Update watchtowers

[Rifleman]

The watchtowers in the long dark should look like the towers in firewatch

[miah999]

Why?

The watchtowers in Canada, are a different design then the US ones in Firewatch, also TLD ones have been abandoned for at least 6 months.

[Gaboris]

YEAH! I second this SO much!

 

Although... Maybe in "lore sense" it's  logical if the watchtowers were almost completely empty? It's cold. You need to start a fire with something. So why not shread everything on the walls?

[alone sniper]

Just now, miah999 said:

also TLD ones have been abandoned for at least 6 months

it doesn't effect on item!

[Rifleman]

50 minutes ago, miah999 said:

Why?

The watchtowers in Canada, are a different design then the US ones in Firewatch, also TLD ones have been abandoned for at least 6 months.

 add the Canadian flag and call it a Canada watchtower

[EternityTide]

On 28/07/2016 at 0:19 PM, Rifleman said:

 add the Canadian flag and call it a Canada watchtower

No. Just because the US and Canada share the same continent does not mean they are the same thing. It's like when Americans assume Canadians have a bajillion guns because they themselves have a bajillion guns. Canada is not another part of America under a different name.
Whilst the utility of the watchtowers might be similar, they wouldn't be the same thing. Watchtowers in the US are for spotting fires. In the far north they are more for weather observation, or getting clearance for radio communications.

[miah999]

11 minutes ago, EternityTide said:

No. Just because the US and Canada share the same continent does not mean they are the same thing. It's like when Americans assume Canadians have a bajillion guns because they themselves have a bajillion guns. Canada is not another part of America under a different name.
Whilst the utility of the watchtowers might be similar, they wouldn't be the same thing. Watchtowers in the US are for spotting fires. In the far north they are more for weather observation, or getting clearance for radio communications.

Exactly, I doubt the CA towers would even have that fire spotting device in the center, of course US ones don't have them these days either. Remember Firewatch takes place in the 80s. Canada is not just America's hat.

[cekivi]

Note: the region I'm from in Canada used to have fire watch towers. They were very tall metal structures with maps, charts, direction finding equipment inside, etc. So, yes, we certainly had fire watch towers.

They've all been abandoned for over 30 years.

As a neat fact, Canada was the first country after the US and Russia to design and build a satellite (although it was launched into orbit by the US). http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/satellites/alouette.asp

Our space expertise allows Canada to accurately monitor the entire country for forest fires through IR tracking in space. Combined with commercial pilots and civilian reporting the days of manned fire watch towers in Canada have long since past.

The watch towers in the Long Dark are either abandoned or were never intended to spot for forest fires. The watch towers that remain around my home town (one of which is a lot like the one in Mystery Lake) are either lookouts for tourists to get a safe view and have a place to rest on hiking trails or are for nature observations.

[miah999]

27 minutes ago, cekivi said:

Note: the region I'm from in Canada used to have fire watch towers. They were very tall metal structures with maps, charts, direction finding equipment inside, etc. So, yes, we certainly had fire watch towers.

They've all been abandoned for over 30 years.

As a neat fact, Canada was the first country after the US and Russia to design and build a satellite (although it was launched into orbit by the US). http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/satellites/alouette.asp

Our space expertise allows Canada to accurately monitor the entire country for forest fires through IR tracking in space. Combined with commercial pilots and civilian reporting the days of manned fire watch towers in Canada have long since past.

The watch towers in the Long Dark are either abandoned or were never intended to spot for forest fires. The watch towers that remain around my home town (one of which is a lot like the one in Mystery Lake) are either lookouts for tourists to get a safe view and have a place to rest on hiking trails or are for nature observations.

Yep, the only reason America still has fire watch towers is because of tradition, folks volunteer to spend a summer sitting in one mostly for fun. The Germans closed all of theirs about a decade ago and replaced them with a ground based detection system.

As for the Osborne Fire Finder (thing in the middle of the tower), they've been out of production since 1979, and spare parts are only produced (at great tax dollar cost I might add) again for tradition sake. We don't really need them.

By the way... We know that the Desolation Point watch tower is abandoned as that's it's name, Abandoned Watch Tower. Also I agree that the Mystery Lake tower is likely a tourist thing, as there is a great big sign at the bottom of the hill letting you know where it is.

[Baukster77]

4 minutes ago, miah999 said:

By the way... We know that the Desolation Point watch tower is abandoned as that's it's name, Abandoned Watch Tower.

A watch tower in Desolation Point?? Do you mean the lighthouse?

[miah999]

1 minute ago, Baukster77 said:

A watch tower in Desolation Point?? Do you mean the lighthouse?

Sorry meant Coastal Highway, it's up on the hill.

[Gaboris]

OH! You guys meant that the watchtowers should be set up like an actual tower for fire spotting? Okay sorry I thought this was meant as a "let's have clutter to indicate some use" or the likes. Maybe even that's too much, but I don't know since here in Hungary we don't have these types of look out towers and ours are all open style site seeing towers.

[cekivi]

My personal head cannon was the mystery lake tower was converted to a tourist/camping site (hence why it's well maintained) whereas the coastal highway one was abandoned and vandalized.

But some clutter or graffiti left by the tourists may be a neat additional touch.

[Gaboris]

Yeah, but in that case why would the ML tower have beds and a stove in it? Is it normal for tourists to sleep in lookout towers just like that? Or maybe it was meant as a "If you get in trouble you can survive the night here." kinda thing?

 

But the CH tower is true. It's been abandoned for a good while so it makes sense that there's nothing left, but the graffiti is a good idea.

[EternityTide]

The Forestry Lookout looks more like it is for weather observation, given its positioning. There's no other reason (perhaps radio comms but here is no equipment for that up there) for the elevation it has.

[strigon]

3 hours ago, Gaboris said:

Yeah, but in that case why would the ML tower have beds and a stove in it? Is it normal for tourists to sleep in lookout towers just like that? Or maybe it was meant as a "If you get in trouble you can survive the night here." kinda thing?

No, but tourists like that authentic feel; the idea of "this is what it was like". Not having basic necessities, like food and a place to lay your head, breaks the feeling of authenticity.