Early Survival Strategy

[The_Hawk35]

So after answering a recent question I got to thinking about general survival strategies. Please add your thoughts/strategies.

To qualify what I'm about to write this is for Voyager.

When I start the game I don't craft any items until I have established a base with food and water for quite a while.

As I now have enough food to last a while I start crafting (and the trapping and hunting has gotten me the materials).

My general plan for cloth, scrap metal, leather, etc. is that I don't repair ANYTHING I have a duplicate of. I allow it to deteriorate until it is ruined and then harvest it. For craftable items I don't repair them if I have enough to make another, as sewing kits are precious.

If I don't have a duplicate I repair it unless I'm getting close to using up resources then I set up to move. But that's another post, not for starting areas.

[thinair]

My first thing is to find shelter or better a home base, then i get some wood to make 5-10L of water, because it is most crucial and most used thing in a game. Then i start looting but only around my area if i do not know map, if i do know the map then i go to places mostly known to have knife, hatchet and rifle. And that is a good start, once this is done, can do whatever you want.

Food: I play on conservative calorie diet so food is not a problem even at very start (first 10 days). found food (candy bars, beef jerky etc etc) and/or scrap dead dear meat (~1kg) is enough.

Repairing of clothing depends of what i have, but basically i repair only coats if i find any, i do so until i make wolf coat... which is always last to craft. Usually bunny mittens first, then deer boots. My rule of thumb is to keep clothing that gives from 10+ temp and +6 wind (everything below not too good) to a 15 temp +10 wind (everything above is overkill).

Also i do not repair bunny mittens and wolf coat... i make it new because it is most efficient way. I do repair deer boots because 3.5 guts and 3.5 leather of repair gives 100% boots and 3 hours and 45 minutes hours of fixing (with sewing kit). To make a new ones of 100% via work table cost 4 guts and 10 leather... and forgot how many hours... 25 i think... so no brainer there. But once again it depends on sewing kits. In my current run, stalker, pv map only, found 5 or 6. If i did not have them, i would craft new ones.

Traveling: only between 10am-till 8pm (10:00-20:00). Mostly noon-8pm (1200-20:00) is the best because it can be also quite cold till noon.

So far since new map came out (1.92v), my first run still continues... 510 days. PV map only. Stalker. Good start was a key to success. Have more tips but as Hawk said, it would be considered more as later game tactics.

[TLDFAN]

My first thing is to find shelter or better a home base, then i get some wood to make 5-10L of water, because it is most crucial and most used thing in a game. Then i start looting but only around my area if i do not know map, if i do know the map then i go to places mostly known to have knife, hatchet and rifle. And that is a good start, once this is done, can do whatever you want.

Food: I play on conservative calorie diet so food is not a problem even at very start (first 10 days). found food (candy bars, beef jerky etc etc) and/or scrap dead dear meat (~1kg) is enough.

Repairing of clothing depends of what i have, but basically i repair only coats if i find any, i do so until i make wolf coat... which is always last to craft. Usually bunny mittens first, then deer boots. My rule of thumb is to keep clothing that gives from 10+ temp and +6 wind (everything below not too good) to a 15 temp +10 wind (everything above is overkill).

Also i do not repair bunny mittens and wolf coat... i make it new because it is most efficient way. I do repair deer boots because 3.5 guts and 3.5 leather of repair gives 100% boots and 3 hours and 45 minutes hours of fixing (with sewing kit). To make a new ones of 100% via work table cost 4 guts and 10 leather... and forgot how many hours... 25 i think... so no brainer there. But once again it depends on sewing kits. In my current run, stalker, pv map only, found 5 or 6. If i did not have them, i would craft new ones.

Traveling: only between 10am-till 8pm (10:00-20:00).

So far since new map came out (1.92v), my first run still continues... 510 days. PV map only. Stalker. Good start was a key to success. Have more tips but as Hawk said, it would be considered more as later game tactics.

