To Hell and Back: The AshLopers

[conanjaguar]

Introduction

Ash Canyon. You either love it or hate it. I happen to hate it. And since Steam will stop running on Windows 7 in a few weeks (at which I will upgrade to Windows 10 and hopefully start uploading videos of my runs ), I thought I’d give snowballing here a try.
 

The Challenge

Whether you call this challenge Snowballing, Region Lock, or One Region Challenge, they’re all the same. The goal is to survive for as long as possible in a single region on Interloper difficulty (or if I get fed up with random spawns, changing the time and weather to noon/clear so I can choose AC as my starting region), without ever leaving that region. Accidentally leaving a region is allowed as long as I go right back in without taking anything from that region. Transition caves (for coal and resources) are allowed.

Enough babbling, let the games begin!

[conanjaguar]

Ash 1 died of hypothermia before the first day was out. However, he did discover a broken fishing hut and a bay filled with at least a week’s supply of cattails.

Ash 2 discovered the exit to TWM before falling to his death.

[conanjaguar]

Ash 3 / Day 1 / Descent into Hell

“I can’t lie to you about your chances, but… you have my sympathies.”

Hm. This is a different spawn point, at least. A good omen, perhaps? In the distance my bespectacled eyes can just barely make out an artificial-looking shape that stands out amid the burnt trees. Is that a cabin?

A wolf barks at me and reminds me that overthinking things will be my downfall, and would I be interested in fall insurance? I gratefully accept his advice (but politely decline the deal) and get going.

Soon enough, my hunch is confirmed, to my delight. It is indeed a cabin, Angler’s Den, to be precise! I duck inside and loot it. I find a ragged toque (useless now, but maybe I can find some cloth), cured leather, a sewing kit, dog food, ketchup chips, two arrowheads(!), and MATCHES.Your probability of survival has just increased to unlikely, but plausible.

I head back out to gather cattails and sticks from the general area. A corpse helpfully offers a piece of cloth to repair the toque with. As the weather turns into a blizzard, I stumble across a rabbit grove, where I bop a bunny before deciding to head back.

After some blind stumbling through the blizzard, I’m back “home”, where I “shred” the bunny and break crates until nightfall. Oh, and I fail to repair the toque.

My tongue feels like sandpaper and I’ve never been so hungry in my life, so I decide it’s time to light my first fire. Outside, to use the extra cooking slot and duration bonus.

I cook my shredded bunny and 3 liters of water while admiring the view: it’s an eerie green sky tonight.

I snap some screenshots before pulling some torches and extinguishing the fire. Then I walk back into the cabin and discover a second recycled can laying on the floor. That should make making water much more efficient.

[ManicManiac]

@conanjaguar

Well done, keep it up.

[conanjaguar]

Ash 2 / Day 2 / Claustrophobia

Weird. Last night I had a dream that I found a rifle and some rifle bullets on Interloper. I take that as another good omen.

Today is a big stick day. I gather a bunch of sticks and cattails, as well as trying and failing to bop another bunny. The weather is nasty, but it holds firm at -23C and heavy snow all day. I steadily lose condition from cold, hunger, and thirst as I dart around, only taking short two-hour naps to warm up.

At the end of the day, I’m down to 50% condition. Cattails, water, bed.

[conanjaguar]

Moral of the day: always double check and triple check even if you’re “done” looting. I’ve found another pack of matches in the cabin .

[Moosemaster]

“Hell and back” hey I’ve done that!

[RobotDino11]

On 11/21/2023 at 9:48 PM, conanjaguar said:

Your probability of survival has just increased to unlikely, but plausible.

is that a subnautica quote? 🤨

[conanjaguar]

1 hour ago, RobotDino11 said:

is that a subnautica quote? 🤨

Indeed it is .

[conanjaguar]

Ash 3 / Day 3 / Into the Unknown

Despite the brutal temperatures, high wind blowing in my face, and heavy snowfall, I am determined to get some exploring done today without losing too much condition.

I can see the rope bridges from the river. Those are my targets. A wolf dissuades me from going to the one on the right (and would I be interested in…), so I head in the general direction of the one on the left, into a narrow ravine.

