fanfiction My first days in playing Ark Survival Evolved on The Island.

[rpicardi1]

My Island Adventure 2015.

 

With reference to a story posted in January of 2016 and an extensive collection of screen shots, I have assembled the experience from first playing Ark Survival Evolved from it’s release on June of 2015 to the end of December of 2015.

 

The computer in use at that time;

I-5 with 8G ram and a GTX 460 graphic card. Previously, I had dual 512meg cards but upgraded when those cards wouldn’t run Midevil Engineer, a sandbox building game. Game settings were on high on a monitor that was 1680 by 1050. While I played that first map until the released of The Center, the last game save has been lost to time. However, I still have the screenshots from the first thatch hut of July 10 up to the expanded base when it was invaded by the newly released Titansaur which walked over the spike fence and fell down the cliff.

 

The game settings:

They were all default but one has to remember that Wildcard changed the default rates for gather, XP and taming to four times the original level. That will be evident when you read just how many game days it took to level up. The settings using the present 2022 rates as a reference, 0.25 for XP, gather, and taming. The wild creature levels, from 1 to 40 max with most being from 4 to 12. There were no bolas available to aid in taming or defense. There was no raft either to get away from sharks and Parana. Vegetation and other harvestable items was very sparse compared to what appears on the map today. There was no swamp, redwoods or snow biome in 2015, those being added later that year.

 

Mid June of 2015.

With that first update to allow one to play Ark in the new Host/Local menu, It was now possible to start a single player game. Gone was the need to play on one of the new official servers where everyone was still learning how the game works and became vulnerable to those that knew how to play it. So, I start out by making my character, naming him Halsey, and selecting East Zone One which is located between Drayo’s Cove and the Lava Cave entrance.

On those first two weeks, I concentrated on leveling up as I got my stone pick, stone hatchet, and some spears. A temporary 1x1 hut was built in the rocks on the point of Drayo’s Cove where I worked to gather the materials for thatch clothes. The area has remained quite safe from predators with the only creatures on the beach area are low level dodos, turtles, parasaurs, trikes and, pteradons.

A note is at this state of the game, Dodos would run from you in a panic if you attacked them. That was not so before single player was released where Dodos would attack a player if provoked.

By July 10, I had leveled up enough to get a spawn bed and had built a 1x4 thatch shelter against the cliff of the box canyon by the Lave Cave. According to the screenshots, there was very little trees and bushes in the box canyon to harvest for resources. At that time I was only Level 12. I did have a cooking pot but is didn’t appear to have much use at the time. It's also when I learned how to use Steam for saving in game screenshots.

Now, what is interesting back then is the fact that the Blue Obelisk is located along the East shore. The red and green are in the other locations. I find that creatures are getting stuck in the trees, such is the case for a Level 2 turtle and a Level 5 Pteradon. I do find a Level 14 Trike stuck as well. Two Brontos are in different areas of the beach knocking down the trees.

July 12 I go explore the Lave Cave. It has an area inside that one could build a small camp with room to spare. I even saw a Pteradon fly inside that area for a short while. Down inside, it gets too hot to go very far as I can see lava falling from the ceiling. Now, these were the days before Bats became an issue.

On July 13, I am able to access my first supply drop. Three sleeping bags, a fire pit, some spark powder, and a bunch of assorted berries are found inside it.

The night of the 14th, I am having to deal with the cold weather. I am on guard with a spear having survived a surprised attack by three spitters that nearly killed me. They do give much needed meat and hide which is placed in the small storage boxes.

On the 15th of July, while exploring up on the plateau, I spot a T-Rex on the other side of Drayo’s Cove. That is not good should it wander across and start going after everything on my side of this area.

July 19th. Is this a bug or what? I nearly freeze to death, literally, while standing next to a fire with a lit torch. I later learn that I will need multiple fires to stay warm under such conditions or go hide in the cave. This was before huts were set up to provide some shelter from the cold nights.

July 21, an update now allows me to throw a torch. It also adds Dimorphdons, and the soon to be hated Titanomyrmas, the giant flying and crawling ants.

July 25, this is ridiculous, three standing torches and a torch and I am freezing to death while in the cave. At Level 18, I finally have the slingshot and a bow with arrows.

August 3, or Day 32 on the Ark. How time flies. A green drop appears on the hill on the point. It contained two parachutes, a bow, 46 stone arrows, and 16 valuable tranc arrows. I decide I will head for the trapped Parasaur I spotted yesterday to tame it. But, it is nowhere around. So I head for that stuck trike I found the other day. He is still there. Finding him, I hit him with a tranc arrow and promptly have to avoid an attack by a Level 5 male. This doesn't make sense at first, I think. Normally, mate boosted creatures will come to the aid of one another. I have quickly learned that if other creatures of the same species are nearby, they will come to the aid of the one under attack regardless of their sex. So, I drop him with tranc arrows when he gets stuck in the trees. It is an all night tame but finally get him. I name him Mike and head back to camp to make the saddle.

