Emergency Blanket

[Ahatch]

A common item in any camping section are those emergency blankets. Could give you a small warming bonus while sleeping or huddling by the fire.

[UpUpAway95]

I think it would be better if Hinterland just left the bedroll function is this way because:  1) The cloth bedroll is essentially a warm blanket and I don't think I should have to carry around two of them to get a warmth bonus while passing time.  2) When we throw down our bedroll and select it for passing time rather than sleeping, I think we get a small warmth bonus (which probably represents us throwing the bedroll around out shoulders).  3) The blankets scattered around throughout the game are really just there as a source of cloth, which we can optionally use to keep our bedroll blanket in good repair despite using it frequently to either sleep or pass the time.  Since I've been doing my "one zone only" runs, there are a few zones where I do wish more cloth was available (Timberwolf Mountain, Bleak Inlet, Hushed River Valley, and even Ash Canyon) since these were the zone where I found myself using my bedroll more frequently and it degraded much quicker as a result.  Were I to do a new run in Ash Canyon, it would probably be less demanding on the bedroll since I now know where the structures are and how to get back and forth among them more efficiently (that is, I'm taking fewer naps).

[metlman72]

I dont think it would be good as a reusable item. However as a one time use item I think it could work. You know caught out in a blizzard, disoriented and can not find shelter. You can not start a fire due to the wind. Curl up in the emergency blanket and ride it out. It would have to be one time use otherwise it would become a crutch for the player.

[Stinky socks]

This is all weight we're talking about here. Would you want to carry a bunch of blankets? Plan your trips accordingly and if you get stuck in the weather, find some shelter or fade away. Don't wander around in light clothes.

This is survival, not an adventure island. 

[UpUpAway95]

13 minutes ago, Ps4Methuselah said:

I guess the sleeping bit was a bridge too far my friend. I would like to double down on the idea of a craftable blanket using deer hide or rabbit pelts as an article of clothing,... preferably equipped in the moose hide satchel/ear muff slots. After the crafted blanket is harvested it would yield cloth, a critical resource that up to now has no way of being replicated after supplies run out. No cloth...no bandages & game over. If we can get cured leather from a moose hide satchel then why not cloth from a crafted blanket.

I really wish i could think of a way to use preexisting items to maintain a cloth supply but the only thing that comes to mind is to become a beachcomber.

There is a LOT of cloth in the world though... and lots of items already in the world that we can't harvest that could be made harvestable that would yield cloth... for example, the airplane seats in Pleasant Valley and all the rugs on the floors of the houses..

Getting back to the space blanket idea.  Sure, they are quite lightweight.  Personally, I've never found them to do much good other than for using as a makeshift tarp to stay dry.  They just never felt "warm" on my skin in the same way a cloth blanket does.  I think it might be better if they added a rain poncho.

[Ahatch]

My original suggestion was not a big heavy blanket but these silver blankets. They are not heavy or anything just a small blanket that one could wrap around themselves when huddling by the fire. It could use one of the accessary slots like the crampons. Just give you a very small boost of warmth. Good for those times when you have only a few sticks for a fire and not a warm enough fire to gain temperature. Have it so it can only be deployed when not moving. They would not require cloth but would degrade pretty fast so would be for a few uses then they would be ruined. 

https://lcpshop.net/product/emergency-blanket-survival-thermal-protection/

[Schrodingers Box]

Once again:

  The beauty and brilliance of the game design is the absence of redundancies. 
  The bedroll already Serves that function because you can pass time in it. There is absolutely no use for an emergency blanket. 
  planning is what this game is about. If we have resources to take care of every need there is no point. plus honestly in all the easy levels (pilgrim through stalker), temperature isn’t even a concern anyway because the clothing is so OP as are the fire mechanics.  In any of the easy levels there absolutely zero need for additional warmth.

Edited February 5, 2021 by Schrodingers Box

[ManicManiac]

On 10/5/2020 at 5:18 AM, ManicManiac said:

Mylar Blankets (a.k.a. "space blankets" / "emergency blankets" / "heat sheets" ...et cetera... )
I can see why folks would like the idea, because Mylar blankets are really great at reflecting heat.  However, I don't really think I would like that for this game... and again it's mostly because I see it as something that only serves to make life easier for the player... and I love this game for the struggle. 

 
I tend to agree with those pointing out that our bedrolls already serve this kind of function, and that I think that the redundancy of more blankets (regardless of what they are made of) really isn't necessary.
I think that our bedrolls do a fine job (both standard and bearskin varieties).

Edited February 5, 2021 by ManicManiac

[ManicManiac]

@Ps4Methuselah

No need to delete anything.  My post was just responding to the original poster's idea.
I think every opinion on the subject should be heard.  

