nN| Ark: Survival Evolved Beginners Guide

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http://www.augamers.com/images/arklogo.png
 
This is a guide to ARK: Survival Evolved that looks at some of the basics for beginners. It is not designed for more experienced players and is really designed to help people get over some frustrations and dive straight in. Does include tips.
 

 

 

Getting Started: Picking Where To Play

 
 
There are serveral options to choose from to get into the game. From the main menu if you click on Join Ark it will take you to a list of servers. The popup window will allow you to filter servers by different combinations like official servers, unofficial servers, servers that you have survivors on, and to hide servers that are full among other options. When you find a server that suits you just click on it to highlight it and select join.
 
You can also play this game solo. Just below the Join Ark button there is one that says Host Game. From here you can host a LAN game or play completely by yourself by selecting Play Local. Before you make your choice you are able to tweak several settings like difficulty, taming speed, exp boost, harvest amounts, respawn timers, etc. If playing locally by yourself the game will essentially pause when you log off and resume right where you left it when you come back. There is no passage of time while you are offline like there is when playing on a server.
 
The first time you select a new server or start up a solo game you will be prompted to make a new survivor. This is simply a basic character creation screen with sliders for just about everything to customize your character just how you want it. For now there is no option on hair style, however, the devs have stated they plan on allowing different hair styles at a later date. Once you have a character on a server the next time you sign into that server it should spawn you where you logged off last, unless you were killed. In that case you will need to select a spawn location.
 
 

Just Starting Out

 

 
Welcome to Ark !
 
You wake up on a strange island with nothing but your underwear and an implant in your arm. Wild dinosaurs roam freely and you must learn to live and survive among them. First thing you need to do is craft some tools.
 
The first tool you need is a stone pick. This will allow you to easily get more thatch from trees and break rocks up for flint. Since you have nothing but your fists at the moment you will need to find the nearest tree and go all Mike Tyson on it. Yes, you need to punch (Left click by default) the tree, but not too much because punching things hurts your health. Just punch enough trees to get 10 thatch and 1 wood. Next, you need 1 stone which you can find laying on the ground. Easiest way to do this is to spam the action button (E by default) while walking around. Once you get all that access your inventory (I by default) and select the craftables tab (or V by default), click on the stone pick that should be lit up and hit craft.
 
By now you should have leveled up for the first time which will give you some Engram Points (EP) to unlock more blueprints. The very next thing you'll want is the stone hatchet which is good for getting more wood from trees and stones from rocks. You also have an ability point that you can put towards any of your attributes. Just hit the + next to whichever one you want (Health, Stamina, or Speed are good places to start) and then you will be taken to the blueprints screen. This is where you unlock all the blueprints to craft things in the game. As mentioned before, the first blueprint you want to unlock should be the stone hatchet. You should have enough points to unlock another one which should be either the campfire so you can cook meat or the spear so you can defend yourself.
 
Once you are done with using your EP it's time to gather the rest of the materials needed to make the stone hatchet and a torch, both of which require flint which can be mined with the pick from huge boulders. At this point, if you haven't gotten any food you'll want to start stocking up as you might be getting hungry. Easiest way to do this in the beginning is to forage for berries. Walk up to some bushes and with either your bare hands or the torch hit the interact button. Bushes will give you some berries to eat along with fiber to craft more items later. Be careful about eating too many Narcoberries as they will put you to sleep. Likewise, Stimberries will lower your torpidity (stat that puts you to sleep, you want it at 0) but make you thirsty. Eating berries will help you out in a pinch but the real nutrition comes from cooked meat which fills your Hunger bar faster.
 
Hopefully by now you have leveled up again and unlocked both the campfire and the spear. Each spear will cost you 8 wood, 2 flint, and 12 fiber along with a good chunk of your weight capacity. At most you should have 2-3 spears at any given time in case they break. Once you have a spear crafted you can start killing things with relative ease. Since you are just starting out it's best to stick with attacking Dodos, Dilos, and Coelacanths (fish). After killing an animal you can use either the pick for more meat or hatch for more hide, which is used later. For now, stock up on meat to cook and eat. The next thing you need is a campfire which requires 12 thatch, 1 flint, 16 stones, and 2 wood. You'll also need some extra thatch or wood to light the campfire.
 
