Interloper Improvements

[Glacia]

Hello, i want to share my experience with the Interloper difficulty and my ideas for this game mode.
I know this have been discused a lot of times already on both this forum and reddit forums, almost since the launch of interloper.

I started played the game in a serious way on Stalker difficulty, lasting around 600 days before getting bored and moving to other game modes.
My experience with Stalker was amazing, i absolutely love the entire game exploration, the grind and reaching dangerous places like bleak inklet/TWM summit!
After looting everything, leveled up to max every skill, exploring almost all the maps and experience all the game mechanics, i understand one of the core aspects of the game: 
Progression is not just good, it's VERY good.

The game itself have some ¿Dungeonish? regions, with incredible high risk but high rewards.
Reaching the summit, exploring BI/BLR with timberwolfs, exploring HRV, even travel around transition zones was a wonderfull experience, because you get a reward for doing it.
Around day 400, with only HRV left to explore, i was already missing some BIS (Best in slot) gear, some tools and other stuff.  (Also i never finded a Mukluks 😥)
My point is, the game let you do what you want with it, but it ENCOURAGES you to do certain things, with ofc, rewards.

Now, im on Interloper on day 150.
Im not gonna lie, i enjoy every aspect of this game difficulty, and i think im never gonna play stalker again because i like the game to test my skills to the limit, being always very hard.
But my concern is about the game progression losed with this difficulty:
I get 95% of my BIS only in HRV (My spawn), Milton and Broken Railroad (This last region is where i craft all my gear and grinded to max, around 50 days).
Then i move to Mystery Lake and looted my second thermal underwear, getting my 100% BIS gear, also most skills on level 5 and various full of resources bases in BR and ML.
Finally, i explore Ash Canyon for the crampons and backpack, and now ¿Im done?.

The temperature no longer decays, i no longer have anything to improve on my gear or skills, i have resources to last hundreds of days on my bases, and a lot of regions in case i need more of them.
¿Summit?  No better gear or needed resources.
¿Bleak Inklet?  No use of the last resort cannery, i can craft several tools before needing to repair anything.
¿Blackrock?  Noisemakers and ballistic vest does not provide anything very usefull, also have the same problem of bleak Inklet,
¿Exploring 100% HRV/AC for the hidden caches?  Same as summit.
¿Coastal highway or other regions?  Completely optional, no resources needed.
Basically, i can just choose where to establish a permanent base to survive, there is absolutely no reason to explore several regions and take risks.

This last is where i think the game can improve this difficulty, adding just a bit (For balance reasons, ofc) of 'High risk/reward' progression items on specific places:

- TWM Summit:  Two climbing socks can be looted from the containers. (+1*C using both)
- Ash canyon:  Once you loot every hidden cache on the map, the last one you open (And only this one), contains a Wool Longjohns. You need to lot every cache in order to get this item. (+1*C)
- HRV:  Exactly the same as Ash canyon. (+1*C)
- Bleak Inklet:  Once you unlocked the last resort cannery, you can loot a single Thick Wool sweater inside the building. (+0.5*C)
- Blackrock:  Exactly the same as Bleak Inklet, you need to unlock the room in order to loot another thick wool sweater. (+0.5*C)

This items (If you get all) gives exactly a 4*C bonus for your survivor.
An insanely high risk journey around the most dangerous regions of the game, but with an interesting reward.
There is not spawn of this items on Loper, if you want the bonus *C, you will NEED to grind and fight for it.

Of course this is just an idea and items/locations can be very different, but i think i explained well my point.
Interloper is fantastic, but i think the game (Even on harder difficulties) is intended to be explored and enjoyed!  Removing core game progression feels bad at least for me.

Also:
- Because interloper have a cautious balance between temperature, if you can get warmer, also the world could get a bit colder over time (For a example, -22 instead of -20 at day 50).
- If you like to play something like this idea, there is a mod who drastically improves the utility of Bleak Inklet for Interloper (I havent tested by myself, but it looks very good).
- Sorry for bad english, still learning :), and thanks for reading.
 

[conanjaguar]

If we could make some kind of a primitive firearm, it would give more incentive to go to Bleak Inlet.

[Stone]

@Glacia you English is great and your point is well made. I do see the appeal of more key loot to seek out. However, does this change the long game or just delay that 'no reason to explore' moment?

I don't believe TLD will see a major change but still, some other ideas:

- Quakes destroying structures: periodic quakes begin turning warm locations into ruins. Psuedo random but eventually all warm indoor locations become like the mountaineer's hut or worse.

- Survivors needing help: occasionally you'll enter a zone and see a flare launched. This will be from a survivor stuck in a sheltered but outdoor spot who's health makes them unable to travel. You need to provide food, fire and some key craftable clothing and medical aid to enable them to move on. They might thank you with a simple but useful item - matches, sewing kit, etc.

Edited June 8, 2022 by Stone
Typo

[Glacia]

@Stone thanks for your reply

Sooner or later, you will always end in a ¿What next? moment, where exploration becomes essentially useless and you can just sit and survive.

No matter what dificulty mode or number of regions the game can handle, you will always end in the above situation, and thats fine!  As long as you can enjoy all the game contents before the end.

Interloper makes various regions almost useless (Unless you only visit it for fun), cutting good content and experiences from the game, thats exactly my concern.

@conanjaguar The cannery manufacturing mod greatly improves the utility of BI on interloper. It gives you the ability to craft flare shells and repair the distress pistol, and several other fantastic features (Credits goes to ds5678).

 

[conanjaguar]

On 6/8/2022 at 10:00 PM, Glacia said:

The cannery manufacturing mod greatly improves the utility of BI on interloper. It gives you the ability to craft flare shells and repair the distress pistol, and several other fantastic features (Credits goes to ds5678).

Interesting.

[StillNomad]

On 6/8/2022 at 10:08 AM, Stone said:

- Quakes destroying structures: periodic quakes begin turning warm locations into ruins. Psuedo random but eventually all warm indoor locations become like the mountaineer's hut or worse.

- Survivors needing help: occasionally you'll enter a zone and see a flare launched. This will be from a survivor stuck in a sheltered but outdoor spot who's health makes them unable to travel. You need to provide food, fire and some key craftable clothing and medical aid to enable them to move on. They might thank you with a simple but useful item - matches, sewing kit, etc.

This is interesting. Surviving for oneself is one thing. Surviving because another life depends on you is just another level. I think the sense of responsibility could help with later game play and give more meaning. But I doubt the devs will see this kindly. The amount of work they'll have to put in for character animation will probably far out weigh the intended outcome. It is quite possible to work around this and go the forest talker way (in E2 I think, IDR, where you supply them with something and interact with them through the door)

The random events to destroy indoor shelters could spice things up. This will totally change the way you set up your bases. You'll need to think ahead how to stock up, travel to spread important gear around the map. Some places could be like the Mounaineer's Hut in TWM or the destroyed fishing hut in AC that allow you go inside, some could like the burnt cabins like in Mystery Lake - gone forever. 

 

I do agree with the OP,  a high risk - high reward mechanic does encourage exploration.