Progressing slowly/need advice

[DoctorCookie]

I have been playing about 3 weeks now a few hours a night. I have a little farm, palisade and cottage. I have strength in the 60's and intelligence in the 30's, all other stats are in the high teens. Most points have gone into exploration and buying skills to see what they unlock as well as extending my claim. Exploration is at 36. My ultimate goal is to be able fight well enough to take on creatures in melee and maybe become some great hunter. Short term goal is to build a tower because managing inventory has become a pain. Seems like I need to discover metal somehow to move forward but bats are an impediment at this time. Right now I spend my time waiting for crops to grow and going on rabbit hunts to keep myself fed and racks drying. I realize that I sound a bit all over the place but that is how I feel in game. Is there something I am overlooking to help me turn the corner?

[MagicManICT]

If you have your stats up, bats should be a breeze. If you want to forage or mine in the cave system, make a Bat Wing and wear it when you're in there, and the bats will ignore you. (Kill a few bats, dry the wings instead of studying them.) The other advice is to be careful when mining. Slimes can now randomly spawn when mining. It shouldn't be an issue on L1, but the deeper you go, the harder and especially more numerous.

Overall, sounds like you're doing pretty good.

Metal is that turning point to make hunting and food better. In the mean time, you can get some domestic animals to get milk for cheese and a few other foods, maybe breed for meat and materials. (Keep your herds culled, though. They can get out of hand fast.)

[Audiosmurf]

(Kill a few bats, dry the wings instead of studying them.)

Dude you what

[MagicManICT]

2 bat wings makes 1 cape. So what's the big deal? Some of you guys act like you were born experts at this game sometimes.

edit: Yeah, don't dry the wings.

[Granger]

edit: Yeah, don't dry the wings.

What speaks against drying them should one kill more bats than can be studied?

[Potjeh]

Grind quests for LP, get 40UA, wreck all small animals.

[azrid]

Go explore the world.
Scavenge old abandoned places.
Find big active settlements.
Trade.
Make friends.

With trading alone your progress will skyrocket.

[Onep]

I'd say your first goal should be making a bronze sword. And next up a steel sword. That will making hunting a lot easier. Or you can find someone who is willing to trade such a weapon. I'm sure there are many folk out there with inferior weapons to dump onto aspiring hearthlings.

PS. If you want to skip ahead, I have a billion swords lining my walls.

[blank]

seems like your doing pretty good to me. In the beginning all that matters is inteli, explore/perc and sruvival

[_Gunnar]

I'd say your first goal should be making a bronze sword. And next up a steel sword. That will making hunting a lot easier. Or you can find someone who is willing to trade such a weapon. I'm sure there are many folk out there with inferior weapons to dump onto aspiring hearthlings.

PS. If you want to skip ahead, I have a billion swords lining my walls.

I can second this, I started playing again recently and finding a couple swords in abandoned settlements made my life a lot easier. Leather armour is also really useful. You can make the first set of leather armor + boots+ pants by catching squirrels, and then use it to fight bats, to make a higher quality set. Without it you'll be taking a few wounds.

A shield is also really good if you have MC, since "shield up" is a maneuver with a high defensive weight. But then you need a weapon to attack with