BP. The new BI as far as interloper. No reason to go

[manolitode]

15 hours ago, jeffpeng said:

Of all players that have bought TLD on steam only 20.2% have survived 10 days on any survival setting. Of those 20.2% 3.8% have survived a single day on Interloper. That means roughly 19% of people that play survival have even tried Interloper. I mean I have no data on that, but I wouldn't be too surprised if among the people that even play survival regularly, people that usually do so on Interloder would literally mark the elusive 1%.

Thanks for pointing out this data, as you suggest it's helpful to be reminded how non-representative parts of the community is compared to the overall playerbase. Now that I look it up, the data on PS seems even more skewed. 1.6% have survived one day on interloper,  2.3% have crafted a full set of improvised tools. 1,7% have conquered Timberwolf mountain.

[Levelgrinder]

27 minutes ago, manolitode said:

Now that I look it up, the data on PS seems even more skewed. 1.6% have survived one day on interloper,  2.3% have crafted a full set of improvised tools. 1,7% have conquered Timberwolf mountain.

Where could I see this sort of data? Is it on the TLD website somewhere?

[Guest jeffpeng]

58 minutes ago, manolitode said:

Thanks for pointing out this data, as you suggest it's helpful to be reminded how non-representative parts of the community is compared to the overall playerbase. Now that I look it up, the data on PS seems even more skewed. 1.6% have survived one day on interloper,  2.3% have crafted a full set of improvised tools. 1,7% have conquered Timberwolf mountain.

Yeah, that doesn't surprise me.

I think it has a lot to do with the somewhat sketchy advertisement for this game. It is still being primarily marketed as a story driven survival experience. While that is right and true and everything as much as it is clearly the primary goal of the developers, I think because of that most people buying the game aren't really aware of sandbox mode or even interested in it. And if you look at the history of sandbox, then you kinda realize that its mere existence is not really by design, but kinda just "happened" as a byproduct of early access.

Also: while I wholeheartedly agree with the no hand-holding philosophy of the game, which has inspired a lot of other games of the genre to do the same (most notably Green Hell which is brutally hard until you figure everything out, and then becomes almost boringly trivial), I can see how players that seek primarily light entertainment, and not a monumental challenge, are immediately turned away by this. And, honestly, it took me over a year until I even dared to give Interloper a try, and hardly anyone sticks with a game a year or even half a decade, such as I have, and many other people invested enough in the game to actively participate on the forums.

Interloper, and I would assume this is by design, really is just everything cranked so high the devs saw it as the ultimate challenge at the time, one which hardly anyone could do. And that today people play triple digit days runs of deadman just goes to show how good one can actually get at something (plus there is tons of knowledge available for those seeking it). It's just like with everything else in life: people never try most things, and what they try hardly anyone sticks with until they are really good at it. And yes I know there are individuals that would claim that Interloper is for casuals, and a true pro wouldn't play anything below nogoa blindfolded with hotkeys exclusively - in Finnish, of course, but being able to do a 100 day run on Interloper means you are freakishly good at this game, and everything beyond that is just outstanding >0,1% stuff.

So, yeah, as much as I would like more focus on giving Interloper more valid content, and having it balanced better, an even harder "official" difficulty, or more options to even better customize games .... I just see that I'm part of a vanishingly small, admittedly elitist crowd. So I guess I'm thankful they even keep Interloper in mind at all when releasing new things, and that they even throw in things like "As the dead sleep", which is clearly aimed at this vanishingly small player base.

29 minutes ago, Levelgrinder said:

Where could I see this sort of data? Is it on the TLD website somewhere?

It's on the steam achievement page, where you can see global achievement data. You can access it through your steam client - if you use steam for TLD.

 

Edited December 15, 2021 by jeffpeng

[UpUpAway95]

11 hours ago, jeffpeng said:

Yeah, that doesn't surprise me.

