V1.30 Stalker Achievement Run II

[Hotzn]

Day 11:

The early morning sees fog and heavy snowfall, which means eating another wolf steak (oooh, parasite risk) and then study time. I read into Field Dressing Your Kill, my fourth book after finishing a) Survive the Outdoors!, b) Wilderness Kitchen and c) Frontier Shooting Guide. A blizzard follows the fog, but shortly after noon it clears up and I am on my way.

Turning left, I keep the cliff to my left shoulder in hopes of getting somewhere. And really, after a while the landscape looks familiar – I am close to Signal Hill. Without incidents, I make it to Radio Control Hut. This place usually holds interesting things… ha! Another pair of earwraps in the locker next to the bed!! I can now fill all clothing slots!! An achievement is hanging in the air! Also the usual cargo pants on the bed (these seem to be a guaranteed spawn), 12 rifle rounds altogether, not to mention the rifle and the cleaning kit. There is also a Mariner’s Pea Coat here, will have to inspect that more closely. And another pair of insulated as well as trail boots. And several cans of food. And coffee. Wonderful. I repair and put on the cargo pants, do some more mending of my clothes, then go outside to the fire barrel to make fire and produce some water until late at night. I pull new torches (still using the torch fire-lighting exploit, oh yes), also to leave some at the Radio Control Hut and go back inside. What’s for dinner? Let’s take a look at what we’ve got… what the…? I’ve got an open can of Pork & beans on me! Interesting… I never opened that myself, so apparently we can now find the occasional open can with food left in it. Cool. And really – there is only 368 kCal of pork & beans left in the can. It’s at 48% condition, but I gulp it down nevertheless and fill up with some MRE (I interrupt eating that again to maintain some for later). Then water and off to sleep.

[Hotzn]

Day 12:

My risk of intestinal parasites from eating the second wolf steak has gone overnight. I deposit some of the water from last night’s fire in the Radio Control Hut. The plan for today: Descend to the Farmstead, harvest all the cloth I need there and then mend all my clothes to 100% to get the corresponding achievement. But first I need to check my equipment, as I am close to 30 kg and potentially want to add the rifle to my stuff. Or should I leave it here for now? Yes, I will leave it here, just as the 25 rifle rounds and the 2 cleaning kits. This stuff is just too heavy at the moment. When I have reduced my stuff to roughly 25 kg, I set out. Which route to take now? Let’s try the shorter one down the rope by the bear cave. Looking down from the cliff, I see (and hear) the bear rummaging around at the bottom of the rope. I wait for it to wander off, then climb down, cross the road and walk to the Farmstead. Obviously, this place is full of loot, and at this point I shall only mention the items which complement my equipment: woolen longjohns. Hmmm… yeah, it seems I am already fairly well-equipped. I sort excess stuff into various cupboards, then light a fire in the stove, eat and drink a bit and study Field Dressing Your Kill for the remaining 3 hours. When I finish it, my skill for carcass harvesting goes up to level 2. Now it’s late at night, so I do the usual eating & drinking routine… and notice something which almost escapes my attention: I can double-click on a can and it will automatically open before eating. Without telling me HOW I actually open it. I kind of miss the decision whether to use the knife or smash a can open in absence of a can opener. But since Hinterland never introduced any real consequences (like a risk of cutting myself of ruining the knife) of awkwardly opening a can, they could as well scrap it. Shame really, I think they are missing out on an opportunity here to offer different decisions with different risks and rewards.

Anyway, the day is over and I go upstairs to sleep in a cozy bed.

[Hotzn]

Day 13:

This is the Resolute Outfitter day. I start it off by harvesting curtains until I have 27 cloth. That should be sufficient. There are plenty of sewing kits, so no problem there. I harvest some furniture to have enough firewood to keep mending clothes into the night. Food and water is abundant. Let’s go. I start off by bringing my trail boots up to 100%. Next are my work gloves… hrrrgh… no leather left. I don’t care, go to my wardrobe and exchange the work gloves for fleece mittens. Then it’s a lot of tedious mending with the occasional failed attempt. Night falls, I light a fire in the stove and stoke it up to last for many hours. Having repaired everything, I do not see the achievement popping up. Check again: Hrrrch, my thermal underwear and Canadian toque have gone down to 99% again! But after re-repairing those, I am finally awarded: The achievement shows up, and I am now officially a Resolute Outfitter! For the record, I attach a screenshot of my outfit:

It's shortly before dawn, and I am quite exhausted. Off to bed...

