Any tips ?

[Guest Marcurios]

So i'm a new player, atleast in survival, i played through the storyline first as a capable survivor, went pretty well, had to figure out the mechanics, but i'm not new to games, so i succeeded.
But then i went on to play a survival game on voyager difficulty thinking it was the second option, so i thought it might be comparable to capable survivor in story mode, turns out it is not, survival is much harder. first run i died in two days..second one in 5 days due to two aurora infused wolves taking a bite out of my ass, so now i'm more careful avoiding wolves, this third run i'm still very much alive after 13 days by eating bunnies..but here it comes, while i'm waiting for my maple sapling to cure so i can make a bow, i'm living on bunnies, a lot of bunnies, shitloads of bunnies, 12 a day to be exact, how on earth is it that i need to eat 12 bunnies a day to survive ?
I know it's not real life, but come on..12 freaking bunnies, to keep breathing..lol..
I don't really mind, just thought i wanted to ask for some survival tips here, maybe you experienced guys have some good ones for me ?

Edited August 7, 2019 by Marcurios
typos

[Guest Marcurios]

only real question i have is how to deal with hostile wildlife, i avoid them for now.
in my second playthrough i found a revolver, shot 1 wolf, went down, all is fine, but then two aurora infused wolves ambushed me, and in my simple mind i thought i choose the revolver in the clicketyclick fight, cause i thought i would shoot the wolf, but no, stupid dude uses the revolver to bash the wolf and yes...i died...wish i used the hatchet..
so some tips on how to properly deal with wolves, bears and moose are welcome..

i do look at maps, but i want to do that as minimal as possible, takes away the exploration feeling..

[Guest Marcurios]

thanks, i often carry rabbit guts from when i've been hunting, so i guess i can drop that in the wolves path and back off..then maybe start a fire..
i do carry lanternfuel to quickly start a fire when i'm in a pickle, i saved my ass a few times already.
i did notice the flares work better to hold wolves off then torches, with torches they still attack, but not so much with flares.

didn't know that about the bears, good tips there..
there was one stalking the farmstead in Pleasant Vally, i went out the back and circled around the second time, first time he almost got me..

i do tend to walk slowly most of the time, so i can run when needed, learned that the hard way.
i use the warmest clothing so i can usually get anywhere without running, so whenever i need to i can run usually.
 

[UpUpAway95]

There is a Tips for New Survivors thread in the How to Play section on these forums with lots of great tips there.  As another poster suggested, watching some videos of other players survivial can give you a lot of great tips and I find it easier to see someone else using a technique (like dropping bait and starting fires to scare off wolves) rather than just reading a description.

Generally, the revolver is more of a tool to scare wolves away before they get in close.  When an attack is in progress, you're better off selecting a hatchet or a knife to complete the struggle as those weapons will generally insure that the wolf bleeds (which will cause it to bleed out eventually enabling you to harvest the hide (and guts and meat if you want those).  The wolfskin coat is a great item of clothing to craft in this game.  Another tactic is to chase deer and bunnies ahead of you so that wolves along your path will wind up chasing and eating those animals, giving you an opportunity to sneak by them safely.

I generally do everything in my power to steer clear of any aurora animals, which usually means I avoid traveling during an aurora.  Also, the revolver is next to useless against bears or moose, so best not to try to take any down before you get a rifle or are proficient with your bow.  Avoidance of the hostile wildlife in general is actually a good strategy.

You can augment your diet with cat tails and birch bark teas.  Generally, on voyageur, there is also lots of canned and processed foods that can be looted in most areas.  Food poisoning is less of a concern in voyageur than it is on harder difficulties as well, enabling you to get away with eating more of the lower condition foods you find.

