Snowballs in Hell


Drifter Man

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Snowball 47 / Day 62

I spent the first 10 days of the stabilized, post-day 50 Interloper world mapping stick respawns. It cost me a lot of effort and condition, which I compensated with drinking some herbal tea before sleep. I concluded that some locations may have a 6-day respawn cycle, while others may have a longer cycle and in others sticks just don't respawn any longer. I averaged 19-20 sticks per day, which should be just enough.

  • Firestarting: 37 matches, 1.13 L fish oil
  • Medical: 12 pills of antibiotics, 2 bandages, 2 OMB wrappings, 1 stim, 6 rosehip tea, 19 rosehip buds, 13 reishi mushrooms.
  • Clothes: Sweatshirt (34%), thin wool sweater (90%), wool socks (96%), cotton toque (59%), wool toque (48%), deerskin boots (98%), trail boots (89%), rabbitskin mitts (75%), deerskin pants (90%). Bonus is at +9°C / +6°C.
  • Food: 19 kg fish, 5 kg venison, 3 boxes of crackers, 58 cattail stalks, 7 herbal tea and 5 coffee.
  • Fuel: 174 sticks, 10 reclaimed wood, 4 cedar, 10 coal
  • Tools: Flare pistol with 4 flare shells, hacksaw (26%), heavy hammer (58%), sewing kit (3%), quality tools, 1 flare, 4 fishing tackle
  • Material: 6 cloth, 6 leather, 2 deer hides, 4 rabbit pelts, 6 guts, 1 scrap metal, 1 hook, 1 fir firewood

Based on my match usage rate, I should have outlook to about Day 120. So let's plan for death on Day 130, to be on the safe side :D Is there any critical item I could run out of before I lose the ability to make fire?

  • Hammer: at 4% usage in 10 days it should be at 30% on Day 130, and I still have a piece of fir firewood to repair it by 20% if necessary. No problem here.
  • Hacksaw: Let's say I want to process one deer per 20 days... so let's say 4 deer, that's about 21% hacksaw on Day 130. No problem here.
  • Scrap metal: That one is hard to guess. But if I lose 1 fishing tackle in 10 days, I'm safe with the quality tools in reserve.
  • Cloth: I'll let the sweatshirt go, so that's like having 7 pieces right now. At 70% success rate that's hopefully 5 successful repairs. Not much! Sweater and wool toque have priority and I should assign 2 repairs per each of them. So I'll only give one more repair to the cotton toque and then let everything else wear out.

I'll repair the hacksaw once to be on the safe side and then take the quality tools apart, as advised by @JAFO.

Not bad! We should have about two more months to live.

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Snowball 47 / Day 63

On Day 62 I used good weather condition to make probably the last exploration trip in this sandbox. First I reached the Cave of Engines and collected 6 pieces of coal. Then I collected a few dozen sticks lying around - after the stick famine around the Mountaineer's Hut it was refreshing to be in some place with lots of them. Afterwards I roped down the waterfall, taking a few cattails and reishi mushrooms on the way, and reached an isolated high point above the landing gear. There were more sticks, reishi mushrooms and a corpse with a wool scarf - another piece of cloth for my use. I reached the Mountaineer's Hut in 37% condition. Snowball 47's last big adventure.

  • Firestarting: 36 matches, 1.13 L fish oil
  • Medical: 12 pills of antibiotics, 2 bandages, 2 OMB wrappings, 1 stim, 6 rosehip tea, 19 rosehip buds, 18 reishi mushrooms.
  • Clothes: Sweatshirt (33%), thin wool sweater (90%), wool socks (95%), cotton toque (57%), wool toque (47%), wool scarf (85%), deerskin boots (97%), trail boots (89%), rabbitskin mitts (75%), deerskin pants (90%). Bonus is at +9°C / +6°C.
  • Food: 19 kg fish, 4 kg venison, 3 boxes of crackers, 64 cattail stalks, 6 herbal tea and 5 coffee.
  • Fuel: 220 sticks, 10 reclaimed wood, 4 cedar, 16 coal
  • Tools: Flare pistol with 4 flare shells, hacksaw (26%), heavy hammer (58%), sewing kit (3%), quality tools, 1 flare, 4 fishing tackle
  • Material: 6 cloth, 6 leather, 2 deer hides, 4 rabbit pelts, 6 guts, 1 scrap metal, 1 hook, 1 fir firewood