[Hotzn]

Day 14:

When I wake up, it is already noon.

With the Resolute Outfitter achievement ticked off, my thoughts turn to the next one: Penitent Scholar. I have finished four different research books, and I have another one on me – Stay on Target. Looks like this is for the archery skill. I know there is another book on ice fishing which I need to find. That makes six different types of research books. Checking the existing skills, I see there are seven altogether. I have not yet seen a book on mending in any of my older games. So either I need to find a book on mending as well, or there are only 6 different research books. Or I am wrong altogether. Another question is whether the achievement only requires me to read one of each type of research book or several. Is there something like a volume I & II for any of them? I shall find out. Incidentally, I have another copy of Wilderness Kitchen (think I found it in the Farmstead). Can I read that for more skill boost? Seems I can, it says 0/5 hours researched. That’s a bit confusing, since it is the same book I already read. No new content, but it still gives me more knowledge. That seems a bit off.

Anyway, where to go in search of the fishing book? Coastal Highway seems the natural place to find it. But I remember finding it in the Mountaineering Hut or the fishing hut on Crystal Lake on the Timberwolf Mountain map in another run. And there is another achievement to be obtained there – for climbing the summit. And Timberwolf Mountain is dangerous and exciting. So I’ll head there…

But before leaving, I need to prepare this place for my potential return – which means taking apart some furniture for firewood and making pleanty of water to leave here as provision. Then it’s off to bed.

[Hotzn]

Day 15:

In the morning, a blizzard is blowing, so I spend some time sharpening my knife and hatchet. When the weather has calmed down, I set out, hit the road & turn left, check the two cars and the broken barn in the woods on the other side of the road, then leave the road again and visit the Outbuildings. The target practice thingy behind the red barn yields 2 arrows and another broken one. Some food in the tractor. The red barn itself has plenty of things as usual, and there are some that need closer inspection:

First, a brand new „long wool scarf“. Looks interesting, but in comparison with the Canadian toque it’s inferior in every aspect. Now I realize that something in the clothing menu needs improvement – both headgear slots say „inner layer“, which is definitely wrong, because one of those must be an outer layer (whereas the sock slots could in theory both be „inner layers“ as long as you wear shoes). I do some experimenting and find out the outer layer is actually the one closer to the player character. Because only that one grants the wind protection bonus. Now that is totally un-intuitive and should be switched and clarified. Here's a picture:

But back to the long wool scarf. Under my Canadian toque I am currently wearing a (regular) wool scarf. Now replacing that with the long wool scarf would only give me +0.5°C, all the other bonuses of the long wool scarf are lost on the inner layer. And the +0.5°C comes at the downside of an additional +0.15 kg of weight. Hm. Not really worth it. Now what else have we got…

Secondly, a pair of (ragged) "gauntlets". Can’t remember having had those before. Hmmm… they have crazy stats, at 100% they would give me +2.0°C temperature bonus and another +2.0°C windproof. Waterproof is at 40%, and they give 6% protection. Buttt… they slow me down by 3% (not too bad compared to my current working gloves at 2%) and are really heavy at 1.00 kg. Still, they are cool as shit, and since it’s the first time I find them, I decide to repair and wear them for now.

Thirdly, a new military coat. I can compare this nicely to my ski jacket now, which is still at 100%. Nah, the military jacket somehow doesn’t make the cut. It gives great protection against attacks, and I might test that later when I start collecting wolf skins. But until then I will try to avoid wolves. And the remaining stats are not good enough to warrant the extra weight (2 kg) and encumbrance (-5% speed). So the military coat stays here in a locker.

When I exit the barn, a blizzard just starts in my face, so I retreat inside and read my copy of Stay on Target from start to finish. Then the blizzard is over, but night has fallen, and so I decide to spend the night sleeping in the truck.

[dead frozen dude]

1 hour ago, Hotzn said:

Another question is whether the achievement only requires me to read one of each type of research book or several.