Upon having crafted the campfire place it down and access its inventory by walking up to it and either pressing E when it's out of fuel or holding E and selecting Inventory. Add the wood (preferably) or thatch, drop some raw meat in, and hit Light Fire. After a little bit of time the raw meat will turn into cooked meat. While you can eat raw meat in a pinch it does lower your health so always try to eat cooked meat. You may also be getting thirsty at this point so while your meat is cooking you should fill your thirst meter back up. That is as simple as walking into water deep enough to swim in and submerge your head. Later in the game you will be able to craft items that carry water, but for now it's best to stick close to water sources.
 
A few other things to keep in mind when starting out is the temperature. When it gets really hot a small fire icon shows in the bottom left corner of your screen. This means your thirst meter will drop faster, especially the more active you are. Try to stay near the water to cool off and drink before dehydration sets in. When it gets cold out a small snowflake or ice cube will show up in the same corner. Being cold lowers your hunger faster which means you need to eat more or you will starve. Again, the more active you are the faster it drains.
Also, try and stay near heat sources or inside buildings to stay warm. Dilos will spit at you and blind you for several seconds so if you see one about to spit in your general direction try to avoid it. Some creatures will increase your torpor which is represented by a small stars icon above your EXP meter on the right and a purplish border on your screen. If this increases too much you will be knocked unconscious and unable to do anything. Torpor also rises when you attack when out of stamina. Where there is one Raptor, there is 3 more right behind it.
 
Now that you have some basic survival knowledge, it’s time to find a nice quiet area, settle down, and build a base. Maybe even find a tribe mate or two to settle in with.
 
http://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ARK-Survival-Evolved1-10.jpg

 

 

The Gathering Grind

 
 
Just like any survival game there are several materials you need to gather in large quantities in order to progress. This page will give you the basics of where and how to farm the various materials in Ark.
 
Fiber and Berries - Gathered from bushes by hand. Berries can be gathered by using herbivore creatures as well. Right now the only way to gather Fiber is by hand, however a mount that can gather Fiber is planned and on the way. Fiber is used for crafting and building. Berries are used for eating, cooking, and taming. Narco and Stim berries can be turned into Narcotics and Stimulants with a Mortar and Pestle.
 
Meat and Hide - Gathered from all dead creatures. Harvest more meat with a pick and more Hide with a hatchet. Raw meat is used to tame carnivores or be cooked in a fire so it can safely be eaten. Meat can also be allowed to spoil and be turned into Spoiled Meat which is used to make Narcotics and tame and feed Scorpions. Hide is used in crafting and building.
 
Thatch and Wood - Gathered from trees by punching, pick, hatchet, or some dinos. Punching, picks, and dinos like Trikes and Brontos get more Thatch than Wood. Hatchet and Mammoths get more Wood. Both are used for crafting, building, and starting fires.
Flint and Stone - Gathered from rocks by pick, hatchet, or some dinos. Get more Flint using picks and dinos like Anklyo. Get more Stone by using the hatchet or picking it up off the ground. The devs have yet to put a good Stone gathering mount in the game but one is planned for later. Both are used in crafting, building, and making other materials like Sparkpowder and Cementing Paste.
 
Chitin and Keratin - Chitin is gathered from various creatures like Spiders and Scorpions while Keratin is gathered from others like Carbonemys, Stegos, and Trikes. Using a Hatchet or creature like the Sabertooth will get you more of both. These are used in various crafting.
 
Metal and Obsidian - Metal is gathered from rocks with gold streaks or solid gold, usually found on mountains and in caves. Use a metal pick or Anklyo to get more Metal. Obsidian is gathered from smooth black rocks found in the same places and harvested the same as Metal. Metal is mainly used to make Metal Ingots which are needed for crafting and building, but some items require raw Metal to craft. Obsidian is mainly used in the Fabricator to craft other materials like Polymers.
 
Silica Pearls and Oil - Pearls are gathered by hand while Oil is gathered most effectively by pick. Both are found underwater, Pearls only at the bottom and in caves, Oil at medium to deep waters and in caves. Pearls are used for crafting things like the Spino Saddle and Electronics. Oil is used to craft some items, used in the preserving bin along with Sparkpowder to turn Cooked Meat into Jerky, or combined with Hide in a Refinery to make Gasoline. Gas in needed to run things like the Electrical Generator and Fabricator.
 
