I beat Stalker mode! (pics)

[jolynsbass]

OK, so I know there's no end technically, but I set a series of goals to achieve, which are outlined below, then I'll give those goals some fleshing out and pics below that:

To begin, I deleted *all* save game/achievement/badge progress/everything - this is a clean wipe, and basically started over my experience with Long Dark from scratch.

GOALS TO WIN:
1) Earn every possible badge in a single run (which is all of them)
2) Earn every possible achievement in a single run (which is most of them, minus the "interloper 1 day", "complete all challenges", and story mode achievements.)
3) Survive at least 500 days, spending at least 25 days in each map
4) contract and survive at least one of each possible affliction, so that every item on the Journal Log has at least a "1"
5) optional : Write a message on the Timberwolf mountain lake, and take a picture from the summit.

To start off: here's a couple pics of the #5 above: (first shot is from the summit - a little hard to read. second pic is just a nearby ridge, so you can see the detail better)

Things I learned: only cured animal skins are visible from great distances, not fresh ones. Also fire is too hard to write with, but it would be extra cool!

total skins - around 80 wolf skins. If I used bigger animal skins or wrote larger letters, it would probably be easier to read from the summit. But wolves are the most plentiful animals in the game. (rabbits are too small)

(more to come...)

Edited March 28, 2020 by jolynsbass
spelling, clarity

[jolynsbass]

Continuing to work backwards: for big goal #4, here are screenshots of the journal log

Anomalies/interesting things to observe:

-- day says only 497, but the journal, oddly, was on day 500! once I then unlocked the 500 day achievement, the number on the journal jumped to 500. - strange.
-- Wolf struggles 79, struggles won 80! (I think I shot a wolf, but it didn't die, and then in the ensuing fight, he must have died just as the struggle got going.)
-- 200+ days in TWM. That's where I decided to "settle" after spending time in the other locations. It's a fun map - lots of variety and animals.

(more to come...)

[jolynsbass]

That last one pretty much took care of big goal #3, too (500 days, >=25 in each location). But for something interesting in this post, here's a couple of screen shots I took.

A floating box in the forlorn muskeg (actually, I'm not sure where that is; I took the shot early on):

A couple of favorite moments with the beautiful skies in TLD (the sun is gorgeous through those clouds!):

(The lighthouse can only really be appreciated in-game - screen shots don't do it justice! I remember thinking how glad I was not to be up there with that big light!)

 

Final pic : the deer ran into the cave in TWM next to the deer clearing, so I thought I would help it stay in there... Almost as easy as shooting fish in a barrel!

 

[jolynsbass]

Big goal #2 - earn every possible achievement (minus those few you can't get from a single stalker run.)

Time-related goals - these are super simple - it's just a bit of a slog for the last bit to get 500 days:

     - The First of Many, You Made it!, Ready for when the SHTF, Centurion, The Will to Live - I kind of liked it better when there were smaller increments... (but that 'cause I use to regularly reset my achievements)

 - Deep Forest - campfire only! You can't light an indoor fire (I tried this at first, and was puzzled that it wouldn't complete, until I went back and read the description!)

  - Night Walker, Beneath a Starry Sky - if you've got the right location, these two are easy to get (Stone Chapel, anyone?)

 

Animal & Plant related achievements:

  - Silent Hunter, Pacifist - these two are a pain, but on stalker, there's enough food around to be no problem.

 - It was THIS Big! - having skill 5 on fishing is super helpful, since you catch larger fish that way

 - Waste Not, Want Not - easy to get eventually, just be thorough!

 - Wrapped in Furs - the hardest part is, of course, the bearskin bedroll!

 - There Will Be Blood - man these guys are mean! Super fun addition to the game, but I'm glad they are not everywhere!

 - Stone-Age Sniper - this can be tricky, takes a bit of luck, and good aim!

 - Living Off the Land - starving still counts toward this.

 - Natural Healer - easy; you don't need to brink birch bark tea to get this, but I think you should.

 - Happy Harvester - keep harvesting, it will make you happy!

 

Other kinds of achievements:

 - Desolation Point - easy to do once you have the supplies

 - Timberwolf Mountain - The summit rocks

 - Penitent Scholar - For longest time, I misunderstood the instructions, I thought you had to read *every single* book in the game, impossible once a skill was at 5! But not true; just 1 of each *type* of book is required. Much easier!