As I approach camp, I spot a wild Dilo waiting in ambush. As I hit it with a stone arrow, Mike charges in front of me and rams it with his horns killing it instantly. The Trike has now proved its worth as a bodyguard against other predators. I soon level up and craft that trike saddle.

As I ride mike, I find out that his skills are more useful then I had imagined. In addition to being able to attack and kill wild Dilos, he can knock down trees and driftwood to harvest wood and mostly thatch. Even more valuable is his ability to harvest berries and seeds which he does in far greater numbers then I ever could picking them by hand. He gets no fiber, but, that is fine by me. The ability to harvest large number of berries especially those hard to get narcoberries, will greatly aid in crafting narcs and taming future dinosaurs.

I decide to go tame the original trike that I was after the day before. I take mike along for the tame. Three tranc arrows drops the other male. Like Mike, the tame takes about an hour. It is much easier since I can use Mike to gather the berries I need and not have to rely on my limited supply of crafted narcs that I am will need for more tranc arrows. During that tame, another supply drop occurred on the hill. I get two standing torches, a firepit, and misc items. As it is getting dark, I placed the torches near by and light them to help ward off any unseen predators during that night. That second trike, another male, wakes up tamed. I name him Terry the Trike, place Mike's saddle on him, get him unstuck by using his attack mode, and whistle for Mike to follow us back to the base.

Later that day, I find the male Parasaur stuck at the point on the cove side. I head back to get the trikes and the Parasaur saddle I had crafted some time ago. I decide to bring both trikes with me as the area this Parasaur is in can be much more dangerous at night.

The tame takes an hour given that I have knocked out a Level 20. Once tamed, I have one heck of a time getting him unstuck but finally get him loose. I ride him back to base with the trikes following us. I name him Perry the Parasaur.

Like the Trikes, Perry can harvest wood, thatch, and berries. But, his gather rate is so slow that I find I can do the job much faster on my own. He does have the ability to run a lot faster and further without getting as tired as quickly as the trikes. Unlike the trikes, he has much less ability to carry heavy items.

What becomes interesting is that like me, my trikes and parasaur, have health stats, can be level up, and that I can improve one of their stats such as health, weight, speed, or melee damage, each time they do so. Such an ability is proving quite useful, as I can craft a pet that is faster, tougher, and stronger then their wild cousins.

In addition, I had noticed that when a wild female Trike had wandered close by while I was in the taming process with Terry, a mate boost would appear over his stats. I looked that up in the survivor's WIKI. He stated that having a mate boosted pair gave each of them a 25% boost in their abilities, something that could make the difference in surviving, or being killed in a fight with a predator. So, it was time to go tame a girl for the boys.

I didn't have far to go when one wandered into camp during the night. Placing the boys on Passive so that they wouldn't accidentally attack her, I hit her in the head with a tranc arrow. Down that head shook then she charged in my direction. I dodge in the nick of time as I put a second arrow then a third to the head. Finally, she staggered over to a nearby boulder and collapsed. Note, head shots are now less effective on Trikes with the update. They were very effective in 2015.

I don't know why it turned into such a long tame She wasn't that high of a level. Fortunately, much of the vegetation around camp has return, so I didn't have to go far to get a steady supply of narcs and the Trike's favorite food, Mejoberries. I named her Tina. Both my males now show mate boosted. By day 43, I have tamed a second female trike named Tricia and crafted a second saddle

August 7th. The August 1st update has added tribolites as well as a sickle. Until I can unlock the Forge and Smithy, I cannot make one to make finer gathering a lot quicker. At least, some of the foliage and boulders are starting to return to the area. I also tame a second female Trike that has wandered into the box canyon. At least, I now have mate boosted trikes.

One day when chasing after a drop on the hill with my four trikes and collecting its stash, I noticed Terry was missing. Where did he go? What happened to him? Given that he had a saddle on him, I had to backtrack to find what had happened to him.

I traveled all the way back to where I had went the entire day. No Terry. A loss of a saddle and valuable tame with everything he was carrying I though. Then, when I turned the corner to reach cave base, Terry comes running to greet us. Seems though he had tried to shortcut across the cliff as we were racing to the drop, lost his footing, and slid down it.

As taking all the trikes along has become a chore to keep an eye on them so they aren't getting stuck on or behind something, I decide to just take a saddled mate boosted pair along on my daily foraging expeditions.

I find that keeping a track of a pair is a much easier task then with taking four of them along. They also work much better as a pair then with four of them or alone. In addition, I notice that the wild dilos I occasionally come across tend to keep their distance, even when I am dismounted. I use the saddled pair for harvesting wood and thatch and switch Trikes when the one I am riding becomes encumbered by the weight of the resources. As I have spotted a T-rex on my side of Drayo’s Cove, I have been kept busy building a pen from wood and thatch to protect my tames. I am also preparing the wall sections to block off a ramp that comes up from Drayo’s Cove to keep one from coming up into the cliff above my camp given that the T-Rex came up the ramp to investigate a starter hut I had built there before wandering off to continue hunting on the beach below.

