Starting a new run

[stratvox]

I'm playing around with custom settings. This is not intended to make the game "harder" or "more realistic" so much as to make for some extra challenges at the skill level I most enjoy playing at: Voyageur. I like it because it's got All Of The Things, and it's not wolf crazy like Stalker. The short version is: low starting gear, parasites on, fire overcome ambient off, low condition recovery at rest and active, interloper level coldness, struggle damage pushed to high; wolf struggles should be rare but they are very dangerous, but without cranking up the clothing damage outside of the Voyageur norm.

Part of the goal is to start at a random location, and once one can, make my way to AC to get the crampons and backpack, and then to TWM to summit. First shot started at ML; after about ten days in there getting set up I set out; got to the gold mine, on my way to rest at Miner's Folly I got caught by the bear on the path next to the old wooden bridge, at which point I got bitten by a bug where the bear and mount and dismount vertical surfaces more or less instantly to take a second mauling; somehow I actually lived through that but staggering around on the path I fell off the edge to my death; while the bears might be the reincarnations of Tenzing Norgay I'm not.

So, new start. This time I pull DP, next to the mine entrance that leads to Crumbling Highway. I hop in there and grab some of the stuff near the entrance; no light so I'm not going deeper into the mine yet. I roll over to Katie's to get the bow and arrows etc; on the way there I hear a wolf bark very close but out of LoS, but then I hear it take down a rabbit so I keep going, get the goods off of Katie, then climb across the fallen tree from Katie's to the other side of the road and up over the high path to get to the Old Stone Church (bedroll needed), then having looted there I run straight across to the lighthouse. It's full on dark by the time I get there and I start a fire for long enough to get some water made and pass out for the night. The next morning I loot the lighthouse, then scramble down the cliff behind the lighthouse and set off to Little Island to grab some saplings plus whatever else I may find. Then I'm into the Riken. Loot there, cut up some metal, then pass out. I can't forge yet because I don't have a hammer; I'm going to try to make my way across to Hibernia the next day to see if I can find the one that's often in the basement there.

However, the next morning I go up on deck and see the bear. I crouch down in the lee of the superstructure and when it gets close enough stand up. The bear makes my position and starts coming for me. I have one arrow, so I'm hoping that I can get it into this guy so he'll bleed out and I can both travel in relative safety around Hibernia and get a boatload of worm-ridden food, guts-a-plenty, and start curing my first bear skin. He keeps coming and then really gets a load of me and rears up, as he's not yet figured out that he can't path to me. I fire the arrow into his belly and wonder of wonders I get the crit and kill him. He's like fifteen yards off the starboard side; I'm nearly freezing so I've got to go in and warm up, but it's going to be an easy quartering and easy transport of the goods back to the ship to start curing and prepping. Once I get the quartering done and the hides and guts curing, I'm going to make my way to Hibernia to see if I can't find that hammer... but first I'm going to go hang out in the crew bunk for an hour or so and warm up before I go quarter that bear.

An auspicious start to the run. We'll see what happens.

Edited April 11, 2021 by stratvox
tyops, clarity

[Dalos]

interesting take on a custom. One of the problems i find with regular loper settings is that the items are generally all the same which means you have one path for survival. Stay alive long enough to get your bow and tools and then make your clothing before the real cold sets in. if you play long enough, the style can get repetitive. i end up doing the same things over and over again because they work.

the low condition recovery here is pretty difficult.

[stratvox]

Yeah, the idea is to try and create something that will have areas of challenge (since detection is set to very far, it's quite a bit harder to hunt esp at lower weapon skills) but still sort of retain that easy vibe, plus part of the idea is also that in the late game after the cold is there it's possible to have the wool long johns and the fisherman/cowichan sweaters so you can have access to more of the day in the late game, and more time before you take the hit... and that taking the condition hit means that you've got a couple of days where you're taking risks just going out before you build it back up again, and being hit by a wolf or a bear means that you're going to be wanting to be very careful for nearly a week before you're back on your feet.

[Hotzn]

Ahhh... I'll try to follow this. Trying meaning we have a baby in the house which thwarts just about any plan I make these days. Anyway, I returned to the game recently after a long hiatus and am getting back into the groove with a Stalker run. I'm interested in reading about your experiences with custom settings in particular, since I have so far never tried them, but am intending to do so in the foreseeable future (as far as the baby permits any intentions). Of course little adventures like bear maulings are also welcome. Keep it going, +1.