Congrats on your run, would be interested to see your complete log and have a look at what you are doing. You must be playing very risk averse the majority of the time to make it so long.

Curious, inquiry, are you out of matches/fire starting at day 510?

[thinair]

Congrats on your run, would be interested to see your complete log and have a look at what you are doing. You must be playing very risk averse the majority of the time to make it so long.

Curious, inquiry, are you out of matches/fire starting at day 510?

Key here is calorie diet.

If i hibernate i let condition go to 5-10% then recover.

If i do work around house (rabbits, wood forage, repairs, crafting etc), i stay in 30-80% condition.

If i travel i start with 100% condition plus have 200-400 calories in me.

900 calories for hibernating game = 4-5 days.

I played around 60 hours since new map, first 200-250 days was literally exploring etc, it took me actually around 45-50h of gameplay to do that, a lot of fun... i know new map basically in and out.

After 250 or so i started doing some bug testing, and boring stuff => hibernating. By the way due to wildlife not re-spawning, im sort of playing super stalker mode. Once i'm in need of food i have to go across map to hunt... so that takes 1-3 days (depending on weather conditions). Soon i will have wildless map, so only rabbit game will be THE only food source.

Actually, my last few matches either run out or left 1% condition, so the fun will start now Have firestriker at 28% and magnyglass at 36%.

edit: found 15 rounds, 7-8 left. all bears gone. and mentioned bug... if i kill 1 wolf out of pack of 3, all be gone. Also deer do not re-spawn either. And it is known fact that bear do not re-spawn.

edit2: by the way i do not run away from risks. For example, i had "vacations" in signal hill, draft dodgers, rural crossings and pensive pond (fishing "vacation" trip)... each 7 days or so, in total of around 30 days. Also slept in a lot of caves for few days, achieved 3 days outside achievement and so on. In total i probably spent like 20 days in signal hill. over 50 days in rural crossings... once 30+ days in one stay there to test out bug.

[Woodbine]

My early strategy is mass hoarding. I consider my long-term home to be the trappers homestead, but I start on Coastal Highway in order to gather as much stuff as possible. I'm usually dead before I get to Mystery Lake to be fair....only once have a I gone beyond a couple of months

I know I could go longer by hibernating, but I like to get to a position where I can effectively hang around Mystery Lake, laying traps between the homestead and the lake, and occasionally picking off a wolf /dear. And in real life, I wouldn't just eat and sleep...

Before I can settle, I need to get essentially everything from Coastal Highway. Generally I use the log sort as a dumping base. Go to the fishing cabins.. bring the stuff to the log sort. Go to the islands,... bring the stuff to the log sort etc. Whilst rounding up the stuff at waterfront cottages and around the garage, I'll use the facilities to make the boots, coat etc. Once I 've gathered all the stuff, I relay it from the log sort up the hill and dump it in the cabin by the exit to mystery lake. I use all the food and drink resources as and when I need it, as I'm not planning on coming back. In fact, unless absolutely necessary, or unless I find too many carcases, I won't make a fire until I get to the mystery lake.

I then go in fully tooled up to take out Fluffy, and move all the stuff into the hydro dam. A few relays from there to the cabin on entrance to mystery lake, and I'm ready to settle. I've got all the resources necessary for long term chilling out...

From a calorie-counting point of view, it's horrendous, but it's the way I like it. I can't be happy unless I've got 35 painkillers and 20 sewing kits. In maybe 30 or so attempts, I've only managed to get all the stuff to mystery lake twice. In my current play-through I've searched everything, gathered it at all at the log sort, but haven't found the rifle....Just 25 bullets......

So, I'm debating whether it's worth carting it all up the hill, just to get killed by Fluffy at the hydro dam.......

