Newbie Survivor Log


tulkawen

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Guest jeffpeng
On 12/3/2018 at 8:07 PM, tulkawen said:

That toolbox is sneaky! It takes a while to figure what to do with it (and it sort of looks like a lunchbox too). You'd think it has a screwdriver to pry open some locks. I don't doubt later on in the game it's useful, but the game was poking fun of me by 'here is a sharpening tool for you' but I won't give you a tool to sharpen.

It has a very destinct use case, yes. You will find that out on your own. But it really doesn't "contain" anything or does you help to survive directly. It's not like you can throw it at a bear and let it choke on it - although I would find that very cool. In fact I want that, now that I think about it: desperately throwing stuff at enemies. Here, evil wolf take this..... old boot! And this.... broken sewing kit? Take it!

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22 hours ago, tulkawen said:

wb Eclair (your name is delicious by the way)

What is your surviving record on voyager?

Do you try your hand at other modes?

My record was around 60 days, until my game save disappeared for some reason. Had a great game going; tons of food in storage, decent clothing, bearskin bedroll after I lost my cloth one, rifle with around 50 rounds, etc. Pleasant Valley is a great long-term map.

Not really; I enjoy the resource management and wildlife density of Voyager, nothing else really does it for me.

Also, thanks lol, eclairs really are delicious

Edited by Sgt. Eclair
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Czh

Newbie memories are always my favourite too. ;)

 

jeff

Well that's certainly helpful to know, having to stand for five hours crafting a hatchet with your back to a wide open hole where the door is. Kind of quirky though that a wolf can bark and charge and then hit an invisible wall.

Did you hear a deer and think it was a wolf and panicked and shot it? I admit their hooves beating does startle me occasionally. Or do deer get mad and charge you too if you wound them. I try saving gun bullets for predators only. If I get a bow I'll try hunting deer with a bow.

 

OMG YES! I watched the Lord of the Rings where Hobbits were throwing potatoes and frying pans at the Orcs and I imagine my survivor fighting in exactly the same style. In panic I would totally throw anything at the attacker just to get away from them. Choke on my smelly socks wolf! I NEVER wash them! Their stench shall fell my enemies!

eclair

Oh noes! Two months is a lot of effort! How in long dark did the long dark get that game? D:

 

If I had a very long game going, at some point I would not continue that one, but save it like an award.

Do you have any goals? For example, I will strive for 500 days in all of my voyager games until I get one done. It seems like mission impossible that will keep me busy for a long time.
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Day 3

 

- The wolves are still howling when I wake up. There is mild fog that clears by the time I'm done charting the area. I sure have a lot of charcoal. Maybe I can build a Survivor dummy out of all this charcoal and push it downhill next time I meet the wolves. They can chase it all they want.

- I gather remaining stuff and head out in the direction opposite of those broken huts in the distance

- The coal and the wood resources are used up. I could gather some branches, but this spot is no home base.

- Staying another night might guarantee Tap-Tap his midnight dinner.

- Tap-tap goes away across the ice and I make the move creeping along the mountain ridge.

- As soon as I clear this wolf, I see another. This one picked a lengthily line between the lake and the ridge, making it difficult to sneak around him either way since our courses run along the same path

- While I contemplate what to do, subtly creeping forward, a deer gets spooked by my presence and runs right into that wolf's mouth. I creep past while he stuffs his face. This nifty trick sure seems useful! XD

- omg... is there a single square meter in this marsh that doesn't have a wolf? There is another one hanging back and forth between the mountain and the lake

- luckily I spot a cave and sneak inside it since I'm starting to get cold crawling across the mountains on my stomach

- snatching a chocolate bar and grape soda from some frozen guy. the cave has a couple of coal pieces

- The day is good and the sun is high, I should travel more

- Wait for Tap-Tap to go away and try crawling around the hill... don't get very far when there is a snaaaap! There goes my ankle. Four hours!? Did i break it twice? shoot

- Limp back to the cave before tap-tap finishes his patrol line and turns back

- ugh cannot read this nice sewing book either, why does a twisted ankle prevent reading? sitting on butt seems like a perfect activity for it

- scowls. tore up my crash-landed boots to fix the insulated ones. tore up an old vest too to repair the underwear, failing once, shucks... the socks are at 30% too, sure could have used that other piece of cloth

- sleep off the injury

 

Night 3

 

- Woke up at midnight and realised I can't build a fire because I only have two sticks. All the predator dodge ball never gave me a chance to gather any firewood.

