Have you run out of birch saplings on your Long Dark run?

[Blizzard Walker]

As I play on Voyager (Day 1180) I make it a point to keep an inventory of consumables stashed at each location.  I keep track of cloth, leather, metal, matches, sewing kits, whetstones, maple saplings and birch saplings.

Cloth is finite but I have an inventory of over 500 pieces with regions left to explore.  I only need to use leather to repair my Moose hide satchel as I avoid clothing items requiring leather for repair.  Metal seems fairly inexhaustible if one is careful to break down all of it available.  Fishing tackle is an alternative to sewing kits.  The mag lens means it is rare for me to use a match.  

Maple saplings are nearly as abundant as birch but I have at least eight 100% bows stashed in various locations. With archery skill 5 bows degrade slowly.

Birch saplings are my concern. I break 1-2 arrows a week while hunting.  My inventory of birch saplings and unused shafts might take me another 500 days.   That time might stretch to 800 days if I make sure I harvest overlooked saplings or thoroughly harvest regions not yet explored.

Of all the game's finite consumables I judge birch saplings to be the most likely to be exhausted.  Has anyone experienced this problem on long runs?

Edited October 25, 2021 by Blizzard Walker
Missing word

[piddy3825]

Congrats on playing over 1100 days with your Voyager character!
Maybe now is the time for you step up the difficulty in your game play and begin a new adventure in Stalker Mode! (just a thought 😏)

Anyways, considering that natural resources like birch and maple saplings are limited, it only stands to reason that at some point if you live long enough on your playthrough, you will eventually run out of arrows.  However, considering that you can easily get 8-10 shots from each arrow before breaking them it also stands to reason that it can and will take you a very long time to completely run out.   

Two things come to mind however, the first is what is your shots fired to wildlife hits percentage using the bow?  Secondly, do you typically use more that one arrow on a single animal when your hunt.  (let's leave the moose outta the equation for now.)   The reason why I ask, is that if your hit percentage is low it stands to reason that you will run outta arrows sooner as you have to put in more effort for a successful hunt thereby incurring more wear and tear to your equipment as compared to another player with a higher hit percentage.  That brings me then to how many arrows you use per animal.  A well placed shot on a deer, wolf or bear typically is enough cause them to bleed out over time.  In that case it's just a waiting game until they finally expire from blood loss.  But if you feel the need to shoot your prey with multiple arrows then you are practically doubling the wear rate on your equipment incurring a much higher failure rate.   

you might wanna check out @Drifter Man post 1000 Days in the Dam: An exercise in inventory control,
there is some valuable data that he has shared with the community that you might find interesting.

Good luck player!  Game on!

 

[Jynxer]

I’ve heard you can find birch saplings beachcombing. Not sure if maple one spawn too. 

[odizzido]

I've never had that issue because I always have stopped playing once I get set up and stable.

[hozz1235]

I have a 2200+ day run and am not close to running out yet.  I do supplement hunting with the rifle since the introduction of ammo crafting.  I think you'll die from boredom before running out of hunting mats.  Always have fishing and rabbits too (which are pretty much infinite).

[Lord of the Long Dark]

While I cleanse the map of all birch and maple I have never run out of arrow shafts or bows even after 1500 days on one of my interloper runs. 
  even if I did I replenish them beachcombing anyway. 
   I still have a couple hundred arrows and hundreds of matches even after 1500 days. I can’t imagine you could run out. 

[Blizzard Walker]

On 10/25/2021 at 8:22 PM, piddy3825 said:

Congrats on playing over 1100 days with your Voyager character!
Maybe now is the time for you step up the difficulty in your game play and begin a new adventure in Stalker Mode! (just a thought 😏)

Anyways, considering that natural resources like birch and maple saplings are limited, it only stands to reason that at some point if you live long enough on your playthrough, you will eventually run out of arrows.  However, considering that you can easily get 8-10 shots from each arrow before breaking them it also stands to reason that it can and will take you a very long time to completely run out.   

Two things come to mind however, the first is what is your shots fired to wildlife hits percentage using the bow?  Secondly, do you typically use more that one arrow on a single animal when your hunt.  (let's leave the moose outta the equation for now.)   The reason why I ask, is that if your hit percentage is low it stands to reason that you will run outta arrows sooner as you have to put in more effort for a successful hunt thereby incurring more wear and tear to your equipment as compared to another player with a higher hit percentage.  That brings me then to how many arrows you use per animal.  A well placed shot on a deer, wolf or bear typically is enough cause them to bleed out over time.  In that case it's just a waiting game until they finally expire from blood loss.  But if you feel the need to shoot your prey with multiple arrows then you are practically doubling the wear rate on your equipment incurring a much higher failure rate.   

you might wanna check out @Drifter Man post 1000 Days in the Dam: An exercise in inventory control,
there is some valuable data that he has shared with the community that you might find interesting.

Good luck player!  Game on!

 

Thanks for all the answers everyone.

piddy3825, I am thinking of starting a new run on Stalker once I round out my map knowledge as I am still exploring TWM with AC, HRV and BI remaining to visit.  BI will remain for last.  I am hoarding ammunition (200 revolver and 100 rifle rounds), which means I will visit BI when I am ready.

At Day 1200+ I am careful to use arrows only when necessary.  Chasing deer towards wolves means a 2 for 1 harvest via an easy crouching shot at the wolf.  Similarly, ambushing bears from safe locations means I can kill bears with one shot - either instantly or by later finding the bled out bear. When I do hunt deer it is at point blank crouching range after the deer turns to approach me head on.  Those hunts are almost always instant kills.

Cooking 5 allows stockpiling prodigious amounts of meat without concern for spoilage.  I hunt less often and its more often intended to clear wolves and bears out of my path.

Much of the wear and tear on my arrows was prior to Day 500: taking 4 shots at a deer before getting a hit, taking numerous shots at a wounded bear rather than just letting it bleed out and even hastening Archery 5 by shooting at rabbits with arrows instead of rocks. Those shafts are gone forever for little gain.

 

Edited October 31, 2021 by Blizzard Walker
missing words and spelling

[piddy3825]

@Blizzard Walker, sounds like to me you have all the bases covered! 

One of the ways that I try to develop map knowledge is to spend at least 50 days in each region and intimately trying to explore as much as possible. 
HRV, however is my nemesis.  Maybe it's just the fact that I always feel like I'm walking in circles.  I honestly only ever go there to retrieve the moose satchel and soon as I have found it I work my way back to Milton.   Yeah, once you figure out how to navigate all those transitional ice caves, let me know!

In the mean time, have fun, play hard and watch out for those furry fanged marauders.  

[manolitode]

I've run out of leather, whetstones and matches for instance but have yet to run out of saplings of any kind. But then I have rarely gone beyond 500 days like some of the posters above. 

If I was about to run out of arrows I would go on to hunt bear only for the least possible arrow wear for the most possible meat. As you know moose won't bleed out from one arrow and will despawn. 

If I had already run out of arrows I would hunt by pulling a wolf towards deer (it's easier than the other way around), have him take the deer down and then chase him away. If he came back for the carcass it would be alright to fight him for some wolfmeat. EDIT: However use your wolf coat, not your bear coat, to fight a wolf if you're out of arrows since it will lower its condition. Without arrows you will eventually run out of means to repair the bear coat. 

Edited October 31, 2021 by manolitode