A Pilgrim tries to be an Interloper: how long can he last?


Morrick

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Guest kristaok

Yessss, I tried interloper and I didn't last too long. I personally prefer Voyager. I feel like the level of difficulty with interloper really takes the fun out of the game. 

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On 29/1/2019 at 12:19 AM, ajb1978 said:

How can people play on Interloper and find it "not challenging enough", I wonder?

Ez, that's because: 

1. They run to the first location.

2. They check the loot table.

3. They get the bed roll and hammer ASAP.

4. They get whatever tool they need checking the loot table.

Imagine wandering around different areas trying to get some tools, maybe, if you are lucky enough. That's muuuch harder.

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30 minutes ago, kristaok said:

Yessss, I tried interloper and I didn't last too long. I personally prefer Voyager. I feel like the level of difficulty with interloper really takes the fun out of the game. 

For me interloper is the most fun. I appreciate difficult games, nowadays everything it's too easy. In interloper you need to master the game in all levels. Hinterland has done a great job setting difficulty levels for everyone to enjoy the game. 

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32 minutes ago, muoz said:

For me interloper is the most fun. I appreciate difficult games, nowadays everything it's too easy. In interloper you need to master the game in all levels. Hinterland has done a great job setting difficulty levels for everyone to enjoy the game. 

I agree Hinterland has done a very good job with this game. I'm just a big baby, I don't play games on easy usually, but I don't play on hard, I play on normal. :P 

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On 18.2.2019 at 8:29 AM, MueckE said:

So yes, actually pretty easy.

That's like a good tennis player saying tennis is easy. Not very encouraging tbh.

But I agree with the points being made. Interlooper is about surviving the first 10 days getting your stuff (no loot table lookup needed in any way). To play requires good map knowledge (where are things/where are danger), knowledge of mechanics (fires, food, teas, books etc.), skill in handling encounters with wildlife  - i.e. good practice :) I would encourage all to try it. If nothing else you will just know the game better. There's really nothing to be afraid of and you don't have to stress to much. When reading the good interlooper stories here I sort of think sometimes maybe the stress is the big killer. 

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@Loopervery wise advice. To be a successful Lopernati, you really just need to dive in and learn. 

Stress can definitely impact survival and at times may be paralyzing. But it forces you to try and perhaps do things outside your comfort zone.

Personally, I find complacency to be the biggest problem. “Oh look how good I am at Interloper!! It’s so easy ad min flush with lots of goodies!!” That’s when i do something stupid jeopardizing all my hard work and diligence. 

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7 hours ago, Bano said:

Personally, I find complacency to be the biggest problem. “Oh look how good I am at Interloper!! It’s so easy ad min flush with lots of goodies!!” That’s when i do something stupid jeopardizing all my hard work and diligence. 

:) Play deadman-mode to 50 - will cure you.

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On 2/19/2019 at 6:55 AM, muoz said:

Ez, that's because: 

1. They run to the first location.

2. They check the loot table.

3. They get the bed roll and hammer ASAP.

4. They get whatever tool they need checking the loot table.

Imagine wandering around different areas trying to get some tools, maybe, if you are lucky enough. That's muuuch harder.

Accessing the loot tables doesn't help if you don't have any prior knowledge of the maps themselves.  Also, you have to have a prior knowledge about what is and is not available in Interloper.  Running around the map looking for a hatchet or a knife will give you no joy... no luck involved since those items just don't spawn in Interloper.  You have to have played enough to know that you have to craft them in Interloper. 

Knowing how to scare off wolves when you're defenseless has nothing to do with the loot tables.  Knowing how to start fires without matches is also something you'll never find in the loot tables.  Knowing how you can sleep without a bedroll also has nothing to do with the loot tables.  Being skillful and beaning bunnies with stones also has nothing to do with the loot tables.  The loot tables also don't tell you where the wolves frequent the maps.  From what I've seen, people playing loper and lasting for extended periods of time and, who find it easy after awhile, are skilled at all the mechanics of this game.  Using the loot tables or not doesn't make that much difference to them.

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9 minutes ago, UpUpAway95 said:

Knowing how to scare off wolves when you're defenseless has nothing to do with the loot tables.  Knowing how to start fires without matches is also something you'll never find in the loot tables.  Knowing how you can sleep without a bedroll also has nothing to do with the loot tables.  Being skillful and beaning bunnies with stones also has nothing to do with the loot tables.  The loot tables also don't tell you where the wolves frequent the maps.  From what I've seen, people playing loper and lasting for extended periods of time and, who find it easy after awhile, are skilled at all the mechanics of this game.  Using the loot tables or not doesn't make that much difference to them.

Sure! I'm not saying that they are good players because of the loot tables, they have huge knowledge about the game and a lot of skill. I'm just saying that they accelerate the initial part which is the most difficult thanks to the loot tables. They usually rush the forging because they know where is the hammer for example. It's not the same having bow, knife, hatchet on day 10 than having them on day 50.

