Survival & Resources

Survival Fundamentals

Survival in Of Ash and Steel is a constant balancing act between competing needs and scarce resources. The game's survival mechanics are intricate and unforgiving—neglecting any single aspect of your character's well-being can cascade into deadly consequences. Understanding and managing these systems is as important as combat proficiency for long-term success.

Food and Nutrition

Hunger Mechanics

Hunger depletes continuously, with the depletion rate increasing based on physical activity. Sprinting, fighting, crafting, and carrying heavy loads all accelerate hunger. When hunger reaches critical levels, you experience severe penalties:

• Reduced maximum stamina (up to 50% reduction when starving)
• Slower stamina regeneration
• Gradual health loss when completely starving
• Reduced movement speed and combat effectiveness
• Impaired healing—wounds take longer to recover

Food Sources

Food must be actively gathered, hunted, or grown. Each food type provides different nutrition values and benefits:

Hunting and Foraging

• Small Game: Rabbits, squirrels, birds. Easy to hunt with ranged weapons or traps. Provides modest meat portions that spoil relatively quickly. Good for immediate consumption.
• Large Game: Deer, boar, bears. Dangerous to hunt but yields significant meat. Requires proper butchering tools to harvest efficiently. Can provide days worth of food if preserved properly.
• Fish: Caught from rivers and lakes using fishing equipment. Doesn't require combat but demands patience and time. Excellent protein source with moderate spoilage rate.
• Edible Plants: Berries, mushrooms, roots, and greens. Forageable without violence but requires knowledge to distinguish edible from poisonous species. Provides vitamins and prevents scurvy on meat-heavy diets.

Food Preparation

Raw food is less nutritious and carries disease risk. Always cook when possible:

• Roasting: Basic cooking over campfire. Quick but provides no preservation benefit.
• Smoking: Preserves meat for extended periods. Requires smokehouse or smoker construction.
• Drying: Creates jerky that lasts indefinitely. Requires time and proper weather conditions.
• Pickling/Preserving: Extends vegetable shelf life. Requires salt and containers.

Food Quality and Effects

Not all food is created equal. Food quality impacts both nutrition and potential side effects:

• Fresh Food: Full nutritional value, no negative effects.
• Stale Food: Reduced nutritional value (50-75% of fresh).
• Spoiled Food: Minimal nutrition, high chance of food poisoning causing vomiting, weakness, and dehydration.
• Poisonous Food: Eating toxic plants or improperly prepared food causes severe illness or death.

Water and Hydration

Thirst Mechanics

Thirst depletes faster than hunger, making water the most immediate survival concern. Dehydration effects are severe and rapid:

• Impaired stamina regeneration at moderate thirst
• Reduced maximum stamina at high thirst
• Blurred vision and slowed movement when severely dehydrated
• Rapid health loss when critically dehydrated

Water Sources and Safety

Water is abundant but not all sources are safe to drink directly:

• Rivers and Streams: Running water is generally safer than stagnant but should still be purified. Visibly clear water is safer than murky water.
• Lakes and Ponds: Stagnant water carries high contamination risk. Always purify before drinking.
• Rain Collection: Cleanest water source. Set up collection containers during rain for safe drinking water.
• Wells: Found in settlements and camps. Usually safe but can be poisoned by enemies or contaminated from neglect.
• Snow and Ice: Can be melted for water. Cold but safe from most contaminants.

Water Purification

Purification methods prevent waterborne illness:

• Boiling: Most reliable method. Requires fire and time but guarantees safety.
• Purification Tablets: Chemical purification. Fast and portable but tablets are rare and valuable.
• Filtration: Craft water filters from cloth, charcoal, and sand. Reusable but requires maintenance.

Temperature Management

Cold Weather Survival

Cold is one of the deadliest environmental hazards. Hypothermia progression:

• Mild Hypothermia: Shivering, reduced stamina regeneration
• Moderate Hypothermia: Movement speed reduced, vision slightly impaired, stamina drain increased
• Severe Hypothermia: Cannot regenerate stamina, health loss begins, movement severely impaired
• Critical Hypothermia: Rapid health loss, unconsciousness, death

Staying Warm

• Wear layered clothing—each layer provides cumulative warmth
• Fur and wool clothing provides better insulation than cloth or leather
• Build fires for temporary warmth
• Seek shelter during extreme cold or blizzards
• Consume hot meals and beverages for temporary warmth bonus
• Keep moving—standing still accelerates heat loss

