Hotzn

The Snowball-Deadman may have something which all other competitors lack: The TWM-Interloper-Instant-Summit experience. With all the food/sodas and the flare gun you might be going somewhere... shoot a deer, eat, craft deerskin goodies...

I was wondering why you didn't take the matches and accelerants - especially the latter might have come in handy for starting fires really quickly. Would have allowed you more time before having to make a fire while travelling. Also I didn't quite get how much you looted from the clothes container - just the items you mentioned? Would be interesting to see your current outfit.

And what's the plan for the next steps?

Interesting insights. It's true that too much challenge can take you out of a game's atmosphere and into Excel sheets, calculations, micromanagement and a total grind. How could the game prevent this and still be (more) challenging, especially in the long run? I would advocate for enhancing the hunting mechanics. It would be cool if hunting required a complex skillset - tracking, sneaking, staying downwind, preparing equipment for a longer hunting trip and so on. The reward should be moments of respite when the hunt is at last successful - meaning enough calories to spend days "off". Time to just move around and explore, take in the weather, watch the sunset, maybe take a little care of equipment. Light a campfire, listen to it crackling merrily and look into the flames.

Really useful tips there, @TheEldritchGod.

I would like to see @Scyzaraand/or @selflesstry this challenge. Currently, I would place my bets on @Drifter Man.

20 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

, and a book on firestarting, which will soon be used to start a fire, thereby fulfilling its purpose.

These little scraps of TLD wisdom. Looking forward for the dash to the summit... 

It's interesting to note that the Deadman Challenge is effectively getting rid of the starvation exploit. I wonder whether Interloper might not be drastically improved (hem, excuse me, whether it might not be possible to create a more engaging experience for players who seek a challenge) by toning down healing to a verrry slow thing. Still possible, provided that no bar is in the red, but... well... slow. Just so that mid-term survival could be... within the range of the thinkable (not necessarily the possible, heh).

Day 7 and not broken a sweat yet. Hurr. I liked the story of Deadman 2 - couldn't you have searched in the dark with a campfire projection?

By the way... I appreciate how Hinterland is taking away the little tricks one by one. Somebody is watching this here and taking notes.

Ah. I feel a will forming within @Drifter Man... fame... immortality is lying out there, ripe for the taking. 16 days? What is 16 days for one who has lived in the dam for 1,000 days? Who has dropped the fish, BAM? Who has lopered around the mountain for 100 days? Surely just an inconvenience... a disturbance in the Force... 

Meanwhile, the talented young journalist who has recently joined the staff of Interloper Monthly Magazine (IMM), Mr. Nhotz, is preparing to write the story of his life...

Unfortunate. Next one will be better...

2 hours ago, Doc Gonzo said:

@Drifter Man Enjoying your stories as always!  What's your eventual end goal with these?  Tough challenge if I'm understanding it correctly (thanks for the info @JAFO).

Looking forward to more...

The eventual goal? Currently 17 days survived, of course. This may change if others push the boundaries further while this run is going...

Yay, @Drifter Mandoing the Deadman! Like! Like @JAFO, I also noticed the change to first person right away. Haha - someone starts concentrating!

Thanks for the hint @JAFO, +1. Interesting challenge getting back to the roots of TLD. It's unfortunate I don't have time to play currently. Lurking around the forums does not quite make up for it.   

Ts, ts. Young folks these days. Always wanna jump.

On 20.8.2018 at 11:10 PM, FunkyFuggerson said:

Day 697, I returned to ML, I haven't been to this region since day 124, I remember I left many snares out behind the trappers. I am at the dam currently writing this, tomorrow I will go to the trappers. 

