@Xoren - thanks for the clarification. I've only interacted with Eazine who is definitely helpful.

@ironcross32 - Yes, I definitely feel the giant abyss of missing features looming in the distance... but the novelty still hasn't worn off for me yet, and I am super curious about what "secrets" already exist out there, like the wastelands, the draugr, etc. (are they as cool as they sound? no spoilers, but I hope I'm not chasing a false claim that they exist)

In the meantime, a hostile auroch cow has occupied my camp and impaled me once, so I now have beef to settle... so I have some ambitions keeping me occupied in the game for the time being.

In retrospect, "playing the game" is really 99% staring at a crafting "progress update". In other words, zero interaction for hours at a time while crafting. Couldn't really explain why that is appealing to anyone.

@Dark - Sorry for late reply. totally feel your frustrations. coming from the OtherMUD with the exact same frustrations, I was lucky enough to find people to guide me through the rough initial learning curve. The guides other people linked in earlier posts are pretty comprehensive, in terms of craftables

I struggle myself to find out basic things like where to find straw (supposedly available in one city but not the other!?), or where to sell what.

For Liidhaga, I think there is a tailor who will buy cloth, off of Nails Street -- roughly SE, SE, NE,NE, NW from the Central Square of the city (opposite of the Jewelry store). And general note that shops with no NPCs do not buy items; shops with NPCs are picky about what they buy -- unfortunately unless someone has a list or shares info with us, the only way I find what I can sell is by trying to sell items in all the different stores and taking notes.

There is a bakery and a kebab shop, off SW and off SE of the streets coming from the Liidhaga Square, respectively; although for a menhit/human, I would recommend hunting for small game or gathering/foraging mushroom/etc. for more reliable and cheaper food. As menhit, I think you can eat raw meat safely. Buying food seems to be a luxury we can't really afford starting out, unfortunately, in my opinion.

Much of the learning seems to be that way, about trial and error, learning from mistakes, or being lucky enough to get guidance from an experienced/knowledgeable player. Also, "reverse engineering" -- find the end product and try "make <product>" to identify the ingredients and subcomponents, even if you don't have them available.

Each city sort of specializes in certain crafts, and the basic ingredients and tools for those crafts are available there respectively.

I think the "survey" command just shows you the wilderness tiles (based on your vision skills) if you are in the wilderness area.

You might be needing the "scavenge" command to identify the gettable free items in each wilderness room. Or "forage" to randomly find appropriate food/herbs/materials in the terrain (also based on season).

Perhaps not coincidentally, it seems the game mechanics and design make it valuable to work with other people, to specialize labor, and to trade/share resources, in a player-based economy. In practice, however, the player knowledge disparity and the resulting economics are as broken and lamentable as the world is described in its lore.