Hotzn

Here is a picture of some loot I put in the shelf in the Hut. It's strange how soothing it can be to arrange your stuff... in a video game. There is more on the workbench, on the floor, in the hatch etc. But I kind of like the shelf. Dunno why.

So... I've made up my mind: The next achievement I go for is "Desolation Point", the one where I have to craft a full set of improvised tools (not that I need them in Stalker). I'll do some more preparations by crafting snares and preparing the Hut as I want to find it when I return for more cartographing. No hurry. Then I'll be off.

On 1/30/2020 at 6:49 PM, jhickie said:

Nice achievement run so far! I miss achievements, I would love some more to hunt.. 😥

To assist with a few of your comments:

• Parasite risk is 1% with the first piece and 4% with the second piece, regardless of skills. Only L5 cooking affects this. I can't remember how much after the 3rd piece, I'm not that risky. You are correct, it's not the weight but the frequency. If you have to eat one, make it a full 1.0 kg and not a partial.. you will get the same risk % regardless.
• I could be wrong, but I believe the timberwolf pack achievement is for story mode.
• The moose marks simply imply that one can spawn, unfortunately it doesn't mean one has spawned. If you are looking for a moose and don't see the marks, I would move on to the next spot. No marks = no spawn.
• I'm pretty sure lines break at random, not due to durability. Higher fishing skill levels reduce the chance the line breaks. I usually use my lines to mend clothes until it's at 10%, then use it for fishing. It has the same chance of snapping at 100% as it does at 10%.

Good luck on your run! May you get all the achievements. 

Thanks. I think parasite risk still works the way it used to and the way you describe it. First eating of forbidden meat gives 1%, second eating raises it to 4%. I would presume the timberwolf pack achievement can be obtained in survival mode as well. The 'story-mode-only' achievements are coloured in a different way and are "hidden". Both does not apply to the timberwolf pack achievement. But I'll try and verify that...

So... I did some cartographing to the left and right of the Hut (when looking at the in-game map). I have once seen a moose to the left (around the wheels), so I was careful there. But I saw nothing, and there were no marks on the trees either (at least I did not see any). I would be interested to know whether the marks only appear when the mosse is actually about, or whether you can also come across marks when the moose is absent (the latter would make more sense). To the right, I went up to the wing and plundered the cargo container there (I think it was medicine and soda cans). This is a territory where a bear, a deer and a wolf roam about and provide the potential of unpredictable encounters (especially with the wolf). I really like this unpredictability. On the other hand, the deer is also seeing these encounters, and the wolf had actually just brought the deer down when I approached the container. The bear was also near, maybe it had chased the deer into the wolf (or the wolf into the deer). I half expected the bear to chase the wolf away from the deer carcass as further interaction, but in the end did not pay attention to the outcome, as getting the deer was not part of the plan. And as old Hotzn knows from olden times, a survivor is better off sticking to the plan.

I also did some cartographing from the Hut ahead over the lake and up the shelf on the other side. There is another cargo container up there, I think it held socks and food (mainly dairy milk), and I emptied that and stored everything in the Hut's latch. That latch can accomodate 40 kg now, which is nice. I think that was less in the past, but I'm not sure about it.

Lastly, I did some ice fishing in the shack on the lake. Got some fish, but over a couple of hours two lines snapped on me. Maybe that will improve with fishing skill. Also, one of those lines was down to 10% condition from mending clothes, maybe that makes it more likely to snap.

What to do next, Hotzn? The Hut is now stuffed with everything I would need for a welcoming return, including food which never perishes (cat tail stalks), water and firewood. Also a rifle and revolver, ammunition, rifle cleaning kits, cloth, sewing kits, fishing lines. Mapping is tedious, and there is still loot to discover on other maps with prefabricated food. Prefabricated food makes travelling easier, as I don't have to stop for hunting. So maybe I should make use of the situation and move around more while the food hasn't perished. Let's see, which achievements I am still missing are 'low-hanging fruit'...

There's Deep Forest (keep a campfire burning for 3 days) and Desolation Point (craft a full set of improvised tools), these two seem to be the easiest to obtain currently. I remember that I had prepared in another run for the Deep Forest achievement by collecting a lot of firewood in the Ravine, but in the end paused that run for too long until the save wipe came. Hmmm... 

22 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

Achievements! So that's what makes Professor Hotzn get up from his warm, comfortable chair at the Department of TLD Science and once again brave the blizzards of the Great Bear. Good luck!

Wolves fear Hotzn and his hatchet Hackmoril.

