Option to burn scrub brush with torch/flare....for Interloper HRV starts...

[Thrasador]

The title pretty much says it all. I think the new scrub brush blocking your path idea is a pretty cool/interesting addition, and yes I am aware in some instances you can try to climb the walls to get up and over it....

But for Interloper starts in Hushed River Valley, with no axe, and no way to forge an axe....at least not anywhere even remotely near by (maybe you could put a forge in the Farm House in Milton), it would be nice if the scrub brushes could be set ablaze. 

Not with just matches or a magnifying glass or anything silly, but with a flare or a torch from a fire.....something that should be hot enough and burn long enough to probably set a bush on fire.....

I don't think that's unreasonable....

[Mixxut]

Agreed. Of course you would lose the sticks by burning it and it wouldn't burn in a blizzard/strong wind but at least you could go trough them without an axe

[Thrasador]

I don't even play Interloper, but I have enough sense to say....so this idea really sucks on an Interloper start with only forged tools....

So you if start here you basically should just find a way out as soon as possible, because you won't be able to properly explore some of the map anyway.....

Once you do get all the way to a map where you CAN forge an axe, would you even bother going back to HRV to explore?

Probably not, the map is a death trap really....

Interloper is hard enough without trying to live on a map that only has caves and snow shelters....for shelters

I mean I'm sure it can be done.....but why?! Lol!

The whole map is like a big @GELtaz survival scenario....

Like the time he lived in just Forlorn Muskeg for no reason....lol....

 

[s7mar7in]

3 hours ago, Thrasador said:

Interloper starts in Hushed River Valley

Agreed; early game with no bedroll, no axe, and a "flame retardant row of dead-brush", had me sitting by my campfire wondering why.
(sorry that the screenshot is poorly framed and does not show my fire is built within the row of dead brush trees).
I also know of and tested the ledge climbing to the left of the screenshot...

 

but then when the loot at the signal fire is a heavy hammer and whetstone, (also useless against a tiny dead-brush plant), the survivor becomes trapped by a bush, exhausted at the top of a rope climb.

This type of addition to the game, (burning a path through brush), may be a big ask of the fine Hinterland developers, but...

The 'Elegy Poem' often comes to my mind in these situations;
"...what will you do to survive...". 
Each game update is reducing the number of times when the player's mind is screaming;
"...I would do a lot more than what is allowed by my computer and mouse..."

I am confident this is a shared goal of both the outstanding Hinterland developers and the millions of people who simply love this game.
It will be exciting to see this HRV map as it evolves with future updates!

Campfire within the branches of the row of brush can not create a path for the survivor.

[Ice Hole]

Burning bushes (at least here in Canada pfft Oct 17) is a great idea.

 

[Stone]

The thing is.. the whole point of the bushes is to create a barrier. Every map guarantees matches and plenty of sticks so if you could burn the brush (while realistic) there would be no point having a barrier in the first place.

On interloper, as @Thrasador says, it means returning to HRV and I'm totally looking forward to doing that on my Outerloper game. In that game, as you anticipated, I spawned in HRV and then got out asap. Brush barriers might look a bit.. artificial(?) but they add something. It might be a frustrating something but who likes games that just let you have it all your own way?

 

 

[fauxjargon]

It would be nice if, for instance, you could break the scrub barrier by hand, even if it took two hours.  That way you would have to build a fire, and if you get bad luck with the weather, you'll end up freezing and with 20-40% condition loss in exchange for getting through the brush barrier to the signal fire you need the hatchet for.  The only scrub barrier worth breaking by hand would still be the one leading to the signal fire.

[s7mar7in]

2 hours ago, fauxjargon said:

It would be nice if, for instance, you could break the scrub barrier by hand, even if it took two hours.  That way you would have to build a fire,

Welcome to the forum @fauxjargon.
Your idea is a very good use of some game mechanics already available for the "common scrub brush", (and I like the thought you put into your ideas).
It is understandable that the HDT intended the barrier to require the hatchet, and please know that I am fine with that concept as well, and I get it, it is representing a barrier, and it could as easily be stone, ice, or a row of brush.
My thoughts would be a bit more complex perhaps, but would make the HRV map "more compatible" with the Interloper Mode.

I would suggest a new option:

• First, use a campfire to "Dry-Out" the scrub brush barrier, (maybe use the 2 hours suggested by fauxjargon as the "dry-out time" ).
• Then the "Dry Scrub Brush" could become like the common scrub brush bush, (breakable by hand for (7) sticks of firewood).
• Or, it could be left in the fire for "too long" and go from "dried-out" to "ruined", (similar to ruined-food), thus clearing a path for the player to advance but at the expense of losing all the sticks as firewood).

