Thatch, the Timberwolf Sasquatch

[Guest jeffpeng]

Well I must admit that RNGeezuz is very kind to Thatch 4. I succeeded on all but one repairs - and that was one with leather repairing the gloves - weather did hold every time I needed it to, I hit both my flares dead center, and I my kill per throw percentage with stones isn't as good as it used to be, but every time I needed to hit I did. It's a lot of repaying RNG debt for Thatch 1 who really had a permanent subscription for the short straw.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 19 - Strategies

93 % health at 4 am - I am awake and alive. More and more I find that my days consist of mostly sleeping and waiting. Without making a fire I really have very limited destinations I can travel: The Engine Gorge, Broken Tree Bridge, Deer Clearing. One of them is available only when I actually get rid of the wolf. Making a fire my radius of action extends to Hide'n'Seek Hill, the path down the ramp, the Wing Forest and theoretically Eric's Falls - but if I ever get back there, that's a last ditch effort. And yes, of course: The Hut. Which is tomorrows agenda - with a twist.

The Hut itself isn't even that far away - it's about the same distance as the Wing Forest - but running into a bear more often than not and having to return through the Engine Gorge with an almost impassable wolf makes the trip both conditional and dangerous. That's the reason I refrained from going there except for the one time I made my mitts. But I've been thinking of an alternative route.

Goating down into the ravine and then running through it and the hills to the Hut seems to be the shortest path at first glance. But it also has a very likely bear encounter and two possible wolves. Making it through the cave to and down the Ramp, however, has a very unlikely and easy to spot bear plus the rather easy to avoid wolf of the Northern Woods. Back I could make it via the rope directly to the engine - which I would have to deploy first, however. All I need to make that climb even fully exhausted are two coffee.

 Let's go hunt ourselves a rope. The one down to the Engine Gorge I don't need.

After this little exercise I sleep two more hours and pass some time.

The main reason I change my plans: I don't want to stress my luck too much. I killed the wolf at the Gorge twice. Both times with a head shot. Let's just not have that much luck again and say I miss one of my 6 remaining flare shells. Or even by some strange happenstance the wolf gets on me before I get my shot off. One scenario is bad, the other is disaster. I have much much much better chances of killing a wolf after driving a deer into it - and that's what Deer Clearing is there for. As things look for now: I get enough firewood to sustain my position without the Gorge. Making the pants will buy me 7 more days of feeling warm and fuzzy in my shelter. The wolf ... will live. For now.

Nevertheless I make a sprint down to the cave. I need to get an exact ETA on my deer skins. And frankly: I need to burn rest. Running down there I can hear the wolf howling in the Gorge, together in concert with the wolf up in the Northern Woods. My deer hides are at 89%. That's 13 hours. That's 9, maybe 10 pm this evening. I will have to stay 15-16 hours at the Hut because with my sewing kit at 51% it will break in the process of crafting the pants, so I will need to make a fishing tackle - which I have already all the parts for at the hut.

Now if I get going early tomorrow .... I will reach the hut maybe at 9 am, and getting done around midnight. That means I have to spend all night waiting at the Hut for daylight. But if I get going tonight at 9 pm tonight I have to traverse some terrain in relative darkness, but I should be able to make it to the Hut by midnight, still early enough to make a break again tomorrow evening.

My plan is set: I will wait the day out until 9 pm, then get going. Time to pack plenty of fire wood, among it 11 coal, all my cattails, all my 8 already boiled coffee, tomato soup and beans, all my rose hip tea, my hammer, the rope and then wait until after 2 pm - and finally sleep 6 hours. I repair my snow shelter and start my journey into the darkness.

I reach the cave with perfect night vision, just a tad early.

I wait about half an hour then they are finally done. I light my torch and get going. Making camp at the other end of the cave I warm up some tea and a can of tomato soup, pull some new torches and leave the cave.

It's midnight, and winds promise trouble.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 20 - The Day That Never Ends

I almost consider turning back. But that would delay me probably a full day. As long as I can navigate .... I'm fine. I make it to the engine hugging the mountain to my left escaping most of the wind, then make it to the point I want to deploy my rope and make an unplanned fire but necessary fire.

