First time Interloper problems

[Makex]

On 1/23/2020 at 12:29 AM, sierra 117 said:

I would be really tempted to take that hide for a satchel.  However it depends whether you have enough fuel for a 1hr/really warm fire

 That's a great early game find for Interloper. 

That's exactly what i did. I took the hide and 2kg of meat with me.

That was first time i had seen moose pre-killed. I was amazed because i thought moose is like a bear, you have to kill it yourself everytime.

[UpUpAway95]

On 1/22/2020 at 1:14 PM, Makex said:

First day and this is what i find after few hours of searching. The moose had 35 and some kg of meat in it, 54% condition. Location was HRW, near second signal fire.

Question is: How would you handle the situation?

Wow, I've never seen a pre-killed moose on any difficulty before.  Great find!

Knowing that such prop corpses don't tend to despawn unless disturbed, I probably would have resisted the temptation to open the UI to find out how much meat was on him.  I would just have noted the location and gone about collecting ample wood for a long and hot fire so that, ultimately, I could harvest more than 2 kg of meat and at least the hide.  If there was a nearby cave, I may have also stockpiled some wood in the cave so that I could cook more of the meat in relative comfort and without the risk of the wind blowing my fire out.

Normally, a ready-made moose-hide satchel is found at the signal fire... now I'm curious if your signal fire still has that item there or if finding the dead moose replaces that item.

 

[ShootTheMoose]

There is a good cave very near (Pensive Vista cave) and also wood+coal. When i found that moose on a run i cut all the meat to pieces at the spot and transported that to the cave. I already had good clothing though before coming to HRW. It has been a while and unfortunately i don't remember if there also was a satchel at the signal fire.

Edited January 24, 2020 by ShootTheMoose

[Jimmy]

I'm loving these tips from other Interlopers!

Feeling inspired by this thread, I booted up a new run myself.

Day 1, spawned in Desolation Point. Looted Lighthouse, Riken, Hibernia, grabbed coal from the Abandoned Mine, cooked a few rabbits at the Church and made for the Coastal Highway.

Day 2, reach Coastal Highway after cooking both dead deer on the Crumbling Highway, but get hit with a blizzard and discover that all three Waterfront Cottages are in ruins. With zero stamina, freezing to death, and redlining my health, I make it to Misanthrope's and stumble into bed. A lucky box of crackers here keeps me from starving today, and I make it to Quonset across the ice.

Day 3, I run from Quonset to Cinder Hills, stopping by the Abandoned Lookout and Log Sort, and looting the trailers and cabins along the way.

Day 4, I get through Cinder Hills, have a narrow escape from a bear that stops me picking up the bedroll nearby, loot Thomson's Crossing, loot the Barn and pick up a hacksaw, and make it to Draft Dodger's where I feast on rabbits before resting.

Day 5, I make it up from Draft Dodger's to Burned Ridge, picking through the airplane wreckage and upgrading my clothing, filling a bunch of empty slots including picking up a thin wool sweater. I haul my loot to the foot of Timberwolf Mountain and dump almost all the loot in the Prepper's Abandoned Cache. I ensure I have three emergency stims, one pack of matches and two cans, plus my hacksaw. I drop everything else but the clothes on my back.

Day 6, I push from reaching the Hut through to the Wing, looting the container for tea, coffee, and canned food I can't open. I shimmy down Echo Ravine and dodge the wolf to loot the Engine container. Alas, I miss out on a thin wool sweater here! Cursing my luck, I get slammed by a blizzard and take refuge inside the transition cave, brewing coffee and tea to pass the blizzard. Once the blizzard breaks, I drop everything unimportant here, making my way up to the Deer Clearing by burning my first stim to ascend the rope. I skip looting the container here, in no need of a few cloth and tinned tomato soup, instead pushing to the Secluded Shelf by burning a second stim.

Day 7, I cook a few skinny rabbits for breakfast before burning my final stim to reach the summit. Loot galore! I take absolutely everything, including a flare gun with eight shots. I sprain every part of my body goating down the mountain, grab the hammer from the fishing hut on Crystal Lake, and finally rest in the Hut.

Day 8, a blizzard decides to slam down, so I brew tea until it breaks, but it's still brutally cold and I skip returning for the loot I left near the Engine. Instead I shimmy down to Skeeter's Ridge, munching on cattails as I arrive for the evening at the Pleasant Valley Farmstead.

