The map and getting around

Coordinates are given as eastings and northings, like a surveyor would. Eastings count up going east, and northings count up going north, so north is the top of the map.

Landmarks#

Everyone starts at Thole camp, on the east coast: a big stone fire pit that never goes out, a tent, a log rack, a bench, a few flowers and a welcome sign. Past that the land is yours to find. Anything worth coming back to that you walk past goes in your Places list, with its coordinates. See Exploring for what's out there.

Chat and messages#

Just above the buttons at the bottom of the screen, the last few things that happened show for a little while: what you got and what you did to get it, anything that didn't work and why, finds, level-ups, tips, and what other settlers say. Tap there, or the speech bubble beside it, to read back everything since you logged in, and to say something yourself. On a computer, press Enter to start typing. What you say shows over your head for a moment too.

The button at the left of the box says who hears you. Camp is everyone who's out in the woods, however far off they are. Tap it to change it to Near, and only people within 40 m of you on the same level hear it, so someone down a shaft won't hear you at the top of it. Near lines aren't kept for whoever logs in next, since they were only for the people standing there.

You can talk out loud with the people near you as well, once you turn your mic on. See Voice chat.

Say what you like the way you would around a fire with neighbours. A swear when you drop a log on your foot is fine. Slurs and hate words aren't, though, in chat, in a message, on a sign or in a name. The game won't send a line with one in it, and it keeps a note that you tried. If someone is giving you a hard time, see Reporting a problem.

Friends and messages#

The Friends tab in the same box is your friends list. To ask someone, type their name there, or tap them out in the woods and choose Add as friend. They see your ask the next time they're on, and once they say yes you're friends both ways. Asks that are still waiting count toward the list, which holds up to 100 people.

Friends can message each other straight, wherever they both are on the map. Tap Message beside a friend's name (or tap them and choose Message) and what you type goes only to them. Nobody else sees it. The green dot beside a name means they're out in the woods right now. If they're away, the message waits and they'll find it when they come back, with a dot on the Friends tab to tell them.

Only friends can message each other, so a stranger can't send you anything. If you'd rather not hear from someone any more, tap Drop beside their name. That ends it on both sides, and they can't message you until you're friends again. Your friends and your messages are kept with your account, so they're still there if the world is ever started over.

Finding each other#

To see who else is playing, open the chat box and look at the Out tab. The number beside it is how many other settlers are in the woods right now, and the list shows each of them nearest first, how far away they are, whether they're underground and whether they're asleep, with a button to add them as a friend or message them if you already are. There are no arrows pointing at anyone, but your Places list has the same Who's out list with everyone's coordinates, so you can read off where they are and walk. Both are brought up to date every 3 seconds. If you want to meet up, ask them where they're headed. To wave at someone, tap them; they have to be within 24 m and on the same level as you.

Moving around#

You walk at full speed until your pack goes over 40 kg, then you slow down more the heavier it gets. Ground matters too, and so does going uphill.

Any Paving and garden beds you lay speeds you up, so a path between your house, your field and the creek pays for itself.

Day and night#

A day is 90 minutes. You get about an hour of daylight, a short dusk, about 20 minutes of dark, and a short dawn. The dark is shorter in summer and longer in winter (see The year). Wolves come out at night, and the cold bites harder. A lantern lights your way.

Weather#

The weather comes and goes on its own. Some days stay clear, some cloud over, and every so often it rains for a while and then clears up again. It rains about 10% of the time, usually for around 20 minutes at a go, though a long one can go on for an hour or more. Once in a while a heavy one brings thunder and lightning with it. Everyone in the woods is under the same sky, so if it's raining on you it's raining on the whole camp.

Rain doesn't hurt you, but it does get at a campfire out in the open. The harder it comes down the quicker the fire eats through its wood, up to 4 times as fast in a downpour, so you'll be feeding it a lot more logs or watching it go out. A fire under a roof, a cookstove, and the big fire at camp don't mind the rain at all.

The good side of it is that rain waters your crops and flowers. While it's raining they grow 2 times as fast, so a wet spell brings a harvest closer.

Out in the open you'll hear the rain hissing in the trees, and under a roof you'll hear it drumming on the shakes overhead.