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@UpUpAway95 it is true, Skilled Lopers, the Lopernati, have knowledge of all facets of the game. Some may have acquired knowledge via the wikis, tables, forums. Others, like myself, have learned completely by playing the game. It’s taken many hours but with time comes experience and mastery. Then there is super mastery when you really begin to hone your survival efficiency and discover how little you really need to survive.

 

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56 minutes ago, Bano said:

@UpUpAway95 it is true, Skilled Lopers, the Lopernati, have knowledge of all facets of the game. Some may have acquired knowledge via the wikis, tables, forums. Others, like myself, have learned completely by playing the game. It’s taken many hours but with time comes experience and mastery. Then there is super mastery when you really begin to hone your survival efficiency and discover how little you really need to survive.

 

I will rephrase for clarity.  Using a loot table in and of itself does not make interloper "EZ."  A lot of other knowledge and skill is required to be learned before interloper becomes "easy."  It's a quicker way to gain some knowledge about where certain items are found, but players who have been playing on these maps a long time probably have memorized most of that anyways.  It's no different than using a map... which also, in and of itself, does not make interloper easy.  It's not easier for a person who is using the map because they haven't yet memorized the terrain as opposed to a person who has already memorized the terrain while playing at an easier setting.  Knowledge, once obtained (no matter how it is obtained) is what eventually makes interloper easy. 

If you find learning by spending hours in the maps stumbling around at the whim of the RNG gods more satisfying than devising a plan to get to a specific difficult location to find something, that's your prerogative.  You don't have to access loot tables or maps for that matter.  I think there is a lot of straight RNG in this game as it is.  I like that there are some things I can devise a plan of attack around.  If the loot tables say my bedroll is in Scruffy's cave, I STILL have to get by Scruffy to get it.

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3 hours ago, UpUpAway95 said:

Knowledge, once obtained (no matter how it is obtained) is what eventually makes interloper easy. 

I agree. And yet, I still think that the game retains a certain degree of unpredictability that can mess things up a bit. I don't really share @MueckE's mathematical certainty that you can always reach the safety of shelter and fire without losing too much condition, for example. Even if you know where to go as soon as you realise where you've spawned, particularly bad weather plus time of day can deliver much lower temperatures, making you get to a 'Freezing' status much sooner. Devising tactics to avoid hostile wildlife — especially in low visibility conditions — makes you lose time outside and this, in turn, makes you lose more condition. Then maybe you reach a place when you know you'll find matches, but you get there too late in the day and once inside you can't see a thing. This happened to me in Broken Railroad in one of my attempts: I entered the Maintenance Shed and it was pitch dark. I tried to move around by memory, see if I could trigger the white dot that appears when some object enters the character's 'focus', but I had developed hypothermia, time was passing, the Maintenance Shed was not warm enough, I was losing condition, and waiting for daylight was out of the question. Even if I had managed to leave the Shed, I would have never made it to the Hunting Lodge, as my condition was too low.

Other times your needs dictate your next move, and this can make you take a detour you might have wanted to avoid or take later. And this, in turn, may put you in dangerous situations, like when I got killed in Desolation Point while looking for the bedroll before trying to leave the region. From what I've seen so far, on Interloper you're constantly making decisions, and knowledge of the game mechanics counts a lot, but sometimes even a smart decision can go wrong because of a change in the weather, or that second wolf that gets you while you're trying to dodge the first one. An experienced Interloper can learn to minimise the risks, but the game is never entirely predictable.

(By the way, thanks so much everyone for your contributions — they make this whole thread wonderful and enjoyable!)

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1 hour ago, Morrick said:

I agree. And yet, I still think that the game retains a certain degree of unpredictability that can mess things up a bit. I don't really share @MueckE's mathematical certainty that you can always reach the safety of shelter and fire without losing too much condition, for example. Even if you know where to go as soon as you realise where you've spawned, particularly bad weather plus time of day can deliver much lower temperatures, making you get to a 'Freezing' status much sooner. Devising tactics to avoid hostile wildlife — especially in low visibility conditions — makes you lose time outside and this, in turn, makes you lose more condition. Then maybe you reach a place when you know you'll find matches, but you get there too late in the day and once inside you can't see a thing. This happened to me in Broken Railroad in one of my attempts: I entered the Maintenance Shed and it was pitch dark. I tried to move around by memory, see if I could trigger the white dot that appears when some object enters the character's 'focus', but I had developed hypothermia, time was passing, the Maintenance Shed was not warm enough, I was losing condition, and waiting for daylight was out of the question. Even if I had managed to leave the Shed, I would have never made it to the Hunting Lodge, as my condition was too low.

Other times your needs dictate your next move, and this can make you take a detour you might have wanted to avoid or take later. And this, in turn, may put you in dangerous situations, like when I got killed in Desolation Point while looking for the bedroll before trying to leave the region. From what I've seen so far, on Interloper you're constantly making decisions, and knowledge of the game mechanics counts a lot, but sometimes even a smart decision can go wrong because of a change in the weather, or that second wolf that gets you while you're trying to dodge the first one. An experienced Interloper can learn to minimise the risks, but the game is never entirely predictable.