Day 9, I run up to Signal Hill, where the loot gods bless me with a mackinaw jacket! Now I've got almost every endgame clothing item except a second thin wool sweater and a pair of combat pants. Truly, Signal Hill is the best location in all of Pleasant Valley. Of course, a blizzard sets in, and so I cook tea and repair my clothing by the fire barrel outside until it passes.

Day 10, I pass through the Carter Hydro Dam cave, brave the river during a blizzard, loot the dam and rest in the trailer outside. The morning is good weather, so I nip down to Alan's Cave, harvest the deer carcass for everything it has, and grab a bedroll from the hunter's blind.

Day 11, I return to Winding River, grabbing the deer hides, guts, and meat from the two carcasses plus the third inside the cave, and bag a few rabbits for lunch. I snag two maple saplings from the riverside as well. Mr Wolf leaves me alone to drag my smelly haul back to the dam, where I set it to cure. Between the hide from the summit, the three from winding river, and the hide from Alan's, I've got all I need for my boots and pants, once they're cured. Since I'll be waiting for them to finish, I load up on some scrap and coal, grab my hammer and get ready to make the run to Forlorn Muskeg.

Day 12, I follow the rail tracks to Forlorn Muskeg, taking the route from Poacher's Camp across the ice, picking up a furry tail that barks and growls but doesn't manage to catch me. I reach Spence's, light up the forge, enjoy some canned dog food and rest.

Day 13, it's forging time. I craft an improvised hatchet, an improvised knife, and eight arrow heads. Then I rest, enjoying the toasty 160°C of my nearby night-light.

Day 14, I return to Mystery Lake with my new tools, looping around a friendly bear patrolling near the exit of Forlorn Muskeg. I turn left as I exit the tunnel, making for Trapper's Cabin, and have a rabbit lunch, chopping five birch saplings nearby to cure for later.

...And this is where I am now!

I think this is a pretty good start to the run, with everything sorted for basic tools. Given that I'm currently at Trapper's Cabin, and I've got my improvised hatchet, I think I'll take a poke at making it to Hushed River Valley by day 16 or so. I want to grab the combat pants, and cross my fingers for getting an easy moose hide from the dead moose carcass. With the proper tool to handle the scrub brush, I should be able to hit the Signal Fire too. Having two mackinaw jackets is just luxury on Interloper.

My big concern is that I don't have a bedroll or a supply of stims for rope climbs. Hopefully I can grab some coffee or stims from Milton, and if all else fails, I can face Frosty the wolf to steal the bedroll from her cave. After that, I'm just hoping RNG will be kind enough to give me a second thin wool sweater after cheating me out of one from the Engine container on Timberwolf Mountain.

[Makex]

23 hours ago, UpUpAway95 said:

Wow, I've never seen a pre-killed moose on any difficulty before.  Great find!

Knowing that such prop corpses don't tend to despawn unless disturbed, I probably would have resisted the temptation to open the UI to find out how much meat was on him.  I would just have noted the location and gone about collecting ample wood for a long and hot fire so that, ultimately, I could harvest more than 2 kg of meat and at least the hide.  If there was a nearby cave, I may have also stockpiled some wood in the cave so that I could cook more of the meat in relative comfort and without the risk of the wind blowing my fire out.

I thougt it only has max. 5kg of meat plus guts and hide, i was pleasantly suprised but ohshit cross my mind when it had 35kg and i knew i'm not going to able take all meat that was available and when i'm back for round two there is no moose to harvest or the condition is dropped to 20 or something else is came up. So my decision was 2kg meat and hide is coming with me.

There was a cave where i cooked the meat. And yes, no wind there

Quote

Normally, a ready-made moose-hide satchel is found at the signal fire... now I'm curious if your signal fire still has that item there or if finding the dead moose replaces that item.

 

This is what i wasn't able to find out because i didn't find path around those stickbushes and character is no more among the living.

Edited January 25, 2020 by Makex
spelling

[Jimmy]

Unfortunately, the moose hide satchel doesn't spawn on Interloper at the Mysterious Signal Fire. However, it's still worth visiting, since you've got a guaranteed mackinaw jacket spawn here. Best non-crafted coat slot item on Interloper.