Day 698, I made it to the trappers, but instead of the cabin and surrounding areas there was a gigantic pile of rotting rabbit corpses. When I got closer it began to groan and swell. Soon the corpses began to melt together into a formless blob of meat and gut and staring eyes. It twitched and began to expand at an accelerated rate. The mass of bunny bodies soon began to consume everything in its path. I saw a deer get completely absorbed into that mass of flesh and bone. I ran for my life and dropped my pack of goods. I saw that get absorbed into its mass as well, the blob making horrible screeching and squelching noises. I ran through the rail tunnel into the muskeg screaming for my life. I dared to look over my shoulder, I saw something that would bring even the most steeled of minds to insanity. A horrible profusion of errant flesh came bounding over the cliffside like a tidal wave of squealing doom. I ran up into hat creek, I lit my last road flare and stepped into the cave at the basin of the waterfall. I laughed and cried and screamed for death as I ran through the dark halls. I heard the flesh give a mighty roar, I felt the ground quake underneath me. The cave began to collapse, I just barely made it out alive. When I entered outside it was a sight to behold, across the entirety of the muskeg the bunny corpse pile had covered every inch of land. When I looked down upon the ground I could see I was standing upon live rabbits, but they were all fused together. Twitching ears and flailing legs surrounded me. I stooped down and stabbed my flare into the flesh, it screamed and began to move. I felt my feet being pulled down into the mass. I tried to fight it but like quick sand the more I fought the more I was sucked into it. The bunnies began squeaking in unison as I was pulled farther and farther down. I unsheathed my improvised hatchet and began hacking wildly. I cut away at the flesh hack by hack, the ground rang out an ear splitting screech. Hundreds of mouths began to cut into my legs and sides. They were digging into my flesh like razors, but so much adrenaline was pumping though my veins I did not feel any pain. I stabbed and hacked and managed to climb up onto a fleshy tree. Covered in viscera and entrails I finally collapsed from exhaustion. 

Day 698, I awoke on the flesh like tree, it appeared to also be made of bunnies. I felt soft whiskers against my cheek, hot breath on my neck. The rabbits were affectionately nuzzling me. I got down from the tree, I pulled out my hip flask and took a long swig. But no water met my lips, damnit I forgot to fill it with water. I trudged around the overlook, but I found nothing of interest besides endless fused rabbits. I climbed down the overlook, stabbing my hatchet into the fleshy sides of the cliff in order to gain a foot hold. I stepped down onto the marsh, now covered in endless rabbit flesh. I saw a hunters blind in the distance, but when approaching it, it to was covered in fur and eyes. I wont last much longer without water, But there has to be something under all this flesh right? Right? Possibilities begin rushing through my head like a wildfire, all of them ending in my painful demise. I take out my hatchet and begin hacking at the flesh once more, More and more I begin to tunnel down, I feel my hatchet sink and absorb into the flesh but it doesn't matter. I take off my gloves and I begin scooping out entrails and meat and tossing them out of the hole. I feel my fingers being chewed down to the bone by thousands of gnawing and raving mouths. I feel them tearing at my clothing, but I strike something. I feel it, its a large vein, stabbing into it with my mouth I drink my fill of warm blood. I wipe my mouth, cackling with bliss I climb back out of the hole. The ground beneath me moves and ripples with every step I take. I see a wolf in the distance, It barks at me but it doesn't seem to be able to get a stable footing on the ground. I here its yelps as it is absorbed into the mass. 

Day 799, I wear a thick covering of rabbit fur now, and I live in a tent of rabbit fur. Rabbit, rabbits... Why why did i have to leave all those snares outside of the trappers cabin? Why didn't I just kill those rabbits before they did this! I made my way to the ocean, but there was no ocean, I walked and walked for hundreds of miles but there was nothing but endless rabbits. Sometimes I would see fleas, endless waves of fleas, they were like blankets of thick insects. I remember the first flea storm I had to bear through, it was an endless barrage of insects, I couldn't breathe without swallowing them. Once the storm was over the fleas were like locusts, they ate through the skin and fur and soon tore into the body's of the endless rabbits. I trudged onward for another hundred miles, but it was exceedingly difficult. Where the ground was once firm and soft it was now a goopy mess of eaten and rotting flesh. So much fleas had gotten on me that I tore all my hair off, and I scratched so hard I tore my skin from my arms. My only source of sustenance is the occasional artery I find, I stab it open, drinking my fill of blood.

