Originally posted by J-&Dre:

I am struggling like crazy to get to the second boss, as it is a huge detour by land and everywhere I land my raft, a troll shows up after I start prepping for a temp base, so I don't have to corpse run for days to get back.

This last time I was welcomed by a 1 star troll, one-shotting me. I feel I am very under geared but to progress I probably need to take this boss. I feel the game have abruptly come to a grinding stop.

1 - Build a boat. It only costs 80 bronze nails (plus wood and deer hide) and is 800% better.
2 - 10 tin ingots builds you a cooking pot. Jam is nice. Carrot soup is great for stamina. You can also make worts for brewing for putting into brewing barrels (needs bronze) to make potions. Get a big carrot farm going.
3 - Make a finewood bow and upgrade it (you might need core wood - chop down a pine tree for it).
4 - Use both fire and flint arrows and switch between them. Use the fire arrows just to keep the enemy on fire since their damage is over time, while flint has higher piercing damage which trolls are weak against.
5 - Build a second boat, because boats are awesome.