Overview
My attempt at making THE most complete and usefull guide when it comes to the forest. I will try to literaly cover everything from bases to combat, from food to mutants. Any community input is welcome
Extreme cannibal survival .101
To survive in the forest one must consider multiple aspects, these aspects consist of:
Food, Shelter, Defences and supplies. Survival in the forest is harder than in other games because of its realistic health and stamina system as well as the extreme amount of damage one must inflict to successfully kill any type of hostile mutant.
Before starting to play though I would highly recommend that you install a user created patch for the game known as the “no more birds” patch which most importantly fixes the inventory save bug (anything significant will become “invisible” and non-interactive). (This issue has been solved by the devs in patch 0.03)
Next up is spawning in.
Spawning in
When you first spawn inside the game you will see a video also known as the “timmy taken” scene where the plane crashes and the child next to you aka “timmy” who is presumed to be your child seeing as he is hugging your arm, is kidnapped after the plane crash by what may very well be the alpha leader of the cannibals because he is the only male with genitals………
What to do when you spawn in the plane is simple, gather as much gear as you can (most importantly the plane axe) and make a run for it. Don’t drink any of the sodas that you gather though, you will need them later in the game. It is commonly known that after you start the game a scouting party of cannibals will reach the plane in 10-15 min, this does not always happen but it does most of the time.
Near the plane (not inside) will also be suitcases, break them with your new and recently aquired plane axe to find useful loot like: cloth, booze, pills etc. Make it quick though because of the above mentioned scouting party.
One last thing to add is that if you go all the way to the back of the plane you will see a flashlight in a plastic wall-mount, it is in the current version 0.03 not possible to take the flashlight.
Also you will find a smartphone inside the plane which has a step counter on it, right now it is unkown if the smartphone will have other functions later on in the game.
Navigating
Even knowing that navigating in the forest can be quite hard (seeing as you currently have no map) it can be of extreme importance when it comes to finding a spot to set up camp.
The easiest way to navigate is to go to the beach and use a user created map to find your bearings. Here we will be using a map created by doctor denist (many thanks by the way) which is shown down below here.
This map shows all kind of usefull info that ranges from landmarks to base camps and is by my opinion the best one I have seen to date. The map also shows an ideal base location which is very useful when starting.
However if you wish to build your own place in a custom spot there are a few things that you will have to consider before spending all those hours of labor and precious resources on a giant main base camp only to find out that there is no food in a range of 5 kilometers.
- Make sure there are no cannibal camps or caves nearby (except if you want full blown war….)
- Make sure that there is a replenishable food source nearby
- Make sure the area is easily defendable
- Choose a location that is well hidden
If you follow these set of rules you will be perfectly fine. It is possible to build in more high-risk, more patrolled areas. For instance my old basecamp was built up against the cliff north of the sailboat (the sailboat now spawns in random locations), however I would not reccomend this if you are just getting started.
Also if you are afraid of losing track of your location you can now build landmarks in the game, doing this will create a flag icon (comparable to the home icon) at the locations you’ve built it.
Setting up basecamp
So let’s say you have found the perfect spot to create your over-complex extreme super fortress of violent murder and cassette raves.
Then comes the next part which is not only time consuming, but also unforgiving.
That is also why I would recommend to plan out your endgame base carefully before building anything, perhaps even watch a couple of youtubers walkthroughs of the forest and see their designs.
When it comes to designs there are a few things to bear in mind, for instance the fact that walls with a door don’t actually stop cannibals and so they can just walk straight through them. If you don’t want any cannibals in your base I would highly recommend building a system with stairs and platforms seeing as mutants can’t walk stairs very well.
As an example in this guide I will use my old base which had 2 defense perimeters. One that was completely secure (living sector) and one that was semi secure (“the jard”) we wil start of with the living sector.
One of the mistakes I made here was that I’ve built on ground that wasn’t flat, while as you see it is possible, the results are not ideal. Especially with things like the log cabin.
On the other hand one of the good things I did here was make use of natural terrain features (the cliff) as well as choosing a location that is easy to defend.
Next up is “the jard”
I’ve built this part of my own base after I had built the living sector, I tried to improve upon my mistakes that I made before and try out some new concepts in architecture.
As you see there also is a platform which can be used to snipe cannibals with flares, molotovs and bombs (don’t forget about the bow!).
The nice thing about “the jard” is that it is made on flat ground which not only makes it look nicer but also makes it less glitchy. When it comes to the entrance there are 2 side entrances of which one is rigged with a trap and the other is only accessible by me.
