A Few Dead Men

[kurja]

8 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

I try catching some rabbits but no luck... I try aiming in front of, behind, under, above and at the rabbit but keep hitting thin air (or solid ground). Winds blow hard all the time, of course, to assist my steady aim.

My failure to catch a rabbit has more serious consequences than frustration and a hurt ego. I'm - yes, unbelievably - out of food. I kind of relied on bagging a bunny or two, and now that this scenario failed to materialize, I'm in trouble again.

...You do know that the bunnies will pretty much hop on your lap if you just get in their path and crouch, right?

 

[BareSkin]

Just now, kurja said:

..You do know that the bunnies will pretty much hop on your lap if you just get in their path and crouch, right?

That's the way. Keep'em aligned just like the picture shows, and 3,2,1, ignition! _{(Or just get to Trapper's and let the snare do your job definitely)}

[Drifter Man]

9 hours ago, cullam said:

Can you dump tools, go to the bottom of the ravine for the deer/cattails/more rabbits? Or am I misremembering, and you've already been there... 

Been there  Having the flare gun on the way to the Summit was reassuring, although I didn't have to use it.

7 hours ago, BareSkin said:

To me, it sounds as if the First DeadMan To Retire Ever is on its way.

Hopefully! But at this point I'm only dropping off supplies at Trapper's. Then on to the Forge.

3 hours ago, dead frozen dude said:

You have been checking behind tolet bowls, haven't you?

Not specifically - I've "explored" the toilets at PV Farmstead and in the Dam but I didn't look behind. I will next time!

[Drifter Man]

2 hours ago, kurja said:

...You do know that the bunnies will pretty much hop on your lap if you just get in their path and crouch, right?

 

Yes, I was trying it at about this distance. I notice the fingers are about one rabbit apart, and that the rabbit is slightly to the right of your hand. I'll keep it in mind for next time.

It used to be really easy for me but for some reason my success rate has gone down lately.

[BareSkin]

Just now, Drifter Man said:

Hopefully! But at this point I'm only dropping off supplies at Trapper's. Then on to the Forge.

That's the difference between a very long run, and eternity. I wouldn't be that brave

[BareSkin]

Just now, Drifter Man said:

It used to be really easy for me but for some reason my success rate has gone down lately.

The Game knows when you need it. Evil Rabbits.

[Drifter Man]

2 minutes ago, BareSkin said:

That's the difference between a very long run, and eternity. I wouldn't be that brave

Always shoot for the stars!

[Drifter Man]

Deadman 10 / Day 23

A blizzard rages outside the cave until midday. I sit at the fire, reading a book and eating all my remaining food except one cattail, which I choose to leave for the evening to mitigate condition loss during sleep.

When the winds stop, I take a torch, drink hot reishi tea and move to the exit to Mystery Lake. After the transition I switch the torch for the flare gun. The wolf is still at the trailers but it's walking away, so I cross the bridge and avoid it by using the other bank of the river. Soon the snowing stops and I get a beautiful day, but the state of my calorie store prevents me from enjoying it.

There is no wolf at the hunting blind, but no deer carcass either. I start a fire to warm up and make more reishi tea. The hunting blind gives me a prybar, finally, but no food. I try the rabbits again but they fear my fire and keep running around like crazy. I decide not to waste the time and the weather on them. Instead I return to the river and walk downstream, collecting cattails on the way.

Normally I wouldn't choose this path - the bottleneck at the lake access is almost always wolved. But the place has cattails and it's the shortest route to the lake, so I take it.

When I meet the wolf, it's occupied by a rabbit. I get the brilliant idea that if I shoot it, it won't bother me.

I get as close as I dare, knowing that I don't have time - they're quickly done with rabbits. Of course I miss and of course the wolf runs away in the direction I don't want it to. A minute later I'm forced to shoot again. If I left it alone and just passed quickly, I would have saved two flare shells.

The part of the lake close to Camp Office is wolved too, I see at least 4. If they're here, maybe the other part of the lake is safe? I walk around the cattail island in the middle and no, there are no wolves around there. So I spend the rest of the day collecting cattails and looting the fishing hut and cabins. I end up with two tomato soups and around 20 cattails altogether - my problem is solved for tonight.

I go to bed, starved down to 89%.

[Drifter Man]

Deadman 10 / Day 24

My original plan was to take the Lake Trail to Camp Office, then to Rail Tunnel and from there to Trapper's. But then I realized that I could use the rope at Western Access for a shortcut. And as hard as it were the day before, now that I was incidentally almost out of water and low on firewood, reducing my load to 30 kg was not impossible. Once the heavy fog outside lifted a bit, I headed over to the rope, climbed up, warmed up in my bedroll in the cave up there, and moved from there to Rail Tunnel.

