Card Survival Fantasy Forest: Complete Guide

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Card Survival Fantasy Forest Guide: Maps, survival tips, quest progression and more.

Card Survival Fantasy Forest: Complete Guide

Source: fuyuneko

Overworld Map

The following is a map of the Overworld.

Underground Map

This is the map of the Underground, accessable through the Fairy Hole.

Progression Map

Here be the actual map of quest progression.

You can currently “turn off” quest unlocks by choosing the “All Knowing” trait upon character creation. You can also skip the initial quests (up until and including “Improvised Shelter”) by selecting to skip the Tutorial upon starting the game (right after selecting your save mode).

Useful Survival Tips

Traits

While the game currently does not have pre-made characters, here’s some tips to get you started!

Important

“Down to Earth” trait completely blocks you off the metaphysical & magic
“All Knowing” trait unlocks all blueprints from the start
“Infinite Bowels/ Bladder” removes these needs – you only lose an easy fertilizer, nothing more

Difficulty

If you’d like an easier start, try some of the following traits. A completely blank character is in actuallity playing on hard mode, so don’t feel like you have to play traitless – the devs offered traits so they can be used.

“Light Eyes” let’s you see for longer, even past the normal darkness hours
“Athletic” makes you lose less stamina from moving & being active
“Low Thirst” reduces need for drinking
“Strong Immune System” makes you less likely to fall sick, and means you wont have to micromanage vitamins and immune system as much
“Pain tolerance” makes you more resistant to pain
“Singular Focus” makes it easier to repeat actions without losing focus and thus skill gain & morale
“Feral” means you don’t care for filth so much & it’s easier to handle wellbeing
“Physical” gain wellbeing by doing physical activities. win win!
“Creative” gain more wellbeing by doing creative activities
“Optimistic” makes it easier to keep morale up

Random Tips

You can repair reed clothing with reed & hide/leather clothing with a threaded needle – any repair action can be done even in darkness!
You have to wash tannins off (in the river for the quest) before putting the leather on the stretching rack
1 charcoal in the oven keeps fuel high enough to dry stuff for the length of a nap
Attach a rope to a basket to make a backpack – currently disabled!
The game remembers the weapon you used in your last fight and will start you with that one, if still available
Fishing bait lasts for a very long time in baskets and can be used for fishing & trapping, make bait out of meat in danger of spoiling!
Fur mittens have a +15min malus to precision tasks
Acorns can be gathered in early autumn, there will be less/ none in late autumn!

Daylight Hours

Daylight and therefore movement around the map varies per season, be aware and have a torch, firestarter and some kind of tinder with you when venturing out late in the day.

Movement along the river is possible even in darkness! The Light Eyes trait influences visibility and thus the time darkness falls for your character.

Spring: 6:00 – 20:00
Summer: 4:00 – 22:00
Autumn: 6:00 – 20:00
Winter: 7:00 – 17:00

Hunting & Fishing

Fishing is less of a base survival skill than it was in CS:TI, do not try to survive by just fishing. Depending on location, time of day and season, fish type and amount – and thus chance to get a catch – vary. On the starting tile, a skill of ~30% is required to have moderate success.

Hunting is an important survival aspect and should be started as soon as possible. It relies mainly on two skill sets: whatever weapon you prefer using (thrown stones, spear, knife) and your tracking skill.

Also keep in mind food spoilage: it isn’t advised to hunt any big game (doe/stag, boar) before you have at least an oven – stags for instance drop over 30 meat, which might require several ovens or smoke houses to manage.

Weapon Skill
Weapon skills can be trained by selecting the weapon and the button “Train”. Be aware of diminishing focus, it is reccommended not to train several times repeatedly. However, training can be done in darkness!
Higher weapon skill influences both your chance to hit with any of your available moves, as well as the amount of different combat moves you have.

Specific animals and their moves may be countered by specific moves:

spear “Brace” move should be used against charging animals and can be used on fleeing ones for a lower hit chance but higher damage
spear “Poke” move has higher hit chances and higher damage on small to mid sized animals (squirrel, badger, fox)
spear “Throw” move has high hit chance and damage on Partridges

Tracking Skill
This skill influences what you see when clicking on animal tracks cards. In the beginning, doing so will feel basically useless – and the action of inspecting tracks like this does not seem to actually influence the skill.
It does, instead, raise while chasing animals that flee from you in combat encounters.