I think it has a lot to do with the somewhat sketchy advertisement for this game. It is still being primarily marketed as a story driven survival experience. While that is right and true and everything as much as it is clearly the primary goal of the developers, I think because of that most people buying the game aren't really aware of sandbox mode or even interested in it. And if you look at the history of sandbox, then you kinda realize that its mere existence is not really by design, but kinda just "happened" as a byproduct of early access.

Also: while I wholeheartedly agree with the no hand-holding philosophy of the game, which has inspired a lot of other games of the genre to do the same (most notably Green Hell which is brutally hard until you figure everything out, and then becomes almost boringly trivial), I can see how players that seek primarily light entertainment, and not a monumental challenge, are immediately turned away by this. And, honestly, it took me over a year until I even dared to give Interloper a try, and hardly anyone sticks with a game a year or even half a decade, such as I have, and many other people invested enough in the game to actively participate on the forums.

Interloper, and I would assume this is by design, really is just everything cranked so high the devs saw it as the ultimate challenge at the time, one which hardly anyone could do. And that today people play triple digit days runs of deadman just goes to show how good one can actually get at something (plus there is tons of knowledge available for those seeking it). It's just like with everything else in life: people never try most things, and what they try hardly anyone sticks with until they are really good at it. And yes I know there are individuals that would claim that Interloper is for casuals, and a true pro wouldn't play anything below nogoa blindfolded with hotkeys exclusively - in Finnish, of course, but being able to do a 100 day run on Interloper means you are freakishly good at this game, and everything beyond that is just outstanding >0,1% stuff.

So, yeah, as much as I would like more focus on giving Interloper more valid content, and having it balanced better, an even harder "official" difficulty, or more options to even better customize games .... I just see that I'm part of a vanishingly small, admittedly elitist crowd. So I guess I'm thankful they even keep Interloper in mind at all when releasing new things, and that they even throw in things like "As the dead sleep", which is clearly aimed at this vanishingly small player base.

It's on the steam achievement page, where you can see global achievement data. You can access it through your steam client - if you use steam for TLD.

 

The amount of hand holding done in this game levels is rather inconsistent (re their philosophy about not doing it).  For example, we get a flashing reminder every time we're on a slope.  Doesn't that qualify as hand-holding at all difficulty levels?  Shouldn't the player be able to decide (through toggles) how much hand-holding they individually require for themselves in a game.  I would love to turn off some of hand-holding features that are there; while I'm sure others would love to have more ot it in their games.

Frustrating mechanics are, in my experience, why beginners drops games before they've really had a chance to become invested in them.  Also, Hinterland has to consider that a portion of their player base may not be very familiar with video games in general.  What seems intuitive to an "old gamer" based on experience with other games is not intuitive for everyone.

I don't get where you're coming from when you imply that the content added in Blackrock is not valid for Interloper.  It is... it has the same effect as adding another zone... more saplings, more cattails, more cloth, and other supplies that don't respawn (except for the few items that wash up on the shores in some zones).  This extends the total amount of time the player can survive in the world before running out of those things.  An overall issue (at all difficulties) is now that the game world is so large and there are so many of those supplies available... and a portion of the player base has gotten good enough to survive indefinitely even at high difficulties... the "threat" of dying to things like starvation and the cold seem less and less likely to happen.   The basic concept behind Interloper is to survive on minimal resources... adding interloper specific "swag" defeats that concept utterly.

The question in my last post remains - Is there a compelling reason for any player at any difficulty to go any number of zones like Mystery Lake anymore?  The game world is just so full of "stuff."  When we can survive indefinitely without whatever new stuff they add, what's the point of adding anything... except for "exploration or exploration's sake."  Certainly, there is a lot in Blackrock to explore... at any difficulty level.

The T-wolves make Stalker -level gameplay slightly more difficult since the player has to face them in order to restock on depleted ammo.  The interloper player can go to any number of zones to restock on saplings and can choose from 3 easier zones (without T-wolves) to restock on their knives, hatchets, and arrowheads.  I don't think it prudent for Hinterland to add T-Wolves to, say, Forlorn Muskeg to "force" interloper players to face them... and I don't think special loot for just Interloper players should be introduced either.  It is what it is... and up to the individual player to decide whether going to any zone on the map is "worth it" to themselves.

