What Should My Next Run be, Difficulty Wise.

[SuperStriker16]

I definitely like interloper, but interloper doesn’t have guns and the new fancy items such as the spelunking lantern. I would like to go in to an easier version of the game to find guns and explore more. I have lots of experience with voyager, but feel it’s a bit too easy, but after being recently humbled by interloper and its lack of good loot and guns, I’m willing to give voyager another shot. So I’d like to start a new game on an easier difficulty and get the cooler guns and tools. I’m not doing this to give up on interloper(I will play them both about 50-50), I’m still alive on my most recent save, but would like to make the game a bit more fun and max out all skills, not leaving out gunsmithing or the gun skills so I can get skilled survivor, and perhaps complete some other challenges. I will look forward to your feedback and please justify your suggestions.

@Glacia@Leeanda@ManicManiac@conanjaguar@xanna Thank you all for following my 500 days run and giving feedback.

[ManicManiac]

@SuperStriker16

I've always preferred Stalker over Interloper... not because it's too much of a struggle, but rather because it's "feature complete."  From there I can choose what I will or won't allow myself to use or take advantage of (depending on how hard I want to go).  

Some examples:
I once decided I would not eat any "found food" (by that I mean the processed/packaged "man-made" stuff) forcing me to only eat what I could hunt or harvest.
I once decide to immediately shred any clothing that gives +2 "warmth bonus" or greater  - which of course makes the temperature outside much more of a problem (and of course removes the "best" clothing and even second tier clothing from the run).
I once forced myself to only use stones for defense (bows, rifle, or revolver were still allowed... but only for hunting - I could not use it for defense).
I once decided that I would end consider the run over if I got into a wildlife struggle of any kind.  It honed my evade and avoid techniques. 
I once decided I would not harvest any vegetation... lichen, rosehips, reishi mushrooms, saplings, etc... where off the table.
I once decided to mute the sound forcing myself to have to rely solely on visual cues to evade predators (it was tricky but doable ).

There's a ton of personal rules, challenges, goals we can set for ourselves no matter what "mode" we choose.

Another option is get a custom game... maybe start with the Stalker template and then tune the various values to something you find interesting (without canceling the firearms or loot you'd like to preserve).   And again, if you find there's too much loot... you can always opt not to take it.  We can always challenge ourselves to see how little we can live off of without a new "difficulty mode" being invented.   

In the end, I'd say it's not so much the difficulty that's important... it's what you choose to do with it.

Edited April 20, 2023 by ManicManiac

[SuperStriker16]

3 minutes ago, ManicManiac said:

Another option is get a custom game... maybe start with the Stalker template and then tune the various values to something you find interesting (without canceling the firearms or loot you'd like to preserve).   And again, if you find there's too much loot... you can always opt not to take it.  We can always challenge ourselves to see how little we can live off of without a new "difficulty mode" being invented.   

 

I was seriously considering doing a kind of custom difficulty like a interloper with guns (gunloper) or a kind of difficulty that’s harder than voyager but easier than stalker and I was going to call it realistic mode to make the most life like survival experience (extending day and night length, seriously dropping the rate food, water, and fatigue drain, decreasing wildlife to be almost nonexistent (predators and prey as well as fish) decreasing loot to stalker levels, increasing weather shifting to interloper, gets colder over time and wildlife becoming rarer over time removed and many other changes. I might do some personal challenges as well.

[conanjaguar]

Stalker has to be my vote… I feel it’s the most balanced of all the difficulties and allows for the widest variety of play styles.

Regardless of what difficulty you choose, though, there are quite a few user-created challenges out there. I’ll dig some up tomorrow.

[UpUpAway95]

In the Custom menu... Start with the Interloper template.  Change the Baseline Resource Availability to Medium, but leave the Loose Item Availability  at Low, the Empty Container Chance Modifier at High and the Reduce Container Item Density at High (these are Loper settings and should give you slightly less loot than what is found on a standard Stalker run but with all the items that are available on a stalker run where the Loose Item Availability is Medium, the Empty containder Chance Modifier is Medium, and the Reduce Container Item Density is Low). 

If you want Loper-like Predators, leave all those settings on their Loper values which are High for wolves, t-wolves, bears, and moose; whereas Stalker levels are Very High for all of these.  Finally, double check that Rifle Availability and Revolver Availability are set to Yes.  Also, if you want to start with a bedroll and matches and slightly better clothing than on Loper, change the Starting Gear Allocation to Medium from Low.

There are other settings you can play with, but these are main ones.  Best way is to take a look at both the stalker and loper templates in custom and then decide what you would like to bump or tone down.  There is also a voyageur template and a pilgrim one that you can also compare with.

Edited April 20, 2023 by UpUpAway95

[Leeanda]

If you're not sure  then I'd say custom..  loper with guns but voyager loot tables maybe? 

Good luck whichever you go with...  👍😊.  

