VERY PISSED OFF!!

[cowboymrh]

I just got through sitting in front of my monitor for 3 hours "REAL TIME" waiting for "Cabin Fever" to wear off so I could rest to get rid of my "food poisoning". I couldn't go outside because of the storm and I didn't want to use extra energy because my condition was low! Yes, I realize I could have made a fire to boil water or some other menial task to speed up the time, but I didn't have a lot of firewood and didn't want to waste precious matches for a short fire.

What pissed me off is that there is no way to speed up the game when you get food poisoning and cabin fever together!!  You aren't allowed to "pass time" and you can't rest! If your condition is low, you don't want to exert any extra energy so you .........JUST SIT THERE IN FRONT OF YOUR MONITOR! ........ FOR HOURS!!

When my "cabin fever" was finally done, I clicked on sleep so I could rest to cure my food poisoning....... and the cabin fever started again!!  That's right...I got  BACK TO BACK CABIN FEVER! So my character died!!  ABSOLUTE BS!!!

I NEVER have anything to say bad about Hinterlands or this game...... but this really is something that needs to be fixed!

For 1 thing..... "PASS THE TIME" should always speed up the game  ......... no matter what!

And second ...... You should never get "back to back" cabin fever!

The fact that my character died into a 15 day Interloper run that was really looking promising doesn't make me nearly as mad as sitting there for 3 hours of REAL TIME to finally find out he's gonna die!

I've been away for 6 months and have really enjoyed "Interloper" overall since I've been back .......... but this left a real bad taste in my mouth and I may not be back for another 6 months after this!

EDIT

I realize that my post kind of rambled between 2 or 3 things........ My whole point is that the 'PASS THE TIME" feature should always work, no matter the situation, ailment, or combined ailments.

I can't think of 1 single reason why doing this would be an exploit! I, at least, could have found out what happened to my character in 30 seconds instead of "WASTING" 3 hours REAL TIME to find out!!

Just so you all know ...... If you pick up a case of food poisoning while you have cabin fever ....... might as well just kill your character and start a new run because you're not going to recover!!

[ThePrivateer]

Man, that's a crappy situation to be in.

Where were you holed up? 

 

 

[cowboymrh]

30 minutes ago, ThePrivateer said:

Man, that's a crappy situation to be in.

Where were you holed up? 

 

 

Satan's (Pleasant) Valley Homestead!

[Scyzara]

Well, depending on the mode you could have tried to build a snow shelter outside and use it to sleep through the blizzard while at the same time curing your food poisoning and removing cabin fever. On Interloper it's too cold for that strategy, though. But Stalker and Voyageur should probably work, I guess. At least with decent fur clothes and a bearskin bedroll.^^

On Interloper... well, the only solution there is to move to the nearest cave (the one near lower falls in your case) as fast as possible and sleep there, preferably next to a fire.

(Yes, I've already seen it getting -15°C cold in the back part of caves even with full fur clothes and while I was passing time inside a +12°C bearskin bedroll. Some nocturnal blizzards are just nasty.)

[ThePrivateer]

Yeah.  Shelter or cave is pretty much it in that situation.

 

Not to rub salt in the wound, but you learned a valuable lesson.  Always have a plan B.

 

 

 

[continuity]

I've never managed to get cabin fever, is it associated with a particular play style? i'm a bit surprised you could get it in a 15 day run, that seems way to short a space of time.

[cowboymrh]

2 hours ago, Scyzara said:

Well, depending on the mode you could have tried to build a snow shelter outside and use it to sleep through the blizzard while at the same time curing your food poisoning and removing cabin fever. On Interloper it's too cold for that strategy, though. But Stalker and Voyageur should probably work, I guess. At least with decent fur clothes and a bearskin bedroll.^^

On Interloper... well, the only solution there is to move to the nearest cave (the one near lower falls in your case) as fast as possible and sleep there, preferably next to a fire.

(Yes, I've already seen it getting -15°C cold in the back part of caves even with full fur clothes and while I was passing time inside a +12°C bearskin bedroll. Some nocturnal blizzards are just nasty.)

 

Hi Scyzara!!  Good to see you again!  Yes, I was playing Interloper ...... it was about midnight, full blown raging storm outside. There's no way I would have made it to a cave.

Just caught me by surprise that getting food poisoning while having cabin fever would essentially "LOCK" the pass time feature. Don't understand that. Because when it happens at night, the 1 and only option you have to speed up time is to build a fire and that's it..........otherwise, you have to just sit there and watch (in my case) 10 hours of game time go by in "real time" ........not fun!!

I don't mind my character dying.... I've done that plenty of times. Just don't like that a feature you can use all game,...... being suddenly "locked" from use.

