A new difficulty above Interloper - Sojourner

[SpanishMoss]

Introduction - When it comes to a new difficulty level, a lot of things have to be considered, and a lot of play styles taken into account. This post is a comprehensive idea for a harder difficulty than interloper. I urge you to read the full post, and comment on any section that you think should be different. Assume that everything is on Interloper setting (such as no guns no MRE etc...), with these being the changes from those settings.

The name - To go along with the theme of "adventurer" synonyms, as the name of the difficulties, I have chosen the Sojourner, meaning "a person who resides in a temporary place". A fitting name, as no place can be home for long in this difficulty.

Lets start off with the most obvious changes :

- Reduced loot availability

- Harsher weather  

- More hostel animals

- Decay rate of items increased

These changes are in keeping with the theme of previous difficulty changes, and while I can't really specify the exact amount these values change by, it will be noticeable.

The following is the list of all the item changes:

FOOD 

• Processed food will be almost non-existent this will include pre-packaged food, canned food, and soda
• Herbal Tea and Coffee tins will spawn at the same rate as normal Interloper, however the cups of both cannot spawn, just the tins/boxes
• On average the amount of meat in an animal is 15% less, and the max possible meat of one animal will be reduced 15%
• Cook times for all items are slightly increased (this includes water)

MEDICAL 

• Antiseptic, painkillers, and antibiotics will still spawn, but extremely rarely 
• Bandages cannot spawn and must be crafted
• Stims spawn at a slightly lower rate than normal interloper
• Brewed teas take longer to cook, but are otherwise the same

FIRE

• Cedar, and Fir firewood spawn almost never, and have to be harvest from tree branches
• Firelogs do not spawn (idk if this is already a thing or not)
• Accelerant spawns less frequently, and does not spawn outside of containers 
• Matches, of course, spawn less often and in smaller packs of 6-10 rather than 12
• Mag lens spawns ONCE per game in a random region
• Firestriker does not spawn
• ALL firewood adds slightly less time to a fire

TOOLS

• Knife and Hatchet do not spawn
• Heavy Hammer spawns much less frequently
• Prybar takes more condition when opening containers, and has a random condition between 25-100% (and spawns less frequently)
• Lantern DOES NOT spawn  
• Flares (both types), and torches go out faster, but have no change in loot spawning rates
• Cooking pots are extremely rare
• Bedroll DOES NOT spawn, you must craft a bearskin one
• The flashlight spawns TWICE per game only, and on average has a lower condition 
• Lamp fuel (both jerry can and bottle) spawn almost never, and must be acquired from fishing
• Fishing tackle does not spawn and must be crafted yourself
• Can opener does not spawn
• Hacksaw spawns at the same rate, but on average spawns with a lower condition

REPAIRING 

• Sewing Kit, whetstone, and simple tools, spawn slightly less frequently
• Using the fishing tackle instead of the Sewing kit takes slightly longer than normal to repair
• Quality tools do not spawn

WEAPONS

• The bow degrades more when shooting
• No bows can spawn, and must be crafted
• The bow takes slightly longer to craft than normal
• Distress Pistol has a 50% chance of spawning in any of the 3 boxes, and a even lower chance of spawning in the HRV spawn
• However, at least 1 distress pistol spawn is guaranteed
• Distress Pistol boxes can have 0-3 flare shells in them
• Distress Pistol rounds are now much more rare
• Arrows are unchanged
• Stones are slightly less common
• Snares degrade much faster

CLOTHING

• All fur clothing does not spawn and must be crafted
• The following items DO NOT spawn
  • HEAD ITEMS
    • Long wool Scarf
    • Wool Toque
    • Fleece Cowl 
    • Balaclava 
  • HAND ITEMS
    • Gauntlets 
    • Ski Gloves
  • INNER LAYER ITEMS
    • Cowichan sweater
  • OUTER LAYER ITEMS (Coats)
    • Military Coat
    • Mariners Pea Coat
    • Old Fashion Parka
  • OUTER LEG ITEMS
    • Snow Pants
  • OUTER FEET ITEMS (Shoes)
    • Ski Boots
    • Insulated Boots
  • ACCSESSORY 
    • Wool Ear Wrap
• In addition, all clothing will spawn at below 80% condition
•  All clothing items that couldn't spawn in interloper also don't spawn here
• Condition degrade rate increased when wearing, and also increases when wearing in a blizzard
• Repairing clothing repairs slightly less condition then normal