[wizard03]

18 hours ago, Jimmy said:

Unfortunately, the moose hide satchel doesn't spawn on Interloper at the Mysterious Signal Fire. However, it's still worth visiting, since you've got a guaranteed mackinaw jacket spawn here. Best non-crafted coat slot item on Interloper.

I have found a moose satchel on interloper once....I went to the cave up by skeeters ridge, they had just redone it with the waterfall in the back crawl tunnel, and it was in the backpack. But sadly Iv never found it back there since.

[Jimmy]

...And the run's over! I grabbed the mackinaw from the Signal Fire, and looting Milton turned up three (!) thin wool sweaters. My Interloper officially filled all clothing slots with the best items in game.

Of course, my lack of experience with Hushed River Valley saw me end my run after delivering my survivor into the jaws of a stealthy wolf.

To summarize my experiences for Interloper:

1. Loot and scoot.

2. Burn resources to increase speed.

3. Dump it if you can't use it right now.

4. Plan your journey, anticipate your needs.

5. Passing time is a mortal sin.

6. Don't be afraid to fail and try again.

[Guest jeffpeng]

3 hours ago, Jimmy said:

...And the run's over! I grabbed the mackinaw from the Signal Fire, and looting Milton turned up three (!) thin wool sweaters. My Interloper officially filled all clothing slots with the best items in game.

Of course, my lack of experience with Hushed River Valley saw me end my run after delivering my survivor into the jaws of a stealthy wolf.

To summarize my experiences for Interloper:

1. Loot and scoot.

2. Burn resources to increase speed.

3. Dump it if you can't use it right now.

4. Plan your journey, anticipate your needs.

5. Passing time is a mortal sin.

6. Don't be afraid to fail and try again.

Yes, HRV is teaching lessons the hard way. And also good summary, which I from now on shall refer to as Jimmy's Six Commandments, although I find myself guilty of breaking 3 more often than not.  

[Makex]

9 hours ago, Jimmy said:

...And the run's over! I grabbed the mackinaw from the Signal Fire, and looting Milton turned up three (!) thin wool sweaters. My Interloper officially filled all clothing slots with the best items in game.

Of course, my lack of experience with Hushed River Valley saw me end my run after delivering my survivor into the jaws of a stealthy wolf.

To summarize my experiences for Interloper:

1. Loot and scoot.

2. Burn resources to increase speed.

3. Dump it if you can't use it right now.

4. Plan your journey, anticipate your needs.

5. Passing time is a mortal sin.

6. Don't be afraid to fail and try again.

1. Done and done

2. I think i save this piece of coal for later.

3. I think i keep this, i might need this later.

4. I know where to go and what i need but i'm never going to make that journey alive.

5. What if i skip just this once, this is never going to happen again.

6. There must be undo button somewhere over here.

[Jimmy]

Hey Interlopers, here a question:

Are Desolation Point or Broken Railroad worth visiting early in a run?

Timberwolf Mountain is a given for the Summit loot fiesta, and Hushed River Valley for the guaranteed mackinaw jacket and combat pants, but are the other two worth the calories and resources spent to reach them?

Desolation Point (via Crumbling Highway) and Broken Railroad also have the common choke points where wolf encounters are extremely difficult to avoid. It makes them both really hard to justify visiting before crafting a survival bow for self-defense. They also don't commonly have particularly rare loot, from my experience.

Do any other players deliberately set out to visit these areas in the first thirty days of their runs?

[manolitode]

18 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

Hey Interlopers, here a question:

Are Desolation Point or Broken Railroad worth visiting early in a run?

Desolation Point (via Crumbling Highway) and Broken Railroad also have the common choke points where wolf encounters are extremely difficult to avoid. It makes them both really hard to justify visiting before crafting a survival bow for self-defense. They also don't commonly have particularly rare loot, from my experience.

Do any other players deliberately set out to visit these areas in the first thirty days of their runs?

BR: Yes, I like to go there around day 15 or 30 depending on starting region. I usually sleep in the outside bed at maintenance yard, collect the hides in ravine, get the limbs and tea ingredients northeast of hunting lodge and pick up the 50 something cattails. Always use the forge once and perhaps the best part is shooting wolves through the windows at the yard. Is it worth it calorie-wise? If you make use of the many carcasses and save the cattails for endgame. You sometimes find the Mackinaw jacket in hunting lodge, if you don't you can easily get what you need for a wolf coat. That aside, it's a fun map but that's just personal taste

DP: One of the riskiest maps as you say, well worth visiting once for various loot in my opinion but I prefer the FM forge. There's just too much hostile wildlife, don't wanna waste a good run and meet my maker either there or in crumbling highway. I like to go there once I got decent defence and 3+ archery skill, but no not in the first 30 Days.