I didn't meet a single wolf from there to Trapper's. Home welcomed me with cured guts and hides on the floor.

I collected them, put the hides into a locker, dropped maple and birch saplings instead, and made fire in the stove to boil water. While the water was getting ready in the cooking pot, I made four snares and placed them on the rabbit run nearby. If all goes well, I'll have something to eat next morning.

Starved down to 88%, I ate most of my remaining cattails and went to bed.

My current stock includes 6 deer hides, 3 guts, 7 snares (I ran out of reclaimed wood while making them), 2 maple saplings, 5 birch saplings, 2 whetstones, 3 sewing kits, flare gun with 10 shells, 9 pieces of scrap metal and a hammer to use at the forge... I hope to come back alive to actually use all this stuff. It's good to be home but I'm leaving tomorrow again.

[Drifter Man]

Deadman 10 / Day 25

Not great, but it's a start. I take it to the cabin, harvest the gut and meat and discard the rest. The weather is bad but initially this shouldn't be a problem. I move with the raw meat to the cave, light a torch and pass through to the other end, picking up coal along the way (it has respawned since my first arrival over 20 days ago). At the end I start a fire, cook the rabbit and make coffee - I have some ropes ahead of me and want to be fit to climb. On the other side I find a few cattails on the way to the first rope. I notice a wolf on the way down and make sure I avoid it.

I reach the cave between the ropes (soda, matches) and start a fire, still with the torch from the cave, just in time as a blizzard is breaking out outside.

After sleeping for 3 hours in my bedroll, the blizzard still rages on, but at least the direction of the wind promises that I should be able to stay sheltered by the rocks on my way to the next rope. With the help of hot reishi tea, it works - I reach the picnic area office (or whatever the non-loading screen building up there is called) before my temperature bar runs out. Inside I find another soda. The bed is warm enough to protect me against the cold in the blizzard.

Two hours later the blizzard stops. The winds are still strong and the darkness is nearly complete. But I have no choice - I must find food next morning. With the help of a flare, I make my way to the map post/sign post near the parking lot (I don't know this map well and don't have time to read the location names - I'm sorry for the unclear descriptions), place 4 snares and return. All the way down and back up I'm hoping that no bonus wolves spawn in this area at night.

4 Days of Night? Hahaha... THIS is a challenge. No badges, no food, no joy, just cold.

It's a bit unnerving though to find that there's no way to start a fire inside this building. I had the impression that there was a fire barrel inside. It's felt 5°C now, plus 5°C bed bonus, it's going to get very cold in the morning. Advice anyone? How do you keep warm in the park office building above Orca?

Out of food, been starving for parts of the day. 87% condition.

[Guest jeffpeng]

13 minutes ago, Drifter Man said:

It's a bit unnerving though to find that there's no way to start a fire inside this building. I had the impression that there was a fire barrel inside. It's felt 5°C now, plus 5°C bed bonus, it's going to get very cold in the morning. Advice anyone? How do you keep warm in the park office building above Orca?

There should be a pot belly inside. (Image from Wikia) Might that be actually subject to difficulty settings / RNG?

[Drifter Man]

44 minutes ago, jeffpeng said:

There should be a pot belly inside. (Image from Wikia) Might that be actually subject to difficulty settings / RNG?

Thanks! It's there. I must have missed it in the darkness. Good to know I'm safe if things get too cold.

[Guest jeffpeng]

1 minute ago, Drifter Man said:

Thanks! It's there. I must have missed it in the darkness. Good to know I'm safe if things get too cold.

Gotta admit you sent a tiny chill down my spine. It's hard enough that you cannot always rely on certain houses, but if now also key shelter locations might have their heating source spontaneously missing .... would make things even harder to plan. In any case.... go Deadman 10

[BareSkin]

Tomorrow is Cattails Paradise!

[cullam]

11 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

But then I realized that I could use the rope at Western Access for a shortcut.

Fun fact, if it's helpful: You can fairly easily walk up the hill to the left of that rope. Doesn't involve any complex cliff crawling. 

[Drifter Man]

12 hours ago, jeffpeng said:

Gotta admit you sent a tiny chill down my spine. It's hard enough that you cannot always rely on certain houses, but if now also key shelter locations might have their heating source spontaneously missing .... would make things even harder to plan. In any case.... go Deadman 10

Sorry about that  I was waving a flare in the dark, looking for the assumed barrel, so I missed the stove I didn't expect to be there.

