Craft or Store? (Decay vs. Weight)

[lcsu24]

*posted this on Steam earlier, but I just created my account here (who hoo! super excited) and want to see if I can get more responses for the little dilemma that I'm having*

Hello all, want to hear your thoughts & opinions!
I am currently on a custom run in DL ready to move to CH. I have on me a wolf coat, deerskin pants, and a pair of Mukluks (I got so lucky finding this). I have 5 wolf pelts, 3 deer pelts, and 1 bear pelt. Saw the awesome decay rate tables created by the Fandom Wiki community. 
Before I rush into anything, I want to hear what you guys would do: Craft 1 wolf coat & 1 deerskin pants (makes it incredibly lighter for me to travel) or carry the pelts with me. As far as I know, the pelts do not decay once cured. The wolf pelt decays 0.020%/day stored and the deerskin pant decays 0.029%/day stored. I know the decay is minuscule, and I will run into much more wildlife in the future (hence more pelts), but I don't want clothes to sit and ruin as I am planning this run to be quite a long one. 
 

Would really love to hear what you guys have to say. 

[mystifeid]

Where is DL?

Take the bear pelt. Also take one wolf pelt and one deer pelt to repair your existing coat and pants in case you tangle with a wolf. Leave the rest. Maybe though you are thinking of making a second wolfskin coat and a second pair of deerskin pants. Where you would do this depends on a few things like how badly you need them, your food supply and how well set up you are to deal with cabin fever.

There are a million wolves and deer in the game. Eventually you will have a mountain of hides and there will be no use for them.

[lcsu24]

Oops I meant DP! I turned off cabin fever and there is ample supply of food from the bear (also turned off intestinal parasites as IRL you can actually eat wolf & bear meat, albeit you have to cook it beyond a certain temp to kill bacteria). I am thinking of making a second of each and carry it all because I have the impulse to hoard everything I get haha. 

Thank you so much for the response @mystifeid

[mystifeid]

Why not wear the second coat and pants?

But just to give you some idea: at the moment I'm on day 365 (a whole year - yippee) in Interloper which has much slower respawn times than other modes and without really trying I've killed 334 animals. I try to harvest everything to promote respawn times (even wolves) and so far I've taken 220 hides. Guess how many I've actually used.

[hozz1235]

Unless you need 'em, stash 'em.

[lcsu24]

11 hours ago, mystifeid said:

Why not wear the second coat and pants?

But just to give you some idea: at the moment I'm on day 365 (a whole year - yippee) in Interloper which has much slower respawn times than other modes and without really trying I've killed 334 animals. I try to harvest everything to promote respawn times (even wolves) and so far I've taken 220 hides. Guess how many I've actually used.

Wearing two deerskin pants and wolf coats...that's a new idea! Don't you think that'll be way too heavy and unnecessary? 

Holy s**** 365 on Interloper. Crazy. I'm guessing you used maybe 15 hides each from wolf and dear? I'm assuming you occasionally get into fights in addition to the daily wear and tear and have to do some extra repairing. Asking as more of Pilgrmer to an Interloper, where are you staying permanently in that run? In other words, do you have multiple bases at each map and travel around or a main one? If so, I'm so curious as to how many hides you have stored. If you can send a screen shot that would be awesome as well. I can't imagine 200+ pelts just sitting in a corner or in a container!

[cekivi]

Welcome to the forums @lcsu24

In the latest patch worn clothing counts for less weight  

[mystifeid]

9 hours ago, lcsu24 said:

I'm guessing you used maybe 15 hides each from wolf and dear?

Sorry. It was a rhetorical question. I've got no idea how many I've used, only that it would be a fraction of those harvested even though you do tend to become a bit profligate with them - keeping clothes in perfect condition. Plus, as you surmised, the animal attacks have also taken their toll (2 bear attacks, 1 moose attack and 28 wolf struggles).

