Coastal Highway

[pdxthehunted]

Hello, everyone. I'm new to the forum but intermediate TLD (~200 hours). However, I recently started playing Interloper after a one year break from the game, and I am hoping to get some advice.

Here's my situation: I'm at about day 50 in the current sandbox. Spent the first 30 days tooling around Mystery Lake and Milton. After crafting deer + rabbit clothes, I decided to go to CH to look for some missing clothes--I need a wool toque, another pair of underwear, and non-sports socks. Well, I didn't find any of those things in CH (yet), but I did bag my first Interloper moose. The problem is that I don't have a bear or even wolf coat, and I think I'm experiencing the weather decay now. I can only go outside with 1-2 arrow temp for a few hours per day. I haven't gotten any cabin fever warnings, but I'm pretty nervous about it. (I'm holed up at the garage.)

Right now other than rabbit + deer clothes, I have combat pants, mackinaw and ski jacket, thin wool and thin sweatshirt, earmuffs, wool socks and sports stocks. I have about 6 arrows and two bows, both at less than 50%. Haven’t found any maple yet in CH but I haven’t looked that hard. I have two wolf, one moose, and a bear hide curing. I have meat for days so that's all good. I'm trying to plan out how to do some crafting once my hides are cured. I don't really have great map knowledge of CH. I remember losing a Voyager save once last year, though, to a bear while (or shortly after) I was crafting at an outdoor workbench at the fishing village.

Here are some options that I'm mulling over:

1. Build snow shelter outside Quonset and try to spend all the time that I can there to avoid cabin fever so that I can craft in the garage.
2. Start hoarding coal so that I can build a fire next to the workbench in the fishing village. Crouch while crafting and (obviously) not carry meat/guts. (One thing Interloper has taught me is what a serious offense carrying a scent is. I suspect that when I lost that Voyager sandbox last year I was probably carrying meat. Now, I'm almost pathologically afraid to carry meat anywhere.)
3. Alternatively, hoard coal so that I can sleep in a fishing hut at night while crafting in the garage during the day.
4. I know that I can use a fire to cook from a snow shelter--has anyone tried building a snow shelter near the outdoor workbench? Can you craft at a workbench from inside a snow shelter? I know that wouldn't protect me from animal attacks, but it might give me a little margin for error with the weather.

Finally, I'm unsure of what order of ops to craft in. My moose hide will be ready first. In previous sandboxes, the satchel was a no-brainer. Here, I'm not so sure. Will a wolf cloak be warm enough for me to bag one more bear and craft a bear coat, or should I make a wolf coat + moose coat and then aim for a bear bedroll?

I know that ultimately, all of this is up to me and there probably isn't one right answer. I'm just trying to plan out my evening session now while I get a little other work done and am interested in what other players would do.

Thanks!

 

 

[Serenity]

You can also sleep in the truck behind the garage with a fire going next to it. It's not 100% protected, but it's pretty safe. You can sleep in shifts so you can go inside when it's blown out.

Coal is plentiful in CH. Take a trip to Cinder Hills coal mine (connects to PV). There is more coal in there than you can carry

As for crafting. Get the moose hide satchel and a wolf coat (or two). With the bear skins make a coat as well. Bear coat under wolf coat is pretty great and allows you to be at one arrow down late afternoon in the warm regions.

I don't really find the bear skin bedroll all that useful. It has some niche uses when you sleep in exposed locations, but for caves the regular bedroll is good enough.

Edited September 4, 2020 by Serenity

[haft2doit]

I would say If you are looking to stay in coastal a while the fishing hut and ice fishing hut combo is my go to.  The crafting bench is outside there so it is more of a craft a bit and retreat unless the weather is really nice.  The fishing hut the will naturally keep you outside for water, cooking, and fishing.  I never have a problem with cabin fever in coastal there.  There is a route up to the coal mine without wolves you can use to get a ton of coal per trip.  I always survive on coal with very little need to collect wood. 

