Not sure I understand how to play...

[Garrus]

So, I picked up the game last night. I promptly jumped into story mode... and poor Adam's descendants have been dropping like flies. I've never had more than eleven creatures at once, usually no more than seven. And yet, I constantly, constantly run out of food. I find a nice spot, settle in, and gather up the food. And then, problem is, when I have to move on I can never reliably find more resources on said island, often because the grass gets in the way. This puts me in a vise: either I clear out the grass and miss gathering resources, or I try to move through it and starve anyway. I'm thinking that something is very, very wrong with how I'm playing, and would like to ask for some beginner's tips.

I should note, I did try specializing into some of the more exotic niches like flight and water. That... ended VERY poorly. Best I've found is to just mix crushing jaws and a combination of nimble paws with something else. It still doesn't keep me alive reliably. I would almost welcome seeing an island full of bearyenas, at least I wouldn't have to worry about food. 

[bostonlobstah]

Welcome to the forums!

You have used scent and hearing mode right? That comes in very useful. 

With flying nichelings, the best genes to have ime are Beak, Cracker Jaw, bearyena hindlegs, and fishing tail and scorpion tail. I have an all-wings tribe that is flourishing with many of these genes. 

[Garrus]

I've actually found that I have no reason to ever leave scent mode... since, invariably, I find sight useless in the grass and hearing doesn't reveal as many food sources as scent does. I actually ended up in a bad spot that playthrough immediately after I got wings courtesy of loosing my ability to gather berries and nuts- I wasn't able to get Cracker that run.

 

What is the "proper" way to use sight and hearing modes?

 

Also, how do you get enough food to keep separate lineages going? I've tried to do that, but it's always ended in failure.

[medicine cat]

i prefer sticking primarily to sight mode except when i’m looking for wanderers to recruit or hear a bearyena.

believe me, clearing the tall grass is worth the effort; it’s much easier to see what’s going on instead of being stuck in scent mode.

and eleven nichelings isn’t bad; that’s what i usually stick to, since it allows me to tell a story with my creatures. 

what i do is usually have at least one nicheling near a food source each day to collect, and then at least one or two clearing grass. it allows for easier food access and visibility.

[fuzzysherbet]

Keeping a few nichelings parked by berry bushes is a good way to keep food coming in. Also, you don't necessarily need cracker jaw and nimble fingers on the same nicheling; nimble fingers can crack and collect.

If you have any nichelings with a strength stat of at least 2, they can take down rabbils and stagmoles with one hit. If these nichelings are close enough to a rabbil to be able to go to the same tile as it, they can jump right on top of the rabbil, which means it won't be able to to avoid your nicheling's attack. So you can chase down a rabbil, kill it, and collect the meat all in three movements. I'd recommend putting horns on everything as soon as you can so most of your nichelings will be able to grab any small prey that comes into range.

 

[Wander]

What I do is I have the mom make her nest near a berry bush, and then she can pick berries while also protecting the baby from birds. Maybe have your breeding nichelings next to the food (berries and acorn trees), and send the babies away to clear away the grass? Clearing the grass is definitely worth it because then you can see from farther away. You'll also have more nesting material to build more nests. To save on nesting material, instead of letting old nests rot away... you can repair the nest for 3 grass, or you can destroy the nest and get some of your material back.

Also, I wouldn't really recommend cracker jaw and nimble finger on the same nicheling. Nimble finger gives cracking skill, so maybe use the head gene for something else. I recommend either big nose so you can smell more things from far away, or poison fang so that you can pick the poison berries safely.

Try to attack some rabbits to unlock the ram horn gene. Ram horn and medium body will give you +2 strength. That way you can OHKO the rabbits and eat them for food.

I don't really recommend trying to specialize into flying or swimming tribes if you're just beginning. Wings are good for moving around quickly, but then it's hard to gather food. Wait until you unlock other genes that can be paired with wing, like bearyenna leg, fishing tail, or bird beak. And swimming nichelings are cool, but in my opinion the water biomes are quite bare.