BR and wolf packs.

[Willbonney]

Not sure what the thought here was, allowing 3 and 4 packs of wolves to spawn in close-in locations in BR.  I'was only doing Voyager, but had to kill 3 wolves along the railroad tracks on the way into Broken Railroad from Forlorn Muskeg, make my way limping into the Maintenance Shed and lick my wounds as one of them got to me.  And now, for the last 4 days every time I try to leave the maintenance yard I'm attacked by a different wolf, 2 killed by a gun, 2 after melee.  Then I'm making my way down to the Hunter's Blind, sucks to be me, have a bear and be dead.  Voyager?  Yeah, can't say I'm going to try BR in Stalker or Interloper, dumb allowing that many aggressive creatures to spawn and path in that small of an area.

[manolitode]

As often in TLD, it's a risk/reward consideration that's up to you to make. If you want access to the Maintenance yard with its forge, worktable, huge storage and an outdoor bed where you won't get jumped, this is the price. I'm not sure whether BR is actually worth visiting loot-wise but I like to go there at least once every playthrough just to be done with it. You're absolutely right that the wolf population gets worse in the higher difficulties and once you reach the shed you can shoot them from the windows in the open shed area and pile them up  

[Screenshot Pilgrim]

I've noticed the respawn rate for wolves on Voyager seems pretty quick.  I got into it with the Coastal Highway ice wolves, finished off four of them, and they were all back within a day or two.  I think I could have extended that by not harvesting, but I needed the meat and was working towards a second wolf coat.   In Broken Railroad, it's hard not to get tangled up in wolves, but it's possible with various tactics.   There are some rabbits along the tracks on the way in that will distract a wolf.  Also, depending on where you're at with your clothing, Voyager is pretty forgiving with temps, so on the way down from the tracks to the shed you can find a spot to observe the yard for a while and pick your moment to head into it. 

It's too bad you can't roll down the window when you're in a truck to show them your revolver.  Just have to give em the finger instead, then take a nap. 🙂

[odizzido]

I always wonder what the heck all these "wolves"(they're dogs not wolves) are eating. How you can kill so many dogs and they just never stop, swarming in like locusts stripping the land of everything.

[piddy3825]

17 hours ago, Willbonney said:

... every time I try to leave the maintenance yard I'm attacked by a different wolf, 2 killed by a gun, 2 after melee.  Then I'm making my way down to the Hunter's Blind, sucks to be me, have a bear and be dead.  Voyager?  Yeah, can't say I'm going to try BR in Stalker or Interloper, dumb allowing that many aggressive creatures to spawn and path in that small of an area.

Me too!  I just launched a new game in Voyager and selected random region and spawned indoors in the maint. shed in BR.  
yeah, got a forge all right but no heavy hammer and no weapons.  couple of flares in the unlocked lockers and a decent parka.  Every time I try to exit I got 2 or more wolves out front or two wolves out back.  I waited 3 days until a blizzard drew in and under cover of near white out conditions ran out the back and followed the lamp posts down to the lake and around to gate leading up to the lodge.  Made it there with hypothermia but nothing with fangs or claws got in my way.  Game changer when I found the pistol in the car and the rifle in the upstairs bedroom.  Plenty of ammo.  When the storm was over, only one wolf patrolling the lodge and I managed to put a bullet in him as he was busy killing a rabbit right outside the door.  got a little 2fer!  Dead guy near a dead deer yielded a decent bow and two arrows.  

anyways I think if you manage to get by the two in the back, turn right along the fence and skirt along the rock wall.  If you see some deer, that's good to cause you can spook them into running out towards the lake where they will distract the wolves for you.  Bear doesn't seem to patrol to far past the middle of the lake cause that's where the moose's territory kinda starts.  There's that semi felled tree you can skamper up in case of any immediate danger.  Good luck and good speed!

Edited October 18, 2020 by piddy3825
spelling

[stirfoo]

BR is actually where stalker got boring for me. I was at about 155 days in the hunter's lodge and just killed another moose at the pond. I think it's a well made map though. I like the multi-level layout. Oh, and there's a grave to be visited there at the shed in one of the challenges (As the dead sleep).

[Willbonney]

1 hour ago, stirfoo said:

BR is actually where stalker got boring for me. I was at about 155 days in the hunter's lodge and just killed another moose at the pond. I think it's a well made map though. I like the multi-level layout. Oh, and there's a grave to be visited there at the shed in one of the challenges (As the dead sleep).

BR might be good once you've gotten your player a bit established., with flares or extra bullets you can waste, but I had just made the character and only had a week or so of looking around Forlorn, 50/50 chose BR over MT to head to next cuz I hoped for a bow and was low on pistol rounds. Eh, hindsight I guess I should've gone easy and went to ML. 

But that said, I feel "common" wolf packs, not Timbers, seems a bit intense at the moment, and so does bear respawn.  And I kind of agree with the poster above, there should be a point of time in my opinion where you've killed off the spawn rate at a particular location, or at least reduced it.  Especially with bears.  Dens don't really get any new comers after the bear whose home it was gets killed off.  I know it's a game and all, but bears shouldn't respawn in my thinking.  Back when we only a few maps it was fine because there weren't that many bear spawns.  Now there's a lot more spawn points for bear, and in my thinking, once that bear is killed, it should stay killed.

[TiffTastic]

I start off a lot in BR specifically for the challenge. I like that I gotta think through my trips, and I don’t get killed by the wolves very often. I like the outdoor bed too, and wolves to me are better described as quadrupedal rapid food delivery systems. The bear is off in the corner and rarely a problem, which is good, cause I hate bears, and they love tiffburgers. I’ve spent 200 days there before, when I was trying to get the 500 day achievement. Of course I never claim to be hard core, I play nowadays on a custom based off of stalker with worse/colder weather.

Tiff🦋

[Jimmy]

Broken Railroad suffers a few problems.

First, there's no unique loot found here. Unlike Timberwolf Mountain's Summit or Hushed River Valley's caches and Mysterious Signal Fire, nothing amazingly important spawns here.

Second, to get to the forge, which is arguably the most attractive feature of Broken Railroad, you almost have to walk straight past the forge at Spence's in Forlorn Muskeg. It simply takes fewer resources and time to aim for Spence's forge instead.

Third, there's no good sources of coal close to the forge. Beyond the first few pieces that spawn in the shed, it's strictly BYO. You'll only get two or three crafting sessions in before you'll need to travel back to Forlorn Muskeg for more.

Finally, the path leading to the Maintenance Shed is narrow, has a high chance of wolf encounters, and little good shelter. It's a major turn-off to visiting the region when you're planning your travel.

I usually rank it second last on my Interloper visit list, right above Bleak Inlet. It's there, it probably has a few nice pieces of loot, but by the time I'm ready to visit I've already got most of what I need from better places.

[TiffTastic]

There’s also a cool little system of overlooks if you go past the cave that’s on the right where the hunting lodge is on the left, there’s a fair amount of saplings up there. You can actually map the whole region from those overlooks.