Edited August 7, 2019 by UpUpAway95

[Serenity]

Don't walk around in auroras if you don't really need to and don't have weapons. Try to time things so you can sleep through the night

General survival:
1.) When you're low on food starve during the day and only eat before sleeping. You don't need to stay fed all the time, though there is a benefit to it

2.) Cat tails, cat tails, cat tails. They are hundreds of the things. Mystery Lake alone has a bit over a hundred. There are also many in Mountain Town. Coastal Highway has some along the river. Pleasant Valley too, but they are very spread around

3.) Deer carcasses are a good early game food source and also give you hides and guts. Each one has a steak on it, which is enough for a night. If absolutely necessary you can thaw them and harvest by hand

4.) But as said lower difficulties have tons of man made food. Don't stay in one location right away. The early game should be about moving and looting. Check all the cabins and houses. Also caves. Even on Stalker there is stuff everywhere. They sometimes hide candy bars behind furniture or under beds.

5.) You don't need to successfully make a fire to scare a wolf. Just starting it causes them to run a way. A bit cheap and something I'd wish got changed.

Over time you can learn the areas where wolves spawn and patrol and be prepared. You can take alternate routes sometimes and completely avoid them. Works less well on Stalker as they are just so many of them

Edited August 7, 2019 by Serenity

[Guest Marcurios]

thanks guys..

haha, i discovered it just before i read it, i walked along the frozen rivers looking for bunnies and harvested any cat tail i could find, it helped me through till i got my bow and arrows crafted, once i had the bow, i immediately hunted a deer and got 9 kilo's of meat, boy that is a treat..

i'll definitely be careful not to venture out to much in aurora's..
i got the flashlight and it has a high setting, i read written on the wall in storymode that "they hate the light" so i tried to scare off aurora infused wolves with the bright flashlight..
ofcourse a big mistake, they're not scared of the light at all..

guts i have enough, the entire farmstead is filled with rabbit guts, i think i got 45 rabbit hides and guts laying around...lol..
now i got my bow i can finally shoot some deer and make me some deer boots and pants..

i did loot all the houses and stuff, but you burn through that man made food fast and then you need to eat bunnies..
in a earlier playthrough i got a revolver fast, and killed a regular wolf with it rather easy, but this playthrough didn't give me a weapon, so i went for constructing the bow,
cause that is something you have control over, waitng for a rifle or revolver to spawn somewhere is asking for trouble imo.

@Serenity, i just noticed that, starting a fire also scares them away, that's nice to know !

i just lived 1 day on 1 deer steak, much better then bunnies, 1 deer keeps me alive for a week..
i'm starting to get the hang of it..

one thing i'm curious at, how do you kill a bear ?
cause story mode got me scared of them, it was a drag to kill that old bear with the silly spear..
and rifle didn't hurt it at all, is that different in survival mode ?

 

[Serenity]

The story mode bear is special. Survival bears aren't demon spawns.

You generally have two ways to kill animals. Kill them instantly or let them bleed out. The latter doesn't work with the moose though. Killing can take several hits. Hit location matters and there is some randomness with damage.

In several locations there is a big branch you can climb on where animals can't get to you. That's ideal. You can also hit a bear once and then wait for it to bleed out. The bow causes more bleed damage than the rifle. This can take a while. You could wait in a fishing hut until it happens for example.

[Guest Marcurios]

allright, that sounds good..

but the description on the bow says it's for small game, so it will kill a bear eventually too ?
i mean, do i have to get much better at archery skills or will it be upgradable, or does it just stays the same bow and do i have a chance
to kill one even in the beginning, if they don't maul me that is..

i'll look out for those branches, i already found some rocks that i can climb up on without a bear being able to reach me too..
if you walk along the angled side with no snow on it, you can sometimes climb pretty steep rocks, you'll often get a sprained ankle on
those rocks, but if you succeed in climbing it, bear doesn't follow.

[UpUpAway95]

42 minutes ago, Marcurios said:

allright, that sounds good..

but the description on the bow says it's for small game, so it will kill a bear eventually too ?
i mean, do i have to get much better at archery skills or will it be upgradable, or does it just stays the same bow and do i have a chance
to kill one even in the beginning, if they don't maul me that is..

i'll look out for those branches, i already found some rocks that i can climb up on without a bear being able to reach me too..
if you walk along the angled side with no snow on it, you can sometimes climb pretty steep rocks, you'll often get a sprained ankle on
those rocks, but if you succeed in climbing it, bear doesn't follow.

