Swimming, climbing and falls

Two things out here will take your health that aren't animals, hunger or thirst: water too deep to stand in, and ground too steep to walk. Neither one is a wall. You can swim across a river and climb up a crag, and both are good ways to get somewhere quicker. They just take it out of you, and if you run out partway, you're in trouble.

Swimming#

Walk out past where you can wade, or tap deep water and choose Swim here, and you're swimming. You go at about half your walking pace. Every second in deep water costs stamina, and you don't get any back until you can stand again, though the shallows are enough for that. A full stamina bar is about 40 seconds of swimming, which gets you across most rivers or out to a near island, but not across the sea. That's what Boats are for.

If your stamina runs out while you're still in deep water, you start to drown, 5 health a second, until you reach the shallows or someone gets you out. A heavy pack drags on you, so if you're carrying a lot, think about leaving some of it on the bank. In the cold half of the year the water soaks you to the skin as well, so get to a fire once you're out (see The cold).

Anyone standing at the edge within 3 m of someone in the water can tap them and choose Pull them out. It hauls them up onto the bank beside you, and it's about the best turn you can do somebody out here. If you drown, your grave goes on the nearest bank, not out in the lake, so you can get your things back.

While you're swimming you can drink, fill your canteen and climb into a boat, but that's about it. Wolves and bears won't follow you into deep water, so if something's after you near a river, the water is one way out.

Your stamina bar pulses while you're somewhere you can't get your breath back. If it's pulsing and getting low, head for the nearest shallows, not the far bank.

Steep ground and climbing#

Most ground you just walk over, slower uphill. A step of up to 0.75 m in a metre is still walking. Anything steeper is a climb. You do it the same way, by tapping where you want to go, but you go slowly and it costs stamina: 2.5 for every metre up and 1.5 for every metre down. A rise of more than 3 m in a single step is sheer rock, and nobody gets up that. Find another way round. A horse, a cart or a seat on one won't climb at all.

Out on a rock face, with steep ground above you and below you, there's nowhere to stand and rest. You can't get your breath back there, and just hanging on costs 1 stamina a second. If your stamina runs out before you reach somewhere flat, you lose your grip and fall to the bottom. With no stamina at all you can't start a climb up in the first place.

A full bar gets you up about 40 m of rock, which is more than most crags out here. Rest before a big climb, not halfway up it. Routes you tap go round the steep ground by the easier way when there is one.

Falls#

A drop of 1.5 m or less you just hop down. A fall costs nothing for the first 1.5 m, then 10 health for every metre past that. Landing in deep water breaks your fall.

Ladders down a shaft are the other place to fall. Each one you climb costs 6 stamina. Too tired and you can't climb up one at all, and if you go down one with less than 6 stamina you lose your grip partway and fall the last few metres, up to 8.

New settlers#

For your first 2 hours of play the woods go a bit easier on you. Swimming tires you 40% less, you drown slower, and falls hurt you half as much. It's there so you can learn how far you can push it without losing everything on your first day.