Edited February 5, 2021 by ManicManiac

[Ahatch]

Well the bedroll is only good if you pass time you lay it by the fire and hit pass time which is an hour. I guess if you hit cancel right away it's only a few minutes. I think most of the  suggestions on here  would make life easier for the player.  

[UpUpAway95]

5 hours ago, Ahatch said:

Well the bedroll is only good if you pass time you lay it by the fire and hit pass time which is an hour. I guess if you hit cancel right away it's only a few minutes. I think most of the  suggestions on here  would make life easier for the player.  

Unlike when you sleep, you can cancel passing even when you're passing time in your bedroll, so it doesn't necessarily use up an hour.  The only thing that's different when you cancel passing time before the circle hits the end of its travel is that no autosave gets generated.  (It's even possible to pass more than 1 hour of time and not generate the autosave... just don't let your requested length of time complete and no save will trigger.

To pass time in the bedroll, you do have to place the bedroll, but otherwise we don't get to see whether the character is lying down or sitting.  Since we get the warmth bonus and we hear cards being played, I think he/she is sitting by the fire with the bedroll wrapped around their shoulders. 

I think the current bedroll mechanic is superior to your suggestion in that I don't have to unequip one of my accessories... keeping in mind that if an ear wrap is unequipped the warmth bonus for it is lost and if the moosehide satchel is unequipped, the weight bonus for it is lost and the player may instantly become more encumbered and perhaps become even unable to move at all depending on how much they were carrying over their weight limit.  It is also counterintuitive to not be able to wrap a space blanket over anything the character might be wearing or carrying.

[UpUpAway95]

1 hour ago, Ps4Methuselah said:

That is exactly what some players don't want my friend...they think that because they have been playing this game for 7 years that everyone should play by their rules.

I am sorry i caused so much flack on your thread by suggesting we could use blanket's that we see hanging around Great Bear already as supplements to clothing....i did not think i would get jumped by a pack of Timberwolves like in Bleak inlet.

The thing that irks me is that they are more worried about redundancy than game immersion....when i see a blanket in the game i cannot throw over my shoulders at the beginning of a run, it breaks my immersion. The same goes for visors in a car that never yield loot or a gas cap that had no gas.

Some people find it easier to pick on other peoples ideas because they have non of their own,... others do it just to be part of the pack.

I liked your idea & that is why i added a similar one of my own to your thread....if i had known that everyone would jump on your back like this....i would have kept my big mouth shut.

I am truly sorry.😔

I'm sorry you think I jumped on your comment "like a pack of Timberwolves."  I thought I was merely discussing the idea in greater detail... allowing it to become more fleshed out by considering all the alternatives to the suggested and their impacts on the game overall.  I'm sorry you've obviously misunderstood the intent of my post, my friend.  I sometimes come across as being more emotional or negative over things than I truly am.  Sorry... I'll just stop posting now.  Time for a breather from the forums anyways.  See you perhaps after the next big update.  Take care.

Edited February 5, 2021 by UpUpAway95

[Ahatch]

1 hour ago, UpUpAway95 said:

Unlike when you sleep, you can cancel passing even when you're passing time in your bedroll, so it doesn't necessarily use up an hour.  The only thing that's different when you cancel passing time before the circle hits the end of its travel is that no autosave gets generated.  (It's even possible to pass more than 1 hour of time and not generate the autosave... just don't let your requested length of time complete and no save will trigger.

To pass time in the bedroll, you do have to place the bedroll, but otherwise we don't get to see whether the character is lying down or sitting.  Since we get the warmth bonus and we hear cards being played, I think he/she is sitting by the fire with the bedroll wrapped around their shoulders. 

I think the current bedroll mechanic is superior to your suggestion in that I don't have to unequip one of my accessories... keeping in mind that if an ear wrap is unequipped the warmth bonus for it is lost and if the moosehide satchel is unequipped, the weight bonus for it is lost and the player may instantly become more encumbered and perhaps become even unable to move at all depending on how much they were carrying over their weight limit.  It is also counterintuitive to not be able to wrap a space blanket over anything the character might be wearing or carrying.

Why is it better to lie a bedroll down by a fire and hit pass time and canceling better than swapping out an ear wrap or satchel for an emergency blanket. I swap out the ear wrap for the crampons all the time if I walk up to a rope. In the game you are always trading meters whether it is encumbered / cold / sure footing.  So for a small temperature uptick (could be like warm up bonus) you may lose on the fatigue slightly (encumbered)  If I'm walking around and I'm freezing cold in the wilderness the last thing I'm going to do is put a bed down on the cold ground. I would however wrap a blanket around myself and try to build a fire. I also think anyone that goes to the local hardware store and plays The Long Dark sees things in the camping aisle that would be cool in the game.

