Hotzn

I have quartered the deer, which gave me 4 bags of 2.2 kg venison each, plus the hide and two guts. Quartering was introduced after I had already played the bulk of my TLD time, and I never dived into it much. What is the benefit? I guess it takes less time to quarter the carcass than to dismantle it into pieces of 1 kg each. So you would win time in case you want to spend as little time as possible at the carcass. In other words: If you want to haul the meat someplace else to proces it. But do you really do that? I often prefer lighting a fire at the carcass and doing all the work there. So in which situations do you really need quartering?

I check the new mine, and it features an elevator. So I can ride down during an aurora and then - or so I've heard - get stuck underground. Which is a pretty gruesome and cool feature. There is no aurora currently, and I don't want to get stuck here, so off I go towards Wolfen Wolfsite. I find it strangely deserted and can plunder two houses and the Quonset Garage unhindered. The bear turns up at some point, but no wolves to be seen at all. Weird, almost eerie. The inhabitants of this place... gone.

I press on to Crumbling Highway. At least I hear wolves howling there at some point, but they don't let themselves be seen. I just pass through and enter the mine. I have stopped picking up most stuff, but now I collect 19 pieces of coal. Exiting the mine into DP, I am overburdened and mean to drop 2 pieces of coal, but as I realize later make a mistake and drop it all. Passing by the church, I collect some sticks and soon find myself at the Riken. Some of my equipment stays here while I visit the Hibernia processing plant. The hammer is there - good - and plenty of stuff. Inside the safe... money. Makes sense.

When I take apart a shelf for scrap metal, cabin fever risk pops up. I leave Hibernia through the door on the first floor, an exit which I have always regarded as safe. However, I hear a bear grumbling, then turning up, and then growling louder and rising on its hind legs. It actually charges towards the stairs. I slip back inside. Some in-game minutes later I return outside to see the bear walking away:

Back to the Riken with scrap metal. I have only crafted at the forge once in all my TLD time, so I'm unsure how much metal and coal I need. Better get enough. And I need some food in reserve... so bag my first deer with bow and arrow. A one-shot.

Processing the deer on the spot into the night raises my cooking skill to level 3.

On 2/12/2020 at 1:50 PM, Drifter Man said:

I don't remember when each change appeared but wildlife animations have been improving over time. And sound! Makes walking at night can be pretty spooky. This didn't use to be.

Also agree about coal, that was one change for the worse.

The sound is more or less as I remember it. The game started off with superb sound. The owl hooting in the night has also been around for a very long time. And the creaking wood. Anyway - yes, it can be spooky.

17 hours ago, EjectedCasings said:

I play a lot of stalker, and I always find myself overburdened. Any tips to get my weight don, or even "loadouts" that are good for specific occasions?

The guide which has been quoted by @odium above is excellent, it contains most of what one could say. Strangely, however, it does not cover the topic of clothing adequately. So...

For clothing, you should first remember that any protection against wind, moisture and attacks will only apply if the clothing item is worn in the outermost slot for the corresponding body region. So if you wear, let's say, a 'simple parka' in the 'outer outer' slot for your chest, then ONLY the parka's bonuses will fully apply. If you wear, for example, a wolfskin jacket BELOW the parka, the only additional benefit you get from the wolfskin jacket will be the temperature bonus, while its other bonuses will be ignored (and any disadvantages still apply, for example reduced mobility). Keeping this in mind, you will find that items which may be good for the outermost layer do not make the cut for inner layers - because if you set their weight in relation to the mere temperature bonus, then that ratio is likely too bad. Example: The expedition parka is - in my view - the best clothing item for the 'outer outer' layer, especially if you want to travel lightly (you may also consider the ski jacket, which is even lighter). Then wear a down vest below that to save on weight and remain mobile. It does not give you much temp bonus, but the temp bonus/weight ratio is good, and its absolute weight is low.

10 hours ago, dahemac said:

A while back, three timberwolves west of the cannery came within a hair’s breadth of killing me before shooting them repeatedly in the face drove them off, none of them dead.

