In order to maximize your pleasure with this game, you need to know how to do it well.

Some of these tips are not explained nor featured in the tutorials, but the game DOES feature lots of (discoverable) mechanics that once understood and taken advantage of, maximize your fun.

Again, in a world and age that the games hold your hand tight, this one's tutorial does not make a good job explaining some of the mechanics explained here (seems they were thrown there for people to discover) and that's in part why it received hate reviews.

Also, lots of Youtubers went on the hate wagon, made videos trashing this game and spread lies on purpose in order to get likes/subscribers (money for them).

I hope you find this guide helpful and enjoyable.

If you stay on roads, the map marker will NEVER disappear. Yes, even on uncharted roads. Out of flags? Want to see the marker in a hurry? Run to the nearest road.

If you have flags, USE THEM they give your exact position on the map no matter where you might be and the last one you put blinks. They help a lot when you go into uncharted territory or where the roads are far. Also, they are cheap and you can bring up to 9. I wish I knew this from the beginning.

Every time you find a new area with animals to hunt, put the corresponding marker on your map. The same goes for water, important herbs, and the containers. These will respawn in time, so you always know where to look.

You can dash punch the animals to fulton them when on the ground, or kill them for immediate consumption if you are in a hurry to eat. Eating raw animals has a small chance to make you sick, but it does not kill. If you only eat one, the chance to be sick is very low.

Same goes for water. In the early game, clean water is scarce, and a luxury. If you drink ONE bottle of dirty water, the chances of getting sick are really low. If you get sick, don't worry the debuff is not too annoying and passes naturally with time. Also, you can't get water sick 2 times in a row.

Already sick? you just gained the ability to drink all the dirty water you want (up to 70% hydration) And it will pass within minutes.

Of course, later you will have your farms, water filtering/boiling, and even cattle.

The reason why I'm asking you to mark containers is that later they will respawn with loot boxes, which contain the best gear and weapons in the game along with coop.

I realized this after finishing the story, don't let this happen to you :(

Also, there are 2 great guides here on steam that show the locations of ALL containers and their contents, use them to get the important recipes you might have missed (some are very important, like the cattle cages).

If you get a game over, you have 2 options:

1- "RESTART FROM LAST SAVE" does exactly that, normally your last save is always when you enter or exit your base, but you lose the loot gained on that particular expedition.

2- "RETURN TO BASE CAMP" this is almost always the best option. Sends you back to the base and all the materials that you were carrying when you died will stay in a box marked on your map in the exact location where it happened. This box can be just fultoned ala Dark Souls when you are on your way to the objective you missed. If you get too many game overs the box is lost, but not in the first one because there's some tolerance (not sure how much).

You get to make the choice between both options.

The second option is not available when you fail a drilling mission, or some very specific cases when it wouldn't make sense at all (like the last boss).

You don't have to farm ALL the enemies. Please don't do it: it's tedious and wastes time and thus resources (food, oxygen, drinks). If you want to level up fast, play coop once unlocked.

Also, please don't kill them all, as the tutorial says, they can be avoided with stealth or outrun if they discover you. If you kill them all, you are wasting, again, precious time which translates into oxygen, food, and drinks. Pick your fights wisely.

The only purpose of farming some of them should be to get some free oxygen, and later you will get a craftable, big tank to put where you like in the middle of expeditions.

The faster way is to approach with stealth, backstab and you get the ability to fulton the enemy.

If going on an expedition, most of the time you don't need heavy armor.

You don't need to be armed to the teeth with lots of turrets, all kind of structures, throwables, gadgets.

Just bring your flags and whatever another toy you want, but don't exceed yourself (remember, you don't have to kill everything). A light melee weapon, a bow, and a light shotgun for emergencies (for mortars/trackers) will do most of the time. For throwables, in my experience, you just need one, whichever you prefer. If you know you will be defending a transporter, try to balance things up maybe one or 2 kinds of defenses (don't loot the materials next to the transporter, do it after you activate it even if you get over the weight limit the transporter will be there to reach your base immediately).

Add whatever you want but don't exceed yourself too much, because you will hit the weight limit FAST if you don't take this advice, and it will be frustrating for you to lose the ability to loot the rare stuff you find in the way (though, the best way to get good loot is coop).

All this advice gets invalidated if you know you are going on a solo iris energy digging mission or coop. Be a good Rambo and bring the best of EVERYTHING for those or you will regret.

When you need to defend a transporter in order to activate it, you can kill the surrounding enemies BEFORE starting the waves.

This way it will be a lot easier because the game tends to send you only the surrounding enemies.

So... if you see an army of mobs in the vicinity outside the transporter, those are going to be the ones that you will be fighting AT THE SAME TIME when you activate it!!!