There are surely many other ways to make the brush row barrier feel more natural to TLD World without making it Kryptonite for Interlopers.

As I have already stated, my confidence in the Hinterland developer team is extremely high!

[Wintermut]

Fine don't like the fire idea....want it to be a tool?

Pick the heavy hammer or hacksaw then. 

Both of those could handle a scrub brush and both are in Interloper....

One can cut metal shelves and toasters into scrap, and can cut down saplings. The other can smash bookshelves, tables, chairs, crates, pallets and can forge metal tools....

I think they coild both cut down or crush a scrub brush....

[fauxjargon]

41 minutes ago, Wintermut said:

Fine don't like the fire idea....want it to be a tool?

Pick the heavy hammer or hacksaw then. 

Both of those could handle a scrub brush and both are in Interloper....

One can cut metal shelves and toasters into scrap, and can cut down saplings. The other can smash bookshelves, tables, chairs, crates, pallets and can forge metal tools....

I think they coild both cut down or crush a scrub brush....

Personally it has always bothered me that you can't use the wrong tool for the job (most of the time) at a large cost in time and durability.  I mean, sure, we don't want the hacksaw or heavy hammer to be a super multitool, but realistically, for any task other than forging or repair, any of the tools in the game (hacksaw, hatchet, knife, prybar, hammer) could be used for just about anything, but obviously there's a right tool for the job.

[fauxjargon]

4 hours ago, s7mar7in said:

Welcome to the forum @fauxjargon.
Your idea is a very good use of some game mechanics already available for the "common scrub brush", (and I like the thought you put into your ideas).
It is understandable that the HDT intended the barrier to require the hatchet, and please know that I am fine with that concept as well, and I get it, it is representing a barrier, and it could as easily be stone, ice, or a row of brush.
My thoughts would be a bit more complex perhaps, but would make the HRV map "more compatible" with the Interloper Mode.

I would suggest a new option:

• First, use a campfire to "Dry-Out" the scrub brush barrier, (maybe use the 2 hours suggested by fauxjargon as the "dry-out time" ).
• Then the "Dry Scrub Brush" could become like the common scrub brush bush, (breakable by hand for (7) sticks of firewood).
• Or, it could be left in the fire for "too long" and go from "dried-out" to "ruined", (similar to ruined-food), thus clearing a path for the player to advance but at the expense of losing all the sticks as firewood).

There are surely many other ways to make the brush row barrier feel more natural to TLD World without making it Kryptonite for Interlopers.

As I have already stated, my confidence in the Hinterland developer team is extremely high!

For me the main thing is that there should always be a way to do something.  Perhaps if you don't have the right tools the cost is very high and you probably shouldn't do it.  But it just feels arbitrary needing a hatchet.   Lets say you start in HRV in Interloper.  It should be a meaningful decision whether or not to cut through the bush to get the signal fire loot or decide to wait until you have a hatchet.

[Wintermut]

23 minutes ago, fauxjargon said:

For me the main thing is that there should always be a way to do something.  Perhaps if you don't have the right tools the cost is very high and you probably shouldn't do it.  But it just feels arbitrary needing a hatchet.   Lets say you start in HRV in Interloper.  It should be a meaningful decision whether or not to cut through the bush to get the signal fire loot or decide to wait until you have a hatchet.

To be honest it's not just about the signal fire really....

I believe there are scrub brush blocking several paths in the map....

Having areas blocked off in Interloper with NO way of traversing them without traveling more than a whole map away and then back again....is fairly frustrating....

[fauxjargon]

2 minutes ago, Wintermut said:

To be honest it's not just about the signal fire really....

I believe there are scrub brush blocking several paths in the map....

Having areas blocked off in Interloper with NO way of traversing them without traveling more than a whole map away and then back again....is fairly frustrating....

Oh sure, but there is a way around all of the other scrub brushes.  It is just that opening them up gives you faster travel around the map.  It is just the northern signal fire loot that is inaccessible without a  hatchet, you can go anywhere else that matters in HRV without the hatchet - it just takes longer and you might get cold.

[Wintermut]

9 minutes ago, fauxjargon said:

Oh sure, but there is a way around all of the other scrub brushes.  It is just that opening them up gives you faster travel around the map.  It is just the northern signal fire loot that is inaccessible without a  hatchet, you can go anywhere else that matters in HRV without the hatchet - it just takes longer and you might get cold.

Well, obviously that would be a pretty big help on that map considering there are also no buildings....

You can go from a full warmth bar to an empty bar in an hour or two on Interloper depending on the weather and gear....

Starting on that map must be brutal....

I'd probably just quit and restart as things are now....