I just bought Conan Exiles (and all it’s expansions) with some post-Christmas money since I’ve had my eye on it for a while and want to try it. After having done some research I’m trying to find a good place to start playing the game. By almost all accounts the game is pretty bad if you just play it alone single player, and apparently the general servers are horrendous to play on with groups of players griefing anyone and anyone who tries to do anything if they aren’t part of similar groups. I guess what this means is I need to find a decent primarily PVE server someone is running where they don’t mind me hanging around and slowly figuring things out at my own pace.
I used to play Age Of Conan (later changed to Conan Unchained) quite a bit, and enjoyed RPing with some of my guilds (or more accurately I kept getting distracted from actually playing the game the regular way by doing so). I’ve also read a good number of the old Conan stories and comics, but I’m not a stickler for a pristine lore-perfect world, without the intrusion of other kinds of fantasy elements.
I’d also be interested in seeing a guide to modding the game (I have it on STEAM) because I keep seeing references to mods (especially on the kinds of servers I’m thinking of) and apparently not all of the mods used simply install through the workshop.
Since it seems to be mentioned constantly, I will say I don’t mind ERP (actually enjoy it sometimes, but I’m not especially good at it) so I don’t care if there is a lot of that on a server, but my primary interest for a while is likely to be figuring the game out itself and exploring the world, probably solo a lot of the time until I catch up.
At any rate I just finished installing the game, if anyone wants to recommend a good server for me, or give me any advice or information I’d appreciate it.
Hi and welcome to the forums
Firstly, I hope you’ll have a great time in Conan, whatever you decide to do, and that you’ll get the many hours of enjoyment from it that many of us have.
I have no idea where you got the info that the game is bad in singleplayer - having spent thousands of hours in singleplayer, I can assure you that it can still be plenty of fun That said, maybe singleplayer isn’t for you - in which case there should be plenty of good servers out there for you (hopefully someone else can offer some recommendations on that).
Modding the game through Steam is incredibly simple - just subscribe to the mods you are interested in and then place them into a list via the ‘mods’ tab in the main game launcher. (I highly recommend also following the information provided by Multigun regarding mod order -
Here is a list of my mods related to Less Building Placement Restrictions (LBPR), as well as best spots to place other mods, and what their load order should look like.
Pippi
Any mod that modifies or creates new buildings, placeables, pets, or thralls.
Pythagoras mods
LBPR - Additional Features
Builder’s Workbench Reborn
LBPR
Pickup + or Unlock Plus with Pickup
But if you are going to be playing on a modded server, then you will need the exact same mod list in the exact order that they provide.
The vast majority of CE mods are available through steam - but if you do need a non-steam mod for a specific server, then the admins of that server should be able to help you get hold of it and get it installed correctly.
But above all - I’d say the best advice I can give you is to have fun with it. Explore, die, run away, rebuild, dominate Don’t expect the game to hold your hand, or tell you how to do things - the learning curve will be pretty steep and a lot of things will seem difficult or impossible, but you’ll also find that what seemed impossible early on will become easy later. Don’t be afraid to ask questions - here or in game once you find a server - there’s lots to learn and many of us still learn new things even thousands of hours into the game. Welcome Exile - adventure awaits you
Although thier is some toxicity, your best bet before you dive into privates and mods, play pve official. Yes there might be a few trolls, but that way you get the devs version as well as can play at your own pace. Once you start using mods, most make the base game trivial, esp weapons and magic. They are more for endgame type players who burned out and find base game easy and redundant.
Now as far as pve, be upfront on how much help you want from the servers gmplayers. Many will offer high end stuff way before you even understand the game. Itvis up to you, but I sincerely say play some pve officials, politely refuse gift baskets so you can get your money’s worth and have that new car excitement when you figure out or build up. Once you feel like you have the basics and have explored, then find a good private. You will also appreciate the mods for what they are (end game) because you played the basic first and will see how much they add (or subtract) from the base game experience.
I agree with the main thrust of what you are saying - getting some experience of the basic game is a good idea. However,I disagree that mods make the base game trivial. That all depends which types of mods you want to use - if you are talking about something like Age of Calamitous or EEWA, then yeah sure. But it’s also possible to build mod lists whose effects on the game are entirely cosmetic (or, as in the case of LBPR, fix some base game issues that were necessary to support multiple game modes but are not necessary in PVE). So I agree that it is a good idea to get a sense of the base game (and will help appreciate mods more), but I disagree that they are necessarily end game
(And definitely refuse ‘gift baskets’ if you can - always feels better to earn it for yourself )
I enjoy singleplayer thoroughly and play without mods, so to each their own. All I’ll really say is don’t be afraid to tweak settings on Singleplayer to make it a little more bearable (such as shortening thrall/animal taming times and customizing the purge to occur faster or turn it off completely).