You could potentially be more time efficient at the quonset if you just want to power through the crafting.  If you want a sustainable base to operate from with some setup cost, go with the fishing hut.

Edited September 5, 2020 by haft2doit

[manolitode]

11 hours ago, pdxthehunted said:

Here are some options that I'm mulling over:

1. Build snow shelter outside Quonset and try to spend all the time that I can there to avoid cabin fever so that I can craft in the garage.
2. Start hoarding coal so that I can build a fire next to the workbench in the fishing village. Crouch while crafting and (obviously) not carry meat/guts. (One thing Interloper has taught me is what a serious offense carrying a scent is. I suspect that when I lost that Voyager sandbox last year I was probably carrying meat. Now, I'm almost pathologically afraid to carry meat anywhere.)
3. Alternatively, hoard coal so that I can sleep in a fishing hut at night while crafting in the garage during the day.
4. I know that I can use a fire to cook from a snow shelter--has anyone tried building a snow shelter near the outdoor workbench? Can you craft at a workbench from inside a snow shelter? I know that wouldn't protect me from animal attacks, but it might give me a little margin for error with the weather.

I would avoid building a snow shelter at Quonset. It's the most hostile of all camps in CH and some players have reported getting dragged out of snow shelters when placed in wolf patrol areas. It's not a nice way to wake up. 

If you prefer staying around Quonset and setting up an outdoor shelter there is a much safer area in its vicinity. When you exit the garage facing away from the road there is a hill. Up the hill to the right you will find a calm deer spot. 

You don't have to worry too much about cabin feber in CH. If you sleep at the fishing huts, craft at the outdoor worktable, do some fishing, collect a daily nice pile of sticks you will be fine. Should you find yourself with a fever one day, just head up to the ravine and sleep it off in the warm cave. 

Good luck!

[Serenity]

3 hours ago, manolitode said:

Should you find yourself with a fever one day, just head up to the ravine and sleep it off in the warm cave.

There is also a nice cave under the arch in Crumbling Highway. Not too far away from Qonset.

[pdxthehunted]

Thanks, everyone, for your thoughts and advice.

My moose hide finished last night, but I ran into some other problems (all of my own making/poor planning).

I miscalculated my hides—I guess it takes four wolf hides, not two, to craft the wolf cloak. Not sure what I was thinking, but I realized that only after I had made the moose satchel. Wolves were all too plentiful at the Garage, so I got another two hides curing, but not before cabin fever risk set in. (After crafting the satchel, I was pretty much stuck inside for at least a full day due to blizzards.)

I had also been planning on a bear coat becoming available—I had one bear hide already curing, and had killed a second bear at the end of my last playthrough before signing off. However, when I logged back in last night, I could not, for the life of me, find the carcass. (It was the bear that patrols around Misanthrope’s.) I shot him on the ice, and figured I’d wait out the night on the island for him to bleed out, since I was out of fuel for the fishing hut. Over the next couple of days, I wasted most of the afternoons searching for him. Checked Misanthrope’s and Jackrabbit Island, as well as the burned-down cabins near the Abandoned Highway entrance.

I gave up when the blizzards hit and went to craft my satchel, and that’s when I got trapped inside for too long. (I also got my sleep schedule messed up, so that I ended up having to just pass time in the mornings before it got light enough to do anything.)

When the CF risk procced, it was still a blizzard and still before sunrise. It was too cold with my mediocre gear to spend any serious time in a car, so I just killed time and got organized until it was light out. My plan was to try and make it to the coal mine to stock up on fuel, so that I could spend time outdoors without dying.

I made it to the Abandoned Mine (with the elevator shaft), but I had already stripped it too recently. Warmed up in there before attempting to find the coal mine proper. Well—like I said in my OP—I am not terribly familiar with CH, and I never found the actual mine. I got turned around and ended up at a cabin somewhere, which had enough reclaimed wood for me to build a fire behind it to boil water for the blizzard’s duration.

