What do you run out of? And how do you manage it?

[Levelgrinder]

What do you run out of? And how do you manage it? I'm about 220 days in on Stalker and I think (unless I die prematurely) I'm going to run out of matches before I do die. I've gone 300+ days on some Stalker runs but never noticed that I might actually run out of anything. But this time I think I will run out of matches.

Without matches it will be hard to boil water and cook food. Yes I know I can use a mag glass, but you can't use the mag glass inside or on overcast days so it isn't 100% reliable.

I've looted pretty much the whole map and ferried all the loot back to my home base, so I know there aren't that many matches or firelighters left out there. But using matches for cooking and for lighting torches to ward off wolves means I'm going through them quite quickly, and at the rate I'm going I expect to run out sometime in the future on this run.

Any suggestions as to how to manage this?

[ChillPlayer]

Im at day day 375 on interloper and don't fear to run out of matches any time soon. It's all about management, don't start a fire for every wolf but first hunt all the meat you need, then make the fire, cook all in one go and don't forget to also boil lots of water. When I barbecue a bear or moose I usually cook half of it on two fireplaces and the rest on one, while on the other I boil water. If you want to travel with torches, chain them together so you only need to waste a match on one. And the mag glass is also very useful for indoor places. Just gather 2-3 sticks, light a fire outside with the mag glass and then pull a torch out of it which you can use to start the fire inside/cave/fishing hut. If it's overcast, don't barbecue but wait for a better day, plan accordingly. Basically, treat every match as if it would be your last.

About your first question - and this is only true on my current interloper - the first thing I ran out are wetstones. Because there are no hatchets and knives to be found, I have to sharpen my crafted tools and it takes quite a toll, to bring a hatchet from 50% to 100% takes 50% off the wetstone and I haven't found many.

Next I will probably run out of cloth which will force me to check out the last places I want to go, BI, BRailRoad and probably some other houses in CH and MT which I left alone on my last visit out of fear of running into a wolf. Or maybe I'll decide to spend my last days just in animal clothing in Miner's Folly, there I don't really need a bedroll nor underwear

 

[Serenity]

Use the mag lens more often and get used to cooking outside (or take a torch inside). Have long running fires. Learn how to deal with wolves without using a torch all the time. Plan your food and water better so it lasts between sunny days.

There is a ridiculous number of matches on Stalker and you only need one every other day. Maybe once a week sometimes. Lots of people seem to fear running out of things, but there are a lot more resources in the world than it seems

Edited January 20, 2022 by Serenity

[I_eat_only_wolf_meat]

The mag lens can you get you through it.  If you're holed up someplace in a permanent base, you can wait for a sunny day and cook, say, a bear and two deer worth of meat, plus 30L of water or so.  Lack of matches can be more of a problem if you're traveling and need to get a fire started right away.

[DiscoJonny]

I pretty much only play Staker mode and have never come close to using up all the matches in the game.  Besides the strikers and the mag lenses of which there are multiples, there are literally hundreds of matches in the game.  I honestly can't image that you, @Levelgrinder, have collected all the matches that can be found in the game and are at risk of running out.  I suppose it's possible at some point if you live long enough you'll eventually run out of matches but that could take a long time.  
I'd say that once you exhaust every fire making tool, matches, strikers, maglenses and no longer have any ability of making fire, then and only then are you truly screwed.

[Levelgrinder]

3 minutes ago, DiscoJonny said:

I pretty much only play Staker mode and have never come close to using up all the matches in the game.  Besides the strikers and the mag lenses of which there are multiples, there are literally hundreds of matches in the game.  I honestly can't image that you, @Levelgrinder, have collected all the matches that can be found in the game and are at risk of running out.  I suppose it's possible at some point if you live long enough you'll eventually run out of matches but that could take a long time.  
I'd say that once you exhaust every fire making tool, matches, strikers, maglenses and no longer have any ability of making fire, then and only then are you truly screwed.

As I said, I've gone 300+ days on some Stalker runs and never noticed that I might actually run out of anything. But it's just this run that I think I will run out of matches, which seems strange.

