This one's short and simple

[Fellow Survivor]

TL:DR The best things in this game are items or goals that are not instant, but take time and gradual progress to work towards e.g. TWM summit and animal clothing (and survival bow imo - although many would disagree).

I think this game needs more things this - when i get the rifle I'm not that satisfied because I don't feel like I've worked for it, I've just gotten a lucky random spawn from a set few locations. This would also help more with many players' need for long term survival goals and stuff to do as I see many posts about that on here and I've made one of my own too. Whether it be maps with a destination like FM, "the wolf gauntlet" aka crumbling highway (although I've never struggled with it after I found a nice crossing route), TWM's summit or some hard to craft item, please add something like this to the game. Upvote if you agreed please and add suggestions/criticisms in the comments below please! Thanks for reading and have a nice day! 

[MarrowStone]

Challenge modes are really fun, Id like to see a few of those that can play around with mechanics and long term projects.

I'd like a bit more base customization:

While candles have been said to be unlikely to placed in the game, I feel that a few pre-determined spots to be able to place a candle would be better than no candles. 

Id like Mountaineer's hut window to be able to be shut, even if it doesnt add temperature. Also, Id like to be able to fix that hole in the roof...

Furniture should be craftable and moveable, shelves for storage, a bookshelf and a nice cozy fur armchair for reading books 10% faster and for 10% more xp? A secondary use is for reading old books you can scour the world for such as works by Jack London or quilting.

Moveable Containers such as a bear crate that you store outside as a cold wildlife-proof container for meat.

Drying racks and hide scrapers.

More barriers

Id like more places boarded up and requiring a tool to open, maybe even a snowed in door or two that requires a shovel.

Some crates etc that require keys and notes to help you find em etc.

More environmental threats

Snares could be contested by wolverines stealing your kills.

Wildlife should seek out and eat meat left outdoors.

Hunting needs a revamp, buffing crouching in grass or near trees while nerfing crouching in the open. And improved animal AI.

Random Events

Monster blizzards with some warning would be cool, Maybe crows disappear from all corpses 24-48 hours ahead of time

Maybe a compass that spins wildly when the aurora will show up that night but is useless othwerise and spins a random direction every 5-12 seconds, maybe 1-26 seconds and it spells "ur a butt" lol

A bear decides to stalk you like in The Hunted, except a bit less aggressively and they give up after 3 days if you dont manage to kill it.

Trees can fall down in storms

A thundersnow!

A shipwreck that you have a limited time to loot

Randome gunshots, footprints and lit fires.

 

tldr, a LOT of stuff that shouldve been put in a post of its own, and I still have more ideas.

[ThePancakeLady]

9 hours ago, Fellow Survivor said:

TL:DR The best things in this game are items or goals that are not instant, but take time and gradual progress to work towards e.g. TWM summit and animal clothing (and survival bow imo - although many would disagree).

I think this game needs more things this - when i get the rifle I'm not that satisfied because I don't feel like I've worked for it, I've just gotten a lucky random spawn from a set few locations. This would also help more with many players' need for long term survival goals and stuff to do as I see many posts about that on here and I've made one of my own too. Whether it be maps with a destination like FM, "the wolf gauntlet" aka crumbling highway (although I've never struggled with it after I found a nice crossing route), TWM's summit or some hard to craft item, please add something like this to the game. Upvote if you agreed please and add suggestions/criticisms in the comments below please! Thanks for reading and have a nice day! 

If you are suggesting new challenges or achievements, I agree. More things to do after getting set up in game, to keep me and my survivor busy, with purpose. A new Challenge or achievement my family and I kick around, and play as a shared self-made challenge is "Around the World in 80 days". Generally we play it in Voyageur, since that mode is comfortable enough for all 4 of us, though my husband and I will try it on Stalker or Loper from time to time. Random spawn start, from there you must visit each region, including transition maps (Ravine, Winding River, Crumbling Highway), and you have to stay there for at least 4 full days and nights before moving on. You have to return to your game start spawn point on Day 80, whole, intact, and at above 50% condition, no matter what. Or you fail. Our dream for possible Modding someday is to add one unique item to each map, like ski goggles only on TWM, a bicycle horn found near a demolished bicycle on Crumbling Highway, a souvenir pamphlet from Mystery Lake, ect. And on day 80 you must have each of those items with you at your beginning/ending spot. And each of the items will have several random spawn points on its map, so you must explore to find it, and not dawdle.

Things like that. Dev-made or made by Modders on down the line. Though of course, Mods would not get specific achievements. 

