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BTH Beginner's Survival Guide: Your First 10 Days

BTH Beginner's Survival Guide: Your First 10 Days

MinecraftMod PacksGuides
9 min read

Starting BTH - Beyond the Horizon can be overwhelming with 340+ mods and unique mechanics that differ from vanilla Minecraft. This guide will help you survive and thrive in your first 10 days, focusing on the critical systems you need to understand immediately.

⚠️ Critical: You Start with 3 Hearts!

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO KNOW: BTH uses Spice of Life: Valheim Updated, which completely changes how health works:

  • You have NO hunger bar - Food doesn't fill hunger, it gives temporary health
  • You start with only 3 hearts when unfed
  • Food diversity is mandatory - Eating the same food repeatedly gives diminishing returns
  • Better food = more hearts - Complex recipes provide stronger and longer-lasting buffs
  • Food buffs stack - Eat multiple different foods to maximize health

Without food, you're essentially playing ultra-hardcore mode. Your first priority is always food!

Day 1: Immediate Survival

BTH Day/Night Cycle: Days last 30 minutes, nights last 20 minutes - plan accordingly!

Morning (First Light)

  1. Punch trees - Get 20-30 logs immediately
  2. Make basic tools - Wooden pickaxe, axe, shovel
  3. Find food IMMEDIATELY:
    • Break grass for seeds
    • Punch sheep for mutton (cook immediately)
    • Collect apples from oak leaves
    • Look for berry bushes
  4. Craft a furnace or campfire - You NEED cooked food for better health buffs

Afternoon

  1. Dig a starter shelter - Just a hole in a hillside works
  2. Make a bed - BTH has safer nights, but you still want spawn set
  3. Cook everything - Raw food gives minimal health
  4. Eat diverse foods - Don't eat the same thing twice in a row!

Evening

  1. Secure your shelter - Add a door
  2. Make torches - Light up your area
  3. Craft a chest - Organization starts now
  4. Sleep or explore - Overworld nights are mostly safe due to PeacefulSurface

Day 2-3: Establishing Basics

Food Production Priority

  1. Make a hoe - Start farming immediately
  2. Plant everything:
    • Wheat for bread
    • Carrots and potatoes (if found)
    • Sweet berries near your base
  3. Build a kitchen:
    • Craft a Farmer's Delight Cutting Board
    • Make a Cooking Pot (your best friend!)
    • Craft a Stove (enables advanced food recipes)

Essential Early Tools

  1. Equip your wallet from Lightman's Currency:
    • You start with one! Check your inventory
    • MUST be equipped to use Waystones!
    • Hold coins for trading and teleportation
  2. Read the Quest Book:
    • Not bound by default - Set a key in controls!
    • Contains crucial progression info
    • Guides you through mod interactions
  3. Make storage:
  4. Basic shelter upgrades:
    • Expand your space
    • Add windows for safety
    • Create separate rooms for storage, crafting, sleeping

Day 4-5: Currency & Transportation

Understanding BTH's Economy

  1. Collect Tiny Coins:
    • Found in loot chests
    • Distance matters - Farther from spawn = more coins!
    • Explore distant structures for better rewards
  2. Wallet Usage:
    • Right-click to open
    • Shift-right-click to quick-deposit coins
    • Must be in curio slot or hotbar to work with Waystones

Early Travel Options

  1. Horses are OP:
    • No saddle needed! Just right-click to ride
    • They can ride in boats - Transport them across oceans faster
    • Find them in plains biomes
    • Best early-game transport by far
  2. Train a Dragon:
    • Find dragon eggs in the world
    • Dragon Mounts: Legacy lets you hatch and raise them
    • Takes time but gives you flight without Aether trip!
  3. BTH Structure Planes:
    • Some BTH custom structures contain planes
    • Free early flight if you're lucky!
    • Many structures have archaeology sites - bring a brush!
    • IDAS structures also feature archaeology loot
    • Check every BTH structure you find

Waystone Network

  1. Find Waystones:
    • Most villages have them
    • Towers in mountains - Easy to spot from distance!
    • Look for tall structures on peaks
  2. Activate Waystones:
    • Right-click to name it
    • Costs coins to teleport (distance-based)
    • Free to teleport TO your activated waystones FROM anywhere
  3. Getting your own Waystone:
    • Cannot be crafted!
    • Break and collect from villages or towers
    • Place at your base for easy return
  4. Advanced Flight:
    • Immersive Aircraft crafting requires Aether materials
    • Worth the trip for building your own aircraft

