Guide: First steps as a new character

[TriMoon]

Hi,
I thought i might as well take a shot at making a guide for new people who start with a new character that just arived in Boston.
I will try to guide them up to the point they will be able to cross deep waters only, which will enable them to roam around the world to find a suitable spot where they want to settle.

Table of Contents:

1. Character creation
2. Learning new Technologies
3. Gathering/Foraging/Gaining stuff
4. The sequence of Technology you should learn for the purpose of this guide
5. Disclaimer

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1 - Character creation:
Will try to fill-in this space with info to guide from character creation screen to arrival in Boston, as seemingly requested by people in this thread.

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2 - Learning new Technologies:
The Technologies your character knows, can learn, or is currently learning are listed in a window that you can open using CTRL+T or the menu button on bottom of screen.


To learn a new technology you need to have enough points in the Skills that it requires, which are shown on left side of the above images under the "Proficiencies" heading.
Clicking on the name of any Technology will provide info on what skills and how many points in them, that a particular Technology requires, among other general info about it, on the right side in the window as shown in above image.

1. Skills:
   1. To increase the amount of points any single skill holds, you need to "Study" inspirationals by clicking the [Right-Mouse-Button] on them in your inventory.
   2. Each inspirational provides different amounts of points in different Skills at the same time.
   3. While trying to fill the current amount of points that a Skill holds, the background of the points will function as a visual horizontal-bar-graph.
   4. When the current amount of points in a Skill has reached its maximum, the bar's color will change, indicating you could increase that Skill's level, which you can do by clicking [Left-Mouse-Button] on the bar.
   5. Each time you increase ANY Skill's level, all the points accumulated in all the Skill's bars will be emptied and reset to 0 points.
   6. After you have increased a Skill's level, the maximum amount of points it can hold will be increased by 100 points.
2. Technologies:
   1. When you meet all of the required Skill's levels, the name of the Tech will change into an orange like color in your list, just like "Nuts & Seeds" in the above image just above the "Buy" button.
   2. When you actually have the required amount of points in all the required Skills, the Technology's color will become White, indicating you are ready to click "Buy" to actually learn the Tech.
      The Technology's color will become Yellow, while the points are being filled in this case...
   3. When you successfully "Buy" a new Tech, all the points accumulated in all the Skill's bars will be emptied and reset to 0 points, just like when increasing a Skill's level.
   4. After a successful purchase of a new Tech, new Technologies may become available. so always check your list afterwards.

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3 - Gathering/Foraging/Gaining stuff:
There are many ways to gain various stuff in Salem, which all work different from how you (maybe) are used to in other mmorpg's...
I will try to explain them by category.

1. Picking up stuff from the ground, that anyone has dropped:
   You can simply use [Right-mouse-Button] on the item and your avatar will walk to the item and put it in your inventory.
   It will stick to your mouse if there is no space left in your inventory, clicking anywhere will just drop it again on the ground.
2. Obtaining materials from objects:
   1. static objects:
      You need to use [Right-mouse-Button] and select the appropriate choice from the menu that appears.
      A Tree might give you an option to cut it down, gather branches from it and/or pick leaves from it.
   2. non-static objects:
      You need to use [Right-mouse-Button] and select the appropriate choice from the menu that appears.
      A Rock might give you the option to cut pieces of stone from it.
      Grass, berries etc will give you the option to just pick it up...(You need to aim very precisely on the item to activate the menu on these)
   3. solid objects:
      These kind of objects are things that can not be put in your inventory, but which your character is able to carry above its head.
      To "carry" such items use the "Lift" command from your actions (Adventure sub-menu ).
      Examples of these objects are Rocks, Logs, etc...
      Exception is the ground you walk on, where you need to use the "Dig" command to obtain "Dirt", "Lime boulder" or "Rocks" depending on the type of ground you dig in.
3. Obtaining items by crafting them self:
   1. Select the appropriate icon in your crafting menu to open the crafting window for the respective item, which will show you the "Recipe" for it.
   2. While a Recipe is open the possible ingredients it needs in your inventory will be highlighted so you can see which ones it would use when you attempt to craft the recipe, you can pickup items and drop in your inventory again, to have the game choose another item of the same kind if you want to select specific ones.
   3. When you have the correct items and needed amounts of them, you can click the "Craft" button to create it.
   4. The final produce will be put in your inventory, while consuming the ingredients.
   5. The items you can produce this way are depended on the Technologies your character has learned so-far.
   6. Some recipes require you to be using certain structures to craft.
      To use fire's fe. use [Right-mouse-button] on the structure, to walk to it and that way "use it for crafting" before attempting to craft your recipe.