Clothing.jpg

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10 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

the problem is that anytime I go outside for a longer period of time, I must have fire - I spend a match

We're back to the magnifier vs. hammer choice.   In my longer Interloper run (135 days, lost to the save wipe), I spent a match almost daily in the early game while traveling and gearing up.  But once I'd settled in DP only one match every 30 - 60 days -- usually to harvest a bear.  My routine included trying for a magnifier fire a few days per week, but catching the perfect moment of sunshine isn't easy so I had a snow shelter to extend the time I could hang outside.  When I could start a fire, I'd bring a torch to my sheltered outdoor fire spot and hang by the fire for several hours.  If I started to lose condition in the snow shelter I went indoors and passed time in a bed to warm up as fast as possible without a fire.  Then back out to the show shelter if the weather looked hopeful.

I think you've done the math on this already, so you know a snow shelter costs 1 stick per 20 hours to keep repaired.  But DP is stick- (and coal-) heaven, even on Interloper, so this was a cost I could easily absorb.  I had 120+ matches, 600+ sticks, 200+ coal and 100+ liters of water stockpiled at wipe, and beach combing brought even more sticks and firewood -- more than I could be bothered to pick up.   Life at the beach is easy, perfect for a lazy Interloper like me. :D 

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Afterwards I roped down the waterfall, taking a few cattails and reishi mushrooms on the way, and reached an isolated high point above the landing gear. There were more sticks, reishi mushrooms and a corpse with a wool scarf - another piece of cloth for my use.

Ooh good find, I've never checked that spot on Interloper.  

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Based on my match usage rate, I should have outlook to about Day 120. So let's plan for death on Day 130, to be on the safe side

Holy hell.  I few months ago I would have claimed this was impossible!

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1 hour ago, Ruruwawa said:

But DP is stick- (and coal-) heaven, even on Interloper, so this was a cost I could easily absorb.

Did you also notice a decrease in the amount of sticks that would respawn in DP after Day 50?
 

1 hour ago, Ruruwawa said:
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Afterwards I roped down the waterfall, taking a few cattails and reishi mushrooms on the way, and reached an isolated high point above the landing gear. There were more sticks, reishi mushrooms and a corpse with a wool scarf - another piece of cloth for my use.

Ooh good find, I've never checked that spot on Interloper.  

This is one of the floating corpse locations, so it's not always there.  But I'm glad it was there for you this time! :)

 

1 hour ago, Ruruwawa said:
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Based on my match usage rate, I should have outlook to about Day 120. So let's plan for death on Day 130, to be on the safe side

Holy hell.  I few months ago I would have claimed this was impossible!

My sentiments exactly!

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1 minute ago, Timber Wolf said:

Did you also notice a decrease in the amount of sticks that would respawn in DP after Day 50?

Yes, but I'm a terribad data collector when I play so I can't quantify it for you.  DP has several good spots to collect sticks so I just visited each about once a week to 10 days and got 'enough.'  Same for coal.

Slightly less anecdotally, I did (half-assedly) measure the respawn rate of the deer that spawn outside the Riken.  I crafted my bow & arrows around day 12 and killed my first deer.  It respawned quickly enough that I didn't bother to measure.. maybe 3-5 days.   Around day 20 or 25, I noticed the respawn didn't happen as expected so I decided to measure my next kill: 7 days.   I noticed another bump in respawn rate around day 50: 10 days.   I didn't notice any increase in the deer respawn rate after that.