 
 

The Beginnings of a Fortress

 

 

So, you've survived your first few minutes (or not) and are ready to build a base to protect you from the elements and start conquering the island from. The first building materials you are able to construct a base with are the basic thatch structure pieces. Unfortunately, thatch is exactly like the first little piggy's house and is easily blown over by other players if you play on PVP servers. However, you have to start somewhere. The first engrams you want to unlock are the thatch foundation and walls.
 
This will give you the very minimum to start building your base and if it comes down to it, at least wall yourself in (you can destroy individual walls when you want to leave or remodel). 
 
First thing you need to do is find a suitable location. The first base you build will very likely not be the last so there is no need to worry about the perfect placement. After you level up more and have access to more advanced engrams or are part of a tribe is when you can start focusing on your massive dream fort. For now, a place to shack up for the night will be good enough. And a good place to stay has water nearby, lots of trees and bushes, and plenty of smaller creatures to hunt. Once you find that location it's time to start building.
 
The thatch foundation will run you 20 thatch, 6 wood, and 15 fiber. Now, while you can make a small 1 square hut it will be cramped in there. It's best to start off with at least a 2x1 or 2x2 hut so you are able to place a few items like a sleeping bag (used for a one-time respawn) and storage box. After crafting the foundation you can either select it from your inventory and click Use Item (which must be done for each piece separately) or you can drag it to your hot bar and press the corresponding number to quickly use them.
Once you have the foundations down you can place the walls along the edges. Each wall needs 10 thatch, 2 wood, and 7 fiber. When placing walls be sure of where you are setting it when there is more than one foundation. You can place walls on any edge of any square foundation even when they are connected. This is useful if you want to make separate rooms inside your house. Also, you are able to place walls on top of other walls as well to get more head room or eventually make multiple floors.
 
How will you get in and out of your new house? Glad you asked! There are engrams that you can unlock for a doorframe and door. There's even one for a ceiling. The door frame requires 8 thatch, 6 wood, and 6 fiber and the door is only 7 thatch and 4 fiber. Once crafted place the doorframe down first on whichever side you decide to enter from and then put the door in the doorframe. For the roof you need 15 thatch, 4 wood, and 10 fiber.
 
When done constructing just place on top of the walls to make your roof. Roof pieces will also be used to create higher floors when you want to start expanding upwards. After all that you are finally done. You can lock or unlock your door and even set a pin number on it by looking at it, holding E down, and selecting the appropriate action.
 
And there you have it, your first base! Not much to look at but it'll do for now. You can decorate it however you like on the inside. Just don't get too attached to it as it will likely be destroyed soon or you will be moving to a better location and into a stronger wood base. For now, it's a good starting point for your adventures.
 
http://www.technobuffalo.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ark-survival-evolved-0512-02-1280x720.jpg
 
 

Becoming A Farmer

 

 

So you've finally found a more permanent place to settle down. Now what do you do? Well, you could start a farm! Having your own farm provides several benefits. You can grow your own bushes and harvest different types of berries depending on what you plant.
You can grow other plants that provide ingredients that cannot be gathered through foraging like Savoroot and Longrass that are needed for some cooking recipes. Plus, once the bushes are mature and start to produce berries on a regular basis they don't disappear like the bushes in the wild. Farming is a bit labor intensive but it has long term payouts. At current max capacity berry bushes can hold up to 300 berries at one.
 
First thing you'll need for farming is a crop plot. These come in small, medium, and large varieties which are unlocked with EP at different level milestones. Blueprints for crop plots and irrigation pipes can be found in airdrops as well, particularly in blue or higher. Each plot requires wood, thatch, fiber, and stone to build. After building a crop plot simply place it on flat ground. It will also be a good idea to leave a little bit of space in-between each box so you can place down irrigation pipes which will be discussed later. For now, all you need is a seed, water from a waterskin or jar, and poop.
 
 
Caring For Your Plants
 
After placing the crop plot down access its inventory by pressing E. From here, you can place the seed (only one seed per plot) in it which will be consumed by the box and start the growing process. In order for your plant to grow you also need to put some poop to fertilize it. Any size poop can be placed into any size plot, however, turning the poop into fertilizer is better. To water your plants without irrigation simply transfer a full waterskin or jar into its inventory, select it, and click the Remotely Use Item button. Now, all you have to do from here is make sure it always has water and fertilizer and wait for a few in-game days to pass. Your plant should go from seedling to fruiting, at which point it will start producing the goods. To harvest, access its inventory and transfer the berries to yourself.
 