ETA:  A route HL hasn't taken is to create enemies that are specific to difficulty levels.  That is, going with something like having T-Wolves spawn only in Stalker mode and spawn in more zones and regular wolves only spawn on Interloper.  Historically, they went with making the generic animals slightly more aggressive and spawn more frequently on stalker.  I'm not convinced though that going such a route would be a "solution" either.

Edited December 15, 2021 by UpUpAway95

[Salty Crackers]

17 hours ago, jeffpeng said:

Yeah, that doesn't surprise me.

I think it has a lot to do with the somewhat sketchy advertisement for this game. It is still being primarily marketed as a story driven survival experience. While that is right and true and everything as much as it is clearly the primary goal of the developers, I think because of that most people buying the game aren't really aware of sandbox mode or even interested in it. And if you look at the history of sandbox, then you kinda realize that its mere existence is not really by design, but kinda just "happened" as a byproduct of early access.

Also: while I wholeheartedly agree with the no hand-holding philosophy of the game, which has inspired a lot of other games of the genre to do the same (most notably Green Hell which is brutally hard until you figure everything out, and then becomes almost boringly trivial), I can see how players that seek primarily light entertainment, and not a monumental challenge, are immediately turned away by this. And, honestly, it took me over a year until I even dared to give Interloper a try, and hardly anyone sticks with a game a year or even half a decade, such as I have, and many other people invested enough in the game to actively participate on the forums.

Interloper, and I would assume this is by design, really is just everything cranked so high the devs saw it as the ultimate challenge at the time, one which hardly anyone could do. And that today people play triple digit days runs of deadman just goes to show how good one can actually get at something (plus there is tons of knowledge available for those seeking it). It's just like with everything else in life: people never try most things, and what they try hardly anyone sticks with until they are really good at it. And yes I know there are individuals that would claim that Interloper is for casuals, and a true pro wouldn't play anything below nogoa blindfolded with hotkeys exclusively - in Finnish, of course, but being able to do a 100 day run on Interloper means you are freakishly good at this game, and everything beyond that is just outstanding >0,1% stuff.

So, yeah, as much as I would like more focus on giving Interloper more valid content, and having it balanced better, an even harder "official" difficulty, or more options to even better customize games .... I just see that I'm part of a vanishingly small, admittedly elitist crowd. So I guess I'm thankful they even keep Interloper in mind at all when releasing new things, and that they even throw in things like "As the dead sleep", which is clearly aimed at this vanishingly small player base..

 

The game was a lot harder back in early access, when the sandbox was mainly for testing mechanics rather than a game in its own right. I'd like to challenge all the hardcore Interlopers to boot up Vigilant Trespass through the Time Capsule and give Interloper a shot there.

[UpUpAway95]

1 hour ago, Salty Crackers said:

The game was a lot harder back in early access, when the sandbox was mainly for testing mechanics rather than a game in its own right. I'd like to challenge all the hardcore Interlopers to boot up Vigilant Trespass through the Time Capsule and give Interloper a shot there.

It's kind of inevitable... the smaller the world, the more limited the basic resources are in that world.  Since Interloper (well the whole game, actually) is based on surviving with minimal resources,  anything added (except new, high-powered predators) just makes survival easier.  Adding high-powered predators to the beginner areas would be too brutal on people unfamiliar with the game and adding them to the new areas just makes them avoidable by avoiding the area altogether.  Since it is already possible to survive indefinitely on Interloper and almost indefinitely on higher custom difficulties (like NOGOA), there really isn't anything that HL can add in the way of "swag" that would be essential to long-term survival.  Any of it would just make the game easier anyways... but without it, it seems that players will just avoid going into the new areas where the more difficult predators are located.  It's a catch 22 for HL.