August 29th. I lose one of my Trikes while out gathering wood. A pesky Bronto on the point had been trashing the palms all week. That idiot Tricia decides she has had enough of this and goes off after the Bronto. Unable to call her off, I get on Mike and charge in to help, but he soon gets too tired to fight. I am forced to bail off and fight on foot with the primitive bow and arrows, Badly hurt, the Bronto runs off to the cliff and gets stuck trying to climb it. The Bronto falls as I get a message that Tricia has killed it. Unfortunately, she is crushed to death when the it falls on top of her. I salvage what I can and head back to base.

The next day, I go searching for a replacement and locate a Level 21 female stuck in the palms near the point. It takes 15 tranc arrows to drop her. Two days later, Yes, it takes that long back then resulting in only 42% taming effectiveness, she is tamed and ready to go. I name her Trixie.

Those four Trikes have proven to be a most valuable resource, a game changer in this world of survival, by making my survival on the Ark far easier then doing so on my own.

That night, I hear this big crash outside of the thatch pen. Did a T-Rex come up the ramp to find my camp? Going outside, I find that a Stego has slid down the cliff and is now wandering about. It is a Level 2 Female.

September 1. I decide to go tame the stego as she is now down by my beach shack. She promptly goes crazy as I hit her with tranc arrows to the head. By the time she falls unconcious, she has destroyed half of the beach shack, the cooking pot, and three storage boxes.

After an all night tame, I saddle her up and go berry harvesting. In no time, I have over 300 mejoberries, 120 thatch, 33 wood 66, narcoberries, crop seeds and an assortment of other stuff.

September 8th. The thatch barrier is finally completed. I see a Bronto testing it out. After several tries to cross it, it finally turns around and leaves.

It is day 52 in the game and about 70 real days of playing Ark when I finally reach level 25. Metal tools! Yea! To craft those tools, I need a Smithy. It takes five of my refined metal ingots, 50 stone, 30 wood, and 20 hide to craft it. With the Smithy, I am able to craft a pick, hatchet, pike, and crossbow using the metal ingots that I refine from the metal ore in the Refining Forge. With 52 days of breaking boulders on the beach and inland, I have collected barely enough metal to craft all five items.

The pick, taking only one of my precious refined metals, is well worth the cost of the materials. It enables me to harvest flint, stone, and the occasional metal ore at a much more efficient rate. At a much slower wear rate, it will last an entire day of constantly hitting boulders before needing repair or replacing.

The hatchet, of similar capably, but taking eight of my metal ingots, is extremely efficient at getting wood, It takes very little time to gather hundreds of wood at once.

The Pike, taking ten of those metal ingots, gives me a hard hitting spear, while a bit heavy at ten pounds compared to three spears, I find that it hits my targets twice as hard and will not break unexpectedly. It does show a wear bar after extensive use.

The crossbow, a stunning achievement using seven metal ingots, gives me a longer range hard hitting weapon that uses my existing stone and tranc arrows. Not only do the arrows travel faster and further with the crossbow, they hit with twice the efficiency when fired from a primitive bow. Once cocked, I just acquire the target and pull the trigger. I find that it works great at taking out those pesky dilos, one tranc arrow fired from a crossbow is more then enough to drop all but the higher level ones. I hit them at range, they stagger, then collapse unconscious. The only drawback is it takes twice as long to reload.

 

Yes, the grind was really that bad back in 2015. Yet, Ark continued to get numerous updates with new creatures appearing in many of them as well as new tools and abilities.

To be continued.

[rpicardi1]

A test start on The Island after I made the first post. In the location I started in June of 2015, place me near the point of Drayo’s Cove where a Spitter went after a Moschop just as I spawned in. The vegetation is much denser in the box canyon then it was in 2015. It’s considered medium difficulty. Lots of Spitters to kill, few Dodos. Other creatures were turtles, a Moschop that changed what it wanted when rendered out and back in, an Oviraptor, Pelegoaris, pteradon and Brontos. No trikes or parasaurs. Two hours of playing gave me 40 levels and got me into metal tools. There is barely enough metal from mining rocks to get a pick, hatchet and crossbow given that there are no metal rock or river rock in this area. However, there is crystal just inside of the cave that will yield what is needed for a spyglass. That was not the case in 2015 unless you went way inside into the dangerous area.

A trip on the raft gets me to Herbivore Island where I obtain lots of metal ore for the forge.

The second two hours+ brings me up to Level 70. In addition, I have crafted an 8x10 wooden enclosure from the Settler’s Workbench. Between the dead trees and down palms, I have been supplied with more then enough wood and thatch for the construction. A tamed Moschop, not available in 2015, has supplied me with plenty of fiber.

Still, nothing worth taming so far as the Trikes, Parasaurs, and Pteradons. They remain at very low levels like from the original 0.2 setting in 2015. I do obtain a mated pair of good level raptors down in Drayo’s Cove after dodging ants and microraptors, how I hate those things.

 

Back to original game play

 

As I reached Level 35, it was time to get a flyer. I need to get crystal for a spotting scope. Pteranodons had been flying around in the area ever since I started playing Ark. One even flew into the cave when I was setting up a temporary camp in there. But, now, for some reason, they were nowhere to be found.