If by some chance you stumble upon my servers, beware my son is a doof and has a nasty habit of not properly aiming trebuchets.
Thanks for the responses, and the advice (got busy yesterday and won’t have a chance to start until later today). I’ve also been doing a bit more research into the game.
I am torn between trying single player, or the Rainfall server (they responded to me on the Steam forums, and I should be DLing the required mods now, it sounds like a decent environment). Either way I can’t wait to start playing and should hopefully be dying in the badlands by the end of the day.
The game has somewhat unique atmosphere. You start alone, without any equipment, in a desert, completely at a loss what to do.
Finding out what the h… is going on, where you are and so on is a huge part of the game, at least it was to me.
Many servers add a starting village or quest, a NPC to greet you or something. That’s fine when you start over, but it’s actually detrimental to experience the pure initial confusion that makes the game unique.
The lore is spread out like a trail of breadcrumbs across a desolate wasteland. But if the landscape is dotted with player bases, added NPCs and so on, they’re easy to overlook.
When you got a feel for the game, start adding mods, especially cosmetic ones like Fashionist. And maybe try out multiplayer. But don’t jump into that for the first run.
Definitely stay far far away from the officials. You won’t find any decent amount of RP on those and the experience will sour the game for you very readily. Also they don’t usually have a lot of players online. What an official server considers full capacity (an event that happens rarely except on one or two of them) is a slow night for some RP servers.
Finding a decent Conan RP server can be a little tricky. Usually its word of mouth, and they don’t talk much here. So here’s how to actually find them.
Go ahead and browse the Steam Workshop for mods. But mods you will likely want to look for are:
Pippi
Improved Quality of Life
Roleplay Aesthetics
Immersive Armors
Roleplay Redux
Devious Desires
These are the mods used most often by Roleplaying servers and have sections in their discords for those servers to advertise. So you’ll want to visit their workshop pages and check for discord links. You are very much likely to find those servers there. At that point you can join that server’s discord and get a feel for what they’re about and if its a good fit for you.
Just a heads up, if a RP server is PVP, its usually has restrictions on PVP. They don’t usually allow people to attack people at a whim. Some sort of roleplay has to happen and a reason given before attacking can happen. Same with with attacking buildings. These activities can’t be done when the owner is offline, and also requires some sort of roleplay. Each server has its own rules on how that is done.
As for adult content. Just about every roleplay server will have that. Its Conan Exiles. Its pretty much expected.
the game is fine in Single Player but like every other game, it’s more fun with friends and in a group.
the same goes for the game if you run the dedicated server on either the same machine as the client (if you have a decent PC), or are running the dedicated server on a laptop you connect to.
the official servers are also fine to play on and represent the most common and reasonable rule set when playing the game in public. Likely the only aspect of official servers that might be considered “bad” from an individualistic point of view, is the 7-day decay rates.
I’ve found private servers to be much more problematic than officials - especially for single players. If the admin (or the admin’s pet friends) doesn’t like something (anything) about you or something you do/did/didn’t do but got blamed for, they can and do just kick you out. BOOM Gonzo!
The downside to playing solo on official servers is that many of the dungeons and bosses almost require at least two players to conquer. If you play in Single Player mode or run your own dedicated server (on the same machine, a laptop or via rented server space) you can lower the difficulty a bit. Exceptions for the highly talented of course - always.
I guess it might be better to play vanilla for a few weeks or months first, then you’ll know what mods you might like and not like.
And finally, ping matters in this game… So it’s not really like you could or should just start playing on some server that someone across the country happens to recommend. Use the server listing and sort by ping. Log on to the lowest ping for the server type you want (I suggest officials 1st) and with the highest number of players during the hours you play and check out the people and atmosphere for a few days. Don’t go above 100 ping which also means there will likely only be a handful you can try. If you don’t like one try another. Select the best one and make it your home or goto server. There’s no rules against playing on multiple servers either so you gots options there too.
Whatever you do and however you do it, just remember to have fun… Welcome in…
Like some other people have said, there is nothing wrong with single player. I’ve played at least hundreds of hours in single player, and it’s been fun.
Gonzo!