Whats the best mode?

[Arch]

Do you like Stalker or Pilgrim more well lets find out the fan opinion!

Alright, so I just recently went from playing a slighty hard version of Pilgrim, to playing Stalker. Stalker is definitely the best game mode it’s challenging, scary, fun and most of all exciting. Do you agree with me? Discuss.

[hozz1235]

Perhaps a poll would help?

[peteloud]

I think that Pilgrim is hardly worth playing apart from initial training and for special issues.  It is far too easy, negligible dangers, and far too many resources.

However, I think Stalker has too many wolves.

Interloper is very challenging but everything depends upon the random resources that you are given at the beginning. With some starts it is pretty much impossible to survive more than a few days.

I prefer a custom Stalker game with the number of wolves reduced and the and the amount of loot to be found also reduced.  I can't be bothered with having to spend almost all of my time fighting with wolves.    It is such a long time since I set up my current game that I can't remember exactly what the custom settings were.

 

[Klobberthon]

All modes below interloper are relatively easy I think once you have played enough.  Interloper is a huge leap up from stalker and I play it (rather than customs) because I like saving my stats... I do wish I could choose the time of start without custom settings though.  Starting interloper at night often crosses that line of difficult into annoying.

[Guest kristaok]

I used to do Pilgrim and Voyager in the beginning, then did Stalker, but I have been doing Interloper Customs lately.

I been turning the Wildlife to be Passive to better match realism, since Wolves rarely attack, and Bears usually don't attack unless they have Cubs. I also leave the items to spawn more rare to match Interloper, and I keep the Weather the same, but I do remove Cabin Fever. 

So to answer the OP, technically Pilgrim with the Passive Animals would be more realistic, but the excess items kills it. Then again with the Weather Interloper has the upper hand, since I could picture the Aurora causing the Weather to act up. So well... it would have to be a Custom game, because I don't think either of the 4 options taps into the realism. 

So right now Custom Mode?

But it all boils down to what people like...

Pilgrim = Exploration

Voyager = Exploration with some challenge

Stalker = Murder and Mayhem by ravenous Wolves

Interloper = Storm of the Century 

[Guest kristaok]

1 hour ago, Hawk said:

One thing to keep in mind, if you play a custom game you no longer gain any credit towards fulfillment of feats.

At least that's what I understand.

Yea I made sure to do what I could with that and got some stuff for Steam.

[Guest kristaok]

11 hours ago, Hawk said:

I only mentioned that based on my failure to pay attention to it.

I started playing custom games only to realize months later that I wasn't getting anywhere with the feats. Now I'm back at that task.

Good luck 🍀👍 I hope you complete them. 

[JinxTheGamer]

When I first time got into the game and read that in Pilgrim animals won't attack I went straight into Voyager and I still claim it is the most balanced mode even for beginners.

[Guest kristaok]

52 minutes ago, JinxTheGamer said:

When I first time got into the game and read that in Pilgrim animals won't attack I went straight into Voyager and I still claim it is the most balanced mode even for beginners.

Even though I like the challenge of animals attacking, it's not that realistic. Wolves and Beers usually only attack when they have youngins. 

[MrBlack]

Stalker most usually, interloper some times... I think stalker is my thing, even though I think I should tone down the wildlife numbers a bit. 

[JinxTheGamer]

On 4/13/2019 at 3:43 PM, kristaok said:

Even though I like the challenge of animals attacking, it's not that realistic. Wolves and Beers usually only attack when they have youngins. 

So? 

[Guest kristaok]

21 minutes ago, JinxTheGamer said:

So? 

I was just saying. I wasn't trying to be mean. I was just mentioning that. 

[Mroz4k]

On 4/13/2019 at 3:43 PM, kristaok said:

Even though I like the challenge of animals attacking, it's not that realistic. Wolves and Beers usually only attack when they have youngins. 

