Day 50+, journey to Coastal Highway

[HarryM]

After surviving for 50 days (voyager mode) at the Camp Office, I decided to head off toward the Coastal Highway for a change of scene. Things went pretty well in the first part of the trip, and made it all the way to the log sorting area w/o aggroing any wolves. At the log sort that changed, there was one persistent wolf that I wound up having to shoot. He ran off onto the lake in the general direction of what I guessed was Jack Rabbit Island. Fine, as I was going that way anyways. Head out across the lake toward the island. The wolf dies a little off to the side, and not wanting to waste meat, I decide to detour slightly and grab some steaks. Great, meat acquired, I look up and I am in a complete white out, in the middle of the lake with no solid idea where the island is. I head in what I think is the general direction and walk for quite a ways, no island. Now I'm near exhaustion, and it's quite cold. I figure I'll just 180 about and walk that way which should lead to shore. Now I'm exhausted, it's still blizzarding and health starts to drop. Keep walking (slow now since exhausted and encumbered). Finally reach a slope going up, great. Trudge up it and find myself...on the island! Get inside as quick as I can and have food, drink and a long rest. So my first day in Coastal almost ended in disaster. The next day I got jumped by a wolf right off the island which took me down to 45% before I killed it, more blind spots and site line issues in general here. After that things settled down and I was able to explore the rest of the area.

Lesson learned. Before harvesting anything, use a local landmark to point yourself toward safety. I could have noted which way the wolf was lying as a pointer to land. I started a new game (got bored with that one) and set out straight from Trappers Homestead over the hill towards a dead body and dead deer. Before harvesting the deer I noted the surroundings and a fallen tree that should lead straight back to the cabin. Sure enough, a blizzard came up but I found the cabin w/o a problem. Another good example is the fishing huts. On each one before doing anything step straight out the door and note the clock direction that could lead to the nearest cabin (assuming you can't make a fire (no matches)etc).

[Cosmoline]

Line of sight is a big problem on the coastal map. There are a lot of deceptive slopes that can hide a wolf. I generally try to spot a clear path, run down it, then run backwards and clear the angles of any obstacles. Suckers are prone to come around the side of buildings and around peninsulas. I've also noticed that you seem to survive better if you can face the wolf in the confrontation. So if it's coming for you and you can't escape it, charge it.