Zone of contamination - Forsaken airfield transition cave

[Orion12]

This cave was one of the most braindeadedly confusing things i have ever encountered in this game. if you have done it you know what i mean. Never in this game in the story mode wintermute or the tales have i encountered something with SO MANY paths and SO FEW correct ways to go even in the MINES. Hands down the worst experience i have had ingame in 4 years of playing. whoever designed this please...just stop

[I_eat_only_wolf_meat]

Haha.  I know what you mean.  It's not so bad once you've completed it once and marked the correct path with sticks or paint.

I don't mind the confusion, since with just about every other cave it's almost impossible to not reach the destination.  The ZOC is supposed to be more difficult than the other zones, and it's certainly proven to be so.

[ajb1978]

The trick to solving any maze is to always turn left. Just hug the left wall, always turn left. Even if it's a dead end, go to the dead end, and keep turning left until you're going back the way you came, just to make sure there isn't some hidden cubby.

Keep turning left. You'll find the way out.

[mfuegemann]

Maybe one additional tip, if You start Your keep-left-journey inside an unknown cave. Place a well known item at the start. If You come back to exact this item, You are hugging an isolated "inside" structure. Then go over to the other wall and try the same again there.

[rush247]

This is why I carry a can of spray paint when I'm in tunnels now.

[Mistral]

13 hours ago, rush247 said:

This is why I carry a can of spray paint when I'm in tunnels now.

It's the only instance where that thing comes even somewhat useful

[hozz1235]

On 12/12/2023 at 1:47 PM, ajb1978 said:

The trick to solving any maze is to always turn left. Just hug the left wall, always turn left. Even if it's a dead end, go to the dead end, and keep turning left until you're going back the way you came, just to make sure there isn't some hidden cubby.

Keep turning left. You'll find the way out.

And mark the paths with spray paint, otherwise you may end up going in circles a few times before you figure it out.

[Even Dark]

some torches drop to the floor as markers will do the job

[turtle777]

On 12/12/2023 at 3:47 PM, ajb1978 said:

Keep turning left. You'll find the way out.

Nah, it's the opposite - always turn RIGHT. 😉

-t

[xanna]

It's keep left if you're British, Irish, Aussie, Kiwi or Indian, keep right for everyone else.

[hozz1235]

Been going left in games since 1985

[sierra 117]

Yep ,just here to say left is the way,lol

[Stuffed Plush Chainsaw]

For the sake of love and understanding I wanted to point out that neither strategy - turning always right or left - is innately superior. Also that, while I support people's ability to change their minds upon discovery of new perspectives, this is the one occasion where you either stick to the left or right, no matter what. One could say it's the ultimate partisan issue.

[mfuegemann]

A: Are You always turning left?

B: Right.

[StillNomad]

Yes, this particular cave system is a little confusing and lengthy. I don't mind it, though.

What I've started doing specifically for this cave system and then the mines as well is to drop used torches. If I take a branch and it turns out to be a dead end (or it can be avoided as a shorter route exists), I'll drop a torch across the path and add a stone at each end of the torch to visually block this branch. I do this once I return back to the fork / start of the branch. On the other path that I now need to take, I'll place a torch in line with the path with 2 stones at the end/bottom of the torch. Bit cumbersome the first time, but I've not lost my way since.

[Pfe]

I was glad to find a challenging cave for a change.
It fits great with the design of the new regions. 
Yes, it is has 2 loops but remembering to draw a paper sketch / map made it doable.
I used lots of torches as coal was plentiful. 
Playing on stalker meant that starting fires was also trivial. 

There is one thing that I found NOT Fair!
At some point in the cave, there is something that looks like "an icy path below". 
So I goated down.... was not even that tall.
InstaDeath! No splatter and crackle. 
There goes my Echos Quest completed 178 Days Stalker run ... 

At least I will get to experience playing managing scurvy in the next run.
 

[turtle777]

I don’t find it confusing at all. 
 

I went from FA, kept right, and there was just one short dead end. Very simple. 
 

-t

[devamadhu]

Someone on here recommended dropping a single painkiller to mark cave paths, and so now I always do that when entering a cave system. Every time the path forks, I drop a painkiller in the "doorway" of the path before the fork. So if I get stuck, I can at least backtrack to the exit and try again. 

For complicated caves, sometimes I use painkillers for one exit, and antibiotics for the other direction. Easy to swap out with any other objects like paint cans like others have said.

And staying to the left generally works for me as well — it seems like Hinterland accidentally or intentionally designed most of the caves to progress to the left.

[hozz1235]

On 2/8/2024 at 11:37 AM, devamadhu said:

Someone on here recommended dropping a single painkiller to mark cave paths, and so now I always do that when entering a cave system. Every time the path forks, I drop a painkiller in the "doorway" of the path before the fork. So if I get stuck, I can at least backtrack to the exit and try again. 

For complicated caves, sometimes I use painkillers for one exit, and antibiotics for the other direction. Easy to swap out with any other objects like paint cans like others have said.

And staying to the left generally works for me as well — it seems like Hinterland accidentally or intentionally designed most of the caves to progress to the left.

Spray paint.  I use it to fully map the HRV ice caves.  For other caves, I use X to mark dead-end tunnels.

[BugReportEnthusiast]

On 12/12/2023 at 10:12 PM, Orion12 said:

This cave was one of the most braindeadedly confusing things i have ever encountered in this game. if you have done it you know what i mean. Never in this game in the story mode wintermute or the tales have i encountered something with SO MANY paths and SO FEW correct ways to go even in the MINES. Hands down the worst experience i have had ingame in 4 years of playing. whoever designed this please...just stop

The threat of getting lost is what makes caves fun to explore.

I actually have the reverse opinion, i loved this cave and i wish others were as rough to navigate and huge in size as this one.

[Semple Fi]

On 12/12/2023 at 3:47 PM, ajb1978 said:

The trick to solving any maze is to always turn left. Just hug the left wall, always turn left. Even if it's a dead end, go to the dead end, and keep turning left until you're going back the way you came, just to make sure there isn't some hidden cubby.

Keep turning left. You'll find the way out.