Poll: Get rid of Cabin Fever

[JAFO]

1 hour ago, Thrasador said:

So did we ever get an answer on this?

Nope. Not a word.

1 hour ago, Thrasador said:

So is there any chance it will be tweaked in the near future?

Your guess is as good as anybody's.

[Scyzara]

During the last months the Devs have been extremely busy to prepare the Wintermute Release. And as Story mode was their absolute main focus, the vast majority of the team has been completely removed from Sandbox development.

 I think HL will certainly reallocate a fair share of the team back to Sandbox/Survivor mode development and gameplay improvements once Wintermute has been released.

So we should really try to be patient, as hard as this may be sometimes.  

[Patrick Carlson]

To clarify for now - differing opinions on Cabin Fever is not a new topic. Everyone on the team involved with making design decisions is aware of the variety of opinions on Cabin Fever. We simply don't have an update to share on any changes to the mechanic that may or may not happen. When and if that changes, I'll be more than happy to share that information. And yes, at least for right now, we're hard at work on Wintermute, as you all know. Thanks for your understanding. 

[Renegade30]

10 minutes ago, Patrick Carlson said:

To clarify for now - differing opinions on Cabin Fever is not a new topic. Everyone on the team involved with making design decisions is aware of the variety of opinions on Cabin Fever. We simply don't have an update to share on any changes to the mechanic that may or may not happen. When and if that changes, I'll be more than happy to share that information. And yes, at least for right now, we're hard at work on Wintermute, as you all know. Thanks for your understanding. 

Thanks for the response @Patrick Carlson. We'll keep our fingers crossed for the future.

[Thrasador]

Ok, well thank you both @Scyzara and @Patrick Carlson! I fully understand the push for story mode, and had no expectations that this was being remedied in the next month. I just wanted to verify our suggestions were both heard and being taken into consideration at least.

I have absolutely no problem with cabin fever, or any of the other afflictions in principle, and I am not looking for cabin fever to be removed. I understand why it was implemented and agree it is needed to stop a specific type of gameplay.

However the type of gameplay being addressed didn't include getting productive things done in the game like forging, crafting, sewing, and harvesting. It was just staying indoors all day sleeping, eating, and moving the game clock without accomplishing anything productive in the game.

I would like to see cabin fever not penalizing people who are attempting to play the game properly, and performing work safely inside a building suitable for such work.

If this is going to remain as is, I suggest moving all forges and workbenches outdoors at least, or adding multiple outdoor locations for those work activities...

I just slept technically outdoors in the bridge on the Riken hoping to not get cabin fever while forging 30 arrowheads, and I don't even know if the bridge of the Riken counts as outdoors. It does have a door you can't close open to the elements....so I hope it is outdoors...

[Ruruwawa]

9 minutes ago, Thrasador said:

I just slept technically outdoors in the bridge on the Riken hoping to not get cabin fever while forging 30 arrowheads, and I don't even know if the bridge of the Riken counts as outdoors. It does have a door you can't close open to the elements....so I hope it is outdoors...

Spending time in the Riken wheelhouse definitely reduces cabin fever risk.  And the wind can still blow your fire out there... be careful.

[Thrasador]

Just now, Ruruwawa said:

Spending time in the Riken wheelhouse definitely reduces cabin fever risk.  And the wind can still blow your fire out there... be careful.

Tee hee....I'm on Voyager, slept in small chunks and prayed for no blizzard...had no fire up there both nights I chanced it.

My bedroll was in good condition and I was wearing my warmest set of clothes with like a +28°C warmth bonus...

Slept in the back wall away from the door....mostly wind shielded.

Drank a hot drink too...

So at it's peak 28°C (clothes) +6°C (bedroll have bear hides curing back home) +4°C warming up (2hours)=38°C warmth bonus. I took my chances. I know a blizzard would have been no bueno, but I kept checking my feels like temp and I stayed in the positive both nights....even during the middle of the night. Woke up to -1°C the next morning...

[Ruruwawa]

1 minute ago, Thrasador said:

Tee hee....I'm on Voyager, slept in small chunks and prayed for no blizzard...had no fire up there both nights I chanced it.

My bedroll was in good condition and I was wearing my warmest set of clothes with like a +28°C warmth bonus...

Slept in the back wall away from the door....mostly wind shielded.

Drank a hot drink too...

So at it's peak 28°C (clothes) +6°C (bedroll have bear hides curing back home) +4°C warming up (2hours)=38°C warmth bonus. I took my chances. I know a blizzard would have been no bueno, but I kept checking my feels like temp and I stayed in the positive both nights....even during the middle of the night. Woke up to -1°C the next morning...