I warm up my last tomato soup and more tea, deploy the rope, eat the soup, pull torches and keep going towards the ramp. As much as I would want to save some time sprinting, just like with the ascend to the Summit: avoiding fatigue is key. I make it down the ramp, and jump when I hear paws. I stop, look around hastily, listen... no panting.... just...paws... tiny... paws. A rabbit. Fluffy almighty. I goat down into the Northern Woods and reach the Lake in darkest night.

Make a pit stop at the fishing hut I actually find a hook I had missed on day one. How convenient. The Hut is waiting for me just the way I left it.

I get a fire going. It will be too cold in the hut in one hour, and I need light. Plus .... my water reserves are running low anyways. I put on fire for 5 hours for now.

The first thing I realize: I was way too optimistic how fast I would be. I had planned for shortly after midnight - it's 3 am already. Well, no use on dwelling on it now. I have to get started. I put water on and start in ~40 minute increments. At 8 am I decide to let the fire die down as it is both warm and bright enough to work without the fire. 7 hours to go, but my sewing kit will bulge eventually. I fuel myself with a pack of crackers to gain 4 hours of starvation free work. I will need my condition.

With 3 hours left my sewing kit kicks the bucket. I use the extra gut I have left and get line and subsequently fishing tackle done. With the tackle I have 4 hours left. At just before 2 pm. It's going to be close. 

Just after 6 pm I'm done. Now I just need to get it home in one piece - and me. I craft another hook so I can make another fishing tackle later, but now I got to get going. Something I hadn't been taking into account ... this exhausted I can't make the climb with the gear I have except I just pour all my coffee in my face. I don't want to chance going through the Gorge. Broken Tree Bridge? In snowy weather close to nightfall and overburdened to boot? No. I will need to take the long way up to the ramp, past the Lake Wolf and the Creek Wolf.

The Lake Wolf seems absent. I pick some cattails, actually more for tinder (which I forgot at home again) and for that get barked at by the Lake Wolf coming from the Bay Of Cattails. I shake him lose in the Creek. Then I hear the Creek Wolf howl, and he seems to be far away, howling in concert with the wolf of Hide'n'Seek Hill almost at the same distance. I'm kinda relieved, but still wary. I make it up to the plains about Crystal Lake and head for the Ramp. No bear. Still decent visibility. Freezing - but okay.

Crawling up the ramp I drink a cup of coffee to stave off complete fatigue. Just that bit further. I'm almost home. 

I pass the engine, pad my way through the dark - and enter the cave. I made it. I don't trust my night vision navigation to not make a big fat splash navigating the ledge in the big dome, so I light up. Greeding a match here and then dying for it would be just about the most stupidest way to die next to forgetting your can at the hut. Speaking of the can: I have it. Exiting the cave harsh winds greet me home and kill my torch.

I sprint my last bit of rest away on the way home, repair my shelter, fall into it, munch some crackers and a cattail and sleep 10 hours.

 

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 21 - AH SCREW IT!

Yesterday was a strenuous exercise. Even after 10 + 2 hours of sleep I'm just at 73% condition. I burned all my cedar and all but one reclaimed wood yesterday, my tomato soup is gone and I have only 1 pack of crackers left as well as 1 can of beans - but I actually only used two matches and one coffee, and saved all of my coal. I paid well and good for my deerskin pants, but I didn't bankrupt me for them. And now that I have them they are here to stay.

I tear up my jeans and look at what I want to repair with them. My ear wraps are about to give in. But as much as they are usually priced - simply because they are the only thing that fills that slot - the cloth would be better invested in the wool toque. Realizing I cannot actually improve my clothing, just try and maintain my +8°C, the cloth will stay for now and hopefully repair the toque at <25%, and the ear wraps will probably go eventually, as much as that saddens me. I'm torn, but I guess at my current point of "cloth repair worth research" the only items I am willing to put resources into are my wool toque, my wool sweater and my ski jacket.

The wool toque because it is the best option for that slot, and I need one thing covering my head, period. Plus 1.5+0.75°C really is a nobrainer for one cloth, even if the toque wears out just as fast as the wraps - about 3% per day being worn "outside". The saving factor here is that the toque is twice as good. The thin wool sweater is surprisingly durable for it's high warmth efficiency losing only about 1% per day. The Ski Jacket I explained long and hard just recently. As long as it is the outer layer ... it's worth its steep price losing just about 1% per day.

