non-loping challenge

[kurja]

Inspired by everyone who has struggled to survive Interloper Mode, to whom my two cents has always been "do less, just survive", I wanted to try how far that could take me - do nothing unnecessary, only focus on surviving. That is, do none of that silly interloping, or outerloping for that matter, just get out of the cold you dummy!

So, my rule is - get out of the woods and into a safe location and stay there. No risky exploring of the world, the island, or even of the region. In more technical terms - keep the number of new areas discovered to one - or a bare minimum - and see if, or for how long, one can survive. I do not know if this is an original idea - probably not - nonetheless, this is the journal of the non-loper:

 

Day 1

Pleasant Valley. I'm not super familiar with this area, especially since there were changes in an update a good while back. It's luckily very clear, and I find the farm outbuildings; there's also a wolf and circling around it I get too close to the barn, triggering the new area discovery. I'll just pretend that never happened and carry on to the farm house.

On the way there a deer gets spooked into a wolf; good, I may get some early guts. I'm freezing badly so I go inside, and find some good loot and some not so good:
-3½ liters of water
-2 bags of chips, a can of syrup (didn't know this existed on interloper!), one soda and two cans of dog food, also a can opener.
-a wool toque, mackinaw jacket, wool socks, fleece mittens
-matches, prybar, whetstone, sewing kit, antibiotics, a flare, cooking pot
-I also have 6 shrooms and 11 cattails.

The tools are useless, there's nothing in the one locked container and I'm not going to have anything to sharpen. A saw, or a maglens of course, or a lantern would have been great. Even a hammer would have been useful.

I go out for scraps of that deer - but it's completely gone? The wolf is just walking away happily. Is this a new feature? Wolves eat deer skins and all?

There's another carcass behind shed though, so I go to harvest it which demands a fire of course. I try to use the flare but it doesn't show up when I try to start a campfire, is this new too? [edit: no, I'm just dumb, I need to light it first]. Fire catches with the first match though.

Day 2

I follow the road from the farmhouse, as I remember there's a small house at the crossroads and there should be rabbits. But, no house, no rabbits? Another change? I follow the road and find deer and rabbit, I'll call this place "grove #1". My catch is two rabbits.

Visibility gets better and I realize I went the wrong way.. The house and the bunny spawn was to the other direction from the farmhouse. Doh. Goes to show how well I remember this map, I'm getting lost on straight road. I make another mistake, venturing too close to the nearby "heart brake bridge", triggering the discovery and I decide to pretend this didn't happen either. Apparently the farmstead, farm house, and the basement each count as unique locations too, so I'm already up to five... Two percent of the world explored. Across the road from the small house there's a corpse with tomato soup and combat boots!

Day 3

I fix most of my clothes for a total temp bonus of +7C. Sewing kit at 65%. No rabbits, plenty of sticks.

Day 4

Temp bonus +9, sewing kit at 50%. Down to two liters of water, one soda, two teas. Blizzard clears in the evening and I get one rabbit by the bridge.

Day 5

Made a fire to get water. I now have six teas, and less rabbit than I hoped; for now my plan is to eat 500kcal per day (or rather, by night).

Day 6

More sticks, no bunnies in sight. Found painkillers in the house, missed them earlier. A tomato soup and two reishi teas for dinner.

Day 7

I have two snares, third one by the end of this day I believe. Only two more guts curing after that - less than I would have hoped. Snares are deployed near the heart brake bridge, although I haven't seen rabbits there since that one time, I don't know if that affects the snares or not. Teddy also shows up at the yard today. Does the porch with the door count as inside or outside for cabin fever? [Narrator: it counts as inside] I notice I can stand there without freezing so I spend plenty of time there.

It's very warm in the evening, I'm actually not freezing. I harvest sticks by the bridge, and now there's a bunny too, who gets promptly stoned. Across the road I find another rabbit, and more sticks. It would be great if there was birch nearby, but I don't think there is.

 

That's a week, for now - to be continued...

[kurja]

Day 8

Four snares by the bridge; no catches. I cross the river towards the outbuildings and to the left looking for sticks - and find a lone rabbit? How many rabbit spawns are there in this place?? I'll call this rabbit grove #3.

In the evening I get my first snared rabbit. 450kcal of cooked rabbit for dinner tonight, tomorrow I'll be out of cooked meat - still enough water for a few days though.

Day 9

Stormy. Lots of waiting. After noon the weather clears, and there's another catch in my snares! Late evening is again very warm, and I collect a lot of sticks, I have well over 100 now, plus there's a ton of reclaimed wood to be had in the farmhouse although I can't break  down most things as I have no tools (I now have > 50 pieces). 

I wonder if it makes any difference if I spread out my further snares to other groves, or just plop them all in the same place?

Last 220kcal of rabbit, soda and reishi for dinner. Condition just above 50%.