Fertilizer
 
Fertilizer is far more potent than just throwing poop on your plants. To make fertilizer you will need to craft a Compost Bin (50 wood, 15 thatch, 12 fiber). Place your bin near the crops so you don't have to run very far. Once the bin is complete gather up thatch and poop to drop into it. After some time has passed the thatch and poop will turn into a bag of fertilizer which can be placed into your plant's inventory to keep it fertilized for a long, long time. It takes 50 thatch and 3 poops of any size to make 1 bag of fertilizer. Each bag provides 54,000 fertilizer compared to only 1,000-5,000 per poop depending on if it's human or dino. So make sure you stock up on dino poop and thatch for your farm !
 
Irrigation
 
Irrigation will keep your farm watered without the need to constantly do so manually. The very minimum needed to build an irrigation system is the straight pipe, intake pipe, and tap. However, having the incline or vertical pipes will help with elevation changes. The intersection pipe is good for expansive farms or when you need to build sideways due to obstacles and whatnot.
 
The stone piping only needs stones to build and the tap needs stone and wood. The best thing to do before laying down pipe is to plan out exactly where it will all go. If you have to destroy a section of pipe because you made a mistake then the entire pipe, including any sections you attached, will be destroyed.
First, start off near your crops and locate the direction of the nearest water source. Any source will do be it lake, pond, river, or sea. Make sure the first pipe that you lay down is pointing right for the water so you are able to build the pipe without having to make sideways adjustments if possible. The end of the first pipe should be near your crop plot or at the center most part of your farm. Once that is down continue laying pipes in the direction of the water.
 
If there are crazy elevation changes or the water end of the pipe is too high use the incline or vertical pipes to compensate. Upon reaching the water you must place the intake pipe so that it connects to the end of your pipe while being down in the water source (it will turn green when it has water). The pipe should turn blue once the intake has been placed to indicate water is flowing through it. After that, run back to the farm end of the pipe and place the tap on the end. You should here a faint bubbling sound if it has been done correctly. Any crop plots in the vicinity of the tab should now be irrigated.
 
Quick Tips
 
Build future crop plots around any taps that you currently have built so you don't have to build another pipe.
 If you plan on expanding your farm later, make sure you build some intersection pipes in key places as you can only build in straight lines. This way you only need one intake pipe instead of several.
 
Try starting your pipe at the highest point on the ground it will be built along. This will simply help you see the placement of the pipe better and keep it from clipping into the ground.
 
Even after placing irrigation pipes down you can still place taps at the joints.
The radius of a tap is about 3-4 small crop plots in length depending on the setup.
 
As of now you and anyone or anything else will run right through the pipe, so don't worry about it blocking your path.
You can build fences and walls over the pipes without them breaking so you can still wall yourself in for protection.
 
As it stands now, there is no benefit to placing crops in larger plots than the smallest size required for the seed. Example, a Narcoberry plant in a large crop plot will produce the same amount of berries as one in a small crop plot.
 
You can drink from the tap by pressing E and fill your waterskins and jars by placing them in the inventory of the tap.
 
 
http://i.imgur.com/5Isnwrb.jpg
 
 

More Power !

 
So you've managed to survive for quite some time now and have yourself a pretty decent base to boot. Now, it's time to start thriving and living in luxury. Electricity from a generator is needed to power several things from refrigerators to lamps to AC. However, you'll need to have a good water mount and lots of metal to get started and stay powered up. It's also a good idea to have some Lazarus Chowders handy or points stocked into your Oxygen level.
 
OIL, GAS, AND PEARLS 
 
The main thing you are going to need is Oil which at this point in the game can only be found in the depths of the ocean. This is why you need a good, really good, water mount. For now only Megalodons roam the seas but you can easily get ganged up on by 3 or 4 at once when diving down. Having your own Megalodon with tons of health and melee damage is a necessity. There are a few spots that aren't too deep along the edge of the shelf of the ocean floor where oil can be found. The greatest concentration of oil, however, is found at the very bottom of the ocean and in the underwater caves
.
You can easily spot oil by the black snake-like trails floating up from black, slick rocks. When you find one, just swim over to it and use your pick to harvest the oil. Oil itself is used to create the Fabricator which is required to make all the parts needed to power your base. Oil can also be converted into Gasoline by placing it into the Refinery with Hide. Gas is used to power the Fabricator (35 Metal, 20 Cementing Paste, 50 Sparkpowder, 10 Oil, 15 Crystals) and an Electrical Generator.
Silica Pearls are also needed to make Electronics and other items. These are found at the very bottom of the ocean and in the caves as well. You'll notice these by the sparkling shells in groups of about 4 or 5. Simply swim up to them and harvest them by hand.
 