Also there is an infinite food supply inside the base seeing as it was possible to create a secure and mutant proof fishing dock.
So to line it up I am going to give a summary of the good and bad aspects of my base.
- + Great food supply
- + Good use of surrounding terrain features
- + Great defences
- – uneven terrain
- – There is a weird cliffside patrol that sometimes spot you if you’re in the yard
Keep in mind that this is all an example through and that the only REAL way to find out if you’re base works or not is sadly trough a long process of trial and error.
The cannibals
Sadly you’re never truly alone on the island, instead there are cannibalistic mutant tribes that will do their darndest to terrorize, hurt, and haunt you forever.
Sounds like fun doesn’t it!
However these are not your basic game AI enemies that take just 2 hits to kill together with
super-uber predictable pathfinding mechanics. No these are creatures that dynamically adapt to their surroundings and their threats; You!
Normally during the daytime you will see them patrolling through the woods and around the shorelines. They live in caves and some in primitive camps and have a weird voodoo like culture with their own gods and values (hell you can even find them praying sometimes!).
Once you get spotted by one or more mutants there are multiple factors that will determine if they will react aggressively or not, these factors consist of:
- Time of the day
- Type of weather
- Size of the mutant group
- player showing “aggresive” behavior
- Is the player wearing armor?
- Is the player attacking other mutants?
Especially the last 3 can make a huge difference in most scenarios. But there isn’t just advanced combat mechanics and besides their extremely high health and high damage there are other intresting things about the mutants.
For instance if a group attacks you and you manage to kill or severely injure one of them, they will try and drag them away from the battlefield and to safety. They also mourn their dead using effigies which they also use to try and communicate with you. Also if you see a mutant running after you have killed one of them he is going to go and get reinforcements!!!
be wary of this.
First of we will take a look at the 2 tribes that currently inhabit the island and how they interact with each other.
1. Starving mutants
These mutants have been seperated from the main tribe for unkown reasons and are identified by their blood covered bodies. While they are much more aggressive compared to normal mutants they are much weaker and are quite easy to kill. While they can work side by side with “normal” mutants they are usually hostile towards each other.
2. “Normal” mutants
These mutants are identified by their human bodies which are always either naked or naked with some kind of body paint. They react to situations less predictably then starving mutants and they are also harder to kill. From personal experience they are also found more commonly walking around in packs compared to the starving mutants.
So now lets look at the specific types of mutants and what it is that they do currently.
1. The regular mutant
They are easy to kill with traps and fire but they are still able to absorb a lot of melee damage and hand out some pretty hard punches.
2. The arsonist mutant
The arsonist mutant is currently the only type of mutant that uses any type of sophisticated weapon (other mutants have been seen with some type of skull mace) that deals additional damage.
He has a torch in his hand and will attack you with this torch if he/his group decides to engage in combat. When hit by this type of cannibal you will be on fire which can be extremely dangerous as well as make you unable to move normally.
If you see this type of mutant and do not have a weapon you should proceed very carefully.
3. The pack leader mutant
They are usually the leaders of patrols an raiding parties which in turn makes them important people inside the tribe. Killing them can be frightening for the other mutants causing them to flee.
4. The tribe leader mutant
Seeing as this is more frightening than the pack leaders type of effigie and the fact that he wears not one, but two skulls on his head makes you think that he would also be a higher ranked mutant than the pack leader.
Currently it is unconfirmed if this mutant deals any additional of damage or if he is harder to kill (I did not test this) but what we do know is that he is just like the pack leader capable of leading other mutant groups.
5. The crazy cthulhu type thing
That said they have multiple arm type things and a weird type of umbilical cord. They are able to effectively destroy defensive walls and in the current version they are only killable with bombs. After blowing it up there will be a bloody shower of guts and body parts, yay!
6. The weird female spider thing
A nice thing aboud the female spider thing is that it is very rare above ground. Also if it’s daytime and one spawns there is a chance of it being neutral towards you. It is killable with either melee or grenade type weapons (molotov/bomb) but tends to be more aggressive when on the edge of death.
One thing to note is that it can’t see you if you are crouched which is nice.
Combat
So you’ve tried everything to avoid or evade those nasty mutants we have been mentioning but they just won’t let off?
Well then there remains only one reall solution, combat! Just bear in mind that killing of the mutants can be extremely difficult if you are unpreppared or if you only have a melee weapon. To make sure that you are going to surthrive in every single situation imagenable we will be featuring multiple combat scenarios.