- Not going out in the pitch dark with the wolf hanging around the cave entrance. Maybe even he had snuck in while I was napping, but smelling my ruined socks ran away.

- Too bad, my water supply is running low. Boiling some at night to get tired would have been perfect

- Sleep another hour, check on the deer skin, it's actually curing, that's good, maybe it will get lighter

- Aimlessly, hanging around in the dark checking inventory, thinking how to make the load lighter.  

- sleep one hour to dawn

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7 minutes ago, tulkawen said:

 

eclair

Oh noes! Two months is a lot of effort! How in long dark did the long dark get that game? D:

 

 

If I had a very long game going, at some point I would not continue that one, but save it like an award.

 

 

Do you have any goals? For example, I will strive for 500 days in all of my voyager games until I get one done. It seems like mission impossible that will keep me busy for a long time.

Yeah, losing it really sucked.. as I said, I was doing pretty well, though! Only exception was that I was completely out of cloth at that point. And I really wish I could have saved that one. I just try to survive day-to-day or at least crafted-equipment-to-crafted-equipment, or food-to-food, etc., but at one point I would like to reach 100 or even 365 days! 500 is a serious challenge, hope you make it!

Edited by Sgt. Eclair
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Guest jeffpeng
4 minutes ago, tulkawen said:

Did you hear a deer and think it was a wolf and panicked and shot it? I admit their hooves beating does startle me occasionally. Or do deer get mad and charge you too if you wound them. I try saving gun bullets for predators only. If I get a bow I'll try hunting deer with a bow.

It's been a long time ago. I must have startled the deer without knowing, then it took off, hit a wall and then came charging around a corner. I didn't even realize what it was until I shot it - it was a pure reaction shot. Literally "shoot first, better don't ask questions at all".

2 minutes ago, tulkawen said:

I creep past while he stuffs his face. This nifty trick sure seems useful!

It's essential! Wolves munch on deer for hours. And they really don't care for much while they do. You have to literally stand on top of them to make them abandon their food to eat you.

5 minutes ago, tulkawen said:

why does a twisted ankle prevent reading?

I never got that either. Actually the only time I get some reading done is when I am sick. Tore two senews in my knee when I was younger. Never read that much ever again :D

 

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Eclair

omph That's tuff having no cloth to repair clothes. This game is unique because all games constitute accumulation of resources and once you accumulate the maximum you win. Here it's more of a snow hill. You start with nothing. Accumulate enough to feel comfortable and then no matter how frugal you are, resources gradually melt into nothingness along with you. I take it a lot of people consider the first half of the game the most fun. It is natural since receiving is more fun than losing.

Jeff

Sometimes deer and bunnies rush past me so close. I always sulk that I cannot stretch my arm and grab them when they bump into me.

Ouch! I hope those senews healed properly with the benefit of advancing your library skills.

I always suspected our survivor is a crybaby, always moaning about something. Ohhh this ankle painnnn unbearableee. I cannot concentrate on reading because pain! Swoooon!

I still prefer to keep away from wolves even if I can stand on top of them. It's still creepy turning my back on the barn doors. It feels unbelievable they can't get at me.

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Guest jeffpeng
Just now, tulkawen said:

I take it a lot of people consider the first half of the game the most fun

In my opinion the start and the end are the "best". At the start you scrape by and improve gradually to reach that plateau in the middle where you actually stay at a fairly well established level. However ultimately everything will run out. Your tools will break, your clothes will dwindle, wildlife population will get scarcer and scarcer, ammunition ran out long ago, but now also your arrows break and you cannot replace them, you have no more painkillers for ooooh this ankle!, a wolf attack might actually prove fatal just because there are no disinfectants and no antibiotics left and you cannot make fire anymore except for a sunny day - which is very rare by now - because all your matches are gone. This is what fading into The Long Dark truly means. It's poetic, in a way.

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34 minutes ago, jeffpeng said:

It's poetic, in a way.

I think what hooked me to this game was the atmosphere and how contemplative it is. The gradual demise leaves you pondering.

I like how we get quotes before each game. It makes me assemble quotes too. Maybe I will add them to one of my longer runs.

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5 hours ago, tulkawen said:

Or do deer get mad and charge you too if you wound them

I'll always remember the first time I saw a deer. I spent 3 days hiding in a trailer in Milton in Story Mode. Everytime I looked outside, it was here, so I got back in. I was so sure I would die from the attack, I actually waited it to go away. Had no gun, else maybe I would have tried to shoot it.