METAL, OBSIDIAN, AND CRYSTALS
 
Metal is needed for all the higher level crafting in the game and is gathered from rocks with gold streaks in them or solid gold rocks found at the very top of mountains. Harvest with a metal pick for best results. You'll need a ton of metal to get your power grid up and running. Obsidian is a little harder to get and can be found near the top of mountains or inside caves. Look for the smaller, smooth black rocks and harvest with picks.
 
Obsidian, along with Keratin or Chitin, is used to craft Polymers which is in turn needed to craft other things. Crystals can now be found that the very top of mountains as well as in the caves. Just look for the white spiky formations and harvest with a metal pick. Crystals are needed for various components and craftables.
 
Get Connected To The Grid
 
Now that you have the materials needed to build a power grid, it's time to get powered up. First thing you'll need is the Electrical Generator. You'll also need some Electrical Cables (Straight, Incline, Vertical, and Intersection) along with an Electrical Outlet. Before you power on the Fabricator to create these it is a good idea to plan out how many you will need and make sure you have enough materials to build them all. This will help you save gas in the long run.
 
PLACEMENT
 
Once you have everything built you are ready to build your own power network. Start by placing the generator down. Placement of this piece isn't too critical as the cables will end up connecting everything but having it either off to one end of the base or somewhere in the middle will help. Don't worry about placing it inside or outside unless you want to keep it protected. The power cables work like the irrigation pipes and can be placed through walls and the like and do not have collision detection (anything can walk through them).
 
After the generator is down, you can start connecting the cables. There are 3 connection points at the front end of the generator on the smaller part of it and 1 connection point in the back. Bring out a cable (straight if you want to keep things nice and tidy or incline if you want to see what you are doing) and attach it to one of the connection points on the generator. Continue laying the cables until you get to the general area of where you are going to place your powered craftables.
Attach an outlet to the end of the cable and you're done.
Now, just place everything that needs to be powered near the outlet. You should see a small grey cable going from the outlet to whatever you placed as an indicator that it will be powered. If not, you haven't placed it close enough and will have make adjustments. Once everything is in place grab some gas, place it in the inventory of the generator, and turn it on. One can of gas will last for quite some time but it is always good to have extra on hand so the generator can be constantly powered.
 
QUICK TIPS
 
The Electrical Outlet has approximately the same radius as the Irrigation Tap. Think about 3-4 small crop plots or in this case Refrigerators.
 
Try to keep your generator stocked with gas. Never let it get below 5 gas cans while you are online in case you need to leave for an extended period of time. You'll want more in it if you plan on being offline.
 
The Refrigerator will keep perishables fresh for several days while it is powered on. This makes it more effective than a Preserving Bin.
Use intersection pieces to branch the cables out in different directions.
 
As of now there seems to be no limit on how much one generator can power.
 
When placing the cables down, think back to placing Irrigation Pipes, they work the same way.
 

http://i.imgur.com/rWtCTl8.jpg

 

 

 

General Tips

 

• Exercise caution when tackling anything other than Coel or Dodos, as you can be killed pretty easily early on. Even Dilos can easily overwhelm a new player.
• Kill as many Dodos as you can, they are a good source of early meat, hide, and experience.
• Having a simple shelter can be a lot more useful than you would think. You could easily find yourself freezing and starving on a cold night.
• If you look off into the distance, you will probably notice some large floating structures as well as some beams of light coming off the ground.
• Don't worry about those floating ones, they are called Obelisks and are for a very end-game boss fight. The boss doesn't appear unless summoned with the proper resources though, so it's safe to explore the area underneath them (as safe as anywhere else, at least).
• Those beams of light are what you should pay attention to. Those are called Beacons, and they have supplies. But before you run halfway across the world to get one, keep in mind that the distance is probably longer than you think it is and the beacons don't last forever. If one appears near you, it might be a good idea to check it out, but first notice the color:
• White/Prismatic beacons require you to be level 3 to open them
• Green requires level 15
• Blue requires level 25
• Purple requires level 35
• Yellow requires level 45
• Red requires level 55
• Try to avoid swimming. The Ocean is inhabited by Megalodons and other dangerous creatures who can aggro on you from very far away. Inland rivers and lakes are often filled with Megapiranhas which can quickly overwhelm you with their numbers.
•  
  

Learning the Ropes

• Holding H will display advanced information on the HUD (such as what certain status effects mean)
• Your basic harvesting tools are your bare hands. Punching trees hurts, so craft tools as soon as possible.

