I found Interloper extremely difficult.


peteloud

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16 minutes ago, stirfoo said:

Early interloper is all about the fire

You can survive for quite a while without a fire. What you really need is water. Matches certainly help, but they aren't absolutely necessary. You can make your first fire with a flare if you have nothing else - and many flares are random. But toilet water goes a long way depending on the region you're in. PV for example has enough to last a few days probably. Spawning somewhere in the real wilderness is different.

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You know where the work boots are right? The toque?

Those are random spawns 9_9 Not everything is on loot tables

 

Interloper gameplay isn't quite as restricted as some people here make it out to be. Teas for example certainly help, but they aren't absolutely necessary. In the past I've done long journeys without tea. It's just not ideal. But doable.  And when people beeline for tools and certain items that's just the most efficient thing to do. It doesn't mean that you will die if you don't do it.

Edited by Serenity
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7 minutes ago, Serenity said:

Interloper gameplay isn't quite as restricted as some people here make it out to be. Teas for example certainly help, but they aren't absolutely necessary. In the past I've done long journeys without tea. It's just not ideal. But doable.  And when people beeline for tools and certain items that's just the most efficient thing to do. It doesn't mean that you will die if you don't do it.

That's very true. For example, there are deer carcasses on the ground. You can harvest them without any tool, but to do so with bare hands you need to start a fire next to it and wait for the freezing to go down to 50% before you can extract anything. Usually, you have to start your fire without a solid wind block to defrost. Thus, the longer you're keeping the fire going, the higher your chances of high weather variability kicking in along with the wind that will blow out your fire and you having wasted a match and a coal having gained nothing from it. You are running higher risk doing this bare hand, but you will not keel over dead on the spot if the fire gets blown out. Having wasted time and resources, yes, dying asap unlikely. Thus, also the need to beeline for that hacksaw, you can start a fire and are guaranteed at least a small scrap of food because you can start harvesting asap. But it's not undoable to get the meat, hide and both guts without a hacksaw providing the game cuts you a break and doesn't kill your fire.

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51 minutes ago, stirfoo said:

The point is the player that knows where things spawn -- or might spawn -- has an enormous advantage. There's no skill involved there, just memorization.

I don't believe ignorance of your surroundings is a 'skill.' 🤭

The best loot spawns at the major locations that everyone visits no matter which mode they play - most of the time that's where everyone starts looking first. 😂

Someone has to be a total loonie to avoid those locations. 😂

All right raise your hands, the last time you spawned on Timberwolf, how many of you AVOIDED the Mountaineers Hut? Unless you were completely new and didn't know that hut existed or simply got lost along the way.

But, I would like to ask you - what in your opinion in this game would be considered 'skill?' Which parameters would you apply?

In my opinion, going for the top loot spots or not going for the top loot spots as the game begins is not what indicates a good player. It's what they do with their resources that counts - especially when those resources are very limited - but in order to have any resources to manage you still have to go and find them first, thus if you aren't nuts you will likely steer towards a major loot hub. On Interloper it's also how the player deals with the situation when they don't find what they were looking for at the certain locations that showcases their skill, how they adapt to sudden things popping up and how they find the strength to keep going when things aren't going their way at all. 

Players who enjoy playing Loper are very good at managing their time and resources so calories don't go wasting and hunger at their heels doesn't come staring into their eyes. You started a fire to warm up? Craft bandages/mushroom teas/repair clothes while cooking meat or boiling water - don't just pass time aimlessly farting into the air. Things like that. 🎄

I also imagine this is why a lot of players don't like Loper. Because you can't just take a breather and place your butt into a cushioned chair and pass time to relax. No breaks for you on Loper or you will die fast, even if you get to that cushioned chair, your hands better be doing something productive while sitting in it. Only advanced Loper players who already have established themselves with a full set of stuff at a base can sometimes afford such luxury. Otherwise, it's mush mush mush!

Edited by tulkawen
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On 2/25/2021 at 11:53 AM, peteloud said:

In the past week I have tried playing at Interloper level.  I have found it extremely difficult, and not enjoyable.  I have managed to survive to around 30 days but only after slipping into the long dark a great many times.  Fortunately I backed up my saves, restored a good save and continued. Yet I have often read postings from people who say it is easy and claim many very long runs in Interloper.  I am a very experienced player at Stalker and Voyager level with thousands of game days and thousands of hours played.  Why is it that I find it so difficult and some others claim they find it so easy?

I am coming to the conclusion that these people who find it easy must have edited the save file to give themselves warm clothing, good tools, skills etc. and used Fandom or other spoiler webpages/forums to tell them what strategy to use and where to go to find essential resources. Although familiar with the maps the only Interloper pre-information that I had was that there are no guns in Interloper.

Has anyone played a straight Interloper game, without the benefits of editing their save file and no pre-information from spoiler webpages/forums to tell them what strategy to follow, where to go to find essential resources and survived past, 50 days?