Or sufficiently hungry enough. Its the bears that dont really act the way Id expect them to. For starters, they should be hibernating (and sometimes they do in TLD, always funny to see em cuddled up in their den, sleeping. Almost felt bad this one time to put the arrow in its butt, all it was doing there was just sleeping peacefully... but, I needed him out of the way so I could loot the gear in cargo containers of the wing  Additionally, if they were awake, they would still be sluggish (which I guess they are, till they turn predatorial.)

I did some research in the past on animal attacks. Essentially there are two types. Informational, and then predatorial. When wolves are concerned, their ingame behaviour suggests a predatorial attack. If the ingame bear attacks were anything but informational, then the character would always died to a bear attack. 

If wolf attack something without the intent to kill, the wounds would be superficial. The wolf would attack the outer limbs, and the bites would not be deep, and such attack serves two purposes. First, the test the strenght of the foe (victim), and to provide a warning not to mess with the wolf or the pack. But it would not be deadly.

When that attack is predatorial, wolves would go deep, attacking and aiming for soft parts like face, neck, groin or torso. Less for the limbs unless with intent to incapacitate. This fits the idea of a wolf, trying to pull the character down to the ground, snarling after character´s neck. If the wolves are starving, then predatorial attack makes sense.

If Bear attacks were predatorial, the player would get partly eaten so they would never survive such attack, since Bear vs Man, Bear would win, every time.But, for an attack out of curiosity, it makes sense that after a while, the bear would lose interest and leave the mauled player half dead but alive.

I dont think the behaviour of the animals is all that unrealistic, for animals that suffer from lack of resources that they need to survive such harsh winter.

[Guest kristaok]

3 minutes ago, Mroz4k said:

I dont think the behaviour of the animals is all that unrealistic, for animals that suffer from lack of resources that they need to survive such harsh winter.

I have actually thought about this before, It's true that it would be more possible for them to attack due to the Aurora and the Weather making them coo coo for coco puffs lol.  

[Mroz4k]

1 minute ago, kristaok said:

I have actually thought about this before, It's true that it would be more possible for them to attack due to the Aurora and the Weather making them coo coo for coco puffs lol.  

Actually, thats the general idea of how its explained within the game. Oops, Story mode spoilers, I guess. The idea is that the aurora is affecting them to be more agressive.

In a way, this is also realistic. It is scary how precise this game can be in predicting a specific kind of doomsday scenario. If the Aurora is some sort of EMF event (which fits the best, seeing as it renders electronics dead on first contact, then spontaneously powers them during another event, even if they are not plugged in to begin with...) probably a coronal mass ejection, a massive solar flare incident, then it is possible that the change to Earth´s magnetic field could affect the brain activity in living things. Making them more aggressive is a plausible scenario. EMF radiation exposure and its effect on brain activity is in a way a subject of studies even right now, after all, phones emit it and using them too often could be affecting our moods, too. Now imagine a constant exposure for a while... anyone not protected by a shelter that works as a Farraday cage would, at some point, have their hormonal brain chemistry altered at some point.

[Guest kristaok]

1 hour ago, Mroz4k said:

Actually, thats the general idea of how its explained within the game. Oops, Story mode spoilers, I guess. The idea is that the aurora is affecting them to be more agressive.

In a way, this is also realistic. It is scary how precise this game can be in predicting a specific kind of doomsday scenario. If the Aurora is some sort of EMF event (which fits the best, seeing as it renders electronics dead on first contact, then spontaneously powers them during another event, even if they are not plugged in to begin with...) probably a coronal mass ejection, a massive solar flare incident, then it is possible that the change to Earth´s magnetic field could affect the brain activity in living things. Making them more aggressive is a plausible scenario. EMF radiation exposure and its effect on brain activity is in a way a subject of studies even right now, after all, phones emit it and using them too often could be affecting our moods, too. Now imagine a constant exposure for a while... anyone not protected by a shelter that works as a Farraday cage would, at some point, have their hormonal brain chemistry altered at some point.

Yea I had read up before on those types of storms, who knows what all they could affect, so it all makes sense. When you mentioned a Farraday Cage it made me think of Tesla.   