 

And yes Privateer: From now on I'll have a plan B,C,D,E, and F!!   LOL

[mystifeid]

I try to treat the beginning (at least) of Interloper as a speedrun in a challenge. By day 10 I want to be walking into Desolation Point carrying

- hammer
- hacksaw
- magnifying glass
- prybar
- bedroll
- lantern
- 5 deer skins
- 10 guts
- 50+ cat tails
- 20 coal
- 1+ maple saplings
- 5+ birch saplings
- as many pieces of scrap metal, matches and other useful items as possible

I use the first 3-5 hours of a day when it is coldest to repair clothing, break down crates etc. Before day 10 the weather is at it's kindest and you will often get some very warm days that allow a lot of kms to be covered - particularly in Mystery Lake and Coastal Highway.

By day 15 I want to have forged a knife plus 10 arrowheads (later I will forge another 20 arrowheads) and have crafted a bow and a few arrows. I do not forge a hatchet.

At this time I see the first "at risk of cabin fever" but by then I am hunting and cooking the three deer on the ice around Little Island so it is not a problem. From there I spend a few hours a day crafting clothing, arrows and more arrowheads in addition to hunting wolves and rabbits.

As soon as possible, I leave Desolation Point because by around day 30 the weather starts to become significantly worse and travel is harder. By day 40, "Pleasant" Valley is a real headache.

Anyway, by doing the above it is easily possible to never get Cabin Fever.

I used to be happy if I was walking into Desolation Point on day 30 with crafted deerskin pants, boots and rabbitskin mittens but by using the speedrun approach, I can have a wolfskin coat by day 40 instead of day 70 and can reach level 5 archery by around day 70 instead of my original day 140. These things have a real impact on the ease of your survival.

[cekivi]

43 minutes ago, mystifeid said:

I used to be happy if I was walking into Desolation Point on day 30 with crafted deerskin pants, boots and rabbitskin mittens but by using the speedrun approach, I can have a wolfskin coat by day 40 instead of day 70 and can reach level 5 archery by around day 70 instead of my original day 140. These things have a real impact on the ease of your survival.

Strangely this is one of the better arguments for customized difficulty as well. Despite Interloper being intended as the hardest experience mode the fact that you're already starting to speed run it is interesting.

[mystifeid]

12 minutes ago, cekivi said:

Strangely this is one of the better arguments for customized difficulty as well. Despite Interloper being intended as the hardest experience mode the fact that you're already starting to speed run it is interesting.

I must have done it the slow way a hundred times, then one day I thought I wonder what happens if....

The benefits seem to be disproportionate to the initial amount of time saved.

And it's hard to think of customizing difficulty at the moment with my bedrolls still being ruined in caves while I tackle wolves elsewhere!

[Ape88]

Could be worse. I fare just fine in Voyager or Stalker mode and can't seem to survive more than a day in Interloper, let alone find matches or anything to help me get out of Desolation Point.

 

[mystifeid]

There are quite a few threads with the locations of matches in Desolation Point so I guess it won't hurt to have one more.

There appears to be three main locations that matches spawn in Desolation Point but you may find extras as well. All three locations are upstairs in Whale Processing and it seems you will always find one box of matches in one of these locations.

1. On the shelves next to the three lockers. These are the easiest to see with not much light.
2. On the desk next to the book in the office with the two filing cabinets. Hard to see.
3. In the large room with the bunks look on the benchtop in the corner of the room closest to the office. Very hard to see.

[Scyzara]

9 hours ago, cowboymrh said:

Hi Scyzara!!  Good to see you again!  Yes, I was playing Interloper ...... it was about midnight, full blown raging storm outside. There's no way I would have made it to a cave.

Just caught me by surprise that getting food poisoning while having cabin fever would essentially "LOCK" the pass time feature. Don't understand that. Because when it happens at night, the 1 and only option you have to speed up time is to build a fire and that's it..........otherwise, you have to just sit there and watch (in my case) 10 hours of game time go by in "real time" ........not fun!!

Good to see you back on the forums, too.

Don't get me wrong, I understand your point and don't find the current cabin fever mechanics perfect either. But there are still further means to speed up time - deconstructing furniture, curtains or crates for example. Or sharpening some blades, crafting clothes or tools, etc.

The problem about cabin fever + food poisoning is rather that you shouldn't really want to speed up time. Otherwise you'll just lose a whole lot of condition due to the food poisoning and can only watch your character die faster. That's not really a solution to your problem.

If you got both cabin fever and food poisoning at once, the only way to survive is to venture out and seek a cave. It's not intuitive or realistic, but it's the only way (at least the only I know of) to get out of such a situation alive.

