Salem

Kinda lost as to what to do now. Any suggestions?

i just walked in one direction until i found lime and clay then put up a leanto its really up to you on what you want to do

Thanks. Ok I'll try that... is lime and clay important then?

for the most part yes you cant make iron without lime and you need iron for just about everything and you need clay for brick walls

i have learned to play through the youtube video made by gamerzakh, hopefully it is useful to you too

here is the link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfMhn2TgFys

There are a lot of factors that go into choosing a spot, I spent a lot of time looking for the perfect one and eventually got sick of it and just settled for a decent one. While hunting for one make sure you're zoomed out so you can see abandoned bases you wander by, you can often find good stuff left behind by raiders with high standards which will help you gets your stats up and maybe even find some useful equipment which would otherwise be expensive to buy in the early game (pickaxe, canoe, sturdy sled, teddy bear, etc)

But yeah, a few things that will make parts of the game very tedious if you don't have at least relatively nearby access to (ie, few minutes of running) are:

- lime pit (ideally at least 50-100 tiles of lime or you'll run out very quickly, don't settle -right- next to it or it will interfere with your walls)
- large, nearly flat area (assume you'll grow to at least 101x101 tiles so avoid picking a spot that has quarries, water, ridges, etc which will interfere with walls built in that area) do not settle on a slope, you will regret it immensely.
- water (bonus with this is that often areas near a river are perfectly flat already which will save you a lot of time) and again, not too close so it doesn't interfere with walls

Clay pits are convenient, but as long as you have plenty of lime and water you can make clay from a clay trough (dirt+water+lime) for not that much more effort. The above 3 factors are far more important.

You probably won't get all the factors involved in choosing a good location right your first time though, so don't overthink it too much just get settled somewhere near a lime pit and get building figuring worst case you can move later.

choose the flattest area you can find. flattening is the worst.

My 2 cents, since rushing for progress isn't going to get you too far this late in the world, is explore. Explore the **** out of all the early mechanics, wander, forage everything, try to build as much as you can without settling properly. Read the forums for anything you don't understand or ask if need be, as well as check the wiki But exploring was the most fun thing for me to do as a newbie, the feeling of discovering new things surely can't compare to being told what to do.