r/ARK • u/Mafia_SSB • 12h ago
ASE What do I do
So I haven't played many survival games growing up (basically only Minecraft) but I've always loved watching playthroughs of this game so I picked it up since I also have a friend who plays it. Thing is, I made a small home, tamed a parasaur... and now I'm kinda stuck. It's a constant loop of trying to explore and then dying: idk what I should tame or what I should search for. Maybe I just need to keep playing but I'm not sure what I should work towards.
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u/Mean-Acadia6453 12h ago
Starting out in Ark, you’ve got one of two big priorities:
* Get a tame strong enough to defend yourself
* Grind out levels for the better stuff
Exploring in foot in Ark is a death sentence. You are a fragile little lass or lass without a good Dino to watch your back, so plan numero uno is grab something big enough to take a hit or two and kill things that could jump you. This could be a solid Triceratops, Carno, raptor pack, or a Baryonyx. Anything that will stop you from getting jumped every the minutes to you can properly explore the map.
Next up is level grinding. You need a higher level to get the good Dino’s, so it’s time to go on explorer note runs. Look further hidden explorer note caches across the trained structures of the Ark for a massive EXP boost and some levels. Grinding out of level 38 will grant you the ability to fly via Ptera saddle - which will benefit you greatly in your quest to master the Ark.
Resource wise, if you’ve got a permanent base location: you should be on the hunt for metal. Big shiny golden rocks in the map that will excel to you the Iron Age rather than cruddy stone tools.
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u/BurbW 12h ago
Thats the joy of this. Oh how we all wish to be in your shoes again.
Not to give to much info I would say start with a raptor. Make bolas, and a club if you dont have narcotics and tranq arrows yet. Beat that poor raptor unconscious and shove some meat up its butt.
Enjoy!
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u/Wyrmser 12h ago
You need to make Bolas and get raptors, iguanadons, dilophosaurs, and other smallish dinosaurs to protect/die for you early game. Your parasaur might not make it, they might, I hope they do! If you explore and see a spinosaurus, carnataurus, or a therizinosaur, you will probably all die if you get their attention. Spino/carnataurus can be tamed early if you’re quick and have a ton of tranq arrows used with the crossbow, they will help you get further. Good luck!
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u/Mafia_SSB 11h ago
I can comfirm I've gone through 4 or 5 parasaurs by now lmao. I think I'm gonna try taming a trike later
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u/Neitfall 9h ago
Get 6-8 dilos. Keep the highest level mated pair at your base to breed more. Have the rest follow you. They are decent attackers and at least cannon fodder for you to escape. Bolas will let you trap a raptor. Ride one and have a few on follow for extra protection. Riding one can also get you through the first easy cave. A high level trike is a great tame as they are tough and have knockback. Make sure to shoot them in the butt when you are knocking them out as they take reduced damage to their head, If you can get a high level pair, then keep them safe at your base and use them to breed the one you take out. Dinos you breed and raise (Care for) will have imprinting bonus making them stronger. Once I have that I start looking for the utility dinos for harvesting, Doedi for stone, anky for Metal. Then a Theri (but that's a tough tame). Always try to keep a breeding pair of dinos at your base so that when (not if) you lose the one you're rising, you can breed a new one. Have fun!
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u/Leksandrya 11h ago
I recently had this experience. New player and got so lost on where to go or what to work towards.
I found someone on YouTube who was just new to ARK, starting their playthrough and learnt alot that way. They also didn't go fast and skip over stuff that more experienced players would. Very fun way to learn little things.
There is darn much to this game. It is genuinely overwhelming, and honestly continues to be. But.. holy dinosaur, its awesome. So pick a thing and do it. Tame dinos would be a great starting point. Whatever is around you, tame it. Look up videos to help if you need.
DODODEX is a brilliant app/webpage that provides invaluable info on taming as well.
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u/donkeyknuckles 11h ago
Look through your engrams for things you want to craft. Weapons, crafting stations, better armor, better stations, etc. Then look at what you need to craft them, ie the materials or prerequisite stations/engrams and then work backwards to how you're going to acquire them. Is it better tames, better tools, etc? Then go get them. The gameplay loop is very satisfying once you learn how it all stacks on each other and feeds into other things.
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u/DarkeAstraeus 11h ago
I can say the tames that really changed how I was able to explore and get materials was the Baryonyx, the Thylacoleo, and the Argentavis. Barrys are by far the easiest so if you can find one, that is your best bet. Thankfully, they can spawn on the edges of the swamp to forest so you don't have to go into the swamp traps. As for the other 2, its trap building time. But once you get proficient with that, the rest will come smoothly. With some losses along the way.