With higher skill, tracks will display their age, size of animal and even direction they fled in, thus making them actually helpful for actively hunting pray.

The skill can be artificially boosted by certain spirit blessings, such as the Fox blessing.

So – how does one actually hunt?
In the beginning, you don’t.
Instead, simply walk around foraging and exploring, animals will run into you. Try taking them down, and if you have enough stamina & daylight, definitely try to give chase, even if you are certain you wont be able to kill it!

With time, your tracking skill will rise and you will be able to actually bring the hunt to them instead of the other way round. You can however try to access track freshness and roll the dice – if the tracks are very fresh, try going in a likely direction to see if you will run into an animal.

Check out the map guide, it includes animal territories.
As an example, you will be more likely to encounter foxes if you wander around Green Tangle after 20:00 o’clock.

Be aware of aggressive animals:

boars roam the southern reaches of the map – similar to lizards in CS:TI, they will first spawn after a grace period of up to 5 days
stags are normally not aggressive, however in their mating season – autumn – they will attack and hunt you if you don’t flee the encounter fast enough; deers roam the northern reaches of the map

Winter Survival

Winter is cold!
And will kill you if not prepared. Do not take it lightly.
Here’s some general TLDR tips for winter survival, read on for even more detailed tips:

Try to get some turnroots in a garden bed before summer ends – they are easy to grow and do so almost everywhere without issues. They also keep very long even if not dried.
Do not disregard clothing! Reed clothes can get you through winter but it will be painful, try finishing at least the Basic Leather Clothing quest by end of autumn.
Having a hut is a must to get through the winter. If possible, improve with at least earthen floors. Placing your first oven inside the hut gives you an easy way to keep up the temperature AND dry food at the same time.
Keep some medicinal herbs, mainly appleweed and frostleaf, on hand – you can poweder them for longer shelf life, be aware that you can store only one kind of powder per container (that’s what jars are for!). You’ll need frostleaf for wounds and appleweed for vitamins/ your immune system, especially if you didn’t manage to get enough veggies before winter.

Frost Injuries
Below 50% body temperature you will have a chance to develop frostnip (an injury) which gives pain and requires cleaning to avoid infection.
If you stay below 50% body temperature with frostnip, it progresses into frostbite.. which gives more pain and is slower to heal.

Stay Warm
Best way to survive winter is to stay warm! Some tips:

Prioritize getting clothing and doing leatherworking quests, even if they don’t immediately give you good clothes – winter can be survived with reed clothes, but it means less time spend outside and more fuel burned to keep warm
Leather is going to be a bottleneck! Prioritize hunting (preferably deer), it is recommended to either set up a camp in the shady bank, or setting some log traps baited with meadowgrass in the same area
Unlock hut upgrades through the Basic Woodworking quest, these upgrades – like the earthen floor, door and fireplace – are comparatively cheap for the extra indoors warmth they give
Fur won’t arrive in large quantities until the winter, unless you have a plan to really hunt foxes. Wolves only show up in winter and give 3 fur each: however, be aware that wolves turn up in groups and can be highly dangerous to an unprepared traveller
Use fire enchantments on clothing for free warmth! The tar requirement for the ritual is annoying, so try to work towards the kiln if possible (that also comes with better storage vessels)

Food & Resources in winter

Nettles start dying in winter, so stock up on fibres for clothes. Nettle leaves can be dried and keep about a day, don’t forget to boil the dried leaves before eating.
Crops will start to go dormant during winter, harvest as much as you can during fall; some root vegetables like fireroot may survive a while into the winter however
The river freezes in winter, but you can cut a hole using a hammering tool (rock) to get water and fish (15 minutes).
Hunting is still viable, deer are still quite plentiful, along with wolves appearing – be careful of wolf packs
Gather acorns during early fall for a long-lasting food source – turning them into flour completely resets their spoilage meter to 100%, so to keep them longer leave them raw for as long as you can/ need before actually boiling them
Mud harvesting is replaced with dirt digging from the river, but mud can still be made by combining a water container with dirt

Snow

Snow accumulates over winter, the amount can be checked by clicking the icon
Once snow gets to high, movement between locations takes 45 min
Shovelling snow currently does not reduce the snow meter
Snow melts very slowly, so the beginning of spring will still be very snowy (and cold)

Health, Sickness & Weight

Keep your immune system and weight up by eating regularly and diverse: you need to keep both protein and vitamins up!

