Where do you live on Mystery Lake, and why? [ SPOILERS ]

[Wasteland Watcher]

Konnichi-ha, fellow survivors
I've been playing since December, approximately 6 sandboxes. Almost all of this time has been spent on Mystery Lake. I've lived in four different locations, meaning I've built each place up as a "headquarters," moved all of my gear there, and spent two game weeks (or more) at the place.

The requirements for a "home" are simple: the place needs to have both storage and a bed.
The reason for these two requirements is also simple: due to the limited resources (cloth) required to maintain a bedroll, a place with no bed is simply not a feasible permanent solution.
And obviously, without storage (for keeping meat, matches, and clothes) "quality of life" is reduced to an unsatisfactory level.

The four places I've lived are:
• Camp Office (the obvious choice)
• Trapper's Homestead (another obvious choice)
• Logging Camp trailers (now that was an interesting experience -- LOTS of storage though)
• "Abandoned" Cabin near the Unnamed Pond.

Personally I found the last location the easiest to live at and the only thing that put me off to it was that it was obviously the scene of a murder: two dead right outside the cabin and apparently whoever "won" the fight dead inside. A pretty depressing place actually.
But if not for that though I probably would stay there: Lots of food right outside the door, plenty of sticks nearby for gathering, one or two containers for storage, and a warm bed. Really all a man or woman needs to survive, as long as you have a magnifying glass for fire.

Please tell me where you've chosen, on Mystery Lake only please, to live. And why?

[illanthropist]

Trappers Cabin for me, tried the dam and the camp office but just don't like them.  

As mentioned in a previous post, it's out of the way so a bit of a pain but purely for aesthetics.  If I'm gonna get stuck sitting out a blizzard I'd rather it be there than anywhere else.

[cekivi]

For me, my primary requirements for a base camp are a bed and fireplace. Storage is usually a secondary consideration as is a workbench, firewood and food. So, my locations of choice are normally the dam (bedroll requirement offset by storage and workbench), camp office and trapper's cabin. I wouldn't even consider the logging camp or abandoned cabin for anything more than emergency shelter. In the earlier alphas (before the new wood harvesting mechanic was added) I would use the forestry lookout as a base camp from time to time as well but that's not practical now

My #1 place to stay on Mystery Lake is the camp office. Lots of hunting and fishing opportunities nearby, interior workbench, two interior stoves, lots of nearby firewood and it's centrally located in the map. I may occasionally go elsewhere on a hunting/scavenging expedition but I always come back. It's just too good to pass up

[cekivi]

23 minutes ago, illanthropist said:

Trappers Cabin for me, tried the dam and the camp office but just don't like them.  

As mentioned in a previous post, it's out of the way so a bit of a pain but purely for aesthetics.  If I'm gonna get stuck sitting out a blizzard I'd rather it be there than anywhere else.

Sacrilege! You harvested the comfy chair near the fireplace!

[PPartisan]

Trapper's Homestead, because it's one of the few locations in the entire game that has good interior lighting. Not only does this mean I can see what I'm doing, but it also means it feels much more cosy than the others. The Camp Office and dam just depress me

[illanthropist]

4 hours ago, cekivi said:

Sacrilege! You harvested the comfy chair near the fireplace!

Haha it bugged the heck out of me not being able to actually sit on it so I sent it to the big ole Ikea in the sky.

[LucidFugue]

Trapper's Cabin all the way. It has a deer nearby and all the containers are within arm's reach. Plus, I like stashing my valuables in the safe.  
Camp Office has a pesky wolf nearby that you need to keep exterminating, I'm not a fan of fishing, and you need to climb a set of stairs to get to bed!

 

 

[Wasteland Watcher]

5 hours ago, illanthropist said:

Trappers Cabin for me, tried the dam and the camp office but just don't like them.  

As mentioned in a previous post, it's out of the way so a bit of a pain but purely for aesthetics.  If I'm gonna get stuck sitting out a blizzard I'd rather it be there than anywhere else.