[UpUpAway95]

29 minutes ago, Ahatch said:

Why is it better to lie a bedroll down by a fire and hit pass time and canceling better than swapping out an ear wrap or satchel for an emergency blanket. I swap out the ear wrap for the crampons all the time if I walk up to a rope. In the game you are always trading meters whether it is encumbered / cold / sure footing.  So for a small temperature uptick (could be like warm up bonus) you may lose on the fatigue slightly (encumbered)  If I'm walking around and I'm freezing cold in the wilderness the last thing I'm going to do is put a bed down on the cold ground. I would however wrap a blanket around myself and try to build a fire. I also think anyone that goes to the local hardware store and plays The Long Dark sees things in the camping aisle that would be cool in the game.

Do you see yourself wrapping the blanket around your shoulders in this game?... No, you don't... any more than you see yourself, after having put your bedroll first down on the ground... picking it up and wrapping it around your shoulders in order to sit and play cards.  What's immersion breaking is not what you see, it's the lack of animation of what you "imagine" is going on.

In practical terms... if you have no satchel, but double ear wraps, then you're trading the warmth bonus of one ear wrap for whatever "small warmth bonus" the blanket would offer.  Unless the warmth bonus of the blanket is higher than that of the ear wrap you're taking off, it's a negative trade.  To me, the bedroll is the better option and I'd likely never use the emergency blanket.  Hinterland can add it if they want to... in my games it'll probably be just another item I won't bother collecting.

[ManicManiac]

9 hours ago, Ahatch said:

I think most of the  suggestions on here  would make life easier for the player.  

And I usually don't agree with those suggestions. 

[ManicManiac]

@Ps4Methuselah

Sorry then, my mistake... I must have misread it.

I bear no hard feelings

[UpUpAway95]

1 hour ago, Ps4Methuselah said:

My grandfather always use to say..."boy, never explain yourself to no one,...your friends won't need it & your enemies won't buy it."

I think you are far too intelligent to believe i would fly off the handle at you after we just had a pleasant debate.

Back on topic, you make it sound like ear wraps grow on trees...they don't. They grow on Timberwolf Mountain.

I like the idea of an emergency blanket & an emergency poncho so we need only take our boots & socks off when going through a waterfall...instead of the full monty.

Be well

Well, I'm wearing double ear wraps in two of my current file saves... and it doesn't change the fact that it would be a negative trade if one removes the ear wrap to equip a space blanket (as proposed here).  Explaining why I fell the use of bedroll is "superior" to the use of a space blanket in as factual and unemotional terms as I possibly can while answering a direct question from the OP of this thread..  As I also said, Hinterlands can add it if they want to.  I'm not likely to use it, so I'm unlikely to collect it.  I have no issue with imagining that the character places his bedroll on the ground, and then sits on a corner of it, and then pulls the rest up over his shoulders so that he can sit and play solitaire while sitting by a fire.  It's just not expressly shown to us in the game... since most of those sorts of animations are not shown in this game.  All we see is a diminishing circle to represent the passing of time while the character does numerous activation... everything from picking berries to chopping wood to reading to crafting... to sitting by a fire.  Hinterlands could have designed this game in third person and shown us animations for all those activities... and the game would perhaps have been more immersive.  They still could change it if they want to.  It's not up to me.

Edited February 5, 2021 by UpUpAway95

[Old Hermit]

Offtopic: It's only me that thinks that ear wraps too useless to occupy an "accessory" slot? I mean, it's a waste of a precious slot for a tiny warmth bonus, and it tears down in every single wolf attack. Not a deal. I only use it because there is no accessories variety.

And i think it should be a head cloth piece instead, noh? Just like a toque or hat?

 

Back on topic, i think the idea of an emergency blanket (even if single use disposable) is consistent, but not neccessary, for many reasons already mentioned above.

Perhaps it would mean introducing other more common survival/emergency items also, and IDK if it's a good idea at the moment.

[Ahatch]

Man every time I go through the till at a store I see bins full of lighters , but I better not start a thread suggestions butane lighters

[UpUpAway95]

4 hours ago, Old Hermit said:

Offtopic: It's only me that thinks that ear wraps too useless to occupy an "accessory" slot? I mean, it's a waste of a precious slot for a tiny warmth bonus, and it tears down in every single wolf attack. Not a deal. I only use it because there is no accessories variety.

And i think it should be a head cloth piece instead, noh? Just like a toque or hat?

 

Back on topic, i think the idea of an emergency blanket (even if single use disposable) is consistent, but not neccessary, for many reasons already mentioned above.

Perhaps it would mean introducing other more common survival/emergency items also, and IDK if it's a good idea at the moment.