The hoodie also just loses 1% per day, but just isn't worth enough to justify repairing it. The socks lose 2.5% per day, which is freezing terrible, especially considering that putting a cloth in them just yields 55% condition for 0.275°C. They are actually better spend as cloth to repair stuff. The underwear also loses 3% a day, which basically makes them three times as less worth than the sweater, even if both provide the same warmth per repair.

The ear wraps are just something in between all of those problems. They die three times as fast as the sweater, but don't provide three times as much. (0.75+0.37) / 3 is 0.37, and frankly ... I use the wind bonus only half of the time, which is why I actually weigh it just half, so it's more like (0.75+0.37/2) / 3 = 0.31. But maybe short term losing a pair of socks now and repairing the ear wraps will be beneficial. I'm torn. I'll still have another pair of socks and the underwear to boost the ski jacket again, and then the ear wraps can go in about 30 days to repair the wool toque a last time, while the hoodie and sweater will eventually become one.

AH SCREW IT! I get the cloth back from the box and repair the wraps. I can always kill my socks for the toque. Who needs two pairs of socks anyways.

Now that we've gotten over that... I've got more pressing matters. Food is running low. My reserves from the summit are almost depleted. A can of beans I actually save for the off chance of a can opener, a pack of crackers and 4 sodas. That all of this lasted this long is marvelous in itself, but add to that 1 uncooked rabbit and 44 cattails you can count the days yourself. I'm not in alarm mode, yet, but I should take action. I guess my best try for a light day is getting some rabbits on the way to Broken Tree Bridge. 

I find one rabbit, and pay 10% condition for it. Worth? Unlikely. But whatever. I guess my best bet to solve my food issues is to crash a wolf into a deer and collect the outcome. Maybe I can even do that without using a flare shell. However the weather doesn't seem promising for such an endeavor. Maybe it's better if I just call it a day after all this thinking and tinkering. I end up waiting 3 hours, but then the winds actually die down. Taking on such a thing at 6 pm? I don't know.

AH SCREW IT!  At least it's warm now. I destinkify myself and get going. Up there the wolf finds me before I find him, but I keep him coming, and lead him into the Deer Clearing. Not too long, then he finally finds one of them more interesting than me. Come at me, brah!

I get the wolf to charge me, but then he runs. I find a fire near enough the deer so that harvesting it is feasible. Not optimal, but doable. I take it all, all 7.7 kg meat, the guts, the hide. I keep dropping everything I have on me as soon as I have it so I don't attract the bear by accident - and no bear. But it's deep at night, I'm totally exhausted, and just when I'm finished a blizzard starts to rage above my head. The fire is safe, but I'm not is the best of shapes. It's just past midnight.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 22 - Dog's Breakfast

I could make it to the cave, but what would that help? As long as I have firewood I'm fine here just as well. And I've still got deer to fry. I hold out until 5 am, and still the blizzard rages. My second coal goes into the fire, my sticks are long gone. Then ... all of a sudden ... the wind kills my fire from an impossible angle. I pick up my stuff and hide in the cave. But I have no sticks, and it's -14°C.

I scramble. What was a nice deer hunt just became life an death. Torches. I light a torch, and another, keep holding one, one on the ground to get bonus from both and tear up another, then make a fire with Field Dressing Your Kill, Vol. I, my emergency tinder, ram a stick into the fire, and keep breaking torches, and feeding the sticks. My second coffee tonight staves off freezing - I'm down to 32%. No more torches, but now I can drop a coal. I've got enough of that. My third goes. The deer hide and guts will stay here anyways - I drop them. I've actually eaten two pound of deer already to stave off starvation, but 6.7 kg are still on me.

An hour later it's all over. Dusty snow, but mild winds. I pull torches, convert 3 of them to sticks, and get going. I see another deer and plan to make it one option of my exit strategy. It decides otherwise and bolts the wrong way. I'll have to rely on a quick fire. But ... miraculously, and even though I smell like an All You Can Eat Buffet... the wolf never comes. 

I get home in one piece. I repair my 76% snow shelter just in time, eat a pound of venison and sleep 4 hours.

I wake up at 1 am. 35%. From the 7.7 kg venison I managed to keep 6.2 kg. But I paid quite a steep price for it. My firewood reserves took a massive hit. On the other hand I have enough water now to open a swimming pool - over 10 liters. 2 coffee were more than I wanted to pay for 4 days of food. But on the other hand - another deer hide is waiting in that cave and I still got my hacksaw. But let's just agree that making that trip wasn't my shiniest moment.

