The longest blizzard

[Morrick]

Hey folks, it's been a while since my Pilgrim-tries-Interloper tales. Work has increased in the past months, so I've had less and less time to play The Long Dark. Two days ago I wanted to try something new, instead of continuing from one of my saves. I started a new game on Voyageur and told the game to choose a random location to start.

I spawn in Broken Railroad, inside the Maintenance Shed, mid-afternoon. Eh, could be worse — I thought. I didn't know I was in for a surprise.

I start exploring the shed and find the usual useful items: some food, a few articles of clothing in decent shape, a prybar, some accelerant. I wear all the heavier clothes, but they're not enough to keep me warm. Indoor temperature is -3°C. There's a blizzard outside.

I eat, I drink, I break crates to have some reclaimed wood. I keep warm thanks to the forge. I explore all the shed's nooks and crannies. With the night, comes an aurora. Suddenly I have to take care where I put my feet, as cables on the ground start to light up and fizzle. Exhausted, I go to bed. 

Next day: blizzard. I pass some time, I expertly manage my food and beverages so that I can survive another day inside the shed. But the clothing situation is not ideal. I mean, it's not as bad as on Interloper, but every time I venture outside the shed, the indicator reaches 'Cold' and 'Numb' pretty quickly. A brief trip to the gatehouse gives me Hypothermia Risk at 11% on my way back to the shed.

Hours pass. The blizzard stays.

I manage to reach the end of the second day without burning through all the resources I have collected so far. But I can't stay here another day. As I go to bed, I hope things will improve tomorrow.

They don't. As I wake up and hear the sound of wind outside, I'm hoping it's just wind, but then I go to the outer office and look outside. Yep, blizzard. I'm starting to wonder if maybe I have inadvertently selected some new challenge. Oh well. Blizzard or no blizzard, it's time to get out of here and head for the Hunting Lodge. At least I won't have to worry about predators on my way there. Obviously, for 80% of my trip to the Lodge, I have to walk against the wind, so my trek is painfully slow, and cold. When I reach the Hunting Lodge, I have hypothermia. 

I collect some stuff, but while I'm happy to find a good amount of food and drinks, and even a revolver and ammo, the only useful piece of clothing I find is an earwrap. Oh, and impractical ski boots. The heaviest jacket I'm wearing is a down vest at 73% condition. I light a fire and spend most of the day recovering from hypothermia and mending all the clothes I can, as to maximise their warmth and protection. I go to bed. 

Fourth day: blizzard.

I'm low on resources now. I'm starting to think it's time I take a few cups of coffee and wait for the night, see if the blizzard calms down. If I try heading for the exit and to Forlorn Muskeg with this blizzard, I don't know if I'll survive. This Voyageur run has a really Interloper vibe to it I didn't expect. And this is the shittiest weather I've found in 350 hours of playing The Long Dark.

[odizzido]

Cool. I am sure I've had a couple days where I couldn't go outside for more than a minute or two but I don't think I've ever had four. Sounds kinda fun.

[Martin Prchal]

I've found that if I stay in a zone for too long blizzards start appearing almost daily. That usually tells me to get out of that zone quick.

[UpUpAway95]

I've had some bad weather starts in Broken Railroad and the area can be rather sparse for clothing as well.  If you can get through the initial hit though and if you find a heavy hammer in the maintenance yard area, you can get a lot of good hunting in quickly and make yourself some better clothing.  Finding the revolver or rifle can help a lot... especially, of course, if you haven't found a heavy hammer in the zone.  Wood is fairly plentiful and there are cat tails... but watch out for the bear.  Wolves will frequently take down deer near the Maintenance Yard and take rabbits up close to the hunting lodge.  So if you're observant, you can both a deer and a wolf just by killing the wolf while he's munching on the deer.

Be sure to leave some scrap metal available making fishing line to sew with if you're sewing kit supply is limited.  Of course, if you've found a hacksaw, scrap metal won't be an issue since there are quite a few shelves in the maintenance shed that can be harvested.

 I've left the zone with rabbitskin mitts and hat, deerskin pants and boots, wolfskin coat, a moosehide satchel, and carrying a bearhide...  as well have having a bow and several arrows .  If you're able to stay viable long enough to do all of that, you don't ever have to worry about going back to that zone again and it sets you up for a really nice progression across the map world.

My longest blizzard lasted 3 full nights (so, almost 4 days).  I was stuck the cave on the Ridge in Forlorn Muskeg.

Edited August 2, 2019 by UpUpAway95

[Morrick]

The fifth day started quietly, but after 'having breakfast' (a jar of peanut butter, the last high-calorie food in stock), I went out and the blizzard was mounting up again. The screenshot was taken just before the wind and snow intensified. Before returning inside the Hunting Lodge, I managed to snatch a dead rabbit, recently killed by a wolf. At least I still have a little bit of food.

 

 

[hozz1235]

Sounds like the RNG Gods are against you my friend.  If you live through it, it made a nice early challenge!

Edited August 2, 2019 by hozz1235

[Morrick]

Sixth day… you guessed it… blizzard!

And on the seventh day, I reached Forlorn Muskeg. After a short break in the weather, another blizzard is coming. I don't know if I'll manage to get to Old Spence, but I gathered enough materials to build a snow shelter. I have to shake this 'Hypothermia Risk' before it becomes full-blown hypothermia. Very little food left.

I may be in for some record here. I've found better weather in Timberwolf Mountain on Interloper.

[UpUpAway95]

16 hours ago, Morrick said:

Sixth day… you guessed it… blizzard!

And on the seventh day, I reached Forlorn Muskeg. After a short break in the weather, another blizzard is coming. I don't know if I'll manage to get to Old Spence, but I gathered enough materials to build a snow shelter. I have to shake this 'Hypothermia Risk' before it becomes full-blown hypothermia. Very little food left.

I may be in for some record here. I've found better weather in Timberwolf Mountain on Interloper.

Unbelievable bad luck.  Since you're on voyageur difficulty, I think I would have just pushed through FM along the tracks to get to the Camp Office in Mystery Lake with a stop at the Poacher's Camp to warm up using the fuel that's always there.  You already have a pistol and probably a knife and hatchet as well, so you don't really need to worry about reaching Spence to forge.  On Voyageur, food shouldn't be an issue once you reach Mystery Lake.

Edited August 6, 2019 by UpUpAway95