 
Making Tools

• First, find stones. The larger rock formations on the beach cannot be picked up, but the smaller rocks scattered about can.
• Second, gather Wood. This is done by punching trees, so go hurt yourself doing that. You will gather Thatch and Wood - hopefully before you die or get eaten.
• Combine the wood and stone together into a Stone Pick first so you can collect flint for a Stone Hatchet.
• Using the right tool for the jobs is important.
  
  • Rocks: picks harvest more flint while hatchets get more stone.
  • Wood: picks are best for thatch while hatchets yield more wood.
  • Corpses: picks result in more meat and hatchets obtain hide, chitin and keratin.

• 
  
• With these tools, you can start properly harvesting resources and creating all the tools you need for survival.

 
Finding Food and Water

• Hunger can kill you just as easily as dinosaurs. Small dinosaurs such as Dilophosaur and Dodo are a good source of raw meat.
• Fishing is also a quick and easy way to get raw meat, just keep an eye out for the deadly Megalodon or Piranha.
• You can replenish your water level by submerging into water or going into shallow water and pressing E. It can also be replenished by activating a filled Waterskin. Waterskins can be refilled while it's raining or while standing in shallow water.
• Berries are also a good source of food and water while you're too far from a water source or simply don't want to kill anything. Just don't eat Narcoberries, they'll put you to sleep. Eating Stimberries will rapidly drain your water.
• You can also eat Raw Meat at the cost of a few HP and smaller amount of food recovered than Cooked Meat. It's a quick solution to hunger but generally not recommended.

 
Leveling Up

• Every activity results in you gaining experience, even if it's simply not dying. Each level you gain will give you a single point to increase your attributes and a couple of Engram Points to unlock new crafting diagrams. Early on, Health and Fortitude are useful upgrades, keeping you healthy and more resistant to dinos and the environment longer. They also raise your resistance to losing consciousness.
• For newer players it's easy to get caught up in the moment of having a lot of Health and/or a lot of Melee Damage or any other non-directly survival focused ability. With that said, be sure to plan ahead, by this I mean far ahead. Are you a crafter? Then perhaps Weight will be useful, but then again. Perhaps you like to tame dinosaurs? If so then investing some points into Stamina is a viable option, this will allow you to sprint and fight for longer durations.
• Note from a Hunter: As a hunter in my early level 40's (recreated my character a few times to adjust my attributes to fit my playstyle) I found that having around 150 Health, 180 Stamina and 120% Movement Speed is adequate to be able to stay on your toes against even a T-Rex or even the newly added Spinosaurus. The remaining points I have are allocated into increased Melee Damage as I do a lot of spelunking and the melee damage comes in handy there.
• To avoid being overburdened and carry excess amount of resources. It is highly recommended to spend your skill points on only weight on levels 2-25, it will help tremendously in the future. After all, players in this game are building and carrying resources half the time, so having weight maxed at 380 is extremely useful. It will prevent players from having to go back to base to dump all kinds of resources.
• Save your Engram Points after level 30 and only spend them when you come across something you need immediately. Higher level Beacons will provide you with many of the Blueprints for items that you would otherwise spend engram points on. Saving your engram points early on will enable you to make a more educated decision later in the game in regards to how you should spend them.

 
Long Term Survival
 
In order to survive for a long time it is advised to do the following,

• Form or enter a Tribe.
• Spend your Engram Points in Engrams such as the Campfire, Waterskin, all wood/stone/metal building structures, Narcotics with the Mortar and Pestle, and definitely get the Dinosaur Gate/Gateway and the Fence Foundation.
• You're going to need to tame a selection of dinosaurs, such as some for the transportation by land, sea and or air, the ability to gather meat, hide, wood, thatch and berries and overall, protect your base when you're offline.
• Never settle for Thatch based structures, since they have relatively no protection or durability, people will focus on these first. Wood based structures take longer to demolish; however, with a few dinosaurs or a couple people with metal tools, they're rendered quite ineffective as a means of protection. Using Metal will provide the most durability and protection when you're away.