I think it's every single book in the game world... so power-leveling your cooking and harvesting skills would shut you out of this achievement... as it did for me I suppose.

Amazing read, please keep it up.

[Hotzn]

Day 16:

A beautiful morning sunrise.

Returning to the road, I turn left and soon reach Contemplation Bridge. From here on, I do some mapping with charcoal collected from various fireplaces. Just to try this out, haven’t used this feature much so far. Here’s the result:

Hmm… I never used this feature much, it seems a bit tedious. Anyway, I reach Rural Crossroads before noon. In the rural store, there’s a lot of food and other stuff. The only items of interest to me are an „old-fashoined parka“ and combat boots. Both seem adequate for combat, but would slow me down too much. I take them, but will leave them in the house on the other side of the bridge which has a bed. That house has been the occasional short-term base in many past runs for me. Carefully, I cross the bridge… looking out for wolves in Rural Crossroads… none to be seen… okay, the base-house on the left side of the street is burnt down, the one on the right stands. There is more decoration around than there used to be, a tractor etc. I appreciate it. Then I plunder the house (nothing extraordinary at this stage), put some loot into the cupboard in the entrance, eat heartily, read another copy of Frontier Shooting Guide which raises my rifle skill to level 2. Then it’s dark and I stay in this house for the night.

[Drifter Man]

On 21/05/2018 at 6:50 AM, Hotzn said:

I do some experimenting and find out the outer layer is actually the one closer to the player character. Because only that one grants the wind protection bonus. Now that is totally un-intuitive and should be switched and clarified. Here's a picture:

Agree - ever since the new clothing system was introduced, I've been struggling every time to find out which layer is the inner one and which is the outer one, checking wind bonus every time. You don't want to wear your windbreaker as inner layer.

About books, there are some advanced and rare books - I recall "Advanced Guns" or something like that, rarely found. You'll probably have to collect these too. It would be nice if you could give us a list

[Hotzn]

Day 17:

The early morning sees me doing some mapping and exploring of Rural Crossroads. Then I slip back into my house to warm up and hit the road further on. There is a narrow spot ahead which is sometimes patrolled by a wolf, but I see a deer there and therefore know it’s safe today. I do appreciate that we have wildlife alternating in certain places – sometimes deer and sometimes wolves. But the pattern is still too predictable. A lot of the excitement comes from not knowing when and where to expect a wolf. But if you know the maps quite well you also know the wolf patterns. It would do the game good in my view to be more unpredictable in this respect.

Shortly before the road terminates in a dead end I turn left where the trail is. Soon I have to strike a wide arc to the right to circumvent a wolf. Descending back to the trail I get a bit nervous – somewhere around here I was surprised by a bear getting me around the corner of a rock in another run, and that was it. I pause and listen… nothing. I make it to the bridge without interruptions, then turn right onto the frozen river and finally reach the Misty Falls Picnic Area. Having frozen down to 85% already, I am grateful for the warm cave here. Inside, I find another hatchet and another bedroll among other stuff. Also coal a-plenty. I leave some provisions as a temporary here and leave the cave again. On the next ridge, I am surprised by wolf (almost get a heart atack), but manage to run for it. My next try involves some climbing along the cliff to my right, and I reach the bunker at the bottom of the rope (transition to Timberwolf Mountain) unscathed.

Ah, there is a hacksaw here in the bunker. Do I currently need it? No. It’s my preferred early item on Interloper runs, but here in Stalker and at day 17 I am already well-equipped. I take it anyway to open the containers on the summit. And there is a pair of snow pants. First time I see these… hmm… good stats, and 50% waterproof. Taking a look at the cargo pants that are currently constituting my outer leg layer… they are 68% wet just now. Frostbite risk is winking. But snow pants will slow me down by 5%. That’s hefty.

Well, I can think about all this tomorrow. I am exhausted and will stay here overnight. Venturing out again, I make a fire and prepare water at the oven in the broken cabin nearby, then descend back into the bunker for a good night’s sleep.