Trapper's Cabin is my second choice. And it's only a one ~ two hour walk from the "murder" cabin near the Unnamed Pond. Avoiding wolves on the way is the only hitch but I've either become lucky or skilled at it

5 hours ago, cekivi said:

For me, my primary requirements for a base camp are a bed and fireplace. Storage is usually a secondary consideration as is a workbench, firewood and food. So, my locations of choice are normally the dam (bedroll requirement offset by storage and workbench), camp office and trapper's cabin. I wouldn't even consider the logging camp or abandoned cabin for anything more than emergency shelter. In the earlier alphas (before the new wood harvesting mechanic was added) I would use the forestry lookout as a base camp from time to time as well but that's not practical now

My #1 place to stay on Mystery Lake is the camp office. Lots of hunting and fishing opportunities nearby, interior workbench, two interior stoves, lots of nearby firewood and it's centrally located in the map. I may occasionally go elsewhere on a hunting/scavenging expedition but I always come back. It's just too good to pass up

I understand the importance of a workbench but I've found that after I've made my clothes that other items can be made at my leisure with a short trip to a location that has a bench.
I guess what my point is that I'll start a game and stay somewhere with a workbench & bed until I've made my fur clothes, after that I'll move to the Unnamed Cabin by the Unnamed Pond.
Rabbit meat literally right outside your door is just too good to pass up!

I don't have any issue cooking my meat and boiling water right outside the cabin -- I just do it on sunny days and keep a 5 day supply of food/water on hand.
I've never had bad weather that lasted more than 48 hours at the most

4 hours ago, PPartisan said:

Trapper's Homestead, because it's one of the few locations in the entire game that has good interior lighting. Not only does this mean I can see what I'm doing, but it also means it feels much more cosy than the others. The Camp Office and dam just depress me

You're not joking about that interior lighting!
I've noticed that at Trapper's Cabin I can even see in the middle of the night!  I can barely see -- but I can see. Other locations at night are pitch black. I'll be bumping into walls for an hour or more before I finally find my bed.
That almost killed me in the Camp Office on my 3rd sandbox
 

[Wasteland Watcher]

5 hours ago, cekivi said:

For me, my primary requirements for a base camp are a bed and fireplace. Storage is usually a secondary consideration as is a workbench, firewood and food. So, my locations of choice are normally the dam (bedroll requirement offset by storage and workbench), camp office and trapper's cabin. I wouldn't even consider the logging camp or abandoned cabin for anything more than emergency shelter. In the earlier alphas (before the new wood harvesting mechanic was added) I would use the forestry lookout as a base camp from time to time as well but that's not practical now

My #1 place to stay on Mystery Lake is the camp office. Lots of hunting and fishing opportunities nearby, interior workbench, two interior stoves, lots of nearby firewood and it's centrally located in the map. I may occasionally go elsewhere on a hunting/scavenging expedition but I always come back. It's just too good to pass up

Just out of curiosity, how can storage be a secondary consideration for you? I mean, your food and clothes will "decay" faster when not put in storage. This is why I'm told that all the +1000 day survivors put their clothes into a a locker/drawer at night when they sleep.

I guess under the old mechanic where you could "forage" while "sitting around" made Forestry Lookout a decent place to stay. If it had easier access to food I'd consider living there, but it doesn't so...I can't.

My #1 concern is ease of access to meat and wood to cook. Camp Office is pretty good for that but you have to walk a "decent distance" to get to the rabbit pasture (and two wolf-patrolled zones).
At the "Unnamed Cabin" rabbits are right outside your door.

The Logging Camp has a stove in the burnt out house right there (no more 5 seconds from door to stove) so it's entirely possible to boil snow/cook during a blizzard.
But I agree with you that the Logging Camp is a terrible place to live -- it's quite possibly the most dangerous place to live on Mystery Lake. 
Exiting those trailers, there are three directions I've seen wolves come from -- and sometimes there's one right outside your door when you exit! Not to mention that if you go towards the Dam from there, there may be two more in that direction, and if you go towards Clear Cut, there may be two over there as well! Awful.

[Dirmagnos]

Camp Office. Dam when im about to move out.

Optimal location in terms of being closest to the center of the map. Proximity to good rabbit trapping grounds(river mouth). While fishing potential exists, never use it, imo not worth it. I prefer to use fishing lines for clothing repairs to save sewing kits. Has plenty of open areas around to spot trouble ahead, plus there is a bear spawn in the west of the lake. Has plenty of space inside and bed/stove/workbench combo. Good proximity to 3 potential bunker spawns, with 2 of then easy to reach. Dam is good due to its proximity to both map exits and abundance of salvageable metal, while lack of stationary bed, overall darkness and need to make long walks for cooking, makes it less favorable.

Trappers Homestead, while have rather cozy interior has little space to drop stuff on the ground. Bed/stove/workbench combo. Located rather far from everywhere. I generally loot clean and move on, sometimes use it as midway point during long hikes/patrols.

