Stranded Deep is a realistic, survival game with a steep learning curve. Players will encounter many hazards while they are marooned in the pacific ocean, from man-eating sharks to food poisoning. With so many things to learn, and so many dangers to navigate, staying alive will require both patience and preparation.
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As players explore their island in the early- game they should focus on accomplishing specific goals such as gathering food and water or building a self-sufficient base. After learning how to stay hydrated and healthy, players will eventually be able to venture further out from their starting island as they explore the procedurally generated map.
10 Stay In The Raft At The Start
During the game's introduction, the main character survives a plane crash that leaves him stranded in the Pacific ocean afloat in a rubber dinghy. Some players may be tempted to leap out of their starting vehicle and swim to shore so they can start gathering materials, leaving their boat to float away taking a valuable cache of food supplies with it.
While the dinghy is slow it can still be useful in the early game for traveling to other nearby islands. It can also be used as a large bowl for storing loose physics objects such as coconuts or potato's, although it will sink if players attempt to do this in the water.
9 Storage Containers Make Great Shelters
Upon reaching land, players will most likely want to start gathering as many resources as possible. Stones and fibrous leaves are both useful to collect but hunting for resources in the sweltering pacific heat will quickly begin to take its toll if players aren't careful.
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Spending too long in direct sunlight will lead to sunstroke, which is a relatively mild debuff that causes dehydration. The easiest way to deal with this is to find shelter and wait for the effect to wear off. If the player can find a large red shipping container washed up on their island, they will find they can open the doors and use them to hide from the punishing sunlight when necessary.
8 Craft A Water Still
Thirst is one of the more difficult variables to control in Stranded Deep, and players will find that their character's water level decreases steadily over time, or rapidly if they become dehydrated. Initially, players will be able to find enough fluid from coconuts or Quwawa fruit, but eventually, they will need to create a more reliable water supply.
Water stills are relatively easy to craft and continuously refill with water throughout the day. Making one will require a tarpaulin, which can be found along the shores, sometimes under rocks. After making a basic still, players will also need a drinking vessel such as a coconut flask or a water skin to carry liquids in their inventory.
7 Sleep When Needed, Save Often
Once players have decided where they want to set up their base they can start building a shelter. The recipe for this includes a single lash, three sticks, and four palm fronds all of which can be easily obtained on any starting island. A shelter will facilitate sleeping as well as saving the game.
Sleeping reduces food and water, so players should avoid resting too often or they will risk becoming dehydrated. On the other hand, it is vital to save as frequently as possible, as many recipes will require hunting for specific resources and it is easy to lose progress if players die while they are gathering.
6 Create Farming Plots To Grow Useful Plants
Some resources will naturally replenish over time, while others are finite. As players build more tools and bigger structures they will need more materials, some of which can be generated by farming.
A basic farming plot requires 4 sticks and one lashing, which can only be combined in this way if the player has a crude hoe in their inventory. Farms can be used to produce edible fruits such as Quwawa or Kura fruits. Alternatively, players can use plots to grow Yucca trees, a bountiful source of fibrous leaves, or Pipi for creating antidotes to poisons.
5 Beware The Indigenous Wildlife
The islands in stranded deep are far from paradise, and hungry sharks lurk in the waters between them as a constant threat to intrepid swimmers. Sharks can kill unsuspecting players very quickly as not only do their attacks do a lot of damage, they also cause lacerating damage.
As well as sharks there are also a plethora of other dangerous creatures, including poisonous eels and starfish. If they are wandering along the beach, players should keep their eyes peeled for the purple Crown of Thorns starfish which will poison anything that steps on it. Poison will make health decrease steadily over three days which means players can survive if they have enough water and know how to restore their HP.
4 Don't Eat More Than One Coconut In A Day
Coconuts are one of the most useful fruits in Stranded Deep, as they contain milk that can be used to quench thirst. Once they are drained, it is possible to hollow them out to make a drinking vessel or crack them open to eat their flesh.
Eating more than one coconut in quick succession will lead to diarrhea, which is a debuff that causes rapid dehydration. This mistake can often be fatal for players who don't have enough water to tank the water. As such it is better to only eat coconut flesh when absolutely necessary and aim to subsist on roasted, crab meat instead.
3 Raid Shipwrecks For Valuable Resources
Many essential materials in Stranded Deep are easy to find and others will naturally replenish after a few in-game days. In order to find, rarer and more valuable items, it will be necessary to venture further away from the starting island. Shipwrecks can be found washed up along the coast or underwater and are great places to find better materials and equipment.
While Exploring shipwrecks explorers will find lockers and cabinets which contain rare resource drops and sometimes food. It is also possible to find wooden crates on these ships which can be transported back to a player's base and used to store excess materials.
2 Build A Wooden Raft With A Sail
After building their main base, and becoming self-sufficient, players will need to construct a better boat. While the starting rubber dinghy works for small voyages, it is very slow and prone to being capsized by sharks.
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Wooden rafts can be fitted with sails and move much faster across the water, allowing players to make significantly longer journeys. Storage crates can also be attached to rafts, enabling travelers to take large stores of items with them to other islands. Constructing a wooden raft will require large amounts of wood and lashings as well as building a plank station.
1 Leave Markers To Remember Important Locations
As the game opens up and players begin to explore more of the map, they may encounter a new problem of not being able to find their starting base again. In the late game, this isn't too much of a setback as players can easily set up another base however, there are useful tricks to help with orienteering around the tropical archipelago.
Players will find it useful to leave a small pile of stones or sticks at important spots. This is useful for remembering a valuable resource deposit, or for simply marking areas that have been visited before to prevent needless backtracking. Knowing which areas have been explored before will help with finding new areas and eventually reaching the end game.