• Build a Vault. It allows you to protect the most valuable resources and items you or your tribe own.
• Build Alliances with other tribes so that you can rely on a helping hand; and return a helping hand.
• Do not make enemies and avoid being hostile to people. Killing low level players will definitely make higher level players continuously seek and destroy you, your structures and anyone who is associated with you.

• Do not stop taming dinosaurs and do not stop increasing your defense. Yeah you may have built a complete wooden fenced in yard with a nice wooden house; but you are going to want to upgrade your walls to metal as soon as you possibly can. This is usually done after acquiring atleast a Fabricator and a Behemoth Gate.

Taming

• To tame dinos which take a longer amount of time, such as the Trike, make sure to minimize the amount of damage you do to the dinos when knocking them unconscious. Ideally, knock them out in as few headshots as possible if you're using a slingshot, or use tranquilizer arrows. Doing damage to a dino during taming will reduce your taming effectiveness, decreasing the dinosaurs basic stats. This has nothing to do with the duration of your tame.

 

• *Note:* Food draining (starving an unconscious dino before feeding it) does not actually reduce the time to tame, since the time it takes to drain food compensates for the time you save when feeding. *sub note* The one exception is in the case of Prime Meat. Given its short spoil timer, if you have a bunch on storage(ie. refrigerator or preserving box) starving the carnivore down enough to eat multiple Primes at once, will reduce loss. 

 
Keeping them Unconscious

• Narcoberries if you are not yet able to craft Narcotics or emergency use when out of Narcotics.
• Narcotic is a highly improved version of Narcoberries that no longer spoils.
• Tranquilizer Arrows can also be used to keep the unconscious level up in emergency situations, however you will hurt the animal and the taming level will drop.

• You will notice you use more Narcoberries compared to Narcotic when taming.

The higher the unconscious level the faster the animal's torpor level will drop.
 
General Tips

• You can lure carnivores to other dinosaurs and leave them to fight each other, leaving you with a weaker dinosaur and free resources.
• Knocking a dino unconscious can be quicker than going straight for the kill.
• Keep an eye on nearby herbivores. If you see them running, they are either fleeing or fighting a nearby predator.
• Don't build shelter too close to the water, there are sea dinosaurs that can destroy the earliest shelter easily.
• You can upgrade your shelter parts (ex. thatch to wood) by placing the new part in the same place as the old part. The old piece will be destroyed and grant you some resources back.
• When building a wooden shelter, you can quickly become encumbered with wood. Instead of running to your shelter and sorting everything out, make whatever components you can straight away as it severely lessens your weight, allowing you to stay out collecting for longer.
• It's recommended to make a sleeping bag at an early level - it displays map coordinates to aid navigation, may be picked up and re-used, and is handy for marking caves or other points of interest. A sleeping bag does not require a structure to be built upon, but cannot be shared by tribe members.
• To get around 20 meat and hide, kill Phiomia as they don't fight back, it is also an easy source of experience. This is easier with a ranged weapon or in an area that is not wide open, as they run away quite fast.
• When taming, each dino has it's preferred food; carnivores prefer http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/ark.gamepedia.com/thumb/0/09/Raw_Prime_Meat.png/20px-Raw_Prime_Meat.png?version=34a6ffb9ca463788de7c1c0940405097 Raw Prime Meat, and herbivores prefer http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/ark.gamepedia.com/thumb/0/00/Mejoberry.png/20px-Mejoberry.png?version=4074a427dd491a94ebb2ead6a6109769 Mejoberries Some creatures (Such as pulminoscorpius or araneos) prefer spoiled meat.
• You can keep a target unconscious by force-feeding them http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/ark.gamepedia.com/thumb/2/29/Narcoberry.png/20px-Narcoberry.png?version=12301c758de6b5cb46738b976daaa0d9 Narcoberries or http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/ark.gamepedia.com/thumb/e/e6/Narcotic.png/20px-Narcotic.png?version=2a5321bede0dd9f67c70dbc3ccffe99e Narcotic, which is a necessary process when taming. While "necessary" for taming dinosaurs, you can sacrifice Taming efficiency by using a Wooden Club, which cause little damage while adding about 8 Torpor per hit. Use it while starving the desired dinosaur, but don't swing to much! Otherwise you'll kill your dino! (Highly recommended for low level taming in which Taming efficiency is practically useless, ex. level 1 - 5).
• You can quickly repair an item by hitting its assigned hotbar button (assuming you have the required materials).
• You can also quickly create an additional item if you press alt while hitting its assigned hotbar button.
• Greyed out/broken items on the hotbar bar can be crafted by merely hitting its button (assuming you have the required materials) while holding that button will display what you're missing or need to repair.
• Split meat into stacks of one for getting Spoiled Meat faster, making it easier to craft Narcotics.
• When in your (or a dino's) inventory, hover over an item and press O to drop that item. No need to click the item and then go down to the 'drop item' button.
• When in the inventory of a creature or container, hover over an item and press T to easily transfer that item to your own inventory, or vice-versa.
• You can easily escape insects by diving under water. But keep an eye out for Piranhas, as they are very dangerous early on.
• At night you can throw a lit torch on the ground by right-clicking, allowing you to see while harvesting/fighting. When you're done, you can pick it back up.
• If you're performing a beacon run. Give yourself a moment to check around the beacon. You may have attracted attention from nearby predators.
• The Wooden Raft can offer tribes an opportunity to hunt Megalodon by firing a Crossbow from the raft while someone on an Ichthy kites the shark around.
• Sparkpowder is an excellent fuel source. It requires just a few stone and flint, and can be used to light everything from fireplaces to refining forges and keep them burning for a fairly long time. However, it doesn't yield Charcoal which is needed for Bullets.
• When building walls, use E to toggle the direction the wall is facing.
• It's easier to place fence foundations walking backwards.
• It is near pointless to attempt killing an awake Giganotosaurus as only a higher level or pre-enraged one can easily kill it. Often it is best to leave them alone for others to tame, as a 20 can take over 100 tranq darts to the head, in which many would see as a pointless waste unless taming it.