Today I headed back that way and made my way up onto a fallen tree overlooking the path to the trailers along the coast. And I waited. Soon they came. Snarling and bloodthirsty. So I loosed arrows at them, always trying to hit the one that already had arrows in it. Soon the first wolf went down.

My last arrow pierced another attacker, but still they raged. Perhaps more so with the death of their pack mate.

Out came my rifle. One shot, two. Finally their moral broke and the two survivors fled east.

I climbed down carefully as I had already gotten one sprain getting into position. I took to butchering my prize, during which time the second, wounded timberwolf saw fit to come up behind me and die. So I harvested it as well.

Perhaps the survivor will now think twice about menacing me as I go about my Bleak business.

Aye, the old dahemac is not one to be trifled with. He shall eat them fiendish beasts, so their power shall enter his bones and drive him ever forward, a nightmare to all wolves on the Great Bear...

On 10/31/2019 at 1:39 AM, ajb1978 said:

So to expound on the mapping mechanic, there are a few things to keep in mind.  The charcoal essentially reveals the terrain within a certain radius of your position.  I don't know exactly how far, but I think it's something like 50m in all directions of you.  In MOST regions, the terrain can obstruct your view.  So if you are at the bottom of a valley, you won't get much revealed, but if you are perched at the highest point of a rock with nothing in the immediate area being higher than you, you can map everything in the radius successfully.  There are some regions that ignore this mechanic, notably Timberwolf Mountain.  But the old-school ones, like Mystery Lake, Coastal Highway, and Pleasant Valley, the higher you are the better you are.  The radius you can map doesn't change, but depending on the size of the region, a single use of charcoal can have drastically different results in how much of the total map is revealed.  For example, compare the effects of charcoal in Pleasant Valley to the effects of charcoal in the Crumbling Highway.  Night and day.

And then there's the Raven Falls Ravine, which for whatever reason doesn't map a circle, but a weird oval.  I dunno.  I don't make the rules, I just shoot wolves for fun and profit.

Also, sometimes an icon on the map won't properly trigger unless you're at a specific elevation.  So say you're trying to map a mine entrance, you're right next to it, and nothing appears on your map.  Maybe if you get slightly above it, then re-map the area, the icon will appear.

You'll get the hang of it.

+1. If you know as much about RL as about TLD, you must be a wise man.  

On 1/5/2020 at 11:47 PM, XLWatercube said:

I was wondering what storm lantern condition or lamp oil condition does (if anything) to effect burn time etc.

Uffa. Rarely do I visit the forums and come upon a question which I have not yet seen before. This is such a question, +1 for that. I have never noticed any difference in the usage of lamp oil, and some TLD scientists seem to have more or less verified that already in this thread. However, that is actually a nice idea, as a larger fuel consumption would be an incentive for us to repair the lamp. Which is something I have never seen any need for, and therefore never done.

A long time ago, I have suggested - I think it was in the Wish List section - that we should be able to slip and fall in the mines, and that such falling should have a chance of shattering an already damaged lamp to pieces. Imagine that, losing your source of light in the belly of the Earth and not having another one. Good game.

On 1/24/2020 at 9:37 PM, Snogan said:

Just noticed this a few days ago while playing during an Aurora with a flashlight equipped, I dropped the flashlight as I was going to put it away for the morning because I hate carrying unnecessary weight but I accidently left it on while I dropped it. Turns out it stays lit even in placement mode unlike the lantern which only emits light once placed in a valid location. Here's some footage of me messing around with it. Turns out the placement "range" is practically as far as you can see with your cursor. You can see it emits light as far away as fishing huts (obviously you can't place it there but holding it in placement mode still emits light). Anyways. Just wondering if any of you ever noticed this was possible. Thanks

https://youtu.be/QkZDamEyv1A

(Edit): Sorry I'm not sure how to have the video embedded in my post

Interesting, didn't know that. +1

Not sure whether there's a practical use for that.