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Day 4

- Finally! I can travel! It's a clear day too even if thirst is nagging me slightly

- Since there is no wolf at the entrance, I leave. Looking over the shoulder from the top of the hill shows him approaching that cave again

- I climb higher. It is a long ledge stretching over the lake. From it, I spot a wolf that's travelling below parallel to me.

- This ledge is extremely windy and doesn't have even a few mushrooms growing around, though, there are a couple of maple saplings

- Nothing to eat, nowhere to sleep... the best way to survive in this frozen dump is to not

- The ledge develops into a large tree leading down to the railway that runs into a tunnel. Would I like to leave this muskeg? Yes, I do.

- There is a canyon on the other side and a broken railway. The thirst is really bad now. Coming along with hypoth it's eating away at my health

- Following the tracks I hit a landslide. This way is blocked

- Not finding any shelter, I pick a wind secluded corner to build a fire and chop up a tree limb

- Boiling water is the first matter of business. Although it's not night, I cook some beans too. The health has taken some beating from this triple condition

- At least I don't hear anymore of those bloody wolves. The canyon is quiet

- A deer nearly crashes into me. It gets trapped between me and the wall within arm's reach. I certainly have no range weapon to take it down

- Speaking of deer, dang it, I forgot the deer pelt at that cave

- Once the hypoth risk is cleared and the water boils, I move on reinforced, and the lucky owner of four tin cans since I've been eating lots of canned food. Still don't know what these cans are good for aside from boiling water.

- Walking around the corner reveals a secluded area and abandoned campfire that yields a cedar log and a hatchet in good condition. One can never have too many hatchets!

- There are trees like arrows pointing to the top of a waterfall, but I cannot find a way upwards. One of the trees is positioned like a bridge to a higher ledge, but it won't let me climb it. I give up after a few attempts

- Instead, I head downhill to the frozen lake under the waterfall

- Nothing here, combed the grass for cattails, still nothing. I'm going to run out of dog food one of these days... near days...

- The wind is picking up, the night is right around the corner. At least the lake has many fallen fir and cedar limbs, enough for ten logs

 

Night 4

- There is a snug corner between a mountain and a large boulder. A thick tree trunk is shielding the nook from the third side

- I squeeze in and arrange ten hours of hot fire

- Uh-oh... I thought the sleeping bag would go between the mountain and the tree. It doesn't fit! Oh this is a bummer if I can't sleep next to a 10h fire

- I run around the tree and try from the other side. Luckily, the adjacent boulder is flat. The sleeping bag gets arranged at an angle within the reach of fire heat

- Still need to run back around the tree to reach the bigger campfire cooking rocks to boil water

- Drink and eat. The area is pin drop quiet. I've heard no signs of Tap-Tap ever since coming here. The fire is warm... I think I will be all right with ten hours of rest

- Woke up not eaten. Come on water boil faster, I don't want to waste breaking daylight

- I pick up a torch and go around the ice, exploring some more. Eventually found a backpack and chips. Greet another day.

My night camping spot.

yyTmoXP.png

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43 minutes ago, tulkawen said:

Day 4

 

- There are trees like arrows pointing to the top of a waterfall, but I cannot find a way upwards. One of the trees is positioned like a bridge to a higher ledge, but it won't let me climb it. I give up after a few attempts

 

Spoiler, if you don't want it, stop reading: There is a tree that acts as a bridge that requires no weird maneuvering, walk up the gentle slop and approach the tree from head on. That will take you onwards.

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Eclair I did find some kind of tree bridge, but it doesn't lead on top of the waterfall, just on top of the landslide.

Day 5

 

- Went uphill where I see a fallen tree like a bridge, it can be climbed. Through a narrow canyon passage, I reach an intersection and the railway. Climbing onto a hill reveals more tracks. I believe this is the other side of the landslide

- The canyon is very much narrow, mountains on either side

- A silhouette crosses the road right in front of me on soft paws. What a silent wolf. He could have jumped out of nowhere

- I bolt behind a tree, creep just a bit ahead. There is no run around path. If he jumps me, he would be materialising out of the rock face. I wouldn't have time to light the flare

- I have under half health left. This way is blocked

- Head back across the tree bridge to my fire that still burns

- Grabbing another torch, forced to return to the muskeg

- The muskeg immediately greets me with plenty of mournful howls. I consider following a long row of black wagons using them as a shield and then spot a bear unhurriedly minding his business

- Nope not going there. In a rush to get away, I nearly run into wolf's mouth that luckily turns towards the lake and lets me sneak past

- It's a bit foggy, but decent. The cold is nibbling at my heels a bit. Scaling another hill reveals a snow shelter!