[stratvox]

Well, dude's been busy; he made his way to CH, had some wolf tussles, done nearly no hunting, but has hit about half the structures in CH. His clothing situation is much better (they don't call it Clothing Heaven for nothing ya know!) and he's been waiting to get some arrows happening before setting out for the high country and the treasures that await therein. He's gone back to DP to pick up the saplings and bear skin and guts that I left there and brought them back to the fishing village, and I expect he'll be starting the trek to AC via PV and TWM within a day or two after I get enough arrows made. Going to be an epic journey, I'm sure. Basic loadout is going to be a bow, ten arrows, a revolver with thirty bullets, the clothing I'm wearing of course, hatchet, hacksaw (I'm pretty superstitious about taking a hacksaw with me to TWM because reasons), knife, prybar (everybody knows the good stuff's in the locked lockers), lantern, and of course a bunch of matches because Fire Is Your Friend in The Long Dark (not to mention at Outpost #31 ). 

My current planned route is to make my way up to the Cinder Hills Coal Mine, to PV, and I'm probably going to largely skip PV for now and make my way along that eastern road past the End of the Highway and the Derelict Cabins along the towards the rope climb up to TWM. I'm hoping that if I can get my guy on the road early enough he'll be able to make it to the Abandoned Prepper's Cache for his first night. Then I'm going to get up to TWM and take the Echo Canyon exit to AC. From there I'll be taking the finger canyon up to Angler's where I hope to pass the second night, so I can start fresh the following morning to make my way up via the cave to the high ground and make my way to the Gold Mine. Hopefully I won't run into hostile wildlife along the way; maulings are what will throw my schedule off more than anything else... maulings and/or blizzards. Time will tell

Edited April 21, 2021 by stratvox

[stratvox]

Okay so I made it to the gold mine and am crashed in Foreman's. So, on day 19 I set out. I faffed about a bit too long in the morning getting my clothing all up and ironing out my carry. I made it up to Cinder Hills without incident. Went through the mine... pretty typical. Lots of coal, more than usual. Came out and it had started snowing and blowing. I was coming in with ten arrows (nine of 'em were 100%) and the revolver with lots of bullets. I left the rifle bullets back in CH; it's just too heavy and at that point why carry bullets? Anyway, it was getting towards four pm (assuming sunset at six) and I thought about trying to make it up to Prepper's but decided that the weather was turning and it was getting dark, so I went for Thompson's. Crashed in the nice house after checking some of it out, but I wasn't there to loot Thomson's; the real cold weather in this custom run is coming and I want to get the good stuff up on Timberwolf, and I want the crampons and technical pack to ease the path there and lighten the load back.

I took the river along that side of the map for most of the distance; less wolves that way and I was already on it because I'd crashed at Thompson's for the night. I cut back up to the roadway once I was past where the derelict cabins are; if you cut up on the right spot you can get on the road and get up higher; when you get to the bridge that crosses the river coming from NE corner of the map at Misty Falls. Which is what I did; by doing this I can hit the cave which has some seriously good stuff, and avoid the wolves that are often hanging around the point of disagreement when I walk from the cave at the Misty Falls campground to the Prepper's Cache.

So, that's basically my next day, traipsing across Pleasant Valley; had one wolf struggle along the way, but I got a revolver round into him before he jumped me so I didn't take much of a beating. I made a bunch of water at the stove near the cache, and then crashed out fully exhausted. When I woke up, around noon the next day, it was to blizzard conditions. Fortunately I was dragging a ton of food around with me (as I find food caches I eat the canned stuff because it's heavy, and have accumulated lots of choco bars, bags of chips, cans of pop, and the like. My heart and liver are probably pissed at me, but I've got lots of fuel)... so I've got stuff to eat and can maintain well fed.

The blizzard clears right at sundown and I consider heading out to see if I can get to mountaineer's when I hear it... the jingle jangle of oncoming aurora. I really generally make a policy of staying in on aurora nights without a very good reason to go out because the animals can be super dangerous; exceptions obviously get made for things like hitting the mill in BI but by and large if I'm out during an aurora I'm on my front porch (as it were) watching the sky, not traipsing around pulling all the wolves and bears in so I can waltz with them; I have ended enough runs in aurora conditions to know that it's a big risk. I futz around a bit, and take a load up the rope, and come back down. This is good because it tires me out nicely so I can go to bed early that night. With all that sleep the damage I took from cold and the wolf struggle crossing PV get decently improved; the following morning as I get up to head in to TWM I'm back up to nearly full.