I gather some cattails and sticks along the way before coming to a dead end: Narrow Falls… and a cave. Inside the cave is a body, a moss bed, and some much-welcome fir firewood.

After a few seconds debate, I light up the fire and boil water to warm up. Maybe I should have slept in the bed with the corpse, in retrospect… at least I’d regain some fatigue. After this is done, I pull torches and head out into the -12C clear day, aiming for the other rope bridge. The wind has died down, so I am able to shoo wolves away from cattail patches I want.

My condition drains at an alarming rate; by the time I’m overlooking Shattered Cove, I’m down to 25%. Still, I did find something precious: rose hips! I pause in another cave to make a warmup fire (with two hours of sticks for each, this is getting unsustainable…) before heading back to my cabin.

Of course, FLT rises to a steamy -7C as soon as I start freezing again. I see a few does and debate hunting them the Hotzn Way, but decide against it: I’m tired, cold, and hungry, and I need to nurse myself back to health. I head back to the cabin and sacrifice my socks to repair the toque back up to 100%. I succeed! Then I lay in bed munching cattails, playing cards, and sleeping for the rest of the day.

 I need to get out of here. 20 cattails and a 20% can of dog food won’t last me long, and the weather is absolutely brutal. I don’t dare travel without warm temperatures for fear of freezing to death before I can get anywhere. I need to find some kind of transition cave and get me some coal. A full bunker wouldn’t hurt either.

 

[RobotDino11]

this has become possibly my new favorite TLD content.

[hozz1235]

Thanks for sharing, @conanjaguar!

Regarding your images, not sure if it's your browser or something else, but you should be able to get the pictures included in your post vs links.  Do you do these steps?

1.  

2.  After you've selected the file and it's uploaded, you then click Insert and it should insert the image at your cursor in your post:

Or, if you have the image in Snipping Tool, etc. or have Copied it, you should be able to paste it directly into the post without doing the steps above.  

Hope this helps.

[xanna]

2 hours ago, hozz1235 said:

Thanks for sharing, @conanjaguar!

Regarding your images, not sure if it's your browser or something else, but you should be able to get the pictures included in your post vs links.  Do you do these steps?

1.  

2.  After you've selected the file and it's uploaded, you then click Insert and it should insert the image at your cursor in your post:

Or, if you have the image in Snipping Tool, etc. or have Copied it, you should be able to paste it directly into the post without doing the steps above.  

Hope this helps.

Conan's images are appearing as inline in the post for me as images, not as links. I guess you're only seeing links? How odd

[conanjaguar]

4 hours ago, hozz1235 said:

Thanks for sharing, @conanjaguar!

Regarding your images, not sure if it's your browser or something else, but you should be able to get the pictures included in your post vs links.  Do you do these steps?

1.  

2.  After you've selected the file and it's uploaded, you then click Insert and it should insert the image at your cursor in your post:

That’s what I’m doing already…

21 hours ago, RobotDino11 said:

this has become possibly my new favorite TLD content.

Thank you, I’m flattered .

[hozz1235]

2 hours ago, conanjaguar said:

That’s what I’m doing already…

hmm...they're images now...that was weird.

Edited December 1, 2023 by hozz1235

[conanjaguar]

Ash 3 / Day 4 / Reconnaissance

I try to sleep in to avoid the -30C temperatures. It works… kind of. “Sh Canyon” 

The FLT rises to -20C and a thick fog in an hour or so, good enough for my purposes. I start by exploring a little nook… and find a fire barrel in the middle of nowhere, with a much welcome can of tomato soup beside it. Interesting.

I spot a ledge that looks like it leads somewhere… and I follow it to a waterfall, and behind it! After some climbing (and rose hip gathering) I reach “Upper” AC. I think. I warm up with hot tea, gather some cattails, and make it to a cave before the wind blows out my torch.

Inside the cave, I have the foresight to take off my clothes (after some “research”) and fumble through the dark using the recycled can trick until I step in water. I light a torch after I am certain that the waterfall won’t put it out, finding myself in a fairly large cave system. There is coal aplenty, and even a climbing rope hanging from a stalactite! I climb that and push through to the other side.