My firewood reserves are "down" to 114 sticks, 5 reclaimed wood (I had forgotten about 4 of them) and 13 coal. That's still impressive. 26 matches + 80% fire striker is still good. So .... I'm nowhere near desperate. It just was a bad play, but I dug myself out of that hole.

I make a quick stroll to the rabbit run, find a rabbit which dodges three stones like a boxer, but succumbs to the forth. I run home, tear the little fur ball to pieces, pick up guts and pelt of two other rabbits (one of which will probably rot) and bring them to the cave, and make my way home, yet again fully exhausted. 

Down to 28% I eat my calories in venison and sleep 10 hours.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 23 - No Milk Today

Back to two thirds health I wake up at just shy of 6 am after sleeping 12 hours total.

Today's the day one of those socks goes. I tear them apart and wrap them twice around my new wool turban toque, and - Potzblitz! - it's better than ever before.

The +10/+6 are a temporary high which I probably won't reach again, but for now it's nice to have. Other than that - nothing happened today.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 24 - Wasting Life

5 am, 68%. Today something will happen. What - I'm not entirely sure. I actually want to collect a few more guts. Call me silly, but I have this weird fantasy of actually deploying snares near Broken Tree Bridge. But I also want to give those deerskin boots a shot. I need one more deer for that. The most logic place to get a deer is deer clearing again. Maybe even by the same means, maybe I'll just flare the wolf to get more meat and guts and have free reign over the area for once.

I start the day by repairing my trail boots. It's not much, but it helps. 6 am is so cold that I actually start to get cold in my snow shelter. Ah, right, something I missed before: If you pass time in the snow shelter, you don't get a bedroll bonus. But if you first select the "integrated" bedroll and then pass .... you get it. It makes even sense when you think about it.

I decide that I will take a look up the way to secluded shelf. I've heard crows there multiple times. Might just be a deer carcass around the corner. Maybe it's the last time I actually get to make use of my hacksaw, but I pack decent firewood anyways. I get going, but all that clothing doesn't prevent me from freezing before I'm at the hike.

Again I hear the crows, but I don't see them. I'm already suspecting it as I see where the sound is coming from. The bear. I've always just heard the bear. What an utter waste of time. And condition. When I return home I'm down to 44%. I warm two hours up in the shelter. I think I've checked most possible deer carcass locations on the map by now - except the one in Death Bowl, but I'm not going near that trap. And maybe that one Kermit 7 found, which I never knew until then. I'm not sure if I saw one in the Wing Forest. That would actually be worth a trip. But not today.

I make my way to the Halfway Cave, pick up a few sticks and check for the rabbits near Broken Tree Bridge. But I am disappointed again. I head back ... sprain wrist and ankle and that's pretty much just fitting for the day. I hobble wobble back, thoroughly annoyed and got to bed. What a waste. 

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 25 - Null And Void

5 am, 64%. I'm actually degrading, albeit slowly. I go make a fire at the outside campsite. I need some water, some rabbit needs to be finally cooked, and I'll also need some tea and torches to make my trip to the Wing Forest. Maybe I can visit Echo Peak East as well. Just when I start the fire the Doom Blizzard of Doom starts and I'm stripped of all my heat almost instantly. -34°C FL without winds. Lord almighty! I'm down to 54% until I can actually drop my coal into the fire - of which I need two. Out in the winds I would probably break -60°C. And no, I'm not testing.

While just lasting about two hours, that was some of the fiercest stuff I had so far. I boil my water and tea, make my high quality 46% torches and go at noon. Weather is clear and fair. It's testament to how good this run has been going that only now I drink my second herbal tea. I make it fast and - by downing those reishi teas - without losing condition to the Wing Forest. And yes, the deer carcass is there. 

I get to work and make good progress, but just after taking 0.8 kg of meat an the hide .... things get windy. I have to leave and lose the flame. I make the call to visit Echo Peak West (which I usually call Echo Peak East because I don't care that the map actually is flipped 90°) but regret that call instantly as when stuff get's really windy really quick. It's not like I found anything up there.

I head home as fast as I can, but I am already down to 43% reaching Broken Tree Bridge. All the good progress I made is now null and void because I misread the weather. Approaching home I sprain my ankle, which definitively puts an end to this day. I had planned to put the deer hide into the cave today, but I really don't wanna wake up with sub 50% tomorrow. 

