SPOILERS: A couple questions about Ep. 3 for those who have completed it:

[Ape88]

Hello! I just have a couple questions about Episode 3. Those who don't want any spoilers need not read any further.

 

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!

 

1: Are the main objectives at all affected by how long it takes me to complete the tasks? If so, should I focus on the side quests first? I know in Episodes 1 and 2, it didn't matter but I would rather be safe than sorry if I just assumed. I do like to take my time in these episodes. In Episode 1, by the time I decided to leave Milton I could have had Will completely dressed in furs.

2: Do you have any tips on dealing with those Timberwolves? Are there any areas I should be extra cautious in due to them?  I chased them off the first time but either I flubbed up and accidentally quit the game or the game crashed. The second time I waited until morning to venture out and in the daylight I couldn't manage to keep them from taking swipe after swipe and by the time I did, it was too late.

Any other advice, perhaps without too many specifics regarding plot is welcome!

[hozz1235]

I haven't finished, but I'm to the point where I'm to go to the mine.  It does say something in the description to "finish up" other tasks.  Shouldn't be a problem taking your time.

TWs like to flank you.  I've found it helpful to (if possible) put myself against a hill/cliff or, better yet, a narrow they have to run through to get to me.  Makes the revolver shot easier.

[devamadhu]

The main objectives don't seem affected by the time it takes to complete the tasks, *however* I did notice that the location and rewards of most of the side quests do come in handy later on in the episode. For example, I noticed most of them are sheltered spaces in one way or another.

[DarkTreader]

9 minutes ago, hozz1235 said:

I haven't finished, but I'm to the point where I'm to go to the mine.  It does say something in the description to "finish up" other tasks.  Shouldn't be a problem taking your time.

TWs like to flank you.  I've found it helpful to (if possible) put myself against a hill/cliff or, better yet, a narrow they have to run through to get to me.  Makes the revolver shot easier.

^ This.

You have a pack of things that are attempting to encircle you and charge you from behind. First step should always be to find something big and solid to put your back against, which cuts down on their ability to encircle. You now only need to deal with what's facing you - so keep your head on a swivel and watch the movement.

It seems as though when one is charging you, there's often (not always, though... still trying to figure out why) a point where they'll pause and give you a ~1 second window to line up your revolver shot and fire.

[Sceh]

Take your time, and do the side quests first. The rewards are B-E-A-utiful. No need to rush the main quest line at all.

I found the marine flares to do squatola, so I usually concentrated on getting a good Revolver or Rifle shot in. Once you hit or possibly even kill one of them they scamper off quickly. Helps to conserve bullets!

[Raphael van Lierop]

43 minutes ago, Sceh said:

Take your time, and do the side quests first. The rewards are B-E-A-utiful. No need to rush the main quest line at all.

I found the marine flares to do squatola, so I usually concentrated on getting a good Revolver or Rifle shot in. Once you hit or possibly even kill one of them they scamper off quickly. Helps to conserve bullets!

Timberwolves shouldn't attack you while you have a lit Marine Flare in your hands. Think of them as a "shield". Hitting a Timberwolf with a lit Marine Flare also reduces their Morale a fair bit. But you should try using tools in combination...

[Sceh]

1 hour ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

Timberwolves shouldn't attack you while you have a lit Marine Flare in your hands. Think of them as a "shield". Hitting a Timberwolf with a lit Marine Flare also reduces their Morale a fair bit. But you should try using tools in combination...

Thanks for clarifying. I guess I was being impatient. The flare burns out fairly quickly and the rather small shielding distance was anxiety-inducing for me. Throwing it did nothing (the one time I tried that they just ignored it and came straight for me). I preferred going the aggressive route. Btw, I LOVE the design and AI of the Timberwolf packs. You outdid yourselves, they're really awesome, clever and beautiful creatures. Made my heart bleed a little every time I had to fight them, as it should. So exciting and fun! Great addition to the wildlife of the island.