You should be good then.  Closest thing DP has to a fishing hut.

[Guest Marcurios]

i just got this for the first time and thought WTF is this ?
i couldn't really place it, cause i wonder around outside quite a bit, but apparently coming back and cooking and repairing everything before heading back out again gave me this silly affliction. id on't like it one bit, if it keeps happening, i'll go back and play my other games.
i love the game, but whwnever i run into something really silly, my love for the game drops back quite a few points.

[odizzido]

I just disable cabin fever so it doesn’t matter if they remove it for me. If it were replaced with something else I would check it out though, so that’s my vote. 

[ManicManiac]

As you get proficient in the game, cabin fever is not that big an obstacle.  Granted a player may get a little bit screwed by lots of consecutive blizzards, but even so cabin fever is not really that difficult to deal with.

I think it's fine as is... if the Team wants to make tweaks and changes, then fine.  I just don't see any real need for lobbing to change it, when really all a player needs to do is adapt their playstyle a little bit and not hang out inside so much.  

[kopo79]

always disable it because(i really dont how it works even)...but if you suffer from cabin fever and its force you go to deadly blizzard....something is wrong with system.
maybe cabin fever should be tweaked in future that if you clean your base,put candles,make decorations with (guitar,harmonica,some books in shelf,candles,new box of playing cards,etc)its very minor that you have cabin fever that house...its like it feels more "home" to you

Edited August 14, 2019 by kopo79

[UpUpAway95]

On 8/13/2019 at 4:01 AM, Marcurios said:

i just got this for the first time and thought WTF is this ?
i couldn't really place it, cause i wonder around outside quite a bit, but apparently coming back and cooking and repairing everything before heading back out again gave me this silly affliction. id on't like it one bit, if it keeps happening, i'll go back and play my other games.
i love the game, but whwnever i run into something really silly, my love for the game drops back quite a few points.

It's based on a running ratio of your indoor time vs. your outdoor time over the past several days (not sure how many days).  Usually, people get it after crafting something pretty much in one sitting since those projects each taken several hours.  Breaking down a lot of clothing or crates can also cause your indoor time to sneak up on you without realizing it.  Exploring all the Carter Hydro Dam can also catch up on you.

Personally, I like the mechanic and I like the fact that it causes the player to have to sleep outdoors for a period of time.  There are ample good caves on any of the maps that can be used for this purpose.

As was mentioned in a post above mine, you do have the option to turn off this afflication in the custom menu.  You can also turn off most of the other afflictions you can get.  If you're not enjoying the standard difficulty, perhaps consider setting up a custom game.  Your feat progression with stop while you're in a custom game, but you can still get the achievements.  Feats are only useful upon replaying the game and will continue to accumulate over multiple standard survival runs, so I find it's best to just not worry about them and set up custom games that you think you'll find most enjoyable to you.

[Guest Marcurios]

yeah i got it cause i made the bear coat.

now i got the bear coat and bear bedroll i can sleep in a cave, even without fire.
they should have named the game becoming a caveman.

i don't really like to play a game customized, i like to play it the way it was intended.
but ofcourse i'd like some convenience too.

right now you have a few choices, spill your clothing on a snow shelter outside the house, keep tracking through the wilderness and do a few hours sleep
everytime under a rock with a few sticks fires, sleep in a fishing cabin, or a cave.
i do like to have a few cupboards at a base to conveniently put my survival gear in without the risk of having to sleep outside while crafting.
i read somewhere that they have put this mechanic in cause there was a leaderbaord and people took advantage of being able to sleep inside and live on bunnies to get a high score, i personally dislike leaderboards, it has no place in a game like this, i also dislike mechanics that are badly thought out to patch nonsense like this.
it ruins games for me.

Edited August 14, 2019 by Marcurios

[Serenity]

I would like it if crafting doesn't couldn't against the time. Or maybe only half as much. So if you keep busy you can stay indoors. But if you just do nothing inside you have issues. That would prevent the eat & sleep hibernating it was meant to combat.

[UpUpAway95]

5 hours ago, Marcurios said:

yeah i got it cause i made the bear coat.

now i got the bear coat and bear bedroll i can sleep in a cave, even without fire.
they should have named the game becoming a caveman.

i don't really like to play a game customized, i like to play it the way it was intended.
but ofcourse i'd like some convenience too.

right now you have a few choices, spill your clothing on a snow shelter outside the house, keep tracking through the wilderness and do a few hours sleep
everytime under a rock with a few sticks fires, sleep in a fishing cabin, or a cave.
i do like to have a few cupboards at a base to conveniently put my survival gear in without the risk of having to sleep outside while crafting.
i read somewhere that they have put this mechanic in cause there was a leaderbaord and people took advantage of being able to sleep inside and live on bunnies to get a high score, i personally dislike leaderboards, it has no place in a game like this, i also dislike mechanics that are badly thought out to patch nonsense like this.
it ruins games for me.

