First steps (Grimdark)

Alright. You're now able to exit and reenter your home. The Redhaven Map you spotted while being outside is just one of many districts in Ikaanos. In fact, you're even able to go outside Ikaanos, visiting ruined slum districts and far-away jungle zones. We'll stay in Ikaanos for now, however.

Redhaven is actually a pretty neat district. It has everything a budding adventurer needs – a cozy tavern with games, prostitutes and interesting events (Furry's Tavern), a general store that sells all the necessities a freebooter needs, a market that's open 24/7 and a well-supplied weapon's dealer.

Bordering Redhaven is a small adventure park – Marston Swamps, featuring a hunting location, a group of medium tier enemies and a couple of mini quests. To the north lies Westside and Hamilton Square. Hamilton Square is the very center of Ikaanos, unless you live on Emerald Island, featuring a Town Hall where you can read census records and pick up bounties, a quest location (Kymanto Hall) and a nexus of passageways to other districts. Westside is known for Westside Assembly Plant – a huge compound that offers a (relatively) safe way of getting a daily income. Westside also harbors a lot of shops – especially Nika's and House Cyker's huge armor store.

Adventure gear

Before heading out on your first scavenger tour, make sure to pick up some items in Redhaven. They could save your life!

• Purchase at least three tendstims at The General Store.
• Make sure you have a decent weapon, preferably a rifle, and enough ammunition to go with that. Ammo count is listed inside the [XX] brackets to the right of each weapon on your Character sheet.
• Pick up a batch of ropes at The Market – especially if you plan to capture enemies in combat.
• Head over to Westside and a grab a good set armor. Padded is "okay" if you have a tight budget but Leather, or even better, Heavy Leather, will save your life during tougher fights. Don’t forget to keep an eye on your armor's condition. The Soak value will fall if you take serious damage in combat. You can either repair your armor at home, if you're a decent crafter, or over at Westside armor store.

Not enough money!

Maybe the list above was a little too much for your wallet? No worries. You can head out with a Padded Armor – or you can accumulate more cash through working at Westside Assembly Plant. A week or two of hauling cement or mixing vats of sulphatic acid should give you enough money to purchase at least a Leather Armor.

You could also head over to Redhaven Market and sell those furs and merchandise you got in your inventory. Maybe even your old crossbow if you've picked up a better weapon?

Or, you could try your luck at darts and poker games over at Furry's Tavern. The yield (and potential) loss, is even greater in The Docks, where Dockgrave Tavern hosts a classic poker table.

The importance of companions

Ikaanos is a very dangerous place. Heading out alone, especially into unsafe districts, could be catastrophic. A veteran MC can eventually become a formidable powerhouse on his own, but that would probably take many hundreds of days to accomplish.

Make sure to grab a couple of buddies before heading further away than Westside. The next chapter in the tutorial quest explains this part in detail. Look up "Getting my Bearings" in your journal.

After completing "Getting my bearings", you'll have familiarized yourself with equipping armor, arming your companions and how to fight enemies.

The city of Ikaanos

While boats can take you into deep jungles or drop you off on unknown forest-covered islands, most of your adventures take place in the city of Ikaanos.

Ikaanos is a living world with bustling market places, cozy taverns, post-apocalyptic city ruins and opulent palace districts. The city transforms and evolves around the player, who'll be able to observe factions attacking each other, government edicts, spontaneous Corrupting-increasing festivals and hundreds of other political events through the Conclude Day screen that pops up each time the MC goes to bed. Many events are random or scripted to execute when certain thresholds have been reached, making each playthrough unique.

The player is however able to affect the political flow in Ikaanos by either increasing or decreasing the three major City Attributes "Control", "Prosperity" and "Corruption".

You can read more about city attributes here.

Continue: Part IV (NPCs).

Back to Guide by Grimdark.

Read further (The MC)

• Increase your skills and attributes.