When I return home, I'm down to 25%. Sub 50% might just happen anyways. 10 hours of sleep are warranted.

 

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 26 - The Adventures Of Derrick McDeer

5 am. The tea worked wonders. I'm at 63% after 11 hours of sleep total. I make a very quick sprint down to the cave to get the hide curing. I reach the cave, do what I came for and warm up an hour staring into the dark. Day 31 at 6 am I have enough hides for the boots - and enough guts. I just need to get the ones from deer clearing a day earlier. I run back home and sleep 4 more hours.

Getting back up I think about where I could score useful stuff with without making a fire. It's just the way towards Broken Tree Bridge and Deer Clearing. Firewood on Deer Clearing should be okay. I didn't take anything last time I was there, and my last firewood expedition was 8 days ago. So Deer Clearing it is. But just in case I have a sudden urge to mess with the wolf again .... I pack extra firewood. 10:30 am it's go time.

Shortly after I arrive winds cross my plans yet again. I make quick work, but lose condition fast. I sweep most of the area as the wolf sees me - but Derrick McDeer dies for my sins again. If just the winds would stop .... and they stop. I hesitate shortly, but then walk up to the wolf and start a fire before his nose. He runs. Derrick McDeer is mine.

The winds remain calm and I get it all: hide, guts and 7kg of high quality deer parts. The wolf comes back a few times, but always is deterred by the fire, and when I finally make my retreat .... he is nowhere to be seen even though I am the stinkiest person alive. Only Humphrey, as I have come to name him, is slowly trotting my way - but too late. I return home, and having kept the flame alive make fire at the outside campsite to finish cooking.

I didn't make any firewood today. In fact: I lost some. But I have 10 liters of water stocked, 9 kilograms of venison. All for one match. That's as fine as it gets. I'm yet again down to 34%. So helping with a bit of tea should speed up my recovery. 10 hours of sleep are well earned. Finally something worked.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 27 - Foreshadows

I wake up almost freezing. In fact I'm sure I did only narrowly avoid frost damage tonight. Being this close above freezing is exactly the amount you take from spending 2 hours 1°C below 0, and 1 hour 2°C below 0 between those two. I remember those mornings from Kermit. The cave is cooling down, and I need to start being careful when I sleep and when I don't. The luxury of just plunging myself into bed I cannot afford anymore, and the time when I can avoid fires as long as I have water are nearing their end. I'm at 71% and could possibly sleep two more hours, but since it is already 9 am I pass time instead to slowly warm up.

It's already past noon when I sprint down to the cave delivering my deer parts. I return, and pass some more time, then take a quick look at the rabbit runs near my cave and Broken Tree Bridge. No more rabbits. I eradicated them all. I return, spend some more time and then go to sleep for 10 hours, knowing the last hour will be a cold one.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 4 / Day 28 - Declining Profits

I wake up to my underwear going up in flames and dying. May it rest in pieces. Against expectations the night is actually still warm enough - but I also woke up an hour early. I wasn't tired enough after that slow day. The aurora is making nice light and strange music.

I tear up my dead underwear and my socks alongside it. They have gone to 0.1°C (0.14 exactly). Not much worth in that anyways. I pin both onto my ski jacket which now looks funny and smells interesting, but is providing much more warmth.

Once I'm done a blizzard rolls into an already cold cave. Time to boil. Again temperatures drop so fast I can't prevent taking serious damage. 10% just go. When the blizzard finally passes, it's 3 pm. I think about what to do with the day. Hide'n'Seek Hill would probably be the best option. I pull torches, pack some sticks since I used all I had on me just now, and drop torches before I go. Then I fight my way through the still stiff winds towards the cave.

Making it through the darkness I find 3 coal - more than just welcome. I make my usual pit stop at the end of the cave and warm up tea. With three hot reishis I step into the light again. The side towards the engine is still picked too clean from my recent visit when I made the journey to the hut, but Hide'n'Seek hill is a success. 29 sticks are a good yield, but it has to be noted that every time I return somewhere the yield declines. Only slightly, but over 25 days these reductions in spawn rates become increasingly apparent. Funny enough I find a lump of coal on the river that wasn't there before. Whaddayaknow.

