Vincent the Vainglorious Interloper

[conanjaguar]

“What I am living for and what I am dying for are the same question.”

- Margaret Atwood

It’s been a while since I’ve done a vanilla ‘Loper run, so why not! No restrictions, no rules, no custom settings to screw things up, just Snow Walker and Cold Fusion.

Oh yeah, one rule. Make it to 100 days, and woe unto any wildlife that gets in my way.

[conanjaguar]

Vincent 1/ Day 1

Where did I get dropped? An old stomping ground 

PV, eh? By chance the very place I started my last vanilla interloper run, and by further chance a region that I at least know some of the layout of.

I spawn close to Heartbreak Bridge, so I go left-ish.That’s the bridge, right?

 -25C temperatures suck out all my warmth bar and inflict five or so percentiles of damage, but I make it to the barn mostly intact. Vincent, please shut up.

I tease a wolf with a rock before ducking inside and searching it. A torch, work gloves, new shoes, and a cotton toque are very welcome.

I sprint across the field, avoiding wolves, and reach the Farmhouse minus a few more percentiles of condition. I find peaches, flour, a pot, a wool toque, a cup of herbal tea, coffee,  toilet water, and raw venison, but no matches. Really?The only valid location to place this object is in my stomach

Vintage of ‘96, very nice

I snatch an hour of sleep, repair my toque, and head back out. Mild temperatures quickly give way to wind as I dash across to the Barnhouse to look for the rabbit hat. It… did not spawn. Strange. Further proof that Toby wasn’t playing on Interloper loot.

The weather is still kinda holding, and moving fast is of the essence. I head down the road to Thompson’s Crossing, reaching it intact despite the kilo of raw venison I’m carrying.Here’s Vinny!

I loot the community hall for that precious first box of matches (in a file drawer in the office) and repair my clothes up to a +8C warmth bonus before calling it a day.Your probability of survival has just increased to unlikely, but plausible

[conanjaguar]

Vincent 1 / Day 2

It feels almost like cheating to have recovered condition in my sleep. Maybe next time I try Sleepwalker.

Not many details today because o was mostly walking a set path that I already know how to do…

Anyway, I check the gas station for flour, oats, and 7 or so potatoes(!) and a box of herbal tea before looting some more houses and then heading through the nasty weather to the Cinder Hills Mine. Fortunately, I am able to torch through it safely, emerging on the other side with another pack of matches, a chocolate bar, and a stim. Oh, and coal.

The weather is still nasty on the other side, so I quickly sprint over to the nearby trailer, where I find a second wool toque (which I repair) and a handy accelerant. I must say, that Snow Walker feat is awesome; I can sprint all I want.

By the light of an aurora, I repair and harvest clothes well into the night before I call it a day.

My food situation is kinda iffy right now; I’m carrying around at least 3 days’ worth of potatoes but haven’t had a chance to light a fire yet. Peaches are my emergency food, plus I would like to make some pies; and 30% dog food and 23% sardines are just begging for food poisoning. I’ll gather cattails when I get to ML.

[FaT McMarlin]

100 days!!! You got this bro!! You're a monster in this world. Rip and Tear your way to success!!! 

[conanjaguar]

3 hours ago, FaT McMarlin said:

100 days!!! You got this bro!! You're a monster in this world. Rip and Tear your way to success!!! 

Not on ‘Loper I’m not, one because I absolutely hate using the bow because I’m so bad at it, and two it would take me the entire challenge length just to gear up enough to have enough arrows.

I decided to revive a retired Stalker run for Ripping and Tearing his way through the Far Territory .

[FaT McMarlin]

15 minutes ago, conanjaguar said:

Not on ‘Loper I’m not, one because I absolutely hate using the bow because I’m so bad at it, and two it would take me the entire challenge length just to gear up enough to have enough arrows.

I decided to revive a retired Stalker run for Ripping and Tearing his way through the Far Territory .