Maybe a bug. Have you reported it?

On 2/6/2020 at 8:22 PM, lukeman3000 said:

I realize that this game isn't survival horror, but there is certainly a kind of tension felt when you're making your way through the desolate environment, especially when you're playing for the first few times (and don't really know what all is out there).

Pretty soon though, it becomes apparent that there are only a couple things to actually be afraid of to any real degree. And you're apparently safe when indoors from any real threats, which takes the edge off of looting indoors. I remember being in the hydro dam for the first time and always wondering if there was something else in there with me or not. And alas, there never was. Completely empty.

I think it would be incredibly awesome if there was just a bit more to be afraid of (indoors and outdoors). A way to do this that wouldn't necessarily destroy the overall realistic theme of the game could be a sanity meter (perhaps just the sleep meter). For example, when your sleep meter passes a certain threshold (and thus your sanity), you begin to have auditory hallucinations. And then at a certain point, visual.

There are so many possibilities with this kind of system. Furthermore, what about putting some kind of legendary creature in the game (like sasquatch) which might have a very small chance of appearing? Just knowing it's possible would keep you on your toes.

Just a couple ideas.

Yeah, as @jeffpeng has already said, Hinterland had originally planned a sanity-like meter. Or call Will-to-live-meter, if you will. In story mode, Will was supposed to have a photograph - I would imagine showing him and Astrid in better times - which he would be able to use to boost his 'will to live' by taking it out and looking at it. However, it would fade a little bit every time he would do that, so it would have limited use. Quite a cool idea.

The pros and cons of a sanity meter have been amply discussed on these forums a long time ago, maybe if you search a little you will find the old threads. The biggest con was: What should happen when the sanity meter runs low, or even runs out? Suicide? Slow movement, as if moving through honey? There is not really any good solution.

HOWEVER: your other point is very accurate. The Sasquatch and other unspoken horrors which could lurk out there in the cold have been mentioned many times. I, the old Hotzn himself, have suggested such things in the grey morning of times, when the game was still young (and I was, too, aye). Imagine how cool it would be if the Sasquatch was actually in the game, but its appearance would be ultra-rare. And it would be invisible on screenshots! Harrharr. People would fall victim to it, and they would come to the forums to relate of it. But nobody would believe them, and they could prove nothing. Oh well, they could stream it, of course, and then everyone would know. Shame. But still...

Some observations:

I noticed that there are more wildlife animations - deer pause to scratch at something with their hooves, then sniff at it. Rabbits stop hpping around and look up. Etc. Since I took more or less a hiatus from the game for a while, I can't say when these additional animations were added. For me, they add tremendously to the immersion. Some people may welcome the addition of the revolver, but to me improved wildlife behaviour adds so much more. I also noticed that one of the animated menu screens features a crow which settles down on the handle of an axe which is sticking in a log. The crow then looks around, croaks and takes off towards the screen. I would be dying to see that in the game. I would also find it great if the owl which we sometimes hear hooting in the night would actually exist as an animated animal. Could be sitting on a branch nearby in the darkness, and there would be the ever-so-slight chance to catch a glimpse of it in the light of the kerosene lamp, before it silently flies away.

Coal can now be added to the fire without the 20 minute or so 'waiting period' we used to have. I presume this is an intended change, but in my view it is taking away from the game. As things were, I had to do more planning for emergency fires - take along enough sticks to feed the fire for the waiting period, then add coal for the crucial temperature bonus. Now, I can just forget about the sticks. If I have coal, why carry along sticks for emergency at all?

Compared to early versions of the game, blizzards hardly do any damage to clothing anymore (at least on Stalker). I remember that in olden times, a blizzard meant you had to find shelter (at least from the wind) really fast, or your precious clothing would be ripped to shreds in no time whatsoever. That made for exciting gameplay if you got caught in a blizzard in unfamiliar territory. On the other hand, it was kind of unrealistic, so altogether I welcome this change. It has taken away some of the difficulty, unfortunately, which is not completely set off by the moisture mechanic which was added at some point.

