Gameplay

"As a man or woman stranded naked, freezing and starving on the shores of a mysterious island called ARK, you must hunt, harvest resources, craft items, grow crops, research technologies, and build shelters to withstand the elements. Use your cunning and resources to kill or tame the leviathan dinosaurs and other primeval creatures roaming the land, and team up with or prey on hundreds of other players to survive, dominate... and escape!"

## Mechanics

Gameplay is similar to most sandbox survival games of the genre. The basic story elements are provided by subtle narrative included in the scripted spawn 'movie' and the notes on Dino Dossiers.

### Experience

You gain experience (XP) during gameplay. When you have accrued enough XP, you level up and gain a point to spend on an attribute and multiple Engram Points (EP) to spend on Engrams.

In ARK, you gain XP for every action you take:

* Time spent playing the game - you very slowly gain XP every second you are in the game
* Harvesting and gathering of resources
* Crafting items (higher level crafting gives more XP)
* Killing enemies
* Taming and breeding creatures
* Gathering Explorer Notes
* Actions of nearby tribe members give you 50% of their XP

**Important Note**: Explorer Notes can often be found in ruins or caves.
For every note you've found, you gain 100 XP and a 10 minute buff that doubles XP gained. Also, they can only be gathered once, so make it count.
The highest level is 100, but you can get 105, 110, and 115 after ascension.

### Attributes

The survivor has 11 attributes and can spend points into all but Torpidity.

* Health (HP): Current life value. The higher it is, the more damage you can take. (ALWAYS get to atleast 300 hp)
* Stamina: Available energy. The higher it is, the more actions you can do without becoming exhausted e.g. running, fighting, harvesting (150-200 will do)
* Oxygen: the higher it is, the longer you can hold your breath and the faster you swim underwater.
* Food: The higher it is, the longer it takes until you're starving (this is the worst attribute to spec into as food is common everywhere.)
* Water: The higher it is, the longer it takes until you're dehydrated
* Weight: The higher it is, the more weight you can carry until you're encumbered, if your playing solo try to get your weight to atleast 300. (20 lvls with vanilla settings)
* Melee Damage: The higher it is, the more damage you can inflict with a melle weapon. (this includes bows)
* Movement Speed: How fast you can move. A value between 120 and 130 will allow you to escape most creatures.
* Crafting Speed - Higher values reduce crafting time and add a stat bonus to using blueprints. (it's small with vanilla stats usually)
* Fortitude: A measure of your resistance to weather, torpor, and disease and lessens the negative effects of hypothermia and hyperthermia.

Additional Attributes

* Armor: The higher it is, the less damage you take. Also includes torpor-increasing effects
* Hypothermal Insulation: The higher it is, the better you are protected against cold weather and freezing. Clothing/armor will cause increases or decreases to this value. Being near a fire increases the value (e.g. carrying a torch, or sitting by a campfire). Eating Fria Curry also increase the value.
* Hyperthermal Insulation: The higher it is, the better you are protected against heat and hot temperatures. Clothing/armor will cause increases or decreases to this value. Eating Calien Soup also raises the value.

### Resources

Players try to survive on The Island by Gathering resources, leveling and improving their stats. Every level grants Engram points which can be used to unlock crafting recipes allowing tools, weapons, shelter, saddles, and various other technologies be built.

Resources like Wood, Thatch, and/or Stone can be used for the basis of structure building resulting in bases or fighting platforms. They can also be used to make tools such as a Stone Pick or Spear.

Berries and other plant resources can be planted to yield more permanent crops.

### Taming

Players can Tame a dinosaur or creature by knocking it out and slowly feeding it food.

Dinosaurs provide various uses to players. A Dilophosaurus can be used as a watchdog, A Triceratops can act as base or camp defense, and a Brontosaurus can act as a mount. Some may just use one as a pet. Creatures such as the t-Rex or stego can be used to farm berries or meat. Some creatures are tamed differently, like the passive tame creatures where you skip the knock out step.

### Tribes

Tribes survive together or attack other Tribes. Working with a Tribe allows shared XP gain as well as shared buildings, resources, and dinosaurs.

### Bosses

The Broodmother acts as the first Boss offering a goal for avid survivors. A second boss monster, the Megapithecus, is even stronger and requires a higher level to take on. A third boss monster, the Dragon, is the most powerful of the three vanilla bosses. The Scorched Earth DLC added in a boss even more powerful, the Manticore.

Players can enter boss arenas with the imprinted blueprint within the Obelisk once various items have been collected from around The Island.

## Getting Started

Upon waking on The Island the player will find they have nothing but the artifact in their arm and are usually stranded on or near a beach. Basic survival will require three things; Food, water, and shelter. It is generally best for early players to stick to the beach as water and food can be found along the fringes and less aggressive monsters are generally found in these areas.

### First Levels

Players should generally start by collecting as many loose stones and plant matter they can that is near by. Plantlife will provide various berries which can be used to tame dinosaurs or sustain the player. Punching trees will lower health but provide needed wood and thatch. A good source of meat can be obtained from Dodo if any are nearby. If water runs low a player should swim in the water until they are underwater completely. After a few minutes the first level should be gained, granting the first stat point and engrams points.

* It is important to note that not every Engram in the game can be learned so care should be taken when spending Engram points.

### Exploring

Once a good foothold has been created using basic building with thatch the next step should be to tame a few dinos for safety. It is recommended you get at least one saddle engram if working alone, although you may find a blueprint later. Taming several Dilo can create a great hunting pack which at 5 large averaging level 8 can easily take down an average Trike. Additionally any Beacons that match the player's level should be sought out as soon as they land providing additional resources or gear.