I guess I should have clarified that I didn't mean the challenge. Just the act of survival. I've tried looper once .so I don't think I'd make it this far.

[conanjaguar]

Vincent 1 / Day 3

Blizzard in the morning… rrrrgh. I have the bright idea to try and cook some potatoes to bolster my aforementioned food stocks. I dump two coals in the fire, only to have the wind shift minutes later and blow it out. Truly frustrating… but at least I boiled 0.5L water on the embers .

I wait out the blizzard until late afternoon, when the weather is… actually nice at -4C. I head out onto the ice and eventually make it to Jackrabbit Island, and from there, Misanthrope’s. I do a spot of beachcombing on the way, finding a birch sapling and a fishing boat with a single fish aboard. The small island with rabbits nearby is also depopulated.

Misanthrope’s yields a second pair of thermal underwear and a risky can of dog food. I repair my clothes, harvest my bunnies, and gamble on eating raw rabbit meat and sketchy peaches for supper. I don’t get food poisoning, so off to bed without a care in the world.

[FaT McMarlin]

1 hour ago, conanjaguar said:

Vincent 1 / Day 3

Blizzard in the morning… rrrrgh. I have the bright idea to try and cook some potatoes to bolster my aforementioned food stocks. I dump two coals in the fire, only to have the wind shift minutes later and blow it out. Truly frustrating… but at least I boiled 0.5L water on the embers .

I wait out the blizzard until late afternoon, when the weather is… actually nice at -4C. I head out onto the ice and eventually make it to Jackrabbit Island, and from there, Misanthrope’s. I do a spot of beachcombing on the way, finding a birch sapling and a fishing boat with a single fish aboard. The small island with rabbits nearby is also depopulated.

Misanthrope’s yields a second pair of thermal underwear and a risky can of dog food. I repair my clothes, harvest my bunnies, and gamble on eating raw rabbit meat and sketchy peaches for supper. I don’t get food poisoning, so off to bed without a care in the world.

Day 3!!!! Only 96.4 days til 100!!!! You got this!

[conanjaguar]

16 hours ago, FaT McMarlin said:

Only 96.4 days til 100!!!!

And probably 120 real life days .

[FaT McMarlin]

8 hours ago, conanjaguar said:

And probably 120 real life days .

😂😂😂😂

[conanjaguar]

Vincent 1 / Day 4

I hike across the ice to the Coastal Townsite. Nothing much happens; I get barked at and find a hacksaw by Quonset, where I also find some more ingredients and several cans of shady sardines… as well as an arrowhead. Nice! I have yet to actually make a fire and cook anything, haven’t found any antibiotics, and haven’t seen any ‘shrooms so far. I’m on a risky diet of toilet water and sardines.

I snatch an hour of sleep, do some inventory management, and head out. The weather is nice, -4C FLT with my shiny new windbreaker, so I take my time heading for the fishermen’s cabins and score a prybar in one of the fishing huts that I thought I had checked.

FLT rises to +2C when I reach the cabins, but I’m too tired to do anything else today. I loot the cabins for a single soda and a chocolate bar. Really?

Dinner is a gamble... 24% sardines and 30% beans. No food poisoning. I let out the breath I’ve been holding, drink toilet water, and sleep 10 hours.

[conanjaguar]

I’ve just gotten readdicted to Doom, so that’s why this installment is late .

Vincent 1 / Day 5

I am welcomed by -12C temperatures and a beautiful sunrise out on the ice. I do a bit of beachcombing and get so carried away that I miss my exit to the ravine! I do get a coho salmon and several sticks, so that’s nice.

I decide to just go right and hug the side of the map. Presently I come to a river that has a plethora of cattails on it! I harvest them all (as well as some maple and birch saplings) and soon make it to… Bear Creek Campground! I just love discovering these little out of the way spots.

