Lost in Winter's Embrace...

[Screenshot Pilgrim]

14 hours ago, acada said:

So what was the cousin story? Inmate or driver?

😄  Good question, but now that he's in Hushed River Valley, better to forget about the past and focus on the present.  🐺
At least I remember the layout pretty well.*  It's a while since I've been up here.

* Famous last words

[acada]

My Astrid is now in the cannery. She recovered from first wolf swarm attack. She got the code. She killed at least six of grey death in the cannery. One thing surprised her. She thought the grey wolfs which attacks in group, attacks only by nibbling. Suddenly she was in strugle. Now she waits for aurora to be able to enter the workshop. She is depressed now. This place and maybe Desolation Point are possible source of golden nectar. She did not get enough. Maybe she shall call her husband, well known pilot, to help her.

BTW nasty anomaly (one may say a bug) appeared in Bleak Inlet. There is the monkey path to the workshop. Astrid thought she is safe up there. Suddenly one wolf was up on the roofs. She noticed there must be some gravity anomaly or something. Sometimes running wolfs were able to climb unbelievable heights. One wolf was running straight about 3m bellow Astrid. He should hit a boat engine or under the crane. Suddenly the wolf was on the engine and continued over some pole. Lucky the anomaly ended before he was able to reach same level as Astrid.

 

[Screenshot Pilgrim]

Into Hushed River Valley on day 13.  Back out to Mountain Town on day 28.  I didn't search quite everywhere, but made extensive use of the ice caves and was able to gather a lot of loot (including revolver, hatchet & moose satchel). Alas, no syrups.  Hauled out a stack of pelts and gut, so will be sewing a wolf jacket, rabbit mitts, and deerskin pants in the north trailer.  I'll need to hunt some more meat to get through a few days of crafting, then down to the Basin and out to the Muskeg.  Hushed River Valley sure is an abundant place.  It was fun to get back there.  Mostly, the weather was bad, but there were a few clear days when I was able to cover more ground.

Edited July 23, 2020 by Screenshot Pilgrim

[Screenshot Pilgrim]

Out at first light to get some venison from the marshy area up the road from the north trailer in Mountain Town.  Dropped one deer with a rifle shot and wounded another.  While harvesting the dead one, I got jumped by a wolf.  Fought him off, then while cooking outside of the trailer, another wolf kept approaching.  Ducked in the trailer once, used a revolver round, then decided to let him come and take a bit more damage, knowing I would be crafting and resting for the next few days.  Found the other deer, and both dead wolves eventually.  On the last one, the meat was in the single digits for condition, but I took a chance and luckily no food poisoning.  Now, I've got my new animal clothes and have staged at the farm house on my last night before heading out.  Less than a week to go.  

[Screenshot Pilgrim]

Had cooked meat for food, so had to be careful across the Basin.  I tried to keep eating to lessen weight and odor.  At the Hermits Cabin, I got the sense of bad weather coming on, so stayed put to see...

Sure enough, another blizzard.  Storm frequency in Winter's Embrace is definitely a factor for movement planning.  

Even the rabbits seem agitated.  It's just my imagination I'm guessing.  Fully rested before dawn with a nice big moon to guide me out.

[Screenshot Pilgrim]

After searching around the radio tower outside the caves leading back to Marsh Ridge, I decided to go to Broken Railroad to rope climb down the ravine under the Broken Bridge.  This is a place broken ribs guy never visited.  I dodged a wolf hungry for rabbit and used up some revolver ammo on those near the Maintenance Shed.  I spent a couple days inside, smashing up all the crates.  No syrups, but found an ear wrap and some wool underwear.  I'm happy for the few extra degrees of warmth. I made a guess that the climb down to the ravine would need a rope, so I went up to the Hunting Lodge, expecting to find one.  No luck with that, but...

I had intended to avoid looting places already searched by broken ribs guy as a kind of personal challenge, but with the days running out, I unashamedly chugged it down.  I'm still going to visit those regions yet explored before going on a full Great Bear kitchen cabinets raid.  If I can survive Bleak Inlet and the wolves there, I'll head for the Summit as the last leg of my challenge within a challenge.  Although, as it happened, I found not a single rope in the Railroad region, so I suppose if there's time, I'll have to come back.  It's a wearying thought I must admit.