[cowboymrh]

10 hours ago, mystifeid said:

I try to treat the beginning (at least) of Interloper as a speedrun in a challenge. By day 10 I want to be walking into Desolation Point carrying

- hammer
- hacksaw
- magnifying glass
- prybar
- bedroll
- lantern
- 5 deer skins
- 10 guts
- 50+ cat tails
- 20 coal
- 1+ maple saplings
- 5+ birch saplings
- as many pieces of scrap metal, matches and other useful items as possible

Wow .........  I need to "up my interloper game" a bit!!!  I typically don't have half this much stuff by day 10!  

And also ...... I hope people didn't get the impression that I didn't like "interloper mode".  I think it's FANTASTIC!! and very addictive!!

It was just the "pass time" issue and getting cabin fever "back to back" that caught me off guard!

[mystifeid]

Don't worry about it. It's easy to become frustrated seeing your character die yet again especially from the deadly combination of cabin fever and food poisoning.

I should add there is another reason why I like to do the beginning as fast as possible - this is the time when you are most vulnerable and likely to die. Better to have it happen quickly. I often used to spend thirty days getting to Crumbling Highway only to be eaten by a wolf. Drove me crazy.

Oh, and forgot to add crow feathers to the list. Lots of crow feathers.

[continuity]

2 hours ago, mystifeid said:

I should add there is another reason why I like to do the beginning as fast as possible - this is the time when you are most vulnerable and likely to die. Better to have it happen quickly. I often used to spend thirty days getting to Crumbling Highway only to be eaten by a wolf. Drove me crazy.

Yeah thats valid for any game mode to some extent, best to get the high risk stuff done ASAP to avoid wasting time.  In fact i'd say its a natural consequense of the unusual difficulty curve in TLD, not many games start out hard and get easier the more you progress, so making an agressive play for progression early really makes sense.

[SteveP]

Interlooper means you must really up your game! You guys were complaining Stalker was too easy so here you go!! I'm simply amazed that people can make it quite far in Interlooper. It's like suicide mode with incredibly nasty weather. It seems like the Snow Shelters aren't much help on this level. The weather is simply too cold. That is strange because a small tight snow shelter should provide more warmth than a great unheated house in the middle of winter. On the lower levels, it would be appropriate to have houses and buildings provide a fairly benign and constant environment however on Interloper, a large building is essentially unheated unless you can build fires. I would like to see more emphasis on being able to stock pile wood in order to survive these long periods of coldness.

A snow shelter should provide very good insulation. Snow is very good insulator. The interior has to be below freezing or you will get wet. That's no problem with adequate clothing and food. The lack of food should cause more severe conditions. Food is essential as fuel to keep the body warm. If you are starving, you will die of hypothermia; strange huh? But that's the reality of super cold survival.

I would like to see the addition of the kudlik, or small oil lamp which should keep the interior temperature of a snow shelter just below the freezing point. (say -10C) so that you are warm enough with descent clothing in order to sleep.

[cekivi]

5 hours ago, SteveP said:

I would like to see the addition of the kudlik, or small oil lamp which should keep the interior temperature of a snow shelter just below the freezing point. (say -10C) so that you are warm enough with descent clothing in order to sleep.

Kudlik's are a great idea but we'd need seals or something similar to be added first to give a renewable source of animal blubber to burn. Otherwise we're better off with candles or kerosene heaters.

[SteveP]

1 hour ago, cekivi said:

Kudlik's are a great idea but we'd need seals or something similar to be added first to give a renewable source of animal blubber to burn. Otherwise we're better off with candles or kerosene heaters.

See my post on harvesting fat from carcasses and rendering and a second thread on the kudlik! It would solve several problems associated with the snow shelter. A kudlik is a very simple device which gives you both light and heat. The addition of future animals is something I'd love to see including moose and cougars which have their own set of risks and thrills. Seals would also add other risks associated with being on ice and attracting other predators. There are no bee hives so no ready sources for wax candles. I suppose you could have candles made of tallow (fat) but that is essentially the same as the kudlik; still burning rendered fat.

If there were seals, walruses and whales, it would open up all sorts of possibilities. Perhaps that is something for a future season/release. I just wanted to address a well known problem of how to survive very cold weather and the problem of cabin fever. At first, I believe snow shelters had a constant interior temperature (as they do in actual real life) but they are now coupled to outside temperature (which they aren't) Snow is an excellent insulator. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_cave.

There is also a problem of ice build up inside a snow cave from the warm interior temperatures and exhalation. This can eventually reduce ventilation leading to suffocation hazard; ice build up is mitigated by scraping off the ice accumulation each day or by adding ventilation holes made with a stick. Snow is porous and unless solid ice, oxygen can diffuse through it. Snow shelters permit survival in extremely low temperatures such as the Antarctic which can reach -60 to -70C with very strong winds.

https://brooksrange.wordpress.com/2014/12/08/three-ways-to-build-an-antarctic-grade-show-shelter/

You don't actually need a heat source in a Quinzhee especially if you can get evergreen boughs for insulation and have decent clothing and enough calories on board to heat with your body's own metabolism.

