Tips for new survivors

[Krait]

Just found out today:  (hangs head in shame..)  

If like me... you are as obsessive as I am where to put what clothing item in what slot, and you have to select "next" for your preferenced underwear to go to the inner slot!  Just drop the 'second choice' on the floor and pick it up. The game will 'remember' from now on your preferred clothing as first choice.

Example: You have a satchel and an ear wrap, you want to put on the satchel not the wrap that the game might chose for you... Drop the wrap and pick it up; From now on your first choice for the slot will be the satchel.

[Argentex]

Parts of Carter Hydro Dam should be avoided during an aurora. 

[UpUpAway95]

Navigating an unfamiliar map?  Here are a few "natural" things I've notices:

1) Reishi mushrooms generally grow on the south side of cut logs. (Oops - Edit:  Wouldn't you know it... Just after I decided this was sound enough to post, I find a group of Reishi's on the north side of a cut log... so, scratch this one.)

2) Rose Hip Bushes frequently mark climbable rocks.

3) Old Man's Beard Lichen frequently grows near the entrances to caves or along paths that will lead you to them.

4) Not absolutely certain yet; but I think the tallest cat tail head is always south of the other one on the plant.

5) This last one is more of an exploit (IMO) rather than being a natural form of navigation and it has been mentioned before; but I'll put it here for completeness:  Items dropped by the player with always orient themselves in the same direction (e.g. torch heads and knife points will always point east).

Edited January 16, 2019 by UpUpAway95

[codfish107]

16 hours ago, UpUpAway95 said:

Navigating an unfamiliar map?  Here are a few "natural" things I've notices:

1) Reishi mushrooms generally grow on the south side of cut logs. (Oops - Edit:  Wouldn't you know it... Just after I decided this was sound enough to post, I find a group of Reishi's on the north side of a cut log... so, scratch this one.)

2) Rose Hip Bushes frequently mark climbable rocks.

3) Old Man's Beard Lichen frequently grows near the entrances to caves or along paths that will lead you to them.

4) Not absolutely certain yet; but I think the tallest cat tail head is always south of the other one on the plant.

5) This last one is more of an exploit (IMO) rather than being a natural form of navigation and it has been mentioned before; but I'll put it here for completeness:  Items dropped by the player with always orient themselves in the same direction (e.g. torch heads and knife points will always point east).

Thats all very quite observant of you, never noticed myself. I did know about the last one, just not that the direction was east.

[UpUpAway95]

7 hours ago, codfish107 said:

Thats all very quite observant of you, never noticed myself. I did know about the last one, just not that the direction was east.

Thanks.  I wish it was more consistent though.  I've since found that the cat tails can appear turned around in the game.  It may be somewhat dependent on prevailing winds or, more likely, just coincidence in however the programmer places stuff when drawing up the map.

I did spot another that I think is pretty consistent within each area of the map.  The rivers seem to flow the same way, which probably represents them flowing from the generally highest points of land on the island towares the seashores.  I've haven't yet explored all the map zones, so I could still get shot down on this theory.  IRL in Canada at least, it holds some truth.  Rivers west of the Great Divide (which forms part of the boundary between BC and Alberta) flow generally (that is, bends in the river aside) west towards the Pacific and rivers east of the Great Divide flow east towards the Atlantic.  Rivers north of the North/South Great Dvide (which is a marked location in Northern Ontario) flow north towards the Arctic Ocean.

[DarKube]

On 10/07/2017 at 9:22 PM, keepupthegoodwork said:

6. Actually let your condition drop from point to point. Speaking of efficency you want to "hybernate". Food is rare, so you should store it ouside your house as i mentioned. Never eat until you going to sleep. This means. If u sleep like 10 hours IN A ROW (very important, always sleep as much in a row as possible as you gain more condition as if you would if you sleep 2x 5 hours with a brake in between) your condition is going up by like 30%. So if u hunger the whole daytime you still get out with full life and ate less than half than normally.

BUT. Its only with the hunger, its 1% condition per hour. The other stats affect the condition to much for this strategy, so its mostly not worth going for it.

With the redux you can do this but if you avoid starvation for 3 days, you can carry +5kg and you have a condition buff(5%) !

Edited January 17, 2019 by DarKube

[CathyElksun]

Also it is risky to go around with low condition in case you meet a wolf or bear or moose! 

[Jolan]

13 hours ago, CathyElksun said:

Also it is risky to go around with low condition in case you meet a wolf or bear or moose! 