[Hotzn]

48 minutes ago, Drifter Man said:

About books, there are some advanced and rare books - I recall "Advanced Guns" or something like that, rarely found. You'll probably have to collect these too. It would be nice if you could give us a list

Ah yes, now I dimly remember something like "advanced" books as well. I'll try and make a list once I have obtained the achievement.

[Pillock]

21 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

ever since the new clothing system was introduced, I've been struggling every time to find out which layer is the inner one and which is the outer one, checking wind bonus every time

See this:

20 hours ago, Hotzn said:

Taking a look at the cargo pants that are currently constituting my outer leg layer… they are 68% wet just now.

I think the best way to see which layers are 'inner' or 'outer' is just to go outside for a bit while it's snowing - the ones that start to get wet first are 'outer'. That way you can see it all at a glance without having to tediously change slots while checking stats.

By the way, Mr Hotzn, I'm utterly shocked that you hadn't been to Winding River before this!

[Hotzn]

3 hours ago, Pillock said:

I think the best way to see which layers are 'inner' or 'outer' is just to go outside for a bit while it's snowing - the ones that start to get wet first are 'outer'. That way you can see it all at a glance without having to tediously change slots while checking stats.

That's a useful hint, I saw that as well. But for some reason experiments with swapping clothes and slots gave me more certainty.

3 hours ago, Pillock said:

By the way, Mr Hotzn, I'm utterly shocked that you hadn't been to Winding River before this!

Well... I DID know the backside of the dam, I have certainly exited through the one-way door and re-entered through the window when that part was new. But thinking back now... I can't remember actually transitioning to PV from there. Maybe I really never did that. Well, there is always a first time.  

[Drifter Man]

On 22/05/2018 at 8:19 AM, Hotzn said:

I do appreciate that we have wildlife alternating in certain places – sometimes deer and sometimes wolves. But the pattern is still too predictable. A lot of the excitement comes from not knowing when and where to expect a wolf. But if you know the maps quite well you also know the wolf patterns. It would do the game good in my view to be more unpredictable in this respect.

I actually have a different view of this. I appreciate that with knowledge of the maps, an experienced player can choose a path that has low probability of meeting a wolf. It's part of the skills you acquire over time. And in most cases, you can't get from A to B without taking some wolf risk on the way - few places are really, really 100% safe.

[Drifter Man]

10 hours ago, Pillock said:

I think the best way to see which layers are 'inner' or 'outer' is just to go outside for a bit while it's snowing - the ones that start to get wet first are 'outer'. That way you can see it all at a glance without having to tediously change slots while checking stats.

Yep - that's a good tip too!

[cekivi]

On ‎2018‎-‎05‎-‎16 at 8:26 AM, Drifter Man said:

I second that - not because I care about rules for editing posts, but because I want to read Old Hotzn's stories. Please

Indeed

Although the quest for the illusive edit button was still a good read  

[Drifter Man]

5 hours ago, cekivi said:

Although the quest for the illusive edit button was still a good read

Right - a side-quest for the survivor mode 

[Hotzn]

The button run will be in another thread. Meanwhile, on Timberwolf Mountain

[Hotzn]

Day 18:

There was some buzzing noise during the night, presumably an aurora. Anyway, I leave a lot of stuff here in the bunker in the morning, as I expect to find plenty of loot in the Mountaineer’s Hut and expecially on the summit (although it will likely take me some time to reach it). I leave with roughly 20kg, and yes – I am wearing the new snow pants!

I reach the Mountaineer’s Hut with a little freezing damage and 41 sticks, which I drop in front of the fireplace. There is decent loot here, namely another hacksaw and two arrows. Ah – forgot to mention that I found a bow in the cave by the picnic area, so I could put these arrows to use. But I leave everything where it is for now and put some additional food into the hatch.

There are two wolves on the lake to the left, a deer to the right, and further off to the right another wolf and – even further – a bear. I go over to the fishing hut, and lo and behold – there is another book in there: The Frozen Angler (by Anne Smith). Excellent, that comes with me!