I haven't even seen the spelunkers lantern on pilgrim yet ,and that was after I went to everywhere but hrv... 

 

Edited April 20, 2023 by Leeanda

[xanna]

I chose buffed loot loper, as given you're experienced with Interloper, it felt closest to what you're after, but I acknowledge what you said about wanting a less brutal experience so perhaps I should have gone for 'other custom'. Here's my reasoning:

There's so much variability available in Custom! I agree with @UpUpAway95's suggestion above for loot: have all the loot turned down (such as in the Interloper preset) but switch the Base Resource Allocation to medium so you get all those non-interloper items and features, and can max out your gunsmithing and gun-toting skills. Changing the resource allocation will give you more loot as well as different loot, so beware of that when thinking about the other setting for loot amounts.

Going from playing Loper to Voyageur will probably feel very different from playing Voyageur the first time, so I'd probably choose some harder settings for weather and wildlife to keep it interesting for yourself. 'Harder' for wildlife is a two-sided thing, IMO. Having a high spawn rate means lots of bears and wolves and moose trying to eat/stomp your face, but a low spawn rate means less food availability, so that's something to think about. (Spawn rates are on a per-species basis, though, so you can tweak it however you like.)

One of the difficulties with a Custom run is that you don't really know if you've got the settings just right until you're well into the game, and of course if you realise 150 days in that you'd rather have something work a bit differently then all you can do is start again...

I like @ManicManiac's suggestions for 'house rules' that encourage different playstyles. There's a lot of fun and learning to be had there, while still having your pick of loot.

I'm considering a dead world run for myself next, but that won't suit you as it'll be hard (impossible?) to get all your skills up with nothing to shoot your bow, revolver and rifle at.

What you said here:

13 hours ago, SuperStriker16 said:

I was seriously considering doing a kind of custom difficulty like a interloper with guns (gunloper) or a kind of difficulty that’s harder than voyager but easier than stalker and I was going to call it realistic mode to make the most life like survival experience (extending day and night length, seriously dropping the rate food, water, and fatigue drain, decreasing wildlife to be almost nonexistent (predators and prey as well as fish) decreasing loot to stalker levels, increasing weather shifting to interloper, gets colder over time and wildlife becoming rarer over time removed and many other changes. I might do some personal challenges as well.

sounds awesome to me. I especially like the decrease in wildlife. To me, it sounds like you've got a great idea going there and I say: go for it, Survivor!

[SuperStriker16]

1 hour ago, xanna said:

I'm considering a dead world run for myself next

what is a "dead world run" sounds like an intresting challenge for after the 500 days is complete. 

1 hour ago, xanna said:

sounds awesome to me. I especially like the decrease in wildlife. To me, it sounds like you've got a great idea going there and I say: go for it, Survivor!

If custom wins, ill hold another vote for the features that will be in it and some preset custom difficulties like "gunloper" or my "Realistic" difficulty.

 

Thanks to all for your participation on my poll so far.

[Leeanda]

13 minutes ago, SuperStriker16 said:

what is a "dead world run" sounds like an intresting challenge for after the 500 days is complete. 

If custom wins, ill hold another vote for the features that will be in it and some preset custom difficulties like "gunloper" or my "Realistic" difficulty.

 

Thanks to all for your participation on my poll so far.

Deadworld....no animals at all... You can only eat tinned/packet stuff and cattails,rosehips  reishi . birch bark.. it's a toughie.

[xanna]

24 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

Deadworld....no animals at all... You can only eat tinned/packet stuff and cattails,rosehips  reishi . birch bark.. it's a toughie.

It's just no live animals, you will still get the carcasses that spawn when the game begins. And the odd bit of meat that spawns too, like around the odd campfire, and maybe meat from beachcombing? Wow, beachcombing would change Dead World quite a bit with the number of carcasses that are washing up these days. I also found a load of fish in a lockbox on my current run!

@Glacia did a run of it on NOGOA last year, it's an interesting read!

 

[Leeanda]

My apologies I meant no live animals at all.   Not sure demon bears are alive though😁. 

 

Lmg is still doing his deadworld challenge too I think..  

[UpUpAway95]

12 minutes ago, xanna said:

It's just no live animals, you will still get the carcasses that spawn when the game begins. And the odd bit of meat that spawns too, like around the odd campfire, and maybe meat from beachcombing? Wow, beachcombing would change Dead World quite a bit with the number of carcasses that are washing up these days. I also found a load of fish in a lockbox on my current run!

@Glacia did a run of it on NOGOA last year, it's an interesting read!

 

True... could limit oneself to land-locked regions only.  I believe birch bark is still the only edible plant that respawns... not absolutely sure about acorns yet, but I haven't found any respawns so far).

[SuperStriker16]

I don't think i'll be doing a NOGOA for a good while, i'm not that skilled. Thanks for letting me know what a dead world challenge is, I might try a dead world interloper, sounds interesting, id have to buff beachcombing loot, since id be living entirely off of it, is fishing allowed in dead world? by the time you pull them up, they're dead.

