Getting Started

You just downloaded the modpack and created a world 5 minutes ago. Using your Minecraft knowledge, you decide to start punching down a tree to get wood. Not only does it take a lot of time to cut it down, it also doesn't drop anything. On this page, you will learn exactly how to get started, as it can get a little tricky. You can also watch Shivaxi's Guide, a beginner's guide made by the creator of the modpack.

## First Step: Flint

   What you want to do first is to find yourself some gravel. Gravel is commonly found near water sources or underwater. Dig it up over and over, until you get flint. You will want to take that flint to a "hard" block (stone, bricks, etc.) and right-click on the *top surface* of said block to knap it into flint shards. You will then want to break down leaves until you pick up a stick. You will need to take one flint shard and put it on top of a stick in your crafting grid, to get a flint knife.

### But wait!

Are you having trouble picking up your gravel, flint shards, or sticks? Not to worry, this guide has you covered. RLCraft includes a mod where item pickup functions differently. To pick up an item off the ground, you can either right-click on it or crouch with Shift nearby it to pick it up. Crouching will pick up all nearby items, whereas right-clicking will pick up only the item you're looking to grab. It's fairly useful; you can use this mechanic to pick up items through small holes and stuff that would usually be out of reach. And now that you can pick the items up, you can continue with the tutorial. If you can't find any gravel, however, you should try dying until you do. Each time you die you respawn somewhere new.

## Plant Fiber and Plant String

   You will now want to use that Flint Knife to break down some grass. This will give you Plant Fiber, which you can use three of to craft a Plant String. Plant String is crucial, as you can craft wool out of it, but especially because it is what you will be using to create your very first axe: A Flint Hatchet.

## Flint Hatchet

    The Flint Hatchet will be what you will use to break down your first trees, in order to get wood. Since this modpack includes the Dynamic Trees mod, chopping down a tree is fairly easy, as you only have to break the bottom block of the tree for it to fall entirely. You still need to be careful, as the tree will fall and crush you if you are standing underneath it as it falls. Trees normally fall towards the opposite side of where you're cutting it from. If you sneak while doing so, it falls towards you instead.

## Obtaining Wood Planks

    As you might quickly notice, placing wood logs in your crafting grid does not give you 4 wood planks (With the exception of driftwood). Instead, you have to place that log on the ground and right-click its top surface with your hatchet (or axe) to get some wood planks out of it. Doing the same with wood planks yields sticks. Once you get further into the game, you will be able to craft a saw, which can be used to obtain either 4 planks or 8 sticks out of a log, or 2 sticks out of a plank, which is significantly more efficient than using a hatchet.

## Getting Better Tools

Once you managed to get enough wood planks, you might want to make a Wooden Pickaxe, to be able to go and mine some stone. However, you might notice that mining Stone does not yield Cobblestone, instead you end up with your inventory filling with Rocks. To get some cobblestone, simply put four of them in your crafting grid in the same shape that you would use for a crafting table, which will give you one Cobblestone. You will be getting up to six different types of rocks: Rocks, Andesite Rocks, Granite Rocks, Diorite Rocks, Marble Rocks and Sandstone Rocks. All of them, except for the latter, will yield their very own type of Cobblestone upon being crafted, but every type of Cobblestone can be used anywhere you would normally need to use regular Cobblestone in a crafting recipe, such as Stone tools.

When you first try to make a torch, it will be unlit. You can light these torches by making a Matchbox, with 3 paper and 3 wooden slabs, and then putting an Unlit Torch with the Matchbox into the crafting area! You can also use a Flint and Steel, which can be crafted with 1 flint and 1 iron ingot, to light torches the same way.

Some players choose to skip wooden tools completely, which can be easily accomplished by collecting rocks off of the ground, crafting them into cobblestone and making stone tools. This method, while it helps craft better items faster, can be quite slow if you are in an environment with very few rocks on the ground.

