Desert Island Escape: For people having trouble

[ChatotTheParrot]

I remember there being a thread last month where people were having difficulty meeting the expected target in Desert Island Escape (so was I). I've finally figured out an approach that works for me, and hopefully it will work for you too.

Here's my strategy:
The three critters I use are Whimsy (in first place) and then two Hearty travelers. They don't have any particular skill or power, but the amount of steps they cover is the important factor. Whimsy is mainly for clearing the fog off the screen for the other two characters (even though it's unreliable half the time, it ensures that your camp begins with at least some visibility).
These three only require three days of food. This generally means you end up with anything from 7-15 days of food left over after you find all the pieces of the raft (a nice bonus to your score). Go for their favourite fruit if possible.
The whimsy is good at defeating monsters, while the other two aren't. Against higher-level monsters, it might be better to run away (unless you have a knack at the wheel spinner or the slingshot).
Try to build the slingshot first to protect the hearty (since more often than not they are the ones that move), then either the net or shovel (the whimsy is particularly susceptible to getting bogged down in pits).
And then just collect most of the question marks until the raft is completed. In my experience, logs are never found on a beach so you can avoid that unless your favourite fruit is there.

I'm going to repeat someone else's advice here: For the wheel, try to stop it when the undesired outcome is at three o'clock or slightly lower (and when it's a half, make sure that the bad outcome begins at three o'clock and tilts downwards to the bottom left side of the wheel). This should increase your chance against monsters, collecting honey and fish, and increasing yields from fruit.

And that's it! That's my strategy and it often gives me well beyond the target score. I rely on basically everything: the food bonus, monster killing, map clearance, and at least 30% of the days left over.

If anyone has other strategies, feel free to share here!

 

[Red Cat]

That's good advice overall, but raft parts can be found on the beach, or at least on Stonehenge spaces on the beach. The net is pretty much useless with the 3 o'clock strategy for the wheel, so it's not worth wasting a stick on it in my opinion. You could use a hunter instead of a whimsy since hunters have the same vision and only require one more food each day and they are more reliable and consistent than whimsy characters, but hunters are vulnerable to pitfalls.

 

[ArtsyDreamer]

Of all the teams I've used, the most powerful one I've found so far is honey hunter/soft-footed/tunnel digger Honey hunters are good at clearing fog, better at fighting than the average villager, and since they automatically go to adjacent honey spaces, you can get a lot of food and moves in one turn if you're lucky Soft-footed villagers can move a fair amount of spaces, are good at avoiding monsters, and they love coconuts, which is great because you're guaranteed to get either coconuts or bananas on your map While tunnel diggers can't move very many spaces, they can jump to any spot that isn't covered with fog, which I find really helpful for covering more ground faster You'll want to make the shovel and slingshot first, since honey hunters are very susceptible to pitfalls and soft-footed villagers are bad at fighting when they get caught ^^;

 

[Regalli]

Of all the teams I've used, the most powerful one I've found so far is honey hunter/soft-footed/tunnel digger Honey hunters are good at clearing fog, better at fighting than the average villager, and since they automatically go to adjacent honey spaces, you can get a lot of food and moves in one turn if you're lucky Soft-footed villagers can move a fair amount of spaces, are good at avoiding monsters, and they love coconuts, which is great because you're guaranteed to get either coconuts or bananas on your map While tunnel diggers can't move very many spaces, they can jump to any spot that isn't covered with fog, which I find really helpful for covering more ground faster You'll want to make the shovel and slingshot first, since honey hunters are very susceptible to pitfalls and soft-footed villagers are bad at fighting when they get caught ^^;

I'm fond of Honey Hunters for much the same reason. Even without the honey, on one map Cheri managed to fight eleven centipedes in a row bare-handed.

Other favorites are Fish Fanatics or whatever their name is (less good at catching things without equipment as the honey hunters are, but some maps have more fish than honey spots and a free space is a free space) and Sniff 'Em Out (for identifying items and fruit types, which you can then coordinate better). But I haven't tried every class yet.

 

[ChatotTheParrot]

That's good advice overall, but raft parts can be found on the beach, or at least on Stonehenge spaces on the beach. The net is pretty much useless with the 3 o'clock strategy for the wheel, so it's not worth wasting a stick on it in my opinion. You could use a hunter instead of a whimsy since hunters have the same vision and only require one more food each day and they are more reliable and consistent than whimsy characters, but hunters are vulnerable to pitfalls.

Nice strategy!
Yes, the stonehenge spaces have a chance of getting the sail, but in my experience never a log. So once I've found the sail, the beach is only useful to me for bananas. I agree about the net, but I like to increase my food yield and it maximises my chance.

I think for now I'll keep my team since I don't own a honey-hunter / hunter amiibo, and I really rely on that food bonus that I get from only requiring 3 pieces of food.