[Leeanda]

1 minute ago, SuperStriker16 said:

I don't think i'll be doing a NOGOA for a good while, i'm not that skilled. Thanks for letting me know what a dead world challenge is, I might try a dead world interloper, sounds interesting, id have to buff beachcombing loot, since id be living entirely off of it, is fishing allowed in dead world? by the time you pull them up, they're dead.

No fishing .. which limits the use of lanterns too.

[SuperStriker16]

 

1 minute ago, Leeanda said:

No fishing .. which limits the use of lanterns too.

Alright, thanks for letting me know.

[Leeanda]

3 minutes ago, SuperStriker16 said:

 

Alright, thanks for letting me know.

No problem.. 👍

at least nothing will try to eat you, for a change😁

[xanna]

19 minutes ago, SuperStriker16 said:

I don't think i'll be doing a NOGOA for a good while, i'm not that skilled. Thanks for letting me know what a dead world challenge is, I might try a dead world interloper, sounds interesting, id have to buff beachcombing loot, since id be living entirely off of it, is fishing allowed in dead world? by the time you pull them up, they're dead.

Glacia had limited fishing in their run. The choice is yours!

[UpUpAway95]

23 minutes ago, SuperStriker16 said:

I don't think i'll be doing a NOGOA for a good while, i'm not that skilled. Thanks for letting me know what a dead world challenge is, I might try a dead world interloper, sounds interesting, id have to buff beachcombing loot, since id be living entirely off of it, is fishing allowed in dead world? by the time you pull them up, they're dead.

I think the "official" Deadworld community challenge turns fish spawns right off, but this is custom, so you can certainly make adjustments to suit yourself.  Don't feel limited by what others have set up.  Right now, beachcombing is tied directly to blizzard frequency, so setting that to high (which is the standard interloper setting) will give you plenty of beachcombing loot.

I believe Kimiota is doing a "fishcombing" run right now... although I haven't watched it, so I don't know what parameters he has set or whether he's on standard interloper and just focusing on a particular goal for beachcombing and fishing.  He often does standard interloper runs with such personal objectives/rules rather than using the custom settings.

You can also do an easier NOGOA style run, by turning off all the condition recovery settings (as NOGOA does), but allowing yourself to make birch bark teas (keeping in mind that not every region in the world has birch bark spawns and respawn rate is controlled by the same setting that controls the respawning of sticks and stones).  Turning those respawn times to their longest duration can make for a very challenging run despite it not being pure NOGOA.

[SuperStriker16]

These are ideas for the future, like I said, I want to do a game where I can explore easier and find the new tools, clothes, and guns. I don’t want to make it harder, these would be cool ideas for later, not now.

[xanna]

8 minutes ago, UpUpAway95 said:

I believe Kimiota is doing a "fishcombing" run right now... although I haven't watched it, so I don't know what parameters he has set or whether he's on standard interloper and just focusing on a particular goal for beachcombing and fishing.  He often does standard interloper runs with such personal objectives/rules rather than using the custom settings.

Hehe, I'm watching a VOD of that right now! It's standard Interloper, and the challenge is to get level 5 fishing skill using only books found while beachcombing

[xanna]

8 hours ago, xanna said:

I'm considering a dead world run for myself next,

So I did this tonight - all interloper except
- no animal spawns
- no condition regen
code: 8sHM-bi8P-KzuT-AXKO-N0IA

It was not so hard as I thought, meaning it's day 3 and I'm not dead yet!

[conanjaguar]

@SuperStriker16

Right off the top of my head, here’s a few user-created challenges that you could look into to add some flavor:

• Deadman: Interloper with no condition recovery except by Stims and/or birch bark tea.
• NOGOA: Interloper with all settings as harsh as possible, starting at night in a blizzard. No condition recovery except by Stims.
• Snowballs in Hell: Credit to @Drifter Manfor coming up with the idea, or the name at least. Start in a region and survive as long as possible without leaving. ‘Loper is ideal, but other difficulties might work.
• Neo-Native: Credit to @Gun Tech., ideally ‘Loper, with no man made items allowed except to harvest for scrap or cloth.
• Endless Night: You’d be surprised how drastically this can change your play style, on any difficulty.
• Outerloper: In its purest form, Interloper without spending any time inside. Exceptions are sometimes made for transition caves or looting the occasional building.
• Ghosts of Great Bear’s Past: Credit to @RossBondReturns. On any difficulty, explore the major locations and document your travels with screens and elaborate writing . More a challenge to one’s creativity than to one’s skill.

Again, these are just suggestions, you can do whatever appeals to you .

[RossBondReturns]

Thanks for the mention conanjaguar!

For the record I've been devising challenges since 2017 and they can be found by looking through my TLD Blog-

The Long Dark Survivors