A Few Dead Men


Drifter Man

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Deadman 3 / Day 14

Unlucky 14, a disastrous day. As usual, the disaster was entirely preventable.

In the morning I noticed I missed out two lockers in the bunker, so I opened them and found a pair of mittens. I harvested them to repair the wool ear wrap I tried to repair the day before. I failed again.

When I headed out around noon, I was immediately approached by a wolf and returned to the bunker to sleep for another hour. Then I left in a different direction - the weather was ideal, light fog, felt -16°C - and after one warming break I reached Skeeter's Ridge. Some good stuff was lying around, a can of dog food especially. Some useless stuff too, a prybar and a box of quality tools. I took a piece of firewood from the basement.

Then I made the fateful decision. Instead of taking the longer way (via rope or just down to the valley), I took a mountain-goating shortcut to Draft Dodger's. I fell twice, sprained a wrist, tore my clothing and ended up at 66% condition - losing 20%, maybe more than I would have lost if I went all the way from the bunker freezing. It served me right for exploiting the game mechanics, and being bad at it.

Following a short sleep in the cabin (granola bar inside), I walked out again into the foggy dusk towards the Outbuildings and reached the barn after an exchange of barking and gunfire with one of its guardians. It was too dark to search it, so I just slipped into the car to sleep. Inside the car I found beef jerky and my fourth emergency stim, so I applied it straight away. 81% condition.

Deadman 3 / Day 15

The weather outside was not negotiable and I need water, so I started boiling some at the fire barrell. Meanwhile I took a torch and searched the barn. I found a new hacksaw, replacing the worn out one I had, plus another can of dog food. While eating this dog food or the sardine tin I found at the hunting blind, I got food poisoning. So it's antibiotics and off to bed, umm, car. At least it happened here and not while I was roaming outside. 78% condition. It would have been 98% if I hadn't done that stupid thing on the cliffs. [35450 calories consumed]

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That's too bad.  I always have mixed results mountain goating at Skeeter's ridge.  Usually I just take a nap at Draft Dodger's to recover whatever fatigue I feel I need to before pressing on to the Farmhouse.

Either way, once I am done my Outerloper Run or reach day 100 I am going to join in on the deadman challenge - the things I am learning from these threads are invaluable.

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42 minutes ago, fauxjargon said:

That's too bad.  I always have mixed results mountain goating at Skeeter's ridge.  Usually I just take a nap at Draft Dodger's to recover whatever fatigue I feel I need to before pressing on to the Farmhouse.

Either way, once I am done my Outerloper Run or reach day 100 I am going to join in on the deadman challenge - the things I am learning from these threads are invaluable.

Deadman is a great experience but it's applicability to normal Interloper is limited. You're burning through your resources like there's no tomorrow, because... there's no tomorrow. So you're buying condition in exchange for matches, flare shells and all that stuff you'd normally try to save. Also, any serious crafting is out of the question because there's little point in spending all those precious resources (water, time, calories) to make a pair of pants that you will wear for a week. You mentioned fatigue - again, not an issue on Deadman, you sleep all the time, you don't save fatigue for the night.

What is somewhat applicable is the experience with wildlife - with the numbers and detection range that wolves have here, you get used to them. But then again, driving them away with a flare gun is not the standard response you should make on Interloper.

Good luck with your Outerloper run, and welcome soon to the club of deadmen and deadwomen :D

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Deadman 3 / Day 16

I wake up in the car a few hours before dawn. The food poisoning is gone but I spent almost 100% of the time indoors since my fishing session in TWM, so I'm expecting cabin fever soon. This may be troubling as I have no bedroll.

I wait until the morning. A blizzard starts. I need water, so I start a fire again in the barrell and boil some. I'm waiting until early afternoon but this is PV, I can expect the blizzard to take all day. So I quickly drink hot tea and make a dash to the Farmstead, losing 2% condition.

The farmstead has a new can opener, some cooking pots (I'll be sure to take one with me), a decent amount of food (dog food, salty crackers, beef jerky, peaches - nothing of this will survive the day), water in the toilets and more than enough curtains for me to make repairs. Interestingly, I also find a third set of quality tools in PV (first at Skeeter's Ridge, second in the Barn, third here in the Basement). I fix my ski jackets and mittens.

All those books go into my backpack. They're heavy, but they're free fuel. I'll burn them soon.

I peek outside briefly at dusk, hoping to process a deer carcass nearby, but the winds are still too strong. It will have to wait for tomorrow. Bed in 76% condition.

15 days survived, no cabin fever (even risk) so far... so I guess I qualify for the secondary achievement.

[38470 calories consumed]

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Deadman 3 / Day 17

Blizzard. At least I manage to harvest the deer carcass nearby. 1.6 kg meat, better than nothing.