For now, I get around it by limiting myself to single-zone custom runs since I have no interest in dragging a filesave out over thousands of days (boring).  I'd rather start fresh with essentially nothing more frequently.

Edited December 16, 2021 by UpUpAway95

[Guest jeffpeng]

2 hours ago, Salty Crackers said:

The game was a lot harder back in early access, when the sandbox was mainly for testing mechanics rather than a game in its own right. I'd like to challenge all the hardcore Interlopers to boot up Vigilant Trespass through the Time Capsule and give Interloper a shot there.

In fact: I was thinking about that for some time. Deal 😉

[Salty Crackers]

21 minutes ago, jeffpeng said:

In fact: I was thinking about that for some time. Deal 😉

Enjoy waiting 30 minutes to add coal and needing a hatchet to harvest saplings. Do a write up, if you can!

And say hi to Fluffy for me!

[Guest jeffpeng]

2 minutes ago, Salty Crackers said:

Enjoy waiting 30 minutes to add coal and needing a hatchet to harvest saplings. Do a write up, if you can!

And say hi to Fluffy for me!

I will 🙂

 

[Guest jeffpeng]

On 12/16/2021 at 3:50 AM, Salty Crackers said:

Enjoy waiting 30 minutes to add coal and needing a hatchet to harvest saplings. Do a write up, if you can!

And say hi to Fluffy for me!

Sadly VT doesn't work on my Mac. Plain and simple. I will probably have to run that on a windows machine, which I do own, it is just currently.... indisposed. It's a headless remote machine that usually sits in a cabinet, and said cabinet belongs in a room that's undergoing renovations 😅 So it'll probably be next year.

Edited December 19, 2021 by jeffpeng

[JMK]

On 12/14/2021 at 2:46 AM, Ahatch said:

Although there may be no reason to enter Black Rock region there is still the need to challenge yourself a bit. I'm taking my long run interloper survivor with level 5 archery and hopefully depopulate that prison. 

I went there with a 30 days interloper before even visiting a forge. Was quite a rough ride, made it to the pen. Played hide and seek with the wolves exploring it.

Tried to put a fight to some wolves with the hammer and ballistic vest to get access to rabbits, went short on food, ended with no options but flee the region but a blizzard then Timberwolves got me on my way out.

 

Yet, I enjoyed the ride very much 

[Ahatch]

I'm going to do a very cautious approach when I go there (currently in Bleak Inlet) going to forge a whole bunch of arrows and just sort of deal with one wolf pack at a time. If I can find a nice safe perch where they can't get me there is no timber wolf safe from my bow  Regular wolves in the prison I think I can get most of them from high up. If I crouch and throw rocks to lure them they will just saunter into good shooting position. It will be a challenge though for sure Bleak has been tough already (namely weather though) so far. 

[ajb1978]

<snark>

Interloper: "This region doesn't have a purpose!"

Also interlopers: "No don't change it, that makes it too easy."

</snark>

lol hope y'all can appreciate the humor and not take this post seriously.

[turtle777]

I’m currently in BR with my 1000+ day Stalker character, to learn the region. Got my first frostbite on the way through the transition region.

The re-spawn rate of Timberwolves is insane - every 3 days you have a new 5 pack. I’m sure it’s less on Interloper, but w/o guns, these beasts are harder to beat. I’m not sure if I want to take my 300+ day Interloper character there…

-t

[Kranium]

I didn't realize there were Timberwolves in Broken Railroad!

[ChillPlayer]

1 hour ago, Kranium said:

I didn't realize there were Timberwolves in Broken Railroad!

BARK

[ChillPlayer]

I am at day 186 Interloper and have spend the last 80 days at my favorite home, Miner's Folly. I've got the moose once and killed the bear twice and when I crafted the bear coat I realized that I made a huge mistake early on. Instead of preserving my improvised hatched and knife I freely used them everywhere, even when there was the option to do it with bare hands, like tearing curtains apart or harvesting meat.

