Before dark
Put wood on the Bonfire and leave a reserve. Community night guides treat a dead fire, or a swim away from the raft, as the condition for the Angler Fish. Stay aboard if you are not geared.
Food has to last the night. The starter fishing rod and harpooned food cover the first days. Crab Trap is the passive loop those guides move to after Sawmills. Cooked food is the cooking pot's job. The first chowder is the We Cookin badge.
Raids
They'll be back! is survive a ghost raid. Guides describe Ghost Pirates as melee and gunners, and they say the bodies can be processed at the crafting machine. An Auto Turret, reported at 150 Doubloons from the Travelling Merchant, is the solo defense they recommend before the alien raid window around night 6 or 7.
Aliens in that window are described as small enough that melee still works. The long alien objectives, including 1,000 kills and destroying every alien ship, are not night-1 tasks.
Sharks and open water
Do not start a shark fight in the water if you can return to the raft. That is consistent beginner advice, not a damage chart.
A player-reported clock
Two walkthrough comment threads, from March and June 2026, say night does not come if nobody feeds the Bonfire. Players use that to gather in daylight. It can also stall the day counter you need for survival badges. If you use it, decide whether you want badges or a longer morning, and stop relying on it if a later patch starts the night on a timer anyway.