Day 10

Put in place a 5th snare by the bridge on this fresh -30C morning. All three groves that I frequent are rabbit-less. I have two bags of chips, two teas, the syrup jar, and 15 cattails - enough to outlast the water I have, seven liters. I have five uncooked 450+kcal pieces of rabbit, plus a few smaller bits, maybe enough for six days total, at a minimal starvation diet. Not as much as I'd like, for sure.

Chips and cattails for supper tonight.

Day 11

A calm -32C morning. Snares are empty. Grove #1 empty as well, on the way back from there I see two bunnies by the road - ro many rabbit spawns here! Anyway I snipe them both with stones. Happy Day! Later it gets almost warm, and I can stay outside without freezing; I venture across the road near the bridge for more sticks and find reishi! Three more teas for me. Nearby there's a cave and a rope going up - don't know if those are named locations so I steer clear of them, to avoid any of that unnecessary loping business.

Chips, one reishi tea and cat tails for dinner today. Just as I'm about to call it a day I get a cabin fever risk notification. So I guess the porch isn't outdoors then.

Day 12

And just before daylight, I get struck with cabin fever. This is less than great. I try to kill time in the car, but there's a blizzard and it feels like -10. Maybe a snow shelter could be useful? Weather clears for the evening, it's still cold though. I'm at 50% condition, I guess I can nap in the car to ride this out. Tomorrow or day after I would have needed to start a fire to make water anyway, which will give the opportunity to stay out for longer.

I have one bunny in my snares.

Day 13

By morning, cabin fever is healed, or rather, reduced to 65% risk. Condition now about 40% I celebrate by making two new snares, and it looks like I can make another two at the end of the day. Convenient, as one of the old ones has become ruined; active snares count is now six. I'm down to two liters of water, so may as well strike a match.

When I'm done cooking and water-making, my condition has fallen to below 20%. I eat enough rabbit for a full ten hour sleep, leaving me enough cooked meat for about another week.

Day 14

Yay, two weeks survived. CF risk still around. Deployed two new snares by the road where I saw rabbit a few days ago, between the heart break bridge and grove #1; I think that's a safer place to get to considering wolves, rather than other rabbit spawns that I've found.

Evening is again quite warm, and I take the opportunity to make a snow shelter out in the yard. Managing CF is complicated by that I can't find my way in or out of the house after dark, but the risk is now down to 12%.
 

[kurja]

Day 15

No bunnies this morning. Put in place one more snare, I now have a total of nine.

Second outing in the evening discovers one snared rabbit. That snow shelter is working out really good so far, I can stay warm in it while harvesting my catch. Of which there is less than I hoped and expected, maybe the food situation will improve when I have more snares.

Day 16

Teddy prowls the yard again. Morning round of the snares yields one rabbit, then, blizzard.

Two more guts have cured, so my snare count goes up to eleven as I craft them while humming 'Stonehenge'.

Day 17

-42, cold morning. One (of three) broken snare down the road, no rabbits, except one hopping around for my target practice. Placed the two new snares here, so there are now four.

After a warm-up break in the farmhouse, I spy another bunny hopping at the grove across the river, while all six snares by the bridge are empty, as if taunting me. Two bunnies today though.

Repaired my hat from 50 to 100%, sewing kit is now at 45%.

Day 18

This morning's catch, with ten active snares, is one rabbit. Underwhelming to say the least. At least I now again have 11 working snares, with one more underway.

Cold and stormy today, Pleasant Valley really living up to it's reputation.

Day 19

Zero rabbits in my snares, of which there are now twelve. Oh boy.

Day 20

Sniped on e at grove #1. Each of my dozen snares remains empty.

I have one 410kcal piece of cooked meat, that jar of syrup, four teas and four cattails. Last of the meat and one tea for dinner tonight.

Day 21

Three weeks survived! To mark the occasion, there's a blizzard, feels like-temperature approaches -50C.

Weather settles to a mild -20C before noon, so I can go check my snares.

They all remain empty.

[kurja]

Day 22

Blizzard most of they day. No rabbits.

Day 23

Six empty snares by the bridge, and one rabbit hopping around so I snipe him.

Two guts have cured; more snares for me. Although it looks like they're not doing much good, are they. I place them at grove #1, I believe that makes total 15 snares now.

Last thing today is to check the five snares by the road - two rabbits! I guess it's a good day afterall. Fat ones, too. Teddy is here, as well, I didn't know he roams this far out. A wolf comes to inspect my catch, but Teddy convinces it to bugger off real quick.

Non-rabbit food is going to be done tonight, under 3 liters of water left, and cabin fever risk is rising to 30% - prime time for a cooking day tomorrow.

Day 24

Early morning sprint under auroral light to bridge grove yields one more rabbit; very good.

By evening, I have cooked 9 x >450kcal pieces of rabbit, 2 x ~300kcal pieces, and 6 x ~100kcal pieces. Some quick math tells me that should be enough for about a week, on a starvation diet of course. I don't actually know exactly how much water I need per day, maybe 2½ liters? I made about twenty liters.