Any weapon has a critical hit chance on hostile animals large or small.  Alternatively, causing an animal to bleed will ensure it eventually bleeds out... so even a wounding shot can be lethal.  A grazing shot will not cause the animal to bleed and those wounds will heal.  Why I recommend not tackling a bear or moose with a bow until you level it up is 1) leveling the bow will increase your critical hit chance; and 2) once you level up sufficiently, you will be able to draw the bow while crouched... which enables you to get in closer without being detected and can enable you to get a good shot in before the animal detects you.  Obviously, if the animal is charging, you're going to use whatever weapon you have available and regardless of your level; but if I have a rifle, I find my chances are better of dropping the animal with it than with an unleveled bow.

[Guest Marcurios]

1 hour ago, UpUpAway95 said:

2) once you level up sufficiently, you will be able to draw the bow while crouched

this, i wondered why i couldn't shoot it while crouched, now i know.
killing deer and wolves seem to be very doable with the bow, i one shotted a wolf in the head and shot one deer in it's gut, had to track it down quite the distance though to get my arrow back..is there a forge somewhere in Pleasant Valley or do i have to travel to another region to make arrowheads ?
i know from storymode there is a forge in forlorn muskeg and broken railroad..do i have to go there ?

can't find a rifle or revolver so far, i have 65 revolver ammo and 30 rifle ammo, but no firearm found yet..it seems it didn't spawn, or maybe it did somewhere i haven't been to yet in the map..i still don't know the entire region, but thanks to the bow i'm traveling around a bit further from home now..
I only had sticks and stones in the first ten days, it became a bit of a grind..eating bunnies and cat tails..

i do love the game though, haven't had this much fun with a game for a while..

 

[Guest Marcurios]

only place i havent yet been is burned ridge cave, seems i'm going to have to travel to another region then.
i'll check burned ridge cave first, see if it's there.

does the map directly connect to Broken Railroad,Forlorn Muskeg or Desolation Point ?

only thing i've found so far is the coalmin to coastal smoething..

[UpUpAway95]

30 minutes ago, Marcurios said:

only place i havent yet been is burned ridge cave, seems i'm going to have to travel to another region then.
i'll check burned ridge cave first, see if it's there.

does the map directly connect to Broken Railroad,Forlorn Muskeg or Desolation Point ?

only thing i've found so far is the coalmin to coastal smoething..

Coastal Highway is a great location for getting loot.  I've never failed to find at least one rifle in that zone on the lower difficulties.

[ajb1978]

I encourage you to find your own play style, but since you asked...

Voyageur, you can afford to be patient and play a long term strategy. Don't hunt, fish, or even bother harvesting edible plants unless you are desperate.  And by desperate I mean, you've already been starving for a full day. You can soak up a bit of condition loss due to thirst and hunger if you just keep moving.   Remember that with a 12 hour rest plus a cup of herbal tea before bed, you will recover up to 102% condition.  So don't be afraid to do a little strategic starvation now and then.  Pick a spot to call "home" on each map, and make a point to wander around the map, gathering supplies from the various interior locations, and cutting down saplings, then hauling them back to your home base.  Don't spend time crafting or repairing your clothing just yet, just trade up as you find better stuff, leaving your old stuff at home to deal with later.  You may need to boil some water on some maps, but you will find plenty of food just laying around to get you by.  Once you're confident you've got one map cleared, move on to a new location wearing your best clothes but otherwise traveling light, then repeat the process.  Find a place to call home, investigate each location on the map, haul the stuff back to your new home, trade up clothing.  Just keep moving on...and on..and on...and eventually you will have a fortified safehouse in each location.

Once you've gotten the whole world sorted out, such that each region has one well-stocked safehouse, go back to the region you started in.  Now your saplings will be cured, and you will have at least one rifle and revolver, and several rounds for each.