The Following are changes to mechanics

WILDLIFE

• Deers, Rabbits and Moose spawn less frequently
• Wolves and Bears Spawn slightly more frequently
• Wolves see you from further away
• Bears have no change in sighting distance
• Moose, when trying to intimidate you if you get to close, intimidate you for less time before charging
• Timberwolves on average spawn in larger packs
• Fish are on average smaller, and less frequent
• Crows will only be out in mostly perfect weather, and will disappear if it gets windy

HUNTING

• Arrow shots cause less bleed and do less damage
• Wolves, Bears, and Moose will not run from missed arrow shots unless they are right next to them
• Bears will charge at you if they have spotted you, and you have drawn back the bow pointed at them.

LOCATIONS

• Buildings with interiors are now slightly cooler than normal
• Buildings that have a chance of spawning now only have a 5% chance of spawning
• Items that are not in containers degrade more rapidly than normal
• Locations that are interior but are not sperate zones (like forestry look-outs) are now almost the same temperature as the current outside temp without windchill
• Car doors have a chance to be locked, not just the trunk
• Naturally spawning snow shelters no longer exist, they must be made by you
• Polaroids have a chance of not spawning at all in a region

METERS

• Condition only recovers during sleep, at a rate of 0.5% per hour, and 1.5% per hour will herbal tea, and 2.5% with herbal and birch tea.
• Will gets cold VERY fast
• Will takes 2% condition per hour when hungry instead of 1%
• Thirst is more deadly
• All forms of injury caused condition loss on average cause 5% more condition loss

TL;DR

• Lantern and bedroll don't spawn
• world is colder
• predator animals are harder to avoid
• prey animals are harder to find
• most top tier clothing does not spawn
• mag lens spawns once
• distress pistol is harder to find
• good luck finding matches
• food is hard to come by
• meds have to made, not found (they still spawn but not often)
• no can opener
• buildings that have a chance of spawning, spawn almost never
• things degrade quicker
• have fun trying to stay warm in the mountaineers hut (and any other location similar like the back of caves and look-outs)
• Hunger is now more deadly
• Recovering condition takes much longer

Conclusion - This is my idea for a difficulty harder than Interloper. I think this is very comprehensive list of changes that would make life very difficult for even the most hardened of Interloper regulars. As a side note, it might be a good idea to have a requirement to unlock this mode due to it's difficulty, something like "survive 50 days on interloper before you can attempt this unbelievable hard challenge", I don't know if that's a good idea though. 

Thanks for read, please discuss and changes or unfair change to this list, I am open to suggestions

-SpanishMoss

PS: Ignore any spelling/grammar mistakes, I'm too lazy to go back through and correct them.

 

[peteloud]

If people wanted a harder Interloper game all they need do is not use the Fandom website or mods to make the the game easy.

I suspect that very, very few people actually want a game that is harder than a straight Interloper game.

 

Edited May 20, 2021 by peteloud

[SpanishMoss]

Mods are not technically implemented yet, this is a base game difficulty increase for the seasoned players who find interloper easy. And not looking at the wiki only works for so long, as you figure things out eventually.

[odizzido]

On 5/20/2021 at 12:11 PM, peteloud said:

If people wanted a harder Interloper game all they need do is not use the Fandom website or mods to make the the game easy.

I suspect that very, very few people actually want a game that is harder than a straight Interloper game.

 

I like dying in games. So few games offer real challenge these days.

 

Personally I would like to see more of a focus on lack of food, trying to keep warm(house heating), and other things that aren't your clothes shredding as you walk, or endless wolves flocking in. I would go into more detail but it would be a waste of time so meh.

[Megaloceros]

On 5/20/2021 at 12:05 PM, SpanishMoss said:

- More hostel animals

I know you said to ignore spelling and grammar, but I cannot ignore the idea of a hostel full of animals somewhere on Great Bear, hahaha!

To be fair, there are a lot of bunk beds in The Long Dark...

[Bimbobjoejr.]

I like the idea of a, "the ultimate challenge", type of mode being in the game(although I'd never play it). it'll give the players that are diehard players that know every nook and cranny and how to survive in this game the biggest challenge they can get. I think people would like it if it was added.

[odizzido]

I would rather they expand custom, honestly. Even on their lowest or highest settings I find a few settings to not go far enough.

[Lord of the Long Dark]

The irony is the OP clearly doesn’t play interloper given his incognizance about what already does and does not spawn on interloper.