Desolation Point: A Non-Survival Story

[Drifter Man]

Sometimes it's just not meant to be.

This short run was in a custom mode, but most parameters were derived from Interloper. Notably, "rest as resource" is disabled, i.e. I can sleep when not tired.

I spawn on the Little Island. It is late afternoon. I quickly grab a few sticks and stones and run across the ice to the Riken. In the hold I find a dead guy with a wool scarf, which I put on top of the scarf I already have. Funny, we both liked red color.

As soon as I search the part of the hold where I can see (and find nothing of value), I'm back on the ice, certain of my next destination - Hibernia Processing. There should be matches on the upper level. But first I make a stop at the trailer, where I find a ski jacket and put it on straight away. Then I run to and up the stairs. It's already getting dark and I can't see well, but I search what I can see and collect some food, also a can of soda. But there are no matches. Maybe I missed them in the dark? In the end I fall through a hole in the floor. I'm not hurt, just freaked out, and decide I should leave the search for the morning. I go back up and sleep in a bed for eight hours.

I wake up at night, thirsty, so I drink the soda and go back to sleep for a few more hours. Next time I wake up, it is morning and I'm dehydrated, although still in nearly full condition. I have to wait for 2 more hours until the room gets enough light for me to search it. I need those matches.

The answer is no, there are no matches, period. I didn't miss anything. I go downstairs and search the warehouse. There's a bottle of lighter fluid in the safe. In the unlikely case I want to start a fire. What a joke.

A blizzard is howling outside, but I know I can't stay here - I need to drink. I undress to save my clothes and run outside. I search the cars and the guard shelter at the gate, only to find useless antibiotics in the first aid box. Then I search a trailer, but nothing is inside, either.

The blizzard still raging, I decide on a gamble. I'll run to the Lighthouse in the hope of finding matches there. I make my way onto the main road and run until I find a car. I think that's where the path to the Lighthouse is, but I've already passed it. I get down on the ice and soon pass under one of the bridges. All the time I'm losing condition.

Finally, I find my way to the lighthouse and put my clothes back on. Lighthouse... tin of sardines, salty crackers, some firewood, books, emergency stim, rifle rounds at the top (I have rifle activated in my custom mode). But no, no matches. Where can they be? I sleep for 2 hours to get warm, although I'm still losing condition from dehydration. The blizzard doesn't end.

So I undress again and run, this time to the Church. I search it quickly, looking just for what I need most at the moment. There is a dead frozen dude in the front bench and I'm thinking, in a few hours I'll be just like you.

Then it's the No. 5 mine, but it is dark inside and nothing to see. I put my clothes back on, but I have no gloves, so my hands are exposed. I catch my breath and leave the mine. Where to go now? The connector mine, I decide. I reach it a while later and search the entrance. No help there. And I can't pass through the mine without light.

My hands are numb, I've lost all feeling in them.

The blizzard ends, but the winds keep biting.

My tongue feels like sandpaper.

Katie's Corner.

I should get back to Hibernia, maybe I missed something.

I try it across the ice but a wolf sees me from afar, and I'm weak and out of breath. Maybe they feel my weakness, like Old Hotzn said? I run back along the rocks, trying to break contact. The wolf is almost upon me. I run until I can't run any more, then I walk, still facing the direction of the threat.

Then the wolf is gone.

I make it back on the road and walk towards Hibernia. A deer is in front of me, I drive it forward so that it attracts any wolf that might be in the way. Eventually it runs off on the ice, and I follow. There's Matt's truck. No, I don't need rope or kerosene, but the prybar could be useful. I left some inaccessible lockers behind in Hibernia.

I reach Hibernia, freezing, exhausted, dehydrated and starving. Vision is blurry. I apply the stim I found at the Lighthouse to get back on my feet, and eat some food to slow down condition loss. Force open the lockers... nothing. Just some more food. I change my wet leather shoes for a dry pair of sneakers I found. I lie down for an hour to warm up a little bit. Then I remember that there was one more locker in the trailer park, so I run back over there. But that locker is empty too.

I'm no longer freezing but I'm very cold, in 18% condition. I searched all of Desolation Point and found nothing to make fire with. There is a car at the Broken Bridge, what are the chances there is something in there? And I realize that it doesn't make a difference. It is night again, the weather is still bad, and by the time I get there and find a place to start a fire... I'm too weak to survive.

I eat my remaining food, including the dog food, which has some water content, so I leave it for the end. Then I climb into one of those bunk beds and close my eyes.

[Hotzn]

Intense. Did you open the safe in Hibernia? Was there no flare anywhere to light at least a single fire? And did you consider searching dark places/crossing the mine with the help of the placing mechanic (in lack of light)? One who runs around naked in a blizzard to preserve clothes might also have the audacity to use that kind of feature.

I am not familiar with the Interloper match spawn points in DP - I remember @Scyzarasaying once there was a guaranteed spawn in Hibernia. But my memory might be deceiving me.

Hmmm... you didn't find a storm lantern either, it seems. No storm lantern, no water, no matches, no firestriker, no flare. Unlucky. Or you overlooked something. Try again!

[Drifter Man]

Yep, tried the safe, and no, no flare. I didn't try the placing mechanic, I didn't know it. I get the idea now. More audacity next time 

I tried again, spawned in ML this time. Searched Unnamed Pond, Trapper's Homestead, Camp Office, all ice fishing huts and lake cabins... eventually found a flare at the hunting blind and made enough water to survive for a few days. I took me a while to recover, then on to the new Lookout - no matches there either - now at the trailer park, about to search the Dam. Last chance, probably. A matchless world.