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10 hours ago, Ruruwawa said:

We're back to the magnifier vs. hammer choice.   In my longer Interloper run (135 days, lost to the save wipe), I spent a match almost daily in the early game while traveling and gearing up.  But once I'd settled in DP only one match every 30 - 60 days -- usually to harvest a bear.  My routine included trying for a magnifier fire a few days per week, but catching the perfect moment of sunshine isn't easy so I had a snow shelter to extend the time I could hang outside.  When I could start a fire, I'd bring a torch to my sheltered outdoor fire spot and hang by the fire for several hours.  If I started to lose condition in the snow shelter I went indoors and passed time in a bed to warm up as fast as possible without a fire.  Then back out to the show shelter if the weather looked hopeful.

I think you've done the math on this already, so you know a snow shelter costs 1 stick per 20 hours to keep repaired.  But DP is stick- (and coal-) heaven, even on Interloper, so this was a cost I could easily absorb.  I had 120+ matches, 600+ sticks, 200+ coal and 100+ liters of water stockpiled at wipe, and beach combing brought even more sticks and firewood -- more than I could be bothered to pick up.   Life at the beach is easy, perfect for a lazy Interloper like me. :D 

You know I choose the hammer (for the ability to fish). In DP you apparently have the option to wait for fire because you don't need it for warmth, just to make water and to cook. I assume you have very good clothes (20°C bonus or more), and you can stay in the shelter over the day without freezing. For the night, you return to a stable-temperature indoor location to sleep. Is that right?

I can't use the shelter in this way because my clothing bonus is insufficient to survive inside even in the day. I can get 30°C bonus (bed not included) in the Mountaineer's Hut and the felt temperature in the afternoon is around 5-7°C inside. Snow shelter would give me by 12°C less. But I could still wait in the Mountaineer's Hut for sun to appear. Then I would start the fire with the magnifier and keep the fire going until I need it, which may be next morning or 2 or 3 days later. This would cost extra firewood. Or I could let the fire die and risk than when I do need it, there will be no sun and I'll have to strike a match. I simply don't have the choice when to start a fire.

Magnifier would still save some matches because sometimes sunny weather coincides with the need for fire.

By the way, your lost stockpile is comparable to that of the Man in the Dam, who accumulated it over 1000 days, however, and on Voyageur difficulty :)

9 hours ago, Timber Wolf said:

This is one of the floating corpse locations, so it's not always there.  But I'm glad it was there for you this time! :)

Thanks - the wool scarf made me happy. There are some locations that I didn't visit (wolf areas, too dangerous for the reward - medicinal plants and a few cattails) but I believed I otherwise extracted all resources from the map. I was wrong.

8 hours ago, Ruruwawa said:

Slightly less anecdotally, I did (half-assedly) measure the respawn rate of the deer that spawn outside the Riken.  I crafted my bow & arrows around day 12 and killed my first deer.  It respawned quickly enough that I didn't bother to measure.. maybe 3-5 days.   Around day 20 or 25, I noticed the respawn didn't happen as expected so I decided to measure my next kill: 7 days.   I noticed another bump in respawn rate around day 50: 10 days.   I didn't notice any increase in the deer respawn rate after that.

It's been about 10 days since the last deer on Crystal Lake. Fortunately I have fish. I'm still waiting :)

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10 hours ago, Ruruwawa said:

Holy hell.  I few months ago I would have claimed this was impossible!

It is theoretically possible unless I get killed in something stupid. Like I nearly did just now.

Snowball 47 / Day 65

A blizzard raged throughout Day 63 and I passed it in the Mountaineer's Hut without fire. In the evening, after the storm ended, I collected 22 sticks near the base and killed one rabbit. I harvested it inside the hut, keeping the carcass, raw meat and gut on me. When I stepped out to drop it at the doorstep, I instantly heard a bark and a wolf running at me. I retreated immediately. It is scary to be in the Mountaineer's Hut and hear footsteps of a wolf prowling around...