[TLDFAN]

My early strategy is mass hoarding. I consider my long-term home to be the trappers homestead, but I start on Coastal Highway in order to gather as much stuff as possible. I'm usually dead before I get to Mystery Lake to be fair....only once have a I gone beyond a couple of months

I know I could go longer by hibernating, but I like to get to a position where I can effectively hang around Mystery Lake, laying traps between the homestead and the lake, and occasionally picking off a wolf /dear. And in real life, I wouldn't just eat and sleep...

Before I can settle, I need to get essentially everything from Coastal Highway. Generally I use the log sort as a dumping base. Go to the fishing cabins.. bring the stuff to the log sort. Go to the islands,... bring the stuff to the log sort etc. Whilst rounding up the stuff at waterfront cottages and around the garage, I'll use the facilities to make the boots, coat etc. Once I 've gathered all the stuff, I relay it from the log sort up the hill and dump it in the cabin by the exit to mystery lake. I use all the food and drink resources as and when I need it, as I'm not planning on coming back. In fact, unless absolutely necessary, or unless I find too many carcases, I won't make a fire until I get to the mystery lake.

I then go in fully tooled up to take out Fluffy, and move all the stuff into the hydro dam. A few relays from there to the cabin on entrance to mystery lake, and I'm ready to settle. I've got all the resources necessary for long term chilling out...

From a calorie-counting point of view, it's horrendous, but it's the way I like it. I can't be happy unless I've got 35 painkillers and 20 sewing kits. In maybe 30 or so attempts, I've only managed to get all the stuff to mystery lake twice. In my current play-through I've searched everything, gathered it at all at the log sort, but haven't found the rifle....Just 25 bullets......

So, I'm debating whether it's worth carting it all up the hill, just to get killed by Fluffy at the hydro dam.......

Fluffy presents the unique benefit of you knowing it is in there. It spawns 100% of the time. So yeah. I think it would be more of a scary threat if you could roll in there once or twice not knowing when that wolf breaks in through the glass and if it is going to find you.

[elloco999]

My main strategy (not just early game) is to not loot everything immediately, but only when I need something. As most things start degrading as soon as you've found them, I don't want to gather all stuff right away.

Take clothes for instance, if you gather all clothes on CH some stuff will be ruined before you have a chance to wear them. Matches are even more important. Clothes at least still give you cloth, matches are just gone after they've degraded.

[ChillPlayer]

I do the same elloco, once I've left ML I don't even loot the cabinets (except for med shelf) inside the buildings for as long as I have ammo. I only take what I need and is lying around openly, not in a container. Clothes for the exact reasons you've stated and food to have something to eat when I'm out of ammo and can't get a decent meal. Mostly you only need found food to bridge 1-2 days without starving and having some stuff in houses can help to survive those days. Nothing worse than to travel while starving to another map and find all houses cleared of food, it's what eventually killed me in the 148 days video from my sig.

[TLDFAN]

They should really fix the degradation bug or feature and simply make the game harder to play instead of making players do weird things like not explore because if we do we risk starting a 90-180 day timer on an items condition meter. Sort of fail design if you ask me.

[Simulacra]

On my current run I'm only on day 8 and have realized that since water and hunted/scavenged food are pretty easy to come up with, the limiting factor is clothing condition, sewing kits, cloth, repair kits, scrap metal, and bullets. I figure once I get all the craftable clothing I'll try to craft new ones as much as possible instead of repairing to try to conserve the sewing kit for underlayers. I've consolidated all of the ML loot at the Camp Office but as soon as I start to run out of scrap metal/bullets (whichever goes first) I'll repair all tools to 100, start eating the packaged food I can't carry, then travel to the Coastal Highway.

What I'm finding most difficult is saving ammunition. I've already used 5 of my 28 shells getting rid of wolves roaming outside of the office and doing the wolf/deer hunting combo to collect meat...

[The_Hawk35]

Conservation of ammunition is why I capture 4-6 rabbits a day leading up to a wolf/deer hunt. That way I have a LOT of meat ready and none of it goes bad.