I came across some Ski Boots, never seen those before. Cool addition - clunky to wear, but warm & good protection. I won't be wearing those a lot, but it's nice to have them. For those times I want to go hand-to-hand with wolves.

There seems to be some smoothness in the alignment of cooking and other activities. In earlier versions, I sometimes found it difficult to do something useful during cooking times, as often the intended activity would take much longer or shorter than the anticipated cooking time(s). So I was often fearing to burn/overcook my food/drinks. Now activities miraculously seem to often match. Maybe I am imagining all this, but cooking and doing something in parallel seems to ge smoother than before.

The next day, I make for the mine to transition to CH. Have to shoot a wolf with the revolver (they seem to be harder to shake off than they used to be, cutting line of sight and running doesn't do the job anymore), but otherwise nothing extraordinary. Enter CH and sleep in the trailer a little down to the right from the mine entrance. I am back to starving and losing condition. Where to head next? I want to cover some ground and therefore head to the road and left towards Wolfen Wolfsite. Shoot some wolves maybe, and eat them. But opposite log sort my curiosity is awakened by this:

Well, well... no need to ponder over the question whether or not to put the last coals into the flames... as the wind changes direction and puts the fire out. I decide to follow the river blindly through the snow. At some point I have lost all warmth and am forced to light another fire under another rocky outcrop, and putting my last coal into it. Nothing left to burn. It gets dark, but at some point the blizzard subsides and switches to silent snowing. Torch in hand, I follow the river further until - to my relief - I see the outlines of Thomson's Crossing in the darkness...

I can refill my supplies in the Community Hall...

Yes, I leave it. Via the river, I return to where the bridge is, do a little exploring and stumble upon the Point of Disagreement (or something like that, with the three cars and two corpses). It starts snowing, and winds pick up. I don't like this, return to the snowy road South, but find the path blocked by a bear:

Bad memories rise up (that bear killed me once), and I cut across to the right. Can I reach the Outbuildings or even Draft Dodger's this way? Of course I get lost and finally find myself in a blizzard, huddled under a rocky outcrop on a frozen river.

It doesn't really help when I find out that I can't place the bedroll on ice. Is this new? The fire will last a little more than an hour, and I've got one more piece of coal...

Before I leave TWM, there is a hotfix, and to my surprise I find a new container in the Hut:

I had read about these boxes on the forums some time ago, now I've got proof they actually exist. It's as if you return to the hut and find the dumped baggage of another traveller. Weird. Interestingly enough, my flare pistol as in the box. It had mysteriously travelled there from the shelf (see the loot image further above), only metres away.

Anyway, on leaving TWM finally, I almost ran into the moose (near the wheels (which are really called landing gear, I realized)). I was careful and stopped to listen on my way, but apparently the moose sometimes just stands around silently. Traversing a crest, I almost bumped into its rear. Luckily, it didn't mind too much, I could retreat unmolested. I went back to the hut for another night, and the next day the moose seemed to have gone. So long, mountain - until we meet again:

I am moving slowly and carefully, spent another night in the bunker at the transition, then explored the cave at the picnic area (Misty Falls? Mystic Falls?). It seems to have been expanded, there was a section where I had to crawl, then cross under a waterfall. Behind it all was a cache with some loot, especially another rifle. I stored some stuff in the container in the cave and made camp for another night in the cave entrance. Not sure yet whether I should leave the rifle here or take it with me. The rifle is heavy, found in plenty, and I have crafted a bow at the hut, which I have on me, together with 3 arrows. So I'll probably leave the rifle here.

Huh. There's a mine in CH in which you can go down with an elevator? In that case, it's actually pretty cool if people die down there, waiting for the next aurora. Because that seems kinda realistic.

Haha - I don't think we should tell you. Far more exciting to find out yourself, or not?  

Can't imagine this to be an intended change. Would make hunting bears too easy.