In order to kill them fast, I tend to throw a kuban crystal to them to pile them up, then throw a grenade, c4, Molotov or whatever (no point on wasting ammo).

When the transporter is activating and the timer is on, any enemy you kill gets farmed automatically, so you can come back for the pile of bodies you killed and they get farmed instantly.

Finally, on some rare occasions, the game will spawn mortar enemies those are FIST PRIORITY because they can ruin the transporter from afar with bombs and shoot at you. Kill them ASAP. In one of those "transporter defense" missions, you will find 2 mortars (the weapon you can use) already set for you for free. Use them!!! Bombers can explode and break your defenses in one hit. Kill them when they are far from said defenses so they explode on enemies and if they are already there, you can shoot them to the weakest point on their back or backstab them (no need for stealth) and they won't explode.

So:

1-Kill enemies surrounding the transporter in a convenient way (fast and efficiently), BEFORE activating said transporter.
2-Put your defenses and activate the transporter.
3-Run to the pile of mobs you killed to get them automatically farmed.
4-Return to the transporter and defend it from the enemies that you might have missed, giving priority to nearby bombers, trackers in front of you and mortars in general. In that order.
5-Loot all the goods around the transporter when it finishes activating (NOT before).
6-Use that same transporter to go to your base immediately and store those materials/do whatever.
7-Profit.

Standing you can run, makes some noise but not much. You can also sprint making a lot of noise but as I said most enemies can be outrunned. Standing should be your default position.

Crouched you make nonsignificant noise. If you want a stealth approach, use it (after you finish the game in some parts stealth is almost mandatory).

Prone is only for very specific situations. You can get crits while sharpshooting from this position but only after you unlock the specific character class.

THIS is the most important one.

Coop in this game is not a side dish. I repeat: coop in this game is NOT a side activity.

It is a main one, just as the single player. The moment you unlock it, just try it and also try to win (you sometimes will get carried by higher level players). Coop missions deal looooots of materials and a great bunch of exp (kuban energy) depending on your performance and you will level up/gear up faster.

You won't need to harvest wanderers again. EVER. Also, there is a good chance you will get uncommon, rare, legendary or epic weapons/gear which come with added perks (like ammo saving, damage/crit boost, chance to not die at zero life, or better stats for your character like STR, END, etc when equipped much like ala Diablo). The hardest the difficulty the better. I got a really good bow after a coop mission, and that was a game changer for me.

Need exp? Materials? Want to get better gear/weapons? Campaign getting too hard? Want some great fun? Fire up coop.

I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH FIRE UP COOP ELSE YOU ARE MISSING OUT!!!

**EDIT** AS OF SEPTEMBER 10, 2019 PEOPLE ARE COMPLAINING ABOUT DISCORD GROUP NOT POPULATED ENOUGH ANYMORE. PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT AFTER ALL THIS TIME, A LOT OF PEOPLE MADE FRIENDS AND ARE USING PRIVATE GROUPS OUTSIDE DISCORD.

SOLUTION: https://s.team/chat/LfUSFDQL HERE YOU WILL FIND THE PLAYERS. ENJOY.
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I was hesitant to put this here because I knew it would affect quick match wait times, but for many people, these are really long already, and I'll provide the solution and the truth.

Last week (March 12, 2018), I wanted to play nonstop but I was greeted by the long wait times, only to find incomplete groups. Then I went to the Steam discussions and, apart from the honest answers from other players, I was told a lot "Game is dead. Deal with it. #fknami".

The problem with the steam discussions for this game, in particular, is that they lack active moderation, so there is a number of haters that literally live there stalking almost every thread, trying to convince people that their game is dead, to stop playing and just "deal with it".

And since this game progression (and fun) depends a lot on multiplayer (like other games) I thought "Damn it's dead. Haters won. There goes my $40, and my time".

BUT after some helpful kind answers and researching a little found 3 very useful tools, and the truth:

1. The Metal Gear Survive Steam forums.
Although there are trolls and some people trying to convince you to stop playing, because lack of proper moderation, the vast majority of the population will want to help you if you want to play with them and will let you add them.


2. https://www.reddit.com/r/metalgearsurvive/
This subreddit is actively moderated, has (enforced) rules, and no hate is allowed. There are people from all platforms actively helping each other and sharing useful stuff.


3. Their Discord server https://discord.gg/QdNywfC THIS IS IMPORTANT!
I was hesitant to try Discord because I'm new to that tool, and never bothered with it. But once I did and understood how to use it BAM! now I can play all I want the moment I want without having to wait for matchmaking.