Of course, we also have no idea what the final Episodes of Wintermute will add, and what will be added to Survival Mode along with them.  Maybe we will get some of our wishes, and they are already being worked on, quietly, without us knowing about it.

[Pillock]

I've said this before, but I actually think afflictions could serve this purpose to an extent, if they were overhauled and added to.

Think about how parasites work - you need to administer a dose of medicine every day over a long period of time, managing your condition as its maximum regain-level depletes. You often have to go out foraging for mushrooms in order to have medication to complete the doses, which gives your game a temporary 'mission' and focus to a run that otherwise isn't there.

Yes, having more items to craft, more option options for base customization, collectible unique items, etc. all give you extra stuff to do, but its mostly one-off or temporary - once you've done them, you don't tend to do them again and afterwards are back in the same position as before. If recovering from afflictions was used as way of giving players short-term 'projects', or problems to solve - sprains, other minor injuries, sicknesses, malnutrition, wound management, etc - they would be more repeatable and would feel more organically generated and purposeful to your individual game, rather than just a load of extra tools, clothes, furniture, etc. for you to make, just so that you have something to do.

[Fellow Survivor]

15 hours ago, Pillock said:

I've said this before, but I actually think afflictions could serve this purpose to an extent, if they were overhauled and added to.

Think about how parasites work - you need to administer a dose of medicine every day over a long period of time, managing your condition as its maximum regain-level depletes. You often have to go out foraging for mushrooms in order to have medication to complete the doses, which gives your game a temporary 'mission' and focus to a run that otherwise isn't there.

Yes, having more items to craft, more option options for base customization, collectible unique items, etc. all give you extra stuff to do, but its mostly one-off or temporary - once you've done them, you don't tend to do them again and afterwards are back in the same position as before. If recovering from afflictions was used as way of giving players short-term 'projects', or problems to solve - sprains, other minor injuries, sicknesses, malnutrition, wound management, etc - they would be more repeatable and would feel more organically generated and purposeful to your individual game, rather than just a load of extra tools, clothes, furniture, etc. for you to make, just so that you have something to do.

I agree, you make a good point; however, this would be quite difficult to balance early as lack of supplies, especially on interloper - which i exclusively play - would likely end up in death but i suppose it can be argued its more realistic and down to the player to be good enough to avoid afflictions early. But I like your idea and I'd certainly like Hinterland to do something about this. 

[Fellow Survivor]

On 10/12/2018 at 6:07 AM, ThePancakeLady said:

If you are suggesting new challenges or achievements, I agree. More things to do after getting set up in game, to keep me and my survivor busy, with purpose. A new Challenge or achievement my family and I kick around, and play as a shared self-made challenge is "Around the World in 80 days". Generally we play it in Voyageur, since that mode is comfortable enough for all 4 of us, though my husband and I will try it on Stalker or Loper from time to time. Random spawn start, from there you must visit each region, including transition maps (Ravine, Winding River, Crumbling Highway), and you have to stay there for at least 4 full days and nights before moving on. You have to return to your game start spawn point on Day 80, whole, intact, and at above 50% condition, no matter what. Or you fail. Our dream for possible Modding someday is to add one unique item to each map, like ski goggles only on TWM, a bicycle horn found near a demolished bicycle on Crumbling Highway, a souvenir pamphlet from Mystery Lake, ect. And on day 80 you must have each of those items with you at your beginning/ending spot. And each of the items will have several random spawn points on its map, so you must explore to find it, and not dawdle.

Things like that. Dev-made or made by Modders on down the line. Though of course, Mods would not get specific achievements. 

Of course, we also have no idea what the final Episodes of Wintermute will add, and what will be added to Survival Mode along with them.  Maybe we will get some of our wishes, and they are already being worked on, quietly, without us knowing about it.

I like your idea of special items for each region, however I'd prefer to avoid the randomness. As I said I think it's way more rewarding if you know where the item is but it's a challenge to get there, like the ravine, TWM and the forges. I feel like Broken railroad is perfectly set up for this, as it was  made like a bit of a gauntlet with the intent of the player having to trek there for the rifle in Wintermute. It's slightly disappointing no special item exists at the hunting lodge in survival mode. I'd love to see a modified rifle with a scope for example or something similar to do with hunting. Nothing extreme of course - just a unique item that's a goal you want  to work for! 

[Fellow Survivor]

On 10/12/2018 at 4:10 AM, MarrowStone said:

Challenge modes are really fun, Id like to see a few of those that can play around with mechanics and long term projects.

I'd like a bit more base customization:

While candles have been said to be unlikely to placed in the game, I feel that a few pre-determined spots to be able to place a candle would be better than no candles. 

