In ARK, the game is really open ended, and you can approach it almost in any way you want, but there is some problems doing that, because ark in general, actually have some kind of progression regarding which caves you should do first, and which areas to explore (ARK kind of do a tip about where you should start the game, nothing more).

I like the concept of free form playing, but i think some guiding through the routes in ARK could do wonder for the enjoyment of the game.

Another point i think ARK lacks a lot, is the leveling progression, in the beginning you can get levels in a nice pacing, but soon enough, you get REALLY stuck, and it is a hellish nightmare to get some levels later on, spending even a week to get a single level.

And then of course, farming, is a REAL PAIN, in the beginning, of course, everything is just fine, but when you start to get some gunpowder you gonna get a real headache (don't get me started about black pearls and absorbent substrate stuff).

Other problem is taming time, i think the entire process of giving food and placing narcotics and staying there standing still waiting, is the worst thing about ARK, i don't mind if that takes a little while, like 10 or 20 minutes, but hours is just too much...

Same thing for eggs and babies, waking up at night to feed that little bastard, is almost like real parenting... I'M NOT READ FOR THAT!

So with that in mind, this guide will teach you (the server host) how to set rules and goals to a smooth ARK Experience.

Now lets talk about what to do to smooth things.

To smooth the progression problem, a good way i decided to do in my server, was that for every new artifact players get, you raise: the resource farm amount, XP gained amount and supply quality (You can also do this with taming speed). This way, the progression feels way smoother with each increment, because ARK in the beginning doesn't feel too "grindy", but later on it does a lot, so a nice progression this way, feels great.

Also, an increment should happen when a player first reach the level 20, since the beginning until you reach your first artifact, it can take quite some time, so one increment before the first artifact will do the trick.

Following is the values of each increment you do in your server when players reach the milestones:


Harvest amount - 0.5
Supply crate loot quality multiplier - 0.25
XP Multiplier: 1.0
Taming Speed: 1.5 (If you want you can maintain a constant of 10 from the beginning and never change this value)

The server should start at the default level, which is one for everyone of those values. Them every increment will raise the values, and so on.
The increments should happen when:

• Anyone Reach level 20 for the first time in the server.
  
• Someone take an new artifact type to his home.
  - This doesn't apply when getting artifacts of the same type, only new types, like hunter artifacts counts for 1 increment in the server, PERIOD, if another player get one more hunter artifact, nothing happens.
  
• Someone killed a boss
  - Same applies here, if someone kills the same boss twice, only 1 increment.

And if you are wondering, yes, you have to restart the server each time you do an increment.

So this kind of server is coop based, so doing caves, getting artifacts and beating bosses. But, which order?
Well, some players like to discover (myself included), so pointing where to go seems "cheaty", but really, caves in ARK are small entrances in a vast huge island, so it is really hard and time consuming to find those caves, even if i love to explore and discover things by myself i think this part is OK to "cheat".

The positions and locations of the caves i recommend this excellent ARK Wiki, on this particular page: https://ark.gamepedia.com/Caves
You can also check the recommended equipment of each cave, so you get prepared and don't lose the long trip just to see " this cave is cold as **** " and them go back to your house and craft some new suit, its good to go prepared.

Face this caves like a Zelda temple where you go, complete, and you come out of it stronger, more apt, because you gonna get a increment on resource, xp and lots of stuff. It is an amazing reward, more than just the artifact, it feels great to beat caves and have this king of progress.

About the order of the caves, i think its pretty important to know which cave you should try first, since some caves are REALLY TOUGH, you should hold those for way later, and some caves are really easy to do and should be done first.

• Lower South Cave - Hunter
  - This cave is the easiest, you probably already live somewhere nearby it, them get a raptor or two, and go for this one.
  
• Central - Clever
  - Its a pretty straight forward cave, a little more tough than the first, just be prepared with some small dinos and go for it. (baryonyx or raptors will do great)
  
• North East - Devourer
  - This one can be tricky, the difficulty can get overwhelming with mega rabies and huge number of onycs, just be careful (try to make some antidotes, can do wonders here). bring some parachutes and grappling hooks. If you have a thylacoleo, this could be a breeze, but its not necessary.
  