On Day 64 I collected more sticks in the morning - many have respawned and I scored 52 pieces. There may or may not be a connection to the blizzard - some had definitely been there before the storm. While warming up in bed, I received a cabin fever warning. So I slept for a few hours to get fully rested and moved to the fishing hut with the plan to stay there for about 30 hours until nightfall of Day 65.

I started fire in the stove, stripped down naked (the natural thing to do) and practiced firestarting outside into the night. I got about 1/4 on the way to Level 5. Then I made 8 liters of water and cleared the ice hole. I kept fishing throughout the night and the next day. Two lines snapped. The catch wasn't bad though. Eventually I cooked some raw fish from previous days and put the new fish into the drawers.

Night fell, I was exhausted in the red and starving, and I was overdue to go home and have some rest. I liquidated the remainder of the fire into torches, grabbed two pieces of cooked fish and, with a torch in my hand, I was on my way. It's just a few meters, no problem.

The visibility was poor, heavy snow was falling and wind was picking up. But I could see that the wolf was patrolling between the fishing hut and my home. So I have to take the longer route... but the wolf smelled my fish and started running towards me. At the same time, wind picked up, blowing in my face. I was exhausted and encumbered, I couldn't run, I couldn't even move. At the last second, I dropped the torch and fired a flare at the wolf, which was already charging. In my situation a wolf fight would mean an instant, automatic death.

By the time I reloaded and made a few steps, the wolf was coming back. I finally came to my senses and dropped the fish on the ice - bam, the wolf lost interest. The storm turned into a blizzard, but I returned to the Mountaineer's Hut without further incidents. I had to start another fire in the fireplace and feed it to last for over 11 hours. I realized I was still naked, so I dressed up :) And finally, I ate a venison steak, drank herbal tea and water, and slept for 10 and then 2 more hours by the fire to recover from 50 to 90%.

I'm alive, but those two days cost me two matches, 100-150 sticks, two fishing lines and a distress pistol flare. I won't make it to Day 130 this way!

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4 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

the wolf smelled my fish and started running towards me. At the same time, wind picked up, blowing in my face. I was exhausted and encumbered, I couldn't run, I couldn't even move.

That darn Evil WindTM strikes again! Very glad to see that Snowball 47 made it through!

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7 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

I'm alive, but those two days cost me two matches, 100-150 sticks, two fishing lines and a distress pistol flare. I won't make it to Day 130 this way!

You won't make it to day 130 this way. But your story will be told through the generations, making you immortal. Young players will come to these forums, many years from now, bragging with puny achievements. And old Hotzn will laugh at them, asking, "Who are you to boast with surviving 30 days on Stalker at Mystery Lake? Have you not heard of the one they called Drifter Man who survived on Interloper on Timberwolf Mountain alone for over 60? The one who dropped the fish, bam? The one who stripped naked in the fishing hut?" And they will become quiet, beckoning old Hotzn to sit with them at their fire, telling them the story of Drifter Man...

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8 hours ago, JAFO said:

That darn Evil WindTM strikes again! Very glad to see that Snowball 47 made it through!

Yes - HinterlandTM Evil WindTM proprietary technology, which scans the player's mind for intended direction of travel! It wasn't the wolf that conspired to kill me. The dumb animal was only an agent of the Evil WindTM, hired to do the dirty work. 

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4 hours ago, Hotzn said:

You won't make it to day 130 this way. But your story will be told through the generations, making you immortal. Young players will come to these forums, many years from now, bragging with puny achievements. And old Hotzn will laugh at them, asking, "Who are you to boast with surviving 30 days on Stalker at Mystery Lake? Have you not heard of the one they called Drifter Man who survived on Interloper on Timberwolf Mountain alone for over 60? The one who dropped the fish, bam? The one who stripped naked in the fishing hut?" And they will become quiet, beckoning old Hotzn to sit with them at their fire, telling them the story of Drifter Man...