11 hours ago, BareSkin said:

Tomorrow is Cattails Paradise!

I hope to snatch a few on the river from Milton. But Deadman reduces the amount of plants to about one third of what one finds in Interloper. Which makes cattail paradises less paradise-y.

4 hours ago, cullam said:

Fun fact, if it's helpful: You can fairly easily walk up the hill to the left of that rope. Doesn't involve any complex cliff crawling. 

It could help next time! I prefer managing my load to looking for sprainy detours, but it's always good to know there are options.

[Drifter Man]

Deadman 10 / Day 26

The morning is cold, as I expected. I start a fire in the pot belly stove to make some water. I eat my last cattail and soon begin starving. I do a stick run and later collect two rabbits from the snares.

I cook the rabbits and half-fill my stomach. The thick haze would be too dangerous to navigate but by midday, when I wake up again, it lifts up a bit. Later I get a clear, windless day. I reach the river and drop the hammer and scrap metal on the ice - I don't need them for my plan right now. I spot a carcass in a place I didn't know there could be one, carefully approach it and harvest the meat under protection of a fire. The place is heavily wolved and two of the beasts approach my fire while I'm working.

I continue upstream, collecting cattails. When I reach the waterfall at Milton, I carefully climb up with the intention to pay a visit to Grey Mother. But as I approach, I see wolves cross the road and the intrepid Drifter Man loses heart. There's no way I can make it there and out of there in one piece. I turn around and sneak out until I reach the river again. I forfeit the matches, food and clothing (possible combat pants?) from Grey Mother. I choose to keep my life instead.

On the way downstream, wind starts blowing. I make another warming break, then collect my hammer and scrap metal and continue until I reach the rope to Milton Basin. The wind stops again, so I'm still able to get 1 kg meat from a carcass above the rope without fire, drop some water and sticks to reduce load, and climb down to the cave just before the temp bar runs out.

In the cave I count my calories: 31 cattails plus 1 kg venison. We're starved down to 85%. I have two pieces of cloth with me: I use one to repair a toque and keep the other for the knife I want to craft.

[Drifter Man]

Deadman 10 / Day 27

I dodge a morning blizzard in the cave by taking advantage of the passing time mechanics and light a fire only when the sun is up, to cook the venison from yesterday and prepare hot tea. Soon afterwards I climb down the second rope and arrive in Milton Basin.

@BareSkin is right, this is a cattail paradise on any difficulty. While taking cattails left and right, I keep one eye around because there are moose marks on trees. When I reach the cave, I start another maglens fire and warm up. The winds are strong, so I choose to sleep for an hour. Good choice: the winds stop and give way to fog.

Wolves patrol the part of the basin on my right, so I take the left and walk straight through the moose area. The moose is not around, which makes things easier. I use this perfect weather and take everything - cattails, reishi mushrooms, rosehips, sticks.

I'm hugely overweight when I reach Marsh Ridge but I still take the opportunity provided by ideal weather and search the area. No moose marks here, I am safe. I find the stim and "Sewing Primer", some mushrooms and a deer carcass. I place my 4 snares at the rabbit run and return to the cave to sleep.

Deadman 10 / Day 28

The idea was to move on to the forge but I got distracted by the abundance of food and stayed at the Marsh Ridge all day. I processed two deer carcasses (2.7 kg + 1.1 kg) and three rabbits, plus I now have over 40 cattails. With full stomach and a stash of cattails I'll be good at the forge.

Assassin wind attacked me while I was starting a fire (clear, still winds turned into maximum strength during the firestarting process, killing the fire immediately afterwards) - so I'm at 84% now due to a bit of freezing damage. Plus two stims with me and a third left back at Trapper's.

[Drifter Man]

Deadman 10 / Day 29

First thing in the morning, I make decisions what to leave behind. I drop some saplings I found (one maple, two birch) and decide to drop all 20+ sticks. I'll be able to get some on the way to Spence's. I collect my snares (three rabbits caught, but I don't take them) and when the weather is good, I take the rope down from Marsh Ridge to Muskeg proper.

I manage to avoid wolves up to Spence's but at the destination I find at least three of them patrolling at the gate.

As I sneak around, I end up nose to nose with one of the wolves and have to resort to the flare gun. In the end I take the long way around via Bunkhouses and reach the homestead from another side. I get barked up as I'm entering the safe building and also begin freezing, because my maneuver took longer than expected. Impatiently, I feed all my firewood (an accelerant) into the forge, which warms up very slowly. In the end I freeze down to 81%.