[peteloud]

8 hours ago, Screenshot Pilgrim said:

. . . .  I found not a single rope in the Railroad region, so I suppose if there's time, I'll have to come back.  It's a wearying thought I must admit.

I found a couple of very obvious ropes in BR, but didn't find any cooking pots, syrup or even a Polaroid.  I searched over 90% of the area, including the ravine with the broken ribs guy.

[Screenshot Pilgrim]

@peteloud

Yes, I found it very odd there were no ropes. Of course, I could have just missed it, but I thought I looked everywhere.  I’ve noticed other odd things as well, like I found only one gun cleaning kit (in HRV, which I used up right away) then none in MT or FM or BR.  MT was also very light on sewing kits, but laden with flares. All the more reason to keep moving I guess. 

[ManicManiac]

@Screenshot Pilgrim

The RNG can be cruel, no doubt.

While on my personal challenge I learned the hard way that if there is a climb you really want to utilize I better bring a rope with me, just because we can't trust ropes to spawn in the region we need them.

Of course that only mattered because one of the extra provisos was for me to stay in each new region until it was fully mapped (forcing me to sort of start fresh when it came to surviving in every region).  As bad luck would have it, I was making my way though the Ravine but found no rope anywhere in the zone.  However instead of throwing away the entire run, I did decide to make a one time exception and took on a death march to go pick up a rope.  

After that if I choose to gamble, I gamble the whole run (which is what made entering through Milton Basin so risky).
Other than that, I make sure to make some carry weight to lug a rope when I need to - just to make sure (the good news is there are very few ropes that are absolutely necessary - most just serve as short cuts).

Edited July 26, 2020 by ManicManiac

[Screenshot Pilgrim]

3 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

The RNG can be cruel, no doubt.

True and sometimes baffling. 🙃  Perhaps @acada's Astrid needed the ropes.  Hopefully she's well out of the Inlet by now.  I was up late last night with prison bus guy, making his own way down to the Cannery.  Which was after having to hike all the way to the Abandoned Lookout in Coastal Highway to get a rope for the climb down the Ravine! 😄

[peteloud]

I have now reached Day 333 and just come out of TWM.    I have covered 83% of the world, according to my journal and estimate that I have found around a dozen syrups.

I have, in spite of 27 days there, and some were hard days and searching probably around 85% of the area, I did not find any syrup.  I did find a Polaroid and one Ketchup Chips but no cooking pot.

My personal view is that HTL messed up here with the number of random syrups in a game.  It is very poor gameplay when you have to start a number of games in order to meet the collection criteria.

[Screenshot Pilgrim]

3 hours ago, peteloud said:

My personal view is that HTL messed up here with the number of random syrups in a game.  It is very poor gameplay when you have to start a number of games in order to meet the collection criteria.

You know, I think I have to agree to some extent.  @piddy3825 posted a screenshot where he found 6 or 8 in one shot from breaking up some crates.  That's the kind of thing I'm still hoping for.  I'm on my second guy, but only because I had a bonehead day with my first.  I would have liked to see it be at least possible with a single try.  Maybe have a well hidden motherload somewhere.  Well, just speculating anyway.  For all I know it is possible, but sounds like not.  

That said, I've been enjoying the event a great deal, and since I'm not a badge hunter normally, I won't lose sleep over it.  The almost daily blizzards and the need to keep travelling are enough to take satisfaction in having endured it.  I think I've only missed a few days of the event, and been having fun writing up a kind of travelogue here.

Edited July 26, 2020 by Screenshot Pilgrim

[ManicManiac]

***[Addendum - I will say up front that this is just me walking though my thoughts on how I see the event, it's purpose, and it's implementation - I mean nothing personal to anyone or to the way they view it.]***

Considering the "random" component to finding syrup in containers (and so on), I think it's theoretically possible to find 25 in one run... it's just obviously very very improbable.  While I can agree it might have been nice if the drop rates where a little more generous for those bottles, it really did seem that the main idea was to have more than one play through (I imagine that's why the event was set to last the entire month).

I still kept my original run going, just because it was important to me to do so.