Though in Interloper its almost inevitable you'll have low condition.  

[Jolan]

On 5/5/2018 at 6:25 AM, Jacksy said:

I also have the wolfskin coat and the bear coat.

Which is the best to wear?

I leave my bearskin coat on Timberwolf and wear the wolf skin else where.  Though in truth, I'm becoming quite fond of my moose coat.

[Jolan]

On 7/24/2018 at 7:22 AM, Maikleeps said:

Can I store cooked meat in a container that is outside and have the benefit of a much lower decay rate?It would only make sense. Do you know this for certain?

There was a great thread called 1000 days in the Dam - it tracked decay rates in different conditions.  It was during beta so some specifics have changed, but the general ideas haven't.  Check it out.  Most relevent stuff is at the end.  

 

 

[Mystix]

A good tip for handling wolves:

Make yourself a bow and arrows as soon as you can, because you can always retrieve arrows after a kill, unlike the bullets. When being hunted by a wolf you can either start a fire to keep it away, drop a decoy to get some distance or immediately look for a good vantage point like a steep rock or a fallen tree to climb on high. Thanks to all the earthquakes on the island there are plenty of these fallen trees everywhere. Wolves, just like in the real world are not good climbers so they will stay below you on the ground, where they are easy targets with the bow, no matter how skilled you are. Just make sure you're high enough, because if not, they can still jump a bit get you. So climb high, wait for it to come below, pull the string and aim for the head.

I use this technique not only when I'm hunted, but also to hunt them out. If a few of them start lurking around my base I choose the closest vantage point, get some raw meat on me and wait for them to sniff me up and come find me. You'll manage to take care of whole packs of wolves this way. And as already mentioned before - when you harvest them just leave one gut so the carcasses don't disappear quickly.

See attached screenshot from the last time I cleared out the maintenance yard pack. If you look closely you'll see six of them, the seventh one ran away bleeding, made me go look for him.

This is why the bow is my favorite tool in the game, and after I worked this technique out I completely stopped carrying the 4 kilogram rifle all the time. I only carry the half a kilo bow and ten arrows at a time and keep ten more spare arrows at my current base. I only get the rifle for when I'm hunting the big game - bear and moose.

 

A few other quick tips:

Always carry 10 to 20 cat taill stalks with you or 1 or 2 packs of MRE for emergencies. These two types of food have the optimal weight/calorie supply ratio. Also try to have no less than 2 liters of water on you at all times. If you end up stuck somewhere without food or water in a blizzard, these supplies will last you long enough.

Collect sticks whenever possible, because it saves lots of time and does not require you to use your hatchet and lower it's condition.

When you head out to go somewhere don't pack any meat because predators can smell even the smallest amount on you and they will hunt you for it. Take any non-meat foods for the trip and leave the meat to consume when you're in your base. If you carry any amount of meat on you, having a lit torch won't keep the wolves away, only a fire can.

If you go out to explore for working computers during the Aurora make sure you have a flashlight on you. Maybe most people know that wolves keep a distance when you turn on the high beam of the flashlight, but keeping it on for long periods just drains your battery and increases the risk of it dying sooner than you'd like. What you really want to do is to let the wolf head close to you and then quickly flash it with the high beam and release almost immediately (so not much power is drained). If it was close enough, this sudden flash scares it away, makes it run, increasing the distance between you. But when you attempt this make sure you don't wait for it to get too close because it will jump you. Aurora affected wolves (that glow like the Baskerville dog) are tougher to fight off with any weapon and they bite harder, causing not only wounds, but a lot of sprains and clothing damage. So be careful while mastering the flashlight scare-away technique.

 

Edited January 19, 2019 by Mystix

[CathyElksun]

3 hours ago, Jolan said:

Though in Interloper its almost inevitable you'll have low condition.  

I'm a new player, I don't play Interloper! Do any new players?! 

[UTC-10]

FROSTBITE

Costs you 10% of permanent condition loss with each occurrence, can happen multiple times, even to the same extremity. 

It can happen when there is no clothing item covering the extremity (i.e. gloves or mittens for the hands) or if the clothing item is 100% frozen.

The game makes an initial warning about frostbite RISK when it starts and that's it. When RISK reaches 100%, the frostbite affliction (condition loss) occurs. So monitor the risk, the game will not give any other warnings.