[manolitode]

Definitely not spray cans I tend to run out of whetstones in interloper just as @ChillPlayer, somewhere around day 250-300. Mostly because I use the improvised knife a lot. While I avoid tearing down curtains with the tool I should switch to harvest meat with a hacksaw way earlier in order to conserve the knife for cold carcasses. It's worth it to postpone regular trips to the milling machine in late game.

[piddy3825]

3 minutes ago, manolitode said:

 I tend to run out of whetstones in interloper just as @ChillPlayer, somewhere around day 250-300. Mostly because I use the improvised knife a lot. 

Yeah, whetstones are definitely a limited resource, one that in my opinion could be one the most pivotal of items in the game.  They wear out way to fast.  I'd rather see a very limited number of whetstones in the game but with a substantially higher durability.  Make it harder to obtain the whetstone but limit the degradtion by usage to 1 or maybe 2% at max once sharpening proficiency has been reached.  

I think a good strategy to limit the use of the sharpening stone in Interloper or in any mode for that matter is to forge dozens of improvised axes and knives.  
I've had a few runs where I adopted that strategy and just used the improvised tools to their breaking point, would harvest the left over metal and never touched the sharpening stones.  Of course they were heavy, so I would transport what I could carry and leave a few hatchets and knives in every base camp I established around the island.  Utilizing the forges on the Riken, Broken Railroad and Forelorn Muskeg it was easier to travel and make new improvised items for those regions and the nearby areas that I used as regional base camps.  

I think @Levelgrinderis probably more apt to run out of sharpeing stones than he is of matches!  

[Levelgrinder]

3 hours ago, piddy3825 said:

Yeah, whetstones are definitely a limited resource, one that in my opinion could be one the most pivotal of items in the game.  They wear out way to fast.  I'd rather see a very limited number of whetstones in the game but with a substantially higher durability.  Make it harder to obtain the whetstone but limit the degradtion by usage to 1 or maybe 2% at max once sharpening proficiency has been reached.  

I think a good strategy to limit the use of the sharpening stone in Interloper or in any mode for that matter is to forge dozens of improvised axes and knives.  
I've had a few runs where I adopted that strategy and just used the improvised tools to their breaking point, would harvest the left over metal and never touched the sharpening stones.  Of course they were heavy, so I would transport what I could carry and leave a few hatchets and knives in every base camp I established around the island.  Utilizing the forges on the Riken, Broken Railroad and Forelorn Muskeg it was easier to travel and make new improvised items for those regions and the nearby areas that I used as regional base camps.  

I think @Levelgrinderis probably more apt to run out of sharpeing stones than he is of matches!  

Whetstones and knives aren't a problem yet. I'm carrying a full whetstone, knife and axe, and these are my reserve. Matches are a problem.

[ChillPlayer]

2 hours ago, Levelgrinder said:

Whetstones and knives aren't a problem yet. I'm carrying a full whetstone, knife and axe, and these are my reserve. Matches are a problem.

Yes as said, whetstones are only on interloper an issue. I don't know what you did that matches are a problem on your stalker run, on my >800d stalker I have so many matches that I don't even pick them up anymore. On stalker you have to be very wasteful to run out of anything below d1000, almost purposely.

[Serenity]

Yeah on Stalker I go "damn, another pack of matches :(" while on Interloper it's "yay, awesome"

[piddy3825]

Hey @Levelgrinderdo you have the firestarting merit badge?   Just curious.  But in case you weren't aware of the benefit(s), let me remind you.
It takes 1000 cumulatively successfully started fires to obtain, but changes the game dramatically considering you start with level 3 fire starting skills if you enable it when you launch a new game.  It took me years of gameplay to rack up 1000 fires.  As I finally got near the goal, I went on a fire starting campaign and lit fire after fire after fire before finally hitting the marik.  Nowadays I almost always utilize it as the success rate for starting a fire also is improved.  Less fire starting failures, means less matches used.   I do hope you find more matches in game.  If not, I wish you the best of luck for the remainder of your run!