As for wolf management, if they aren't in a full on attack charge, you can simply walk away.  Break line of sight, and you can sprint out of their detection range, and you're free.  Otherwise, you can do something else to break pathing, such as walk off the edge of a cliff.  Or enter a vehicle or building if the option presents itself, then wait for the wolf to wander way.  Lit flares thrown into the path of a wolf can scare them off, as can a thrown stone that strikes them (whether a direct it or if it ricochets into them).  Just remember that if you use RMB to aim, the wolf immediately goes into an attack charge, so try to hip-fire those stones.  The revolver is a great wolf management tool, and the flare pistol is an instant scare for anything, even a charging bear.  Stones are particularly handy if you see the wolf before it sees you.  Toss the stone, it will create a noise where it lands, and the wolf will go to investigate.  This can be used to get a wolf out of your way before you sneak past.

[Guest Marcurios]

so i went to Burned Ridge Cave, and sure there was a rifle there, so i wandered around Mystic River Picnic area a bit again i daylight this time, and i noticed there is a explorable cave there, and holy smokes there was a revolver there on the corpse !
And a little further in the cave another bow with an arrow beside it, so now i have two bows (and 8 cured maple saplings), a revolver with 80 bullets, and a rifle with 35 bullets.. So the first wolf i saw i took revenge on them stalking me when i was hunting bunnies, he took one right between the eyes ! And now i have tons of good meat...next up is trying to get a bear without getting mauled..i want that coat and bedroll..

@ajb1978, i noticed that on my third try, at first i was franticly trying to keep warm, the third time i thought fuck it, i'm just going to walk until i die, we'll see where i end up, and that's when i found the farmstead, just by keeping going trough the storm, i was near dying, like 20% health left, but i recovered quickly enough. I did indeed wait spending precious calories on ripping clothing apart, also curtains give 3 cloth for 10 minutes harvest time, a shirt 1 for 20 minutes harvest time. So i'm just looking at the cost of stuff, and if i don't need it i'm not bothering with it in the beginning, that saves calories that i need to roam around and find good loot.
so i kinda starting to find the stuff out that you mention.

i notice the wolf only starts charging when you aim, so i wait till he's pretty close, that way he comes straight at you instead of strafing, making it easier to hit. With the revolver you can keep aiming, it's a lot easier to aim earlier with it, the rifle you have to wait a bit till it is close.
i find the bow to work pretty wel too..

didn't find a flare pistol yet, it worked like a charm in story mode for sure, nice to know it also scares bears...
cool tip about using a stone as a distraction too..thanks

Edited August 8, 2019 by Marcurios
layout and typo

[UpUpAway95]

25 minutes ago, Marcurios said:

so i went to Burned Ridge Cave, and sure there was a rifle there, so i wandered around Mystic River Picnic area a bit again i daylight this time, and i noticed there is a explorable cave there, and holy smokes there was a revolver there on the corpse !
And a little further in the cave another bow with an arrow beside it, so now i have two bows (and 8 cured maple saplings), a revolver with 80 bullets, and a rifle with 35 bullets.. So the first wolf i saw i took revenge on them stalking me when i was hunting bunnies, he took one right between the eyes ! And now i have tons of good meat...next up is trying to get a bear without getting mauled..i want that coat and bedroll..

@ajb1978, i noticed that on my third try, at first i was franticly trying to keep warm, the third time i thought fuck it, i'm just going to walk until i die, we'll see where i end up, and that's when i found the farmstead, just by keeping going trough the storm, i was near dying, like 20% health left, but i recovered quickly enough. I did indeed wait spending precious calories on ripping clothing apart, also curtains give 3 cloth for 10 minutes harvest time, a shirt 1 for 20 minutes harvest time. So i'm just looking at the cost of stuff, and if i don't need it i'm not bothering with it in the beginning, that saves calories that i need to roam around and find good loot.
so i kinda starting to find the stuff out that you mention.

i notice the wolf only starts charging when you aim, so i wait till he's pretty close, that way he comes straight at you instead of strafing, making it easier to hit. With the revolver you can keep aiming, it's a lot easier to aim earlier with it, the rifle you have to wait a bit till it is close.
i find the bow to work pretty wel too..