I did however, notice that once I got some decent clothing, the experience just sort of felt like a walking tour of Great Bear.  Once the cold wasn't as much of a severe threat, the reduced hostile wildlife and abundance of processed/canned food that could be found (to me) it just became a bit of a literal scavenger hunt for the syrup bottles.  (which to me, was still fun... it was kind of nice to be able to take it easy and explore the island far and wide)

When I started a new run, I got to enjoy the thrill and struggle of those first days again, when I was running for my very life to try and find every bit of warmth I could.  As it turned out those first two days in of each of my three runs were the most fun to me, so I was glad to relive it.  Yes, it's true that I could have just opted to not where the warm clothing if I wanted to keep the cold as my most brutal foe... but with the rarity of those bottles I was hunting for, it seemed just as well to experience the early game a couple more times. 

I still wanted to achieve the goal in as few runs as possible... and I think I would have been just fine with just two concurrent runs going (considering that I did end up finishing quicker than I thought I would with three).  In retrospect I think I would have just stuck with two runs (it would have afforded me a little extra sleep as well ).

Yeah, I think it's a bit cheaty when folks just start 25-ish runs at Pleasant Valley, beeline for the Farmstead... then rinse and repeat to grind it out.
I also think it's a bit cheaty for folks to just find 1 bottle and bag of chips... make a save point and then consume the same item 25 times (reloading after each time they consume them).

However... I won't try and judge those who choose to play that way.

I mean even 4DoN isn't so brutal that it has to be done in one run (I think a lot of us probably challenge ourselves to do that anyway - but it's not a requirement for the badges).  It's literally just 2 hours of game time saved per day of the 4 day event; which by itself I think is fair to say it isn't that difficult.  Can people cheese it?  Sure, but to my mind... why should anyone care?  I think the idea is to just to offer the community a little something extra (and different) to enjoy.  All-in-all, I think Hinterland succeeded in that (even though, they know full well they aren't going to please everyone). 

I appreciate that Hinterland really want's to do special events for the community (I mean obviously they don't have to, and they seem to do so at their own expense).  As the old saying goes: It's rude to look a gift horse in the mouth.    So I try not to.

 

[Addendum]
Again I'd like mention that I wasn't referring to anyone or anything in particular as I elaborated on my point of view...
I was only trying to walk through the way I think about it... it was not meant to be any kind of commentary on the opinions of others (just an explanation of my own). 

Edited July 27, 2020 by ManicManiac
Edited for clarity. :)

[piddy3825]

38 minutes ago, ManicManiac said:

...I think it's theoretically possible to find 25 in one run... it's just obviously very very improbable. 

and let me apply one of my favorite quotes regarding theories:

"If the theory turns out to be right, that will be tremendously thick and tasty icing on the cake."
Brian Greene

[ManicManiac]

@piddy3825

I like it, that's a good quote

I wasn't trying to imply that it's my theory... it's just math... if something has a given a probability, then if said thing is reproduced enough times then it's conceivable that the ideal outcome is possible.   ...but again just highly improbable.  

Edited July 27, 2020 by ManicManiac

[Screenshot Pilgrim]

Prison bus guy continued..

No trip through the Muskeg is complete without at least one night outside during a blizzard.  I had already combed the southern part and was rested enough to try for an evening run through the eastern rim.  Storm hit while I was checking the radio tower.  Had to switch location and start a new fire during the night, but was able to wait it out and catch up on rest. 

I was travelling light enough to sprint across a weak ice section that had once caught me in the past.  I continued up to the tracks and had another short rest at the Camp Office.  A trip around the Lake Cabins (no syrups), some fun and games with the lake wolves, then a night in a trailer by the Dam.  As I mentioned before, no rope in the Ravine, so decided to look around Coastal Highway for one.  Spent a night in the mine which landed me one syrup found in a locker, then hit the Abandoned Lookout to fetch a rope.  Free climbed down to the little cabins (nothing found), then back to the Ravine.  Waited out another storm in a cave and watched the rabbits.   Bleak Inlet next...

[piddy3825]

26 minutes ago, Screenshot Pilgrim said:

  Spent a night in the mine which landed me one syrup found in a locker, 

Just wanna clarify... the mine in CH that needs an aurora to power the elevator?  

[Screenshot Pilgrim]

1 minute ago, piddy3825 said:

the mine in CH that needs an aurora to power the elevator?  