[twyn1]

Definitely depends on the difficulty level you're playing on. I pretty much stick to Pilgrim but play Stalker for the challenges.

Whetstones are the only things that I worry about running out. I will take all I have with me to every new region/base if possible.  If I do have to leave any behind, I make a note of where they are in case I need to retrieve them.

I did come close to running out of cloth a few times, early in a game, when starting in a not so resource- or wildlife-friendly area and having to use a few bandages ... almost had to sacrifice my long johns.

[I_eat_only_wolf_meat]

@Levelgrinder

All these interloper players know this already, but if you're running into problems with matches you should light your fires with a torch, rather than using a match directly.  This is really only relevant at lower firestarting skill levels, but it's a useful technique regardless. 

The likelihood of lighting a torch with a match is 100%.  When you start a fire with your torch, the attempt still may fail, but you'll get as many attempts as you need.

[Levelgrinder]

7 hours ago, piddy3825 said:

Hey @Levelgrinderdo you have the firestarting merit badge?   Just curious.  But in case you weren't aware of the benefit(s), let me remind you.
It takes 1000 cumulatively successfully started fires to obtain, but changes the game dramatically considering you start with level 3 fire starting skills if you enable it when you launch a new game.  It took me years of gameplay to rack up 1000 fires.  As I finally got near the goal, I went on a fire starting campaign and lit fire after fire after fire before finally hitting the marik.  Nowadays I almost always utilize it as the success rate for starting a fire also is improved.  Less fire starting failures, means less matches used.   I do hope you find more matches in game.  If not, I wish you the best of luck for the remainder of your run!

Yes I have the badge, and selected it for this run. People seem to think I've been wasteful or haven't looted enough, but I've gone 300+ days on some Stalker runs and never noticed that I might actually run out of anything. But this time I think I will run out of matches in about about hundred days or so, which is why it is so strange.

[Serenity]

I just find it strange that you say have found all matches when you can visit 2-3 maps and have 200 of them

[turtle777]

My 1100+ day Stalker survivor has tons of matches left. Not at all concerned about running out.

Never start a fire straight from a match (unless you have level 5). Light a torch first, then light the fire. Always use matches only in an emergency - plan ahead and use the mag lens for regular fires. Always cook food and boil water for many days ahead.

At 1100 days, I'm not even close to running out of anything. In my first 500 days, I was pretty careless about wolf attacks, so I wasted a lot of cloth for repairs and lichen as antiseptic. These are the two items I could see myself running out first.

-t

[ajb1978]

The first thing I run out of is things to do. After mapping everything, looting everything, breaking everything down, collecting all the buffer memories, finding all the cairns, maxing out all skills, etc. I eventually just have nothing left to do but play house.

Eventually I delete the save and start over.

[manolitode]

23 hours ago, piddy3825 said:

I think a good strategy to limit the use of the sharpening stone in Interloper or in any mode for that matter is to forge dozens of improvised axes and knives. 

Sure, spend an in-game week or so forging a stockpile of tools and you're good for a long while. Especially with the increased weight capacity we've received lately. You could also just use the impro tools up until you've maxed your harvesting skill. After that reserve the knife for harvesting bear or moose and the axe for exploring new wolf-infested territory. With decent protection and skills the hacksaw and hammer should serve you almost as well. And you can repair them infinitely.

@I_eat_only_wolf_meat Yeah lighting fires with torches is key above stalker where you won't get more than 300-350 matches or so. I don't think I ever had to do that before interloper due to the abundance of matches but peoples playstyle will differ. Though I think you should always keep lighting fires with torches, even when you've capped the fire starting skill as there's only a 90% chance of succeeding. Depending on when you hit cap that likely makes up one or two matchboxes, you'll need them eventually.

Edited January 22, 2022 by manolitode

[Levelgrinder]

21 hours ago, ChillPlayer said:

Yes as said, whetstones are only on interloper an issue. I don't know what you did that matches are a problem on your stalker run, on my >800d stalker I have so many matches that I don't even pick them up anymore. On stalker you have to be very wasteful to run out of anything below d1000, almost purposely.

