Suggestion - More saplings, Saplings regrow

[bownan]

Howdy, I am loving the games and am quite addicted  at the moment. One thing I would like to see is more saplings around the place for bow and arrow making materials. They are pretty sparsely spread out and hard to find. Given the effort involved in getting crow feathers and arrow heads it would be nice if it was easier to find trees in a forest. I tend to move between regions semi regularly and don't want to be carrying branches to the next zone or check spoiler maps to find locations.

[gotmilkanot]

They're usually found in areas that are off the beaten path and honestly not that hard to find if you take some time exploring each region.

Each birch sapling gives you 3 arrowshafts, with each arrowshaft you can have about 3-4 bow shots before the arrow breaks. So that's already around 12 bow shots from a single birch sapling.

Edited June 11, 2020 by gotmilkanot

[Valuable Hunting Knife]

you can also find them via 'beachcombing', which means that although sparse, in theory they are an infinite resource.

[Serenity]

There are lots saplings in the game. Enough for hundreds of arrows.

I like that they can be a bit are a bit hard to find. Gives you a reason to explore various locations and go to areas you wouldn't have a reason to visit otherwise. If you just need a few arrows there also plenty of easy to find to saplings

Edited June 11, 2020 by Serenity

[wilsonaka]

I can understand the frustration with limited resources, however, that is a key element in the game: managing resources.  Although saplings could be much more abundant in reality than in this game, the usefulness of all saplings is questionable, as you'd have to find the right ones, so I think that the developers struck a nice balance without having failed, unsuitable, or splitting/broken saplings being a thing(also cure time is reasonably unrealistic for this purpose).  Saplings don't grow in the winter, so that's all I think needs to be said on that subject.

Keep trudging along. You'll get where you need to be.

[ManicManiac]

I think that @Valuable Hunting Knife, @Serenity, and @wilsonaka are all right on the mark.

Beachcombing is how we can get more "nonrenewable" items.
Having limited resources and the challenges of having to manage those resources (I think) is indeed an important part of the flavor of the game.
Also... as I've mentioned previously:

On 9/12/2019 at 1:05 AM, ManicManiac said:

There has been at least one individual who stayed alive for 10 in-game years on Interloper... so I think it's safe to say there are plenty of resources for us to keep a run going for a long long time.

...and with regard to plants (saplings as you mentioned) "regrowing:"

On 3/14/2020 at 3:55 AM, ManicManiac said:

Most plants are dormant in the cold seasons, so I'm not sure how much I'd like to be able to "grow things" given the circumstances.  Considering the deep cold, I'd say it's reasonable that we can't farm or that wild plants don't "re-swpawn."  I like that aspect because it makes it important to be careful how we use the limited resources we find/forage. 

I don't think plants of any kind should "regrow" in this game.
We already have beachcombing, which gives us a chance to find items like that (and sometimes things even better - I found rifle ammo once, I was very surprised ).

Plus, I agree that part of what I think makes this game so good is that we have to work with whatever we can find... and sometimes we won't find exactly what we think we need... but we have try to find away to survive anyways (or at least as long as we can) 

Edited June 11, 2020 by ManicManiac

[Admin]

Moved to the Wish List sub-forum.

[Valuable Hunting Knife]

One other point, there do seem to be more plant resources in the relatively uninhabited regions- HRV, TWM, FM.  Bownan, I don't know what level you play at or if you've explored all the regions, but it may be worth your while to do a detailed sweep of these regions (although I appreciate it doesn't resolve your issue regarding moving branches to the next zone, they are too heavy, especially with moose satchel or well fed buff).  

Then there's the quandary of whether to 'waste' arrows on bunnies to level up the archery skill quicker or not...

[bownan]

Thanks all for the replies and I take your points... I'm not 100% sure how beach combing works and I have just left coastal highway and desolation point (do i pick a beach and walk along it?) the more isolated regions on the other side of the map I have yet to visit. As a relatively new player I wasn't necessarily wandering far off the roads for fear of getting lost... I shall try some more off road activities in future. (but Pleasant valley makes me fear for my soul as I have spent two night hiding out in cars) Also I really need a moose bag... just saying

Edited June 12, 2020 by bownan

[Valuable Hunting Knife]

1 hour ago, bownan said:

Thanks all for the replies and I take your points... I'm not 100% sure how beach combing works and I have just left coastal highway and desolation point (do i pick a beach and walk along it?) the more isolated regions on the other side of the map I have yet to visit. As a relatively new player I wasn't necessarily wandering far off the roads for fear of getting lost... I shall try some more off road activities in future. (but Pleasant valley makes me fear for my soul as I have spent two night hiding out in cars) Also I really need a moose bag... just saying

To beach comb, walk parallel to the shoreline (actually out at the limit of the sea ice near open water) and eventually you will start to see random items appear.  Unfortunately they are usually in the 'weak ice' zone, so you have to nip out and back quickly or else you're gonna get wet and cold! CH may be a good place to start, as on a good day you have decent line of sight to see items and predators, plus plenty of fishing huts to warm up in if the worst happens.

Getting acclimatised to the game before gradually expanding is a totally valid tactic.  PV, despite its name and the number of houses, is pretty brutal weatherwise.  One final tip, if you are going out into the 'badlands' consider snow shelters.  They have pros and cons but can be a life saver, worth familiarising yourself with.

Good luck!

[Serenity]

There are saplings in both DP and CH. In DP you can check along the road at Hibernia. The church. And the area around Katie's Secluded Corner. Little Island (near the Riken) generally has maple. But the map is small so it's not much.

In CH most of the saplings are in the hills. Both above the townsite (Dave's Quiet clearing, the path with the bear cave, among others) and especially the Fishing Camp. The area there has multiple chances of both maple and birch. Misantrophe's Island and the car at the transition to Crumbling Highway can also have some birch.

No need for beach combing. That's for very long term survival. There is all kinds of loot that can wash up so the chances for a sapling are very low

One thing to keep in mind is that like with other loot there sapling spawns are possibilities. They are in fixed locations, but not every location will be active in every game.

Edited June 13, 2020 by Serenity

[Dan_]

Maybe it's me taking a long time away from the game or the fact that I usually start very few new games nowadays but, I feel like they meddled ( pesky hinterland kids! ) with the beachcombing loot table. I'm playing on a new loper and spawned in DP, so naturally I ran over the beach from Katie's all the way to the the Broken Bridge looking for some clothing and perhaps a fishy fish for supper and then BAM. Two birch and one maple sapling to begin my journey, made the trip through Crumbling Highway and got to CH and found two more birch saplings. 

Usually, I only beachcomb to restock up on saplings but damn right I've never found this much before in so little time. Usually, I find one sapling per week/beachcomb cycle. 

[bownan]

On 6/11/2020 at 6:00 PM, bownan said:

Howdy, I am loving the games and am quite addicted  at the moment. One thing I would like to see is more saplings around the place for bow and arrow making materials. They are pretty sparsely spread out and hard to find. Given the effort involved in getting crow feathers and arrow heads it would be nice if it was easier to find trees in a forest. I tend to move between regions semi regularly and don't want to be carrying branches to the next zone or check spoiler maps to find locations.

OK I'm retracting this as a suggestion... I have been finding more saplings in my travels... needed to wander further from the path a bit... thanks for the suggestions and encouragement