Figure 1 My 1827th(ish) Castle in the Sky Takes Shape
Having recently surpassed 1000 hours playing Conan Exiles, I have a few thoughts to share. (SPOILERS AHEAD!)
First, a couple of caveats: This article is intended for relative n00bs to the game; essentially, things I wish I’d known before having restarted multiple times – and thus putting in so many hours! Not that I regret any of those hours; obviously, a game that can hold anyone’s interest for that long is worthy of being described as ‘engaging’, among other adjectives. Regardless, besides the spoiler alert above, if you’re the type who likes to discover and experiment for yourself, then this article is likely not for you. Yet, even if you’re not a n00b, you may still get some entertainment herein – either way I thank you for reading!
Before I get too far, I must serve further notice that I’ll be using game terms that may baffle complete newcomers, but I don’t intend this as a How to Play session, nor will I get into a lot of detail about certain aspects, such as how to craft or build; many other writers and videographers (whom I’ve often consulted) have covered all that closely, and I see no point in repetition. Thus, it’s just a “I wish I’d known that!” analysis; a wishlist of features that I’d personally like to see; as well as comments on oddities that in my opinion ought to be addressed, if for no other reason than to improve immersion – or simply so that they cease to offend my sense of ‘reason’!
Having clarified my slant, you should also know that, since I took it up, the game has improved a great deal (I’m looking at you, Building UI!), whereupon my personal goals have evolved during play, from fighting and adventuring to complete the main quest (i.e., freeing yourself from the bracelet), to plunging into an engaging construction sandbox.
I will now divide my enquiry into sections, including the aforementioned Wishlist, plus Oddities and Anomalies; but I’ll start with If I Only Knew….
IF I ONLY KNEW…
I ought to preface this section with a couple of notes on my playstyle: To begin with, I don’t do other than single player at Decadent (normal) difficulty; everything else default, except I set the Purge times to my convenience (not that I’ve seen one so far). Next, as I mentioned, once the Building feature was fixed so you don’t have to destroy everything you mistakenly place, especially not knowing how things worked – which initially caused me to completely abandon building almost anything besides crafting stations et al. – my focus has changed to building castles in the sky and decorating them; placement of barns and booths for pets and thralls; and so on.
Therefore, I haven’t come near to completing the main quest or even suffered a Purge, nor have I defeated most of the main bosses or fully explored the entire Exiles map; I’ve not set foot on The Isle of Siptah or elsewhere; and I haven’t touched the recently added Age of Sorcery DLC. Furthermore, I seldom use potions/elixirs, orbs, or explosives; Alchemy in general is low on my priority list.
I freely admit to ‘cheating’ using mods that lower boss HP; let you level up your character well past the vanilla limit of 60; improve your thralls; and the like. (Where mods may modify my tips I’ll provide notice, otherwise assume I’m commenting on the vanilla game.)
Finally, I favour Grit (stamina), Strength, and Vitality (health) over other Attributes; two-handed weapon styles – albeit this depends somewhat on which Legendary items I discover first; and heavy armour, especially Hyrkanian Raider elephant hide (see Figure 2 Hyrkanian Raider).
One last remark before getting on with it: If you’re a veteran reading this and choose to disagree with me, then be my proverbial guest! I’d welcome (respectful) opinions and advice.
Okay then. So, once I’m out of the starting location, I always make my first camp bedside the river in H3 (a.k.a. N00b River; see Figure 3 First Camp site). There’s enough room for every crafting station, plus an animal taming pen and stable, in addition to a tiny flotsam (then sandstone) hut with a simple bed and a few chests for storage, even a trebuchet on the cliff above, with which to experiment and for the Journey Step (see Figure 4 Home Sweet Home). Even so, it gets quite crowded almost right away, especially once you start enthralling captives and taming animals, so I begin planning my move at the same time.
When building in Conan Exiles, beyond my first beach hut, my philosophy is Go Big or Go Home – unoriginal, yes, and forgive the pun, but it applies. In a long-abandoned playthrough I built my first castle on the nearby tall stone column, but soon grew out of that. So, I moved to the southernmost of the twin plateaux south of the Sentinel statues, intending to eventually build across to northerly plateau as well, but never got around to it before restarting. (All these locations are visible in Figure 4.) My current project is on the huge massif to the east, just southwest of Narrowneck Span (title screenshot, which I may update as it progresses).
Figure 4 Home Sweet Home
My priority is to acquire Iron tools and weapons soonest, then Steel, followed by Hardened Steel. Thus, making a Furnace (smelter), plus Blacksmith’s, Carpenter’s, and Armorer’s Benches as well as a Tanner’s Table and Tannery, are top of my list. I add Dyeing, Tinker’s, Artisan’s, and other stations as material allows. I also want to get my first thrall(s) early; I use a mod that increases the frequency of Tier 3-4s, but I try to find a Taskmaster, Smelter, Blacksmith, Entertainer, Carpenter, then a Cook and a decent Fighter or Archer or two, essentially in that order. However, unless you ‘cheat’ and look them up and then go to where certain ones appear more frequently, or REALLY cheat and spawn them with the console, it’s random whom you’ll find first. Still, I try to avoid all but Tier 4 (named) thralls and maybe T3s, since T1-2s are just too squishy – even though the latter are much easier to knock out and quicker to ‘break’. However, IMPORTANT TIP: Don’t even try taking on T3-4s until you’re at least level 20ish; run away! Do use an assistant if you have one – the sole reason I will capture a T1-2 Fighter/Archer early – but don’t take any companions except a human thrall equipped only with a truncheon, or they’ll likely kill your potential slaves. This tip extends doubly to rhino mounts/pack animals, unless you tell them to not help while you knock out your target, by un-Following them a distance away. (Sadly, you cannot equip them with a truncheon.)