(By the way, thanks so much everyone for your contributions — they make this whole thread wonderful and enjoyable!)

That's precisely what I meant when I said that there's a lot of straight RNG in this game as it is.  Knowledge about where you're going can help you devise a game plan, but even with that ability, there is still RNG elements that will force you to change and adapt your plan in order to survive.  If the spawn locations of crucial items are made totally random, it's possible that those items would spawn nearer each other and in locations that are near the player's spawn point... making some interloper runs possibly a lot easier rather than more difficult even though the player wouldn't be able to consult a table to find them.

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1 hour ago, Morrick said:

Even if you know where to go as soon as you realise where you've spawned, particularly bad weather plus time of day can deliver much lower temperatures, making you get to a 'Freezing' status much sooner.

I remember one of my Interlopers after I started to practise sleepwalk-mode, thinking that'd be easy. Start in Mystery Lake, I think I'm lucky. But bad weather and spawn in late night, I reach the logging camp trailers: negative Feels Like, no clothes. I arrive at the Lookout without being eaten god knows how, there's no matches there neither: I still can't drink. Camp Office: no ignition, can't drink. Push to loot Fishing Huts and Cabins, same. Cave above the Tunnel? I find a maglens, but no sun. I think I die shortly after, before arriving at Trapper's, mainly from dehydration, and partly to cold.

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2 hours ago, BareSkin said:

And then there is mega-mastery, when you snowball/sleepwalk/deadman :D

Haven’t  heard these but I’m game

snowball? Only out or transition in blizzards??? 

Sleepwalk? Movement at night only?

deadman?? Movementnonlg when fatigues??

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Interloper is in the beginning a little bit more challenging because there is a higher percentage of unpredictablity. TlD is always your choice balancing the risk of your actions. Obviously you have to know the game, it's mechanics and locations to make proper choices - but when you know the game, you actually can limit the risk to a very low level, even at the start of an Interloper game.

In the beginning of an Inteloper run, your choices are pretty limited, so the main goal is to be somewhat save as soon as possible. Save means to have all choices again and not to have big fat base. Therefor you need water and shelter, next matches, food, sleeping bag. After you have these things, the game is basicly the same as the other game modes - just a little bit more tedious.

When i know how fast i can get the first and second stage, the risk becomes predictable. Still more risky because i have to run almost naked without any protection and can break an ankle or stumble into a wolf. That's true, but in the end, if you've done this a few times, you'll realise that it's repretitive and not challenging at all.

That's one of the big complaints about TlD, the game would need way more unpredictable mechanics and situations with harsher consequences to be really challenging.

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20 hours ago, Bano said:

Haven’t  heard these but I’m game

snowball? Only out or transition in blizzards??? 

Sleepwalk? Movement at night only?

deadman?? Movementnonlg when fatigues??

@BanoMost of these survival stories are related in this appropriately-named thread: http://www.hinterlandforums.com/forums/forum/34-survival-stories/

Snowball: Start interlopers until you spawn in Timberwolf Mountain. You' can't leave the map. Survive as long as you can

 

Reference thread:

Sleepwalker (level 4): take a Custom Interloper, remove healing during sleep and put "awake recovery" to "low". Survive the winter (100 days)

 

Reference thread:

Deadman: launch a Custom game, put everything towards accelerating your death. Survive 30 days.

 

Reference threads:

I wonder how long it will take to @Morrick to give into one of these modes :D

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Attempt N. 53 (with female character) starts in Pleasant Valley, which I still consider the least harsh to start in when on Interloper. Still, time of day is crack of dawn, weather's clear but windy, the Real Feel is -34°C, and my survivor is in jeans and t-shirt. I spawn in that area that is close to Three Strikes Farmstead, and by the time I reach the Pleasant Valley Farmstead, I'm at 48% Hypothermia risk, 33% Frostbite risk on my right hand, and 25% Frostbite risk on my head. After a thorough search, I'm glad to have found some food (Tomato Soup, Pinnacle Peaches, Granola bar), a can opener, two boxes of matches, two sewing kits, and a hacksaw… but that's it. I'm not complaining, these are all excellent finds, but given my attire I had hoped to find, you know, anything with long sleeves. Instead, the only article of clothing I found is a wool toque (at least in new condition).

It's going to be fun travelling to other buildings in search of clothes dressed this way: ¬¬:toque:

But that's what challenges are for, right? Bring it on, TLD! :D

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2 hours ago, Morrick said:

(Tomato Soup, Pinnacle Peaches, Granola bar),

:) this is key. The warmed up bonus is better than clothes. Travel after midday. Heat both tomato soup and peaches. Eat only one and bring one heatet. After a while eat the other heatet to regain warm-up bonus. The tower should give boots and possibly pants. Typically there's a dear behind it to saw up. 

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