Forester Lookout. Good view, unfortunately it serves no pactical purposes. Good lighting conditions. On the other hand, its not an interior area, so to save i need to sleep for an hour. Long way down/up, that makes going anywhere rather costly exercise(if game would have fitness skill it would be great, but right now...meh). Far from any point of interest. Lacks workbench. Midway point.

Unnamed Pond cabin. Its just a cabin, near a pond. Aside of bed, that most houses have, dont really have anything worth mentioning.

Logging Camp. Just 3 shipping containers with beds, even for cooking one must go outside.

 

I am, what one may call, a steamroller player. I prefer to move into area, make a fast march to my local HQ, set in and then start net-farming, starting from furthest points. reason for that is closer areas are easier and i generally leave them for times when im hurt or low on supplies or theres bad weather(or done with everything else) and need safe and fast opportunities without taking 2 much risks, while maintaining good game pace(i despise hibernating, unless its warranted, like hypothermia or food poisoning).

I dont hunt deer, like, at all. All my deer pelts come from deer-by-wolf hunting(1 arrow, ~10-13kg of meat, 2 hides, some guts) or from preset corpses. Dont fish, not worth it, both in terms of materials and time to calories output. Rabbit is a good and cheap way to get meat(plus guts, plus hides for mitten repairs), not much, but its just way 2 easy to pass on. Main source of meat are wolves, either by bow(if im below 40% condition or not in a mood to get into a brawl) or simply by meleeing it, they are way 2 easy to kill, while providing good amount of meat. In rare cases, when i overextend myself in terms of food resources, i go for a bear for a quick fix - only problem with that is bear requires rifle rounds(and rifle), that is far less abundant that arrows(but since its the only thing i use rifle on, not really a problem). Plus, getting bear bedroll is a nice additon, not really crucial(in full player-made set of clothings regular bedrolls do just fine, and theres plenty of them in the world - and players lacks, early on, ability to get that bear bedroll, so it makes it far less useful when you actually get to it), but a good thing to have.

[Patrick Carlson]

I like the usual places--Trapper's Homestead, the Forestry Lookout and the Dam. For a long time I would set up caches in each location so I could move between them. Typically I'm constantly on the move to somewhere else, so I don't have the need to set up a significant base. 

There's also a small cave wedged into a hillside near Trapper's that I like to hold up in to watch the weather and wolves pass by. It's funny though, I always forget how to find it. 

[starfighter441]

On 3/10/2016 at 0:17 AM, cekivi said:

Sacrilege! You harvested the comfy chair near the fireplace!

The Spanish Inquisition needed it, along with the dishrack...

 

[cekivi]

On 2016-03-11 at 11:58 PM, Wasteland Watcher said:

Just out of curiosity, how can storage be a secondary consideration for you? I mean, your food and clothes will "decay" faster when not put in storage. This is why I'm told that all the +1000 day survivors put their clothes into a a locker/drawer at night when they sleep.

Because I'm not a player who enjoys the very late game this has never been a concern for me

I find the game play begins getting repetitive around the 100 day mark. I've got one sandbox that I went to 200 days on just for the achievements... but there's not much for me to do with that character now aside from wake up, trap/fish, sleep and occasionally eat. Not what I call stimulating gaming!

Everyplace has some sort of storage (even if it's only 5 kg capacity) and everything else can just be dropped.

[illanthropist]

1 hour ago, cekivi said:

Because I'm not a player who enjoys the very late game this has never been a concern for me

Haha I can see it now

Log

Day 1358: These diaries are getting heavy, no room in my pack for food anymore

Day 2195:  A sharpie a sharpie, my kingdom for a sharpie

Day 3000:  Hope somebody reads these one day, maybe turn them into a movie or a video game

Day 6405:  Bored, think I'll build a cabin out of old diaries

Day 7002:  Granola, why did it eat the grano

 

[cekivi]

21 hours ago, illanthropist said:

Haha I can see it now

Log

Day 1358: These diaries are getting heavy, no room in my pack for food anymore

Day 2195:  A sharpie a sharpie, my kingdom for a sharpie

Day 3000:  Hope somebody reads these one day, maybe turn them into a movie or a video game

Day 6405:  Bored, think I'll build a cabin out of old diaries

Day 7002:  Granola, why did it eat the grano

 

Day 36 500. It has been 100 years. Somehow, only eating meat and sleeping for a week straight has kept me in perfect health. Maybe one day I'll see plants again?

[illanthropist]

11 hours ago, cekivi said:

Day 36 500. It has been 100 years. Somehow, only eating meat and sleeping for a week straight has kept me in perfect health. Maybe one day I'll see plants again?

