Polylithic Plan the Bag Before You Walk
A gathering run without a list is just a scenic death.
Polylithic will let you leave camp “for a minute” and come home with twelve flowers, one stick, and hypothermia. This planner exists so a walk has a job. It is unofficial. Confirm node names and seasons on the Steam page and polyperfect.
Use it with items, biomes, cooking, and the survival checklist. If you are hunting, this is the wrong page. Use how to hunt and come back for the plants.
Pick a job, not a direction
Before you walk, write one sentence:
- “I need flint and fiber for two spears.”
- “I need clay and water for bowls.”
- “I need plants for a cooked pot, not a salad of mystery.”
- “I need wood in real sizes for a hut.”
If the sentence has the word “and” more than twice, split the run. A bag that tries to solve the whole tech tree will solve none of it.
Match the job to a biome
- Forest and meadow: sticks, fiber, safe plants, small game you should ignore if the bag is for wood.
- River and wetland: clay, water, reeds, and the animals that will ruin a gathering trip if you get proud.
- Hills and rock: flint and stone. Leave the pretty crystals if they are not in the sentence.
- Cold or exposed ridges: only if clothes and fire are already solved. See getting started.
Read biomes if you do not know which postcard you spawned in.
Pack for the walk, not the fantasy
- A tool that matches the job. Do not harvest wood with a food knife and then complain.
- One cooked snack. Gathering is how people starve while “being productive.”
- Spare fiber or a backup edge. Tools break on the walk you thought was short.
- Empty bag space. If you leave full, you are sightseeing.
- A landmark plan for the walk home. See controls if you keep getting lost in menus instead of woods.
What to leave on the ground
Duplicate broken tools, mystery mushrooms you will not cook today, and every shiny rock that is not flint. The settlement can store later luxury. Your spine cannot.
If villagers are coming, do not gather their entire future in one hero trip. Bring back the missing piece and let them work. See villagers. If friends are online, assign one gatherer and one hauler or you will both pick the same berry bush and call it teamwork. See how to play coop.
A simple circuit that actually works
Leave camp toward water first if clay or drinks are on the list. Cut back through trees for sticks and fiber. Finish on stone if flint is still missing. That loop keeps you near landmarks and stops the “I will just check one more ridge” lie. If night or weather turns, abort with whatever already matches the sentence. A half-finished list plus a living gatherer beats a perfect list on a corpse. See getting started and the survival checklist.
When you return, empty the bag into the right pile before you craft. Clay goes to bowls, not into the hunt pouch. Wood goes to the buildings stack. Food goes to the fire, not under a totem. If villagers are idle, the circuit failed in the camp, not in the woods.
Come home when the sentence is true, not when the bag is heavy. A heavy bag of the wrong items is how camps fail with full inventories.
Gathering planner
Mark what you still need before the next unlock. Saved locally.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common questions.
How long should a gathering run last?
Until the one sentence is true. If you are still adding jobs, you are lost.
Should I hunt on the same walk?
Only if the bag still has room and the animal is already dying. Otherwise no.
What if I cannot find clay?
Change biome, do not circle the same tree. See biomes.
Can villagers gather for me?
Sometimes, if the camp loop is obvious. See villagers.