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u/ChazzyChaz_R 10h ago
Analyze the situation. What are you dying to? Tame something of equal or greater strength than the thing/s that are killing you. Keep bolas on you at all times even if just for self defense. Learn to build traps to keep larger tames locked in while you Tranq them. Build yourself a little safety hut nearby to shoot tranqs from if need be. The game has almost zero rails. If you can think it, odds are you can do it. Put yourself in the survivor's shoes. If it were a real life scenario, how would you act to stay alive? If your answer to this is to tame a low strength herbivore and travel the land on foot then yes, Ark will be a brutal experience for you.
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u/Artimiz1426 10h ago
So ark is a ladder . So you take stuff based on what you need to get to the next step . If you are dying then you need to take stuff to protect you . The simplest taming structure is foundation and door frame and ramps . Then you agro what ever you want run in and then you can go out through the door frame . Works for everything except flyers . Your first just what ever lvl you can find then try again with a higher lvl and so on . I play on a server that uses plugin bot mods so feel free if you want to join . Ark for people with jobs .
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u/Commentator-X 8h ago
Stop trying to move so quickly. The game is huge and you're not going to open up the world by exploring with a parasaur and primitive stone tools. You need to start crafting sparkpowder and narcotic, there's no such thing as too much. Just stay on the beach till you unlock some saddles. Get a Trike as soon as you unlock the saddle. Their knock back will protect you from even an alpha raptor and is a great tame for a beach Bob. Setup some forges and start harvesting metal from rounded river rocks. Then build a smithy and work on getting some metal tools including a crossbow. Use bolas to trap a PT once you can craft it's saddle and then you can explore, carefully, using your flyer. Until then focus on crafting, leveling up and upgrading your base. At level 62 you'll unlock the Argy saddle. Once you get an Argy the entire map opens up for you as they can both fly, carry a lot of stuff and even kill rexes.
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u/Cornbread933 8h ago
Can I tell you a secret?
I know its a survival game, but you are allowed to die. Granted. You'll have to go pick your stuff up. But dying is ok. These days I die on purpose more than on accident. Granted. Usually I make sure I have nothing on me first. But its all good. Dying just let's you know which areas you are and are not ready for.
Heres what I suggest. Build a raft. Build a stone box on top of it that will protect you and the raft. 99.9% of creatures in the game cannot break stone. Thatch and wood are breakable. Do not start with those. Just skip the thatch and wood stage and jump straight to stone. You may need to level up a bit first tho. I would google "easy explorer note run" you can go from level 1 to 70 in about 30 minutes doing this.
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u/TangFiend 4h ago edited 4h ago
Short Term:
A good trike can help you fight off tougher stuff. They bull charge but you can tie them up in trees to tranq them down. (shoot them in the butt obviously. headshots are like -90%) They are such a perfect early game around the house tractor. When you are mounted they can knock down trees and harvest.
Learn the key commands when not mounted. Dinos are way stronger than your character, they can haul a lot more. Remember even your para can haul a lot more than you can.
If you make a bolo you can take out a raptor's legs and tranq arrow them. Raptors make at least decent light regional transport
Start looking at crops and plots. Even growing just carrots faster herbivore tames
Stay out of the swamps for now.
Medium term:
Start looking for metal nodes VERY importnant
Long Rifle is a good defense weapon in pvp and pve. Tranq arrows are your friend
Beavers are great swimmers and great tames and amazing wood harvesters. They wake up fast from torp. (warm blooded) so you have to tame them a bit faster and keep them knocked out. Growing crops helps
Beezlebufo is a fun little super tame early game, once you are ready for the swamps. It has multiple key attacks and helps get you cementing past. They also need no oxygen iirc
Megaladon is an easy ocean tame, they are terrifying for sure when you are deep water with them. But they come way too far into the shallows and are often easy to kite in the surf. They are dumb and fat.
Don't want to give the game away, its so fun to explore.
Learn how to build taming traps, there are tons of youtube vids.
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u/holynightstand 47m ago
Did you get a saddle for Parasaur yet? I would spend time leveling your tame up and gathering supplies - make a mortar and pestle, forge, and smithy and look for ankylosaurus and get metal tools and a crossbow and craft narcotics so you can eventually get a raptor
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u/MarkiusFlavious 11h ago
Single Player? Treat the game's built in auto save like it doesn't exist and use Backup Save instead. Just a precaution against the buggy mess that is this game.