ARMIN S SURVIVAL

Welcome to Armin S Survival Guide!
In this guide I will thoroughly explain what is needed to be done to survive for days, weeks and even months.

Starting Off
Initially you will find yourself at the crash site. Thoroughly search the plane for food, booze, soda and other goodies that are inside of the plane. You will see a dead lady, with an axe stuck in her chest. Crouch to obtain the item. When you are ready to jump off the plane, scout first. It is good to know where you are location wise, and refer to the [[Media:THE FOREST ALPHA map by KOPFSTOFF 8.png|Map]]. You can jump off the plane, and on the left side of the plane you will find 2 circuit boards which can be used to create bombs used for destroying more difficult to kill mutants such as the spider mutant. The recipe can be found here. In the vicinity of the plane are suitcases, to open click the action button on your mouse while the axe is equipped. Inside of the suitcases the following can be found: It is best to scavenge only a few suitcases and straight away run towards the seashore, if you cannot see the sea, try to run in the direction you think the sea is so you can locate yourself on the map as previously stated before.
 * 1) Soda
 * 2) Snack
 * 3) Tennis ball
 * 4) Flashlight
 * 5) Cloth
 * 6) Pills

To open the survival guidepress 'B' (on Windows). The in-game guide will walk you through how to build, scavenge, and stay healthy throughout the early stages of the game.

Building, Scavenging and Hunting
When you found a location you think is the best to settle down, go with the easy alternative and build the hunting shelter. Press 'B' to bring up the in-game survival guide, and click on the hunting shelter image, which will then exit the guide and leaves you with the 'ghost' of the hunting shelter as a tool to view and plan where it is best suited for you. Before placing the selected building of your choice (in this case the Hunting Shelter), button R lets you rotate it. To initially 'build' the shelter press 'E'. This will leave you with the ghost of the building. Point the camera on the ghost when near the building, this it will tell you what items or objects you need to find to build your desired building.

Clicking on the previous link, hunting shelter, will tell you exactly how many logs, sticks and rocks you will need to get your hands on to build it.

In order to obtain logs, you will need to find a tree and press the action button on your mouse (left mouse button) and wait until the tree falls down. It will take approximately 17-25 hits on the tree for it to fall down. There is a trick also with the trees, when you cut it down. Look in the direction where you want the tree to fall, and when the tree starts to fall, keep pressing the 'space' button to alter where it is going to drop. This is useful if you have positioned your base near a cliff, as trees will fall in the direction you don't want it and will lose valuable logs.

While looking for sticks and rocks, it is also good to look out for lizards. The reason being is that it provides Lizard Meat and Lizard Skin. Both useful for the following reasons. Lizard meat is an essential tool that can reduce hunger and increase health. On the other hand, lizard skin can be used as an armor which is vital in terms of safety from the cannibals otherwise known as mutants.

Moving on it is best to start stockpiling on lizards and rabbits for food later on in the game. The previously stated creatures can be eaten by:
 * 1) Creating a fire pit
 * 2) Selecting the creature the player wants to consume
 * 3) Walking near the already lit fire pit
 * 4) Pressing the button 'E' to place it on the fire.

It is best in the players interest to stay until the animal cooks itself as the player will not be able to count on its fingers how many times the food will burn to ashes if left long on the fire. Furthermore, certain types of berries can be eaten, which are consumables, meaning they're foods. The player should however be careful which ones to eat as one will give life, while the other one will take. The survival guide will show the player which one is toxic and which one is edible. This can be found by:
 * 1) Pressing 'B' to open up the survival guide
 * 2) Clicking on the food and water section

Back to constructing buildings, it is best to build a defensive wall around your selected 'army base' as it is virtually unbreakable by 'cannibals'. 'spider mutants' can however destroy defensive walls. Building basic walls are virtually useless as they can be broken by hitting it with weapons such as the plane axe, stone axe, rusty axe, modern axe, arm and leg. In conclusion to survive, go with the easy alternative and build the Defensive Wall.

Furthermore, building a wall with door or a wall with window is not the best choice for the following reasons:
 * 1) The light from your fire pit or standing fire attracts mutants which is the last thing you want to happen at night.
 * 2) mutants can attack through the window if both the player and the mutant are standing too close.

Once you have built a decent sized wall around your base, don't forget to save the game by walking up to your hunting shelter and pressing 'C'. At this point of the game you may have or have not encountered cannibals. There are 2 types of cannibals in The Forest that can be encountered in the early stages of the game, regulars and cannibal leaders. There are 2 types of the ''regulars. The first one is the cannibal that is covered in blood (first to encounter in game) and fully naked cannibals which are little bit harder to kill. [Insert both images somewhere here]. The first type of regulars can easily be killed by swinging the axe twice, which will immediately kill the cannibal. Corpses can also be chopped up for purposes such as building effigies or for combat purposes. The second type of regulars are going to take 3-5 hits with any kind of axe to kill, and can be chopped up as well.

The second type of cannibals, cannibal leaders are going to take a fair bit of action to kill as they are a much stronger bunch.