Hope that helps you on the way.

Edited January 27, 2020 by manolitode

[Jimmy]

12 minutes ago, manolitode said:

BR: Yes, I like to go there around day 15 or 30 depending on starting region. I usually sleep in the outside bed at maintenance yard, collect the hides in ravine, get the limbs and tea ingredients northeast of hunting lodge and pick up the 50 something cattails. Always use the forge once and perhaps the best part is shooting wolves through the windows at the yard. Is it worth it calorie-wise? If you make use of the many carcasses and save the cattails for endgame. You sometimes find the Mackinaw jacket in hunting lodge, if you don't you can easily get what you need for a wolf coat.

Thanks for the response!

Interesting choice on the cattails, since I tend to see them as the reverse. They're a non-renewable calorie source with no special tools required to gather, giving tinder and food. To my eyes, that makes them ideal for early game use, since that's when you're most in need of quick calories, and actually have use for tinder. Later, when you have a survival bow for hunting, calories become far less of an issue, with weather adaptation being more of a primary concern.

Which do you believe is more effective: stopping at the Forlorn Muskeg and forging at Spence's, returning to Mystery Lake and looting Milton and Hushed River Valley, or continuing through Forlorn Muskeg to Broken Railroad and looting here?

I'm wondering, if I go Spence's, then Milton, then HRV, I could return to FM via the rope from the Farmstead and hit an early BR that way. More efficient, maybe?

[manolitode]

8 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

Interesting choice on the cattails, since I tend to see them as the reverse. They're a non-renewable calorie source with no special tools required to gather, giving tinder and food. To my eyes, that makes them ideal for early game use, since that's when you're most in need of quick calories, and actually have use for tinder. Later, when you have a survival bow for hunting, calories become far less of an issue, with weather adaptation being more of a primary concern.

What I like to do with cattails is distribute them evenly along my endgame route together with sticks, water, teas and coal. For example, if you get caught in a blizzard or attacked by a bear between the fishing cabins in CH and the ravine you'll know that you have an emergency location with resources to go to. Since cattails don't decay, they're ideal for that purpose. 

15 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

I'm wondering, if I go Spence's, then Milton, then HRV, I could return to FM via the rope from the Farmstead and hit an early BR that way. More efficient, maybe?

I like and use this route alot, it's time efficient, varied and more fun than just walking along the railroad tracks from ML to BR. Usually leave most loot from HRV in the gas station lockers in MT for later pickup. You can save Milton for last, as there's mostly a cave or a door close by. Though I got way too many deaths by the bridge up north.

[Jimmy]

I definitely prefer to hit Milton early to pad my clothing and food. No sense letting them rot in containers if you can avoid it. There's good odds to find a second thermal underwear here, or extra wool socks or thin wool sweaters. The food is also worth the minor amount of looting time, since you gain more calories than you spend. Plus, since there's always a door nearby, you don't need to worry too much about the occasional wolf.

My Milton checklist:

1. Must have prybar for the gas station and vehicles

2. Bring improvised hatchet for Hushed River Valley scrub brushes

3. Carry a spare bedroll in good condition, leave it at the cave between the ropes

[manolitode]

1 hour ago, Jimmy said:

I definitely prefer to hit Milton early to pad my clothing and food. No sense letting them rot in containers if you can avoid it. There's good odds to find a second thermal underwear here, or extra wool socks or thin wool sweaters. The food is also worth the minor amount of looting time, since you gain more calories than you spend. Plus, since there's always a door nearby, you don't need to worry too much about the occasional wolf.

My Milton checklist:

1. Must have prybar for the gas station and vehicles

2. Bring improvised hatchet for Hushed River Valley scrub brushes

3. Carry a spare bedroll in good condition, leave it at the cave between the ropes

Neat, I like checklists Plenty of food indeed, you don't have to worry about unlooted food items condition and time at all (unless I'm completely ignorant here). What I meant with "a door or cave nearby" is that I like to finish my migration round by looting MT because the cold on day 35 won't make as much difference there since there's always a warm place nearby and you'll be looting lots of houses. I do worry alot about the occasional wolf in MT but preferably you can push some rabbits into the town's wolf patrols and make a few safe headshots to decimate the wolf population. By the way, you'll need a hammer on your list if you plan on heading straight to BR.

