Biggest Tip regarding Weather Changes.

[JAFO]

9 hours ago, Stormwolf1O1 said:

If you're hanging out near crows circling a corpse/carcass and they suddenly disappear, get ready for some nasty weather.

Now that, I agree with.

[Renegade30]

2 hours ago, JAFO said:

Sorry, but Hinterland have specifically stated that the only thing this signals is that a change in weather, good or bad, is coming soon.

Maybe I should have been more specific. The crows only tend to fly in low wind or low snowfall situations, so if you see crows you know the weather is not going to turn into a blizzard within the next few seconds, ie it could still be foggy etc. But they are finicky little things, they quickly disappear moments before a massive storm.

[JAFO]

6 minutes ago, Renegade30 said:

Maybe I should have been more specific.

What needs to be more specific, is if we're talking about circling crows, or straight-line flying crows..  as you said, the circling ones vanish in bad weather. The straight-line ones only function is to signal an upcoming change. There's no overlap. Straight-line crows are not heading towards a new carcass.

[Renegade30]

1 minute ago, JAFO said:

The straight-line ones only function is to signal an upcoming change. There's no overlap. Straight-line crows are not heading towards a new carcass.

How do you know this? Why do the crows always fly in the direction of a corpse? You could follow any of the line crows and find a corpse, this is what I have always done.

[JAFO]

6 minutes ago, Renegade30 said:

How do you know this?

That's what Hinterland have said..

6 minutes ago, Renegade30 said:

Why do the crows always fly in the direction of a corpse? You could follow any of the line crows and find a corpse, this is what I have always done.

Do they? I'd imagine that if you walk in a straight line long enough in TLD, you'll always find a carcass roughly on that line.. there's plenty of them around.

On the other hand, perhaps you're right, and you're the first to notice something that nobody else has, to the best of my knowledge.. (and I mean that sincerely, not being sarcastic). If so, this needs some testing/confirmation. As I've said before, there is always more to learn about the subtleties of this game, and your observation certainly is intriguing, and would be very useful to know.

[Renegade30]

2 minutes ago, JAFO said:

On the other hand, perhaps you're right, and you're the first to notice something that nobody else has, to the best of my knowledge.. (and I mean that sincerely, not being sarcastic).

Didn't know it was not known! It could be that there are so many corpses I have just mistakenly assumed that's the case. I will try and test that assumption next time I play

[cekivi]

Just to chime in (and I haven't played in a while so take this with a grain of salt) but I have seen crows fly straight though terrain without deviating course. I suspect that, like @JAFO mentioned, that the flying crows and circling crows are separate entities. 

[Frosty]

What about wind patterns in terms of direction? Are the winds coming off the ocean on CH more common - which would be coming from the south of the map - and typical each day than coming from the North for example?

Seems the wind is fighting me no matter which way I go at times. Left Jackrabbit in the morning the wind was coming from the North, when returning in the evening it was coming off the ocean on my way to the island 

[JAFO]

2 minutes ago, Frosty said:

Seems the wind is fighting me no matter which way I go at times.

@Ruruwawa and @Timber Wolf have both tested and confirmed that yes, the wind really does intentionally act against you at times.. generally at the worst possible time. It's not random bad luck that the wind seems to always be in your face whenever you're desperate.

[Lrrr Ruler of OP8]

14 hours ago, JAFO said:

Sorry, but Hinterland have specifically stated that the only thing this signals is that a change in weather, good or bad, is coming soon.

Interesting, do you have a link?

[JAFO]

On 8/24/2017 at 1:09 AM, Lrrr Ruler of OP8 said:

Interesting, do you have a link?

Not off the top of my head.. I think it was in the release notes for a patch.

And I realise now that I phrased my response badly.. should have said, "The only thing Hinterland have said on the subject is, that this signals that a change in weather, good or bad, is coming soon."

[Lrrr Ruler of OP8]

On 8/25/2017 at 9:42 PM, JAFO said:

Not off the top of my head.. I think it was in the release notes for a patch.

And I realise now that I phrased my response badly.. should have said, "The only thing Hinterland have said on the subject is, that this signals that a change in weather, good or bad, is coming soon."

Got it, I'll have to look out for that during my travels

[MarrowStone]

On 8/22/2017 at 11:31 PM, JAFO said:

@Ruruwawa and @Timber Wolf have both tested and confirmed that yes, the wind really does intentionally act against you at times.. generally at the worst possible time. It's not random bad luck that the wind seems to always be in your face whenever you're desperate.

Can we get a link to the discussion on this? I just figure its selective memory, but it does seem to like to blow towards hostile wildlife, especially in the fog.