Deadman 3 / Day 18

Blizzard. Repairing clothes. I'm out of cattails. Cabin Fever does not appear. Is it disabled in the challenge? I pasted in the code and didn't check for details.

Deadman 3 / Day 19

Making water in the morning, then more sleep. Weather finally clears up and I make an uneventful move via rope to Signal Hill. The radio control hut welcomes me with 90% sardines, 16% peaches and a box of salty crackers. Nothing useful in the way of clothes. Another flare, but I can't eat flares. I tried.

I can't wait to be out of PV.

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[45350 calories consumed]

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21 minutes ago, cullam said:

Does this mean that @Drifter Man is now the official record holder for days survived in this challenge? I believe 17 was the record... 

Nope, the 30-day challenge has already been beaten by @TheEldritchGod and others. It doesn't make the run any less fun for me though, no matter how far I can make it.

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10 minutes ago, cullam said:

Nice! Apparently I hadn't checked in on the stats in a few days. Once I finally get my 500 day stalker achievement (good lord that can take a while to hit), I might have to go all masochistic and give deadman a try... 

It's not so masochistic as it is ... short. It doesn't take much of RL time to get "somewhere" in this challenge. You'll have fun.

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Deadman 3 / Day 20

I peek out of the Radio Control Hut in the morning. Felt -26°C, too cold. To utilize the time, I turn a piece of scrap metal found in the hut into fishing hooks and make another line. A few hours later it is -32°C, due to strong wind. In early afternoon comes another blizzard. I wait for a while but I don't have a choice - I'm running out of food. If PV only has blizzards for me, then I'll go in a blizzard. I light a flare for a bit of warmth and run.

My temperature bar runs out when I'm about halfway to the cave to Winding River. And when I'm almost there, the blizzard ends. I enter the cave in 69% condition - it cost me 9% to break free from Pleasant Valley, but as I said, I had no choice. I can't starve to death while waiting for better weather.

In the cave I restock on coal and harvest 1.9 kg of meat from a deer carcass there. My next stop is in the cave on the way to the dam. No bedroll. I travelled half of the world and still haven't found one. Now night is falling and I have nowhere to sleep. The visibility is quickly falling, I can't fight off wolves blind, even with the flare gun. Those are my thoughts as I warm up at my fire, cup of coffee burbling next to it.

This means I'm staying awake in the cave tonight. I have enough coffee to fend off fatigue. While I'm making water, I check the position above the river on the same bank as the cave - there's no carcass but I find some reishi mushrooms and a can of pork and beans, which is almost as good as a carcass. Once I warm up again, I notice the weather has cleared up, it's a clear night now, and think for a moment I could make it to the dam. But then I notice it's an aurora night (the aurora is silent though).

At least I want to do something useful, so I go to the other bank to check the other carcass location. It's there, and I harvest it for 1.3 kg.

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I observe two glowing wolves patrolling now near the entry path up here - I won't be able to pass undetected, especially now that I have a piece of cooked meat with me that I can't eat right now. Strangely, they're staying in place and don't move away. Maybe they noticed me there, just can't find a way up.

I can't stay there forever, so I walk back down and mountain-goat to the river to avoid the wolves. In good tradition, I fall, and it's a pretty long one.. My heart stops as the screen turns red, but the price is relatively mild - I'm in 66% condition now. I drop the meat to avoid attracting the wolves while I search my backpack for painkillers. When I'm done with my sprained ankle, I dash back to the cave.

Now it's just waiting for the morning.

[49810 calories consumed]

Edited by Drifter Man
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16 minutes ago, Drifter Man said:

At least I want to do something useful, so I go to the other bank to check the other carcass location. It's there, and I harvest it for 1.3 kg.

To pass the wolves I usually just jump down from this corpse and scoot up the path to the dam.  But maybe they were too close for that too?

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14 minutes ago, Ruruwawa said:

To pass the wolves I usually just jump down from this corpse and scoot up the path to the dam.

I was going to mention the same thing.. it's possible to mountain goat from where the deer is across to the path, or in the other direction too.. there's no need to go down to the vicinity of those wolves at all. A little something I learned from Deadpool.

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Just now, Drifter Man said:

Yes, I'd already be insane by now. Funny, I thought the idea was about maxing out the bad things. A new challenge is taking shape in my head.

Deadman: Deader Still

Don't forget to turn the wolves harder too, then. I think that's why you survived last time, when the wolf "inexplicably" flew away, it just "feared" you (based on Protection value?) or you torch I suppose.

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40 minutes ago, BareSkin said:

Don't forget to turn the wolves harder too, then. I think that's why you survived last time, when the wolf "inexplicably" flew away, it just "feared" you (based on Protection value?) or you torch I suppose.