On 1/28/2020 at 8:58 AM, wizard03 said:

So I got into quite the stalker run recently, got outfitted early in the game with a bear coat, deer skin pants/boots, rabbit mitts, and a bit of this and that, but then I came across some regular clothing, and super rare clothing such as ski boots and gauntlets, and I realized how much better those things was compared to the crafted stuff I made. However I also noticed how overweight I was with the bearskin coat.....

 

So simply put, what really IS the best clothing in the game???
I guess the better question is, whats good for "loot hunting" where the objective is to stay in the region, but allows you to carry more stuff back to home base.

And the next question is, whats good to keep you nice and toasty when you decide its time to leave the region and establish a new base in a new region {and your not worried about how fast or slow you are going}

 

While the bear coat was truly splendid at keeping me warm, loosing those mobility points really drained the fun out of trekking around and savaging. Ontop of that, the extra weight it created really put off trying to lug all the stuff I found while out and about back to base. Especially when just the expedition parka would have done the job. Thoughts? Opinions?? 

Your clothing should depend on what you plan to do. Personally, I like my luggage to remain light so I can move faster without tiring out too quickly. I generally avoid clothing items which reduce my speed. For example, for my 'outer outer' layer of leg clothing, I like to have the combat pants. They provide good warmth and defence, while not slowing me down at all. The 'inner outer' layer can stay empty. For my 'outer outer' layer on the body/chest, I'll take the expedition parka (if available). The warmth/weight ratio is unbeatable in that slot (the Wiki has tables showing you the warmth/weight ratios for all clothes, that's really useful information). However, right below the expedition parka - in the 'inner outer' layer - I will just wear a down vest. Because any windproof or defence bonus does not count in this slot (as long as the 'outer outer' slot is occupied). So here only the overall weight and the warmth/weight ratio count. Therefore, down vest, because it is light. For the hands, the gauntlets do look nice at first glance - but they slow you down (directly, via slower movement) and add a lot of weight really (which slows you down even more). So I only use them if I intend to get into a handfight with wolves (which I rarely do). Otherwise, they stay at home and I wear wool mittens instead. They have the best warmth/weight ratio for the hands, and only weigh 0.1 kg overall. Unbeatable.

When I'm fully equipped, I have a temp bonus from clothing of about 21-23°C. I leave camp with an overall weight (clothes, weapon, tools, all equipment included) of 17-18 kg and move really fast. That would be on Stalker.

Interloper changes the equation a bit, as some clothes are not available, and temperatures become very low. But I still have a tendency to prefer light weight over a maximum warmth bonus. Light weight just has so many advantages. I would rather cover a greater distance and then warm up in a shelter or by a fire than creep over floor overburdened and end my day prematurely.

Do the woolen underpants spawn on Interloper?

On 1/30/2020 at 10:55 PM, SpitztheGreat said:

This is a funny topic, because I just had my first "real" death in the game last night because I didn't have a bedroll. I'll never travel without one again.

Edit- Oh god, this got long, but I had to vent. So sorry that I went on a rant.

I'm playing through Archivist and I needed to get the buffer memory from TWM. On my trip there I stopped over in PV and set up shop for the return trip. I made my base of operations at the community center where I left a large cache of food, extra clothes, and generally unloaded extra weight. My plan was to travel light, get to the Preppers Cache, stock up if needed, and then travel into TWM to the cabin. 

My first mistake was right off the bat; I didn't understand what my goal was in TWM. I just assumed that the buffer memory was at the cabin. I don't know why I thought this, but I did. So that started me on a bad road that led to my death. 

About halfway to the preppers cache I realized I had left my bedroll at the community center. Since I was already halfway, I debated going back and getting it. I knew I had a bed at the cache, and I knew I had a bed at the cabin in TWM; and since I still thought the cabin was my final destination I decided that the bedroll was unnecessary. But I was NEVER comfortable with this decision. 