I only began using my hands when I noticed that I am on my last wetstone, I burned through at least 5 or 6 of them. And after finishing the coat my knife is down to 21% and the hatched to 37%. 

This puts me in a dire situation I was hoping to avoid, I need to get to Blackrock. For one I am confident to find more westones but there's also the milling machine which lets me repair my improvised tools. 

Technically I don't need to go just now, I could wait a few hundred days more until I need to craft something again but life in AC has become boring, as in unchallenging, and I decided to get over with it now.

AC is a good staring point, the transition cave in TWM is just a horizontal hike over the map away and I know how to get to the mine and the prison without any (Timber)wolf encounter - well except for the two inside the prison front yard. Haven't decided yet how to deal with them, torch, stone or bow. But the milling machine is a legitim reason for me to go to BRM, I mean BARK 🤣

[Ahatch]

I got my Interloper survivor to Blackrock and have spent 10 days at the substation. My methodical approach has been good but I am making slow progress to my goal of actually going to the prison. Timber wolves and bad weather have slowed me so far. Cleared 2 packs here already and have 3 to harvest yet. But there is ANOTHER pack of timber wolves blocking the way to the prison. Thinking once I get there I am going to go make some noisemakers as I have lost some of my arrows already. I find the weather here not that forgiving it seems to blizzard constantly almost like PV not many sunny days for a Mag lens so am trying to pile raw meat waiting for a nice day. 

[Guest jeffpeng]

I mean I've been camping in BARK for two the better part of two weeks now. Had one run in with Timberwolves when I got to the region near the substation (came from PV) which I "solved" with shooting two of them, and then bolting with a torch to the barn near Jailers Residence. My second one was at the power plant, but ... yeah, wolves are bad at opening doors, but they kinda try run around them, which eventually got them killed. The wolves in the prison are all dead. The one that has respawned is also dead again. I kinda hope they come back faster, since otherwise I will have to secure food elsewhere.

It took me some time, but I got back to 8 arrows (so far I recovered all but one, but the wear and tear has been harsh), although I need a new bow very badly as it's at 10% now. It's pretty hard to craft in the Prison as you need a fire, and a fairly hot one, burning to do that. Firewood seems to be the main limiting factor. Blizzards seem rather frequent, but no overly so. I personally feel PV is worse - but then again I really do hate PV with a passion.

I also found out that once Timberwolves see you the one that howls has a rather lengthy animation for doing so. This is a uniquely good opportunity to headshot one of them right off the bat. If you are quick enough you can even recover the arrow right then and there. Then trying to hit moving timberwolves with arrows, as I've learned back in Bleak Inlet, really isn't the most feasible thing to do, but if you can spare the arrow walking backwards it's easier to at least hit them "somewhere", which is enough to remove them from the equation. A hit with stones does half a wolf of morale damage. Don't aim them, just pitch them. Sorta works.

Hike to the mine was rather uneventful. I mean if you know how it's not that hard, and I had no wolves in front of the prison. The mine itself had not really any interesting loot besides the noise makers and the code. First night back at the prison I was lucky to get the aurora, but besides some gunpowder there was nothing in the workshop. Restoring my knife however was nice and saved me a half a whetstone. (I really abuse these things.)

Now I kinda wait for my maple to cure. I at least need to get a bow done before I leave as every shot of my old trusty could be its last. It would be great to get my first wolf coat, but crafting here is just too expensive for that. Also: yeah, no wolfskin and no bearskin at day 50+. I kinda didn't get to that. Toured the world a lot, still miss my 2nd TWS, which, at this point, is probably a lost cause. But I've been everywhere except HRV, BR and BI by now, so that's kinda a nice pace. You can't do it all at the same time 😄

 

Edited December 27, 2021 by jeffpeng

[ChillPlayer]

I proceeded as planned and reached Blackrock around day 190. By entering from TWM I managed to completely avoid timberwolves and went straight to the mine, I only had an almost-meeting with a moose and a bear but I could avoid a confrontation with both. When I went down the rope into the canyon I've got hit by a blizzard and I had to make my way blindly to the cave - which also was a blessing because this way I didn't had to deal with the wolves near the climbing spot straight on. Instead I could creep out of the cave after the blizzard and climb up on a cliff where the wolves could not reach me - but wait, what? Not plural, singular, there was only one wolf, on my Stalker and Pilgrim runs there were two of them. I thanked him for 5kg of delicious wolf meat with an arrow to the head and fetched the code.

