Clothing Seems Meaningless

[SemiColin]

So, I bought this game and started playing the Wintermute campaign. I'm no stranger to survival games with brutal curves, I love Don't Starve, but I'm getting frustrated with this one. 

My main problem is that clothing doesn't seem to have any real impact on the temp stat. It feels like every time I step outside it's 3 arrows down on temp and I immediately start losing condition. God help me if i want to harvest 7kg of deer meat, obviously a super human feat. Most of what I have is the starting gear, but I have found some cargo pants, mittens and a scarf which were all upgrades, but I haven't really noticed any improvement on my cold stamina. My gear isn't frozen but it seems like I get maybe 3 min of exploring time before my thermometer is red. 

I've reached Milton and am collecting fire wood and it's just a huge pain to have to build a fire 3 times a day to not perish. Is this normal? Am I missing some basic mechanic of the game? Lord knows the game doesn't really give much info...

Thanks for any input here. 

[ridankrad]

What's the condition of your clothing? The condition of clothing wears down slowly over time and will wear down rapidly from blizzards or animal attacks. Low condition clothing will provide very little protection from the cold.

[SnowWalker]

It's cold out there. Very, very cold. You can't walk around in shabby clothing for very long. You have to double layer everything that you can and you have to repair the clothes as best you can and you have to keep your eye on their condition as you go. A wolf or bear attack can totally ruin whole pieces of clothing and/or partially ruin them, and so also can bad weather.  The sewing kit and the cloth are two of the most important tools in this game. You need to get your warmth bonus up to at least 10 degrees C or more...preferably more. I'm at a 15 right now in the game and I'm walking around for quite awhile outside before I have to start thinking about getting inside or building a fire. In fact, I haven't built an outside fire in Wintermute yet. I had a good warmth bonus going on my clothes long before I got to Milton and got it up to 15 eventually. I'm still in the middle of episode one but I was quick to get that done. You can't rush this game. Even when you're trying to repair clothing you can run into problems. Also, if you're walking around in a storm your clothes will get wet. You need to get them dry. Take them off and lay them near a fire to dry them quicly or leave them out on the floor over night, and sometimes just wearing them while sleeping in a warm bed can get them dry. Being half naked won't hurt you if you're in a fairly warm place or warm bed. Some players even get naked before a wolf fight just to keep their condition of their clothes...if they have time to that is, lol. If you're walking around in wet or shabby clothes in -30 C, you ain't gonna make it very far.

The game won't hold your hand. We all learned about survival in this game through trial and error from sandboxing, a lot.

[JAFO]

Are you repairing the clothing you've found and upgraded to? Or just putting it on and not really thinking about it? Much of it will be in fairly bad shape when you found it, and will need fixing to get the maximum benefit from it.

And I second every word @SnowWalker said above!

[IsVaz]

Better repair that clothes, and even if you have an scarf you can get problems with the temperature if some part of your body is still exposed.

[Pablo the Argentinian]

man  39 below zero means something you know...

 

[SnowWalker]

Also too, don't forget you can also recheck instructions about clothing in your journal under 'What I know'.

[LucidFugue]

Something that hasn't been mentioned is time of day. Even with the best clothing, you will likely be below zero at dawn. With just a few clothing upgrades, you can be above zero just past midday.   

Pay attention to which clothing contributes more wind protection and ensure that is in the slot furthest from the paper doll. 

[exeexe]

Also the benefit you get from warmer clothes is that you get to be outside longer time before you begin to freeze. Also instead of making 3 fires p day you can go inside somewhere and spend time in a bed. 2 hours should be enough and then you are warm again. If u are low on condition u can eat a cat tail and sleep for 2 hours and also heal up a bit.

[cullam]

The crucial thing with your temperature is whether your "feels like" is above or below 0 degrees Celsius. You can find that info in one of the menus, or by pressing "F", on PC. If it's -20 outside, and your clothing bonus is +7, it's still going to feel like -13, and your temperature will drop pretty fast. But not as fast as if it felt like -20! I don't think the temperature drop is as simple as just how many arrows you've got, so that clothing is still helping. The game is intended for you to have to frequently get shelter from the cold (any building should be warm enough, and catching a quick nap can warm you right up). It should generally be quite a while into this game before you have the gear to wander around, mostly ignoring the cold. 

Best of luck! 

[Stedmister]

Yeah it's tough I figured this out but alittle late and now I have no pants, and die from attacks quickly, how do I make pants or find them, in Milton.

[JAFO]

30 minutes ago, Stedmister said:

now I have no pants, and die from attacks quickly, how do I make pants or find them, in Milton.

There should be two pairs of cargo pants in Milton and the surrounding area, that you can find. You won't learn how to craft pants until episode 2.

[Stedmister]

12 hours ago, JAFO said:

There should be two pairs of cargo pants in Milton and the surrounding area, that you can find. You won't learn how to craft pants until episode 2.

Thanks, still hilarious, I keep looking around, I am really enjoying this game, the wolves though, and the only thing I been having major issues with, but I am learning, and plan to not use any guides for  this.

[Monsarona]

I went a good portion of the way through episode 1 without pants as well. I wish your Will was wearing your actual gear in cutscenes. The cutscene with grey mother would have been hilarious without pants on.

