Well, I started fresh, and realized, get a bunch of crops, make a farm, get copper/tin/iron, then make smeltery, explore, hunt, etc..... However that is not part of the questline. Also, the skellies will eventually kill you, so a bow quest before novice killer, and maybe 10 zombs and 5 skellies for it. That's a far as I got, but somewhere along the rush pam's give us a water bucket. Also, at what point(quest) does the questline for botania unlock? I would put it as soon as you finish the smeltery.