[Jimmy]

I figure if I've already got an improvised hatchet, I don't need to worry about bringing a hammer to Broken Railroad since I've already done my forging by this stage.

[manolitode]

8 hours ago, Jimmy said:

I figure if I've already got an improvised hatchet, I don't need to worry about bringing a hammer to Broken Railroad since I've already done my forging by this stage.

It's up to you, though you'll have the forge there and several pieces of coal and scrap metal laying around in the shed, just waiting to become spare tools and extra arrowheads.

[wizard03]

21 hours ago, Jimmy said:

Hey Interlopers, here a question: Are Desolation Point or Broken Railroad worth visiting early in a run?
Timberwolf Mountain is a given for the Summit loot fiesta, and Hushed River Valley for the guaranteed mackinaw jacket and combat pants, but are the other two worth the calories and resources spent to reach them?
Desolation Point (via Crumbling Highway) and Broken Railroad also have the common choke points where wolf encounters are extremely difficult to avoid. It makes them both really hard to justify visiting before crafting a survival bow for self-defense. They also don't commonly have particularly rare loot, from my experience. Do any other players deliberately set out to visit these areas in the first thirty days of their runs?

Desolation point could be good, if you find a hammer....If not, maybe later. The only high qualities of this place is a couple of "golden spawns" where a rare item might spawn in, the forge for crafting some quick, but very useful tools/arrow heads, and a cave that has two deer hides, but also a very alive wolf. If you can manage to take out the wolf with a bow and arrow, or a flare gun, you can also find some other goodies. Otherwise, its a pretty unforgiving place to start out in and I would actually advise to ignore it until later. 
Broken railroad is bit more useful early game. More rare loot spawns, big house with lots of cloth to repair clothing....its much nicer overall to visit, however keep in mind that the maintenance shed is not a warm place to stay at unless you got the clothing. The only place to sleep and not worry about freezing to death is in the hunting lodge ontop of the hill. Now with that said, again, probably better for later as it also has a forge to craft arrow heads and tools, but you will need to do everything in your power to scrap up all the coal you can. There are no caves nearby to loot from, your best bet is the ravine...Lots of goods to be found down there.

Typically I will go to desolation point once I get off of TWM, out of PV, and past coastal highway, but by then I have good clothing, hammer, and hacksaw. 

 

[Makex]

Hello,

after that first longer run i haven't got anywhere near it because of wildlife, well because wolves mainly, so i turned passive wildlife on and practice "weather management". I still try to avoid wildlife like before to practice that also. My condition is much better on this run cause i stop to warm much often than before and use warmed rosehip tea to get warming up bonus. Loper really is about coal and stick gathering like one said before. I have been in Spence's forge in Forlorn and forged one knife, one hatchet and ten arrowheads. I also have three maple- and 12 birch saplings curing alongside of few hides from deer carcasses. It is day 12 and i'm heading to Milton next.

This current run started from desolation point and it would have ended just before coastal highway in that crumpling road section because of wolf. After that there is about three times wolf was so close it would have charged towards me.

Some may consider that passive wildlife turning on somesort of cheating but for me it was frustrating that my runs always ended with wolf encounter. Playing this game wasn't fun anymore. I think wolves have too much impact on this game right now, but this is only my opinion and other opinions weight as much as mine. Maybe this is my point on this wolf subject because first i'm beginner and secondly i'm bit on comfy side of a person so i like peaceful journeys, with wolves that is not going to happen.

Thanks to everybody who has shared their know how with others so far. I always like to see people getting some assistance, no matter the subject.

Edited January 28, 2020 by Makex
spelling

[Serenity]

On 1/27/2020 at 12:04 PM, Jimmy said:

Interesting choice on the cattails, since I tend to see them as the reverse. They're a non-renewable calorie source with no special tools required to gather, giving tinder and food. To my eyes, that makes them ideal for early game use

I certainly eat some cat tails early on, but there are hundreds of them in the game. You can transition to meat far before they are used up. The important point is that they don't spoil. That makes them really great for leaving a small stash in strategic locations. So when you move around you have a few days of food. That removes the pressure to immediately hunt for food

[Guest jeffpeng]

On 1/27/2020 at 11:24 AM, Jimmy said:

Are Desolation Point or Broken Railroad worth visiting early in a run?

