Challenge: Vegan Mackenzie in Wintermute

[DeeGat]

Wintermute too easy for you?

Here is The Vegan Mackenzie Wintermute Challenge.

- No extra matches. Just the ones Mackenzie has on him after the crash. (You will leave the tutorial area with only 7 wooden matches on you and will not pick up any more).

- No extra clothes. Picking up clothes to harvest cloth is allowed and of course mending the ones Will already wears. Will's jacket is allowed. No gloves.

- Food allowed: Pinnacle peaches, Tomato soups, Salty Crackers, Peanut Butter, Coffee, Rose hips, Mushrooms, Cat Tail Stalks, Orange/Grape/Summit Sodas and Milk. You are not allowed to pick up anything else, even if you don't eat it. (i.e give it to an NPC to raise "trust" or finish a quest sooner).

- Harvesting carcasses: Guts are allowed (decoys), also 10 kg of deer meat to complete the hunting quest in episode 2.

- Eating meat is forbiten. (Except in the tutorial).

- Fishing: Only the 5 kg of fish needed to complete the fishing quest. Eating fish is forbiten. 

- Killing animals: Only Old Bear. No other animals are to be harmed by you.

- Drugs: Only natural healing by using Bandages, Old Man's Beard, Rose Hip Tea and  Reishi Tea. Pills and Antiseptic not allowed (except in the tutorial). No emergency stims either.

The goal is to complete ALL main AND side quests in the least amount of time. Good luck! Looking forward to reading your survival stories! Even better if you start a video series!.

 

Still too easy for you? Try the Liquid Diet Wintermute Challenge!

Same as above with these changes:

- Mackenzie doesn't pick up the jacket.  
- Only coffee, milk, sodas and teas for food. Nothing else, not even cat tail stalks.  Remember: you can't pick up anything else in your inventory.

For the most hardcore TLD survivors try the Purist Wintermute Challenge!

Same as the Liquid Diet Challenge with this change: Sodas are out, Cat Tail Stalks are in.
   
Hope you have fun with these!

 

[JAFO]

Interesting ideas.

So.. I have a challenge for you.

In the game Kerbal Space Program, one rule of posting challenges on the forums is that the challenger has to be able to demonstrate that the challenge can actually be done.

 

In that spirit, I'd like to challenge you to show us your own attempt(s) to complete said challenge.. are you up for it?

[DeeGat]

I am definitely up for it.  I wouldn't have posted it as a challenge if it couldn't be done.  

The "Vegan" challenge was  the first I completed; the only thing that worried me, was whether I'd have to kill the deer in the hunting quest, but it turns out that you can just as easily use harvested meat from any deer carcass you come by in the game, without having to kill one yourself. The fish can't be avoided, so no way to circumvent that. You have  to catch 5 kg of fish. 

The 7 matches were plenty, I finished the game with two remaining. Took off my clothes before each Old Bear encounter, so I had no problems with clothes. 

The "Liquid Diet" is the one I am trying next. Not having the jacket will pose a problem, so I expect a lot of "fire-hopping". I will be recording videos of the run, so I'l be posting those in the "Gameplay Videos & Streams" section.

 

[r4nd0m]

You may want to check the ingredients on the back of the food items as a lot of the canned/boxed food is vegan.  Next time you pick up or get ready to cook a can of pork n beans, flip the can around... there's no pork in it

[DeeGat]

Yes, I am well aware of the fact that most of the packaged/canned food is actually vegan. The "vegan" epithet in the name of the challenge is just to describe that there are some (arbitrary) dietary restrictions. Perhaps I should have chosen better names for the challenges, but those are the ones I came up at the time I wrote that post. In hindsight the following would have been better:

Normal Wintermute → Pilgrim

"Vegan Challenge" → Voyager

"Liquid Diet" → Stalker

"Purist" → Interloper

[Ape88]

2 hours ago, r4nd0m said:

Next time you pick up or get ready to cook a can of pork n beans, flip the can around... there's no pork in it

Noooooo! The pork is a lie?!

[JAFO]

4 hours ago, Ape88 said:

Noooooo! The pork is a lie?!

The new label on the P&B doesn't mention or show pork at all.. according to the front of the can, it just contains beans.

[abacusjax]

This  is a fantastic idea. Just finished episode 1 with a variation on the purist challenge. To be honest, I'm not sure I will survive the journey to the hunting lodge and back - but this is really adding to how much fun I'm having with this game. Thanks for posting!

[DeeGat]

56 minutes ago, abacusjax said:

This  is a fantastic idea. Just finished episode 1 with a variation on the purist challenge. To be honest, I'm not sure I will survive the journey to the hunting lodge and back - but this is really adding to how much fun I'm having with this game. Thanks for posting!

Very interested to see what your variation is!

My favorite so far is the Liquid Diet challenge. As a justification/immersion, I say that Will broke his jaw at the plane crash, so he can't eat anything, just drink through a straw.  

I just barely made it out of Milton (finishing all the side quests of course) with 35% condition and have only had water in the last two days.

In order to fill up Mother's fridge with only  liquids, I had to scrape almost every rose hip, mushroom, coffee, herb tea and soda in the area. When I found a single can of condensed milk, I was jumping around like crazy!

