Carver's Ark and witches-questions by newbie

[Archibald]

Hey there!
So I just started to play Salem yesterday, already experienced serious dangers and being ignored by the only person I ever saw in Providence, but I'm sure there's much more for me to learn and experience. Especially about the world since a lot seems to be confusing. So please tell me who's Carver? Why is he building an ark? Troubles in paradise? What's going on?
What about witches? Are they real threat? Where can I encounter them? Anything known about their powers or becoming one of them?

Also how long this world already exists? How many active players is still around? Is there some kind of counter that shows how many players are online? Because so far there may be hundreds people online or I might be the only one as well, it's hard to tell with such big world. Is there google-map-style map for Salem like there is for Haven?
Also, do you have any tips for beginner? Any particular skill development direction should I take? Like for ex. I should get all farming skills as fast as possible or maybe hunting or mining or anything else? Have about meeting other players in the wilderness? Should I avoid them or it's usually safe to talk?

Thanks for advices

[TotalyMeow]

Hey there!
So I just started to play Salem yesterday, already experienced serious dangers and being ignored by the only person I ever saw in Providence, but I'm sure there's much more for me to learn and experience. Especially about the world since a lot seems to be confusing. So please tell me who's Carver? Why is he building an ark? Troubles in paradise? What's going on?
What about witches? Are they real threat? Where can I encounter them? Anything known about their powers or becoming one of them?

Also how long this world already exists? How many active players is still around? Is there some kind of counter that shows how many players are online? Because so far there may be hundreds people online or I might be the only one as well, it's hard to tell with such big world. Is there google-map-style map for Salem like there is for Haven?
Also, do you have any tips for beginner? Any particular skill development direction should I take? Like for ex. I should get all farming skills as fast as possible or maybe hunting or mining or anything else? Have about meeting other players in the wilderness? Should I avoid them or it's usually safe to talk?

Thanks for advices

John Carver is the main developer of Salem and the one who ultimately decides what does or doesn't get added or changed in the game. The Ark is a construction that the people of Popham need to build if they want to take their animals home to Providence when the expedition server of Popham ends. Otherwise, they'll have to try to buy or raid domestic animals from the winning witch of the server, which will be problematic for them, probably. No one so far has had the drive to do much with the ark though, so most likely only the one winner of the server will get animals at the end. We'll see.

Witches are a threat, but it's hard to say how much. Certainly one will end the Popham server. It's almost inevitable in such a dark and lawless place. How much they are a threat in the more civilized Providence is debatable. Its best not to talk about it. The only way to find out about witches is to find a witch and ask them.

Popham has existed for about a year and will end. Providence has existed for... more than 2 now in its current state and we have no plans of ever ending it. You can click on 'Server Status' above to see how many people are logging in each day/week/month. About 80% of those numbers are unique acconts, and about 20% are alts. There is a map in game that you can craft called a New World Survey, which gives you some idea of where you are and where major things like lakes and mountains are. It is based on the exact server map. But for a detailed map showing biomes and such, you'd have to go to a player made map and I don't think anyone is hosting one right now.

There's a topic of useful links stickied at the top of the Help forum with the player made wiki and other things you might want to look at. There are some reputable traders in the Tradewinds section here if you need to buy or sell anything. If you're alone, it's hard to say which skills you should get first. The easiest skills are all very useful and you might just try to get them all. Otherwise, go for settling, simple fences, and torches so you can claim some land and put up a stone wall and a few torchposts to defend it. It won't do you any good to build a nice base and character if you have no defenses to protect it all. Also, the guide puts all newbies in a doughnut around the main town and raiders know it. They'll find you there. Make a map, find where you are, and head away from the main town to get out of that area.

[Kreek]

A tip for a beginner. Learn all of the skills that increase your inspiration points gain rate. You should also learn some cooking skills in order to have some good gluttony food to choose from. Additionally, swimming and the skills that allow you to carry more weight are indispensable. Also learn a few skills that allow you to climb higher. I remember when I was new, running into cliffs was a pain. These skills allow you to travel the world with ease. Last thing, I forget what skill gives there movement action Wander. But look at the wiki and find out. Your time is valuable, so there is no reason to walk in the game. Turn on Wander to walk faster and see more items. This drains one of your humor bars, so be sure to pick up food to replenish as you go.

