How many mountaineering ropes

[xanna]

Has anyone done the maths on the number of loose mountaineering ropes vs the number of empty attachment points? In my long game, one of my personal goals is to take every loose rope and attach it somewhere, but I haven't been super methodical about it.

e.g. in Timberwolf Mountain in my run there are three loose ropes, which I thought was plenty, but there are four empty attachment points, I think.

Spoiler map of Timberwolf Mountain empty rope spots

• From Eric's Falls down to the Blackrock cave system
• From the bottom of the summit rope down to Eric's Falls
• From Deer Clearing down to Three-way Cave
• From the western Engine down to where a bear hangs out near the river

 

My guess is that over all the regions there are not enough ropes to fill all the attachment points. Just wondering if anyone has tried? Are there always the same number of ropes, or are some RNG?

[twyn1]

This is a really good question. In my last run, I collected 4 loose ropes in TWM, but that was definitely unusual.  I don't think I've always had the rope that's near Eric's Falls (in a rabbit spawn area) pre-set -- one that leads up towards the summit area.

[artmunki]

I haven't tested this, or even made particularly careful notes tbh, but from experience my suspicion would be that the distribution of loose ropes on the island is determined by RNG, but the actual quantity will usually be just short of the number required to fill all the undeployed climbs. That's just a guess tho, but one tempered by a fair bit of time on GBI.

In my current run (I'll likely hit 800 days today or tomorrow) I still have maybe 3 or 4 loose ropes available to be placed, and maybe 4 or 5 unroped climbs that I can think of (all in regions distant from the ropes current locations, of course), which feels pretty normal. Don't think I've ever made a point of trying to rope all the climbs on the island, but I do usually get all of TWM and AC sorted, and the more useful climbs elsewhere, and I'm pretty sure I've never bothered with that kinda pointless climb point in DP, or the one right behind the lodge in BRR, so I've never been too troubled by a lack. Just my own take on it tho - I'm sure there's someone out there who's actually crunched the numbers on it.

On a side note, there's one other unroped climb that I just discovered for the first time recently, which has no way (yet!) to even see the climbing rock, let alone wrap a rope around it - anyone else know what I'm somewhat cryptically talking about? 😜

[xanna]

1 hour ago, artmunki said:

my suspicion would be that the distribution of loose ropes on the island is determined by RNG,

I'm pretty sure some of them are guaranteed, e.g. at Homesteader's Respite in Ash Canyon, and in the cave near the summit rope in Timberwolf Mountain. Some are RNG, but I don't know if that means that it's random whether they exist, or whether it's random which of n spots they are found in.
 

1 hour ago, artmunki said:

I do usually get all of TWM and AC sorted, and the more useful climbs elsewhere, and I'm pretty sure I've never bothered with that kinda pointless climb point in DP, or the one right behind the lodge in BRR,

There's pointless spots in TWM, too, like the one down to three-way cave. I'm one short in that region, so I have left that spot empty.

Your overall take matches what my expectation is, for sure. Thanks for sharing your experience!