Heat and Hot Environments

Extreme heat causes dehydration and heatstroke:

• Thirst depletes rapidly in hot environments
• Heavy armor accelerates overheating
• Light, loose clothing provides best heat protection
• Seek shade during peak heat hours
• Travel during morning or evening in desert regions
• Carry extra water when venturing into hot areas

Shelter and Rest

Finding or Building Shelter

Shelter serves multiple critical functions—protection from weather, safe rest location, storage for supplies, and crafting base. Shelter options:

• Natural Caves: Immediate shelter requiring no construction. May contain enemies or become dens. Check thoroughly before settling.
• Abandoned Buildings: Pre-built structures offering excellent protection. Often already looted but can be fortified and claimed.
• Lean-Tos: Quick temporary shelter from basic materials. Protects from rain and wind but offers no security against enemies.
• Constructed Cabins: Permanent player-built structures. Resource intensive but highly customizable and secure.

Rest and Sleep

Fatigue accumulates the longer you stay awake. Sleep is essential for recovery:

• Sleep in beds or bedrolls for full fatigue recovery
• Safe sleep requires secured shelter—sleeping in dangerous areas risks ambush
• Quality of sleep location affects recovery speed and healing
• Sleeping while injured, well-fed, and warm accelerates healing
• Interrupted sleep provides partial recovery but doesn't fully remove fatigue

Resource Gathering

Material Types and Locations

Wood and Plant Materials

• Softwood: Common in forests. Burns quickly, easy to work. Used for basic construction and kindling.
• Hardwood: Denser, slower-burning. Better for long-lasting fires and quality construction.
• Bark: Stripped from trees. Used for tinder, basic rope, and primitive containers.
• Plant Fibers: From specific plants. Essential for rope, cloth, and binding materials.

Stone and Minerals

• Flint: Found near rivers and rocky areas. Essential for fire-starting and primitive tools.
• Limestone: Useful for construction and can be processed for various purposes.
• Ore Deposits: Iron, copper, and rare metals. Require mining tools to extract. Necessary for advanced crafting.

Animal Resources

• Hides and Pelts: Tanned into leather for clothing and armor. Quality varies by animal type.
• Bones: Crafted into tools, weapons, needles, and decorative items.
• Fat and Organs: Rendered for oil, used in cooking, or processed for various crafting recipes.

Resource Management Strategy

• Establish supply caches in different regions for long expeditions
• Prioritize renewable resources over depleting finite sources
• Mark resource-rich areas for future harvesting
• Carry only what you need—weight management is crucial
• Process raw materials at base to reduce carrying weight
• Trade surplus resources for rare materials you can't easily obtain

Health and Medicine

Injury Types

Different injuries require different treatments:

• Cuts and Lacerations: Cause bleeding. Require bandaging to stop blood loss.
• Broken Bones: Impair movement and stamina. Need splints and extended rest to heal.
• Burns: Damage over time and increase infection risk. Treated with salves and kept clean.
• Poison: Various sources cause different effects. Antidotes or natural remedies required.
• Disease: Contracted from contaminated food/water or infected wounds. Needs medicine and rest.

Medical Supplies

• Bandages: Stop bleeding from cuts. Can be crafted from cloth or plant fibers.
• Healing Salves: Accelerate wound recovery. Made from medicinal herbs and animal fats.
• Antibiotics/Medicine: Rare finds or complex crafts. Cure diseases and prevent infection.
• Pain Relief: Reduces injury penalties temporarily. Allows functioning while injured.
• Stimulants: Temporarily boost stamina or reduce fatigue. Potential addiction or crash effects.

Advanced Survival Techniques

Seasonal Survival

Adapt strategies to seasonal changes:

• Winter: Stockpile preserved food, maintain warm clothing, ensure fuel reserves for heating
• Spring: Take advantage of abundant fresh plants and animal activity to replenish supplies
• Summer: Focus on drying and preserving food for winter, secure water sources
• Fall: Final hunting and gathering push before winter, fortify shelters

Emergency Survival

When caught unprepared in dangerous situations:

• Create emergency shelter from available materials—even crude cover helps
• Prioritize fire over food—warmth and purified water are more immediately critical
• Signal fires provide light and warmth but also attract enemy attention
• Know edible plant identification to supplement limited food supplies
• Improvise tools from natural materials when proper equipment isn't available