The akward savegame thing in your post reminds me of when deadman challenge arrived. Some said it couldnt be done. Some said you could only do it by knowing the game code. Some said you couldn't get a bow but should hunker down. Then - when everyone learned the technique - it became manageable. Its like everything skill bases - when you know the tricks and ways it doesn't seam like magic anymore :) 

To my view it has to do with adapting a new way of playing. My theory is that is actually very hard to go from voyager / stalker to interloper. All other difficulty levels aren't a survival experience since loot is abundant and food is too. The player goes freely around the map enjoying looting places. In interloper most places are empty only the big ones really needs to be visited and loot-food is scarce. This means that the pace must be increased and one should pay close attention to all the natural food (cattails, carcasses, teas). Interloper is about  high tempo and search for hammer /hacksaw, saplings and bedroll to get to bow. Then skins and clothes and skills.

Best of luck and try again with new mindset.🙂

 

 

 

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I had the same experience as the OP when I first began my interloper adventures. I too knew all the maps inside and out and had survived for 200+ days on stalker several times. Still, interloper killed me after 1 day. On the next attempt, 3 days... But as I kept banging my head on the blizzard walls of loopendooper 3 days became 5, and 5 became 8, and 20 and 30 and 100 and 300 etc. I still needed a couple of months to master interloper, meaning I could survive long enough to craft the tools and full set of animal clothing on a regular basis. I didn't need looting tables or google clothing locations, so you don't either. You'll learn some of it by playing over and over anyway and the things you learn through your own experience will stick with you for longer. 

Someone mentioned luck as a factor in mastering interloper. That is only true til you know your maps, then it's (pretty much) all experience. Predator patrols follow fixed patterns, natural food locations are a little flexible but mostly fixed. And even though the daily blizzard may take you by surprise occassionally you can almost always predict it early enough to return to a shelter. 

Those who say Interloper is too easy may think so, a few may say it to brag a little. I think it's reasonably difficult as it is, any harder and it would discourage too many new players. I still find Interloper challenging when exploring a new region, like Ash Canyon recently. Because I don't know where the indoor locations are located. Sure, you can counter the risk by carrying snowshelter materials and act as a walking coalmine. But I prefer to travel light and experience the thrill of exposed exploring. 

 

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i play Interloper occasionally, and I guess I can say that I'm okay at it, and it makes for a good challenge. IMO, it's almost like playing a whole other game compared to Stalker and Voyageur, with the lack of firearms and industrial hatchets and hunting knives.

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Personally I don't play loper because I don't like things like starving all the time minus sleeping then regenerating like the terminator in the night. I like death to slowly cover you instead of instantly killing you.

That's actually a big reason why I don't play much of TLD. I can't get the game difficult enough in the ways I want. "cheating" is the opposite of what I want. Just because you cannot do something does not mean that others cannot.

If you actually do want to play interloper and survive I would look at your limiting factors. What kills you? Solve those problems and you will be fine.

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And I personally don't play interloper too much because i find not fun, since most of time you are extremely busy and worried about things to do next, and left no time for "savor" the moments, and not even for doing whatever you want. That's why i never past 30 days. Maybe after then the things change a bit, but i don't enjoy much the process until that point.

I'm very averse to this kind of game design, where u do the things only for results optimization, despite enjoying (or not) the experience itself. I'm sure that there are many players totally comfortable with that (and that's why interloper exists). But i'm not one of them ^^

Even in stalker, for example, i wanted to climb the Timberwolf Summit twice. The first time i went only for the loot, and i mostly grinded it all, carrying down several loads under extreme weather and low visibility. I needed to climb up again, some time later, just for the feeling of savoring the experience.

I think the core of a sandbox design lies in the freedom for the player to play at will. Freedom inside a box. Interloper, as i see, is a box extremely smaller to play.

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2 minutes ago, odizzido said:

Some people enjoy optimising things and figuring things out. It's probably why I also like games like factorio, space chem, or the caesar series. The smaller box is like a puzzle to be solved.

Yes, i'm with you, but none of them are survival sandboxes.

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56 minutes ago, Old Hermit said:

I think the core of a sandbox design lies in the freedom for the player to play at will. Freedom inside a box. Interloper, as i see, is a box extremely smaller to play.

Early game interloper is quite limited, but once you're established (bow, decent crafted clothing), it opens way, way up.

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No, you're quite correct, but I still see the puzzle aspect of TLD. For example if there is a cave in TLD you can leave your lantern there at the entrance. Why carry it? That's a little optimisation you can make just like the little optimisations you can make in the games I mentioned. You can double the iron carry capacity of trains in factorio if you turn it into plates before shipping it, for example.

I think that's part of why I like harder games too. If I am dying it drives me to find a solution, and that I generally enjoy.

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Well, maybe i'm just mentally tired of so intense and fast paced game style. I play video games since before the Atari, and always preferred the hardest titles/modes, mostly scrolling shooter arcades. Maybe i got overwhelmed after so many years ^^

I guess i'm on a slow down moment, so i'm trying to have a more balanced approach.

And yes, i love puzzles and games about resouce management. I simply stated that i find none or little fun on interloper mode, due the feeling of urgency and lots of concerns to worry about.

(using google translator)

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