I make two rabbits on the way out, which is a really good catch. I take all and every food I can get, especially if it's basically free. I make my way back through the cave - I even find another lump of coal! - but opt out of harvesting the rabbits on the spot. I'm too tired. They will have to wait for the next boiling session.

I turn in with 57% condition. That's kinda fine. As long as I end above 50% I'm usually happy. 10 hours of sleep are allowed - but no taking off any clothes.

[fauxjargon]

Very impressive - it is amazing what you can accomplish if you play just right.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Thatch 1 / Day 29 - Explorer, Not Achiever

Sleeping in I wake up at 7. Still much too early to do something useful with the day. I'm back to 90% - satisfying. For today I think I will take another trip to the Summit Plateau. It's been roughly two weeks again, and I should get some coal in that cave. Plus firewood up there isn't totally bad. Not worth the trip on it's own, tho.

As time flies I'm already two days to go on both my next journey to the hut and the 30 day mark. While not officially part of the challenge it would be amazing to beat what Kermit 7 did, and without ever sleeping anywhere else than in a shelter. I end up passing time until midday, and then get going. Making the way up there by now is sleepwalking. The only real problem is the cold. I've lost 10% condition by the time I enter the cave on Secluded Shelf. But apparently I am early. I find no coal in the cave and abort mission. 

I warm up at the exit to the cave and think if I can use myself being here for anything worthwhile. But really the only unexplored area for me is the valley between here and Eric's Falls. And it's being roamed by a bear. What would I hope to find there? A few sticks, a handful of reishi, maybe. Not worth the risk, not worth the condition. I head home. 

Or I don't. I decide my best course of action is to simply wait out the storm. Two hours later the world is habitable again. Picking up sticks on the far side of the shelf I look over its edge. The goat genes in me activate and wonder ..... can I get down there? It should lead me directly to my cave at home. I throw caution to the wind as I am confident I can make it. The first part is gentle. The second part is steep.

But it is easier than it looks. No gaps, no jumps, no real risks. I reach home turf in no time. This opens up some new possibilities for future inhabitants of Timberwolf Mountain. The goat is pretty much risk free and should be doable even in bad visibility.

All of this doesn't help the fact that my day is wasted. I stick myself into my shelter and eat. It's only 5 pm, but I am fully exhausted from the both climbs and taking longer than expected. Plus weather outside is just harsh and windy. So .... good night, great explorer.

[fauxjargon]

Something I really need to work on is my knowledge of goating routes - the options that it opens up are key to making runs like this possible.  I've always been too attached to my characters to try goating unfamiliar routes after many days in-game.

[Guest jeffpeng]

41 minutes ago, fauxjargon said:

Something I really need to work on is my knowledge of goating routes - the options that it opens up are key to making runs like this possible.  I've always been too attached to my characters to try goating unfamiliar routes after many days in-game.

I know your feeling. I was a bit wonky on if I wanna try it myself. After Thatch 1 died so tragically to a can, it would have been the pinnacle of shame if Thatch 4 died 2 days short of 30 falling off a cliff. So ... yeah.... there's always risk involved. 

Another thing about goating in general, maybe a bit off topic, but I kinda had it on my mind for quite a bit:

I'm always torn how much I consider goating down and up (which I call hiking) exploits or not. On one hand: most of these were clearly not intended to be easily traversable. On the other hand: they are traversable. They don't have instadeath hitboxes or "invisible" walls. Both of these things exist in the game, yet they are only employed very rarely. Then again many previously available routes, mostly to off-map locations, were closed after becoming public.

I don't do a lot of things that other people do out of a sense of "playing the game close to what was intended" - not that I condemn them for it. I don't slice my meat into 20 pieces per kilo and become a gourmet chef on day 2, for instance. The game allows you to do that, yes, but it clearly isn't what the designers had in mind, and I would feel like "gimping" my own experience. Goating on the other hand makes a lot of things, like you said, possible in the first place, even if at least most of those routes were never intended, and it has a risk (like Thatch 1 felt very very harshly).

I guess the only ultimate answer here is what @BareSkinquoted on a similar topic recently: Code Is Law. If the game lets you do it, it's "legal". If it is "ethical" is another question. And as it is with ethics: there is no singular answer to anything. The only real problem I see with this is that new players reading this might feel that it is something that is required to play the game successfully. It is not. It is only if you impose artificial limitations on yourself, of which this run has two quite severe ones.