Try using a plate or bread to eat more than two things at the same time – this will also allow for tasty food combinations, like cooked forest cap with either blanched nettle or cooked garlic. If something tastes good, it raises wellbeing!

Be aware that this game does not have pre-made food recipes, instead you can combine as you please with different taste modifiers. Rule of thumb: the more you eat combined, the more it fills the stomach, but only specific combinations taste good.

Weight
Weight is currently affted by:

Amount of exercise you do
Calories from the food you eat (meat, fat and bread have the most)
Being cold
Having fever
Being wounded (the more serious the wound the worse the effect)
Having gut parasites

If unsure, try pinning both the Stomach and Intestines stats additionally to the satiation stat:

Satiation: shows how hungry the character is and if they are ready to eat something. Keep above 100% as long as possible for weight gain – will only lead to nausea above 200%
Stomach: shows how full the character *actually* is, from here food gets transported into the Intestines
Intestines: converts food into weight, try to keep something in here at all times to gain weight

Health
The immune system is vital for staying healthy. Keep it up with varied eating or boost it with specific teas & brews (appleweed tea and firewater) or with magic – many of the spirit blessings boost the immune system
Other tips specifically to keep up or restore health:

Eat or drink garlic, fireroot and appleweed, they all boost your immune system
If you’re brewing Firewater (in a cauldron), add a little bit of appleweed in to decrease toxidity!
Get an amulet or enchanted clothing item with the blessing of fire, badger, deer or boar – they all boost your immune system to varying degrees

Gardening & Farming

Firstly, yes: there is a difference between Garden Plots and Fields!

While garden plots are influenced by the location they are build in, this matters far more for fields – be careful where you put them. Plants should now have info tabs giving some clues as to where they thrive.

Garden plots don’t need to be kept with just one plant – different plants have similar requirements. For instance, appleweed & fairyweed can be grown together, garlic & frostleaf have similar requirements and both like river tiles, and both forest caps and spirit mushrooms like it shady.

How does it actually work?
Raisng plants can feel a bit confusing, here’s some important points to keep in mind:

The information about nutrition, acidity and hydration can be used as a guideline on how high the % of the garden plot/field need to be. If the plot statistics leave the range acceptable for the plant, it will start to slowly lose health. If the stat is corrected, the plant will sowly regain health.
Mite (high nutrition) and Fungus (high humity) infestation is tied to the stat – this means that even if your plant wants high nutrition, it will still get infected by mites if you give it what it wants. However, infestations aren’t harmful for the plant right away and should only be worrying over a certain percentage.
- You can combat mites with overwatering the plot for a bit to balance out the nutrients or, in severe cases, use firewater as a pesticide.
- You can combat fungus by letting the plot dry out for a bit or, in severe cases, using garlic water as a fungicide.
If a plant falls to dormancy due to mismanagement of stats or winter, it will awaken again at 23-30% health and once temperatures are high enough again
The “Inspect” button on the garden plots gives “Care” to the plants, this helps to boost growing speed but also regenerates health and lowers infestations! Try getting an earth spirit blessing or even some of the earth mana spells for greater plant care!
You can raise acidity with dry leaves and nutrition with fish scraps, bait, rotten remains etc. – you can lower acidity with ash.

Here’s a list of all known plants and their requirements, though some of these might be currently disabled or unavailable (as the trader is currently disabled).

Season describes not the season they can be found in, but the one in which they grow best.

Location is taken from the ingame information and testing both, and describes where they can be found and grow best.

Perennial means the plant can be harvested and does not need to be planted again – a dormant version of the plant will stay in the plot.

Some plants, like clover and meadowgrass, can only be planted in fields, not gardens.