Day 823, I made it to the mainland today, I could tell it was. The large city's had been covered in rabbit fur and eyes and ears. I saw mouths the size of houses with jagged teeth as large as cars jutting out of the ground. I found a pair of corpses as well, half human half rabbit. It was two adults and a child, I realized they were still alive, I quickly took advantage and I ripped them open and drank there blood. I kept moving, the ground below me is becoming restless, the flesh beneath my feet occasionally moves and jitters. I feel it trying to absorb me, but I resist, Ive fashioned a new hatchet, one of bone and sinew. Soon I will have a knife! A knife! And a spear! Yes yess! I will tear everything apart! HACK THIS WORLD TO PEICES, YES YES YES YES YES!!!!! HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA

Day 2348, Today I emerged from my bone palace and made sure my bunny slaves were ripe for the bleeding. I made bunny slave 89 cut them open, I let her take there lungs for her meal but no, only I get the heart and blood! All the other bunny slaves are talking about rebelling, once I hear this I pin there skin apart and eat them from the inside out while they are still living. There squealing is enough to scare the others into submission. WHY WOULD THEY REBEL YOU SAY???? I created my bunny slaves from the flesh, I sculpted them! I am there father! Fathers get to do whatever they want with there children! I created this world, I left those snares, this is my world, MINE. My bunny slaves want to rebel they can, but I will sic the flesh on them, I will absorb them into the mass and I will start again. I am the god of my realm, I am the creator! Mine mine mine mine mine mine! 

Day 24455, Everything is dying, my bunny slaves have died, my bone palace has crumbled. The mass underneath me has stopped moving, the tick storms have stopped raging. The air is thick with decay, I fear my end is upon me. I wandered for thousands of miles during the last of my days. All I found was dead bodies piled high, there is no noise besides my ragged breath. The stench is something unfathomable, it smells like everything foul that this earth has ever produced. I have many bone cups of blood, but it has gone stale. I no longer have my blood to keep me alive, I will die soon. 

Day 24456, The only proof I was still on earth was the stars and the sun. A heavy fog so thick you could cut it with a knife has descended upon the land. I cannot see anything but fog. The stars, the sun, the only warmth and solace I ever felt is gone. The ground below me has rotted away, leaving only an endless and intricate weaving skeleton. It looks as if a million skeletons have been fused together, creating a spiderweb of bone. I cannot move much anymore, each step breaks the ground and I fall ever deeper into an endless abyss. I will reshape this bone one last time, I will create one last kingdom. 

Captains log #234, Ship ID Q1P92OP1

Hello, I am Knef'twue, I am the commander of this ship, this is my personal log. My and my team have recently found a planet that appears to have once harbored life. Data samples brought back from the planet appear inclusive, the whole planet appears to be covered in a thick shell of calcium. Scouting expeditions have yielded meager results but we have found a sign of a civilization. A city spanning about 12 Gleptocrams has been found, it appears to be made of the same material covering the planet. The city seems to be mostly large towers of the calcium substance, with many large houses dotted around in an erratic pattern. A large castle stands a top a hill, inside all the scouting team found was a heavily decomposed pile and a large book full of scrawling's. Even are best scribes cannot decipher the writing in this book. I have had the symbols stored in the archives for further study. The decomposed pile appears to be organic, with what appears to be extremely small creatures covering its surface. Very odd... The pile has been sent back to laboratory #23Q3FGH for further study. I have seen many ruined worlds, but this one is most perplexing. 

No sandbox update before December. People are starting to lose it...

+1

Why have candles, binoculars and a rifle scope not found their way into the game?

These items have landed on the wishlist on these forums countless times since the first days, I think they would make sense both theme-wise and mechanics-wise, and I can't see any reason - apart from potential technical issues - why they never came. I imagine that the graphical zoom binoculars or a scope would allow might cause technical problems with the graphics (maybe performance loss, maybe the game is technically not set up to enable a zoom, maybe it would interfere with spawn distances of animals, whatever). With candles maybe it causes problems that... they would have to become smaller and smaller while burning? For candles I really can't come up with an explanation really.

For all the items named above it is not bugging me that they are not there. But it is somehow bugging me that I don't understand WHY they are not there. So a brief explanation would put my mind at rest, and maybe other minds as well...

Truly, an inspiring piece of literature! 

Death often comes unexpected. Still, nice run.

Wolves inside loading screen areas somehow are exciting, aren't they?

Congrats.

1 hour ago, Stone said:

Rashly (because the lack of Bedroll is making me a bit crazy) I decide to out my head down and sleep for 8 hours in the magic Shelter...

Got me on edge here. Eager to learn more about magic shelters.

On 21.6.2018 at 2:32 AM, Klobberthon said:

This is a small gripe but it would make me (and I'm sure others) happy.  I wish that when I enter the fire starting menu and I have a lit torch in my hand that said torch would be listed first instead of matches. 

