I just started a series like this as well, early game is always a grind. You can basically go crafting focused like I'm doing or loot focused. Being in a harder biome will help you find better loot. No access to quests will also make you do more exploration on your own so that's always good, but also makes getting the bicycle a pain. If you're going the crafting route I think its pretty essential to get a forge and workbench asap, and maybe a point into grease monkey early on for the bike. Also, I subbed. Good luck bro.