[Raphael van Lierop]

1 hour ago, Sceh said:

Thanks for clarifying. I guess I was being impatient. The flare burns out fairly quickly and the rather small shielding distance was anxiety-inducing for me. Throwing it did nothing (the one time I tried that they just ignored it and came straight for me). I preferred going the aggressive route. Btw, I LOVE the design and AI of the Timberwolf packs. You outdid yourselves, they're really awesome, clever and beautiful creatures. Made my heart bleed a little every time I had to fight them, as it should. So exciting and fun! Great addition to the wildlife of the island.

Thanks. We still have a lot of work to do and big plans for how to improve their AI. This was a first step.

[MarrowStone]

2 hours ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

Thanks. We still have a lot of work to do and big plans for how to improve their AI. This was a first step.

A very big first step.  

The only issues I noticed  is them occassionally being slow to react to thrown flares/torches and one of them disappeared once but they did an awesome job flanking/surrounding the player in several varying environments! 

A wishlist I have to make them seem even smarter is maybe have them glance at other members of the pack occasionally. Just to sell the fact theyre working together even more. 

Seeing 4 sets of glowing eyes surround my tiny blue flare bubble at night was so thrilling! 

[Hox13]

10 hours ago, Ape88 said:

Hello! I just have a couple questions about Episode 3. Those who don't want any spoilers need not read any further.

 

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!

 

1: Are the main objectives at all affected by how long it takes me to complete the tasks? If so, should I focus on the side quests first? I know in Episodes 1 and 2, it didn't matter but I would rather be safe than sorry if I just assumed. I do like to take my time in these episodes. In Episode 1, by the time I decided to leave Milton I could have had Will completely dressed in furs.

2: Do you have any tips on dealing with those Timberwolves? Are there any areas I should be extra cautious in due to them?  I chased them off the first time but either I flubbed up and accidentally quit the game or the game crashed. The second time I waited until morning to venture out and in the daylight I couldn't manage to keep them from taking swipe after swipe and by the time I did, it was too late.

Any other advice, perhaps without too many specifics regarding plot is welcome!

Take your time and enjoy the side quests the rewards are defo worth it, just finished streaming my completion of Episode 3 myself and It was about 15 hours in total. Chat did not complain one bit, we all loved it thoroughly. Have fun!

[Ape88]

Thanks for the info. I just spent the better part of the evening redoing the first part of the episode and am doing the side quests before I even touch the community center. Easy way to avoid Timberwolves... As they don't appear to be present until after you talk to the priest/father. It's a little cheaty but I'm a wuss.

[Littlepip002]

What do I do after getting the last survivor on the bed, I can't find where I should do any other task

.

[DarkTreader]

2 hours ago, Ape88 said:

Thanks for the info. I just spent the better part of the evening redoing the first part of the episode and am doing the side quests before I even touch the community center. Easy way to avoid Timberwolves... As they don't appear to be present until after you talk to the priest/father. It's a little cheaty but I'm a wuss.

Depending on the difficulty level you're playing on, the Timberwolves become just one more obstacle. There are some times that have guaranteed spawns/attacks, and you'll see them occasionally walking along through the snow... but for the non-scripted ones, they're as easy to deal with as regular wolves, just with a slightly increased perception radius. And their AI is something that you may want to play around with (save beforehand and try different things, see what happens!).

 

1 hour ago, Littlepip002 said:

What do I do after getting the last survivor on the bed, I can't find where I should do any other task

.

Depends on what step you're on. All of the main tasks for the community center are linked, so you won't advance to the next stage of things until you have all of the survivors on the beds and have stockpiled the larder. If you've done both of those, you should just have to talk to Father Thomas to go to the next step.
Note: There is an occasional bug that happens here where, when attempting to talk to Father Thomas, the camera will zoom in on his back, then reset back to normal, without a dialogue. If this happens to you, just save, close the game and re-open it, and when you load that save, the problem in the scripting will resolve itself and you'll be able to speak with him to advance.

