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In Survival: Fountain of Youth, it’s important to set up a camp as early as possible, as you’ll inevitably need a place to store your belongings: resources, workbenches, and more. In this guide, we’ll discuss setting up a beginner’s camp on the Island of Hope. Don’t neglect your camp, as its quality will determine the quality of your entire playthrough.
Best Location for a Camp
The camp should definitely be near the seashore, as you will eventually have a boat and even a small dock for quick travel. In my opinion, the ideal location for building an initial camp is the shore near the bay where Captain Ponce de Lion lost his spyglass.
I find this spot suitable because all key locations are relatively close to it: jungles, savannah, mountains, and the seashore itself. I’ve marked this area on the map for you. As soon as you reach the bay following the storyline mission, you can start building your camp. Don’t search for the “perfect spot.” Choose a decent place and then make it perfect yourself.
Where to Start Building a Camp
Your first camp should include a bed, a campfire, a chest, and a canopy to protect you from the sun and rain. In my opinion, this is the bare minimum. In the picture, you can see how I did it.
Note that you don’t have to hide all resources in chests. Particularly large items like massive stones, coconuts, and logs can be placed directly on the ground. They won’t disappear (at least, they didn’t in my tests).
Regular Workbench, Carpentry Workbench, and Cart
The first things you need to build after setting up your camp are the Carpentry Workbench and the Cart. The Cart is a “mobile chest” that allows you to carry up to 80 kg of cargo. With it, you can transport heavy resources like Big Branches to your camp in large quantities.
To build the Cart, you’ll need Split Logs, which are created on the Carpentry Workbench. That’s why you should head to the nearest jungle as soon as possible and find a special tree that can yield 8-10 Liana. I’ve marked it on the map for you. However, you must actively draw the island’s map yourself using Mapping Charcoal, or else you won’t find anything. A big, angry boar guards the tree and will attack you as soon as you approach. You’ll have to deal with it or find another tree.
You’ll also need to build a Regular Workbench, as without it you won’t be able to create the Stone Saw required for making Split Logs. In short, you’ll need to put in some effort. The main thing to remember is that most resources can be found in the jungle if you constantly use Mapping Charcoal to chart the terrain on the map. After all this work, you’ll have a Cart, Regular Workbench, and Carpentry Workbench.
Coconut Rain Water Collector
Next, you should definitely build one or more Coconut Rain Water Collectors. During rain, they will accumulate up to 10 units of drinking water.
You can drink directly from the Coconut Rain Water Collector or fill a Coconut Flask with water to take with you on your travels.
House, Sea Vessel, and Dock
Upon receiving the “Lonely Rock” quest, you will need to build a boat. I recommend building a Canoe right away, as it doesn’t require significantly more resources than a Raft. To build the Canoe, you will need Dried Hide, which involves using two workstations: the Tanner Workbench and the Skin Dryer. You’ll have to build both.
Then, head to the jungle and hunt boars to obtain Fresh Hide. Fresh Hides are used to produce Processed Hide with the Tanner Workbench. You can then dry the Processed Hides on the Skin Dryer to obtain Dried Hides, which are needed for building the canoe.
While the hides are drying, you can build a small house from available materials. When your character is inside the house, they are fully protected from all weather effects.
If you don’t procrastinate, building such a house will take you about 15-20 minutes, provided there are enough palms nearby.
You should also build a Dock for your Canoe. Like the house, you’ll need a Builder Toolkit for it. You can create 4 units of this resource on the Carpentry Workbench from 1 Common Log.
When the Canoe and Dock are ready, don’t rush to sail away. First, make sure you’ve built everything you can build and crafted everything you can craft.
This is the main principle of successfully playing games like Survival: Fountain of Youth.
Look at the camp you’ve built already! But this is not the end.
Improved Pottery Workbench and Kiln
Be sure to build a Pottery Workbench and immediately upgrade it to an Improved Pottery Workbench. This will allow you to create Raw Clay Pots.
Also, create a Kiln. It will allow you to fire clay pots, after which they will become suitable for crafting.
The ability to produce Fired Pots will open up the possibility of building a Hearth with A Pot and Clay Rain Water Collector. Both should be built immediately, as they will significantly ease your gameplay in the future. For example, the Hearth with A Pot will allow you to craft advanced food and obtain Sea Salt from seawater, while the Clay Rain Water Collector will collect up to 40 units of rainwater.
Having a good supply of fresh water is important at any stage of the game, so you can also build one or more Primitive Barrels to store it.
Food Dehydrator and Clay Flask
With a Hearth with A Pot, you can produce Sea Salt from seawater. To do this, you must pour seawater into the Water Tank, making it available for crafting Sea Salt.
Using a Food Dehydrator, you can salt meat or fish, which will increase their shelf life many times over.
For example, Dried Meat can be stored for an entire year of in-game time!
This way, you can stock up on food for an extended period. Additionally, with the ability to create Fired Pots, you can create Clay Flasks – containers that hold up to 25 units of liquid and can be carried in your inventory.
Clay Flasks will be especially useful when you set sail in your Canoe to another region. That’s why it’s a good idea to take several Clay Flasks filled with fresh water on your journey.
Water Distiller
The Water Distiller can be considered the pinnacle of your technological progress on the Island of Hope. This device is made from 2 Fired Pots, 2 Bamboo Sticks, 2 Clay Bricks, and 2 Long Sticks.
With it, you can simply boil seawater to get fresh water and additional Sea Salt.
The process is not the fastest, but having a Water Distiller means two things: an infinite source of fresh water and an infinite source of Sea Salt for crafting long-lasting food.
Resource Storage
As I mentioned earlier, items dropped on the ground (except for animal carcasses, which spoil over time) do not disappear, so you don’t have to store all your belongings in chests.
You can organize a small storage area for large resources right on the sand by simply dropping them from your inventory.
Additional Docks
While you’re building all of this, you’ll have to run around the entire island, which will probably become tiresome. That’s why it makes sense to build several additional docks on opposite shores of the Island of Hope.
With the Canoe, you can make fast trips (essentially teleporting) between these docks, making it much easier to transport resources to your camp. However, you’ll need to build a new Cart for each dock, as you won’t be able to carry the Cart on the Canoe.
Trust me, I’ve tried. It didn’t turn out well…
Conclusion
Here are some screenshots of what a healthy person’s starting camp in Survival: Fountain of Youth might look like in the end.
Building such a camp will take you several hours, but the result is worth it. Now you have not only all the available workstations at this stage of the game but also an infinite source of fresh water and long-lasting food. All that’s left to do is stock up on provisions, hop in your upgraded Canoe, and head to the next region for the story quest to encounter new adventures! 🧐