you get bitten by a shark and start gushing blood (in a view as shown), 
The only way to resolve this is to find some bandage and fix yourself back up.
Easter Eggs
First of all, I finally found this dude.
Second, I restarted the game (just for this reason, actually) and found a couple things.
1. On the way to the martini trolley, I noticed this and took a look.
The map shows the flight traveling from roughly California, USA to somewhere over in Asia. This leads me to wonder if you put a brick on the “W” and “Shift” key and head West, you will someday reach China.
Someone do it and report findings…
2. I spotted the writing on the newsprint located in 2 locations on the plane and found it forboding/humorous.
In case you can’t read it, it says “Shark Claims Another Victim”.
Ideas/Failures
Stroke of brilliance #1
As I made the swim from one island to another in search for junk, it occurred to me…
Why not make a raft and use it for cargo?!?!?!?
I was so excited, I could hardly stand it. I made me a raft, put some 4 logs on it, and set sail!
I dragged the raft to the water, and like everything else in the game, it crushed my dreams and sank to the bottom.
When I did manage to get it to float, it wouldn’t go anywhere. Either that, or it shifted weight and dumped the load.
Darn you, physics.
Glitches
First is the glitch that everyone is seeming to have, which is the Great Houdini Raft (as I’ve coined it) that disappears once you paddle a certain distance from the island. (This happens with both the rescue raft and home-made)
The other that I’ve recently come across is The Magic Carpet-Paddle (or something like that). I’m not sure what caused it, be it the paddle or just a fluke, but I was no longer bound by gravity and could walk on air (very slowly though… and only to a certain height).
I couldn’t resist the urge to rub it in a Great White’s face.
I now know they cannot jump, in Stranded Deep. 😀