[Stedmister]

Just now, Monsarona said:

I went a good portion of the way through episode 1 without pants as well. I wish your Will was wearing your actual gear in cutscenes. The cutscene with grey mother would have been hilarious without pants on.

yup, Hinterland please fix

[Thrasador]

Yeah your pants and one of your shirts seem to start out at like 20-something condition when you start a new game. I believe they get wrecked in the tutorial further when you are trying to get wood in the scripted blizzard to make the 9 hour fire, because I noticed in that first cave where you finally find a sewing kit, my shirt and pants were already down to 15 condition. Those would be the first thing I repair....probably twice.

Many people strip clothing off before getting in a wolf or bear fight, so they don't get ruined. Occasionally (or often...lol) your clothing take damage in animal struggles....if they become "ruined" with a red "X" through them they can no longer be repaired....which sucks....

The temperature varies greatly throughout the day and depending on weather. Early in the morning before the sun warms things up, it can be -20--30°C outside. So with starting clothes at that time you are looking at -12°C or colder. If you think that's bad, try Interloper mode in the sandbox. During blizzards people have reported temps worse than -70°C. The temperatures you are encountering in Story mode are considered "nice weather" to veteran players.

If it is earlier than mid-day and the weather is clear you are still expected to limit your time outdoors to less than 2 hours, especially if your clothes are not making a dent in the temperature. You certainly shouldn't be harvesting an animal for 1-3 hours in the game without a fire to keep you warm. In the sandbox harvesting an animal without a fire is many player's first death in the game....it was mine...lol.

With all the best clothes I think you can find in Episode 1 and with them all in condition 80-100%, I am currently at +19°C warmth +6°C windchill. Well, strike that I haven't searched the farm yet and I didn't make the rabbit mittens yet....I have the wool ones. So you can probably get it to +20-21°C warmth in Episode 1. Which is significant even at early morning temps.

I have the ski mask from the bank box, ear muffs, wool toque, Will's jacket, a simple parka, two pairs cargo pants, a thin wool sweater and Will's sweater, two thermal undies, two wool socks, and the Mountaineer's boots from Grey Mother's 375 trust reward....

The rabbit mittens would add a degree. I think there are climbing socks in the trunk where you get the rope to leave Episode 1, those would add half a degree. I think there is also a Mackinaw Jacket in there, that adds half a degree. I haven't looted the farm, so if there is anything better there that might help too....

[Kaiservadin]

Just wanted to add this here, does not matter how much warmth you have on if there is a bizzard starting it will automaticly lower warmth by 3 arrows. Not sure about deer, wolf or bear clothes though.

[Renegade30]

On 8/22/2017 at 9:31 AM, Kaiservadin said:

Just wanted to add this here, does not matter how much warmth you have on if there is a bizzard starting it will automaticly lower warmth by 3 arrows. Not sure about deer, wolf or bear clothes though.

This is not true. The blizzard will lower the temperature sure and you shouldn't be outside. But it is possible to have enough good clothes on that it barely affects you. Really the key to dealing with warmth is finding clothes, maintaining them and performing outdoor activities during desirable times of the day (midday - 5pm is very best, an hour or two plus or take is not as good, more than that and you better be ready to feel that cold).

[KD7BCH]

Part of this is you can't see the direct effects easily because they modified the UI prior to launch after refining it a year ago or more to optimize it back then. Anyway you are right and wrong. Clothing does prevent frostbite which is a huge issue but hypothermia and low temperatures are a fact of life in The Long Dark.

[Carbon]

 Stay out of the wind and you'll see your temps dropping much more slowly. So, if out in a blizzard, try to stay protected from the wind; even walking along behind a drift is enough. The wind protection assigned to clothing is always lower than their general temperature protection values so clothing is far less effective against the wind than ambient temps.

[TROY]

The best methods for being geared against the weather have been pretty well explained here, but no one has touched on how the system actually works, and understanding that is a key part.  Your clothing adds up its totals, and is then added to the real temperatures outside. The temp you see displayed as "feels like" already has all your clothing bonuses figured into it, so thats the number your'e worried about. Even if you have a plus 20 bonus total from awesome clothes, and you go into -30 weather with a high wind blowing, you are gonna get cold fast. How fast you temp drops is based directly on how far below zero the "feels like" number is.   Stay indoors whenever you can until about noontime. The warmest temps are usually from that time until almost or shortly after the sun sets.  Stay out of blizzards whenever you can. And harvest cloth from curtains and such whenever you can for repairs.

[Stormwolf1O1]

On 8/19/2017 at 6:35 PM, Monsarona said:

I went a good portion of the way through episode 1 without pants as well. I wish your Will was wearing your actual gear in cutscenes. The cutscene with grey mother would have been hilarious without pants on.

It's not like she can see anything though XD

[Thrasador]

On 8/19/2017 at 6:35 PM, Monsarona said:

I went a good portion of the way through episode 1 without pants as well. I wish your Will was wearing your actual gear in cutscenes. The cutscene with grey mother would have been hilarious without pants on.

I guess it might take A LOT of animation remodeling, but it would be awesome if what you were ACTUALLY wearing was pasted into the cutscenes....Instead of Will's default outfit.

It's slightly immersion breaking to see him always wearing the same outfit, even if you replaced or destroyed what he is wearing in the cutscene....

[JAFO]

7 hours ago, Thrasador said:

I guess it might take A LOT of animation remodeling, but it would be awesome if what you were ACTUALLY wearing was pasted into the cutscenes....Instead of Will's default outfit.

It's slightly immersion breaking to see him always wearing the same outfit

This has been a wish/complaint ever since first person presence was introduced into the game.. arms and hands not matching what the player is wearing.

[LucidFugue]

I have often thought it would be weird to be able to do everything while wearing mittens. Trying to animate rifle or bow actions with mittens on would be hilarious.