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[TriMoon]

4 - The sequence of Technology you should learn for the purpose of this guide is as follows:

1. Survival Skills
2. Foraging
3. Lore of The Lumberwoods
4. Hiking
5. Swimming

4.1 - Below is my personal advice on what is needed to learn these Tech's:

1. Survival Skills:
   1. 1x Grass Whistle
      • Recipe= Autumn Grass + Milkweed Roots
      • Autumn Grass can be found at...
      • Milkweed Roots can be found at...
2. Foraging:
   1. 1x Smooth Stone
3. Lore of The Lumberwoods:
   1. +3 Frontier and Wilderness: needs 1800 points, which can be gained by the following:
      1. A Taste of The New World =~ 456p
         • Recipe= Flint + Stone + Autumn Grass + Branch
         • Flint can be found at...
         • Stone can be found at...
         • Autumn Grass can be found at...
         • Branch can be taken from Tree's.
      2. Smooth Stone =~ 440p
      3. Grass Whistle =~ 230p
      4. Rock Maracas =~ 215p
         • Recipe= Stone + Flint
         • Stone can be found at...
         • Flint can be found at...
      5. Devil's Wort =~ 200p
   2. +1 Law and Lore: needs 500 points, which can be gained by the following:
      1. Aged Driftwood =~ 500p
      2. A Taste of The New World =~ 350p
      3. Stray Chestnut =~ 200p
      4. Grass Whistle =~ 50p
   3. +1 Sparks and Embers: needs 500 points, which can be gained by the following:
      1. Aged Driftwood =~ 600p
      2. Stray Chestnut =~ 320p
      3. Rock Maracas =~ 160p
   4. Afther these are increased acoardingly, you will need these to actually be able to learn/buy this Tech:
      4x Rock Maracas + 2x A Taste of The New World
4. Hiking:
   1. 2x Smooth Stone
5. Swimming:
   1. 2x Smooth Stone

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5 - Disclaimer:
The points needed and provided by mentioned subjects can change as the game develops further, for more data and info see the Unofficial Salem Wiki.
If you find any errors, just let me know in your reply's
If you want to troll this topic, please don't...lets keep this one clean
I'm unable to make it more visually appealing with images due to forum's restriction of max.32 images in a post.

Addition:
Before heading out of boston to choose your final settlement spot, make sure you have found some "Indian ArrowHeads" and/or "Indian Feathers" and sold them for "Silver" in Boston, so you can buy the needed item to establish a "lean-to" or "claim".
Otherwise you will be forced to walk all the way back to Boston for this item

*edit*
You can no longer sell these items on their own, see this post...

[MagicManICT]

There's such a thing as "too specific", which I think you might be treading on with big sections of the OP.

edit: let me explain, I suppose. The map we have currently won't be the map after a reset. The map generation is random, and so the ground Boston is on now may not be the same later. We'll see at least one (if not more) resets before the game launches live. You should mention the common, easy to obtain curios and forageables. A chestnut, even a base purity (1x multiple), should provide you with Foraging. Mention the curios that should be ideal, but don't be so specific as the numbers and such.

Also, if, in live, the person immediately spends the minimum amount of cash to use the wilderness guide, what he/she may get could be completely different than what you have listed here. Hope that helps more.

[TriMoon]

Yea i agree on the specifics of the numbers, thats why i put the disclaimer at bottom....
The items i mentioned were, imho, the easiest to gather/spot/craft for the objective in question, from a new players P.O.V.
And they are ofcourse not the only ones people can use, hence my list of "possible" items in step 3.....
I purposely didn't mention the locations where to find certain items because (a) they are random, (b) its part of the game's "fun" to seek
Also note that the objective of this guide is to enable people to cross deep waters, which is not related to starting point....
The addition in my 2nd reply is ofcourse related to starting from boston wherever it may end-up in a new map...

Anyway im not sure why you said that last sentence...care to explain more?

[MrGoodkat]

Thak you TriMoon! This really helped me get a jump start in the game!