:D:D:D 

I'll be dead but Hotzn will be here to tell my story! Please tell them that not only did I get naked inside hut, I even stepped outside and practiced firestarting like that, for all wolves and rabbits to see!

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Snowball 47 / Day 66

I woke up with the fire in the fireplace still burning and thought how best to use this resource provided by yesterday's match. Winds were still, the sun was shining, and I decided to bring the fire to the Wing and collect sticks in that area.

Easily said, but not easily done! I took 40 sticks and two coals from the hatch inside the Mountaineer's Hut and chose three torches (45%+). I took one rosehip tea from the first aid kit to have two in the backpack, and checked I have six reishi mushrooms with me. I dropped some extra water that I still had with me from yesterday (and that weighed me down unnecessarily when I was trying to outmaneuver the wolf). I changed to trail boots and left the heavy deerskin boots next to the bed, where I would immediately see them (and not forget to put them back on) when I return. Then I made one reishi tea to keep me warm for a while and ignited one torch using the dying fire.

Tea or no tea, I was freezing by the time I got to the other side of the lake. I noticed the wolf responsible for killing Snowballs in this area - it was far away from me. I always like seeing a wolf far away. The bear emerged from the cave and headed for the Wing - as always when I appeared here. This regularity was a bit annoying actually, I think there should be more randomness in the bear's appearance. I also knew I could safely cross its path at this distance, as always. I transferred fire to my second torch because the first one was almost out. Collecting a few sticks on the way, I went up halfway the path to Echo Peak West and started my fire at a familiar place, using fish oil for accelerant. The 40 sticks just brought felt temperature above zero. I boiled some water until I could add one coal, then made reishi tea again and warmed up fully. Light snow started falling: if a storm appears, my fire will die and all will be for nought. I proceeded to Echo Peak West and collected 8 sticks there, then back to the fire. Afterwards I took all sticks I could find on the path from the Wing to Fallen Tree Bridge and, freezing again by now, returned to my fire. Wind increased in strength but its direction was from Crystal Lake. My fire was safe.

The active part of the expedition was over. Now I had a fire with 6 hours remaining in it to be turned into torches. First I reduced it to give felt temperature of 10°C while my body was still warming up. Then I processed all those torches into sticks to lighten the load. Then I got rid of the rest of the fire and set out on my way back. Evil WindTM took a break. Evil Sprain GeneratorTM kicked in instead and I had to drink one of my few remaining painkiller teas unless I wanted to be hobbled in a wolf/bear territory. Collecting more sticks close to the bear's den, I eventually safely returned to the Mountaineer's Hut. I had 83 sticks with me, so the trip produced a net amount of 43 sticks - including ca 5-6 sticks converted from coal. Cost: about 35% condition (recoverable), two reishi teas, one rosehip tea.

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14 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

You know I choose the hammer (for the ability to fish). In DP you apparently have the option to wait for fire because you don't need it for warmth, just to make water and to cook. I assume you have very good clothes (20°C bonus or more), and you can stay in the shelter over the day without freezing. For the night, you return to a stable-temperature indoor location to sleep. Is that right?

Actually no.  I guess I could wear two bears coats, carry a bear bedroll, etc, but I do not.  I prefer a very low weight so I can sprint a lot, so my typical "heading out for the day" weight including clothes, weapons and tools is 17-18kg.  I have a wolf coat, a ski jacket and a second toque but otherwise my clothing is very similar to yours.  What I really do different: I return to the stable-temp location very often   Outside for an hour (often less), in to pass time in a bed for about 30 min to warm up, repeat.  I'm micromanaging both my time and my temp so it's a bit tedious, but it definitely works even with lighter clothing.

Once the fire starts I always carry it to a well sheltered outdoor location using a torch.  Typically I spend several hours there doing all my chores, including slicing bunnies into 0.1kg pieces to level cooking.  But I never hang in the snow shelter for long stretches -- my clothes aren't warm enough.