When I reached the prison I tried to spot through the fence where the wolves are in the yard but I couldn't see them. I then cautiously crouched into the yard, ready to direct the wolves with stones away from me - but there weren't any, not even one. I was reliefed first, worried second because now I needed to change my dinner plans 😕

I've set camp near the work bench and spent the first night inside the infirmary. The next day I heard a wolf hunting a bunny next to the double doors near the work bench and decided to try my luck. There was again a rock I could crouch up to an unreachable cliff, I took aim, shot, and half missed it, I only hit the body and not the head. The poor beast then went into a frenzy, running from side to side of the area until he laid himself to rest right before the fence door - that's what I call home delivery service

This presented me with another unique opportunity, cowardly trickser that I am I packed myself with guts and meat and then closed the door, waiting for more pizza, err, I mean wolves. It didn't take long and two more approached the door but they couldn't reach me. Some funny/buggy interactions later (it left, when I moved it came back, I stand still it leaves, I move it comes back) I opened the door and shot it in the back - again, not hiding being a coward but I prefer that to being a brave dead. Rinse & repeat and the third and fourth beast was quickly down too - but I didn't manage to insta kill them and so had to look for the bodies later on. I could've sworn that I've injured four wolves in total and my arrow count seems to reflect that as well, but I could only find two additional carcasses plus the one by the door. No idea where the 4th went, either I was imagining things and one arrow is still somewhere lying around or I've got hit by another bug.

Anyways, I then was blessed with an aurora, letting me fix my tools. After I left the workshop the next day I noticed some shuffling noise to my left. I crouched around the corner and lo and behold, the front yard wolf finally spawned. Only one but better than nothing. No cheating here, I had to take the honest approach and lure him to me with a stone, a critical hit later with my arrow I was harvesting another 5kg of meat.

So only one wolf left, the one by the rope climb en route to the vest (no bear there, sadly). I have enough meat to get myself well fed before finishing my mission and going back to AC. I won't explore the other regions in Blackrock because it's way too dangerous and I don't know what loot I should hope for, other than maybe some more wetstones. But proper management should prevent me from needing to resharpen my tools for hundreds of days and then I'll probably just come back to the prison.

At day 200 I have spend time in DP - spawned there - CH, ML, PV, TWM, AC and BRM and I don't think this list will get significantely longer other than maybe out of boredom. I too hate the unpleasant valley and the only reason for me to cross it again would be a trip to Milton, because I'm still missing a 2nd pair of longjohns which I'd hope to find there. And then HRV might follow before I ultimately retreat back to AC.

[ChillPlayer]

3 hours ago, ChillPlayer said:

No idea where the 4th went, either I was imagining things and one arrow is still somewhere lying around or I've got hit by another bug.

found it, the carcass was in the corner by the door to the backyard. Unfortunately I didn't find anoter wetstone in the areas I dared to visit, so I am going back to AC with a vest and repaired tools. I'll probably leave the vest at the transition cave to TWM, 6KG is way too heavy.

But damnit, I just realized there is no sneaking around timberwolfs to the cave back to TWM and I didn't pick up the noise makers at the mine - so here comes the mine, part 2 😕

Edited December 27, 2021 by ChillPlayer

[Ahatch]

My strategy on the timber wolves in to crouch and just crawl up on a safe perch staying crouched. Luring them with rocks and then shooting them. I make sure it's far enough away I they don't detect me. Most of the time I can hit them first shot and they usually run off yelping with my arrow. Lost a few arrows though as they bugger off to who knows where and the weather is pretty crappy so not much help from the crows. 