If possible I'll drive a rabbit or another deer to the wolf, making them attack the new critter, then I just harvest the first kill, no ammo used

[Orwell 1984]

On my current run I'm only on day 8 and have realized that since water and hunted/scavenged food are pretty easy to come up with, the limiting factor is clothing condition, sewing kits, cloth, repair kits, scrap metal, and bullets. I figure once I get all the craftable clothing I'll try to craft new ones as much as possible instead of repairing to try to conserve the sewing kit for underlayers. I've consolidated all of the ML loot at the Camp Office but as soon as I start to run out of scrap metal/bullets (whichever goes first) I'll repair all tools to 100, start eating the packaged food I can't carry, then travel to the Coastal Highway.

What I'm finding most difficult is saving ammunition. I've already used 5 of my 28 shells getting rid of wolves roaming outside of the office and doing the wolf/deer hunting combo to collect meat...

Day 140 - Stalker

-8 sewing kits

- 54 scrap metals

- 40 clothes

- 20 bullets

- tons of matches

I find your signature disturbing (nice choice)

[Simulacra]

On my current run I'm only on day 8 and have realized that since water and hunted/scavenged food are pretty easy to come up with, the limiting factor is clothing condition, sewing kits, cloth, repair kits, scrap metal, and bullets. I figure once I get all the craftable clothing I'll try to craft new ones as much as possible instead of repairing to try to conserve the sewing kit for underlayers. I've consolidated all of the ML loot at the Camp Office but as soon as I start to run out of scrap metal/bullets (whichever goes first) I'll repair all tools to 100, start eating the packaged food I can't carry, then travel to the Coastal Highway.

What I'm finding most difficult is saving ammunition. I've already used 5 of my 28 shells getting rid of wolves roaming outside of the office and doing the wolf/deer hunting combo to collect meat...

Day 140 - Stalker

-8 sewing kits

- 54 scrap metals

- 40 clothes

- 20 bullets

- tons of matches

I find your signature disturbing (nice choice)

Oh lord. How in the world did you manage that?

Thanks :mrgreen:

[Orwell 1984]

I used a few ideas I found in these forums, and decided to collect wood and make clothes bare handed instead of hibernating myself for days.

I moved from the lake at day 74, left a bunch of water, wood, and 2 top quality cloths and 4 lanterns behind in case I will have trouble later.

I moved on from the highways at day 120, left behind the same amount of equipment. (this time only 2 lanterns)

Now I am camping at PV, still looting the place.

That is all.

EDIT: always leave 4-6 snores there too (as I did, in case of OMG)

[Simulacra]

I know this may not be what players are looking for in terms of survival advice, but I just thought of something else I found really helpful. After repeatedly dying to wolves in games ranging a couple hours to a few days in duration, I finally decided to try pilgrim mode. It really helped me to scout out areas and plan out my moves for my "real" run. I was able to figure out the map and which locations were worth visiting first to loot and settle in.

If you have access to another computer which you can download TLD on, it's particularly useful when you plan on moving on to a different area which you haven't explored yet.

That being said, in my mind it's kind of like cheating. If you want to get the "pure" hardcore stalker mode experience it might not be for you.

[Orwell 1984]

I finally decided to try pilgrim mode. It really helped me to scout out areas and plan out my moves for my "real" run. I was able to figure out the map and which locations were worth visiting first to loot and settle in.

At the moment for me only the different difficulties provided some replay value, but Iam already over of them all.

If you have access to another computer which you can download TLD on, it's particularly useful when you plan on moving on to a different area which you haven't explored yet.

Another profile is enough on the same computer, or if you wish to manually solve it on the same profile, look up the forums here and you will find how to do it

That being said, in my mind it's kind of like cheating. If you want to get the "pure" hardcore stalker mode experience it might not be for you.

The game provided feature is never a cheat (if the feature works the way they planned without bugs).

You have a point here, yes, if you feel it is difficult, set the difficulty level lower (option have been added to the game for cases exactly like this).