How to get more monkeys in the survivalist

Learn how to find, recruit and assign monkeys in every job in The Survivalists.

Table of Contents Show

How to Find and Recruit Monkeys
Monkey Jobs
Building & Crafting
About Community
More From Kotaku Australia
About the Author
What happens if you beat the survivalists without monkeys?
How do you tame a monkey in survivalists?
How do you farm in survivalists?
How do you get pets in survivalists?

How to Find and Recruit Monkeys

Monkeys can be found all around the map. Since the maps are procedurally generated, you'll have to find them in your own map. Once you've found a monkey, you'll have to cook them a Monkey Meal in a Campfire. Sometimes Monkeys will be trapped in cages. These will join you immediately after you free them.

If you happen to find a Monkey and you didn't have a Monkey Meal on you, open up your map and leave a mark so you can come back later.

Monkey Jobs

One thing you should keep in mind when training your monkeys is that they will not remember their previous jobs. When you override a monkey's jobs, they will forget how to do their previous job. Which means you'll have to teach them how to do it again. This is why it is more efficient to train them in one job without re-assigning. This will also level up their skills on that task.

Harvesting

These monkeys will chop down trees and mine rocks, ores, etc. To teach them how to do it simply press and hold the Q key on PC to enter Mimic Mode. You can click on a monkey and select Teach, or hover over a monkey and press the E key as a shortcut. You will see a banana icon on their heads, this means they're recording what you do. All you have to do now is chop down a tree or any harvestable resource. They will require an item to start the task. Any hitting item will do, but it's recommended you give them something suitable, such as an Axe if you need them to chop down trees.

Gathering

This goes hand in hand with harvester monkeys. Monkeys can be assigned to collect items from the ground and store them in chests. To teach them this job simply pick up an item from the ground and store them in a chest. Usually you will need one monkey at most for this job. With the exception of potentially immense bases you guys will build in the future.

Delivery

You can assign monkeys to deliver resources to a recently placed blueprint. This means any structure that hasn't been completely built. To teach them how to do this, enter Mimic Mode and deliver any resource to an unfinished structure. They do not need any tools to perform this task.

Combat

Yes, you can give knives to monkeys. Monkeys can help you against enemy monsters and they can use any weapon you can use. They will require a weapon before they can attack. Enter Mimic Mode and hit an enemy to teach them how to fight.

TIP

Teaching them how to fight is much easier once you unlock the Training Dummy. Check out our Crafting Guide to learn how to unlock the Training Dummy.

Building & Crafting

These are technically two different jobs, but they work pretty much the same. Builder monkeys will finish structures from the Blueprints (R key) menu once all resources have been loaded. Whereas monkeys assigned to crafting will finish production from crafting stations such as campfires, forges, crafting benches, etc. Both need a Multitool to perform this task. To teach this to a monkey you simply have enter mimic mode and start building or crafting something. You don't even have to finish the job. You can interrupt construction with the F key on PC.

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r/TheSurvivalistGame

Hey, I’m just curious… does anyone know how many monkeys can be on the first island? I have found two above ground but don’t see more.

I’ve actually visited a 2nd island and haven’t found any any monkeys with perhaps 70% uncovered so that’s annoying.

Can they be underground? Can an island have no monkeys? Any monkey finding tips?

About Community

A new brand game by Team17 coming to Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC in 2020! https://www.team17.com/games/the-survivalists/

An entire army is at your command.

In The Survivalists, it’s your job to make a deserted island liveable again. This includes gathering materials for a home base, defeating aggressive enemies and foraging for supplies. You’ll need a steady stream of timber, pebbles and other materials to make life on the island worthwhile but there’s only so many hours in a day. You’ll need to balance this hunter-gatherer lifestyle with sleeping, eating and defending yourself from predators. Luckily, The Survivalists has a very nifty way of solving the everyday struggles of living: trainable monkeys.

As you travel through the islands of The Survivalists, you’ll come across a bunch of wandering monkeys. In exchange for a Monkey Meal (1 x petals, 1 x berries, 1 x makeshift bowl crafted by hand and via campfire) they’ll join your team. Collect enough monkeys and you’ll have a killer army for crafting, fighting or gathering. But before any of that, they’ll need to be trained.

It’s a complicated process, but a very rewarding one.

Here’s the best way to train your monkeys to fight:

Gather at least two weapons
Press ZR on the Switch (or the equivalent button on other consoles) to open the monkey training menu
Throw a weapon to your chosen monkey with Y (or the equivalent button)
Press X (or the equivalent button) to throw a banana to your chosen monkey — they’ll mimic your actions for the next 30 seconds
Approach your chosen target (a monster camp or a wandering animal)
Attack this animal — your monkey will watch for a moment, then attack alongside you
Repeat this process for all your monkeys until they all know how to fight

For other tasks like crafting and foraging, repea the same process. You’ll need at least two of each tool to equip yourself and your monkeys. By training your monkeys, you can take some of the more menial tasks out of the game, protect yourself while you’re gathering materials and stay safe on each island.

If you lose your monkeys (either by dying or leaving them on an island) you’ll need to retrain them by going through this process again.

Whether you’re just heading out to look for more raw material, taking down a monster army or travelling with mates, you should always travel with the maximum number of monkeys the game allows you. In multiplayer, you’ll be limited to just five companion monkeys but it’s mostly a free-for-all when you’re travelling on your own.

Go forth and conquer. Long live the monkey army.

About the Author

What happens if you beat the survivalists without monkeys?

Without monkeys backing you up in combat you will be mobbed by NPCs, and when gathering resources the monkeys can see what is hidden behind cliff walls and out croppings that the player would never know to swing their tool at.

How do you tame a monkey in survivalists?

Press ZR on the Switch (or the equivalent button on other consoles) to open the monkey training menu. Throw a weapon to your chosen monkey with Y (or the equivalent button) Press X (or the equivalent button) to throw a banana to your chosen monkey — they'll mimic your actions for the next 30 seconds.

How do you farm in survivalists?

How to farm crops.

Plant an ear of corn..

Water corn with a watering can filled from a well..

Wait and repeat step 2 when necessary, or set a player character to automatically farm..

Harvest corn..

How do you get pets in survivalists?

To use an animal pen, you must first have an animal following you, by utilizing Tranquilisers and the Luring Flute, then approach the Animal Pen entrance, press Manage Pen and select the animals you want to enter the pen.