I wonder if it has to do with my custom settings.

[Riotintheair]

I've never played a custom game, but it sounds like the loot tables are different than Interloper. Interesting.

[Hotzn]

5 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

I wonder if it has to do with my custom settings.

That would of course make custom settings interesting. Without any matches, the astute Interlopist would have to rely on finding the rare water bottle, drinking from toilets or living on what little liquid is contained in the likes of sodas, Pinnacle Peaches, tomato soup etc. Then, occasionally a fire could be made using a flare. The firestriker would become a premium item, and the magnifying glass a top priority. Quite a different game.

[Ruruwawa]

7 hours ago, Hotzn said:

And did you consider searching dark places/crossing the mine with the help of the placing mechanic (in lack of light)?

This is a good suggestion.  There can be a flare just inside the mine entrance that's close to the Hibernia driveway.  Also a chance for matches or a firestriker midway through that mine. 

My first-ever DP start on interloper I found a flare at that mine entrance and used it to build a 24 hour coal fire I used to make water, cook, loot and light my way through the exit mine to CH.   I didn't find matches that time, but I didn't know where to look at the time.  Since then I've never failed to find matches in Hibernia in one of the three possible upstairs spots.  ML, on the other hand, seems to rarely have matches in Interloper (no guaranteed spawns AFAIK), but there are a couple spots where you have a decent chance of finding a firestriker.

I just tried a Custom game with Interloper defaults and a DP start, and found matches in Hibernia in one of the usual spots.  This matches my  experiences with other Custom interloper games... loot spawn locations don't seem to have changed.

[Drifter Man]

10 hours ago, Ruruwawa said:

ML, on the other hand, seems to rarely have matches in Interloper (no guaranteed spawns AFAIK), but there are a couple spots where you have a decent chance of finding a firestriker.

In the end I found 2 matches in the Dam and 2 more in the Ravine. All in containers though. I still wonder if I could have missed the matches in Hibernia. I also believed they were a guaranteed spawn.

The fire I started in ML was priceless though. It was in the middle of the night, me at 14% condition, and I was looking at the flare in disbelief that it is going to save my life  I ran with it to Alan's cave, used a book for fuel, a stash of Canadian dollars for tinder, doused it with kerosene from a jerry can and set alight with a flare. My trapper skills would make Jeremiah proud.

[Pillock]

I've been playing custom games with the 'Base' loot set to Medium (Stalker), so that I have the possibility to find hatchets, knives and other "high-tier" items, but all other loot settings on minimum. I too have failed to find matches in Desolation Point with these settings, but on that occasion I did find a mag lens and a flare. Other times I have found a box or two there, but not necessarily in Hibernia.

I'm not entirely sure what the 'Base' loot setting does, other than allow you to find knives and hatchets and so on or not, but to me (an inexperienced interloper) the actual loot amounts seem pretty similar between my settings and Interloper - the main difference seems to be what you can find and where.

And not knowing where the (seemingly very, very limited) matches will be makes the first 2 or 3 days of any new game pretty challenging. I'm enjoying it a lot!

[Drifter Man]

3 hours ago, Pillock said:

I've been playing custom games with the 'Base' loot set to Medium (Stalker), so that I have the possibility to find hatchets, knives and other "high-tier" items, but all other loot settings on minimum.

Great tip - thanks, that's exactly what I was looking for! I can't play Stalker because it feels like in a supermarket, but I don't like that Interloper doesn't give me quality gear (but bombards me with hacksaws and hammers instead). This way you can have Interloper scarcity but all kinds of gear are included? How many knives/hatches you can typically find? I hope no more than 2-3 per the entire world

[Pillock]

9 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

How many knives/hatches you can typically find? I hope no more than 2-3 per the entire world

Not sure I can give you an accurate answer to that because I keep dying. Some of the other settings I'm using are quite vicious. But it's more than 2 or 3 in the entire world, I think. 

Some maps I haven't found any, some I've found a couple of each. But I haven't been exploring everywhere terribly thoroughly, and they sometimes turn up in out of the way places, so it's possible that when I've thought there were none, there actually were but I missed them. As a rough guess, I'd say it probably averages out at something like 1or2 per region? But I think it's all also related to the other tools.

The loot quantities in general are a lot less than Stalker, at least; they might be slightly higher than Interloper, but I'm not really experienced enough with that to judge it. 

[Drifter Man]

Thanks @Pillock, will give it a try. It sounds like the items are very random, which is good.

[Hotzn]

On 1.6.2018 at 1:37 AM, Drifter Man said:

Thanks @Pillock, will give it a try. It sounds like the items are very random, which is good.

Be sure to report how it goes...

[Drifter Man]

On 03/06/2018 at 6:49 AM, Hotzn said:

Be sure to report how it goes...

Not great. I tried Pillock's item availability settings, but there was just too much loot. On Day 14 I was oversupplied with everything - three rifles, around 30 rifle cartridges, 2 knives, a hatchet, a locker full of high-quality clothing. No, no, no, this isn't fun says me, and quits that run.

Also, I tried disabling cabin fever and rest as resource, which I think are annoying and artificial restrictions built in to make players do what they're supposed to do, when the rest of the mechanics failed to achieve that. But again, things became too easy, even when I compensated with low condition recovery rates.

So I'm back to vanilla interloper. With all its imperfections it still offers the best balance I could find.

[Pillock]

Sorry to hear that. I was really struggling!

(But then I got a CH start, and it all seemed easy again.)

Still, I never played much Interloper, so compared with Stalker, the loot settings seemed great.