 - Resolute Outfitter - To get this, you've got to have things in your accessory slots, too.

 - Faithful Cartographer - This is a devil, as many of you know! I only used reference lists after mapping *everything* I could find. Only missed a couple on my own. some are really tricky to get in just the right location.

 - Easy in stalker, it will be hard in interloper! 

 - Skilled Survivor - some skills go up fast (cooking, carcass harvesting). The ones that took me longest time were Rifle, and Fishing (there's another story there - see writeup for big goal #1 below). This is probably impossible in interloper, since there's no rifle to practice with.

 - Exploration Game - This is a fun one, just need to be thorough

 

Grand total: 26 achievements possible in Stalker survival mode. Only two not possible (1 day interloper, and challenge mastery, well, also all the story mode achievements, obviously!)

 

(more to come...)

Edited March 28, 2020 by jolynsbass
Added titles, and forgot 50-day achievement

[jolynsbass]

Big goal #1: earn all badges

Starting a game from scratch means, of course, you cannot select any of the badges as perks to help your survivor. If I do an interloper attempt, I will probably leave these in place, so I can use two badges... maybe that's cheating, though!

Here are the screen shots showing I got them all:

Breakdown of each:

 Blizzard Walker - this one is not difficult if you just sleep outside (snow shelter) during blizzards. Since clothing is so warm in Stalker, it's never any risk. You don't have to actually walk in the blizzards.

 - Rabbit Trapper - Best place for this: Jackrabbit Island, of course!

 - Snow Walker - travel 621 miles in-game, my journal only recorded 617 or so, but this still triggered! odd! 

 - Free runner - With as much running from wolves as we often do, this is not hard to get in 500 days of survival!

 - Fire master - getting 1000 fires in a single game is tedious. I eventually stopped using my magnifying glass because its twice as slow to start a fire with, and just burned through 100s of matches (lit torches are also helpful!); thank goodness for the speed boost at firestarting skill 5!

 - Efficient Machine - This goes hand-in-hand with the 500-day achievement, so easy, though a little tedious from about day 300+

 - Cold fusion - This has got to be the single most valuable badge to have, when you start a new game. Those +4F degrees make a huge difference!

 - Book Smarts - this is the hardest badge to get in one run, because you need a strategy. Knowing that "Guns Guns Guns" is a 25 hour read, I made sure not to use my rifle at all past skill 3, so I could read all of those particular magazines. Also, I would read several books of varying types to near-completion, but leave the last hour un-read, so as to keep my skill from moving up to 5. So a book with 5 hours to complete (like a fishing book), I'd read 4 hours, and leave the 5th. I started finishing books once it became clear that I'd be okay getting my 250 hours.

 - Straight to the Heart - had to metagame this one a little, as there aren't *that* many cups of coffee or other stimulants in the game. BUT, if you drink coffee & stop, then you can drink multiple times from 1 cup, and each drink counts. I think it's the only way to get this badge in a single game. See below for a screenshot of my coffee loadout in the stone chapel!

(Upon entering the church, it became clear that no one would be drifting off, no matter boring the sermon.)

 

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Final Thoughts:

It was fun to do this run - I've been trying to do something like it for years now. It took me about 3-4 months, and maybe 100 or so in-game hours (or a little more). Exploring Hushed river valley and the Bleak Inlet were exciting, as I'd never been to either map before this run!

It was so much fun, that I think I'll try an interloper variant. Should I wipe everything out for that run, too? that would be brutal!

If you enjoyed reading about my "win", please share your thoughts!

Edited March 28, 2020 by jolynsbass
added final thoughts

[jolynsbass]

(Addendum: For a short, but interesting read on another of my "wins", see this post here:

The goal was to get as many simultaneous maladies as possible (this was done a while ago, before broken ribs were added.)

 

[Hotzn]

Cool. +1

[ManicManiac]

Bravo...

Well done.

[IamSameer]

Congrats 🥳  super interesting - thank you.

I end up slacking and becoming wolf wood!

[Sherlock Holmes 18]

I wouldn't do a few of those things, but good things have happened. 

[Stinky socks]

Dedication achievement unlocked

 

Incredible work!