[Stormwolf1O1]

On 8/23/2017 at 0:31 AM, JAFO said:

@Ruruwawa and @Timber Wolf have both tested and confirmed that yes, the wind really does intentionally act against you at times.. generally at the worst possible time. It's not random bad luck that the wind seems to always be in your face whenever you're desperate.

I knew I wasn't crazy. The wind always seems to be coming from the direction I'm trying to go!

[JAFO]

8 hours ago, MarrowStone said:

Can we get a link to the discussion on this? I just figure its selective memory, but it does seem to like to blow towards hostile wildlife, especially in the fog.

Sure.. it begins here, with an observation and trick detailed by @Ruruwawa (it's all in the spoiler in his post). It gets a little buried in the other discusssions going on, but a couple of us comment on it, and further down, @Timber Wolf weighs in with his own observations.. and finally Ruruwawa mentions another observation a few pages further on, here.

In summary... yes, sometimes the wind really is out to get you.

[Ruruwawa]

I've been intentionally trying to counter the wind a lot lately.  Some observations:

1.  If you're outside and the wind can reach you, it can last several hours.  
2.  If you go someplace the wind can't get you (indoors, fish hut, cave) the wind stops or slows pretty quickly,
3.  Blizzards are a different animal, and don't respond to the counters that work for strong winds. 

Caveat: I've been testing on Pilgrim most recently (working on the FC cheevo).   I've noticed lots more randomness in wind behavior on harder exp modes (esp Interloper)... in Pilgrim it seems nearly 100% controllable.

Want the wind to change direction?  Stand in a sheltered spot and wait up to an hour.   I usually just pass time for an hour, and ESC out as soon as the wind changes.   This gives you maybe an hour with a tail wind.   Then direction will change back to a head wind, or a wind coming from a nearby major shelter.

Want the wind to stop (or at least slow)?  Pop into a shelter and wait for the change.  This can take as little as a few seconds.  When you step outside the wind will have slowed or stopped, and maybe the weather changed too.  (Not always for the best  )

A story to illustrate changing the wind direction behavior.  Early in this sandbox I got lost mapping in E-central PV and night fell.   I was too lightly clothed to sleep outdoors but, hey, Pilgrim -- takes quite a while to freeze.  I picked a sheltered spot by a rock, tossed out my bedroll and slept for 2 hours.  When I woke the wind was blowing directly at me.  So I found a new sheltered spot, slept two hours.  Same thing - wind blowing at me again.  I spent the night swapping between those two spots.  The wind didn't stop all night (yep, I listened to the wind sounds during sleep), and it always found me.   Shortly after rising I found a cave, entered, and the wind died seconds later. 

That's just one example but I've been using these techniques throughout this sandbox (~50 days), and so far they work this way consistently.   But remember... Pilgrim... missing the randomness and probably other factors for wind AI.  Also the opportunity to pass time is much harder to come by on Interloper where food, warmth and condition are so precious.  So these might not be practical tactics in many sandboxes.

[JAFO]

6 minutes ago, Ruruwawa said:

That's just one example but I've been using these techniques throughout this sandbox (~50 days), and so far they work this way consistently.

Man.. I'd upvote that post a ton if I could.. that's some excellent news.. it will be interesting to see what can be learned about the other levels using this work as a foundation. Many thanks!

[Ruruwawa]

On 8/22/2017 at 10:31 PM, JAFO said:

@Ruruwawa and @Timber Wolf have both tested and confirmed that yes, the wind really does intentionally act against you at times.. generally at the worst possible time. It's not random bad luck that the wind seems to always be in your face whenever you're desperate.

I can't say I've noticed a change in wind behavior for desparate straits... I haven't tested wind behavior when you have afflictions or low condition.  Might be we just notice it more when we're desperate.

[Ruruwawa]

2 minutes ago, JAFO said:

Man.. I'd upvote that post a ton if I could.. that's some excellent news.. it will be interesting to see what can be learned about the other levels using this work as a foundation. Many thanks!

Hey I have to do something with my mind while I'm in Pilgrim.

[JAFO]

Just now, Ruruwawa said:

I can't say I've noticed a change in wind behavior for desparate straits... I haven't tested wind behavior when you have afflictions or low condition.  Might be we just notice it more when we're desperate.

Well.. we've all seen how any time you really need to get to shelter in the worst way, the wind seems to be in your face.. I think it's just an extension of what you've learned about the wind always coming from the location of the closest shelter.. and how if you head for a different shelter, after a while the wind will switch around.