The WIKI states that the best way to tame one is to use a tranc arrow when one lands to rest. I am warned not to use a crossbow as lower level Pteranodon are so fragile that one shot could kill them. So, I pack raw meat on Mike with extra narcs and head up the coast in search of a Pteranodon I had spotted days earlier.

I find him and keep an eye on where he may pick a place to land. He lands nearby. I hit him with a tranc arrow using a primitive bow. He starts to fly off but before I can place a second shot on him, he falls to the ground in a heap. Note that bolas didn't exist in 2015

Keeping Mike nearby as a bodyguard, I set up some standing torches as it is already late evening. He is 25% damaged as I place raw meat and narcs into his inventory. It is a Level 2. The tame takes all night. Yes, all night for a Level 2. ½ an hour actual time. Interesting is he has healed completely by the time he is tamed. He gets the name Tommy the Pteranodon. He follows Mike and I back to the dino pen.

When I take him for my first flight, I find that I have to leave all my inventory behind except for my armor, basic weapons, and some food. I also need to keep a stack of raw meat on him as he will eat that when he gets hungry while flying. The WIKI warns me about keeping an eye on his stamina, to land and rest him as needed, or we could end up landing into danger or drown in the water if his stamina runs out.

I take him off on a test flight. My, how big this island looks from the air. I fly over Drayo's Cove and up into the delta. I see it crawling with the first raptors I have seen. There are sarcos and other nasty predators hunting the river. With stamina getting low, I pick out a safe beach on the point and land there to rest. Then we take off to Herbivore Island.

That place is amazing. There is a natural sheltered bay formed by two sandbars with rocks on the point, sort of a natural harbor. Back in the bay is a large sheltered dead end canyon. The top contains numerous large rocks forming a crescent. There is a palm and hardwood forest on top. Best of all, while there are numerous herbivores roaming the island, there isn't a carnivore to be found, not even a dilo. Strangely, there are no Dodo or Turtles to be found there either.

The next day, I make a survey flight towards Far Peak. I don't get there as I take advantage of a drop I spot along the coast. It contains a complete wood hut. Burdened with that weight I fly back to camp. Still, I have found safe landing places where I can rest Tommy for that planned trip to the top of Far peak to get crystal.

The following day, I take along only the pick and pike, I leave everything else but my armor, some food, and a torch. I make a rest stop just before a large bay, then a second on the beach at the base of far peak. Then, I make the long accent to the top of far peak.

The view is awesome a I look for a safe landing spot away from the scorpions and Saber Tooth. I can see the entire Ark from there and it is big. Landing on the top hidden by a big rock from a roaming scorpion, I get to work on the crystals nearby and dump any stones I harvest. Golden metal rock is also nearby, but for the moment, the crystal is most important since weight will be an issue on my return trip and both are very heavy. With 50 pounds of crystal and ignoring the cold, I get on Tommy and head back down to the coast.

On the trip back to camp, I see a Carno hunting in the exact spot I had tamed Tommy the day before. It’s going to be a threat if it reaches my base Camp given that the pen is only made out of thatch. I fly Tommy back to base and take the crystal into the cave where I can craft the spotting scope that night.

The next morning, I make my plan for dealing with the Carno. I saddle up Mike and Trixie, my two strongest mate boosted Trikes. The plan is to use them to approach the Carno and when it comes in to attack, use Mike to spear him in a charge while Trixie nails him from the side.

The plan works better then expected. I approach the Carno from the side. It runs towards me to attack, The angle is perfect. I turn and ram the charging Carno in its face as Trixie rams it from the side. The Carno bites the dust. Both Mike and Trixie come out of that battle with only minor injuries. I am very pleased with the results as I dismount Mike and chop up the dead Carno for its meat and hide.

September 10, 2015. I have doubled the size of the thatch pen from it’s original 8x13 to 13x16 to give the tames more room in anticipation of taming more of them. I soon add more storage in the corner by my bed shack along with preserving bins and crafting stations. My Level 38 Perry gets the fancy Ark logo blanket saddle. I have also obtained a Level 27 female which is laying eggs I will need for Raptor Kibble.

September 14th, 2015. With everyone requesting this, we finally get a raft. I promptly get one crafted up and start exploring with it. It should be noted that a second update occurred later that day so that the sharks wouldn’t attack it.

The next morning I saddle up Perry and load him on the raft. The Parasaur doesn't seem to place any weight on the raft. In fact, it seems that anything I place on it has no effect on it at all. When Ark came out in June, storage boxes had a limit of how much weight they could hold. Like the Dodo birds attacking players, that restriction was removed. Also, land dinos were given the ability to back up, something the Pteradons still don’t have unless you are running a mod. And, until recently, they would take off flying as soon as you got on their saddle.

Landing in the cove, I build a thatch shack from supplies I had collected from a drop. I add a campfire, torches, and a porch. After cutting some wood for a fire, I take Perry out exploring.