[Best_Leopard]

@cowboymrh -   I feel your pain.  The first Interloper game I had that actually made it to DP and crafted the tools was destroyed by the same kind of back-to-back cabin fever.  I didn't have food poisoning like you did, but my condition was very low and I was stuck in Hibernia.  I valiantly passed 24 hours by breaking boxes and reading books, innocently believing that I only had to wait out the timer and then I could sleep.  Nope!  As soon as cabin fever passed, I got it instantly again.  I assume that's because I wasn't able to spend time outside.  Well, long story short, I wasn't in good shape in the beginning and had lost a lot more of my condition to exhaustion, so I finally braved the outdoors and was killed by a wolf.

It really is awful that cabin fever can force you to either go out under bad conditions and die or sit there staring at your screen in real time.  Not fun!

Lately I've avoided getting the dreaded CF by staying very aware of my indoor/outdoor hours as I move about, trying to make sure that I do my water boiling outside when possible and things like that.  It does feel a bit forced and silly.  I really believe that crafting, forging, and reading should not count toward Cabin Fever.  Honestly, I think cabin fever should only be triggered by using too much "Pass Time" indoors, but that's just my two cents.

BTW, I just want to say that I love this forum.  A really passionate, frustrated post like this one would have triggered all kinds of nastiness and flaming on the Steam forum, so I was prepared for that when I clicked on this thread.  So awesome to find thoughtful, helpful, and constructive responses instead!  You folks are just the best.

 

[MueckE]

since the introduction of cabin fever, i still got it only one time. Don't ask how to change the game, ask yourself what you've done wrong to get into this situation.

Cabin Fever within 15 days is just a joke.

What i mean is, it's not a problem of the game/mode because most players generally can handle cabin fever. Let's be honest here, the reason you died is because you "didn't want to waste precious matches for a short fire." You made your choice and you died, that's TLD and that's what makes it unique. Also you've decided to stay inside for 15 days instead of beeing outside and collecting sticks for example or do something else useful. 

[Best_Leopard]

@MueckE -  I think cowboymrh was more upset with the implementation of Cabin Fever rather than the fact that it exists.  Sure, it's possible to work around it in most cases so that you don't get it, but if you do happen to come down with it, the condition creates a rather frustrating situation.  If it's dark and in the middle of a blizzard, you're kind of stuck.  Not being able to pass time in any fashion (assuming, say, that you don't have items to break down or water to boil) means that the player is left with no way to speed up game time and might have to sit there in real time just waiting for the hours to pass.  If I'm reading it right, that's the part that cowboymrh was complaining about.

Personally, I don't think Cabin Fever is a huge deal, but I do think it could use some changes.  In Interloper, if you have no bedroll and blizzards are keeping you pinned down, one really has to make an effort to get those outside hours in, especially when it's time to do crafting or forging.  Conditions like intestinal parasites and food poisoning (as cowboymrh pointed out) also might make it harder to be outside for long.  

That said, like you, I rarely get Cabin Fever now that I'm aware of how it works, but it changes my gameplay in ways that feel a little forced to me.   As you say, it's all about choices, but some of the choices I make to avoid CF don't otherwise make a lot of sense in the situation.  I guess I'm one of those people who mentally puts themselves in the survival situation, and it seems strange that "make sure I get enough time outside" is something that pushes me out in bad conditions when it would otherwise be smarter to stay put and read skill books or do crafting.

[cekivi]

4 hours ago, Best_Leopard said:

That said, like you, I rarely get Cabin Fever now that I'm aware of how it works, but it changes my gameplay in ways that feel a little forced to me.   As you say, it's all about choices, but some of the choices I make to avoid CF don't otherwise make a lot of sense in the situation.  I guess I'm one of those people who mentally puts themselves in the survival situation, and it seems strange that "make sure I get enough time outside" is something that pushes me out in bad conditions when it would otherwise be smarter to stay put and read skill books or do crafting.

And that is precisely why I don't like how cabin fever currently works.

[Kyopaxa]

"When you have cabin fever in interloper, your basically switch your awesome and spacious home with dark caves and tiny fishing huts."

That pretty much sums up how ridiculous current cabin fever implementation is.

[RCCross]

On 11/22/2016 at 10:54 PM, mystifeid said:

...I can have a wolfskin coat by day 40 instead of day 70 and can reach level 5 archery by around day 70 instead of my original day 140...

Holy...! I wish I could play that much one day!