I drank some reishi tea and ventured onward. Probably through pure luck, I finally realized where I was, which was near the unloading area by the ravine. It hadn’t been the plan, but I decided to just retreat to the ravine to stock up on some food, sleep off the CF in a cave, and maybe hunt a few deer (my archery skill had improved quite a bit during my time at CH).

Of course, another blizzard hit, and I was walking into the wind across the entire trestle. Somehow, the terror of freezing to death in the blizzard (condition down to about 60% and dropping) overrode my fear of falling and I booked it to the first indoor cave on the CH side of the Ravine.

It must really be my gear that’s so bad, because despite almost freezing to death on the way there, the cave was warm enough that I had double-arrow temp increase with no fire. Slept through the night in my bedroll, and in the morning set about hunting rabbits and gathering birch so that I could start to restore my lost condition.

So that’s where I left things. I bagged two deer and am pretty much recovered. Tonight, I’m going to try and wander back to Trapper’s in ML where I have two bear hides that ought to be cured by now, which will go into a nice, new coat.

From there, I’m unsure—CH ate up my arrow supply much faster than I anticipated. The Quonset wolf population seemed endless, and I lost several arrows to wolves who ran away to die that I never found, as well as the bear that I lost track of. So, I have four arrows and no arrowheads. My options:

• Go to Spence’s from Trapper’s to forge. Pros: It’s close. Cons: Will need to stop and get scrap metal at the dam. Will need to clear out the Milton cave for coal. Also, FM terrifies me. I never feel safe from wolves, and since it’s so cold, I’m liable to rush and make mistakes.
   
• Conserve the arrows that I have as best I can as I make my way back to CH. Stop off at the Garage to craft a wolf coat, and then head to the Ryken to make arrowheads. DP had been the plan before I got lost in the blizzard because it’s the map I’m most familiar with. I have plenty of scrap metal already stored at the garage, so I just can’t forget to find coal before I go forging. Pros: If I can make it back to Quonset, the wolf coat + bear coat combo should allow me a bit more time outside before having to retreat. Cons: A little nervous about getting through the Crumbling Highway.

 

I think fear and timidity will end up killing me this run. I’m learning that it can be preferable to take some controlled cold damage (even during the morning or heavy winds) than to be forced outside to gather resources during a blizzard. Conversely, sometimes you have to move through a blizzard, rather than slowly dying in a car or snow shelter.

A final question: Can wolves smell you when you’re cooking? At Quonset, I tried to cook outside to avoid CF, and even with no guts or meat on my person, it seemed like they could smell the cooking meat on my campfire.

Sorry about the book-length post, and thanks everyone for your tips.

9 hours ago, Serenity said:

There is also a nice cave under the arch in Crumbling Highway. Not too far away from Qonset.

That's good to know that there's a place I can warm up in the transition zone.

13 hours ago, manolitode said:

I would avoid building a snow shelter at Quonset. It's the most hostile of all camps in CH and some players have reported getting dragged out of snow shelters when placed in wolf patrol areas. It's not a nice way to wake up. 

Yeah. I like the location okay, but I don't have time to deal with that many wolves. I had enough close calls during my couple of weeks there--although it has forced me to get a little better with the bow, it's only a matter of time until I miss a charging wolf and end my run.
 

[Serenity]

22 minutes ago, pdxthehunted said:

Warmed up in there before attempting to find the coal mine proper. Well—like I said in my OP—I am not terribly familiar with CH, and I never found the actual mine.

Think about how the whole mine is laid out. If you played Wintermute. In story mode the two parts aren't connected, but the main mine is above it. So you have to go up the hill for the other part

 

In general if you have issues with crafting and cabin fever (which isn't unusual once you get past bunny and dear gear) consider moving to Mystery Lake for it. Set up at the hydro dam. Craft in the dam and sleep in the Ravine cave. Or the trailer when CF isn't an issue. Camp Office + Lake Overlook works too

Edited September 5, 2020 by Serenity

[Mistral]

On 9/5/2020 at 10:20 PM, pdxthehunted said:

.I had also been planning on a bear coat becoming available—I had one bear hide already curing, and had killed a second bear at the end of my last playthrough before signing off. However, when I logged back in last night, I could not, for the life of me, find the carcass. (It was the bear that patrols around Misanthrope’s.) I shot him on the ice, and figured I’d wait out the night on the island for him to bleed out, since I was out of fuel for the fishing hut. Over the next couple of days, I wasted most of the afternoons searching for him. Checked Misanthrope’s and Jackrabbit Island, as well as the burned-down cabins near the Abandoned Highway entrance.