The next day I am up about seven and heading to Mountaineer's. It's cold, really cold; I should've probably waited but I didn't want to repeat not hitting my target and costing a day in PV. Anyway, I head up the rope, pick up the stuff that I left at the top, and suitably loaded (I have brought a couple of hacksaws I found between DP and CH with me Because Reasons) and set out. By the time I get to the cabin the morning has eaten my "warm reserves" and I pick up sticks near the cabin and get a fire going to warm up a bit. One thing runs into another and I eventually decide that trying to make Angler's is a fool's errand given how much of the day is left. One of the keys to travelling in TLD is not rushing your trips; if conditions are good then push on, but if things start looking sketchy there's nothing wrong with delaying your voyages for a while. I run around picking up sticks so I can keep a fire going all night in the Hut, and pass the night there. The next morning I am once again up early and off. I have to do a little dancing around the bear that lives near the path down into Echo, but that's easily done and I continue on. I make my way to the end of the Ravine and climb through to the Ash Canyon region.

[stratvox]

I clamber my way through the finger ravine, and note that the rock has changed from Timberwolf's dark blue schist to a rusty looking granite. Occasional snow sifts down into the canyon on drifts of air. It's quiet. I continue forward until the ravine opens out and I can see a shallow valley in front of me, filled with the burned out husks of trees. There's a path that winds down to the right, but I want to go left and find the long finger canyon that winds along the southern side of the central plateau; it will shelter me from the wind as well as hopefully allowing me to sneak past wolves undetected. I find a spot where it looks like I can slide down a snow-covered hill and do exactly that, without banging myself up too badly in the process. I set out; I can smell the acrid smell of the old charred wood; marks of the fire are seen all over the land here. I stick to the southern edge of the river valley; I can look up a meandering river to the north and hear wolves howling in the distance.

I find some more birch, and after walking down into a frozen bog I find the finger canyon. I walk through it, finding birch saplings along the way, as well as a cave about two thirds of the way along; possibly a good place to spend a night if travelling, but long term living in that cave would be impossible. I come out the far end, find a rope climb up to the Pillar's plateau. I spy a wolf, and manage to sneak past it without it twigging to my presence, which is a first. It was behaving strangely, I wonder if maybe it had locked on to a deer on the plateau above. If so, a lucky break for me; I didn't have to kill it to get past it. I keep going, sticking to the right wall, and come out into the middle canyon valley, where the Angler's Retreat cottage stands upon an island, passing an unfortunate upon the way; from the looks of the body, they'd fallen from a bridge I can see way above.

I hope it was an accident.

I make my way to Angler's without any further incident, and gather some sticks; I'm going to need to make some water. I'm still driving hard, but at that point there's only a couple of hours of daylight left and I judge that this is the place for me to crash for the night. I tumble the place, but there's not much of immediate use to me; I hammer down a chocolate bar and a can of dog food, as well as some of the nicer stuff I brought along with me. There's a book about archery which looks interesting, but I have a rope climb to get to the high ground in this area so I need to lose stuff, not carry more. 

I drop all the saplings I've gathered since I left Mountaineer's that morning, and go to bed.

[stratvox]

The next morning is cold with light snow. I faff about for a bit to get my carry weight down; I'm going to take the cave up to the highlands and I'll need to be under weight to do its rope climb. One of the under-appreciated features of the game is that this faffing is accompanied by in-game time passing, at six seconds a minute; you have to actually be in the moment while your guy dithers trying to figure out what to do.

Anyway. I get myself up and at it. I don't waste too much time; I'm hoping to spend the night in the gold mine and that means that I've got some walking and climbing to do tomorrow; it'll be really easy to run out of fatigue and get stuck on the wrong side of a rope climb if I'm not careful. I walk off across the little lake and make my way up the right side of Broad Falls, and take the path that cuts under the waterfall. There are a few little scrambles up the other side of the falls, and I'm up into the next area. The trees here are not burnt at all. I walk along the riverside and climb up next to a cataract... when I get jumped. Wolf struggle. However, unlike the first time, this time I have a hatchet, and my clothing is much much better, so I come out happily surprised at my condition. My first wolf struggle, it took me four days to recover.