I notice signs, so I follow them. Across ledges, over precarious bridges, into hidden crannies. Eventually I get exhausted, but I keep going in hope that the signs will lead me to safety. They lead me to a climbing rope. Going DOWN. I try to goat it… and promptly die.

 

Edited December 4, 2023 by conanjaguar

[RobotDino11]

noooooooo

[xanna]

Eaten by a goat!

[conanjaguar]

Ash 4 met a toothy end shortly after starting.

[conanjaguar]

Ash V / Day 1 / Hdgetrtjojgtdevxdskkberuhdxi

(I’m just mashing random keys because my mind is a blank)

Hmm… the normal spawn point.I debate flinging myself into the rocks below, but decide against it. I head down to Bitter Marsh, gathering shrooms, cattails, and hips, and notice a destroyed house next to the fishing hut that I had not noticed before. It has a metal container that I search… for MATCHES!!! I also notice a house up on the cliff, but I see no access route to it. I am determined now not to seppuku the run; instead I hug the right cliff side until I reach a familiar-looking fork-shaped ravine. I pause behind a rock to light a fire (succeeding with the first match) to make water and tea (and pull a torch of course). A blizzard blows up, but fortunately the rock shelters my fire. I drink the hot tea and stumble blindly through the blizzard until I reach Angler’s Den! This is a major breakthrough: I now know how to reach shelter from any spawn point. 

I check inside for the usual two packs of matches, chips, dog food, and two arrowheads (guaranteed spawn?), as well as a piece of cloth and a cooking pot! No sewing kit, though…

I huddle in the bed and pass time for a few hours to clear frostbite and hypothermia risk, then drink some water, munch chips and cattails, and sleep.

Edited December 10, 2023 by conanjaguar
Fixing pictures

[RobotDino11]

The adventure continues!

[conanjaguar]

Ash 4 / Day 2 / Stick Scrounging Spendthrift

Today is a slow day. I gather sticks and cattails and grind to Firestarting level 2.

[conanjaguar]

Ash 4 / Day 3 / To The Mine

I harvest some torches and drop some extraneous stuff before heading out into the cold. FLT is -17C and the weather is nasty, but tolerable. I’m not too concerned with this run’s survival just yet.

I want to try the path that Ash 3 took, so I walk behind the waterfall and up the ledge to “Upper” AC. The place is staked out by three or four wolves that notice me and startle me into a “sh” but fortunately I cut it off in time… my siblings are watching me, after all . I regain my composure and check the windchill before lighting a torch and casually approaching the wolves. It works!

From here I walk to the cave and make my way through, picking up a marine flare, some candy bars, and some coal. At the opposite end I light a fire and prepare my first two cups of tea of the day before heading out across the rope bridges.

Nothing especially interesting happens, I take screenshots and admire the view in between making a second round of tea.

Eventually I make it to a cliff with some structure that looks like it’s supposed to pull up buckets… I’m calling it a “lift” for now. Anyway, I can see buildings! The cliff looks like it should be goatable, so I try my luck… and make it to the bottom without injury.

It’s a mining camp, apparently, but unfortunately there is no loot or usable buildings, so I check out the rail tracks.

They lead into the mine itself. Eureka! I’ve done it! The gold mine at last!

The mine is fairly linear; I gather coal on my way to the main chamber, where I find some goodies. Some matches, coal, accelerant, a cloth toque, lamp fuel, sardines, crampons, and… the TECHNICAL BACKPACK!!! I am, however, disappointed at the utter lack of tools… a lantern or hacksaw would be much appreciated. Maybe the bunker has one?

Ash 4 / Day 4 / And Back Again

I wait out a blizzard while boiling water and making tea until evening. I then climb down from the mine and wander around until I somehow get back to Angler’s Den… hmph. At least I know found the exit to TWM for future reference in possibly finding that bunker, but I didn’t go in... a mistake in hindsight, there could be some goodies in there. The two items highest on my wishlist right now are a hacksaw and a sewing kit. The former so I can steal wolf kills quickly and the latter so I can repair these rags I call clothes. Heck, if I could get some guts, I could make a fishing tackle, which is just as good, if not better because there IS a fishing hut in the region. Oh… wait. I need to add a prybar to the wishlist in that case, and maybe a full bunker too. It’s almost Christmas, after all .