Just my two cents on that.

[fauxjargon]

Yeah, I feel ya about the cooking mechanic.  Of course, it WAS Hinterland who decided to make cooking/harvesting skill based on # of pieces rather than the amount harvested.  Either way, it is a single player computer game, it really does not matter how you play - and if you are going to compete at challenge runs and you don't exploit the game fully - you are not going to be the best at your particular flavour of challenge run.

In my Outerloper run I did some of the 'cook meat in tiny chunks' game but I didn't do it consistently.  My run would have been much easier if I got the ability to eat predators safely 25 days sooner than I did...

[stratvox]

3 hours ago, jeffpeng said:

Another thing about goating in general, maybe a bit off topic, but I kinda had it on my mind for quite a bit:

I'm always torn how much I consider goating down and up (which I call hiking) exploits or not. On one hand: most of these were clearly not intended to be easily traversable. On the other hand: they are traversable. They don't have instadeath hitboxes or "invisible" walls. Both of these things exist in the game, yet they are only employed very rarely. Then again many previously available routes, mostly to off-map locations, were closed after becoming public.

I feel zero shame in goating. As you said a bit further into your post, code is law. If I waste myself doing it, well, it's nobody's fault but mine... and goating can take you to some amazing places so you can see some amazing views. I'm not at all concerned about doing it very late game, though my 520 day survivor is on hiatus right now as I've tweaked to what I think is the ultimate cross between Voyageur and Interloper. Anyway, last cool spot I found is right by Trapper's, and offers a place to build a completely sheltered fire and roll out a bedroll. I'm thinking I may make a video about how to get to it and stick it up on youtube or something. The fact that it exists at all makes me think that maybe the entreaties against goating from Raph is a little bit disingenuous....

[Dan_]

On 20/11/2018 at 7:40 AM, Drifter Man said:

I'm still amazed that someone can take something - like a stone, an arrow, flare gun - and actually hit targets consistently.

Not to mention moving targets. At night. With a weapon that is inherently not designed to hit anything.

I can get a deer shooting it from point blank, but a wolf is another ballgame completely, with luck I hit 'em. Jeffpeng is just a beast. 

Curious how facing ( and messing with ) the wolves while unarmed takes that wolf fear way down, I used to get paralyzed when I first got the game and had to remind my subconscious that they were simpy not real.... Way to get into a routine and turn the amazing into something expected, incredible resourcefullness @jeffpeng, 'grats on the pants. I don't think people realize how hard it is to do a snowball type challenge, even worse one with added complications like yours. 

[Guest jeffpeng]

11 hours ago, Dan_ said:

Curious how facing ( and messing with ) the wolves while unarmed takes that wolf fear way down

In fact I just started a casual Stalker yesterday with my wife watching. She likes to do that sometimes to "calm down" from her studies. Ran into 3 wolves at Hibernia. She was already "omgomgomg" and I was like "ah, it's k, it's just three wolves and a bear down the road, we'll just pop a fire, wait for them to panic and then run from the bear like hell". You really get into a totally different mindset. Wolves become more "obstacles" than actual dangers. It was close, however

11 hours ago, Dan_ said:

I don't think people realize how hard it is to do a snowball type challenge, even worse one with added complications like yours. 

I guess you have to actually "do" it. I really would love to see other people have a go at what I call internally "TWM Homeless Snowball mode". Running around in sub 10°C gear near day 30, getting by with a single can, only one place to sleep on the entire map, scavenging your own clothes to actually repair them, counting sticks just to get by, the only workbench half a day away.... it's so damn different than what you usually play. 

[Guest jeffpeng]

17 hours ago, stratvox said:

Voyageur and Interloper

Which would be? I'm intrigued.