As I ride along the outer beach avoiding the numerous other herbivores living there, I spot two gleaming rocks on the ridge above. Metal, I have found the metal rocks. Hitting them with the metal pick yields metal ore, as much as 50 pounds in some of them. Before long, I have almost 300 pounds of metal ore stored in the raft. I head back to main base with Perry. Now, I can craft that longneck rifle, a scope, a sickle, spare crossbow and spare metal tools. I also get a garden plot started to raise advanced crops. I finally tame an Ankylosaurus that I find on Herbivore Island.

9-14-2015 at Level 38. Day 135 on the Ark. Have I been playing this game that long? The past 35 days have been spent exploring the eastern shores, testing out new items, taming pets on Herbivore Island, and mining metal ore there.

The new longneck rifle has its use but doesn't seem to hit as hard as the crossbow. It is also expensive to use requiring a metal and several gunpowders for a single bullet. So, for now, I store it on the raft with the ammo.

The crossbow remains my ranged weapon of choice. With tranc arrows, I can drop a Dilo with one shot. In fact, I end up taming six of them. They make a great hunting pack working well together and able to take on the normally hard to kill turtles with ease.

I have sailed the raft far north to an island known as Dead. The spotting scope confirms it is crawling with predators of all sizes. With Argentavis flying close by, I turn the raft about.

I have also sailed the South Coast going as far as a bay formed by a rocky outcropping. I have observe a pack of raptors tearing up a parasaur and other herbivores in an inlet leading to a river.

The rocky outcropping is fairly quiet with only a couple of dilos hunting the Dodos living there. I find a quiet spot on the sandy beach there and construct a thatch hut from supplies I got from a nearby supply drop.

With the next game update, of 9-26, I find that my base is in a huge mess. All of the boulders and vegetation that I have mined are suddenly all back thicker then ever. Mike finds himself perched on top of a boulder. Two others boulders have materialized in the wall of the base.

Outside, I observe the same mess. One boulder has materialize inside my irrigation system which continues to function.

I set about cleaning up the mess by first breaking up the boulders with the metal pick. The wall remains undamaged when they explode and vanish. Next are the palm trees by the Dino Gate. They are just in the way of my pets especially in the landing zone for Tommy.

The next day, I saddle up Tommy for an inspection of the Ark. As I fly over Drayo's Cove, I notice several extinct creatures that I have never seen before. There is a small flying reptile with a round head with rows of sharp teeth. I see another creature about twice the size of the dilos but with a big round head. Then, I spot a huge horse shaped creature browsing on the palms. I place the spotting scope on it. “Male Paracer, Level 6.” So, that is what it is called. All seem to be docile as I fly close by to inspect them.

I fly up the coast towards far peak when I notice that all three obelisk have rotated locations. The blue one is green, the green one red and the red one blue. What? The volcano under the blue obelisk has turned white like it has become snow covered.

At Far Peak, I nearly get lost in the dense fog. As I am nearly to the top anyways, I head for it and land there to get crystal for a rifle scope. It is freezing cold at the top, far colder then on my last trip. As I prepare to leave, I spot an Argentavis flying straight towards me. I just make it out in time as I push Tommy to fly down the steep slope at full speed. Thankfully, he leaves the Argentavis in the dust.

When I reach the nice bay to the East with the waterfalls at its end, I find that it is no longer there. In its place is a vast swamp with cypress and mangrove trees. There are sacros galore in the water. Titanboa snakes are everywhere along the edge. Paracer inhabit the meadow on the edge. And, I see huge frogs hopping about.

Now what? A bigfoot in the forest. The spotting scope displays, “Female Gigantopithecus, Level 9.”

With the extra building supplies I gather from cleaning up the mess, I set about doubling the size of my Dino Pen. It looks like I may be adding new pets to my collection and I may need that space soon.

It is been 190 game days I have invested into playing Ark. I have finally completed the improvements that have doubled the size of my dino pen. Those improvements include replacing the thatch walls with wood. They also include reinforcing the ramp barrier with wood after that wall was damaged by a wild Bronto that climbed over the thatch wall on a boulder damaging it.

I also have a hunting pack of six spitters, some tamed dodos, a pair of Phenomas, and another Ankylo. I have completed a second pen connected to the first using wood for the first two panels.

And, then it happened. October 20, 2015. The Bronto that climbed over the ramp barrier manages to wedge itself against my newly finished pen and the nearby palms.

This presents a real problem. If he panics, he could destroy several days of work. If I try to cut him loose, he could get hit and attack destroying the East wall and my irrigation pipeline. That leaves a third choice, attempt a tame and hope for the best during the take down.

I know that this will be the most difficult tame yet attempted. The bigger the creature, the more effort that is needed to drop one, the longer the tame, and the more resources needed. Brontos are huge. In fact, they are the biggest creatures on the Ark so far. I refer to the WIKI for some advice how to proceed.

The notes say to aim for the head with tranc arrows, to give them a couple of seconds to take effect, and that it will take quite a few before the Bronto will drop. It also says to expect the tame to take days and hundreds of Mejoberries, maybe a thousand. I find that Brontos will also eat advanced crops that Rockkart are a favorite and they will speed up the tame. I am in luck, my garden has four full stacks available. I plan for the take down at first light.