14 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

I simply don't have the choice when to start a fire.

I'd be interested to hear what you use matches for.   Is it to keep warm when inside the mountaineer's hut?  (That really does sound like something you can't work around.)   Managing Cabin fever risk before it occurs is definitely possible but presupposes a decent fuel supply, so I can see how that is hard for a snowball too.  

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sometimes sunny weather coincides with the need for fire.

This is rarely the case for me too.  I just save my cooking chores, coal gathering and Cabin Fever prevention when fire is available.

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58 minutes ago, Drifter Man said:

Yes - HinterlandTM Evil WindTM proprietary technology, which scans the player's mind for intended direction of travel! It wasn't the wolf that conspired to kill me. The dumb animal was only an agent of the Evil WindTM, hired to do the dirty work. 

I call it "In Yo' Face!" wind.  But it's not necessary to scan the player's mind... just make the wind direction come from the nearest wolf-proof shelter, that'll add challenge for most players.  Also, watch the direction/speed of the wind after you reach shelter -- easy to do from the mountaineer's hut.  Note how long it takes to change to something less challenging. ;)

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38 minutes ago, Ruruwawa said:

Actually no.  I guess I could wear two bears coats, carry a bear bedroll, etc, but I do not.  I prefer a very low weight so I can sprint a lot, so my typical "heading out for the day" weight including clothes, weapons and tools is 17-18kg.  I have a wolf coat, a ski jacket and a second toque but otherwise my clothing is very similar to yours.  What I really do different: I return to the stable-temp location very often   Outside for an hour (often less), in to pass time in a bed for about 30 min to warm up, repeat.  I'm micromanaging both my time and my temp so it's a bit tedious, but it definitely works even with lighter clothing.

Once the fire starts I always carry it to a well sheltered outdoor location using a torch.  Typically I spend several hours there doing all my chores, including slicing bunnies into 0.1kg pieces to level cooking.  But I never hang in the snow shelter for long stretches -- my clothes aren't warm enough.

Thanks for sharing this. I have a similar (actually lower, partially because of the lighter clothes) starting load preference. But most importantly, if you warm up in a stable-temp location for 30 minutes, it means you have a felt temperature about 15°C there. I do the same but my felt temperature is 12°C at the peak of a warm day, usually much less - so I have to spend hours warming up in bed, which gives me cabin fever.

42 minutes ago, Ruruwawa said:

I'd be interested to hear what you use matches for.   Is it to keep warm when inside the mountaineer's hut?  (That really does sound like something you can't work around.)   Managing Cabin fever risk before it occurs is definitely possible but presupposes a decent fuel supply, so I can see how that is hard for a snowball too.

I rarely burn fire in the fireplace - Day 65 was an exception. In the morning, if the minimum felt temperature in bed drops below about -3°C, I can't stay there without freezing. Then I get up, go to the fishing hut, start a fire and keep it for the day. I can make water, catch fish, cook, run around and gather sticks - whatever is needed. This cold morning (-47°C outside air temperature or less) occurs about every other day, maybe slightly less often than that.

Also, especially if there are many warm days in succession, I develop cabin fever risk. Then I also go to the fishing hut and use a match. I've been thinking that since I'm able to collect enough firewood, especially once I get to Level 5 firestarting, I could keep fire for two days. This might help me eliminate cabin fever entirely and save some matches.

I've also overheard a rumor around the forum that primitive firemaking could make it to the game soon. I wonder how it would change my situation. Matches becoming a non-critical resource would make an interesting development for the Snowball and his endgame. I would probably gradually run out of food after the loss of my last fishing tackle, or die trying to get a deer kill at the Wing.

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3 minutes ago, Drifter Man said:

I would probably gradually run out of food after the loss of my last fishing tackle, or die trying to get a deer kill at the Wing.