Speaking of breaking thralls, another goal of mine is to learn the Greater Wheel of Pain to break the maximum number at a time as quickly as possible, but I often have more than one Wheel going simultaneously, as it’s frustrating when you come across a good one and have no room at the inn—er… Well, you know what I mean!
Anyway, on the same theme, my next tip is to never let your fires go out; that is, for example always have something smelting in your Furnaces. You’ll notice I used the plural; I have two or even three smelters going at once: one for (Hardened) Brick; a second for Iron/Steel; and, albeit a much later priority, a third for Gold/Silver. Note that the game’s priorities on what to smelt in what order may not be yours (the Furnace chooses), so you’ll likely have to move things around, even after you have more than one – and swap out Smelter thralls as well till you get two or three.
Next are my Blacksmiths; again, I have more than one station turning out Iron Reinforcements and, eventually, Steel ones (aside from crafting weapons and tools when needed, of course; repairs don’t interrupt the queue). Iron Reinforcements plus Brick are needed for Stonebrick building; Hardened Brick and Steel Reinforcements for Reinforced Stone and Stable parts. (I’ve yet to use Black Ice or higher tier materials in construction, much less Star Metal – which I understand you can only work in a forge located a deadly area, where I’ve died more than once trying to get to it.)
I like to have my carpentry station fashioning Insulated/Shaped Wood, and Firebowl Cauldron turning out Steelfire (later, Stone Consolidant), as required. Two or three Planters will meantime be using Compost (from the Heap) to grow useful things like Aloe for healing wraps and potions, as well as Plant Fiber for Twine and their myriad uses; my fish traps are scooping up fishes to squash into Oil in my Fluid Press (for armour/weapon improvements); all while my Grinder makes Bonemeal, Salt, Spice, and, when available, powdered Silver and Gold, plus other powders (e.g., from various lotus plants).
Reminder: As a secondary benefit to all this perpetual crafting, you generate XP for everything your stations create; I’ve gained levels while just riding or walking!
I should now cover food and water: Other than forgetting to take enough with me, especially the latter when going into the desert or far north, I’ve never found either a problem except when I once had too many thralls who were almost literally eating me out of house and home! (I’ll have more to say on the fact that I have to feed them later.) Further, I’ve thus far found little benefit from higher quality foods such as those created by a Cook in a Stove: Spiced and Salted and Honeyed, etc., let alone all the elaborate meals possible, including for pets. My thralls and I get by on dried meat/fish and plain roasts and steaks – but stand by for more experimentation! To conclude my tips on this category, put your excess meat, especially Feral, in your composter to rot (where Putrid Meat is a required ingredient along with Plant Fiber and Bonemeal).
Now, where was I? Oh yes. Here are a few more tips in point form for brevity; again, my opinions only:
- Branches are more useful than Wood for cooking fuel; the latter are better suited to stoke Furnaces and for rendering into carpentered planks.
- I find Repair Kits inefficient, taking up inventory space/weight to carry in addition to resources to craft; BUT MAKE SURE to fully repair everything – tools, weapons, armour – BEFORE venturing forth without them!
- Carry two waterskins, and remember to keep both filled, especially when adventuring in desert/tundra.
- Pack animals and rhino mounts are far tougher and better fighters than Bearer thralls/horses. However, although horses can’t fight at all, they are speedier and more manoeuvrable than rhinos, plus you can use certain weapons ahorse you can’t on a rhinoceros (more in next section).
ODDITIES AND ANOMALIES
The following points are mostly presented as curiosities that appear to either flagrantly flout the laws of physics et al., are contradictory or inconsistent, appear ‘unreasonable’ – albeit I acknowledge I am writing about a game that has magic, after all! – or that I personally just find annoying.
I once again present everything in point form, in no special order:
- Fetch & carry (and chop & mine…); why the h3ll am I doing all the work?! That’s what slaves are for! Mostly kidding here, but it would be nice to tell a thrall to go chop down a tree, for example, or kill and butcher their own food.
- Sandstorms should strip your skin away if you’re inadequately clothed, not just inhibit breathing. Even so, they don’t affect others (your thralls and pets can blithely stay outdoors during one), and torches don’t even go out; yet
- How can a sandstorm damage you underwater, especially if you’re not breathing there? I should test if you take damage during a sandstorm while underwater and using a breathing potion. You should, but…
- Speaking (writing) of potions, why can you only use certain potions/elixirs astride? You can eat/drink but not quaff a healing potion aboard a mount?
