The 7-Day Wall

[Token]

Initially when I bought this game, we were collecting unlimited amounts of reclaimed wood without ever leaving the camp office. AND Mystery Lake was the ONLY Region.

I managed to get the Steam Achievements for surviving 2 whole days, but I couldn't come close to reaching a 7th Day. Dealing with hostile wolves and rapidly changing weather effects presented too steep of a learning curve for me to overcome. So I moved on to other games that I knew how to play. TLD wasn't finished yet, I would give it time to improve and then come back and try my luck again. The promise of a single-player campaign with a good story was enough to draw me in for a closer look.

Well now I've spent the past few days having my 2nd look at this game. Thanks Hinterland for implementing Pilgrim mode so that I could learn more about the game without having to worry about being attacked all the time. Still the weather effects would kill me some of the time, spent too much time trying to fully harvest an animal carcass and ran out of energy before I could make it to shelter. I quickly learned that improving your clothing is a very critical issue upon starting a new Sandbox.

I'm the type of person who often feels the need to look for game spoilers, thankfully a few players have produced some pretty good maps. Part of my survival woes in Mystery Lake, I would never find a rifle. I only knew about the two most obvious spawn spots, in the gun-racks. Eventually I found a steam user guide with maps indicating many more possible rifle spawns. Before I saw that map it took me over 20 game days (in a Pilgrim game) to locate a rifle in Coastal Highway. I figure I had over 20 days without firing a rifle, and I was making Steam Achievements in Pilgrim mode, heck it should be easy to go for 50 days without firing the rifle.

My pilgrim game has passed over 100 days, earned almost all of the Steam Achievements, and unlocked all the new regions. But of course, Pilgrim games are un-ranked, so need to take what I've learned and apply it to Voyager, I see that I will need 200+ days of survival to reach the bottom ranks of the leaderboard.

So currently I have a Voyager game just past the 40-day point, that's progress, I'm finally getting over that wall. I've discovered that wolf attacks don't always hurt you, but getting mauled by a Black Bear hurts all over.

I've never seen a bear in Mystery Lake but I've heard there might be one near the Lone Cabin. And hidden behind that Lone Cabin, propped up next to a frozen corpse, I finally managed to get a rifle out of Mystery Lake. I shot in self-defense so often that I had a wolf-skin coat as my first piece of crafted clothing in the Voyager game. But in Pilgrim mode, it's much harder to bag the wolf skins. If I hit the wolf but failed to get a kill shot, they would run around for several hours of game-time before finally bleeding out. I'm sure there must be some frozen wolf carcasses that I never found. Oddly, on a few occasions a wolf died and I know that I didn't kill it. Not sure what causes that to happen, but hey free meat! I find it very hard to hit anything with the Survival Bow, unless the animal was running right past me, which is rare. I found that having 4 rabbit snares out at Jackrabbit Island; I could not harvest and cook rabbit fast enough to keep myself from starving. And I've learned there can be up to two wolves roaming near the Gas Station, ouch!

I've learned to throw the flares at the wolf, instead of holding the flare and running up to it. Holding a flare or torch won't always prevent a wolf attack. And having all the crafted clothing, and repaired clothing, makes the weather far more survivable. I might not be able to make it to the bottom rung of the Leaderboard, but I've had a pretty good time in the Sandbox for the past week.

[Lovehandel]

Congratulations on your success. You have now reached the point where all of your deaths will be a result of your own stupidity.

Things like: forgetting your sleeping bag, bandages or matches, not facing the right direction before you start harvesting when there is zero visibility, thinking the porch you are on is bear proof or just allowing yourself to get lost in a storm.

Once you have learned to deal with the wolves, over confidence can be your biggest threat.

[Token]

My current Voyageur save has reached the 58 day mark and I've been camping out in the gas station, CH.

I've been trying to kill most of the wolves I've encountered instead of trying to avoid encounters.

This is not working out so well for me at the moment. I've struggled with wolves enough times that i'm in danger of losing my crafted clothing before I can manage to repair it. In fact I just lost my rabbit skin mittens in the last wolf encounter.

The wolf pathing around that town is really confusing my ability target them with a weapon. The trees and snowdrifts they either run around or over. They manage to get within 10 feet of me before they start running straight for me. Maybe I shouldn't try to camp at the gas station but it seems to be the only dwelling in CH with a woodburning stove/barrel inside.

Also I spent over 30 days in my starting zone ML, but my detailed stats say I was only there for 19 days. I know I spent a lot of that time inside the Upper Hydro Dam, I guess it isn't counting that area as part of ML? In fact I spent enough time camping the dam entrance that I completely wore out my bedroll. I had to run to the Camp Office to get a spare which was in need of repairs. Several campfires that I tried to start on the Dam porch ended up getting blown out by the wind, and I know that spot is supposed to provide some shelter from the wind. But not enough to keep a campfire going during a blizzard I guess. :-P

I ran out to Jackrabbit island with two snares and no spare guts. That was a big mistake, both my snares broke after trapping only two rabbits. When i'm out checking traps, I hear a wolf give its attack growl, two rabbits go running past me and the wolf pops into view only 12 feet away from me. Well that was the struggle were I lost my rabbit skin mittens, and all my other crafted gear has dropped to 30 something percent.

Hopefully I'll be able to recover from these circumstances and move on.

[Lovehandel]

There is a fire barrel in the lower part of the damn, no need to cook outside there.

There is always one and sometimes two skinny blue houses in Coastal Township, one at waterfront and one with a dog house. These houses have fireplaces. I usually stay in one of these and walk over to the hut to do crafting.

I only wear crafted clothing when I am going on a long trip to save on wolf damage. No point wearing it around the township. I believe that Hinterland has it out for me and only has the wolves attack me when I am in crafted gear. I am on to you Hinterland!

[Doc Gonzo]

Congratulations on your success. You have now reached the point where all of your deaths will be a result of your own stupidity.

This. This is my favorite quote ever! ;-) Love it.

[Token]

There is a fire barrel in the lower part of the damn, no need to cook outside there.

There is always one and sometimes two skinny blue houses in Coastal Township, one at waterfront and one with a dog house. These houses have fireplaces. I usually stay in one of these and walk over to the hut to do crafting.

I only wear crafted clothing when I am going on a long trip to save on wolf damage. No point wearing it around the township. I believe that Hinterland has it out for me and only has the wolves attack me when I am in crafted gear. I am on to you Hinterland!

Ah, I didn't realize you could do your cooking in a fireplace but I guess it makes sense.

That Wolfskin Coat doesn't seem to do much to frighten away the wolves.

[Jolan]

The house near the shore with a fireplace has better sight lines.  Fewer places to amush you when you pop out a door and a high spot you can climb to get better look at where the furballs are.  Its also closer to the fishing hut and has a good sight line for deer on the ice.  That being said, Larry, Moe and Curly are really irritating.  I'd rather camp at the fishing village, there's a work bench, only 1 wolf to deal with, fairly clear sight lines, etc.  you have to cook carefully though - the wind is twitchy