Thanks for inferring I'm "purposely" and "wastefully" running out of matches. I'm not. I've been using the mag lens from when I found the first one, and usually do a week's worth of cooking and boiling water. I have a few firelighters and about 250 matches left, at around 240 days. I've been around the whole map. This is what I find strange, I should have more by now.

If I go hunting or exploring everyday, rather than just sit around being bored, that will use at least 1 match a day to light a torch to ward off wolves. That's at least one match per day at the minimum. I could use flares to ward off wolves but they aren't unlimited either. I could use a gun but bullets again aren't unlimited either. So there's trade offs in whatever you use.

If I cook once a week then that adds to the total too. So by my reckoning I only have enough matches for around another 250 days. This is what I find strange, as I've never been in this situation on numerous previous 300+ day Stalker runs.

[I_eat_only_wolf_meat]

20 minutes ago, Levelgrinder said:

If I go hunting or exploring everyday, rather than just sit around being bored, that will use at least 1 match a day to light a torch to ward off wolves.

That sounds like it's the bulk of your match usage, then.  On interloper I try to stay out of the way of wolves if I can't kill them easily.  Just walking away from them until you reach the nearest shelter or transition works ok and it doesn't require matches.

It completely freaked me out when I escaped into a trailer  on Blackrock and I could hear the wolves scratching at the door.  I thought my wolf management strategy was finished.

[Leeanda]

3 minutes ago, I_eat_only_wolf_meat said:

That sounds like it's the bulk of your match usage, then.  On interloper I try to stay out of the way of wolves if I can't kill them easily.  Just walking away from them until you reach the nearest shelter or transition works ok and it doesn't require matches.

It completely freaked me out when I escaped into a trailer  on Blackrock and I could hear the wolves scratching at the door.  I thought my wolf management strategy was finished.

I've noticed the scratching at the door. But only in BlackRock. Must be something in the water?🙂

[Levelgrinder]

31 minutes ago, I_eat_only_wolf_meat said:

That sounds like it's the bulk of your match usage, then.  On interloper I try to stay out of the way of wolves if I can't kill them easily.  Just walking away from them until you reach the nearest shelter or transition works ok and it doesn't require matches.

It completely freaked me out when I escaped into a trailer  on Blackrock and I could hear the wolves scratching at the door.  I thought my wolf management strategy was finished.

Thanks for the comment, could be my match usage is tied to my wolf defense of lighting torches to ward them off. I used to use the pistol, but ran out of bullets too quickly. Then I switched to flares, but again was worried about running out and it seemed a waste to use a flare for every wolf that attacked you.

I'm starting to think there is a bit of a difference between Stalker and Interloper in terms of wolf numbers/attacks/encounters. If I go hunting or exploring on Stalker I'm going to usually encounter wolves a few times a day,  sometimes multiple wolves at the same time.

As for the scratching at Blackrock, that freaked me out too! I'd never encountered it before. I think the last update has a few new wolf "interactions". I recently went back to BI to make some more ammo and had a timberwolf attack me while I was at a campfire, but the animation for the tussle/fight we had was like a normal wolf attack. I'd never experienced that with timberwolves before, as in my experience was that they just nip you and run  off.

Edited January 22, 2022 by Levelgrinder

[Serenity]

6 hours ago, manolitode said:

Though I think you should always keep lighting fires with torches, even when you've capped the fire starting skill as there's only a 90% chance of succeeding. 

No. Your total chance is 100% when using a stick. You're forgetting the bonus from the starting fuel.

Edited January 22, 2022 by Serenity

[I_eat_only_wolf_meat]

2 hours ago, Levelgrinder said:

I'm starting to think there is a bit of a difference between Stalker and Interloper in terms of wolf numbers/attacks/encounters.

This is certainly true.  There are fewer wolves in Interloper.  They are more aggressive and dangerous, yet more easy yo avoid.