- A campfire is right at the shelter's entrance. This fire can be lit from the shelter. woohoo! food, soda, old boots. epic!

- A wooden platform is visible from the top of this hill, which can be reached mostly by snow isles

- Collecting cattails on the way. Another book on survival. I'll take that! I like surviving. A storm lantern too.

- Can't see any other interesting spots in the vicinity and my health has taken great beating.

- It got windier, the snow is falling in plump flakes when I hide in the snow shelter

- Eating cattails in warmth and reading. The 5th hour didn't make it before dark. sigh

I would have liked to finish the book

 

Night 5

 

- Let's check, what's fishiest in my inventory... sardines, eat them and drink, sleep 3h

- The shelter is still warm. Hungry again, which is annoying since I've been eating all day long, but I really want the health to go up. Ate the chips and slept 4h

- It's becoming borderline cold. I'm such a clutz with the matches. The book would really improve my chances of lighting the campfire

- Can I finish the book with another cattail in the early dawn light? I can!

- The fire lights up with the book's help. I climb out of the shelter to set the water to boil and hide in the shelter again, then sleep

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385 is impressive! I may have been braver with a defensive weapon, but 46% health and a flare in the arsenal = survivor cutlets. :D

I feel though on 385th day you may have been desperate to explore a new area due to low resources, whereas on day 5 there sure are safer places to loot.

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There are plenty of resources on Voyager and you learn to live off the land. The only things I was really running short of were painkillers/rosehips and hats. Until we get the craftable hat the woolen toque will the most precious posession in the game for the long term survivor. Look after your hats!

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Guest jeffpeng
On 12/5/2018 at 10:57 PM, tulkawen said:

Still don't know what these cans are good for aside from boiling water.

Well you can't even organise a ball throwing game with them. To be fair once you have your two to travel with they become rather useless. I tend to leave two at waypoints I will pass through again / regularily since I really tend to also leave them behind by accident - which can be a bit of a pickle. 

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Day 6

 

- I'm back to half health. It didn't improve as much as I had hoped for, but at least there's no alarming danger

- The wolves howl as soon as I venture out. This marsh has more wolves than wolves have fleas

- Yep, there is one patrolling my way; climbing uphill away from him... fuuuuuhhaagh... two sprains! the wolf is now between me and the snow shelter... great... limping away from him as fast as I can towards what looks like a frozen river

- Four hours. I've got no medicine against sprains. The wolf disappears around the bend. It looks like I dodged one again.

- The river bank has some steep rocks. I drop my bedroll along the rocks and build a fire on the open side, screw it all and sleep 4h

- Woke up not in some wolf's stomach and the sprains are healed

- Travelled along the rising stream towards a waterfall

- There is a ledge protected from the wind and hopefully wolves.

A metal radio tower is piercing the sky nearby

- I head for the tower and search a couple of metal boxes underneath it. The torn up crates only give firewood.

- Heading away, I spot a frozen adventurer who has a nice scarf. Great, a baseball cap under 20% isn't exactly the best warmth giver

- I am rich on jackets though. Found a ski one. Obviously the expedition parka is the win, but can't decide which to keep for the second place, one is better windproof, the other is better warmth

- It's getting dark, seems like I'm stuck outside again. At least the wolves aren't howling. Chop up some fir and cedar limbs

- Cannot make it back to that windproof ledge. I guess I will stay atop of the lower one, fire and sleeping bag

 

Night 6

 

- Woke up after four hours, not very tired. Set the water to boil and tore up some gloves

- My pack is overweight at this point. Well, I am dragging around a heavy forge hammer. I wander if I need it anywhere except for the forge. I suppose I can crush some stuff with it instead of using the hatchet and it only needs fir for repair

- grabbed boiled water and slept another hour

- Woke up fully rested and it's still dark. dang. Dropped more wood into the fire and tore up old boots, this kept me busy for an hour and a half, slept till dawn

___

@Czhilli And there I was tearing up all hats I could find except for one extra. There are a lot of them. :D

@jeffpeng I was thinking of building a wolf fence out of them around my main base.

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Guest jeffpeng
46 minutes ago, tulkawen said:

but can't decide which to keep for the second place, one is better windproof, the other is better warmth

Some stats, like protection and windproofness, only apply when you wear something outside. So if you expedition parka is your "outside" layer (the one you see) - as it should be - then the inner layer only applies warmth and encumberance. Windproofness or waterproofness isn't important for the inner layer.