It was the mine entrance that leads to Pleasant Valley and is closest to the Abandoned Lookout on the Coastal end.  I heard the elevator was a new addition, but I actually haven't used it yet.  There was no aurora that night, so I just went through, checked the containers, smashed open the crates, and went back to the Coastal entrance to rest.   Once I'm done at Bleak Inlet, I'll have to remember to check it out.

[acada]

11 hours ago, Screenshot Pilgrim said:

True and sometimes baffling. 🙃  Perhaps @acada's Astrid needed the ropes.  Hopefully she's well out of the Inlet by now.  I was up late last night with prison bus guy, making his own way down to the Cannery.  Which was after having to hike all the way to the Abandoned Lookout in Coastal Highway to get a rope for the climb down the Ravine! 😄

It is true. Astrid found ropes just when she needed them. Ravine had one on the spot and there was a rope hanging on Pensive Lookout. She is now in peace with the fact she will not gather all the maple syrup. She will not call Will. Now she breaks crates in the Bleak Inlet and then bee line to the Desolation Point. 

I must say, it was very funny chalenge. Even though I will not manage to gather all the syrup. I like the weather. Unfortunatelly I think the hunt for syrups made my run not suitable for long term survival. Astrid did not gather shot cartridges casings. She was wasting resources here and there. But anyway I will continue with it after the chalenge ends. Just to see.

[peteloud]

7 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

, , , ,   While I can agree it might have been nice if the drop rates where a little more generous for those bottles, it really did seem that the main idea was to have more than one play through (I imagine that's why the event was set to last the entire month).

If  Hinterland's aim was to have people play a number of games they should have said that and made it a requirement to start x games in different areas, or whatever. 

What I think would have been better was to spawn 5 or 6 syrups in each of the main areas so that players were forced into visiting and thoroughly exploring each area.

I still think that Hinterland did not pay enough attention to the pseudo-random spawning of the syrups.

[JMK]

I agree there should have been enough Syrup to make it in one run. I visited every region but HRV and had to stat more games which doesn't mak much sense.

Winter's Embrace (or future events) would benefit from having a coherent difficulty preset (Voyageur, Stalker, Interloper) to entertain a wider range of players.

Although 4DON forced me to move during nights and l learned how to deal with it, which is a benefit beyond a badge 😉

 

[ManicManiac]

7 hours ago, peteloud said:

If  Hinterland's aim was to have people play a number of games they should have said that...

But they did...  It's literally mentioned in their description of the badge:

On 6/28/2020 at 1:10 AM, Admin said:

Canadian Feast: Find and consume 25 bottles of Maple Syrup and 25 bags of Ketchup Chips across multiple saves while WINTER’S EMBRACE is active.

 
 

7 hours ago, peteloud said:

I still think that Hinterland did not pay enough attention to the pseudo-random spawning of the syrups.

Perhaps they didn't, or perhaps they tuned it that way intentionally... I can't say for sure either way.  I did agree with you that it might have been nice if the drop rates for the bottles had been a little more generous.  
 

Edited July 27, 2020 by ManicManiac

[piddy3825]

15 hours ago, Screenshot Pilgrim said:

It was the mine entrance that leads to Pleasant Valley and is closest to the Abandoned Lookout on the Coastal end.  I heard the elevator was a new addition, but I actually haven't used it yet.  There was no aurora that night, so I just went through, checked the containers, smashed open the crates, and went back to the Coastal entrance to rest.   Once I'm done at Bleak Inlet, I'll have to remember to check it out.

honestly not too much aurora, so you might have to stay put for a while waiting for it happen.  and then, what if?  what if you go down there and then the power goes off while you are exploring...  no thanks, give me the heeby jeebies...

[ManicManiac]

@piddy3825

In those situations I tend to bring a week's worth of food and water with me, just in case.
So far I've, been lucky and never gotten stuck... but it certainly is something to be concerned about.

Edited July 27, 2020 by ManicManiac

[piddy3825]

@ManicManiac, your last comment just reminded me of that time when the first story mode episode broke, I had to wait almost 30 days in game time waiting for an aurora to occur so I could continue the story by using that elevator in the dam.  Be my luck I'd go down there with a fortnights worth of provisions only to be eventually starved out waiting a month to get out again.  

~ You have faded into the long dark....