[TriMoon]

Np yw, im glad it helps people

[MagicManICT]

In live, I can immediately spend $2 (or whatever the minimum is) to buy up some silver and use the wilderness guide, thus eliminating the need to even deal with the asshattery that will be going on outside of Boston.

[TriMoon]

Ahh i understand...but that still doesn't mean people wont want to find a spot manually, even after what you said

[JinxDevona]

I find it so much easier to find 2 arrowheads (hopefully a few inspirations in the process) head back, sell, and get a wilderness guide. That way I can find things much easier than near Boston. Also I would rather set out from a leanto in a random place with nails to find a new spot, then from Boston, hopefully to stay as far away from Boston as possible. Everytime I get too full, I build the leanto, claim it, port to Boston, sell stuff, buy another nail, and head out again. By the time I find a prime spot to settle, I have the money and skills for a claim.

[TriMoon]

Company Changes
Company no longer buys Indian Arrowheads or Feathers.
Company buys Savage Charms @ 35s a pop.

Thats history now...

[milonti]

This isn't so much a guide as a list. You really don't explain anything :/

[Dallane]

This isn't so much a guide as a list. You really don't explain anything :/

shhhh don't say that he will sue you

[TriMoon]

This isn't so much a guide as a list. You really don't explain anything :/

How do you mean?
I guide people by suggesting what to do, it's not a how-to though...
But....i could maybe update it to be both kind?
What aspects you want explained?

shhhh don't say that he will sue you

Please read this part:

Disclaimer:
If you want to troll this topic, please don't...lets keep this one clean

[milonti]

Well if it's to be a guide, you should explain things. This is absolutely no help to a new player. It doesnt explain any mechanics nor give any answers to questions a noob might have. You just have a list of things. As a guide linked to on a stickied post, I expected it to be better i guess.

[Letar]

Well if it's to be a guide, you should explain things. This is absolutely no help to a new player. It doesnt explain any mechanics nor give any answers to questions a noob might have. You just have a list of things. As a guide linked to on a stickied post, I expected it to be better i guess.

I am the one to blame that it is stickied, so that part of the criticism can be directed towards me.

[milonti]

I am the one to blame that it is stickied, so that part of the criticism can be directed towards me.

I guess. I'm sorta comparing this to the old guide Sevenless had. I have no idea what happened to it. But since this IS linked, it could be better.

[Ciik]

Good guide, and I recommend it too. It works as a helpful starting-point, especially if one can read between what the OP posted, and the wiki, without having to post the entire wiki in the thread. http://salemwiki.info/index.php/Main_Page

As an edit to this, it would be helpful to begin a Beginners page on the wiki with this information; I know there is a video tutorial there, but perhaps not as detailed.

[TriMoon]

Well if it's to be a guide, you should explain things. This is absolutely no help to a new player. It doesnt explain any mechanics nor give any answers to questions a noob might have. You just have a list of things. As a guide linked to on a stickied post, I expected it to be better i guess.

Well, i will try to do a better job but i have to ask you again:
Which aspects do you want explained explicitly?
Just telling me it doesn't live-up to your expectations doesn't give me any direction for improvement, although it just makes me feel a bit bad about the efforts put into it...

Also keep in mind that this is not meant as a one-stop "Complete manual" for Salem, and as such i hardly can make it contain everything.
When you say "mechanics" which mechanics are you talking about? The combat-mechanics, the gluttony mechanics, the learning new technology mechanics, something else?

I am the one to blame that it is stickied, so that part of the criticism can be directed towards me.

And i appreciate it, ty

[JinxDevona]

Ok, suggestions then...

Dump the colors, no offense but they are very overwhelming.
Add where to find foragables you listed, for example chestnut (found in woods)
As someone suggested, give link to wiki.

[TriMoon]

Ok, suggestions then...

Dump the colors, no offense but they are very overwhelming.
Add where to find foragables you listed, for example chestnut (found in woods)
As someone suggested, give link to wiki.

If you click the words they already link to the respective pages on the wiki, which include all info on the word... (and i already gave link to wiki-mainpage in disclaimer)
The only exception currently is "Milkweed root", which doesn't exists yet on the wiki....(being edited in now..)

When it comes to the colors, that's my preferred way to present the, very complex, info of the game.
I like to visually distinguish between different kinds of things...