I gave up when the blizzards hit and went to craft my satchel, and that’s when I got trapped inside for too long. (I also got my sleep schedule messed up, so that I ended up having to just pass time in the mornings before it got light enough to do anything.)

Are you sure it actually got killed? It always makes sense to check out the "bears killed" bit on the statistics screen, before venturing out to look for the carcass. Of course it's possible it run to the hills somewhere but the crows usually make the death bed apparent

Edited September 7, 2020 by Mistral

[pdxthehunted]

24 minutes ago, Mistral said:

Are you sure it actually got killed? It always makes sense to check out the "bears killed" bit on the statistics screen, before venturing out to look for the carcass. Of course it's possible it run to the hills somewhere but the crows usually make the death bed apparent

Thanks for the reminder. This time, I'm very sure that he died. I've had a few bear hits this sandbox that didn't result in a bleedout, so I made sure not to enter a loading screen until my counter had gone from 3 to 4. Assuming there was no glitch or bug, I'm wondering if he died somewhere closer to the Crumbling Highway. I'm 99% sure he was nowhere on the ice--I could see a wolf I'd killed on the ice practically across the map, but no bear 🤷‍♂️.

A little update on my sandbox: I made it back to Trapper's after recovering in the Ravine. My cooking is Level 5 now, so I had plenty of bear meat there to get the Well Fed buff while I crafted the Bearskin Coat. The plan was to head back to CH straightaway to craft the wolf coat, but I got an easy bear kill outside Trapper's.

He bled out on a sloping hill, so quartering him was more trouble than I wanted it to be--ended up losing some condition to the weather, even with a Warming Up buff. But I'm in the process of getting all of that harvest back to Trapper's, and then I need to harvest the wolf that got interested in the quartering site.

I stripped the Milton/ML cave of coal and have quite a bit of scrap metal stored right outside of the FM transition tunnel, so I think I'm going to take advantage of my Well Fed + Satchel +10kg capacity and head to Spence's tonight. Once settled in there, I'll reup on arrow heads and craft another knife or two (bearskin coat wrecked my knife). I might bring arrow/bow crafting mats and just take advantage of the outdoor workbench.

Not sure if Broken Railroad has anything worth visiting for at this point in my game (day 65-ish). I still would love to find a wool toque and another pair of underwear, but I've looted most of CH and ML without finding any. I've also already hit most of the high value spots in PV during my first week, and most of downtown Milton early on as well.

[UTC-10]

Somewhat late, but if you ever return to the Quonset garage, consider the truck parked out front next to the electric and gasoline pumps. 

The field of vision available while sitting in it make the most of the vision limitations while sitting in a vehicle.  The building largely blocks the back approach, out of field of vision side, the wolves do not seem to path over the parked vehicles but around the sides and the bear would stay more on the road or the driveways, the pumps provide an obstacle that can hinder wolves pathing to you if you exit the truck on the driver's side, and the door into the garage is just a few steps away. 

It might not work well for Interloper due to the extreme temps (vehicles are only +5 C over ambient) but other factors might help. 

 

[odium]

i wouldnt sweat cabin fever till its a problem.  stock a fishing hut with wood and fish when you can light a free fire with mag lens.  that keeps me CF free most times.  i craft a bear coat and moose satchel asap.  i crafted two wolf coats this run but i really could have waited for the bear coat.  you already have a mackinaw which is great, two bear isnt that hard to come by.  imo they are one of the easiest animals to hunt in the game because of the way they follow you and let you fight on your terms.  drag them close and put em down, ez money