I head up on the rock on the shore base to get a good shot at the Bronto's head. The first shot hits between the eyes. The Bronto turns to face me head on and remains stuck. Thankfully, unlike the Stego, he doesn't do anything to to damage the base. 15 more tranc arrows to the head and he collapses in a cloud of dust.

The tame goes well. In spite of a bloodied forehead from all of those arrows, the Bronto has suffered little damage. The base is undamaged. The rockkarts are working well on this Level Six Bronto. In spite of the taming settings being turned up to 2X, it is early morning on the second day before the bronto tame is complete. Of the four stacks of rockkarts, I have two left among with the hundreds of Mejoberries that were not needed. I name him Bruno.

I take him out as a pack animal. He follows along nicely. I am able to pack a thousand pounds of wood on him as I turn around and park him next to the new pen.

The next day I level up to 55 and craft the Bronto saddle. He is a fabulous berry harvester gathering hundreds in one tail sweep that sends a wild parasaur running in panic.

As I park him back by the pen, I find that I have another problem, how do I get off him without getting badly hurt? It is a long ways down from his back. I find the solution is to do the Fred Flintstone and slide down his tail.

Several days later, I decide to tame the female Bronto that has been stomping down the palms at the point. She should make a good companion for Bruno as well as be a source for eggs to use in some future kibble. I load up Terry with the supplies, the Bronto saddle, set off to the point, and park him behind a boulder so he doesn't get involved in the take down.

As expected, she comes charging at me with the first tranc arrow to the head, I avoid being stepped on with the second. Ducking a tail sweep, I place a third. Running around a boulder on the beach, a fourth. Back into the palms, a fifth. She is not a happy camper as I trip over the driftwood trapping a Trike that runs off. Then, down she goes in a cloud of dust.

I place the rockkarts and narcoberries into her inventory, set up a pair of torches to ward off the cold, and get prepared for a long stay after ambushing three dilos that come snooping around. They have second thoughts about causing trouble when they see Terry nearby.

The tame goes well showing 85% taming rate when it is complete.  I name her Berniece, place the saddle on her, bring her back to base, and park her beside Bruno.

 

One more chapter to come soon.

[rpicardi1]

Day 200 on the Ark. Time sure does fly in a day that is only an hour long. Actual date is October 24, 2015, when I finally obtain a raptor.

 

Several days ago, I had prepared some Raptor Kibble from my stores of Parasaur eggs. The recipe, one Parasaur egg, one longrass, one cooked meat jerky, two Mejoberries, three fibers, and water. Place in a cooking pot and cook until it is done. The preserving bin has turned cooked meat into jerky. It took a day for it to convert the cooked meat, oil and spark powder into each piece of jerky. I prepare 16 Raptor Kibble, place half of it in storage, and the other half on my raft.

The past several days, I have spent observing wild raptors hunting on the delta from a distance with the spotting scope. I find that they tend to hunt in groups of two or three. They are so fast that I doubt I can deal with three at once unless I can get up on a boulder where they can't reach me. If I can get one alone, I will have a good chance of knocking one out on my terms.

With a raptor saddle and the kibble on the raft, I set sail for the narrows of Drayo's Cove. Things look quiet there when I spot a lone raptor being annoyed by a dragon fly. I watch her from a distance while keeping an eye out for any other raptors.

Oh Crap, I spot a Carno nearby. But he heads up river and will not be a threat. With my new metal Armor, I beach the raft, step off, and head in her direction.

She soon spots me and comes charging full speed. One tranc arrow to the head. She is a real bitch and on top of me in an instant. I spin around placing the second tranc arrow to the head, I dodge her attack. The third tranc arrow misses and hits a tree when she knocks me aside. The forth one connects and down she goes.

I check the delta for any other threats. None are nearby. The Carno is way upriver chasing a Parasaur. My metal armor has protected me well from her attack. Feeling relieved, I place the kibble and some narcs into her inventory.

It is three minutes later when she eats the first kibble. The taming bar jumps over 50%. Great! This will not take as long as I thought and there will be kibble left over. In a couple of more minutes, I can be out of this dangerous area heading back to my base in no time. With the Second Kibble, I have finally tamed a Raptor.

I quickly saddle her up, load her up on the raft, and set sail out of the cove. I certainly don't want to risk her in any fights until I can level up her health and hit strength. I beach the raft in a safer place and take her out hunting Dodos and Dilos. I name her Ronda.

What a far cry that is from playing in 2022 when I obtain a mate boosted pair of high level raptors in only a couple of game playing days using tranc arrows on a crossbow and bolas.

Days later, October 25th, 2015, I tame a pair of turtles and bring them back to the pen. They are like riding on a tank. Even though they are good swimmers and well protected from an attack, I will use them for eggs for some future Kibble. Their names, Duke and Lady Gamera.

I also find a pair of Phenomas stuck in the driftwood on Herbivore Island. As I have the saddle from a drop in my saddle box on the raft, I think, why not! If nothing more, they will provide plenty of poop for the compost bin and my expanded garden. (This is before we knew about the stimm berry trick for forced pooping.)

I have tried to hunt them before on the main island, but found that they quickly ran away into the dangerous jungle. These will be easy to take down with tranc arrows to tame. Only a couple of tranc arrows to drop them.