[Cattleman]

6 hours ago, Mroz4k said:

Or sufficiently hungry enough. Its the bears that dont really act the way Id expect them to. For starters, they should be hibernating (and sometimes they do in TLD, always funny to see em cuddled up in their den, sleeping. Almost felt bad this one time to put the arrow in its butt, all it was doing there was just sleeping peacefully... but, I needed him out of the way so I could loot the gear in cargo containers of the wing  Additionally, if they were awake, they would still be sluggish (which I guess they are, till they turn predatorial.)

I did some research in the past on animal attacks. Essentially there are two types. Informational, and then predatorial. When wolves are concerned, their ingame behaviour suggests a predatorial attack. If the ingame bear attacks were anything but informational, then the character would always died to a bear attack. 

If wolf attack something without the intent to kill, the wounds would be superficial. The wolf would attack the outer limbs, and the bites would not be deep, and such attack serves two purposes. First, the test the strenght of the foe (victim), and to provide a warning not to mess with the wolf or the pack. But it would not be deadly.

When that attack is predatorial, wolves would go deep, attacking and aiming for soft parts like face, neck, groin or torso. Less for the limbs unless with intent to incapacitate. This fits the idea of a wolf, trying to pull the character down to the ground, snarling after character´s neck. If the wolves are starving, then predatorial attack makes sense.

If Bear attacks were predatorial, the player would get partly eaten so they would never survive such attack, since Bear vs Man, Bear would win, every time.But, for an attack out of curiosity, it makes sense that after a while, the bear would lose interest and leave the mauled player half dead but alive.

I dont think the behaviour of the animals is all that unrealistic, for animals that suffer from lack of resources that they need to survive such harsh winter.

 

 

Very well said my friend... This is exactly how I feel about this particular mechanic.

 

I've been on the road a lot IRL so I've also been away from the game quite a bit... Has there been a change in the animal AI recently that makes it more or less realistic?

[Guest kristaok]

I don't think there's really been any changes to how the wildlife acts.  

[Mroz4k]

3 hours ago, Cattleman said:

I've been on the road a lot IRL so I've also been away from the game quite a bit... Has there been a change in the animal AI recently that makes it more or less realistic?

None that I could see, sadly. Would kind of like it, to tell the truth. Anything that could make them act a bit more unpredictable would be a great, welcomed change. 

The only difference Ive started noticing since coming back and spending more time on the game is something that I believe to be a bug. In this case it doesnt really make animal behaviour harder, in fact easier, you could say.

It seems that some change was made during the Redux update to how Wolves react when feeding. Right now, they are painfully oblivious to anything around them, you can literally sneak up right next to them and start building a fire, they wont care unless you specifically disturb them.

But I  believe this is a bug, probably a leftover from previous updates to fiddle with wolf behaviour of the very first wolf you encounter in the Story mode. Cant really say much more because of spoilers.

[Stone]

Interloper for me! I started on Voyager but quickly felt a greater challenge calling. As @Klobberthon says, you can get a dud start on Loper and some spawns are preferable. Ultimately, I feel a much greater sense of danger and achievement in Interloper and without that danger, its just not engaging. And that danger isn't just about wildlife its about getting caught in a storm, running out of wood, food or water - its all these layers to decision making - and its at its best early game when you're stuck with the decisions you make, no turning back, just improvising on the hoof.

 

[odizzido]

Custom is the best setting

[ThePancakeLady]

Whatever setting I choose to play on any given day is the best one.

I love Stalker, usually. I don't enjoy Interloper much unless I am in the mood to hurt myself IRL, Voyageur I like for more relaxed play, but with the added danger of mean toothy things, and Pilgrim is my mode for going on crazy climbing expeditions, to see if I can reach every summit in the game, every ridge, every off-map area that does not have an invisible insta-kill zone, and exploring every single inch of each map, looking for shelter caves, nooks, crannies and hidden places I have not seen before. 

 

Loper just isn't my thing, too structured, too unforgiving for my playstyle., which tends to be loose, unstructured, and is more spontaneous than Loper seems to allow me. And every now and then I delve into Custom settings, my own, or codes shared by others on Steam, usually, or by my family, who all play as well. All depends on my mood on any given day.