[DsnowMan]

Good job finding the mine without checking a map. That place is a bit of a maze.

Spoiler for getting to the mine from above for next time:

Spoiler

There's a rope attachment point rock near a wooden structure at the top of that cliff you goated down. It's hidden pretty well, looks like part of a bigger rocky area. You can almost always find a rope on one of the ledges or caves along the route you walked, and if you can't, you can take the rope from the place Ash3 fell to its death.
Or if you like to goat, you do you.

There are a few other areas to find in Ash Canyon, including a few more structures / bases. Keep exploring! But, I started a recent loper there and visited a lot of them and did NOT find a hacksaw. Or a sewing kit. I skipped a couple of spots before leaving for TMW to get both, so you may still luck out. I did find a prybar.

If you don't find either, you can still use guts from ravaged deers (there's an area you haven't been to that usually has a few) to get tackle.

[conanjaguar]

Ash 4 / Day 5

Nothing really happens today. I gather sticks around the cabin and grind Firestarting in the evening. There’s an aurora tonight, but it has to be one of the most unimpressive ones I have EVER seen in TLD.

 

Ash 4 / Day 6

Today I feel like making an expedition to Bitter Marsh to stock up on cattails. The weather is a bit sour at first, but quickly clears up as the day progresses. There are no wolves out; I am free to gather as many cattails and sticks as I can carry before beginning the trek back, exhausted and encumbered. Of course, it’s NOW that the salesmen try to offer me food poisoning insurance. I decline and wave them off with a torch. Fortunately, while it is windy, I am able to duck behind trees to shield my torch. I get back to Angler’s and deposit EIGHTY cattails in the trunk.

Ash 4 / Day 7

I’m starting to get bored. There’s only one cure for that: a successful hunt. Even though the weather is nasty, it should work. It’s a bit tricky because of the awkward terrain, but I find a doe and drive her closer to the wolves, then circle around to get the wolves to notice me, circle back around to get the doe between me and them, and watch Nature take its course. I let the wolf munch for a bit before waving him off and lighting a fire with accelerant and beginning to harvest and cook the deer.

The new animations are very cool, but something is broken. It’s a literal snowstorm and yet there is ZERO windchill. Both the fire and I are exposed with nothing to protect us from the wind, yet the fire keeps burning as I harvest nearly the entire deer with my bare hands… and then blows out as soon as I finish harvesting the last gut when the nasty weather turns into an actual blizzard. By now it’s pretty late so I head back to the cabin, gorge on deer meat, and sleep.

Spoiler

The verdict on the new harvesting animations: Very cool, but I miss the progress circle and time of day indicator. Maybe put it in the corner of the screen above the “cancel” button? The camera motion, while a bit wobbly, doesn’t really bother me, and neither does the minuscule amount of blood on Will’s bloody hands. I personally would prefer something a bit more “oomph”, it looks like Will is rubbing the deer’s belly, but that would probably tank the game’s rating, reviews were already squeamish about harvesting guts from animals and crafting with them. It doesn’t seem to have as much of a negative impact on gameplay as I thought: wolf hunting is now even more useful than before.

Ash 4 / Day 8

Today is another slow day of gathering, marked by two events: a quick trip to Narrow Falls cave to pick up some coal and breaking that mysterious crate on the side of the hill. Said crate is empty. Really? A random crate there for no reason and it’s EMPTY?! In the process of lighting a fire to keep warm while breaking this… this colossal red herring, I get Firestarting level 3. Yay! No more hauling around cattail heads!

I do think I might have a slight stick hoarding problem: I have 130 as of the last count. Given my current my food supply (80 cattails and half a deer) and match stocks (30), I don’t think this run is going to die anytime soon, unless I do something REALLY stupid or just get plain bored.

Edited December 24, 2023 by conanjaguar