IMO, the game is intended to be played with difficulties set to however you enjoy them.  That's why they put in the custom settings menu in the first place... and then they even did not remove the ability to get achievements by using a custom game.  There is no reason why those of us who like the mechanic should lose it.  You have a valid option... a custom game.  I like the cabin fever mechanic and I especially like the custom settings menu, so that I can change up my playthroughs in several ways that really force me to adapt to a variety of different circumstances.

If you want to have no cabin fever in a standard difficulty, that option is also available to you.  You can play on the Pilgrim setting.  Cabin fever is turned off by default in that difficulty.

Edited August 14, 2019 by UpUpAway95

[Guest Marcurios]

ofcourse if you like it that's your thing, and everything else you said is ofcourse valid.
but if i use a custom game, i do lose the ability to gain feats, i do understand why they did that, but i want them.
that's why i cannot play custom.

also, it just has become tedious for me now, i sleep outside next to a fire, 1 hour at a time, to not freeze to death.
and to keep the fire going, and to not get cabin fever..
it's just a nonsensical thing imo if you can work around it like this.
also, always sleeping in the outside harsh winter conditions would be much more difficult for a human being to keep up then sleeping inside at night, and go out exploring and hunting during the day..

I agree with Serenity that crafting just takes much too long.
you just can't easily do all the things you need without working around these things becoming tedious and take away from the experience..

[UpUpAway95]

57 minutes ago, Marcurios said:

ofcourse if you like it that's your thing, and everything else you said is ofcourse valid.
but if i use a custom game, i do lose the ability to gain feats, i do understand why they did that, but i want them.
that's why i cannot play custom.

also, it just has become tedious for me now, i sleep outside next to a fire, 1 hour at a time, to not freeze to death.
and to keep the fire going, and to not get cabin fever..
it's just a nonsensical thing imo if you can work around it like this.
also, always sleeping in the outside harsh winter conditions would be much more difficult for a human being to keep up then sleeping inside at night, and go out exploring and hunting during the day..

I agree with Serenity that crafting just takes much too long.
you just can't easily do all the things you need without working around these things becoming tedious and take away from the experience..

You have multiple solutions:  1) You can light a fire for up to 11 hours and on Voyageur difficulty the default is that the game will wake you if you start freezing to death by a fire.  2) As long as you are sheltered from the wind, you can sleep outside even without a fire on Voyageur difficulty as long as you have reasonably good clothing (+20 and above total warmth).   3) You can plan to craft projects in portions... do a couple of hours of crafting and then go outside to hunt or collect wood for the rest of the day.  As long as you spend a decent amount of time outside every day, you will not get cabin fever.

IMO, it's a very good game mechanic and causes the player to have to plan ahead and manage their time to be both indoors and outdoors.  That some projects take a long time to craft just makes them all the more valuable when you finish them.  IMO, in a survival game, thingss should not come easy and without deliberate planning.  Planning is strategy.... not tedium.  Tedium comes from lack of planning in this game.

You can also craft outdoors... in Forlorn Muskeg and Spence Farmstead and in Mountain Town at Paradise Meadows Farm.  You will be safe there since wolves do not enter those two areas.  There is also an outdoor crafting table at the Fishing Camp in Coastal Highway, although there you are risking an attack.

Edited August 14, 2019 by UpUpAway95

[Guest Marcurios]

ah ok, so you can sleep inside, if you're out the rest of the day then ?

does it get canceled out then during the day ?

is there a site where they explain how the mechanics actually work then ?
it might make it easier to understand some stuff.

i do agree that planning is strategy.

but i thought the cabin fever was random if you spend longer inside, the chance is higher that you get it.
so i just started living outside totally, only go inside to put my stuff in cupboards and craft what i need on the workbench.
i didn't even cook inside anymore..

[ManicManiac]

1 hour ago, Marcurios said:

also, it just has become tedious for me now

Then I suppose, it will just come down to you deciding if this is the right game for you...

Have you considered not worrying so much about cabin fever risk?  Even if we do get full on cabin fever it just means you can't sleep or pass time indoors for 24 hours (you can still be indoors if you want to).  That's not really difficult to tank if we are properly prepared.  One trip to a mine can give us more than enough coal to keep any place on the map blazing hot for 24 hours.  Also, if we don't spend so much time inside hiding from the cold we will rarely even get a risk of cabin fever.  After all keep in mind that we have to spend the majority of 6 consecutive days inside to even contract the risk.  Which means if we are constantly having to deal with cabin fever, maybe we need to rethink our play style... and if we can't adapt, we need to think about whether this is the right game for us.   

