Basics of Stone Age Online

So you've created your account, logged in, but what next?

At the top of the page you will see a toolbar with lots of buttons like this:

If you've just started the game, you'll be able to read the storyline and you'll need to press "Beginners Mode" to be able to do the things in this tutorial.

Click on "The Game". This is the area where you can actually do most things in the game. You will see a screen with a map, your inventory, a box about the area around you and your skills. In your inventory you have 4 basic survival tools, Steel and Flint, a knife, a pickaxe and an axe. To start with we are going to teach you how to cut down a tree. First of all, using the compass move your character around (but remember which way you went, there is no world map so you could get lost!) and find a tree with a silver trunk.

Once you have found one, move you character so he/she is on top of it.

Click "Iron Small Axe" then click "Cut Down Tree".

And if everything goes well you should cut down the tree!

In your inventory you will see a "Birch Fallen Tree".

A whole tree is useless to use, we need to cut it into logs. Find your small axe again and press "Cut up a Fallen Tree".

You will cut the tree into three logs. You may have noticed that while you were cutting down the tree you got a "Woodcutting" skill. (You can see this on the right-hand side of the screen).

As your skill goes up you will be able to cut down more and more trees. As we don't know much about these mysterious "Birch Logs" you can press the "Examine" link to examine it. It will produce a detailed description in a message box.

First of all lets lighten the load. Drop a log. Press the "Drop" link next to examine. It will appear underneath the compass and you can take it again by pressing "Take".

Now our character has three logs, we can sell them to get money. Remember I told you not to get lost. I hope you didn't. Move back to the start. Once you find it you should see "Olaf the Hermit Trader".

Olaf is a rich old bloke and will buy your goods. Walk until you are on top of him. (Although you will be behind him). And below the compass press "Olaf the Hermit Trader".

Click "Yes" as you have an item to sell. Click "Sell" and select your "Birch Logs". Then click "Back to the Game". At the top of your Inventory is how much money you have, this should have increased from 0 to about 30.

There are 1,000 Copper in a Silver coin.

Now wood isn't going to help us much in the game. We'll need rock and minerals too. Find an mine. Go on top of it, select your pickaxe and press "Prospect". Prospecting is finding out which ore is contained in which rock.

Find a rock that contains rock, click "Iron Small Pickaxe" and then "Mine". A timer should pop up, like this:

You'll have to wait for the timer to finish. Mining takes 3 seconds. Then you'll be taken to a page that says if you mined some rock or not.

Congratulations! You've mined your first piece of rock. You'll now see that you have a mining skill.

Eventually you'll be able to mine Iron, Silver, Gold and many other metals. You can also change your character from Male to Female and back again. Click "Home" then click "Change your Avatar".

Choose "Male" or "Female". It will show you your new avatar, and you can look at it in the game too.

Once you've finished, remember to logout. This is important so people cannot hijack your session, especially on public computers.

If you don't logout within 180 seconds of doing nothing you will be automatically logged out. Your character will be removed from the world after 180 seconds of logging out.

Now you've done your first few things in Stone Age Online here are some ideas on what to do next:

• Sell your Rock.
• Buy a few items.
• Get your mining and woodcutting up and cut down more trees and mine different ores.
• Try and find out how to find tree seeds and plant them.
• Try to find out how to forage and get things off the floor.
• Explore.

I hope you enjoy playing Stone Age Online.