A “Low” requirement does not mean 0% currently. Keep stats with low requirement at around 15%, medium at around 50% and high above 90%.

Name	Season	Location	Acidity	Nutrients	Hydration	Harvest	Perennial?
Fairyweed	?	Oaken groves	Medium	Medium	Medium	5	Yes
Frostleaf	?	Near Rivers	Medium	Medium	Medium-High	?	?
Appleweed	?	Clearings	Medium	Medium	Medium	?	?
Wild Garlic	Spring, Summer	Near Rivers	Low	Medium-High	High	?	?
Turnroot	Spring & Autumn	Oak Clearing & River	Medium	Medium	Medium	3-6	No
Fireroot	Can grow in winter, best in autumn	Not too humid	Medium	Medium	Medium	3-6	No
Forest Cap	Autumn	Shady moist areas	High	High	High	4-6	Yes
Spirit Mushroom	Autumn	Oak Clearing	High	High	High	?	?
Springberry	Spring	Pine Area	Medium	High	Medium	?	?
Billberry	Summer	Pine Area	High	Low	High	?	?
Clover	Year round	Oak clearings	?	?	?	?	?
Meadowgrass	Seeds in summer	Pine clearings	?	?	?	?	?
Rye	?	Trader	High	Medium	Medium	?	?
Peas	?	Trader	Medium	Medium	Low	?	?

Magic Overview

Tips for Magic

You can equip up to 2 amulets.
Enchantments on clothing seems to drop faster than on amulets.
Boni from different spirit’s blessings (like Immune system from badger, deer and fire) stack.
Summoning can fail and injure you (conditions unclear).
A chance to summon a spirit can occur randomly when mind is altered and doing an activity that raises the affinity (conditions unclear).

Unlocking Magic

If you are playing with the “All Knowing” Trait or in Free Mode, Magic is automatically unlocked!

If you play on Quest Mode, Fantasy Forest allows you to never come in contact with magic at all if you so wish – in fact the trait “Down to Earth” allows you to completely block out any chance of encountering it from the start.

This also means there are some steps needed to unlock magic and spirits in the first place – mainly, it requires an Altered Mind State.

Altered Mind State
To alter your mind state, a couple different methods can be used, such as meditating, interacting with places of power or focusing on an amulet. Additionally, you can consume certain herbs for quicker mind altering.
The following table assumes no mind alteration affecting traits were picked on character chreation. For medicines, the list assumes one dose (one herb or one tea).

(This list is not yet complete, missing spirit mushroom numbers).

Method	Alteration Progress	Max Alteration
Sleep Deprivation	~1% every 45 min	Up to 34% with serious sleep deprivation
Dried Fairyweed Tea	0.35% per 15 min	Capped at 3%
Powdered Fairyweed Tea	0.35% per 15 min	Capped at 4.5%
Fresh Spirit Mushroom	??	Capped at 30%

Unlock Magic Quest
To unlock an awareness of magic and the connected quest, an altered mind state of 25-32% has to be reached. If a shrine was visited before, 25-27% seem to be enough – without visiting a shrine, the quest triggers at around 30-32%.

Once unlocked, actual Magic can happen in three stages. Additionally, different spirits give different benefits, see the Places of Power and Animal Spirits lists for the details.

Blessing: a short time boost.
Enchantment: a temporary blessing ankered to an amulet or clothing item.
Summoning: letting a spirit possess you, which grants all blessings and additional benefits until the spirit leaves – however the spirit requires it’s urges to be met or it will be unhappy.

Places of Power

There are a couple of shrines and places of power that can be found scattered around the map. Here powerful spirits of the land can be found and asked for blessings, enchantments or even posession.

An exception for this is the fire spirit, which does not have a permanent dwelling but rather visits ritual pyres build by the player. Another is the darkness spirit, which only appears every ~15min in the Ominous Tunnel if you linger there with an altered mind and only offers possession, no blessing or enchantment.