1 hour ago, Marcurios said:

I agree with Serenity that crafting just takes much too long.

Have you ever tried to make things by hand, from scratch, and do a quality job of it?  It tends to take a long time.

1 hour ago, Marcurios said:

you just can't easily do all the things you need without working around these things becoming tedious and take away from the experience..

I hate to be the one to point this out... but survival in The Long Dark isn't supposed to be easy. 
It's supposed to feel like a struggle, where your decisions and how you manage your resources and time really matter. 

Again, I think that if this is the way you feel... it would really benefit you to take a while to think about whether this is the right game for you. 

 

[Addendum]
While everyone can feel however they want to about things, when you make declarative statements solely from a subjective point of view... it will likely prompt discussion.  I'm offering my perspective for your consideration as counterpoints to what you have been asserting.  There are those who don't agree with me, and that's okay.   

Edited August 14, 2019 by ManicManiac

[Serenity]

54 minutes ago, UpUpAway95 said:

You can also craft outdoors... in Forlorn Muskeg and Spence Farmstead and in Mountain Town at Paradise Meadows Farm.  

Fishing Camp in CH too, but that's more tricky with the fire and a possible bear now and then. Still, when I lived in Quonset Garage I made a trip to the Fishing Camp now and then for crafting. Also allowed me to collect some sticks along the way. And that was only for long projects like two wolf skin coats. You don't need it for short projects

 

The only times I ever get cabin fever is getting greedy with forging on the Riken. Like making an extra knife and more arrowheads. Even then you can easily cure it by spending a night in a cave. In DP you can use the church too. I've also slept in the cave under the arch in Crumbling Highway

Edited August 14, 2019 by Serenity

[UpUpAway95]

40 minutes ago, Marcurios said:

ah ok, so you can sleep inside, if you're out the rest of the day then ?

does it get canceled out then during the day ?

is there a site where they explain how the mechanics actually work then ?
it might make it easier to understand some stuff.

i do agree that planning is strategy.

but i thought the cabin fever was random if you spend longer inside, the chance is higher that you get it.
so i just started living outside totally, only go inside to put my stuff in cupboards and craft what i need on the workbench.
i didn't even cook inside anymore..

The Long Dark does have an official Wiki.  Here is a link to the page on Cabin Fever.

https://thelongdark.gamepedia.com/Cabin_Fever

[Guest Marcurios]

43 minutes ago, ManicManiac said:

Have you ever tried to make things by hand, from scratch, and do a quality job of it?  It tends to take a long time.

yet a day in this game takes maybe 1 IRL hour..
it's a game, not a real life survival simulator, it says so when you start it up.
 

43 minutes ago, ManicManiac said:

I hate to be the one to point this out... but survival in The Long Dark isn't supposed to be easy. 

but it IS easy, i only played it for like 30 hours and already Voyageur became to easy for me..it doesn't feel like a struggle anylonger, just like a lot of micromanagement..
i do like the survival aspect, when i first started out it felt like a struggle, but once you get to know the mechanics better, the struggle is gone..
i shot like 4 bears and lived for 2 months on them, half of them spilled too..

i guess i have to go to Stalker to feel that initial feeling again..

I found the storymode very entertaining, so the storymode is definitely the game for me, if survival gets to easy, it will definitely not be my game.
So i'll just up the ante a bit to Stalker then..

 

Edited August 14, 2019 by Marcurios

[Guest Marcurios]

@UpUpAway95 thanks, do you know how the waterproof mechanic works by the way ?
i have a wolf coat, it has the highest waterproof number, 60%, but it's always the one piece of clothing that get's soaked first ?
Is it the other way around, the higer the number the easier it get's soaked ?

EDIT: hah, i didn't know you can sleep in a vehicle..

Edited August 14, 2019 by Marcurios

[UpUpAway95]

1 minute ago, Marcurios said:

@UpUpAway95 thanks, do you know how the waterproof mechanic works by the way ?
i have a wolf coat, it has the highest waterproof number, 60%, but it's always the one piece of clothing that get's soaked first ?
Is it the other way around, the higer the number the easier it get's soaked ?

I'm not too sure yet on that one.  Your clothing on the outside layer is what always gets wet first and that's wear I always put my most waterproof stuff anyways.  I believe the waterproof rating just means you won't feel it as much; that is, your hypothermia risk will not climb as quickly if you're wearing more waterproof clothing.