Id like Mountaineer's hut window to be able to be shut, even if it doesnt add temperature. Also, Id like to be able to fix that hole in the roof...

Furniture should be craftable and moveable, shelves for storage, a bookshelf and a nice cozy fur armchair for reading books 10% faster and for 10% more xp? A secondary use is for reading old books you can scour the world for such as works by Jack London or quilting.

Moveable Containers such as a bear crate that you store outside as a cold wildlife-proof container for meat.

Drying racks and hide scrapers.

More barriers

Id like more places boarded up and requiring a tool to open, maybe even a snowed in door or two that requires a shovel.

Some crates etc that require keys and notes to help you find em etc.

More environmental threats

Snares could be contested by wolverines stealing your kills.

Wildlife should seek out and eat meat left outdoors.

Hunting needs a revamp, buffing crouching in grass or near trees while nerfing crouching in the open. And improved animal AI.

Random Events

Monster blizzards with some warning would be cool, Maybe crows disappear from all corpses 24-48 hours ahead of time

Maybe a compass that spins wildly when the aurora will show up that night but is useless othwerise and spins a random direction every 5-12 seconds, maybe 1-26 seconds and it spells "ur a butt" lol

A bear decides to stalk you like in The Hunted, except a bit less aggressively and they give up after 3 days if you dont manage to kill it.

Trees can fall down in storms

A thundersnow!

A shipwreck that you have a limited time to loot

Randome gunshots, footprints and lit fires.

 

tldr, a LOT of stuff that shouldve been put in a post of its own, and I still have more ideas.

Many of your ideas I agree with but the main premise of the game is to survive and not thrive as the intention is for the player to eventually die - or at the very least feel as though the threat of death is real. Therefore, something like outdoor wildlife proof containers doesn't strike my fancy as I'd instead prefer for hostile wildlife to be attracted to meat on the ground, posing more risk for you as a player or at least making it harder for you to forage for food. I'm aware not everyone however plays for the challenge I do - that's why I play on interloper only. Therefore I agree with most of your "random events", "barriers" and "environmental threats" and I think they'd certainly spice up long term survival quite a bit. 

[gnomegnine]

On 10/11/2018 at 11:10 PM, MarrowStone said:

maybe even a snowed in door or two that requires a shovel.

there is already a basement in CH that is covered in snow, a tiny but infuriating amount since that is probably their prepper stash.

[MarrowStone]

@Fellow Survivor, I agree with you on the mortality of your character, technically right now animals don't pick up stored meat outside anyways unless they think its dropped bait, so my goal with the container was to penalize people for doing that untill they get the bearproof container (or maybe put it in a car trunk). And people who use too many snares get the "wolverine" contestor forcing them to move. So this would actually make the game harder.

@gnomegnine, Also the shovel is already an assset within the game, so perhaps its planned for story mode to open it?

[Pillock]

6 hours ago, Fellow Survivor said:

I agree, you make a good point; however, this would be quite difficult to balance early as lack of supplies, especially on interloper - which i exclusively play - would likely end up in death but i suppose it can be argued its more realistic and down to the player to be good enough to avoid afflictions early. But I like your idea and I'd certainly like Hinterland to do something about this. 

I'm not sure if make it that hard. The availability of natural remedies like mushrooms, rosehips and OMB lichen is set to maximum on Interloper, so you wouldn't be short of treatments. You'd just have to play differently and be more careful while the affliction was in effect, which I think would break up the slightly formulaic early game in Interloper and make it more interesting (i don't play interloper at all for that reason - it's a bit samey because you're compelled to visit certain fixed loot spots to find particular items each time).

[Fellow Survivor]

2 minutes ago, Pillock said:

I'm not sure if make it that hard. The availability of natural remedies like mushrooms, rosehips and OMB lichen is set to maximum on Interloper, so you wouldn't be short of treatments. You'd just have to play differently and be more careful while the affliction was in effect, which I think would break up the slightly formulaic early game in Interloper and make it more interesting (i don't play interloper at all for that reason - it's a bit samey because you're compelled to visit certain fixed loot spots to find particular items each time).

Why they are plentiful yes, it's difficult to search for them while your freezing and you have the affliction. Naturally you shouldn't be getting parasites early but if new afflictions get added or older ones get reworked, it could be a problem. That's what I meant. I'm totally all for your idea but it's something Hinterland would have to keep in mind if it were implemented.

[gnomegnine]

4 hours ago, MarrowStone said:

Also the shovel is already an assset within the game

it is?

[ThePancakeLady]

1 hour ago, gnomegnine said:

it is?