Spirit	Location	Benefits
Fire	Ritual Pire (player build)	Warmth, Immune System Boost, Help with starting and keeping fires
Earth – Sacred Oak	Great Oak tile, far west of starting tile	Crop Care Boost, Heal Crops, Restore underbrush
Water – Sacred Spring	Greenfalls Cave, far north of starting tile	Slows Thirst, Heals hand/feet damage & rashes, ???
Darkness	Ominous Tunnel (with altered mind state), in the Fairy Hole following South and then SW tunnels	Darkness Vision, Stealth Boost, Blinding Attack
Flint – Flint Motherlode	Flint Sett, in the Fairy Hole following South and then SW tunnels past the Ominous Tunnel	Increased Knapping skill, Increase sharpness of flint weapons, Raise Flint Quality

Animal Spirits

Different Animals roam the map, and each of them houses a spirit that, upon successful hunt, can be asked for a blessing, enchantment or even possession.

Take care not to release the spirit – requirements for a successful interaction, apart from materials, are an altered mind state and a remaining spirit.

Animal	Benefits
Badger	Foraging Aid, Immune System Boost, Wound Healing
Fox	Ambushing Aid, Tracking Aid, ???
Doe/Stag	Alertness Boost, Immune System Boost, Wound Healing
Boar	Foraging Aid, Immune System Boost, ???
Wolf	Tracking Aid, Combat Efficiency Boost, ???
Flintclaw	Badger, Flint, and Darkness Benefits: Foraging Aid, Immune System Boost; Increase sharpness of flint weapons, Raise Knapping Skill; Darkness Vision, Stealth Boost, Blinding Attack

The Flintclaw, specifically, is basically a boss fight in the tunnels under the fairy hole – it will respawn every 20-30 days. Also be aware there is no corpse – it’s a spirit, not an animal – the Flintclaw will simply ask you to bind it once beaten by you.

Blessings

Darkness and Flintclaw both can only posses you, and while there are no associated blessings for darkness, Flintclaw can bless you with both the Flint and Badger benefits while bound to you.

Land Spirit	Requirement	Effect
Fire	1x Dry Reeds	Perceived Temperature Boost, Immune System Boost
Earth	1x Fertilizer (any kind)	Fertility Boon: 21% Care, Heal Crops, Restore Underbrush
Water	0.8 Units of Sacred Water	???
Flint	1x Flint, 1x Hammering Tool	Increased Knapping Skill (higher durability and quality of flint tools), Higher Sharpness

Animal Spirit	Requirement	Effect
Badger	1x Bugs	Foraging Aid, Immune System Boost
Fox	1x Small Mammal (Raw or Cooked)	Tracking Aid, Ambush Aid
Doe/Stag	1x Clover or Meadowgrass	Alertness Aid, Immune System Boost
Boar	1x Forest Cap or Turnroot	Foraging Aid, Immune System Boost
Wolf	1x Bone	Tracking Aid, Chasing Aid, Combat Efficiency Boost

Enchantments

Darkness and Flintclaw both can only posses you, and while there are no associated enchants for darkness, Flintclaw can enchant items with both the Flint and Badger benefits while bound to you.

All enchantments require Fairyweed in fresh, dried or powdered form.

Land Spirit	Requirement	Effect
Fire	1x Dry Reeds, 1x Heated Tar, 1x Fairyweed	Perceived Temperature Boost, Immune System Boost
Earth	6x Fertilizer (any kind), 1x Fairyweed	Fertility Boon: 21% Care, Heal Crops, Restore Underbrush
Water	5.8 Units of Sacred Water, 1x Fairyweed	Calming Flow: 12% (Less thirst, Heals rashes & hand/feet damage)
Flint	3x Flint, 1x Hammering Tool, 1x Fairyweed	Increased Knapping Skill (Higher durability and quality of flint tools), Higher Sharpness

Animal Spirit	Requirement	Effect
Badger	3x Bugs, 1x Fairyweed	Foraging Aid, Immune System Boost
Fox	1x Partridge, 1x Fairyweed	Tracking Aid, Ambush Aid
Doe/Stag	4x Clover or Meadowgrass, 1x Fairyweed	Alertness Aid, Immune System Boost
Boar	3x Forest Cap or Turnroot, 1x Fairyweed	Foraging Aid, Immune System Boost
Wolf	3x Bone, 1x Fairyweed	Tracking Aid, Chasing Aid, Combat Efficiency Boost

Summoning

Summoning a spirit to posses you gives you all their blessings for as long as it stays with you. Additionally it allows you to:

Cast spells via a Focus, cast spells in combat, cast spells while you’re running around via the magic tab (character screen) and also enables you to enchant several things without needing to kill the same animal multiple times.
Spells can be cast by draging the focus onto the spirit, that fills the focus, then drag it on the interactable of that spell, in the case of a beast spirit for instance, a wound.
All Beast spirits have a spell to increased wound healing factor.
Summoning a spirit can fail, and a failure can have consequences, listed under “Failure Effect” below.

