How to Hunt in Polylithic

Hunting is how Polylithic pretends you are becoming an apex predator. The plains pretend along with you until a bison pack decides the whole family is dinner. This guide is the kill order, not a romance about mammoths. If you still lack a fire and a bed, go back to getting started. A hunt without a save is a highlight reel for the refund button.

Bring a ranged option as soon as stalk and wood allow it. Clubs and stone axes exist. They are for boars you can sidestep and for trees. They are not for a saber-tooth you spotted because the lighting was nice. The items page and how to craft cover bows, arrows, javelins, and why arrows are cheaper to restock than thrown spears that vanish in fog.

Animals that feed you

Caribou and similar flighty herd animals are the backbone. They run if you stroll into them, then often hold still once a javelin or arrow lands. They travel in small groups, they do not turn into a murder ball, and they drop the hide and meat a new camp actually needs. Crouch with Left Control, take the shot, and butcher with the best blade you have. A grindstone blade improves yield. That is a crafting problem, not a bravery problem.

Rabbits and jungle fowl are everywhere in theory and rare when you want them. They are agile, low value, and a waste of stalk. If you can hear chickens, take the easy ones. If you are sprinting after rabbits, you are doing cardio for berries you could have picked instead.

Fish showed up in launch notes as quietly strong. A pole plus a river is safer than any hoofed argument. Pair fishing with the cooking page once the tech is there.

Animals that eat the run

Bison agro as a group. Early Access writers already called them worse than mammoths. Launch players still walk into the same lesson. If you see a cluster on open ground, you did not find a food crate. You found a wipe. Leave.

Bears spawn in small numbers and they are already closer than the camera implies. Kite with range or leave. Do not test the roll key as a personality.

Boars charge straight. Sidestep or roll, then axe them. They knock you down if they connect. They are the tutorial predator that still kills people who are looting twigs.

Dire wolves pair up and hit-and-run. Chase the one that tagged you or they will write a short story on your stamina bar. They are not the tame. Dogs and hyenas are the tame. See taming.

Mammoths look like the reason you bought the game. They are calm until you shoot one, then that one fights and someone in the party often dies. Happiness tanks. Meat per risk is worse than two caribou. Hunt a mammoth when you have spare people, spare saves, and a reason. The story guide covers the boss-shaped hunts that refuse to harvest after the animation.

Saber-tooth cats exist in 1.0 player reports even though older guides said they were missing. Treat any big cat like a bear with better marketing.

Followers and the escort bug

Tribe members on follow are extra inventory and walking aggro. Several 1.0 reviews say they forget weapons while escorting and remember them in camp. If you need damage, park people, start the pull yourself, and let them act like guards instead of bodyguards. If you need carry weight, take them and accept that you are the only adult in the fight. More on that contradiction lives in villagers.

Water is a better friend than pride. Animals path worse than you do near rivers. Do not stand in the river with them unless you enjoy the unstuck command.

After the butcher

Hide racks exist so crude hide becomes hide. Do not fill six slots with raw sheets and then craft nothing. Cook the meat at the fire you already own. Tick the gathering planner if you came out for sinew and only got fat. Then go home. The plains will still have bison tomorrow, and they will still be a bad idea.