[MarrowStone]

3 hours ago, Ape88 said:

As they don't appear to be present until after you talk to the priest/father. It's a little cheaty but I'm a wuss.

That's not the case in my experience, I was confronted by them at the blizzard line from the very beginning! They didn't show up after that until after I talked to the priest however. 

[ThePancakeLady]

1 hour ago, MarrowStone said:

That's not the case in my experience, I was confronted by them at the blizzard line from the very beginning! They didn't show up after that until after I talked to the priest however. 

The wolves you encounter at the blizzard line at the beginning, going to Molly's barn are regular "blackie" wolves. At least in my capable Survivor game they were. The struggle animation when I got nailed by one of them on the first try was the black "regular" wolf face. Not the grey, furrier Timber Wolf face. And it was daylight out (though a blizzard) and I could clearly see they had black pelts not grey ones, and were not as big as the Timbers I met later on in the Episode. And they looked nothing like the dead wolf Molly killed inside the barn.

[Nicholai]

15 hours ago, Ape88 said:

Hello! I just have a couple questions about Episode 3. Those who don't want any spoilers need not read any further.

 

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!

 

1: Are the main objectives at all affected by how long it takes me to complete the tasks? If so, should I focus on the side quests first? I know in Episodes 1 and 2, it didn't matter but I would rather be safe than sorry if I just assumed. I do like to take my time in these episodes. In Episode 1, by the time I decided to leave Milton I could have had Will completely dressed in furs.

2: Do you have any tips on dealing with those Timberwolves? Are there any areas I should be extra cautious in due to them?  I chased them off the first time but either I flubbed up and accidentally quit the game or the game crashed. The second time I waited until morning to venture out and in the daylight I couldn't manage to keep them from taking swipe after swipe and by the time I did, it was too late.

Any other advice, perhaps without too many specifics regarding plot is welcome!

1. Take your time.

2. Marine Flares will help to keep the distance with them but marine flares don't last longer as regular flares. The biggest problem about the pack encounter is their unpredictable angle of attack. If you can find somewhere to lean your back, then it's gonna be easier to detect and shoot. Max. 2-3 direct hit with revolver will scare them off. 

Edited October 25, 2019 by Nicholai

[MarrowStone]

8 hours ago, ThePancakeLady said:

The wolves you encounter at the blizzard line at the beginning, going to Molly's barn are regular "blackie" wolves. At least in my capable Survivor game they were. The struggle animation when I got nailed by one of them on the first try was the black "regular" wolf face. Not the grey, furrier Timber Wolf face. And it was daylight out (though a blizzard) and I could clearly see they had black pelts not grey ones, and were not as big as the Timbers I met later on in the Episode. And they looked nothing like the dead wolf Molly killed inside the barn.

Hey, you're right, for some reason I couldve sworn I got the timber wolf morale mechanic tip the moment i was charged by those two normal wolves. But now that I remember there was no morale bar when attacked I realized they were just normal ones with an odd timing for the tutorial? I didnt get into a struggle with them to have a closer look and i didnt record it so I cant fully remember if I got that morale tip or not either. Thanks for correcting me and my occasionally terrible memory lol. 

[ThePancakeLady]

2 hours ago, MarrowStone said:

Hey, you're right, for some reason I couldve sworn I got the timber wolf morale mechanic tip the moment i was charged by those two normal wolves. But now that I remember there was no morale bar when attacked I realized they were just normal ones with an odd timing for the tutorial? I didnt get into a struggle with them to have a closer look and i didnt record it so I cant fully remember if I got that morale tip or not either. Thanks for correcting me and my occasionally terrible memory lol. 

No worries. That first part with the blizzard lines was a bit intense, and yeah, it felt like I got at least double teamed the first time I did it, and got Astrid's face torn off, lol.

[RegentRelic]

On 10/25/2019 at 2:38 PM, ThePancakeLady said:

, it felt like I got at least double teamed the first time I did it, and got Astrid's face torn off, lol.

I managed to shot the first two with the revolver no problem