Ok wtf am I supposed to do. I drop in, I find a spot to base, I create a bonfire, leaf house, and a wood chest. I go to sleep to recover my health and I get raided by 6 male raiders and 1 big bruiser dude. And now they hang around in the area. How the kark am I supposed to play the game when I get raided on day 1 and can't even get my basics down? My combat sucks because I get killed at the beginning of the game even Rust gives you a chance to get set up first.
Step 1 is to not get raided in the first place. As of v0.16 (haven't checked whether 0.18 changed anything) the game spawns groups of 3 male natives just off-screen from your active player character's position as a "scouting party" and sends them vaguely towards you. These groups will chop trees, chase wildlife, destroy your base structures etc. and also attack your PC.
IF THEY AGGRO ONTO YOUR PC there will be a "<character> has been discovered" message and a raid will be scheduled. The raid will target a female character, which often will NOT be your PC even if playing as Yona. Killing the scouting party while they're busy chopping trees, chasing rabbits, whacking your crafting stations or citizens, or letting them die to wildlife or spikes will dispose of the threat without spawning a raid.
Dumping all stat points into attack early on is best for dealing with both scouts (if you 1shot them from behind they will not aggro and thus not spawn a raid) and the raiders themselves. Later when you have more points speed helps a bunch too, especially with the skill perk which makes heavy attacks benefit from it.
Speaking of which, heavy attacks are great for dealing with most things. The damage multiplier affects the boost from your stat points, and generally either running away right as an enemy winds up an attack or running
through the enemies then turning on them the instant their attack starts will leave an opening to whack them with a heavy attack. Big natives are slower, so you can kite away until only the regular ones are within range to threaten you until your own heavy attack completes and you can run away again. Running through big natives and immediately whacking them is a pretty safe bet to avoid their attacks.
If you can farm the resources quickly enough you can also craft spikes (and IIRC wooden pillars can be used as indestructible walls) and lure the raiders into those to kill them off.