It is also heavily moderated, with enforced rules, bots, and no haters. Only people making groups to play and enjoy, and sharing useful stuff too like game news, tips, etc.



Assuming you play on PC, this is what you need to do:

1. Download and install the Discord client (it's free, and has quality).

2. Make your account. This account will be good for all your games, not just this one.

3. On your browser, enter https://discord.gg/QdNywfC and you will join the Metal Gear Survive subreddit discord server (you can also enter this in the client itself).

4. Click the "#rules" section to your left and read them (contains useful info).

5. Click on the "ai-pod" section to your left, type there "!teampc" so that you are flagged as a pc player and the #pc_group_finder section opens for you.

6. Enter that #pc_group_finder you just unlocked in the last step, and all the "lost soldiers" that abandoned quick match will be there, wanting to play with YOU (you are one of those now).

7. Just say "looking for a game" or "lfg" and your desired difficulty. People will respond, you add them to steam, invite, and play all you like. And a lot of people will want to play more than 1 match (profit).

8. Play all you like without waiting, with your "dead" toy, you devil. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)


THE TRUTH:

Time to find random games is suffering not because the game is dead, but because people are spread up playing any combination of the 3 available difficulties, plus the 2 available game modes. Also, lots of them now have private friend groups, so they don't bother with the quick match anymore. Lastly, everyone else is RIGHT NOW using the discord server, because it is a lot faster. GAME IS FAR FROM DEAD. And they are adding new content (balance weekly, and new content monthly).

You won't need to stop playing those intense, wonderful, hard coop matches that I'm pretty sure you enjoy since you are here.

Ohhh and Discord will serve you well for LOTS of games, not just this one because you will find almost all the people from the games you thought were dead.



Once you try discord, randoms are not needed anymore. EVER. For a lot of games.
The server: https://discord.gg/QdNywfC

**EDIT SEPTEMBER 2019** PEOPLE SEEM TO HAVE MOVED HERE https://s.team/chat/LfUSFDQL

No limits for you my friend, enjoy all you like.

A single character can learn and level up all the classes, and you can redo character cosmetic creation all the times you like from your base. If you make more characters, all of them come with an extra base. All your characters/bases share almost everything (materials, gear, weapons, ammo, etc).

So, if you have more than one base you can produce double resources, up to 5 bases working at the same time, and this is the REAL purpose of said avatar slot. People are confusing it for a slot to save your game, some of them on purpose, please be aware.

If your family wants to play, it is better for them to use Steam family sharing via their own respective Steam accounts, otherwise, they will use up your ammo and materials, and you will regret.

You receive SV coins (in-game currency) for this and other things on a daily basis just for logging into the game. Just play the game and eventually, you will have everything without spending a dime. I already have 700 SV coins, just by logging in (as of March 6, 2018).

Lastly, Demi does a GREAT job explaining this a lot better than me, the confusion of the infamous, evil "save slot" and he points out the specifics of what is shared, and what is not. Credit to him:

http://psteamcommunity.yuanyoumao.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1311377360

I would like to add... after you finish the game a lot of endgame content unlocks, and the real game begins (the game is endless, and more content is coming this month (March 2018).

You also unlock 4 more character classes for coop and solo play (all the classes are attainable on one character don't worry).

GET the alternate ending first! just turn back and take the blue wormhole instead of doing the final battle. That way after you watch it (it's really genius and you will understand why the story is actually good, and there are already theories being discussed about this matter) the credits will roll, you will get the achievement, and you will be returned to the exact spot to do the other ending.

This is the video I mention in the introduction. And the one I got inspired with. It illustrates some of the tips of this guide in a great way.

Please watch it in order to understand what I mean. It shows some really golden tips on how to make the most of this game while responding to some of the hate Youtubers. (The video starts with Angry Joe and Videogamedonkey thrashing the game for a moment, and then he responds with tips to respond to the complaints).


This guy is clearly not a Youtuber, so the hate/corruption does not affect him in any way. Respect for him he is a brave guy. Credit to Muxper for the video.

Did I tell you coop is a blast and makes you get stronger faster?

This was my first guide -ever- and I hope you enjoyed reading it and found it helpful. I had a lot of fun making it and I'll keep working on it as I discover things worth adding.

If you have more tips to suggest for struggling players or spot some mistakes please get in touch with me in the comments.

I am having a lot of fun with this game and made this so others can have the same pleasure playing like me.

Please if you like this guide, rate it so more people can extend their pleasure :)


Have fun ;)

Update 1: Added the sections "How to FIND games FAST. (You think it's dead? It's got bigger than you think)." and a changelog "Keep yourself in shape, and they will follow you".

Update 2: Added the link for the steam community chat for metal gear survive. You can find all the games you want there.