• North West - Skylord
  - At this point, you are already getting some ground, if you don't have access to the snow biome, you should do so (its tough, be prepared), then, when you have access to a lot of fur, create a fur suit and go to this cave, with lots of weapons and health packs, dinos cant enter here, beware.
  
• South East - Massive
  - This is a classic lava cave, so, use a complete ghillie suit that you probably can craft already since now you have access to the snow biome, and venture in this cave, its the biggest cave so far, careful with some falls that can kill you for good, bring hooks if possible, and careful with dinos in aggressive mode, than can fall off easily.
  
• The Caverns of Lost Faith - Brute
  - At this point, you have to be more versatile, and need access to water dinos (and a SCUBA suit too)! this is a underwater cave! its a easy one though, so, if you already have access to water dinos, you can do this cave sooner. Don't be scared of the entrance, there will be some tough dinos guarding the entrance, as soon as you get inside, things gonna get easier.
  
• Upper South - Pack
  - This cave is huge, you should be well aware of how caves work by now, this have a little bit of everything, and LOTS of dinos, its a tough one, bring a SCUBA or at least a fast swimming dino, good cold protection and good wit.
  
• Swamp Cave - Immune
  - Be prepared, this have poison gas, use a SCUBA suit or a gas mask, try to protect yourself from the temperature as well.
  
• The Caverns of Lost Hope - Cunning
  - This one is a real pain, you can run through, but its hard, you should get some real tough water dinos here, its a huge battle underwater, if possible bring some friends with strong dinos as well.
  
• Snow Cave - Strong
  - This is basically the "Final boss" of artifact caves. its really TOUGH, be prepared for the absurd cold, its really crazy stuff, there is only high level dinos in here, use everything you learned so far, BE FREAKING PREPARED!

After Finishing the artifact caves, you gonna have to beat the bosses, bring some crazy quantity of you best and higher level dinos (about 20), and your best buds, and prepare for a really rough fight. The order of fight is the following:

• 1. Megapithecus
  
• 2. Broodmother
  
• 3. Dragon

Each boss beaten, should get an increment as well.
I heard of people doing the megapithecus before completing the other caves, its your choice really, if you can, do it i guess.

After That, the only thing remaining is go through the Tek Cave at the volcano, its the final battle!

Some stuff that might get things even better, is the STRUCTURE PLUS mod, its an amazing mod that makes lots of quality of life improvements, like automatic opening doors, to item finder in chests, even automatic item storing, and baby nany. Some people think its too "cheaty", and i can agree to some extent, it really open up to some exploits, but hey, if you already are creating a server (where you can be the admin), you already can do lots of exploits, its just up to you doing them, or just keep with what is fair in the mod, but as far as i know, there isn't really huge exploits that can break the game or anything like that, so i think this one is a must have.


I Heard about EZTame too, but never really used, it creates a item that can increase dino hunger, so making the tame process faster.


Also, i recommend using the ASM (ARK Server Manager), its fast, easy to use to create your own ARK server and change settings, specially doing those increments often, its a real breeze to use.

Well this was lengthy... Hope you like this guide, and get good use of it, i have some years understanding how ARK feels to play, and how the mechanics could be refined! i'm a game developer myself, and one of the things that i love the most, is understand game mechanics and refining them! ARK usually keeps mechanics like some MMORPG that uses the idea of long persistent play, so you have to comeback a lot and keep playing for small rewards (that gets smaller and smaller), this kind of play may not be fun for lots of people, those who played with me on my server, seems to have fun using this method that i did, that consists in stead rewards along the trip, with good and great rewards along the entire experience.

I had lots of fun playing this way and i really hope you do too!


CHEERS!

Oh, one more thing... if i may, this is my game, check it out here! ;)
http://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/steamstore/app/739290/Dark_Old_Sun/