They are pretty down the list, but if opportunity arises, they are both like 2 day detours and sometimes it's just better to be done with them now rather than having to track all the way back there.

On 1/27/2020 at 11:24 AM, Jimmy said:

Desolation Point (via Crumbling Highway) and Broken Railroad also have the common choke points where wolf encounters are extremely difficult to avoid. It makes them both really hard to justify visiting before crafting a survival bow for self-defense. They also don't commonly have particularly rare loot, from my experience.

Somehow I found myself faring well in DP and on the way there. The OIC wolves are usually all in one spot, so if you listen carefully you know what path to take. DP itself has only one particulary dangerous wolf (the one between hibernia and the cave), the one on the way to the lighthouse you can usually avoid rather easily coming from the Church.

BR is a different beast. You definitively have to pull some shenanigans. Plus I really avoid the ravine there. I've lost two survivors down there. If luck fudges you over you are stuck with an unsolvable situation.

On 1/27/2020 at 2:17 PM, Jimmy said:

Bring improvised hatchet for Hushed River Valley scrub brushes

You can bypass both blockades for the signal fires one-way. The return involves a bit of goating, however, which in case of the norther signal fire will most likely result in a few bruises. But it's doable.

On 1/28/2020 at 8:14 PM, Makex said:

Some may consider that passive wildlife turning on somesort of cheating but for me it was frustrating that my runs always ended with wolf encounter.

Whatever difficulty floats your boat is fine. I would even argue that weather and resource management is the harder part on Interloper once wolf locations and ranges become "muscle memory".

On cattails .... I eat as much as I have to, as little as I can. They last forever, they have an excellent weight-calorie-ratio, they don't "cost" hydration, so bottom line: best food in the game. As I have transitioned to "Interloper + No Starve" lately I eat pretty much everything else first, and try to stretch them with deer carcasses and rabbits as much as I can.

I'm still on the fence about if "No Starve" is actually faster than standard 750 calorie Interloper. I find myself having to stop less to recover condition, up to the point where I don't have to at all. If you coincide warm-ups with rabbit groves and deer carcasses (which means you gotta know where they are) you can save a lot of time and firewood, and not having to counterbalance 14-16% of condition loss daily gives you an almost twice as high ceiling for effective condition recovery.

Another upside is that it allows for shorter sleep periods since condition recovery is less of a concern, so you can depend you moment of departure more on the weather and less on the ever fading condition bar. Also since you kinda have to stay warm to even maintain Well Fed (since you use 50% extra calories when freezing) you automatically avoid freezing whereever you can. Plus, of course, Well Fed gives you those 5 extra kilograms, which become a notable speed up when hauling stuff around.

As a longstanding critic of Well Fed I begin to see the deep and obscure wisdom embedded in this concept. The biggest drawback is that you deprive yourself of lategame non-smelly food rather quick, and that you need to "become one with the bow" quick as your lategame survival depends on being able to hunt frequently, fast and efficient.

[Jimmy]

7 hours ago, jeffpeng said:

As a longstanding critic of Well Fed I begin to see the deep and obscure wisdom embedded in this concept. The biggest drawback is that you deprive yourself of lategame non-smelly food rather quick, and that you need to "become one with the bow" quick as your lategame survival depends on being able to hunt frequently, fast and efficient.

Cheers for the reply! I agree about prioritizing a bow if you plan to avoid consuming manufactured foods. Of course, with sufficient knowledge of the maps it's easy enough to perform the initial looting loops at the start of a game to hit up the local food spawns.

For example, if I plan an early Summit to Timberwolf Mountain, there's a fairly linear route to guarantee enough calories that I shouldn't require food, merely a bedroll or enough cloth for two snow shelters plus a hacksaw.

Coming fully rested from Pleasant Valley, I usually grab a half dozen birch barks and two rabbits before hitting the Mountaineer's Hut. Dropping the rabbits at the hut and warming up while I harvest them, I set them to cook for the half hour or so while I bag the two other rabbits down on Crystal Lake. The four should fill my calorie meter, and give me enough time to brew a cup of hot birch bark tea for a warmth boost.