What a horrible noise they make eating when unconscious. They consume the berries like crazy. But, they soon are tamed and loaded on the raft for the trip to cave base. Their names, Boss Hogg and Miss Piggy.

October 28th, 2015. We get a special event as an update for the game.

It is day 205 when the landscape changes again. This time it is just the change of foliage to fall colors. I take Tommy for an inspection flight. Nothing different, no new biomes, just a lot of fall colors on the jungle trees with the daytime weather a bit cooler over the jungle.

Other surprises show up. There are pumpkin patches with spooky scarecrows. I also find grave with fog and tombstones. Ghost hover above them at night. Mostly, they appear to be decorations as I can pick the pumpkins, move the scarecrows, and take the tombstones as they set off a ghostly sound. Those pose no hazard, but Onycs and spiders soon appear on the surface which are quite dangerous. I soon learn to stay away from the Onycs as they attack in packs beating up my Dilo hunting pack and tearing up my metal armor. It is not worth what little meat and hide I get from them.

A new concern has occurred as well. I am now seeing T-Rexes on my side of Drayo's Cove. While they have been busy attacking the wild Brontos and Parcers, each time I see see them, they have been getting closer and are a higher level.

I remain concern if one of those T-Rexes comes around the point, it will be a straight shot to the unprotected Brontos and Parcers tames. I could easily lose them to an attack. I take out a T-Rex from the cliff that is getting close to the point. A couple of days later, I spot one heading for my Brontos and drop it from the safety of the cliff near there.

I start gathering supplies for a Bronto pen. It will need a stone foundation and two behemoth gates. The requirement for those two huge gates is staggering. They can only be crafted in the Smithy. Each gate and gateway requires 750 stone, 750 wood, and 750 fiber. I have to move the materials in numerous trips to the Smithy, yet once crafted, I can carry both gates and gateways in my inventory.

Danny the Doedicurus, my newest pet, makes gathering the large quantity of stone an easy task, But soon, all the nearby boulders have been destroyed. I take him to Herbivore Island to harvest stone for the stone foundations and stone walls. It still takes a long time to craft the foundations for the Bronto pen which will be huge. Then, I end up wasting a lot of material on the East wall when I find out that the pen, which is longer then I had anticipated, needs to be made much wider. Two more trips to Herbivore Island gathers nearly all the boulders there which makes the stone fence two high. I finish the other two sections with wood.

During that time period, I have had to prepare for a possible attack by a new boss enemy, the Dodorex. This creature, according to WIKI, is said to breathe fire and is capable of tearing down metal walls. The only defense is to lead it away, or hide. I prep the cave for hiding taking Ronda in with me, or over to Herbivore Island and craft wall sections for the Bronto pen.

During the next several days, a blood moon appears with the Dodorex shadow when the alert goes out. I either hide out in the cave, or head to the safety of Herbivore Island. On day 230 the threat is over as all the Halloween stuff vanishes.

During that same time period, I am out riding Ronda along the North shore of Drayo's Cove. I spot a raptor beyond the ramp. “Alpha Raptor Level 30”, the spotting scope displays. I get out of there as fast as Ronda can run.

“Alpha Raptor are extremely dangerous, hard to kill, and can rip through wood walls like they are paper,” according to the WIKI. I will keep my metal armor handy along with the Longneck Rifle with a scope, and a big stock of tranc arrows.

Day 234. While flying on Tommy, I spot a skeleton racing around the other creatures beyond the ramp towards the point. It is the Alpha Raptor according to the spotting scope. Time to take it out if I can. I land Tommy on the cliff top and start firing at the Alpha Raptor. He races to the cliff trying to get me but is unable to scale it. It takes nearly 40 rounds to kill it. Crazy I think, a living skeleton left over from the Halloween scenario the Aliens were playing with. I'm lucky to get rid of the threat.

A few days later, I spot another North on the beach while riding Terry the Trike. I had used him to spear a wild raptor the day before, but, this one has the orange glow around its head, a warning that it is an Alpha. I take Terry back to base and take the raft to the North to get its attention with the longneck rifle. It swims out after me as I stay out of its reach. Soon it is kept busy fighting off the Megalodons which eventually kill it.

Then, one day while riding Ronda Raptor, I spot a turkey. A turkey? Those are not extinct. Oh well, must be another holiday the Devs are playing with.

I dismount and shoot it with the crossbow. Opps big mistake. It attacks me, then a wild trike near by also attacks. I kill the trike but Ronda is tearing into the turkey and getting beat up by it. I give up trying to kill the turkey getting on to Ronda forcing her to break off the battle and run away. She is exhausted and badly hurt. I'm in no better shape either. We both head for the raft as quick as we can.

I set sail to get away from the turkey which goes swimming out after us. It isn't long before the big sharks take interest in it. I sail back to base as more sharks join in the fight. That has to be one tough bird as it is fighting five of them as dusk falls.

It is day 236 as I am heading back for the raft I left beached in Drayo's Cove. I had just tamed a Doedicurus but couldn't get him on the raft. So, I rode him back to base camp, saddled up Ronda, and headed back for the raft.