I check the corpse up on the ledge for matches, a nice surprise, and then check my hypothermia risk… in the region of 60%, not good. I have no choice but to keep on going, and the wind has risen too much to light fire. Only a miracle can prevent hypothermia or a wolf chewing at this point…

And a miracle I get! Further up the creek, I stumble across an out-of-the-way cabin in the middle of nowhere. It is… Rabbit Grove!It’s empty, as usual on ‘Loper loot settings, but it’s a warm place to rest.

I sleep three hours to clear hypothermia risk and wake up to a blizzard. I feel literal cabin fever setting in for me as I try to do things to pass the time. I prepare herbs, harvest clothing, tear down curtains, break crates, repair my clothes to 110%, etc. etc. I even do a bit of cooking outside in the blizzard, managing to cook my salmon, a Reishi tea, and a cup of coffee. My first cooked food of the run!

After all this, the blizzard is STILL raging, and I’m too tired to sleep for more than a few hours. I’m desperate at this point, so I down THREE cans of 50% sardines to try and get my sleep. No food poisoning. If I were a “bruh” person, I would certainly be “bruh”ing. 

Still, I nap for two hours, and soon enough, the blizzard goes away!It’s early in the evening, but between stopping to gather cattails, bop bunnies, and just being encumbered, it takes me until well into the night to reach the trailer at the Train Unloading.

I quickly check for lost loot (nothing), munch cattails, drink a herbal tea, and sleep 10 hours.

[conanjaguar]

Vincent 1 / Day 6

Nothing much to report today, so I won’t bore y’all with extra details.

I made it all the way through the Ravine in good weather, bopping a bunny and gathering a lot of birch bark. Then I checked the Dam for a hacksaw and a jug of syrup, but no hammer.

In the evening, before bed, I cooked porridge, coffee, and tea, dropped guts and saplings to cure in one of the trailers, and drank an herbal tea.

 

[FaT McMarlin]

7 hours ago, conanjaguar said:

Vincent 1 / Day 6

Nothing much to report today, so I won’t bore y’all with extra details.

I made it all the way through the Ravine in good weather, bopping a bunny and gathering a lot of birch bark. Then I checked the Dam for a hacksaw and a jug of syrup, but no hammer.

In the evening, before bed, I cooked porridge, coffee, and tea, dropped guts and saplings to cure in one of the trailers, and drank an herbal tea.

 

So where are you headed? PV? Or are you headed to the summit in TWM or the mine in AC for the technical? Braving Black Rock without a weapon? What's the plan? PV has so many options for exiting the region. Or are you staying in ML but checking out the dam? 

[conanjaguar]

24 minutes ago, FaT McMarlin said:

So where are you headed? PV? Or are you headed to the summit in TWM or the mine in AC for the technical? Braving Black Rock without a weapon? What's the plan? PV has so many options for exiting the region. Or are you staying in ML but checking out the dam? 

I think I’ll give ML a quick search for a hammer and bedroll, then on to TWM through about the same route Toby took. Should be simple, since I’ve already done it once .

I don’t really want to get bogged down in Milton until I have some weapons or flares… AC and Blackrock are two regions that I will not go into until very late game, if ever, they’re like alien planets to me .

[FaT McMarlin]

53 minutes ago, conanjaguar said:

I think I’ll give ML a quick search for a hammer and bedroll, then on to TWM through about the same route Toby took. Should be simple, since I’ve already done it once .

I don’t really want to get bogged down in Milton until I have some weapons or flares… AC and Blackrock are two regions that I will not go into until very late game, if ever, they’re like alien planets to me .

Lol I don't recall that route, I'm assuming it's through the Muskeg cause you're crazy like that lol.

Black Rock is an acquired taste. There's not a really good reason to go there except fighting the timber wolves for giggles. But once it's clear it's really not much bigger than ML and only slightly more difficult terrain.