 
Gaining XP

• When you first spawn as a level 1 just craft several picks or torches to get first few levels faster.
• Craft Narcotic for easy experience (2xp per craft).
• Rafts give a lot of xp and are rather cheap once the player has a Metal Hatchet/Mammoth.
• Killing simple dinos as Trikes give a bit of exp, allowing higher tier players to farm xp as they can easily be killed by guns.

 
Solo Tips

• A beach is a good area to start building a base. This allows you to constantly have a source of water for drinking and cooling down, and depending on where you are, fish to eat. Resources may be scarce, but so are predators. The few predators that are present can easily be seen from a good distance.
• You will probably find yourself spending engram points on a wide variety of things. You can save some points by ignoring multiplayer-centric engrams such as Note, Blood Extraction Syringe, and the various Signs and Billboards.
• Every time you go to load your single-player game, there will be a bunch of sliders for server options. If things are going poorly or you want more of a challenge, you can adjust these to your benefit/detriment. Keep in mind that Player Resistance and Structure Resistance work inversely, meaning that setting player resistance to 2 will make you take twice as much damage, not half.

 
Multiplayer Tips

• Join a tribe. Seriously, do it. Being in a tribe gets you a share of the experience your tribemates earn, you can help each other take out larger threats or tame dinos, and it's just nice to have allies.
• If you're in a tribe, it might be a good idea to assign specialists, people who focus on one or two type of engrams. For example, one of you could focus on structures, one could get tools and weapons, another could get saddles and clothes, etc. The drawback of this is that you will be dependent on one another. If your base gets beat up and your structure guy isn't on, someone else may have to learn the engram themselves.
• Be aware of the server settings. Certain settings can vastly change how the game plays, and information found on this wiki may not be completely accurate on servers that don't use the default settings.

 
Console Commands
 
To open the console press tab.

• To show your FPS, type stat fps.
• gamma # where # = 1 to 9. Example gamma 3 alters the darkness in the game so you can see at night (disabled on official PvP-servers). To return to the default value, just type gamma.

 

[JillyJill 5336]

Thanks for this useful guid, good job :)

[Mino 312]

This game looks awesome, will definitly buy it next steam sales.

 

If the game is played by numerous nN members, why not create a dedicated server ?

[Substanz 4964]

Already in my mind ^^, tried to play a bit yesterday but some dinosaurus didn't let me play, out of running everywhere to discover the map, i died at every turn.

 

YOU HAVE BEEN KILLED BY A MEGAPIRANHA !

 

[Runny 850]

wow seems like a nice game but complicated Oo

 

maybe its not that complex. It seems very intresting^^

[Teddy 330]

it's a good game like a mix of stranded and far cry with more rpg elements :) i played early access a bit and now i'm waiting for release to get it :D