It is a common strategy to use a match to light a torch, then light the fire with your torch so as to not waste matches.  This would save me a bit of clicking (and a couple wasted matches when I forget to check that the torch is selected as the starting item  )

I second this. Also your general request for "quality of life" improvements. The effect of such improvements is often underestimated.

13 minutes ago, Stone said:

@Hotzn @Drifter Man Welcome news indeed. However. This new information likely means there's never a Bedroll in the Ravine (I'd happyiky be wrong on that) Thus, my quandary remains: setting out from the Ravine floor or Lookout still leaves me too far to travel with no guaranteed outdoor bed. However, over on @Drifter Man's Snowballs thread a plan is hatching: there are numerous outdoor beds on route to HRV and it would seem a guaranteed Bedroll. Aha! Yes!? No?! And I thought MT was the last place I wanted to go. Oh the irony: avoiding the indoors and avoiding the one area with zero indoors! It was all so simple!

Old Hotzn has been thinking again and came upon a problem he had not given enough consideration so far: Even though the bottom of the Ravine may provide an outdoor (moss) bed, getting back up from there (even after sleeping back to full energy on the moss-bed) could mean losing too much energy to continue onwards to the next outdoor bed. Certainly, there might be coffee, but assuming there is really no bedroll to be found in the Ravine (not sure about that), it is doubtful whether the trip would better your chances of long-term survival. Hmmm. I guess I really cannot give profound advice here until I have experienced the bottom of the Ravine myself. Still, we have all learned something and will undoubtedly learn more as you decide and then push the boundaries of our knowledge into the great beyond...

4 hours ago, Stone said:

@Hotzn I meant not to cast dispersions on your counsel, indeed its seems we are both shy a trip to Ravine of late. Anyone else know whats down there these days?

Thou didst not trespass against me and therefore needst not be forgiven. Concerning my shyness and the Ravine - I have actually never been down to its bottom ever since there has been a "bottom". I have dim memories of descending before that - many, many versions ago - but can't quite recall what happened... whether I met instant death or was lost in half-finished portions of the map. However! In my current run, I am gearing up for the Deep Forest achievement in the Ravine, and when I have obtained that, I will hit the bottom. I want to procure a rope to do so, since I have not yet seen a way to get down and up again (although I would think there must be one - which developer would be so cruel as to have players watch their coveted 100-day-run-avatar shrivel up in a pit without a way out?). Way back up or not - I have decided to rope it and that's what I'll do.

4 hours ago, Mixxut said:

Well I'm not astute but according to fandom wiki there is a cave with an improvised bed down in the ravine somewhere.

3 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

Astute or not, this interlopist can confirm there is a moss-bed in the Cave at the bottom of Ravine Basin. Seen with his own eyes.

Only the astute would deny their own astuteness (or - even more elegantly - put it in doubt). And thanks @Drifter Manfor the confirmation. So my source WAS reliable.

16 hours ago, Stone said:

Bottom of the Ravine with no Bedroll is, I suspect, a one way trip. 

Are you sure about that? Would old Hotzn give such Padawan advice? There have been rumours that there is now a moss-bed somewhere at the bottom of the Ravine. Like the one we see at the beginning of Story mode. Quite unique. Old Hotzn has not seen it yet with his own eyes... he only heard rumours... the source seemed reliable though. Maybe someone else here can enlighten us knowlessmen... some astute interlopist who has been down to the bottom of the Ravine lately...

1. Is the owl actually in the game as an animal? At night we can sometimes hear an owl hoot. I presume it's just a sound, like the chirping of the birds we can hear during the daytime. But I can't shake the feeling that the owl COULD in theory be there as an animal - maybe just sitting in a tree and quietly looking around. Hooting occasionally. Very hard to see. So I'm asking...

2. Has Hinterland introduced new people to the storywriting team after the release of episodes 1 & 2? The reason I'm asking is that the storytelling of episodes 1 & 2 has been subject to quite a bit of criticism. I would count myself among the critics - I do love the sandbox and have sunk endless hours into it, but the storytelling fell short of my expectations. From Hinterland's public comments I gathered that the storytelling is being revisited for the 'redux' version of episode 1 & 2. But does that include some kind of peer review by "fresh" writers? Or will the story be refurbished by the same people who wrote it to begin with? I'm interested in this, because I am asking myself how I would handle this kind of problem myself.