Solo Play
10 Steps to Stay Safe Playing Solo:
1. Follow the tutorial quest in game, it grants massive exp early.
2. Once you get to the “Build a Dinghy Walker” step, complete it, then learn how to build light wooden structures.
3. Build a SMALL base (about 2×2 foundations) with an “airlock” room and two doors to prevent people from blindsiding you when you exit your base.
4. Place all your crafting stations in this base, (campfire, etc.) along with several storage containers.
5. Pack up your base into your Dinghy walker.
6. Find a medium oasis with a small population, and transfer your walker over to it.
7. Find an isolated or semi-hidden area on this new oasis and unpack your base, then take your dinghy to the edge of the desert, and upload it to the lobby.
8.Use a cheap Firefly or Spider Walker (recommend spider once you unlock it) to get back to your base, and let the farming commence.
9. When your done playing, store all your materials in your base, take your dinghy out of the lobby, return to your base and pack EVERYTHING up in the dinghy.
10.Ride to the edge of the desert and upload the dinghy. Now your base and items are off map and safe.
Note:
MAKE SURE YOU ALWAYS HAVE MORE THAN ONE WALKER THAT CAN CARRY A BASE
It may take some time to farm, but having an extra dinghy walker or something larger that can pack up your base is very important! If you get ambushed on your way off the oasis or you’re backed into a corner, you need a 2nd walker in order to salvage your base or rebuild if necessary.
You can favorite up to five walkers and they will not be destroyed if left behind in the lobby for too long. 2 of these should be a dinghy or larger ship that can move your base. One more should be a “worse case scenario” spider or firefly walker that holds some basic resources and tools, as well as armor and water. This will enable you to start re-building immediately without going through the painful process of spawning in the desert with absolutely nothing.
The fastest way I progressed in the tech tree was by constantly farming Rupu camps and breaking the large crates found around wreckage by dragging them with harpoons. A spider walker is ideal for doing this solo, however keep in mind the “Spider Walker with Ballista” is separate from the “Nomad Spider Walker.” The Ballista version cannot pack crafting stations such as campfires inside so be aware of this before choosing which one to craft.
Note that you don’t need to drive to the edge to upload a walker: just stand on it, hit , then choose “Transfer to Lobby”; 180 seconds later, it will upload. If you are still standing on it, you will go as well. Otherwise, you can hop off into another walker and watch it disappear.
However, you will still need to drive back with the dinghy to pack your base. And, the gears will fill with sand so it can’t travel to another tile – need to drive over non-sand for a while to clear it.
That said, I’ve been successful at just using the spider walker for farming. Pack it with crafting stations, farm, and fill everything up. Drive to the edge, offload to your inventory and log off, then back in with the dinghy (just make sure you don’t overload yourself to the point of not moving). Can then quickly unpack your base, transfer items, pack it up and drive back to the edge where it’s safe. If you need something, like cloth or wooden shafts, craft them with the spider, first.
That should read “… hit Esc (escape), then choose transfer to lobby…”.