1. starter fight
So you’ve made a mistake and they’ve found your hidey spot just 5 mins into the game. These type of situations can be extremely dangerous seeing as you have little gear and combat experience. In both methods circling around your enemies to avoid hits and keeping them in a constant state of receiving damage making them unable to move is the best course of action.
- 1. The first method of dealing with this is to target the group or tribe leader and focus on killing him. If you do this there is a high chance that the rest of the group will flee but be wary, they will come back with reinforcements so you better run!
- 2. The second but harder method is to simply kill everyone, the advantage that this strategy has is that there will be no chance of reinforcements being called or the others becoming aware of your presence.
2. prepared fight
You’ve made your molotovs and have set up a temporary perimeter but that raid party just won’t leave you alone? These types of fights are quite easy seeing as you have molotovs, all you have to do is get close and throw them (not too close though!). One warning when it comes to molotovs though is that if you still have a molotov in your hand and you try to grab something out of your backpack the molotov will drop and set you on fire. Another option is to snipe them with your bow (if you have one), this can be very effective and you can drop them from quite a distance. Just keep in mind that it takes about 3-4 arrows to kill a regular mutant so have a reasonable ammo supply.
3. the basecamp fight
Have they broken through your defences and entered your base? Maybe they might have even glitched in. Anyway you need to take care of them rather soon then later, this also is a fight where running is not always possible adding to the risk. If this happens there are 2 methods that you can use.
- 1. The first and definatively the best one is to try and use the knockback effect of your axe to knock them in either a firepit or a standing fire. The nice thing about this strategy is that once you have knocked them in the fire, you can forget about them. They can’t do anything because they are on fire and it is 100% guaranteed that they will die because of this.
- 2. The second and way more terrible method is to just like in a starter fight scenario method two, just kill everyone. Seeing as here you are further in the game and you may or may not have armor it can help out a bit but close quarter combat is still very risky.
Gear
This part of the guide will be focusing on gear which you are currently not able to craft and are only possible to acquire in game through looting. It will feature a list of multiple items divided into categories.
WEAPONS
1. Axes(all are currently believed to be identical)
- The plane axe
- The rusty axe
- The modern axe (it is no longer obtainable in v0.02)
2. Uncategorized
- Weak spear (used for fishing, can be used as a weapon)
CONSUMABLES
1. Food
- Booze (lowers stamina)
- Soda (replenishes fatigue)
- Berries (only the blue ones are good for you)
- Wild foods (rabbit, lizard and fish)
Crafting
So we have talked about it before in this guide, bombs molotovs etc etc. But where do you find all the stuff to build it and how of course?
That is what this section is going to be about. I would recommend keeping the map from the “navigating” part at hand, seeing as it is very useful when planning these type of loot runs.
To craft all the fancy things that you can imagine is quite easy, first just open up your inventory. And then all you have to do is press the right mouse button on the ingredients, and when you’re done press the magic gear that will appear and boom! There is you’re super awesome crafted object.
1. Molotovs
2. Bombs
3. Stone Axe
Right now these are the only 3 items that you are able to craft inside the forest, however more craftable objects are planned and being worked on at the moment.
Lore and possible storyline
In this current build there is not really much that you can do besides build a super awesome radical base and raid the fearsome mutant camps and caves, but let’s say that you have done all of that and you want something more.
Now for a little bit of lore, the aircraft that you were on was an aircraft from the carrier Lufthansa. It was probably headed from new york to somewhere east. On the plane was probably a tennis team seeing as there are large amounts of tennis balls to be found as well as strangely mangled up bodies with tennis rackets at the mutant base camp, at this point of time it is unclear if the player himself is a tennis player too.
The forest itself is probably modeled after north american forestry when it comes to the high trees, plants, mountain range etc. There are multiple campsites, it is not known if they were left behind by the survivors of the crash or not. Sometimes you can see proof of survivors that try to defend themselves in the form of for instance a spear jammed into a sleeping bag. Also inside the caves you can find some older type of boxes (perhaps wo2 erra?) which may indicate that there were survivors beside the mutants on the islands before you.
There is also a little mental game going on while you are playing the forest seeing as you are the one that literally just flew into their land, started using their resources and killing their people which begs the question of who really is the savage?
Sources and Credits
First of all I would like to thank doctor dentist for the awesome map that he has created, secondly not all of the images used where made by me. This is because I lack proper game footage of some aspects of the forest.
All images beside doctor dentist’s map and my own images come from; [link]
Also I would like to put out a special thanks to steam user Your left nut for helping me out with all the spelling errors this guide had.