Back to the hut and into bed for one hour to warm up again. It’s early afternoon now, and quite windy outside. Might take a trip to the wing and loot the containers there. Or hunt the deer. Or the bear. Or wolves, or rabbits. Or all of them. Nah. Go for the wing. Leaving the hut, I see the two wolves on the lake approaching, so decide to make my way around the back. Reaching the ridge and peeking into the bowl behind it, I see a wolf right in the middle which is eating a rabbit. Intending to avoid an encounter, I strike an arch to the right along the ridge, but soon am barked up by another wolf. Up here it’s very steep and I can’t maneuver properly, so the wolf comes close. And when I pull out the bow, it charges (nice mechanic this). A struggle ensues in which I drive off the fiend with the hatchet. Some minor lacerations and hardly any clothing damage (luckily I had taken off my earwraps), but my condition is down to 64%. So I return to the hut and read 3 hours into The Frozen Angler. Night falls and I want to finish the book. So I light a fire in the fireplace and eat a Granola bar at 23%... and get food poisoning.

Right, now how did you treat that? Press [F] and look it up… aha… 2 antibiotics and 10 hours of rest. Piece of cake, I have 6 antibiotics on me. I still find it weird that I can heal food poisoning with antibiotics. Is food poisoning a bacterial infection? I would find it more natural to drink herbal tea instead, or take some other kind of medication. But whatever, I put plenty of wood on the fire, eat, drink and go to sleep for ten hours...

[Hotzn]

Day 19:

Noticed something? I do notice it in the morning when I wake up at 15% condition. Yep. Forgot to take the pills before going to bed. Erm… of course I did that on purpose. To… ahem… yes, to make this run… more exciting for myself and the reader. That’s why I did that. Obvious, isn’t it? Well, lessee… right. No more food in this hut. Hmmm… how does the food poisoning continue from here on out anyway? Will I lose more condition? And without food this could become tricky either way. So where to get food? The wing? Quite far and treacherous. Wolves are about and will smell my weakness. Hunting on the lake? Wolves are about and will smell my weakness. Ice fishing on the lake? Collect cattails? Wolves…

Or return to the bunker in PV and heal it out there? Would I reach the bunker being at 15% now? Probably, since I would likely not take freezing damage.

Well, I am not very familiar with food poisoning, so it might be best to take those pills now. Njom njom. Since it’s still dark outside, I drink more water (not much left of that either now, just 0.4 litres) and go back to bed for 2 hours. Waking up again, I have neither gained nor lost condition, still at 15%. And now it says I just need 8 more hours of rest. Hm. Checking the hatch again, I am happy to see I have overlooked a banged-up can of condensed milk. So I can stay here a little longer. Now do I actually need to sleep to make the hours count down for healing, or can I also get it done with resting? This would be interesting to know now, as resting would get my fatigue down, which I would later need for sleep-healing when the food poisoning has passed. Let’s see… no, doesn’t work. I actually need to sleep for another 8 hours. Now this would become a little too risky altogether, since I am also running low on firewood in the hut. Nope. I will try to retreat to the bunker in PV…

Being watchful and a bit nervous about wolves, I make my way back towards Pleasant Valley. I have never encountered wolves on this stretch, but you never know… my low condition might attract them from afar. But I make it to the transition safely, and lo and behold – just then I am informed that the food poisoning has healed off. So I presume this just takes you down to 15% if untreated. Dangerous in certain situations, but not necessarily deadly. Well, I am almost at the bunker and will still go there. But my fatigue has gone down faster while I was poisoned, I am now completely exhausted. Can I still climb the rope? Falling down with 15% condition could be my undoing. I don’t want to start this run again, so I hit a stim. Ah… that’s the right stuff! I hurry down the rope like a monkey, dash to the broken cabin to collect some water I left there as provision, and jump down into the bunker, yodelling. The rest of the day is spent sleeping and reading books (finish The Frozen Angler and further read through my second copy of Wilderness Kitchen). Then night falls and I lay down for 10 hours of healthy sleep.

[Drifter Man]

So it looks that untreated food poisoning will get your condition down to 15% and then go away after a certain period of time. Was it less than 24 hours from contracting it, I assume from reading?

1 hour ago, Hotzn said:

Being watchful and a bit nervous about wolves, I make my way back towards Pleasant Valley. I have never encountered wolves on this stretch, but you never know… my low condition might attract them from afar.