The cache was light on supplies, and I passed on much of it to save on weight for the climb up the rope. I also figured that there was a chance that if things went badly in TWM and I needed to make an emergency exit, I would want to leave some supplies at the cache. I would lament this decision because I left a good stash of first aid supplies there.

But things were good, I made the trip from the Community Center to TWM in a day. But when I got there I discovered my mistake- the buffer memory was in a cave that I'm not super familiar with. So now my entire plan is thrown out of wack, the cabin did have some supplies, but not enough to last me very long. But with fishing and hunting I figured I would be ok. So I spent the next day or two doing some hunting and fishing and building up a cache of food. Ok, so far so good, but I need to figure out where I'm going. In hindsight, even though I was able to adlib, I never really regained my balance. 

This is where things get tricky. I don't like traveling at night, it's a role playing habit I got into way back in Morrowind. It serves multiple purposes, it keeps me in character, I avoid unnecessary risks like getting lost, and specific to TLD I avoid harsh weather and ramped up enemies. But for the Archivist challenge, obviously some amount of traveling at night is required. This is where not having the bedroll really became a problem. Normally I would like to set up shop during the day wherever I needed to be, and then wait for an aurora at night. I'll get the buffer memory, grab some sleep, and then leave the next morning. But without the bedroll, I was going to need to change up my strategy. 

There's also the little issue of, if I get into trouble, I always have a bedroll to sleep in and regain health. So without it I'm feeling extra vulnerable. 

But this is all getting ahead of myself, I still need to find the damn cave. After a couple of days of exploring the area around where I need to go, I get up early one morning and decide that today is the day that I'm going to venture down into the valley, find the cave, see how long it takes to get down there (and back up) and make my plan from there. In my head I was debating if I should just stay down there, wait it out and hope for an aurora, or go back to the cabin, grab some sleep, and wait for an aurora at night and make the trip. Playing into all of this was the bear that lives over by the path down into the valley, I would prefer to avoid that at all costs, especially during an aurora. I decide that my best bet is to get down there and come back. I'll wait for an aurora at night to make my return trip if its short enough. 

I got up early, and cautiously made my way down into the valley. Everything was fine, until I got attacked by a wolf. No good. I fought it off, and made the decision to continue. I was caring first aid, anti-septic, bandages, painkillers, etc. But I try not to use them, even to the point where I have them coming out of my ears. But this attack got me good, so I take the anti septic for the infection, and a bandage to stop the bleeding, but i'm still limping around with blurred vision. I make my way deeper into the valley and, BAM, second wolf attack. This one I saw coming, but I wasn't able to scare it off in time. This one hurts. More bleeding and infection, but now he gets my ankle so I'm really hobbled. 

What I should have done here is turned around, and gone home. The expedition had been a failure, but let's not compound the situation. But I was so close, I used more of my first aid, including my last bandage. Damnit, I thought I had more bandages than this. And because I had traveled so light to TWM I didn't have any extra clothes to get cloth from. At no time in any of this did I look at my health bar. 

I limp my way down into the bottom of the valley and start making my way up the next pass thinking that the cave I need is that way. Sure enough, around a blind turn/hill wolf attack number 3. After I fend it off I look at my health and I have a freaking sliver of health left. Now I'm kinda panicking, these wolves down here have my number, I need to get the hell out of here. Without any more bandages I cannibalize one of my hats and stop the bleeding. I take some painkillers so I can freaking see something again, but I'm still limping along. At this point I made the final fatal decision. I could head straight home, but I decided to check out the crates on the valley floor for supplies. But because I'm moving so slow, it takes me forever to check the crates down there, most of which I can't open because I didn't have a hacksaw. 

So now I've wasted precious daylight/good weather. If I had a damn bedroll I could hunker down outside with a fire, or find a cave, regain some health, but without one I'm a sitting duck. So I decide it's time to bail out, that this is an emergency situation and that I need to get back to the cabin ASAP because it's beginning to snow and the sun is fading. The walk is taking forever though. I'm so banged up, and so over weight, that even if I dropped everything but my clothes I would still be over-encumbered. This whole time I'm cursing myself over the bedroll, I knew better than to travel without one. I knew better than to push my luck down here with wolves. I should have more first aid on me. This whole thing is my own fault. 