Full and warmed up with a half dozen torches pulled from the fire, I then wander down to the Wing, grab the canned food, tea and coffee, then run down Echo Ravine carrying my fire to ward off the wolf at the Engine and start up a small campfire to scare him off, looting the sweaters, socks and shoes. I slip up to the cave above the engine, set a fire and brew a litre of water in some cans while I warm up a second birch bark tea on the ground. While this boils, I grab the four or five coal from the cave, and check there's no wool ear wraps near the corpse in here, which is a possible spawn.

By the time I'm done looting the cave, the water should be just finished boiling, so I harvest any burnt out torches, feeding them back in the fire if I need more duration to pull back to a half dozen torches, then drink my birch bark tea and climb up to the three-way Cave. I'll use the duration of my warmth to stock up on sticks and bag the three rabbits nearby, then boil another litre of water while I harvest their carcasses for meat, cook them for dinner before I sleep here, and spend the litre of water I made by brewing three coffee and one tea for when I need extra condition recovery while I sleep, remembering to drop one coffee before I rest and feeding the fire up to eight hours duration for a ten hour rest.

In the morning I pick up the coffee, eat whatever leftover rabbit I have, then take a sip of water, pull a torch and make for the Deer Clearing. If the deer carcass is near the base of the rope, I'll start a small fire here, warm up and harvest the venison while I brew water, and heat my coffee again, then drink my coffee, eat the cooked venison to max out my calories, then drop any leftovers and ascend the rope to the deer clearing. If there's no deer carcass I simply drink my hot coffee at the base of the rope to maximize the warmth duration, since I'll be without a torch after ascending.

I usually grab the coal in the cave and whatever other loot is there, then loot the cargo container for tomato soup, cloth and scrap metal before hiking to the rope climb up to the Secluded Shelf, drinking a second coffee before the climb. I typically don't bother with a torch here, paying the price in warmth and condition to save a match like the cheapskate I am.

Once inside the Secluded Shelf, there's coal galore to loot here, plus a possible magnifying lens on one loot table. With a dozen or more coal in my pack, I head out of the cave, grab the rabbit outside and hope for a deer carcass before the summit climb to fill my calorie meter once more. If I've been efficient, I should have just enough energy to make the third climb to the summit without resting by drinking a third coffee, though I may need to drop all my lovely coal and assorted firewood beforehand.

After that, it's just a case of gathering sticks on the summit for a fire inside the Tail Section, resting, looting the place down to the rivets, and then spraining every part of my body returning to the Mountaineer's Hut the fast way. Calories at this point should be sufficient to see me down the mountain even without touching the looted foods from the journey, though returning to Pleasant Valley might cost a few cattails harvested from Crystal Lake without a rabbit hunting detour. If I feel particularly scroogish, I'll save the cattails and head directly for the rabbits at Misty Falls Picnic Area to fill my calories again, though I might also require a second hunt at the rabbit grove near the hunter's blind if I didn't already clear this spot on my trip up.

[Guest jeffpeng]

1 hour ago, Jimmy said:

and check there's no wool ear wraps near the corpse in here, which is a possible spawn.

So it is real? I've heard tall tales about this fabled spawn, but never encountered it in my many adventures on the mountain.

1 hour ago, Jimmy said:

If the deer carcass is near the base of the rope, I'll start a small fire here

.... which got me eaten by the bear once  

All in all nice writeup of how to climb the summit early. It's one of those things a successful loper should have in their repertoir.

[Jimmy]

9 minutes ago, jeffpeng said:

So it is real? I've heard tall tales about this fabled spawn, but never encountered it in my many adventures on the mountain.

Confirmed myself as real (v. 1.69), I spawned in Timberwolf Mountain and found these on day one. No screenshot sadly, but if you trust my word, you can simply assume I won the lottery on the RNG that day. I've not seen them regularly, however. It was generated on the ground, not from looting the corpse.

Also, for what it's worth I've found a mackinaw jacket in the cars on the Spruce Falls Bridge in Mountain Town, in the front seat, not inside a boot or other container, so it's worth risking the wolf and bear here for a quick check of this location each game if you're looking for one.

Edited February 10, 2020 by Jimmy