Spirits may approach you outside of their place of power if you have high affinity with them, a highly altered mind and perform some tasks connected to the spirit – these other summoning possibilities are listed under “Alternatives” in the table below.

Land Spirit	Requirement	Alternatives	Spells	Failure Effect
Fire	24x Dry Reeds, 3x Heated Tar, 1x Fairyweed	Gaze into the Pyre	Refuel fire for 25% of wand, Lights tinder for 50% of wand	Burn Injury
Earth	12x Fertilizer (specifically), 3x Fairyweed, 3x Spirit Acorns	???	Add Care to plants, ???	???
Water	47.8 Units of Sacred Water, 1x Fairyweed	???	???	???
Darkness	Spend time in Ominous Tunnel	???	Darkness Vision, ???	???
Flint	???	???	50% of wand to raise flint quality to 100%	???

Animal Spirit	Requirement	Alternatives	Spells	Failure Effect
Badger	3x Bugs, 1x Fairyweed	???	Foraging Aid, Immune System Boost, Increased Wound Healing Factor	??? Wound
Fox	1x Partridge, 1x Fairyweed	???	Tracking Aid, Ambush Aid, Increased Wound Healing Factor	Bite Wound
Doe/Stag	12x Clover or Meadowgrass, 1x Fairyweed	???	Alertness Aid, Immune System Boost, Increased Wound Healing Factor	Bite Wound
Boar	???	???	Foraging Aid, Immune System Boost, Increased Wound Healing Factor	???
Wolf	1x Large Animal, 1x Fairyweed	???	Tracking Aid, Chasing Aid, Combat Efficiency Boost, Increased Wound Healing Factor	??? Wound
Flintclaw	Defeat the Flintclaw	–	Darkness Vision, 50% of wand to raise flint quality to 100%	??? Wound

Affinity & Urges

To even consider getting assitance from a spirit, a certain affinity has to be reached with them. Different elements and spirits require different actions to raise affinity.

Spirits possessing the player have an urge that fits their nature.

This urge can be appeased with certain actions – failing to do so will have the spirit unhappy, influencing your wellbeing and morale.

The Flintclaw itself has no specific affinity but success may be influenced by darkness, beast and flint affinities – or the summoning success relies entirely on your ability to kill it.

While the Flintclaw offers many benefits, it also has more severe urges – while possessed by the Flintclaw, the player will have to take care of three different urges at the same time – they have separate meters and therefore need to be taken care of individually with their relevant actions.

Land Spirit	Affinity	Urge
Fire	Turn on campfire, Warm up/Wait at fire, Stay in area with pyre	Warm up or wait at fire, Light something on fire
Earth	Spend time at & Commune with the Sacred Oak, Inspect gardens	???
Water	Being wet, Spend time in the waterfall cave, Gaze at water	???
Darkness	Spend time in darkness	Spend time in darkness
Flint	Mine Flint Motherlode, Spend time at Flint Motherlode	Knap/Craft tools with flint, Mine flint, Spend time at Flint Motherlode

Animal Spirit	Affinity	Urge
Badger	Release Animal Soul, Hunt animals	Forage, Dig, Spend time underground
Fox	Release Animal Soul, Hunt animals	Hunt small animals, Butcher small animals, Eat meat
Doe/Stag	Release Animal Soul, Hunt animals	Travel through the forest, Meet deer, Eat vegetables
Boar	Release Animal Soul, Hunt animals	???
Wolf	Release Animal Soul, Hunt animals	Probably: Hunt large animals, Butcher large animals, Eat meat
Flintclaw	–	All the urges of Darkness, Badger, and Flint simultaneously