Definitely not protection - I have next to none. Wolf fear is switched off and wolves are at maximum strength already. But it happened to me before that the wolf would stop the pursuit and flee if running for too long - "running out of breath" - so this was apparently the case again. I just have no idea why it couldn't catch me. Maybe it got stuck in the terrain while running.

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3 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

Funny, I thought the idea was about maxing out the bad things. A new challenge is taking shape in my head.

Deadman: Deader Still

That was probably more about trying to give an overall feel for what the challenge was like in a few short words, rather than literal gospel truth..  for instance, weather is highly changeable, but there are no days-long blizzards, either.. because just one of those would pretty much be a guaranteed death sentence. So yeah, it could be made more brutal.. the question becomes, should it be?

Edited by JAFO
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19 hours ago, JAFO said:

That was probably more about trying to give an overall feel for what the challenge was like in a few short words, rather than literal gospel truth..  for instance, weather is highly changeable, but there are no days-long blizzards, either.. because just one of those would pretty much be a guaranteed death sentence. So yeah, it could be made more brutal.. the question becomes, should it be?

Probably not. I once tried to max out everything - spawning in a blizzard in the middle of the night. I'd call it Deadman 3:  Dead on Arrival. But it wasn't much fun.

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Deadman 3 / Day 21

I spend the night at the fire, waiting until the morning. The fire burns in the warm part of the cave, where I started it (because I didn't want to take freezing during firestarting), so I stand in the cold part to save fuel. When the day breaks, winds are still but heavy snow is falling - you know that pre-blizzard feeling. I'm tired, so I quickly drink two cups of coffee, pull a torch and go. I hope I can reach the Dam without taking damage.

Thanks to my good friends @Ruruwawa and @JAFO, I now know a way to avoid the wolf/wolves on the Winding River. It saves me right there, because I'm tired and encumbered and there are two wolves on patrol. I'm forced to run along the ledge of the Dam, but I reach safety before blizzard starts and before my temperature bar runs out.

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I search a good part of the Dam - I leave out the top floors because there is a deer carcass at the Winding River entry and I'll be back for it later anyway. Considering how time-consuming it is to search the Dam, there's little to show for it. Two granola bars and a bit of lantern fuel. I run through the blizzard to the trailer as I am exhausted now, and take note that the other deer carcass at the Upper Dam entrance is also there. Good!

Canned fish in the trailer. Bedtime in the afternoon. [51730 calories consumed]

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Deadman 3 / Day 22

I'll try a slightly different format. First I'll share my plans for the day as of the morning. Then I'll launch the game, play and report what happens in reality :)

Plan for today: Get out in the morning and return to the Dam to process one of the carcasses. Then return to the trailer to sleep a bit. In the afternoon, if the weather allows, check out the Hunting Blind at Alan's Cave, from there the Hilltop Cave (The Cave of One Thousand Sprains, as I call it) and finish at the Camp Office. Main objective: the bedroll.

----------------------------------------------------------------

The weather in the morning doesn't look good, quiet before blizzard. I pass through the Dam and emerge on the other side. A quick look down on the river: wolves are around.

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I start a fire at the deer carcass at the broken window and this time I harvest it completely. If I'm ever going to come back to a certain place, it's the Dam, so if I'm ever going to use this material, I can as well leave it here to cure. The wind lets me finish the job and kills my fire just as soon as I'm done.

When I reach the other exit, a blizzard starts, so I search the offices upstairs. I'm hoping for a forgotten chocolate bar, but this time I find literally nothing, not even old clothes. I'm starting to wonder whether this office is even worth searching in game.

The blizzard rages throughout the afternoon and it's clear my Mystery Lake plans are not realistic today. In the evening I process the second carcass at the Upper Dam entrance and leave all guts and pelts in the Dam. The two carcasses gave me some 2300 calories altogether, less than what I need per day. I need more food. [54070 calories consumed]

Edited by Drifter Man
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6 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

 

When I reach the other exit, a blizzard starts, so I search the offices upstairs. I'm hoping for a forgotten chocolate bar, but this time I find literally nothing, not even old clothes. I'm starting to wonder whether this office is even worth searching in game.

Looting the dam is the biggest waste of time in this game imo. (Exept the few key spots that might have something good) There just isn't anything that makes the time you spent looting worth it.

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2 hours ago, Mixxut said:

Looting the dam is the biggest waste of time in this game imo. (Exept the few key spots that might have something good) There just isn't anything that makes the time you spent looting worth it.

I never loot the upper floor.  It is just so boring.  I usually don't even loot the catwalks in the upper turbine room with the fire barrel.

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