didn't find a flare pistol yet, it worked like a charm in story mode for sure, nice to know it also scares bears...
cool tip about using a stone as a distraction too..thanks

AFAIK, there are only two locations in survival where the flare pistol will spawn.  I won't spoil those locations for you though.  Sounds like you're getting the hang of it now and with weapons in hand you should be essentially set to survive long term now.  The bear coat and bedroll are not really necessary at all on Voyageur mode as the temps don't continue to drop like they do on higher difficulties and you will find some high quality clothing that just isn't available on the higher difficulties... but I can also understand you're desire to craft them (so this isn't meant to discourage, just to let you know that you can do without them).  Thumbs up and enjoy your run!

[Serenity]

9 hours ago, Marcurios said:

next up is trying to get a bear without getting mauled..i want that coat and bedroll..

Keep in mind that on low difficulties these are kind of vanity items. There is an achievement for it. but that's about it. The bear coat is far too heavy to justify when there are lighter coats that keep you warm enough. It's only on Interloper that the best clothing isn't available. But do it just once to see for yourself

Where animal gear is good is protection and water proofing, but something like the moose skin cloak has a better weight/value ratio there. Even then with the relatively low damage animals do in lower difficulties protection isn't necessarily super important. At least not against wolves.

Edited August 8, 2019 by Serenity

[Guest Marcurios]

got ya, i did indeed notice that ist's already getting pretty easy now i got three weapons and good clothing..
so i'm probably going to forego making these coats for now..
but i'm going to keep playing this voyageur game just to get to know the regions a bit better before i go to Stalker..
the first try i did i mainly died because i didn't know the map, Pleasant valley that is, cause i havent been there in story mode
i think i could already survive in Mystery Lake on Stalker by now, cause i know that map pretty well, i'm a completionist, so i completely scoured every inch of terrain in story mode and only went on when i did everything so..

second try i died because i was clumsy with taking my revolver to bash in melee mode, i actually thought if i'd use the revolver the dude would use it to shoot the wolf..
but no he used it to bash and i had two aurora infused wolves on top of me, i wont make that mistake again, next time i'll just shoot the buggers..

now this third time i'm already alive for 45 days and things got easy so far, only lost afew hours of gameplay cause i got stuck in terrain..
they should make a unstuck mechanism for that stuff in games, i could do that myself if it where moddable. just teleport the player a bit away isn't that difficult.

does your health deplete faster in Stalker mode ?
 

[Guest Marcurios]

Dafuq ?
Does the game do a exitsave when exiting ?
Now i loaded up my save and i'm stuck in the terrain, where i left off, no way to get out, getting sprained ankles trying to get out, just waiting to die off, this is not funny.. i finally managed to get some good loot, and now all i can do is wait till i die..

I thought it saved when sleeping and entering buildings, not on exit, that ruins my entire game, been building up to this for a week darnit..
 

Edited August 8, 2019 by Marcurios

[Serenity]

It also saves when you get injured

You can get around all this by manually backing up your save game now and then

[Guest Marcurios]

ok, that is a good tip, i'll look those savegames up..

wish i'd backed out before my wrist got sprained then, destroyed my game..

seriously, i work with Unity myself,and i just googled the problem , many people have this, and Hinterland is changing the terrain for every time it happens and is reported, sorry to say it, but that is a bit silly. From my years working with game engines i know you're never going to get the terrain player-get-stuck free, the only way to fix that is to make a nudge button. A scripted routine that nudges the player out of position in a random direction, at the same time when you hit the button shortly disable the sprain routine.

If i where to write that script i would teleport the player 1 meter above the current position and random 1 meter in any direction, and you can walk on.
but from what i read on the update logs of Hinterland is that they're updating the terrain every time a bit, that is never going to fix them all, never in a hundred years..

I think i might even have more experience making games then one might think, i have been modding and making projects with pretty much every game engine there is for more then 15 years now, and i have seen this issue in pretty much all 3d game worlds, the only way to properly fix it is to device a nudge routine.