[Guest jeffpeng]

12 hours ago, ChillPlayer said:

By entering from TWM I managed to completely avoid timberwolves and went straight to the mine

This is definitely the more preferable route. The PV - BARK transiton is .... looong. Even from PV I feel you're better off just getting to TWM, acquire proper and safe rest there, and then make it to BARK. Although: you might be greeted by a pack just when coming down from the cave exit. This isn't the worst thing to happen, as you are absolutely safe up there, but there is no 100% reliable avoidance strategy. So you need to plan for some form of "deterrant" in any case, no matter from where you are coming. But I feel like coming from TWM, beelining to the mine and then take the shortcut to the prison is the best approach.

4 hours ago, Ahatch said:

My strategy on the timber wolves in to crouch and just crawl up on a safe perch staying crouched. Luring them with rocks and then shooting them. I make sure it's far enough away I they don't detect me. Most of the time I can hit them first shot and they usually run off yelping with my arrow. Lost a few arrows though as they bugger off to who knows where and the weather is pretty crappy so not much help from the crows. 

Ah I don't have Archery V yet. Close to, but not just yet. I guess once you have that it's a viable strategy. It's just pretty damn expensive in terms of arrows. Even if you are a good shot, from the required distance I'd say it's a 50/50 kill shot at best.

Brings me neatly around to the initial premise of this thread. There really is little incentive to go here except .... well... having been here. The vest most certainly ain't it on Interloper. @Lord of the Long Darkis right with that. And yeah, if you actually want to repair tools this is very much preferable to BI. But then again .... why no just go and get a new knife? It's not like scrap metal or cloth is in short supply - unless you plan to go like day 3652, and both the Riken and Spence's are rather easy to reach, at least without having to risk your hide wrestling with a pack of t-wolves. He pointed this out, too, and he's right on that as well.

So, the problem I guess is this: there is nothing in BARK that helps you in any other region except BI. From a simple, rational survival point of view ... don't go there. It's not worth the resources, and it's riskier than other regions due to t-wolves. Maybe there is high level clothing there I just haven't found because I was late. But it's sort of pointless to have high level clothing in a region most players won't dare to visit without a bow, which probably means hardly any players will see this before day 30 as it means sacrificing other loot.

So, looking at it from this angle @Lord of the Long Darkis right with his initial statement that there really is no good reason to go to Blackrock, while there is a good reason to visit TWM or HRV for guaranteed spawns, a visiting DP or FM is even a requirement to have an actual run, and AC is something you want to get done sooner rather than later, because both crampons and backpack are borderline OP. However the two most risky regions in the game .... have no reason whatsoever. And that's a bit sad. Maybe HL can come up with some killer feature to actually make gun smithing a useful thing on Interloper.... well, without breaking Interloper.

 

 

Edited December 28, 2021 by jeffpeng

[ChillPlayer]

1 hour ago, jeffpeng said:

Although: you might be greeted by a pack just when coming down from the cave exit.

No this pack can be completely avoided when entering BRM, just crouch and turn right over the cliff towards Bricklayer's. There's a bit of goating needed at the end but it's not bad. And turns out it's also possible to sneak around the pack when coming from Foreman's, they only noticed me when I was climbing the veins, which was too late to get to me.

The usefulness of the region is pretty situational. When you are camping in AC or TWM it is much closer to get there to fix some tools than to travel all the way to DP or FM. I wouldn't go there too early though, cooking 5 is a must in my view so you can feast on the wolves while waiting for the aurora. But after spending 22 days in the prison I can not say that I fell in love with the region. The prison is okay to stick around for a bit, CF can easily be avoided with the car by the workshop, there are plenty of wolves around and there are also often deer outside the prison on the frozen river. But those damn blizzards, they are almost guaranteed to start in the morning and last almost until sun down. They are not challenging when you are camping but just utterly annoying.