AC really is wild. I'm surprised that there's even buildings there. Half the cave are really just small divots in the rocks. The 85 percent of the entire cat tail horde is a death trap of wolves and moose😂😂. Yet it's my favorite region. So haunting and beautiful. The deep dark fog you get makes me feel like I'm playing a different game all together.  I definitely think the cave entrance from TWM to AC is the better of the two. I've never seen any wolves there. No bears, no moose, just a few cat tail and a easy access to both upper and lower regions. There's the bunker right there a few minutes away up the rock. Climbers Cave is closer if you've got the wood to heat the cave. Access to the run away bridge area. Over all the cave entrance is a safe location to begin learning the region. Just accept you're going to get lost in the burnt forest. I know the area well enough to navigate it in a blizzard as long as I avoid that area. I still get lost there. 

[Leeanda]

5 hours ago, conanjaguar said:

I think I’ll give ML a quick search for a hammer and bedroll, then on to TWM through about the same route Toby took. Should be simple, since I’ve already done it once .

I don’t really want to get bogged down in Milton until I have some weapons or flares… AC and Blackrock are two regions that I will not go into until very late game, if ever, they’re like alien planets to me .

I see a challenge for you in the future.  😊.    An AC snowball😁

[James Hickok]

On 8/11/2023 at 4:59 PM, conanjaguar said:

“What I am living for and what I am dying for are the same question.”

- Margaret Atwood

It’s been a while since I’ve done a vanilla ‘Loper run, so why not! No restrictions, no rules, no custom settings to screw things up, just Snow Walker and Cold Fusion.

Oh yeah, one rule. Make it to 100 days, and woe unto any wildlife that gets in my way.

Always great to see a Loper run !! I enjoy watching/reading how other survivors cope with the cold and wilderness  

Did you play on harder difficulties and went back to loper ?

[conanjaguar]

14 hours ago, James Hickok said:

Always great to see a Loper run !! I enjoy watching/reading how other survivors cope with the cold and wilderness  

Did you play on harder difficulties and went back to loper ?

Thanks for reading .

I played Deadman a while back and made the 30 days, as well as nearly 40 days straight in FM, so I feel fairly confident of my chances.

16 hours ago, Leeanda said:

I see a challenge for you in the future.  😊.    An AC snowball😁

It has crossed my mind a few times… but I don’t really have the time for multiple runs these days…

20 hours ago, FaT McMarlin said:

Lol I don't recall that route, I'm assuming it's through the Muskeg cause you're crazy like that lol.

Black Rock is an acquired taste. There's not a really good reason to go there except fighting the timber wolves for giggles. But once it's clear it's really not much bigger than ML and only slightly more difficult terrain.

AC really is wild. I'm surprised that there's even buildings there. Half the cave are really just small divots in the rocks. The 85 percent of the entire cat tail horde is a death trap of wolves and moose😂😂. Yet it's my favorite region. So haunting and beautiful. The deep dark fog you get makes me feel like I'm playing a different game all together.  I definitely think the cave entrance from TWM to AC is the better of the two. I've never seen any wolves there. No bears, no moose, just a few cat tail and a easy access to both upper and lower regions. There's the bunker right there a few minutes away up the rock. Climbers Cave is closer if you've got the wood to heat the cave. Access to the run away bridge area. Over all the cave entrance is a safe location to begin learning the region. Just accept you're going to get lost in the burnt forest. I know the area well enough to navigate it in a blizzard as long as I avoid that area. I still get lost there. 

CH-PV-TWM is the path I took, but this time I’ll try not to wander around the entire region . I do plan to stop by the plane crash and get some better clothes

[FaT McMarlin]

13 hours ago, conanjaguar said:

Thanks for reading .

I played Deadman a while back and made the 30 days, as well as nearly 40 days straight in FM, so I feel fairly confident of my chances.

It has crossed my mind a few times… but I don’t really have the time for multiple runs these days…

CH-PV-TWM is the path I took, but this time I’ll try not to wander around the entire region . I do plan to stop by the plane crash and get some better clothes

Good luck with that my friend. Don't let the bears eat your pants lol I hope you get decent weather as well!!!!