Just before going to bed, almost as a grande finale for the day, some fireworks - I misclick while holding a non-lit torch and waste a match. Oh well. I have seven left.

Day 25

No rabbits today, although a couple persistent wolves keep me from checking at grove #1. Where's Ted when you need him? Not here.

I fixed up the snow shelter a bit, luckily I have plenty of cloth in the farmhouse.

Day 26

One rabbit from grove #1 today, no other bounty. Wolves persistently patrol my access to this grove, but I was able to just walk away with my prize.

Day 27

It's nice to have the 700kcal budget, my condition is now slowly improving at least. Feels like -44C outside... nope.

Weather warms to tolerable feels like -20 before noon and I can sprint out to check my snares by the bridge. One is ruined.

Later, zero bunnies found by the road, another blizzard emerges instead. It passes only just before nightfall, and then CF risk also comes up again. The evening is relatively warm, but of course it's not very practical to spend time outside because, lacking a lanter, I wouldn't be able to get to the indoor beds after dark. 

Day 28

Four weeks survived after today! I wake up early, fully rested, and there's aurora - I guess I could have stayed out afterall, the lights being on. Now it's very cold though, feels like -12C even inside the snow shelter.

Later it gets warm enough to check the snares again, and they are all empty. Grove #3 - the one across the river - which has no snares, has instead a lone alive rabbit, so I take it with me and put an extra snare I had with me in it's place.

My carcass harvesting skill goes up to three - not very useful, if I'm honest.

[kurja]

Apart from the obvious scarcity of rabbits, I'm noticing that there seem to be rather few sticks where there used to be plenty. Even fewer rabbits are supposed to spawn by day 50, anyway I'm pretty sure it was possible to get a lot more rabbit with snares - have these things been nerfed/balanced in some recent update? Do we know?

[kurja]

Day 29

95% condition, early wake-up just before sunrise which always sucks because I have to wait for daylight to find my way out of the bedroom. It feels like -42 outside so I spend the rest of the morning crafting three new snares.

I put the snares at grove #3. All of my snares are empty, no bunnies today.

My pants are falling apart, so I fix them a bit. Sewing kit is down to 35%.

Day 30

No rabbits.

Day 31

I wake up with ~99% condition. Good, but the lack of game is starting to be a cause for worry. I have twenty snares spread to four different places and yet, days go by without a catch. Today, though, there is one, at grove #3. Fuel situation isn't that much better, really.

At the very end of the day, I make a big mistake: I went upstairs to the bed, passed a little time and when it got dark, I was about to go to sleep when I realized - all of my food is outside. So I ended up napping a bit in the snow shelter, once it got too cold I just stood in the farmhouse.

Day 32

One rabbit from near the bridge this morning. I get to make another outing in the afternoon, and there's another rabbit by the road. Two today, so I guess that's good, though the food situation just isn't very good.

Last piece of cooked meat for dinner tonight.

Day 33

Feels like -53 in the morning. Blizzard goes on until afternoon, then I find one more rabbit, some sticks, and I make a fire. Life smiles for a moment, but Pleasant Valley does Pleasant Valley things: just as I'm about to call it a day, the wind picks up and I can no longer walk from the fire barrel to the house without my torch blowing out. I end up tending the fire well into the morning; sun rises before the wind dies down. I may not have a lot of food or rest, but at least plenty of water.

[kurja]

Day 34

Sitting out in a blizzard for hours last night was bad for my clothes, and I no longer have mittens. Sewing kit at 31%.

Two rabbits(!) from the bridge grove, I had no opportunity to check the other locations before dark.

Day 35

THREE rabbits from the roadside grove! On my way back to the farmhouse I hear a bark, and the sound of a deer going down, but I'm freezing too bad to investigate further. I have no tools to harvest a frozen carcass though.

After warming up a bit I go out again to check grove #3 - one more rabbit. That makes four today, and two yesterday, let's see if this lucky streak continues... Many snares have been ruined though, and I haven't had a chance to replace them all yet.

Day 36

No rabbits today, sticks are very scarce.

Day 37

Feels like -20 in the snow shelter, not having a morning nap in there. Weather calms down in the afternoon, but there are no rabbits. Or sticks. Sewing kit 26%.

Day 38

Bridge grove has two rabbits for me today. Weather is acting up and I don't get an opportunity to check other snares, data insufficient to say anything about the "lucky streak" from couple days ago.

My condition is uncomfortably low, down to 10% by sunset, and I eat 700kcal of meat for tonight leaving only 400 for the next.

Day 39

Roadside grove yields two rabbits, #1 and #3 both have one. Bridge goes unchecked today.

I will be all out of food tomorrow morning, so I will spend my seventh match (leaving five) to make it a cooking day. I don't have many sticks, but at least there is plenty of wood to be had by breaking down things in the house.