46 minutes ago, tulkawen said:

I am dragging around a heavy forge hammer. I wander if I need it anywhere except for the forge. I suppose I can crush some stuff with it instead of using the hatchet and it only needs fir for repair

You expertly described the use and drawbacks of the heavy hammer. :D It's also good to scare away wolves, however the prybar has the same effectiveness.

46 minutes ago, tulkawen said:

I was thinking of building a wolf fence out of them around my main base.

Please report back if you fence works :D

 

Edited by jeffpeng
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13 hours ago, tulkawen said:

And there I was tearing up all hats I could find except for one extra. There are a lot of them

Yeah I was tearing up hats too, even the really good ones, but I regretted it later. My previous longest survival was only 7 days so I didn’t expect to last so long or have any idea what it would involve. During my 385 day run I survived 50 wolf struggles, 10 bear maulings and 4  moose stompings. All that wrestling with the wildlife is not good for your clothing or other equipment. Stuff can be destroyed if not in good condition and hats in particular take a real battering.

Hats are the one piece of clothing we can’t currently craft. Once the last hat is gone then you are bare headed till you die. This won’t be an issue much longer as the next update promises to introduce a craftable hat you can make from pelts. Personally I’m in two minds about the new fur hat: I can see it makes sense that a survivor that can construct mittens, trousers, coats and boots would be able to make a simple hat. But I also enjoy the tension that having such limited and precious possessions brings to the game - loosing hats feels bad and makes you treasure even more those you have in storage or you can find out in the world. The quest for a good hat has been an important driver for long periods in several survivor runs and I think I will miss it.

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@jeffpeng The wolves have picked it apart overnight and built a stove out of them. -_-

@Czhilli That's a sneaky trap on game's behalf and you learn this waaaay late into the game too. It's an interesting additional challenge to look after the hats. Although, I kind of like the idea of a pretty fur hat with a fluffy bunny tail pompom to match my bunny mittens. I'm a stylish survivor. ^_^

Day 7

- Begins with two darn sprains as soon as I wake and decide to get off the ledge.

- Limped back to the fire, which luckily wasn't out, dropped more reclaimed wood into it and slept 4h

- It's such a waste. The morning was clear and now it's windy, cold and lightly snowing

- Crouch and climb off the ledge carefully

- Search the area, eventually coming across a deer and an adventurer whose backpack contains a book. Got to find time to read all these books

- It looks like I need to climb down closer to the water. This relatively safe spot is a closed area

- Wind and snow are pelting against me. There is a long stretch of ice leading towards the boulders. Red wagons are on the left. I want to scout the area before moving to them

- Cross the ice step by step. With an overweight backpack I really don't want to take a dive

- I climb the rock and almost come nose to nose with a bear. Not sure why he doesn't see me maybe I've got the upper ground. Crawl backwards then press my back against the rock. Which way is he heading, right or left? I can bump into him by going around the rock. Climb back onto the rock silent as a mouse and peek

- The bear leisurely strolls away in the direction of the red wagons, walks along them and then away across the ice

- hmm there must be goodies in that wagon, maybe even shelter... I have a feeling the bear is guarding it

- I reach the wagons and also walk along them, picking up scraps of metal and a bunch of flares. The boxes have a few useful things too, including coal and a magnifying glass. Yep! This red wagon is rich!

- Hurray! the other side of the train has one wagon without a door that can be entered. A fire barrel is at the entrance

- Hope the bear isn't interested in entering wagons

- Search more boxes and discover a frozen sweater. Good, I have another one just like it

- It's not too cold and the day is in decline, this will be my camping spot. Unless the bear snacks on me, this seems much safer than a few nights under the stars. I am lucky the weather had held both of those nights

- I finish off my cattails to read for two hours, the third gets interrupted by hunger, how bothersome

 

Night 7

 

- It's getting colder and a fire must be built. I don't have much firewood since I was dodging the bear and carrying a heavy enough pack, but I do have a lot of coal, might as well enjoy it while I can

- Dropped the frozen sweater next to the burning barrel and removed my soaked gloves too

- Amazing! The sky turns emerald with a huge crystal moon glimmering among its wisps (bummer I pressed print screen instead of f9 for screenshots, salvaged my second shot without the moon; the moon was the best one so far)

- Slept four hours after much admiration. The sweater is dry now. Now I have two blue sweaters

- Read an hour and slept again

G9ektM2.png

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