## Crafting a Bed

In order to set your respawn location, you need to craft a bed. Just gather up some extra wooden planks and craft wool from plant string and you'll be ready! Be wary, though, since clicking to sleep has a 1% chance of spawning a Reaper, a flying mob who shoots dark orbs at the player, giving the Blindness and **Fear** debuffs. You can also look for a naturally generated structure to serve as your shelter, as they can occasionally have tools in their chests!

## Better Defense

After you set your spawn, you are free to die as much as you wish without losing your home. However, while this drastically lowers the risks of exploration, you may find it tough to defend yourself against the unfathomable amount of creatures after your head. One of the best ways of defending yourself is to craft a shield. There are multiple kinds of shields, but the cheapest one can be created with 6 planks and a stick. Place the stick in the center of your crafting grid and surround it with planks, while leaving any two opposite corners of the grid empty. This will craft a Crude Shield, which can be equipped by holding it in your hand and pressing F. You can also upgrade your shield by putting it in the center of your grid and putting the desired material on the four surrounding spaces. Using stone is your best choice at the moment, as other materials cannot be used until you upgrade your defense skill via the skills menu, which can be opened by bringing up your inventory and selecting the appropriate tab on the left. More information on skills can be found here.

## Using Villages and Random Respawn Locations

As of RLCraft 2.9, a very viable way to get lots of loot fast, and bypass the flint stage is to die repeatedly until you find a village. You then loot the village for crates (an early game shulker box), paper, weapons, grapes, enchanted books, food, and valuables. You then find and activate the waystone by right clicking it, then repeat the process by dying until you find another village. This does not work on hardcore for obvious reasons, but is a very viable way to get lots of loot early game and bypass the flint stage at the same time.

### Why This Way?

Using the method described above, one can amass lots of loot relatively easily. It can take some time, as dying multiple times for a good respawn location is time consuming, but is very useful in the long run. Collect grapes whenever you can, as they are later used for making wine, a very powerful drink that allows you to become very powerful in the endgame!

Try this strategy!

Most new players in RLCraft just see it as "more hard minecraft". They follow the simple progression of normal minecraft, and let their curiosity get ahead of them. RLCraft has many dangers that can meet the player anytime! Even the nice peaceful forest can spawn a strange creature called a Ent!

They are hostile creatures that will do anything to protect their forests. Ents can spawn from breaking leaves, logs, and more all at a 0.8% chance! It does not seem like a lot, but you will find these guys pretty often! They can be a early threat to new players in RLCraft.

The Strategy

Like it said in the first section, don't let your curiosity get too ahead of you! There are many dangers in this difficult modpack, and they are usually right at your doorstep. When you first spawn in, try limiting yourself to the area you spawn in. Most players tend to go on a wild goose hunt to find "the perfect spot to build my base", but on that wild hunt the chances are you are probably going to die with those low tiered tools and possible armor. Use natural structures as a advantage! Fortify them and call it home, make sure to build it out of stone as well! One of the biggest threats to builders in RLCraft is Cinderfall. In this dangerous event, it spawns burning enemies called cinders. These cinders set everything on fire, and deal lots of damage! Make sure to build, or fortify a natural structure with stone materials if you plan to live in it.

The Best Strategy

Play the mod however you want! These are just simply strategies and advice to help you along the way. Of course they will help you, but you can always play at your own pace, and style!

### Getting Safe Shelter

Now that you have some tools and weapons to defend yourself, take that nice and comfy bed, and set out to explore!! Finding a natural shelter is probably your best bet for the early game as it's prebuilt, Given how many extra steps most building materials need, you probably shouldn't build your own shelter until you at least have a saw, that way you can have more wood, then again, using cobblestone would be wiser as it cannot burn, making it better overall, regardless, try seeking out a village or a house, as long as it's got a roof, walls, door and light, it's good enough.

#### But what if I can't find a prebuilt shelter that works for me?

That's quite the question there, you'll probably want to amass quite a bit of cobble and find a good place to build, away from dragons so they don't attack your home, make it smaller to start with until you have regular torches that don't burn out, as to not have to worry as much about managing your torches. (Please add more info)