The wolf runs of whimpering to bleed to death in a corner; I continue on to the cave that will lead me up to the highlands. A quick walk past the falls, and down a little scramble, and there it is. I walk into its echoing entrance until it's dark enough to make me light my lantern. The cave itself has some good stuff in it, but is far from a treasure house; that said it's also a warm safe place to sleep if necessary and that alone is a good thing. I wind my way up until I get to the cavern with the rope climb; I drop some water, mount the rope, and a moment later I'm up. I make my way forward until I finally come out, perched on the side of a crag. A path leads off to the left; I follow it and quickly come to the bridge that leads towards the gold mine. So now, do I go to Miner's Folly, or do I push ahead to the gold mine? I look across the dilapidated wooden bridge and see a climbing rope; I take that as a sign and go pick it up and start my way around towards the gold mine. I cross a series of rope bridges, and am properly wowed by the vistas on offer. Finally, I make my way around through the little ravine to the mountain vale that holds the gold mine. I deploy the rope, and climb down, just in time to see the sprain risk affliction to come up while on my way down the rope... just made it. I spy a body near where the waterfall I was at the bottom of several hours ago; I go check it out. He's holding a revolver... it must've gotten very desperate here in this place at the end.

My revolver is perfectly adequate; I'll leave his suicide weapon undisturbed to be reclaimed by mother nature.

I'm beginning to get tired; it's been a lot of climbing, hiking, and spelunking to get here. I cross over to the entrance of the gold mine, pull a loose board off the entrance, and climb in. I fire up my lantern and make my way in.

[stratvox]

I step in and make my way forward. Up ahead I can see a pool of water, but before that I find a fire barrel and some packaged food. I am exhausted by this point, but need to boil up some water, so I set a fire and ... realise I've forgotten my cans back at the mine when I climbed the rope. Fortunately, there's a can of beans here, so I eat that and use the can to boil up some water. After that I lay out my bedroll and go to sleep.

The next morning I get up and, lighting up my trusty storm lantern, continue further into the cave. The pool of water bars my path, so I take off my socks and boots to wade in the water; coming out the other side I see that further ahead more water awaits so I just continue on. Eventually I reach the end of the shallow water and come into the main part of the mine. Up ahead I can see some trolleys and crane equipment; I continue past those and find a little camp set up and ... another body. I find a note that I'm guessing was written by the guy lying on the floor... it looks like he may have died of a heart attack. He's got some nice camping and climbing gear; I'm sure he won't mind if I use them; his note has the feel of a decent person's expression.

I find a partly collapsed tunnel and continue on to see what else I can find; further along I find a rifle but I find that it slows me down too much; I think I'll stick with my slowly improving archery skills... for the time being, at least. Maybe a little later on I can come back here and retrieve the rifle, but for now I feel it's too important to be fast on my feet. Pressing on I eventually find out why there's so much fresh air in this mine; there's an exit to literally a hole in a wall! I can see that there are steep scrambles down plus rope climbs; eventually I figure that I'm about a hundred meters up from the valley floor or so. Looking around I decide not to risk climbing out; I can tell that if I hop down from here I will not be coming back the same way, and I still have things I want to collect in the mine. I head back.

Collecting all of the stuff (and especially that sweet sweet backpack) I head back out the front door. I know that there are some birch saplings in the valley, and I collect them and climb back up the rope I layed out the evening before. After the climb, I'm not going to have a lot of oomph, but I figure on making it to the buildings I saw in the opposite direction of the wooden bridge that brought me to this place. I retrace my steps along the crags and peaks, and eventually find my way to the bridge. Crossing it, I look to the right and yes, I can see a house up on a hillside there. I continue forward, noting some bear sign; clearly I'm going to have to step carefully here. Still and all, I manage to dance around and avoid the bear and make my way up to the house I saw. I haven't really covered all that much ground today but it's still getting on towards evening and the long climb out of the valley with the mine means that I'm quite tired. I start a fire and find a cooking pot, and use that to melt some snow and boil up the water. My food supply is beginning to dwindle somewhat from what I brought up from CH, but I've still got a fair amount of good road food. The next day's plan is to make for the cave near Pillar's Footrest that leads to the Deer Clearing on TWM.