Learn to build crucial structures in The Forest, including shelters, stick markers, wood benches, basic fires, tree platforms, and skull lamps for survival and defense.
This section covers essential building mechanics in The Forest, focusing on structures that aid survival, defense, and navigation. It also introduces the objective of finding and cooking food.
Walkthrough
- 1Build a Shelter: Construct either a Hunting Shelter or a Temporary Shelter. These allow saving and resting but do not offer protection from rain or enemies. Build one frequently as the game does not autosave otherwise. Note that structures can be destructible if this option is enabled in the Gameplay menu. Trees can be felled faster with a Chainsaw or explosives.
- 2Build a Stick Marker: Craft these from your Survival Guide (Custom Building > Utility 1). They are cheap and useful for marking points of interest, such as cave entrances. They can be color-coded and are visible from anywhere above ground, and can also be built underground.
- 3Build a Wood Bench: Found under Furniture 1, these cost 2 logs. Sitting on a Wood Bench for a few seconds fully replenishes your stamina and energy bars. It is recommended to build one with every shelter.
- 4Build a Basic Fire: Requires 7 leaves and 2 sticks. This is vital for warming up, cooking food, boiling water, providing light, and scaring or hurting enemies. Light it with a lighter and use leaves or cash to extend its burn duration. Cash is recommended as fuel since it has no other use. Avoid building a Standing Fire at this stage as it cannot be used for cooking.
- 5Build a Tree Platform: Costs 14 logs and 1 rope (craftable from 7 cloths). Enemies cannot climb ropes, making this a safe haven from ground-based threats. Fires built underneath will not be doused by rain.
- 6Build a Skull Lamp: Costs 3 sticks, 1 skull, and 5 sap. This provides a permanent light source, especially useful in caves. Skulls can be obtained by killing and beheading cannibals, then cooking the head. Sap is mined from tree trunks.
- 7Objective: Find and Cook Food: Hunt animals like rabbits, lizards, and deer using a Weak Spear or a Crafted Bow. The Weak Spear is effective for one-strike kills and requires no ammo, but requires good throwing aim. A Crafted Bow (1 cloth, 1 stick, 1 rope) requires arrows (feathers and sticks) and is effective for headshots on cannibals.
Tips
- Build shelters frequently for saving progress.
- Use Stick Markers to denote important locations like caves.
- Wood Benches are essential for quick stamina and energy regeneration.
- Use cash to fuel fires for longer burn times.
- Tree Platforms offer safety from ground enemies.
- Skull Lamps provide a constant light source, ideal for underground exploration.
- The Weak Spear is a reliable early-game weapon, but practice throwing it.
- A Crafted Bow is effective, especially for headshots on cannibals, but requires arrow crafting.
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