Lol, can you imagine if the record clock had only been allocated 10 digits, someone got to 9999d 23h 59m 56 tick tick tick, day's survived: 0

I can't believe someone has survived for 68 years on steam, sure the game has re-playability but that's just I can't even find the words...

[June]

On 12.3.2016 at 0:46 AM, illanthropist said:

 

Day 6405:  Bored, think I'll build a cabin out of old diaries

 

 

I laughed so hard at this 

[June]

Obviously, the Trapper´s Cabin is the best choice for Mystery Lake, allthough it is a bit far off everything else. But it has every ressource you need, even a bunch of birch saplings, if you´re lucky ^^

I tried living in the Forestry Lookout some days ago, but the climb after a hunting day is just too annoying and there are no ressources on top of the hill.

For now, maybe out of boredom, I live in one of the fishing huts by the lake and live off fish and wolves ^^ As you can see here, I didn´t like the neighbours 

[illanthropist]

8 minutes ago, June said:

I tried living in the Forestry Lookout some days ago, but the climb after a hunting day is just too annoying and there are no ressources on top of the hill.

Still, I expect it was nice to wake up to a different view for a couple of day.  Don't often fish to be honest, once or thrice for pot luck at the achievement but when I look at what resources and tools are spent for what gains in return often tend not to bother.

I guess I should just spend more time playing the game and less time playing the numbers!

[June]

Yeah, fishing isn´t the best food ressource, but I found a hut with a door by the lake, so with enough firewood and a sleeping bag inside it, you can stock up quite good ^^

[illanthropist]

1 hour ago, June said:

Yeah, fishing isn´t the best food ressource, but I found a hut with a door by the lake, so with enough firewood and a sleeping bag inside it, you can stock up quite good ^^

Know the one you mean, got my starry nights merit badge there.  I used to panic flee to that one thinking a wolf could get me inside the other huts.

[Vhalkyrie]

My favorite place to settle down in Mystery Lake is the Trapper's Cabin.  At first, the Camp Office seems ideal, but I found the wolf situation to be a bit too "exciting".

The Trapper's Cabin is small, but I found that to be a good thing.  I can navigate and work in the dark.  I don't leave until I have crafted boots/pants/mittens because my productivity is so high - I can roll out of bed and start crafting while a blizzard rages outside.  There's an endless supply of firewood outside, which means I chop at dawn or dusk.  Even if a fog or blizzard rolls in, I'm not far from safety.  The bunny run means I have a steady food source - unless I have the bad luck of the bear spawning in the cave.  

I only use the Hydro Dam as transitional staging.  The lack of a bed is a big deterrant (first time I went there I nearly died of exhaustion because I didn't bring a bedroll!).  Also, it scares me!  Even though I know this isn't the zombie apocalypse, I don't like staying there any longer than necessary.

[Hatchet]

I might move to the Trappers Cabin, the one at the lake doesn't has enough containers and doesn't looks as cozy as the Trappers one, and i've always wished for a cozy cabin in an area like by the lake but it hasn't happened (yet) unfortunatly.
Snowtorms or no storms, mist or whatever, i'll go outside, it's impossible to ever loose my way somehow, even in videogames so it seems, found that out when i was 4 years old and found the way back to our hotel when dad lost the way and mom started to panick, hah. /Brag /Ego /Sunglassessmileynotontheboards

[cekivi]

9 hours ago, illanthropist said:

Still, I expect it was nice to wake up to a different view for a couple of day.  Don't often fish to be honest, once or thrice for pot luck at the achievement but when I look at what resources and tools are spent for what gains in return often tend not to bother.

I guess I should just spend more time playing the game and less time playing the numbers!

The view was the main reason I would camp there. It used to be far easier to get wood in the earlier alphas (all you had to do was stand outside) so you could quickly get a week's worth of firewood. Bring some food with you and you can have a cosy fireplace, a nice bunk bed and a wonderful view. When I was looking for a rifle I'd always plan to stay at least a night and keep it stocked with some firewood so I have a safe place to get to if the weather turns while out hunting.

[Vhalkyrie]

1 hour ago, Hatchet said:

I might move to the Trappers Cabin, the one at the lake doesn't has enough containers and doesn't looks as cozy as the Trappers one, and i've always wished for a cozy cabin in an area like by the lake but it hasn't happened (yet) unfortunatly.

There is a nice little cabin that is similar to the Trappers Cabin on a lake, but I won't spoil it for you.   It is out there, though!