On my current sandbox I got a TWM start, and noticed how much harder it is to subsist on bunnies at the MH than other starting Interloper maps, because of the wolves.

I grabbed a bunch of cattails for the summit climb and decided to grab a bunny too.  I had a couple wolves follow me back to the hut but I got inside before they engaged.  Rabbit for dinner and a good night's sleep.  Heading out the next morning with no smellables on me, I met two wolves right outside the hut.  Sheesh!   I built a fire outside to scare them off, then spent a lot condition to sneak out of the area before proceeding up to the summit.

I guess it's the close proximity of the wolves around Crystal Lake but this spot is just plain harder than using rabbits when starting on the other maps.

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26 minutes ago, Drifter Man said:

Thanks for sharing this. I have a similar (actually lower, partially because of the lighter clothes) starting load preference. But most importantly, if you warm up in a stable-temp location for 30 minutes, it means you have a felt temperature about 15°C there. I do the same but my felt temperature is 12°C at the peak of a warm day, usually much less - so I have to spend hours warming up in bed, which gives me cabin fever.

I think you might be reading too much into my 30 minutes number... because it's not that precise.  I'm not always starting from freezing or ending at fully warm.  My goal with pressing ESC to end Pass Time early is to get back outside quickly, before the weather turns and the possibility of a break in the cloud cover is lost.

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22 hours ago, Ruruwawa said:

On my current sandbox I got a TWM start, and noticed how much harder it is to subsist on bunnies at the MH than other starting Interloper maps, because of the wolves.

I grabbed a bunch of cattails for the summit climb and decided to grab a bunny too.  I had a couple wolves follow me back to the hut but I got inside before they engaged.  Rabbit for dinner and a good night's sleep.  Heading out the next morning with no smellables on me, I met two wolves right outside the hut.  Sheesh!   I built a fire outside to scare them off, then spent a lot condition to sneak out of the area before proceeding up to the summit.

I guess it's the close proximity of the wolves around Crystal Lake but this spot is just plain harder than using rabbits when starting on the other maps.

There are two rabbit runs around MH plus two more that can be reached from there but are too dangerous. I regularly catch bunnies in the first two - generally I grab one rabbit and immediately run to base to process it before wolves arrive (and before the rabbit freezes). I need to watch out but so far I haven't had any serious problems. When you keep smelly stuff on you while inside MH, wolves will still be homing in on it and you can meet them when you step out.

However, the rabbits alone can't feed me there - not enough calories.

22 hours ago, Ruruwawa said:

I think you might be reading too much into my 30 minutes number... because it's not that precise.  I'm not always starting from freezing or ending at fully warm.  My goal with pressing ESC to end Pass Time early is to get back outside quickly, before the weather turns and the possibility of a break in the cloud cover is lost.

Still the main point is that you can recover relatively quickly, while I need to spend most of the day in bed to stay warm.

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14 minutes ago, Drifter Man said:

When you keep smelly stuff on you while inside MH, wolves will still be homing in on it and you can meet them when you step out.

This must  be what happened since I had the rabbit on me for a bit in the hut before I processed it for dinner.  Still, I'm surprised it works this way.

Same for the warming up.  Guess I'm just spoiled by a more conventional shelter, whereas the MH itself is not much better than a show shelter. :D

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Snowball 47 / Day 67

Nature doesn't allow me to keep a regular routine. This morning was very cold, so I went to the fishing hut and started a fire. I made some water again, collected 27 sticks in various areas around the lake, cooked some fish left from previous nights and practiced firestarting. After a while it started snowing heavily and it looked a storm was in the making. When I stepped out of the hut again to check the surroundings, I noticed a deer appeared on the lake. It may have been 15 days since the last one, but the conditions weren't good for a deer/wolf hunt. So I made sure I do not disturb the deer and accidentally shoot it towards a wolf. Instead I grabbed a bunny and processed it in the hut.