Day 6-7: Mining & Resources

Safe Mining Strategy

  1. Stay near surface initially - BTH caves are dangerous
  2. Essential mining finds:
    • Iron - Critical for better tools and armor
    • Coal - Fuel and torches
    • Copper - For Create mod machinery
    • Food resources - Cave mushrooms, etc.
  3. Mining efficiency tricks:
    • Builder's Wand - Can vein mine entire ore veins!
    • Gold tools - Come with Fortune II built-in
    • Gavels - Give extra drops when mining
    • Gold Gavel - Combines Fortune II with gavel bonus for maximum drops!
  4. Dangerous underground structures to watch for:

Upgrade Your Gear

  1. Iron armor - Full set ASAP
  2. Iron tools - Huge efficiency boost
  3. Shield - Critical for combat
  4. Sophisticated Backpacks - Expand inventory immediately

Day 8-10: Choosing Your Path

Technology Start

  1. Begin Create mod:
    • Water wheels for power
    • Mechanical press for plates
    • Millstone for ore doubling
  2. Set up ore processing:
    • Crushing wheels double ore output
    • Automate with belts and hoppers

Magic Start

  1. Begin Ars Nouveau:
    • Find Archwood trees
    • Craft a Novice Spellbook
    • Learn basic spells for combat and utility
  2. Or start Botania:
    • Find Mystical Flowers
    • Craft Petal Apothecary
    • Begin flower automation

Colony Building

  1. Start MineColonies:
    • Craft Supply Ship or Supply Camp
    • Place Town Hall
    • Recruit first colonists
    • Note: Colonies attract raids!

Essential Early Game Tips

Food Management

  • Never eat the same food twice in a row - Diversity bonus is crucial
  • Cook everything - Raw food is emergency-only
  • Make soups and stews - Best health-per-ingredient ratio
  • Carry 5-6 different foods - Maintain high health while exploring
  • Farm everything you find - More crop variety = better survival

Combat Readiness

  • Monsters are tougher - BTH mobs hit harder than vanilla
  • Blood Moons happen - Even with PeacefulSurface, these events spawn monsters
  • Carry healing items - Food is your healing potion
  • Use shields - Blocking is critical against BTH's stronger mobs
  • Avoid Mutant Monsters early - They're mini-bosses

Resource Priorities

  1. Food variety (always #1 priority)
  2. Iron (armor, tools, and many mod recipes)
  3. Coal/Charcoal (fuel and torches)
  4. Leather (wallet, backpacks, armor)
  5. String (wallet, tools, bows)
  6. Clay (bricks, Farmer's Delight cooking)

Quality of Life

  • Check the Quest Book first - Bind a key in controls for easy access
  • Use JEI - Type "@modname" to see all items from a mod
  • Make a Jade addon - See what you're looking at
  • Organize early - Label chests, sort items
  • Note coordinates - Write down important locations
  • Join the Discord - Community help is invaluable

Common Early Mistakes to Avoid

  1. Ignoring the food system - You WILL die repeatedly at 3 hearts
  2. Not equipping your wallet - Can't use Waystones without it equipped
  3. Eating the same food - Wastes resources due to diminishing returns
  4. Going underground unprepared - BTH caves are deadly
  5. Not lighting your base - Blood Moons ignore PeacefulSurface
  6. Forgetting to sleep - Set your spawn point!
  7. Not farming immediately - Food scarcity is real
  8. Hoarding instead of using - Use resources to progress
  9. Ignoring villages - They have Waystones and traders
  10. Not backing up - BTH is complex; crashes can happen

Your First Goals Checklist

Immediate (Day 1)

  • Survive with 3 hearts
  • Cook food for health
  • Build basic shelter
  • Make a bed
  • Bind quest key in controls

Short Term (Days 2-5)

  • Establish a farm with 3+ crop types
  • Build a kitchen with Cooking Pot
  • Equip your wallet in curio slot
  • Find and activate a Waystone
  • Get iron armor and tools
  • Progress through Quest Book objectives

Medium Term (Days 6-10)

  • Maintain 10+ hearts through food
  • Choose tech or magic path
  • Set up basic automation
  • Explore safely for resources
  • Join a village or start a colony

Long Term Planning

  • Master food variety (15+ recipes)
  • Build transportation network
  • Establish multiple bases
  • Begin dimension exploration
  • Work toward Terminus or NanoBot Soda

The Safe Route

Farm → Kitchen → Mining → Village Trading → Technology → Exploration

The Explorer Route

Basic Farm → Backpack → Villages → Waystones → Dimensions → Loot

The Builder Route

Farm → Resources → MineColonies → Automation → Decoration → Megabase

The Combat Route

Farm → Armor → Weapons → Dungeon Delving → Boss Fighting → Terminus

Need More Help?

Remember: BTH is about the journey, not the destination. Take your time, experiment with different mods, and find your own playstyle. The modpack has enough content for hundreds of hours - there's no rush!

Most importantly: Keep your food diverse, your health high, and your wallet equipped. Everything else builds from there.

Happy exploring, and welcome to Beyond the Horizon!