[Guest jeffpeng]

17 hours ago, stratvox said:

maybe the entreaties against goating from Raph is a little bit disingenuous

I don't believe so. It's a snow ton of work to design and test those levels, and if they leave a spot open you can get to and then get stuck or die otherwise community outrage isn't far behind. I'm pretty sure that if they had a good and working way to prevent goating altoghter, or at least make the risk / opportunity cost so high it wouldn't be feasible anymore .... all without breaking other parts of the game ... they would do it. So yeah I get how we goats are a mild pain in the backside for HL at times. I for one do not talk openly about or use routes that outright lead you to places that allow you to leave the map, get stuck or even outright exploit the game. I stick to things that are hard but look like "a normal, maybe mildly desperate person would try that". But yeah, there is always that percentage of players that go where people are not supposed to go - and I've been one since WoW's earliest days ^^

[fauxjargon]

23 minutes ago, jeffpeng said:

I don't believe so. It's a snow ton of work to design and test those levels, and if they leave a spot open you can get to and then get stuck or die otherwise community outrage isn't far behind. I'm pretty sure that if they had a good and working way to prevent goating altoghter, or at least make the risk / opportunity cost so high it wouldn't be feasible anymore .... all without breaking other parts of the game ... they would do it. So yeah I get how we goats are a mild pain in the backside for HL at times. I for one do not talk openly about or use routes that outright lead you to places that allow you to leave the map, get stuck or even outright exploit the game. I stick to things that are hard but look like "a normal, maybe mildly desperate person would try that". But yeah, there is always that percentage of players that go where people are not supposed to go - and I've been one since WoW's earliest days ^^

Hah yes!  All the wonderful places you could go in vanilla WoW.  I guess the thing about TLD is that it is a game that you can kind of spoil yourself on - it is perhaps more fun to play as a clueless newbie on Voyageur - but then you get hooked, and when normal Interloper isn't enough to keep it interesting...

I'll make my own thread but I started a snowball game this morning, which involved some white-knuckle goating all the way down from Andre's peak to the Mountaineer's hut with wolves in hot pursuit.  Fun stuff!  I got a spawn with the hacksaw at the Summit, but I just barely made it to the Secluded Shelf cave from the hut with no coffee - cold, exhausted, and hungry and below 50%, but alive.

[stratvox]

1 hour ago, jeffpeng said:

Which would be? I'm intrigued.

Try this one: 8vnM-V949-P3+r-zfyO-LwEA. I discovered something interesting. You'll note that base resource is set to very high, with empty container chance and reduce container density also set to high. It appears to create a situation where more than 95% of the containers you find are just empty. At some point I may fire up a run and try counting them to see what the actual number is, but it's definitely less than five percent of all containers that come up with anything. Loose gear is set to high, so you find most of your stuff lying around rather than in containers. This tends to result in finding a lot less clothing, so you've got lots of tools etc but finding good clothing is extremely rare.

Animal awareness is set to max, as is smell. The world gets cold cold cold... I've got a run on these settings that's out at day 60 or so and temp+windchill of -60 are showing up pretty commonly. Natural resources are set to max so lots of birch and maple, stones and wood, etc. Animal die-off is set to low. Wolves are set to low, fish to medium, and all other animals are set to very high. All afflictions are on. It's to push the survivor into stone age living as fast as possible. You really want to have at least a good start on all your top notch hide clothing by the time you get to day fifty or you'll be in hyporisk in minutes when you go outside.... so it's hard, hunting is hard, you can pull wolves from a LONG way away, but you still get to play with the iconic tools like the rifle, hatchet, knife, etc.

[Guest jeffpeng]

@stratvoxThat might actually be worth it's own story. Sounds very interesting.

[stratvox]

1 hour ago, jeffpeng said:

I don't believe so. It's a snow ton of work to design and test those levels, and if they leave a spot open you can get to and then get stuck or die otherwise community outrage isn't far behind. I'm pretty sure that if they had a good and working way to prevent goating altoghter, or at least make the risk / opportunity cost so high it wouldn't be feasible anymore .... all without breaking other parts of the game ... they would do it. So yeah I get how we goats are a mild pain in the backside for HL at times. I for one do not talk openly about or use routes that outright lead you to places that allow you to leave the map, get stuck or even outright exploit the game. I stick to things that are hard but look like "a normal, maybe mildly desperate person would try that". But yeah, there is always that percentage of players that go where people are not supposed to go - and I've been one since WoW's earliest days ^^

I dunno. Speaking for myself, if I get stuck it's my own file system checking fault. Also, this one doesn't lead you out of the map, just to a deep little nook that is very sheltered from the wind. I can't see how it could be anything other than intentional that it be there; I surmise it's a very hard to find little spot that is very useful for helping to deal with CF while still staying in the neighbourhood of Trapper's. I'll see if I can't make the video of how to get there tonight and post it so people can take a look.