Fully repaired the wool ear wrap gives a 1.0C warmth bonus.  The Cotton Toque also gives the same 1.0C warmth bonus when fully repaired.  Two headpieces slots and two accessory slots... same, same... they just look cool.

They could have required us to equip the backpack to get that 5kg carry weight; but I'm glad they decided to just give it to us an an item that's always equipped.

[UpUpAway95]

13 minutes ago, Ps4Methuselah said:

You have a point my friend...i do however expect that an emergency blanket would have better stats for wind protection & perhaps even frostbite protection. Early on in the run is the time most folks are afflicted with frostbite...an emergency blanket or poncho could make a huge difference between survival or death.

Frostbite protection is this game is absolute once you cover all body parts with any type of clothing.  That is, even if you just have driving gloves on your hands, you can't get frostbite on your hands.  That's why they introduced the improvised head wrap and improvised hand wraps... so that Lopers could manufacture items quickly to cover their head and hands, which are the two places they don't generally spawn with clothing on... or if your mitts are ruined in a wolf attack, you can quickly harvest them and whip up a set of hand wraps to avoid getting frostibite.

The complaint people have with them is that aged-old one...they require too much cloth.  I think that if Hinterland wanted to make anything "cloth" more available, they would have by now... but they can if they want to.  I probably will still just use my bedroll for passing time as well as sleeping.

Edited February 6, 2021 by UpUpAway95

[UpUpAway95]

1 hour ago, Ps4Methuselah said:

Yes...but if you wrap a blanket around your self, usually you cover your head & hands...& come to think of it...don't most pants have pockets to protect the hands from frostbite? I heard a rumor that Hinterland is tinkering with the idea to make whatever clothing you are wearing in your inventory actually show up on the game screen. That would be nice...kind of like skyrim.

I'm just saying this is how the game actually works currently...  In this game as it is, frostbite protection is absolute once you cover that body part (unless your clothing covering that body part is entirely frozen, in which case it's like it isn't there at all).  Relative warmth value is not an issue and covering the same body part once or twice makes no difference. 

Reality has nothing to do with it.  In realty, you can get frostbite inside your mitts and gloves and inside your boots.  Your nose isn't going to be less prone to frostbite if you're wearing a toque and your ears will likely get frostbite if you're strutting around wearing a ball cap and would probably appreciate an ear wrap regardless.  In this game, however, they are fully protected once any headgear is equipped in the headgear slot.  Anything equipped in the accessory slot doesn't count AFAIK (but I've never gotten an ear wrap before I've had a toque, so maybe someone else will correct me on that).

 

Edited February 6, 2021 by UpUpAway95

[UpUpAway95]

3 hours ago, Ps4Methuselah said:

Yes...but if you wrap a blanket around your self, usually you cover your head & hands...& come to think of it...don't most pants have pockets to protect the hands from frostbite? I heard a rumor that Hinterland is tinkering with the idea to make whatever clothing you are wearing in your inventory actually show up on the game screen. That would be nice...kind of like skyrim.

I thought of a silly question along the lines of "covering up" body parts - Why doesn't Will even just pull up the hood on his parka?

[Old Hermit]

14 hours ago, UpUpAway95 said:

Fully repaired the wool ear wrap gives a 1.0C warmth bonus.  The Cotton Toque also gives the same 1.0C warmth bonus when fully repaired.  Two headpieces slots and two accessory slots... same, same... they just look cool.

They could have required us to equip the backpack to get that 5kg carry weight; but I'm glad they decided to just give it to us an an item that's always equipped.

+1ºC warmth is irrelevant for me, unless when i go sleep. In any situation when i can actively try to manage the temperature issue, 1ºC equals nothing (for me, i mean)

That's why i feel the ear wrap a waste of a precious slot. But, due the lack of another use for the slot (when i'm not climbing), of course i use the damn ear wrap. I call it wolf gum .

 

Back to blanket, perhaps a help to prevents frostbite doesn't fit well. I guess it is good to reflect heat and as a windproof and wetproof surface. So, maybe it could fit as a "pocket shelter", and cannot be used to sleep on, but to snuggle up, when caught by a surprise blizzard, on times when build a snow shelter is not possible.

(english limitations here)

[vreosanios]

I totally agree that sometimes during camping the weather can change quickly and having a good blanket is very important. I devote a lot of time to rest and I especially love when it is as comfortable as possible for me, so the blanket has become one of the most necessary attributes that I always take with me. Usually our team has more than 10 people and we use tents in which 2-3 people sleep. Last year, for the first time, our son went with us, and three of us slept in the tent. I was worried that my son would not freeze this night, as it was raining in the morning and it was damp outside. Fortunately, I had some weighted blanket from sommio with me that did their job perfectly. Be careful while camping and do not spare money on attributes that can preserve your health. Good luck to you!

Edited April 4, 2021 by vreosanios