It can be avoided/prevented by equipping any clothing item over the extremity (i.e. baseball cap for head, driving gloves for the hands) or thawing the frozen clothing item (best to get it completely dry but less than 100% wet would be enough for a short time).

Be aware that frostbite is not connected to the warmth meter or Feels Like Temperature. You can be warm, have Feels Like Temperature well above freezing, and still get frostbite. It is the  Air Temperature that matters. If Air Temperature is below freezing, regardless of the Feels Like Temperature, your frostbite risk is not getting better but getting worse. 

For uncovered extremities, to reduce RISK the Air Temperature has to rise above freezing. A fire has to be hot enough. If the Air Temperature, in a building is -1 or -2 or -3 C, then sleeping or passing time in a bed or even bedroll which had a warmth bonus enough to raise Air Temp to above freezing, would do it.  The warmer the Air Temperature, the faster the RISK will dissipate. Remember, Feels Like Temperature is not enough, it is Air Temperature that has to be overcome (or find clothing items for the at-risk extremity.

I think I got this right.  Hope this helps explain the exclamation, "FROSTBITE!?!, How could I get frostbite? I was warm".  

[Jolan]

On 1/19/2019 at 7:20 PM, CathyElksun said:

Do any new players?

I had a friend who started on Interloper because "I always start on the hardest level"  The thing is - each of the levels are actually sort of a different type of game

[CathyElksun]

This is tips for new players, not tips for crazy people!

[BareSkin]

On 1/19/2019 at 8:20 PM, CathyElksun said:

I'm a new player, I don't play Interloper! Do any new players?! 

I did. That was really hard. I'm not (yet) recognized as officially mad   Linked here.

[codfish107]

3 hours ago, BareSkin said:

I did. That was really hard. I'm not (yet) recognized as officially mad   Linked here.

Though didn't you start with Wintermute and a few challenges first? I think @CathyElksunmeant that the friend went straight to Interloper without even learning the game mechanics in Wintermute first.

[BareSkin]

This is correct. I started with Wintermute, the hardest mode. After also completing "Nomad", I was still considering myself as a "new" player when started my first survival in Interlopers. Didn't know the maps, couldn't figure out why I didn't find a rifle and nice clothes, was looking for NPCs and their infinite fire... ahah, good old times!

[greatwhitegamer]

If you happen to stumble across a antler scratching on a tree when exploring the vast frozen wilderness of The Long Dark, tread carefully. A moose may have made residence nearby. 

[Doc Feral]

Unfinished items don't decay. If you have found a comfortable, safe base with an alternative resting place to avoid cabin fever you may go on a crafting rampage. If you want to craft spare clothes you should select the crafting time leaving half an hour or so of unfinished work. This will allow you to store and carry clothes without them self destructing if left alone and to complete them quickly if needed.

Don't eat cat tails. I mean, not unless you're really in trouble. Save them for later in the game and for long travels. They never decay, have a decent weight/calories ratio and don't smell. They're the best food to carry with you when you want to move and don't plan to hunt along the way.

[NardoLoopa]

If you're stuck in a Valley, without enough energy to make the climb out, but do not have your bedroll, remember you can ALWAYS make an emergency shelter to sleep things off.  Sticks are surely found and your the clothes on your back can be harvested.  It's also possible to make a fire outside the shelter, if warmth is a problem.  With all those resources at hand, you should never die in a valley due to rope-exhaustion.

[s7mar7in]

This is basic stuff, but it is very useful.

We know that each type of clothes has an inner layer slot and an outer layer slot, (inner layer goes near the picture of the survivor in the menu).

It is important to noticed that you may wear a vest under a jacket but never a vest over a jacket.

So if you are playing early game and equip a jacket on the inner layer slot, (by mistake), then you can not combine with the down-vest.

A simple concept once you understand, but it has fooled me more than once as I rush to choose the best clothes for warmth.  

[MrWolf]

13 hours ago, s7mar7in said:

We know that each type of clothes has an inner layer slot and an outer layer slot, (inner layer goes near the picture of the survivor in the menu).

Good info, and it's not obvious when putting on clothes.

The hat slots at the upper left are an exception - the inner (right) slot is the outer layer.

Edited January 30, 2019 by MrWolf

[Doc Feral]

Hollow trees!

They aren't very common but sometimes you may run into one. And they're not a new addition. They work perfectly as natural fireplaces, you can light a long lasting fire in them and camp safely without worrying about wind. And wolves.

[Looper]

You don't have to bring everything - you can and will come back to most places.