I make some water in the cooking pot I brought with me and craft a few arrowheads. The homestead is almost empty because I looted it on Day 1, but there's still the safe. I break up the crate blocking it and open the safe to find...

...yes! It's not a game changer, but it's a rare piece and I'm happy I found it. I get back to the forge to craft, while aurora gives me light for my work. To put a limit on my excitement, the forcing the locker reveals vast emptiness.

Deadman 10 / Day 30

When I'm finished with the work, I have a knife and 14 arrowheads, but I'm half-tired - I didn't get much sleep. Still, it's afternoon and the weather is light fog, and I may not get good weather tomorrow. I need to move.

The first wolf barks at me soon after I leave the homestead. It follows me stubbornly but I shake it off at the Bunkhouses. It's there where the second wolf attacks. I try to shake it off but corner myself between a rock and weak ice, so it's the flare gun again. Before I find my way forward, the same wolf is back after me again. I get rid of it by jumping down a low cliff, only to meet face-to-face with another wolf, and there goes my third flare during this expedition.

When I compose myself, I realize that this place - normally safe as far as I can tell from my Interloper experience - is swarming with those killing machines.

I've been constantly on the run since I left the homestead and couldn't pick almost any sticks, so I have few things to start fire with. And I'm tired, it's getting late, so I sneak through to the cave on my right, picking up a few sticks on the way. I have more than 40 cattails, 9 coals, 8 reclaimed wood, I'll be fine. I still have 3 flare shells with me and 4 more at Trapper's - I wish I didn't have to use them but that's what they are for, after all.

I'm so close to retirement, so close to my rabbit run at Trapper's Homestead. Wolves, please, let me leave, let me live, tomorrow.

Edited November 4, 2018 by Drifter Man

[BareSkin]

Only few hours before my Prophecy comes true. That's the way I always take to the forge (to avoid the front of Spence's), and yes, experience told me ending frozen but alive is better than dying warm. The next choke point is if you follow the edge of the map, just before the exit. From where you are I usually go straight to the railway for better visibility, then follow the tracks to Trapper's, looking mainly on my right for the patrolling wolf near the exit.

Didn't know you could come from Milton, interesting. I think Bareskin 11 has seen the rope point down from the farm/river, but at the time was not interested in exploring the "below", despite for once having a bedroll.

[Guest jeffpeng]

2 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

When I compose myself, I realize that this place - normally safe as far as I can tell from my Interloper experience - is swarming with those killing machines.

I've noticed that as well. Custom games seem to have the Stalker spawn points and "density", no matter what kind of setting you choose. You kinda experienced the two worst examples of that just now. Milton is an urban warfare death trap with wolves "seeing" you through buildings and charging you out of sight (so yes, you made a very good judgement call on ignoring Grey Mother), and FM closes off previously safe paths, forcing you to take even more detours and gambling on running into a bear.

[Dan_]

Do you have the moose spawn point by Trapper's on this run? 

Great going, I love the skeg but an increased wolf count would dampen any enthusiasm I have for that region. 

 

[Guest jeffpeng]

Just re-read the entire run of Deadman 10. Damn I'm hyped. So close. It's right around the corner.

[Drifter Man]

19 hours ago, BareSkin said:

Only few hours before my Prophecy comes true. That's the way I always take to the forge (to avoid the front of Spence's), and yes, experience told me ending frozen but alive is better than dying warm. The next choke point is if you follow the edge of the map, just before the exit. From where you are I usually go straight to the railway for better visibility, then follow the tracks to Trapper's, looking mainly on my right for the patrolling wolf near the exit.

I avoid the edge of the map - it's a wolf alley between the second cave and the rail tunnel. I prefer to cross the ice around High Blind and Poacher's Camp. But stalker wolf density can change things.

19 hours ago, jeffpeng said:

I've noticed that as well. Custom games seem to have the Stalker spawn points and "density", no matter what kind of setting you choose. You kinda experienced the two worst examples of that just now. Milton is an urban warfare death trap with wolves "seeing" you through buildings and charging you out of sight (so yes, you made a very good judgement call on ignoring Grey Mother), and FM closes off previously safe paths, forcing you to take even more detours and gambling on running into a bear.

I believe Interloper is wrongly presented in the custom mode as having "Very High" density - actually it's just high or medium. Well, on Deadman it is intentional. Stalker wolf density, Interloper wolf killing power.

[Drifter Man]

18 hours ago, Dan_ said:

Do you have the moose spawn point by Trapper's on this run? 

I don't know - I haven't spent much time there yet. I haven't seen any scratch marks though.