- And only one Elixir can be effective at a time?
- Similarly, certain weapons cannot be used atop some mounts, not even a shield; I’ve not tested all possible combinations, and I admit that swinging a one-handed weapon effectively from rhino’s back might be a problem if looked at realistically (ignoring whether riding a rhinoceros is ‘realistic’), but surely using a shield should be allowed on any mount, at least a horse? Devs, ever hear of a knight?
- With the game’s excellent graphics allowing for warpaints etc., why is wet skin/clothing/pelt not modelled? A mod I use makes my skin glow nicely, especially in firelight, so it seems possible.
- Speaking of wet armour, shouldn’t you, well, easily drown in it?
- And while on the topic of water, why can’t crocodiles swim? I was frankly shocked when I found I could swim to safety from a croc (and anything else, for that matter)!
- On the subject of running away, it seems you’re faster than almost everything in the world, especially when mounted. But don’t count on this; even climbing takes Stamina, and if you run out…
- Back to swimming: Why does fast swimming take less Stamina than running? Shouldn’t it be the opposite or at least equal? I can swim in a river in full armour, packing near my weight limit, and get home faster than running along it!
- Why do clearly overmatched creatures insist on attacking you? I can see some being overly aggressive/less intelligent, but one or two hyenas literally nipping at the heels of my rhinoceros mount and elephant/rhino pack animal? Just annoying!
- Almost as silly, why do panthers et al. have the audacity to attack me by running through a herd of nice, tasty deer? Presumably just waiting for a human meal?
- On the mention of animals being afraid, the game’s introduction suggests that most are afraid of fire, but I’ve yet to find one that shies from my swinging torch, let alone not venture near my bonfire.
- Still on the topic of rhino pets, in my opinion they’re too strong, but this may be due to a mod(s).
- Even so, how can a rocknose move a rhinoceros via headbutt?
- It may again be due to mods, but often I’ve found that a mount ends up literally on top of me when in combat, no matter the Follow setting. More than once I’ve had to console the Ghost command to get out from under.
- Similarly, unless you tell it to stay, your mount can follow you into impossible locations, even up cliffs, frequently blocking your exit (or retreat!).
- How often do you swing an axe or pick one-handed? A hatchet, a hammer… yes.
- Why can’t you simply DUCK UNDER TREE BOUGHS?
- Why are Bed Pillows under Survival skills? My character survives quite well without them, at least until she builds her castle nest.
- Why are Followers incorporeal to wandering creatures? I’ve often seen a shaleback, e.g., walk right through one of my peeps or pets.
- Why isn’t rope in the game, not just Twine? ‘Rope’ could/should be made from, er, twining together Twine, and used for higher-tier construction.
- Why do unconscious thralls being dragged stay armed, sometimes weapon even in hand?
- How many of you bake bread in a furnace? I guess it’s just a really big oven?
- Where do shalebacks get giant feathers for their nests?
- Why doesn’t Followers’ equipment wear out like yours?
- Why do I often have to chase rolling corpses, especially, it seems, bouncy spiders? (It’s admittedly not as bad as it used to be, when rhinos and elephants literally went flying when killed, sometimes never to be found.)
WISHLIST
- I may be alone, but I find the constant snorting/snuffling/whinnying of mounts and pack animals very distracting during an otherwise quiet trek across the desert (or through the woods, jungle…). Can we not tune them out or at least down?
- Your torch/tool/weapon stays in hand after climbing, so why can a torch not automatically relight after (dis)mounting?
- It should take more consistent blows to harvest, perhaps dependent upon the size of the deposit. Why four hits for silver; five for iron; coal, six; stone/trees, two to six?
- Along with increased yields from better tools, reduce the number of blows to harvest a node; and
- make this number consistent between types – again, remaining somewhat related to deposit size*.* I’ve seen boulders the size of my first beach hut reduced with the same number of strokes as one that’s breadbox-sized. (Do they make breadboxes anymore? Does anyone use them, if so?)
- Chitin should be more useful; so far, I recall only one or two specialist armours in the game, but you should be able to create a generic ‘hard’ armour, or especially shields, from chitin, not just out of poor baby shalebacks.
- The game yields too much Resin, Bark, Leather (even without an Improved Tannery), Crystal, more Handfuls of Insects and Fat Grubs than I can catch fish with (or eat myself; tasty!). “Too much” is relative, sure, but when you have to start making more and more storage boxes just to hold the excess…
- A Summon Companion command would be useful, alongside Track.
- A timer for the Wheels, to tell you how much longer before a thrall is broken. (You know, instead of checking back every five minutes.)
- Stirrups
- Beds/bedrolls/sleeping mats should have varying sleep effects, i.e., perks depending on relative ‘tier’, such as enhanced Stamina recovery.
There’s a lot more I could add, but I need to shorten this for now.
Yet, before I go, it probably need not be mentioned that nearly all the above is admittedly nit-picky, not affecting gameplay, and is offered in good fun, not to ridicule the game’s developers; moreover, there’s clearly a whole lot I like about the game, too! So, perhaps I’ll write up Part 2? 2000 Hours of Conan Exiles?
Couldn’t do it… 