I was the quintessential tourist until around day 280, walking around all the maps twice so my hides are scattered everywhere. Every cave and every building is my base. Thought I'd try for 500 days so I've hunkered down in Mystery Lake. I've never spent much time here partly because it is a very easy place to survive and partly because my preference is for movement. Base building quickly becomes stale and boring for me. However I'd like to finish the 500 days so just this once, safe and boring sounds good.

As for clothing, the air temperature during the warmest part of the day in Interloper's Pleasant Valley gets as hot as -36°C. I wear as a matter of course: deerskin boots, two deerskin pants, rabbitskin mittens, wolfskin jacket and bearskin jacket. Mystery Lake is 10°-12° warmer which is nice because my clothing warmth bonus is around 26° and I can often walk around in the afternoon without getting cold and since I've been here I've had no risk of cabin fever - this is a bit of a new experience for me when staying in one place. Blizzards also tend to be much shorter here and more infrequent than in PV or TWM.

Regarding parasites - these become a non-issue when you reach level 5 cooking skill. This usually takes me around 100 days - after that I can eat wolf and bear. Level 5 cooking also removes any possibility of food poisoning from food you have cooked - no matter it's condition.

[lcsu24]

1 minute ago, mystifeid said:

Sorry. It was a rhetorical question.

 

Haha I know, I was just trying to guess to see if I did hit the right range. 

3 minutes ago, mystifeid said:

Every cave and every building is my base.

 

You know a good player when you see one. 

Maybe I should take your playing style into advice-I inherently crave safe and boring that I find adventure too nerve-wracking and uncomfortable. I try to balance out the daily routine of base building with going out to hunt. Fishing in CH or ML is pretty fun for me because I have to go out and get wood and I might face trouble out on the ice. But I'm sure the bits of excitement from living at a base probably doesn't rival the thrill of constantly moving around.

I've spent about a month at DP alone (started here), and is just about to move to CH. I've never spent periods of time in PL and TWM, so warmth has never been an issue for me. With that in mind, would you still think the wolfcoat x2 is a good idea? I know you'd say "It's up to you," but I'm asking if you would do it in relatively warm weather like mine. 

Also, thanks for being so thoughtful in your replies!

[mystifeid]

12 minutes ago, lcsu24 said:

With that in mind, would you still think the wolfcoat x2 is a good idea?

If you can walk around without getting cold or getting cold very slowly, then no, it's not worth it. But if you are going to make a second one and carry it, as @cekivipointed out, you may be better off wearing it.

[JAFO]

30 minutes ago, lcsu24 said:

Maybe I should take your playing style into advice-I inherently crave safe and boring that I find adventure too nerve-wracking and uncomfortable. I try to balance out the daily routine of base building with going out to hunt. Fishing in CH or ML is pretty fun for me because I have to go out and get wood and I might face trouble out on the ice. But I'm sure the bits of excitement from living at a base probably doesn't rival the thrill of constantly moving around.

As you try higher difficulty levels, particularly Interloper, you'll find the lower levels of loot pretty much forces you to constantly stay on the move, especially in the early game. Once established, this becomes a very hard habit to break, even when playing on easier levels.

[mystifeid]

2 minutes ago, JAFO said:

particularly Interloper, you'll find the lower levels of loot pretty much forces you to constantly stay on the move, especially in the early game.

Well in the early game you are maybe thinking about making knife/hatchet/bow/arrows which require you to find certain things and then go to a forge. After that though it is easily possible to move somewhere by day 30 and just stay there. For example in one 200 day Interloper game I spent 170 days in Pleasant Valley based in the Farmstead. Boring as hell.

Most people don't want to move around in Interloper - it's too easy to die. They like to do their forging then go back to live out their time in Coastal Highway where the weather is temperate, game is plentiful and the fishing good.

Seeing as how I'm living in Mystery Lake at the moment it's hard to say there's anything wrong with that.

But it was proven to me a quite a while ago that with careful micro-management a little loot can be made to last a very long time.