The wolf patrolling opposite MH was gone today, but the one on the other side of the lake was around. It may have been attracted by the smell of the rabbit, or maybe it was just following its normal routine, but it spotted the deer and killed it very close to the fishing hut. Unfortunately, the wolf was turned back to the hut and approaching it would be risky - I would not be able to reach the hut in time if I alerted it. The wind was too strong for a fire. I hesitated: I didn't want to let this rare kill go, but was it worth firing my flare pistol? In the end I made my decision. As usual, I missed, but the wolf was gone.

My plan was to finish my day there and go to MH to sleep, leaving the deer for the next day. With the sunset approaching, I started liquidating the fire. When the fire was almost out, a blizzard started, so I revived the fire and continued making water. I realized I wouldn't get meaningful sleep that night. In the end, I added more fuel, ate some fish, drank a cup of coffee and...

Snowball 47 / Day 68

...waited for the morning. When the weather cleared and visibility improved (but winds still blowing strong, felt temperature around -45°C), I went to MH, slept for one hour to reduce fatigue, and picked up my hacksaw, some firewood and coffee. Then I harvested meat from the deer, kilo after kilo, always returning to the fishing hut for warmth. Eventually new day started and I had all the meat out of the carcass.

I also wanted to get the hide - it would be my third, and I planned to make a second pair of deerskin pants for more warmth. But the winds were still blowing and I needed fire next to the carcass for that - losing 20% condition and 1% hacksaw would not be an acceptable price. I was about to give up when the wind finally stopped. I transferred my fire from the hut to the carcass, threw in about a dozen sticks and went to MH. After another hour of sleep, I picked up one coal and returned to the kill. The coal was enough to get me to positive temperatures. I took the hide and two guts and cooked all the venison on the ice. By that time it was late afternoon again. I was tired, but the two naps and some coffee kept me going, and I ate enough to prevent condition loss from starvation - so I was fine. When the fire was out, I grabbed the rabbit gut and made my run to MH, outrunning the wolf who went after me anytime I had anything smelly on me. I went straight to bed and slept for 12 hours. Condition in the morning: 92%

The key question... was it worth it? I mean the kill. I utilized the match well, and I don't regret the coffee, for which I have little use now that I'm not climbing any ropes. But I'm left with only two flare shells. For 60 or 70 days that I plan to stay alive.

Here I think the use of the flare shell was warranted. But previously I spent four in self-defense and four to steal deer kills. At least in two cases I could have used a different method, like starting a fire. Maybe it would take longer and I would recover less meat, but that's not really a problem. If I die because I run out of flare shells, I can only blame myself.

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Seriously I don't want to get into another real life versus video game argument. I get that this is a game and not real life. Despite that argument I wanted to state that if I was in the Mountaineer's Hut in real life and I had a bunch of spare cloth on me, like I do in the game. I would do my best to fix the insulation situation in there.

I would stuff cloth all around the door, and in the little carving in the middle of the door.

Then I would sew a bunch of cloth into wall coverings and cover all the walls. They actually made tapestries in back in the day because stone castles are drafty and cold. On top of covering all the walls, and maybe the floor and ceiling, I would make a secondary covering over the bed, like a mosquito net...to trap more of my breath and body heat whilst sleeping.

Yes, that would take a lot of cloth, but I would try that as a more permanent solution to make it less freezing in there. As opposed to having to rely on a constant fire to not freeze to death at night in there. Stuff that stupid down vest that's often in there in the window, lol.

My two cents...not that anyone asked, lol.:P

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15 minutes ago, Ruruwawa said:

This must  be what happened since I had the rabbit on me for a bit in the hut before I processed it for dinner.  Still, I'm surprised it works this way.

Same for the warming up.  Guess I'm just spoiled by a more conventional shelter, whereas the MH itself is not much better than a show shelter. :D

Yes, bunnies can be tricky. You get one smell bar for the carcass. When you take the gut and meat, it's two, and that's enough to attract wolves from a wide area.

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