Wiki/Basics/The Early Gathering Loop

Basics

The Early Gathering Loop

Combine lifeskill work orders with deposit gathering to sustain your grind from the start.

Table of Contents (6)

Why This Matters

Every time you die or run out of HP mid-grind you lose scrap, lose XP, and break your kill streak. Buying heals from vendors is expensive and cuts into your economy. The solution is to gather your own materials. Fish for food (Cooking), forage biostock for combat buffs (Synthesis), and automate healing through your Combat Protocol.

Step 1: Start Gathering

Open the Lifeskills screen. Start a Fishing work order for food ingredients, and a BioHarvest order for Synthesis potion materials. Work orders run passively in the background, even while you fight or explore. Come back and collect whenever you like.

Step 2: Hit the Deposit Tiles

Clear the resource deposit tiles scattered across the map to supplement your work orders. Deposits respawn on a cooldown, so loop back to them between combat runs.

Step 3: Cook Food + Brew Potions

Cook your fish into food. Food is your primary in-combat heal source. Brew Ironhide, Strength, or Precision Potions from biostock for combat stat buffs. Both craft passively via work orders. Stock up before each grind session.

Step 4: Set Your Protocol

Add a rule to your Combat Protocol: WHEN my health drops below 50%, THEN use food, LIMIT once per fight. Add another rule for your buff potion: WHEN always, THEN use Strength Potion, LIMIT once per fight. This fires automatically in combat, keeping you alive and buffed without any manual input.

The Payoff

With passive gathering feeding your tonic supply and an automated heal in your protocol, you can grind uninterrupted. Loop deposit tiles between fights, never port back to a vendor, and let your kill streak compound. As your BioHarvest and Synthesis levels increase, higher-tier materials and more potent consumables unlock automatically.