The other thing which bothers me about BRM since it came out: The iconic items for the region, vest and noise makers, are only really useful in BRM (and possibly it's bad sibling, BI). I wore the vest when I was going back to TWM, just in case a timberwolf pack would get to me and dropped it inside the transition cave. But if you don't go to BRM you don't need the vest nor the noise makers so it's a bit of a catch 22 situation. The only reason to go there is the milling machine which can be avoided with proper tools management or reforging. Well and to improve archery on easy wolf targets and exploration.

Btw, I didn't find a wetstone anywhere in the prison, mine, bricklayer's, foreman's, steam tunnels or forager's, which means I really need to be extra careful with my tools. As I learned the hard way, you have to drop the knife before opening a can without a can opener (dead weight) or the knife will be used to open it, which cost me some precentage of durability. But I'm willing to do that because I really do not want to return to BRM.

[Guest jeffpeng]

So I decided to throw away my Interloper just because I was like really damn curious. (He kinda annoyed me anyways having no 2nd TWS)

Well, the rumor / speculation that the ballistic vest would protect against blood loss is ..... *dramatic suspense*

False. This was after wrestling with a pack of t-wolves. Yes, it reduces some of the damage taken from the bites. But looking like this you kinda are pretty dead anyways. Unless you are willing to become The Mummy. I escaped this using a marine flare - and a lot of bandages. Verdict: not helpful against t-wolves.

Sorta kinda intentional run in with a bear. Came in with like 85% condition. Not bad. Still ate my wool toque, tho. This was with 77% protection. Again: blood loss.

However, after wrestling with the bear again, and then a third time things look like this (after patching up three instances of blood loss)

Actually not totally bad for having been chewed on by a bear three consecutive times. But then again:

So the bear ate two tool toques, two combat pants, deer skin boots, bunny mittens, a mackinaw and even a pair of underwear, all of which was in pretty good if not pristine condition. (You kinda have a lot of time waiting around in Blackrock Prison ....) So I guess we also learned that the vest does not protect clothing at all. I failed to screenshot it, but each bear attack ruins the vest by 4%, while I think every bite from a t-wolf counts at 1/4%.

So ..... yeah. I guess the vest has some utility hunting bears, bringing it as a failsafe. You will not only not die from the bear, you will actually take a very moderate condition loss, even with average gear. You still will suffer major clothing damage.

I kinda died after this, naturally, so I had no chance of testing this on a normal wolf or a moose. I think normal wolves should lose much of their scare with this. Still nothing you'd run in deliberately. Moose .... don't know. There is this speculation the vest protects against broken ribs - I wouldn't expect it to.

Damage calculation feels pretty much like it should. So I'm not really sure what "Armoured" actually does except telling you that you have really high protection. I don't feel the lack of repairability really matters (even tho I usually am a vocal right-to-repair advocate) as you will hardly have the opportunity to get mauled like 25 times in a single interloper game or run into  .... 50? ... wolves.

The real question is: is it worth it? I guess if you are not super confident in your bear hunting abilities before you got your bearskins it might take a lot of risk out of that. As I said I can't speak definitively about its utility with the moose, but I just can't imagine it prevents broken ribs. T-Wolves: utterly useless. Wolves: I guess if you have a habit of running into wolves exhausted, with armed with a dull knife and at low health ... it might have its utility early.

So I guess that's my opinion on that thing: maybe get it early if you spawn in BARK or TWM, maybe AC or PV. I still feel there are more pressing items to attain, but if you are confident with your torch fending off t-wolves it might be worth getting it. It has no place late game, as your protection is good enough anyways, and you will not be able to afford wearing late game gear AND the vest since that is just too damn heavy and slows you down too damn much.

But... and I have to say this in defense of this item: people always wanted options for the accessories slot. Now ... there are options. And all things considered  I think Hinterland balanced this item well enough. Plus, and maybe that's the real value of this thing: consider not knowing every wolf spawn on every map by heart. Consider maybe being new to Interloper. This thing can make learning the ropes much, much easier.

 

Edited December 28, 2021 by jeffpeng