I don't know what went wrong. The Brontos were crowding the area as I rode Ronda on the raft and prepared to cast off. Then, all hell broke loose.

Next thing I know is that Ronda is not on the raft but attacking a Bronto with a T-Rex after another. Not wanting to lose her, I start firing at the T-Rex. It comes after me and the raft. Ronda joins in the battle. In spite of 30+ arrows, my armor destroyed, I am killed along with Ronda.

A bad dream? It is day 230. I had planned to tame some Pachys on the south shore of Drayo's Cove. Taking the dream as a warning, I take the raft into the cove, and, there it is, a Level 30 Rex, the nightmare in my dream. (I’E, I just cheated by reverting the game back to it’s last save.)

I beach the raft, get into position up on the cliff and hit it with tranc arrows. The Rex focuses its attention on me as it claws at the cliff side. It takes 45 tranc arrows to drop it.

While coming down to finish killing the Rex, two raptors come out of the trees after me. I drop both of them. I have six arrows left. I kill the Rex and the low level female raptor. As I still have Raptor Kibble on the raft and a spare saddle, I tame the high level male for Ronda. Three Kibbles later as it is getting dark out, I have a mate for Ronda. I name him Ronnie.

Time to get out of that dangerous area ASAP. Damn, my raft has washed ashore and become stuck. I head back to base camp on Ronnie. I'll have to build a replacement raft, sail back to the cove, and salvage the supplies stored on the beached raft. Then, go Pachy taming.

By day 236, I have the new raft, all supplies transferred from the abandoned raft and two Pachys named Patrick and Patty.

A couple of days later, I tame two Paracer, those huge horse shaped mammals. Petunia is first to be tamed. I take her back to camp. Patrick is the tougher one. He tries to run away and knocks down the barrier wall in the ramp before I can drop him. I reinforce it with wood soon afters.

It is day 241 when I get the reinforcing work done. I spot what looks like it will be a big fight across Drayo's Cove between a Bronto, Stego, and a high level Carno. I will keep an eye on this as I am now ready to tame one as I have the saddle. Strange, as they get ready for the big showdown, they all end up staring at each other.

I head back and get the raft which has the saddle and other supplies stored and sail over to Drayo's Cove. I beach the raft there and walk over to investigate. Interesting, the Carno does not attack me even as I walk up and touch her. In some freak of events on Ark, or maybe, the game wanted to see what would happen, I have a tamed Stego, Bronto, and Carno without having to tranc them and go through the long process of taming. Yes, that actually happened.

I Ride the Stego long enough to remove the trees trapping all three of them, then unclaim him. He wanders off. I also unclaim the Bronto as I already have a pair. He wanders off. I saddle the Carno, which is now a Level 26, and name her Christina. After finding a spot to beach the raft so she can walk on. I head back to base.

It is day 256 when another T-Rex wonders in from the Delta. But, now I have a saddle and the resources to attempt a tame. It is a nice level all gray male. It takes 20 tranc arrows to the head to drop him. They unexpectedly do a lot of damage, but, he tames quickly enough to get several levels. Jokingly, I name him after that stupid purple dinosaur from public TV, Barney.

He makes a good mount, even though he is hard to maneuver due to his size. But, he opens up a whole new world to me. I can safely travel through the densest jungles of Ark without worrying about being attacked by dilos, raptors, or carnos. He can also pack a lot of supplies on him without being encumbered. The predators give Barney plenty of room as he goes stomping by.

I do continue to play this map to November of 2016 having the entire box canyon filled with a stone pen and all kinds of tames inside except for three force tamed Titansaurs of which one walked over the spike fence and got hung up in my camp the day they came out. A cheat allowed single players to keep them without starving to death.

 

The save has long since been lost to time as new games were started, new maps became available, and back up storage became an issue. Oldest save is from June 7, 2017. But in 9-13-2015, I was playing on a new system with an I-7 processor, 16G ram, a 512G SSD and a GTX 970 graphic card. Later, this system was upgraded to 32G ram, a GTX 1070, and a 2T SSD. I still use it for playing Ark along with a MSI laptop containing the same specs that was special ordered. Otherwise, I have a new AMD 5150X with 64G ram, there 2T SSD, and a RTX 3070TI running a double wide 1080P monitor. It took nearly a year to get the components for it without having to pay scalper prices.

 

Thus ends this story of the first game play of The Island.

[rpicardi1]

Some interesting info for someone that wants to try playing The Island as it was from June of 2015 to September of 2015. From Steam, you can download and install a mod map called "The Old Island." It is as close as you will find what it was playing in June of 2015 with one major exception, Area 50,50 has the plateau of Survival of the Fittest terrain instead of the hill by what later would be the Redwoods. Other exception are is that all of the added in creatures are going to show up on the map, so expect Leeds in the sea as well as all of the other pest that will bother you in the usual places. The default spawn zone will be East Zone One which will place you between Drayo's Cove and the Lava Cave which will not have crystal in the entrance. The vegetation will be about as sparse as it was on day one.