At some point on the path back up the hill towards the cabin, the weather takes a turn for the worse. Soon it's a full on blizzard, you know, you can't see anything. I'm looking around for landmarks, but my warmth is dropping like a stone. With my health so low I have to get inside fast. I know I'm somewhere at/near the top, where the bear should be, but I'm absolutely disoriented. I flail around for a bit, I find the cliff back down to the valley, so I know roughly where I am, I just need to find the lake. If I can find the lake, I can orient myself.

But that was that, I was too cold, it was eating at the last of my health. If I hadn't cannibalized my hat for a bandage, maybe I would have lasted just a little bit longer and could have found the lake. But I died, probably within eyesight of the cabin.

No, I'll never travel without a bedroll again.

Gripping story. Many of us have been there and since then have kept our bedrolls close by. Deeper map knowledge also helps. When you talk about the 'valley' you probably mean Echo Ravine? Bringing a hacksaw might have saved you, since the air freight container at the wing (the one you could not open) would have yielded coffee and tea (at least I remember it so). You could have made a fire, prepared coffee and reduced your exhaustion. I always carry 1 cup of ready-to-drink coffee with me for emergencies (only weighs 0.1 kg), and more instant coffee for at least 5 more cups (weighs next to nothing). In case I run into an exhaustion situation. Further, on reaching the air freight container at the engine, you could have followed the ravine upwards to the (open) three-way cave. It's quite close and impossible to miss. There is usually a bedroll lying around there, although I am not sure that is also the case in challenge modes. Lastly: With five cloth, you can build a snow shelter in which you can sleep without bedroll. That would be the absolutely last resort, especially if you have to tear down some of your clothes for it (better light a fire before doing so). And you need to be careful not to freeze to death when you sleep in it, so preferably build the snow shelter in a place which in turn is sheltered. For example, the three-way cave. And build a fire next to it with enough fuel to last as long as you sleep.

On 1/30/2020 at 7:01 AM, dahemac said:

99 Percent Invisible recently had an episode called The Worst Video Game Ever. It was about the game that killed Atari, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. At about the 18:45 mark they begin explaining, “ET commits the ultimate video game sin, to disorient the user. And you have to understand the difference between frustration and disorientation. Frustration in a video game is essential. A video game must frustrate a user. But you should never disorient them.”

In The Long Dark frustration is managing your resources, planning, battling the elements, and surviving the things that will hunt you. And all that is glorious.

Disorientation is being in the room opposite the bottom of the stairs in the Riken at Desolation Point and not being able to tell which way is which, or up, or down. Not being able to look toward and find the lighted end of the boat interior because you are either looking at the floor or the ceiling in the vantablack darkness and cannot tell. Disorientation is being in a building with many windows on a moonlit night or even after sunrise and no one has added backlighting on the window interiors. You could be facing a window a few feet away and have no idea of your orientation despite the brightness on the other side of the panes.

It is also disorienting getting stuck on some small protrusion or obstacle or edge that is inexplicable from a gameplay standpoint. I once tried to retreat along a dock I had been walking on at the Fishing Camp on Coastal Highway. I became stuck on what was broadly a flat surface because there was an edge. It was very disorienting to be trying to walk forward with nothing happening, to wiggle the mouse and weave side to side to just try and move forward, where I had just come from, and just remaining stuck like a 1967 Dalek. This was more disorienting a few seconds later when, with a clear path to a building, plenty of time, and no way to move forward, I got mauled by the bear.

The Long Dark is a wonderful gaming experience. But there are times when you just cannot tell what you are doing, where you are, or which way you are even looking. There are times when you cannot act because the geometry of an edge less than the height of your foot is in effect an invisible wall. And these are not the best, most delightful part of the game. The interface should allow the player to die from their own stupidity, but not to die, or not to be unable to do much of anything, because they cannot tell what is going on.

