Doloc Town Early Game Guide

The early game in Doloc Town spans roughly your first two in-game seasons: from Cassia’s tutorial through guild membership, copper pickaxe crafting, and your first serious push into River Valley. Mistakes here — selling every seed, smelting without upgrades, exploring without food — create friction that feels like difficulty spikes but is really poor prep. This guide orders priorities so you hit story gates on time while building a farm that survives acid rain. Pair it with Getting Started, Weather Protection, and How to Play.

Week one checklist

Days 1–2: Finish tutorial crops, meet Mayor Claud, talk to Alchemy when flagged, and install plastic coverings before the first acid season. Keep the welding mask for outdoor gathering in Outskirts.

Days 3–5: Expand planters vertically, craft a sickle for multi-tile harvests, and stock cooked meals. Sell surplus vegetables to Lank but retain seeds for rotation listed in Crops.

First week goals: 500–1500 gold buffer, basic plank and wire production, storage box organization, and side quests from shop street NPCs while waiting for valley road clearance.

Use the Daily Checklist once you track more than six chores per day.

Economy: what to sell vs craft

Early income comes from fast crops, trash bag scrap, and regrowing tree clusters planted near your bed. Do not dump rare ore — smelt it once engineering unlocks. Lank buys produce; Gerald consumes planks and metal sheets for building upgrades.

Cooking doubles stamina efficiency. A camp oven recipe that restores 80 energy beats raw ingredients when you plan double-jump cave trips. Recipe unlocks arrive via friendship hearts — talk to everyone after shop hours.

Tech tree priorities (no gene rush yet)

Spend tech points from Guildmaster Bellad deliberately. Story players need this engineering path early:

1. Engineering basics — Unlocks core machines.
2. Artisan / crafting yield — Doubled plank and sheet output pays forever.
3. Waste dissolution & advanced smelting — Required for copper ingots.
4. Assembly & alloy materials — Feeds pickaxe upgrades and batteries later.
5. Lightning protection — Before outdoor power in mid-game.
6. Rechargeable batteries & simple storage — Terraforming repair quest chain.

Agriculture side should include farming basics, tree harvesting, basic irrigation, and resin processing for tool handles. Skip the full Gene System tree until Alchemy’s lab quest activates — seeds are expensive before then.

River Valley gate and guild membership

After Eden of the Valley begins, Alchemy sends you to the sealed valley entrance. Wait roughly two in-game days for Merlin’s mail announcing the road open. Entering triggers guild recruitment: you receive a jetpack enabling double jump and access to the combat drone maintained by Mody and Cod.

Before diving deep:

• Bring buff food and repair kits.
• Read Drone Combat for module basics.
• Farm the hidden room data disk for Alchemy’s plant analyzer — story-critical.

Copper pickaxe and Night Assembly

The Night Assembly quest requires a copper pickaxe to break a rockfall blocking upper valley. Budget 1500 gold plus five copper ingots for Merlin’s upgrade from your basic pick. Smelt ore only after crafting yield upgrades to avoid wasting fuel days.

Breaking the rockfall yields a tattered layout blueprint for Mayor Claud — do not discard quest items in bulk inventory purges.

Building upgrades before automation

Upgrade your tent to a small storage container when Gerald’s blueprint unlocks. Indoor space protects smelters from acid rain and fits a second platform floor for gene machines later. Containers beat tents on durability during lightning as well.

Decor is optional; square footage is not. See Crafting for material costs.

Exploration pacing and stamina

Early combat is manageable if you dodge telegraphed attacks, but swamp and valley elites punish greed. Return home at 25% stamina, not zero — knockdowns drop scrap stacks. Gathering routes prioritize safe ore near elevators before risky wetland detours.

Friendship and free recipes

Heart levels with Alchemy, Gerald, and toolsmith NPCs grant stations that would cost multiple tech branches otherwise. Gift liked items on festival days when bonuses stack. Cooking and building recipes appear in mail at specific hearts — check your mailbox after every heart popup.

Common early mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Machines outdoors	Move under container roofs (Weather Protection)
Selling all seeds	Keep one stack per crop for replanting
Ignoring mail timers	Story gates often advance via Merlin or Claud letters
Skipping side quests	Many grant smelting mats or shop discounts
Rushing wetlands	Finish valley terraforming prep first (Walkthrough)

When early game ends

You leave early game once you:

• Repair the jetpack for air dash (Merlin side quest with rubber).
• Insert the core sample into terraforming hardware.
• Save 5000 gold for treaty port funding.

At that point pivot to Automation planning, Crop genes, and Version 1.0 content like Old City Ruins prep.

Related guides

• Controls — Double jump and drone bindings
• Walkthrough — Exact quest order with spoilers
• Review — Difficulty expectations
• Steam Deck — If playing handheld from the start
• Items — Quest and rare drop reference

Early game Doloc Town rewards planners, not grinders. One well-covered field and a smelter under a roof beats three exposed plots that acid rain shuts down every other week.