[conanjaguar]

Vincent 1 / Day 7

The weather is fairly nasty, but I manage to make it to the Camp Office without taking too much cold damage. On the way, I gather acorns and say hello to Rusty with my gigantic ham-fist hands. Checking the tram car for a bedroll is fruitless.

Outside the Camp Office, I try (and fail) to hunt some ptarmigans before heading in to loot. I find some cooking ingredients and a skillet and that’s about it. I munch some cattails and sleep 3 hours to warm up before heading on to Trappers in the late afternoon.

The weather is nice initially but begins to turn sour before I take more than a few steps. I stop by the Deadfall Area on the way to Trappers’, finding nothing except some ‘shrooms, ‘hips, and two maple saplings that get sawed.

I then check the Bear’s Bowl, and yep, Ivan is there.

Looting the cabin, I find plenty of food (maple syrup and peaches) and (prize of prizes) a hammer!

I don’t have much else to do for the day except boil water and make tea, then sleep. Tomorrow, if the weather allows, off to the Muskeg!

[conanjaguar]

Vincent 1 / Day 8

I step outside and check the weather… light fog, -12C FLT. Good enough; I begin the trek.

In my usual impatient rush, I’m overencumbered, but too stubborn to go back and put the excess stuff in a drawer. So… I continue on my way and end up dropping some stuff at the exit to FM.

The weather has cleared up a bit, so I make it to Poacher’s without much event, except for gathering cattails. I collect some scrap metal and coal and light up the fire barrel. While I do this, the wind decides to get playful; -12C windchill. Fortunately it calms down a bit when I’m finished making hot coffee and tea.

It’s been a while since I’ve been to Spence’s, but by now the path is engraved into my subconscious, so I don’t get my feet wet. I fight a running battle with the wolves while praying for my torches to stay lit, and fortunately, they do.

I decide to take the Bunkhouse route, and am rewarded with a hacksaw. Then I somehow climb the slope up to the Lambda Bunker without spraining anything and check it, trying to be as nonchalant as possible to fool Murphy. It’s empty, of course. With a 1/3 chance of it having loot, I think this has been my eighth try since I first discovered it.

I grumble as I make my way down to Spence’s, first checking the surrounding buildings for some coal and a pair of thermal undies in one of the drawers in the destroyed house! That’s the first time I have EVER found anything there, too bad I already have two pairs.

I head back to Spence’s and find a down vest and new combat boots, excellent! I light a fire and break crates, also cracking the safe.

I find… a flare gun.
A flare gun.
A flare gun in the safe.
A flare gun in the safe on Interloper.
A flare gun in the safe on Interloper with no ammo is slightly less useless than cash
I put the flare gun back into the safe.

I eat porridge for supper… and promptly get food poisoning. Lovely. There goes an herbal tea wasted, especially since I only wanted to sleep for four hours. Fortunately I have antibiotics and enough fuel to sleep the full 10 hours.

Vincent 1 / Day 9

A slow day today. The only action I get is from forging a hatchet, a knife, and six arrowheads. Then I drink an herbal tea and get my z’s. The plan for tomorrow is to push onwards into BR in hope of finding a bedroll.

 

Edited September 10, 2023 by conanjaguar

[Leeanda]

I might be wrong but I think that aiming even an empty flare gun at a wolf might scare it off..  you could test it from a place of safety ,see if it works or not.

[conanjaguar]

2 hours ago, Leeanda said:

I might be wrong but I think that aiming even an empty flare gun at a wolf might scare it off..  you could test it from a place of safety ,see if it works or not.

Yeah, it might work, but that’s what I have stones for… and I’m not likely to find flare shells between here and the Summit.

[Leeanda]

1 minute ago, conanjaguar said:

Yeah, it might work, but that’s what I have stones for… and I’m not likely to find flare shells between here and the Summit.

Actually I believe it does work, I just watched Zak's latest and he mentioned it...  but yes stones are plenty ,...

You might get lucky with shells though,given your lucky finds already😊