[ZoddAlmighty]

Another tip for beginers.
Never, by any circumstances lock the gates. It is profoundly frown upon and you will suffer the wrath of many people for not welcoming strangers in your heartwarming home.
The more goodies you have the better host you are.

[TotalyMeow]

Another tip for beginers.
Never, by any circumstances lock the gates. It is profoundly frown upon and you will suffer the wrath of many people for not welcoming strangers in your heartwarming home.
The more goodies you have the better host you are.

Don't troll in Help.

Always lock your gates. Locks and keys and the locksmithing skill are a must as early as you can manage them if you already have walls up.

And try watching Paradoxyc's youtube videos of Salem tutorials.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=17562

[Paradoxyc]

try watching Paradoxyc's youtube videos of Salem tutorials.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=17562

+1 Would Recommend

[Sipo]

And why not mine? Too boring?

[ZoddAlmighty]

Don't troll in Help.

Always lock your gates. Locks and keys and the locksmithing skill are a must as early as you can manage them if you already have walls up.

And try watching Paradoxyc's youtube videos of Salem tutorials.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=17562

I thought the sarcasm was more than obvious.

[Paradoxyc]

And why not mine? Too boring?

Yours are fine mine are just more recent

[Archibald]

Thank you all for your replies.
I learned a lot in last few days from your posts (in this thread and others), wiki and the book I bought in game called "The Laws of Darwoth". It all opened my eyes, especially the book
I haven't yet check the yt channel but I will do that for sure.

Still got some questions because the game is quite complex
Do bees affect fields and potted flowers or they only affect fruit trees as wiki says? I had a trouble finding a queen, I got 6 drone bees but no sight of queen, luckily yesterday I found a bee skep at some abandoned farm, it was empty (no queen or drone in any of the slot) but it had ~7k working bees. I brought it back to my homestead and put my drones in it, I assume this hive of mine won't create queen by itself, still have to look for her but I hope it will work properly just like it would have a queen, am I right?

I've send my scouts in different directions of the world and I'm really surprised that I haven't really seen that many islands, usually they are just 1-2 sqm pieces of terrain on the water, one shaped like a heart but still a very small one, once I saw a long one but it was just few sqm wide. I can only assume that map generator was set so it won't create many islands (seen few times that rivers were just about to connect and make quite a nice island but they were blocked by just a small piece of terrain) but is there any chance to find a habitable island? I mean, nothing fancy, not a place for big plantation or so but just a place to put a fort or something, building, walls, maybe few farming tiles just as a a backup

How about this server status you told me about. I'm still not sure. There is this load thing. Load means amount of players online (where 100% is the maximum capacity) or it's more general (I assume some activities may make server more...loaded Does 10% load on Providence mean there's same amount of players as on Popham with load 10% or it's not quite that?

What about hunting. I assume fire weapons are not that practical after all (But I'll get one anyway since it's my right to bear arms, if you don't like it come and take it). Let's say I want to start hunting beavers, should I use club, sabre, slingshot or what? How about combat situation player vs player? Any way, is there a way to refill humours during combat? Especially Blood and Yellow bile

Speaking of combat and military, I noticed that somewhere were mentioned cannons, as I understand they are fairly new, what skills allow to make and use them?

Ah almost forgot, another thing mentioned in some random thread I encountered were lilypads, to be exact using them as a bridge. Is that some inside joke or are there really mechanics allowing us to build bridges with lilypads?


How about this place, should I be worried about it? Is this purely decorative or does it actually do something? Is this some unique thing or are there some other similar places in the world?



The only thing it may be related to are witches and witchcraft..and speaking of it. Are there any other witches than Darwoth or he's the only one (at least only one active)? Do we know the location of his claim/town?

And I must say, seeing scenes like that doesn't make me comfortable at all. Rest in peace Golas z miasta (naked man from town). We never talked, he just passed me once or twice but he was walking proudly, and God is my witness, he surely had reasons to be so proud!