Edited August 8, 2019 by Marcurios

[hozz1235]

You have to keep moving in the early game to stock up on your essential supplies.  Drop items to cure and make a note about it (so you don't forget) and move on.  Create stashes all over.  Voyageur has plenty of loot to survive on.

[ajb1978]

2 hours ago, Marcurios said:

Dafuq ?
Does the game do a exitsave when exiting ?
Now i loaded up my save and i'm stuck in the terrain, where i left off, no way to get out, getting sprained ankles trying to get out, just waiting to die off, this is not funny.. i finally managed to get some good loot, and now all i can do is wait till i die..

I thought it saved when sleeping and entering buildings, not on exit, that ruins my entire game, been building up to this for a week darnit..
 

Four things will trigger a survivor mode save.  Sleeping, passing time and not Esc-canceling early, suffering an affliction (blood loss, sprain, etc), and entering an interior location.  So if you get stuck on terrain and suffer a sprain while trying to get free...you're stuck.  It sucks when it happens, no doubt about it. But every surivivor game ends sometime, from something.  You had a good run.  Your next will be even more successful.

And you can fire the revolver in melee, you just have to struggle to build up the bar first, then you are presented the option to click RMB to take a shot, or you can continue to mash LMB to go for a blunt force scare.  Personally I prefer to use the hatchet for wolf struggles.  It ends the struggle pretty quickly, and inflicts a bleeding wound that will eventually fatal to the wolf.

The key to being successful early on is knowing what constitutes a problem, and what constitutes an annoyance.  Freezing for an hour is an annoyance. (20% condition loss, hypthermia risk.)  Freezing for 4 hours is a serious problem. (80% condition loss, full blown hypothermia).  Starving only hurts you 1% condition per hour, so you can go a couple days without food provided nothing else is in the red.  Thirst hurts worse at 2% per hour, but survivable short term.  Exhaustion also damages you at 1% per hour.  So you can power through a few red sub-conditions if you know what you're doing. Yes, keeping everything topped off is preferred, but if all you have is a couple candy bars, starve all day and save them for right before bed.

[Guest Marcurios]

it was my sprained wrist, it sprained because i was on a slope stuck between the slope and a rockface.
so the only thing i could do is pass the time untill i died..

not a very good first impression of the survival sandbox i must say after i just learned the ropes a bit, then to be cut off like that.
i so hate bugs in games, especially when they could have been avoided so easily, i know i would never make the mistake of making a game where you could get stuck in terrain.
i fixed that stuff in Fallout 4 too with a script, their survival mode also suffered from the exact same problem.
i made a script that let you get unstuck easily.

but thanks again for the hatchet tip, i won't forget that in my next struggle..

right, i already started to realize some stats can easily be abused, you'll lose more health from two subsequent wolf fights then a day without food.
and matches and or a firestarter are important to have, but they're quite abundant, fire is life...lol..

i don't mind dying from a wolf or a fall from a cliff or a bad decision, i do mind dying from game flaws..
Those things need to be adressed first above all, but devs often do not realize well enough what's important to players imo.

[Guest Marcurios]

@hozz, ah that's where the notes come in handy, thanks for that tip !

[UpUpAway95]

4 hours ago, Marcurios said:

Dafuq ?
Does the game do a exitsave when exiting ?
Now i loaded up my save and i'm stuck in the terrain, where i left off, no way to get out, getting sprained ankles trying to get out, just waiting to die off, this is not funny.. i finally managed to get some good loot, and now all i can do is wait till i die..

I thought it saved when sleeping and entering buildings, not on exit, that ruins my entire game, been building up to this for a week darnit..
 

In all the hours I've played, I've never had the game exitsave.  Many times, I've played a little bit beyond my last sleep or entrance to a building and then been interrupted and had to exit the game.  Not once has the game started me at the point I exited.  Instead, it has always taken be back to the point where I last slept or entered a building.  The game will save if you receive a sprain, so I suspect you received the sprains you mention before you tried exiting the game.  However, I would consider it a bug that the game allowed for any save at all while you were stuck in s position you could not get yourself out of.  I would send them a bug report.

Edited August 9, 2019 by UpUpAway95