Never went to bed with more than 400-500 calories in me and when I saw that it was still too much, I stopped the caloric intake altogether.

It turns out that the "LD" challenge is slightly more difficult than the "purist". Cat tail stalks are more abundant than sodas, even accounting for the  caloric difference. I think a true "Interloper" challenge would be only stalks, mushrooms and rose hips. Have to check to see if it's possible though.  

I am starting another run now, to try and be more efficient. "Speed is key!"

[abacusjax]

5 hours ago, DeeGat said:

Very interested to see what your variation is!

...

It turns out that the "LD" challenge is slightly more difficult than the "purist". Cat tail stalks are more abundant than sodas, even accounting for the  caloric difference. I think a true "Interloper" challenge would be only stalks, mushrooms and rose hips. Have to check to see if it's possible though.  

I am starting another run now, to try and be more efficient. "Speed is key!"

I did just that - ate only harvestable plants. I called the variation Paleo Vegan, but I wasn't sure it would be possible - I did leave some herbal teas and coffees in Grey Mother's fridge, two boxes and a tin worth. And although I did open all the safety deposit boxes and acquired all trust rewards except boots, I didn't look for any of the caches. I couldn't think of a single thing that I might need that would be in them. Also, one of my frustrations with the story mode is how looting the gas station is deemed morally objectionable, but not taking things people have stashed away explicitly for their survival, so I felt like it made more sense that way.

You mention trying it, and I'd be interested to see how it goes for you and maybe pick up some tips. I'm about to attempt episode 2. I think food will actually be easier, but I'm not confident in my warmth management skills while traveling. I'll let you know if I freeze to death in FM. 

[DeeGat]

2 hours ago, abacusjax said:

You mention trying it, and I'd be interested to see how it goes for you and maybe pick up some tips. I'm about to attempt episode 2. I think food will actually be easier, but I'm not confident in my warmth management skills while traveling. I'll let you know if I freeze to death in FM. 

I just finished Episode 1 in the "Paleo-Vegan /live of the land" (love the name btw) variation and I can tell you right now that IMO, it's the best way to play the game!

- Gray Mother's fridge was filled mostly with stalks (58) and some rose hip and reishi teas.  I did not pick up a single food item other than stalks, rose hips and mushrooms. I did however eat the 2 soups Mother makes for Will. I figured that since she made the soup with the food I brought her, I didn't brake the rules. Also I harvested and cooked 10 kg of deer meat, which I carried over to episode 2 for Jeremiah.

- All side quests completed.  - I agree with you on futility of some of those quests, but I wanted to do it for completeness. Besides, there are some handy flares/cells and of course the magnifying lens to be gained by completing them.

- The one time I was attacked by a wolf (turned around a corner and he was right in front of me, I didn't have time to even open the radial menu!), I used only my hands to repel him. I figured that the "no killing animals" rule applies to wolves also. (Am I nuts !?)

All in all it was a great experience!. Quite challenging and very rewarding!

I agree with you, I don't expect Episode 2 to be more difficult.

Food will be no problem, there are lots of stalks and mushrooms between ML and FM.  The "only hands for wolves" makes them scary enough to try and completely avoid, but I do have 7 flare cells to scare them way and will pick up more. 

I am also left with 4 matches and I have the lens, so fires and fire-hopping will be quite easy.

The jacket will be missed during those long walks on episode 2, but ML's good weather shouldn't pose much of a problem.

BTW I've recorded the whole run (2 hours 50 mins total) and I'll be posting it on  the "Gameplay Videos & Streams" section, as soon as I brake it into episodes. 

Looking forward to hearing how your run goes and hopefully from other survivors who find this challenge interesting!

Cheers.

 

[JAFO]

Kudos to those who are succeeding at this challenge. It's not an easy path to take, even if I do think you're making it ridiculously hard on yourselves by not providing GM with anything that you wouldn't eat yourself. Surely, that's her choice to make, not yours.

 

13 hours ago, DeeGat said:

In order to fill up Mother's fridge with only  liquids, I had to scrape almost every rose hip, mushroom, coffee, herb tea and soda in the area. When I found a single can of condensed milk, I was jumping around like crazy!

So Will is imposing his personal beliefs on Grey Mother without her agreement? That's not very nice of him.

Puts me in mind of all those vegans who abuse their pets by imposing their personal dietary beliefs onto their animals as well.

[JAFO]

3 hours ago, DeeGat said:

BTW I've recorded the whole run (2 hours 50 mins total) and I'll be posting it on  the "Gameplay Videos & Streams" section, as soon as I brake it into episodes. 

I'm looking forward to seeing that! Thanks!

[DeeGat]

15 hours ago, JAFO said:

I'm looking forward to seeing that! Thanks!

Part 1 posted here. 3 more parts to complete the first episode will be uploaded the following days. 

[TwinCats]

On 05.08.2017 at 9:08 PM, DeeGat said:

Food allowed: Pinnacle peaches, Tomato soups, Salty Crackers, Peanut Butter, Coffee, Rose hips, Mushrooms, Cat Tail Stalks, Orange/Grape/Summit Sodas and Milk.

Thank you for the interesting idea. Need to try. But for the purity of the vegan experiment, I would exclude milk from the permitted products.

[Morphe]

What about Grey Mother's soup? Is this allowed?