Good points, although it's hard to imagine how a game should simulate your orientation in the dark. Obviously, the simulation is optics/acoustics, but cannot emulate your sense of gravity. Here's a little workaround: Drop an item, right-klick it (you should be able to find it on the floor even in the dark, especially if it's big, eg the bedroll) and move it around without placing it. It's green or red 'copy' will show you what your surroundings look like. You will easily find your way. Take care to 'place' it when you have found your way out, otherwise it will return into the darkness where you originally dropped it.

About getting stuck on edges: These are being ironed out with every update. You should report them as you encounter them. I'm not going into the 'why is there no jumping over obstacles' topic, as that has been amply discussed elsewhere.

Old thread here, but better bring it up again than starting a new one with the same topic.

I am a fan of unpredictable animal encounters as well, but beware: That would fundamentally change the game. Especially on Interloper, your survival depends on knowledge - knowledge of the maps, where shelter and loot are found, and where certain animals are likely to roam about. Encountering the sudden wolf or bear would quickly end a run. That's not for everyone to enjoy (I would enjoy it though). I would also suspect that Hinterland tested different degrees of randomness and found less randomness better suited, at least for the majority of players. I was talking about this topic in other threads again recently, as I think that in earlier versions, we had more randomness, even with specific roaming areas for animals. This was due to animal roaming areas overlapping more than nowadays (at least I presume so), and you would have more freak wolves pursuing rabbits or deer randomly across the maps. Sometimes a deer or rabbit would come running towards you over the next crest all of a sudden, and you already knew that a wolf would come right behind it and change prey as soon as it sees you. Such overlapping areas still exist (for example, on Deer Clearing (TWM) or at the wing (also TWM)), but my impression is they have become less numerous.

I could imagine a game in which wolf, deer, bear and moose appearances are completely random, in which these animals roam widely over the maps and are rarely seen. To hunt, one would have to search for tracks, and then follow these tracks upwind. Animals would be very alert and flee at the slightest sign of danger. It would require a lot of tracking and sneaking to hunt them, and a change in weather could always get in the way. In some cases, wolves or a bear might be very hungry and instead of fleeing decide to follow the player, or even try to ambush or pack-hunt him/her. And then there should be an occasional hunting time for wolves, in which it would be dangerous to go out. This could be advented by wolves howling, or even by a message displayed to the player ("A wolf pack starts to hunt! Better find some shelter!"). And then a pack would be released onto the map and would start searching for prey. The player would then be well off to have a shelter with sufficient food and water to wait this out.

Also, I could imagine deer carcasses to appear at random and be eaten by other animals. So the player would have to get up early in the morning, find a carcass and cut off his/her share before other predators claim theirs. There would be confrontations over carcasses which would require the player to use valuable resources (flare, warning shot etc.) to stave off the competition for long enough to get some stuff off the carcass.

On 1/26/2020 at 8:07 PM, ManicManiac said:

I wouldn't be in favor of this, mainly because wolves are already reasonably simple to mitigate (provided we pay attention to our surroundings as we travel).  I think making wolves any easier to deal with would be a mistake.

 

This.

Also I generally don't feel good about poisoning animals at all, be it insects, mice or wolves, it is a pitiful way to perish from poison, and needlessly painful. Shooting an animal is hard enough, I would not want to even have the possibility to poison animals in the game, even if I never used it. Plus it would force Hinterland to add even more disclaimers, like saying "we do not actually encourage the poisoning of animals in real life", and that alone could spark discussions nobody has any desire for.

Yeah, the old intro screen with Trapper's was iconic. Would be cool to have a way to bring it back. Even more so the ability to actually enter that as a level. I can't recall how that worked, someone once described it here on the forums. Just you, Trapper's, maybe - maybe - the two wolves (might actually be better without them), and then endless whiteness all around. As if walking in a dream.