It is. It was on one of the old main loading/menu screens for the game. It was removed when they changed the screen. But the asset still exists as a hidden file in the game files. As do a few other items that are not in the game right now.  It doesn't mean any of them will be added to the game proper. They may have been created for a prototype, testing, as a concept that was later decided against. But, then again, they may be added with the last 3 episodes of Story Mode.

We'll see, as the last Story Mode episodes are released, and Survival Mode inherits new items and/or locations. We'll see.

 

(Here's a shot of the old menu screen I found online, since I have to search through hundreds of old screenshots to find one on my computer, lol! But it shows the shovel that used to be there...)

[MarrowStone]

Thank you for the explanation, @ThePancakeLady, now I dont have to type it, haha.

I'd also like to add that at one point the game would sometimes glitch you into the main menu screen! In which you could actually "pick it up". The flavour text was blank and it wouldn't appear in your inventory though. 

[AfterShock]

On 10/11/2018 at 8:44 PM, Fellow Survivor said:

TL:DR The best things in this game are items or goals that are not instant, but take time and gradual progress to work towards e.g. TWM summit and animal clothing (and survival bow imo - although many would disagree).

I think this game needs more things this - when i get the rifle I'm not that satisfied because I don't feel like I've worked for it, I've just gotten a lucky random spawn from a set few locations. 

Absolutely! I would love to slowly work towards a rifle, like you have to craft it out of pieces or repair it, then practice before you can shoot it properly, etc.

Even on interloper it doesnt take long to move up the tech tree - grabbing a bunch of metal and coal and heading to the forge to make a full set of tools. And you can kill wolves without even making a bow, and steer deer into wolves then scare them off for a full deer carcass, etc.

However, if the player is 'levelling up' throughout the game, the game also has to get harder over time, otherwise it gets easy and boring once you're past the difficult first part.. On interloper this is achieved by the temperature dropping and there are also resources that run out (matches, food). But the problem here is that the solution to both these things is not an interesting strategic decision - it's simply to loot as much of the map as possible (get as much clothing as possible, get as many matches as possible before they all decay away)

So TLD needs some problems to solve which the solution isnt just 'loot more places'.

My ideal would be location-based tasks to level up your current location and provide temporary resources (ideally that you can't take) so you are encouraged to stick around for a bit, fix things up, then move on when you've exhausted the nearby resource supply.

[Fuarian]

On 10/11/2018 at 11:10 PM, MarrowStone said:

Challenge modes are really fun, Id like to see a few of those that can play around with mechanics and long term projects.

I'd like a bit more base customization:

While candles have been said to be unlikely to placed in the game, I feel that a few pre-determined spots to be able to place a candle would be better than no candles. 

Id like Mountaineer's hut window to be able to be shut, even if it doesnt add temperature. Also, Id like to be able to fix that hole in the roof...

Furniture should be craftable and moveable, shelves for storage, a bookshelf and a nice cozy fur armchair for reading books 10% faster and for 10% more xp? A secondary use is for reading old books you can scour the world for such as works by Jack London or quilting.

Moveable Containers such as a bear crate that you store outside as a cold wildlife-proof container for meat.

Drying racks and hide scrapers.

More barriers

Id like more places boarded up and requiring a tool to open, maybe even a snowed in door or two that requires a shovel.

Some crates etc that require keys and notes to help you find em etc.

More environmental threats

Snares could be contested by wolverines stealing your kills.

Wildlife should seek out and eat meat left outdoors.

Hunting needs a revamp, buffing crouching in grass or near trees while nerfing crouching in the open. And improved animal AI.

Random Events

Monster blizzards with some warning would be cool, Maybe crows disappear from all corpses 24-48 hours ahead of time

Maybe a compass that spins wildly when the aurora will show up that night but is useless othwerise and spins a random direction every 5-12 seconds, maybe 1-26 seconds and it spells "ur a butt" lol

A bear decides to stalk you like in The Hunted, except a bit less aggressively and they give up after 3 days if you dont manage to kill it.

Trees can fall down in storms

A thundersnow!

A shipwreck that you have a limited time to loot

Randome gunshots, footprints and lit fires.

 

tldr, a LOT of stuff that shouldve been put in a post of its own, and I still have more ideas.

Loving your random events ideas. I've suggested things like that before. The more customization the better.

[Fellow Survivor]

@AfterShock Exactly what I was thinking, I'm glad you agree! And some nice ideas with that too 

[hozz1235]

I'd like to see HL open it up to modding.  There are so many talented modders these days and with that, you gain almost limitless options for playing (thinking FO4/Skyrim).