Is it the case that food poisoning also attracts wolves from distance? I thought it only worked this way with parasites. You wouldn't be safe even inside the Mountaineer's Hut then because wolves smell things inside the hut too - you would run into them when leaving.

[Ruruwawa]

12 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

So it looks that untreated food poisoning will get your condition down to 15% and then go away after a certain period of time.

Actually food poisoning will subtract 85% from your current condition if left untreated so if you were at less than 86% when you ate the bad food, you are in trouble.  It's been more than a year than I tested food poisoning, but IIRC you can't recover condition until you treat it with antibiotics or reishi tea.  A single stim will give you an instant +15% condition boost, so a stim or two can be a lifesaver if you don't have the meds to cure it.

[Hotzn]

@Drifter Man& @Ruruwawa: I think I was at less than 85% condition when the food poisoning struck - I had been attacked by a wolf shortly before and was down at 64%, then just passed a couple of hours and could not really have healed back near or even beyond 85% (though I admit I didn't explicitly check at the time). So my theory is that food poisoning just reduces condition down to 15% and not further. Just a theory so far. And yes, the poisoning was "healed" within 24 hours. A little less even, I think. No idea whether that would have happened anyway or whether it had something to do with taking the pills in the end. I would assume the former, since the pills required another 8 hours of rest when it disappeared. So my current theory for the current food poisoning is that you can wait it out. You'll go down to 15% condition, then after some hours the food poisoning will heal off. Just make sure you have a shelter and enough food & water nearby.

Whether the condition loss resulting from food poisoning attracts wolves or not, I have no idea. My feeling is that low condition somehow attracts them (I faintly remember an official Hinterland comment confirming this), and I would be surprised if they made a difference as to why condition was lost. Maybe bleeding causes more attraction, but that is all theory and has to my knowledge not yet been verified by the TLD science community.

On a side note, yes, the stim gives a permanent +15% to condition. A bit weird really, I would expect the opposite, namely a condition loss when the stim wears off. But well, it's a game mechanic, I am not a friend of the stim at all. It's okay to find a stim in a sci-fi shooter, but TLD... nah. 

[Riotintheair]

Loving your story!

Food poisoning IRL is usually a bacterial infection, so antibiotics are the most appropriate generic treatment. In game I've died from untreated food poisoning for certain - I got it, thought, "Yay now I'm tired and can just go to sleep," and completely forgot to take antibiotics, did not wake up.

I believe mechanically you lose condition until you treat with pills/reshi tea, but you don't regain condition until it clears. You woke up at 15% condition and took your meds arresting your condition slide.

[Hotzn]

31 minutes ago, Riotintheair said:

I believe mechanically you lose condition until you treat with pills/reshi tea, but you don't regain condition until it clears. You woke up at 15% condition and took your meds arresting your condition slide.

Ah, that's possible of course, thanks for the hint - so maybe taking the pills in the morning WAS good for something after all. Well, I have to get into a groove again, haven't been really playing in a while. And on it goes...

[Hotzn]

Day 20:

I wake up back at full health, nice. Reading the last hour of my second copy of Wilderness Kitchen, my cooking skill goes up to level 2. A quick look into the journal reveals that all my skills are at level 2 now. Except archery, which is still at level 1.

I have now read at least one book for every skill, except mending, and the Penitent Scholar achievement has not yet popped up. So I am missing more books – either other copies of books I have already read or hitherto unknown editions. The thing is, I am unlikely to find more books on Timberwolf Mountain, especially on the summit. On the other hand, my skills will inevitably rise further as I scale the mountain, and from what I know I must read the books I am still missing before the corresponding skills have gone up to level 5 (otherwise, forum voices say, the achievement will not trigger). Hmmm… what to do first? The summit or searching for other books (which would mean going to Coastal Highway and then maybe Desolation Point and Milton)? Hrchh… looking for books is for accountants, I am going for the summit! The plan: Return to the Mountaineer’s Hut, collect some resources (cattails, maybe hunt a little) and stock the hut in case I should return in bad shape. Then up, up and away!

No. There’s a blizzard going on outside and I need to wait it out. Optimise my equipment a bit (no more books to read on me), dismantle some boxes inside the bunker. When the noise of the wind outside subsides, it’s evening and I decide to stay here for another night.