Indeed, Prof. @Drifter Man. There is no thing as invigorating as testing hypotheses (drawn up on the chalkboard) in the field. It seems I was mistaken in this run when I thought the first kg of wolf meat gave me 4% parasite risk. I have not been able to reproduce this result, all further wolf meat meals (of 1 kg each) gave me 1% parasite risk. I do have to add that my cooking level has risen to 2 in the meantime, so in theory that could have factored in. But I rather presume that I made some mistake. Maybe I cancelled eating that first wolf meat and then resumed. I dimly remember that parasite risk does not strictly depend on the overall amount of wolf meat consumed, but rather on how often one undertakes (=starts) to eat it. Or at least it used it used to be so.

Hotzn stands at the Hut of Hope, looking North. Wolves are about, and Hotzn must fight or hide. He has with him the hatchet Hackmoril. He thinks again...

On 1/27/2020 at 11:17 AM, Jimmy said:

Great Stalker attempt! Glad to see you made the summit and got your parka. Now it's time to visit death on canine-kind!

Thanks. Not sure what visiting death on canine-kind exactly means, probably either killing or being killed by wolves. Well, I already have one wolf pelt curing in the Hut, but I was really just trying something out, wasn't going for the wolf kill. But well - if I survive long enough, I will have to take on a Timberwolf pack at some point. Since it appears they made defeating such pack an achievement, and this is an achievement run after all...

13 hours ago, Makex said:

How is this wrong subforum when he wishes great life for everybody? I think that was best wish so far.

Haha, you're right! I overlooked that.  

OK, a couple of days later I hang around the Mountaineer's Hut. I changed my mind and brought the rifle down here, as I received the 'well fed' bonus before leaving the summit. Goated down from the tail section, getting sprain & pain. Used bandages & pills to get rid of it, but ran into two wolves and got into several handfights with them (advice: if you ever carry two revolvers, load BOTH of them), trying out different methods of getting my clothes ripped and receiving more sprain & pain. Reached the Hut finally and settled in. My clothes currently give me +21°C  (when repaired), and apparently that's enough to sleep in the Hut without fire at night (at least in Stalker).

Shot a wolf on the lake, collected cattails, did some fishing in the shack. Read books, collected firewood, repaired equipment, sharpened the hatchet, cleaned guns. I'm considering setting up shop here for a while to do the cartographing for TWM, for the Faithful Cartographer achievement...

On 1/24/2020 at 12:53 AM, ogreranger said:

Truly and sincerly.. I wish you all GL.. but wow this forum is nimby..Proof of concept.. How many years?  Peace be with you all.

Wrong subforum.

It worked. No parasites, and this time I find my way up: Here is where I missed the cave entrance to the lower left and started climbing around wildly:

I reach the summit and sleep in the cave. The next morning I am greeted by a wonderful sunrise:

I get my expedition parka, the flare gun and a couple of other goodies. I'll spend a couple of days up here eating up most of the food and reading the books I found. I'll take some firestrikers and matches, most of the rest (including a rifle) will stay here. So what should I do next, hmmm...

So... coming back to the game after quite a while, I have started a Stalker run to hunt for missing achievements. Saw a couple of nice additions to the game. Starting in ML, I soon realized the wolves are now able to pass through the door in the fence around the dam entrance. Haha, imagine my surprise! Nice.

Second realization: Man, Stalker is overflowing with loot. I felt like finding practically everything in the dam. Except... the expedition parka. Which I would really like to have. I figured the next best chance to find it might be in TWM, on the summit. So I crossed CH and went through the mine, to PV. Boy, Rural Crossroads has changed! Even the name.

Finally made my way a little up the mountain. I must admit I haven't climbed it too often. Found Deer Clearing without serious issues, but then really managed to get lost. I remembered I had to walk up to the container near Deer Clearing, then turn right and follow the slope upwards. Evaded the bear, turned left and followed the slope further. Then kep to the right and at some point found a rope which I climbed. And at the top there was nowhere to go really. Started goating around the rocks, it started snowing, wind picked up. Before I knew it, I was lost in a snow storm, just not a blizzard yet. Crawled around the mountain here and there, got sprains, found even terrain, ran into a wolf fight. Under Interloper conditions, that would have been it, but in Stalker you can hardly die it seems. After much ado, I found myself back at Deer Clearing. Now I am taking a break in the cave there, thinking what to do next...

Here is my current clothing:

The tricky bit is that I'm low on food and losing condition. I've got the revolver on me, but neither bow nor rifle (I found the latter twice, but left them behind as too heavy). Ate a bit from the wolf which attacked me when I was lost and brought another 1 kg of its meat into the cave. Eating 1 kg gives 4% parasite risk. Wasn't that lower in the past?

Anyway, I think I'll eat the other wolf meat for a full night of sleep-healing and then make another push for the summit...

Would be funny if it was your crosshair... yes, I know it's not.

-1 to additional firearms from me.

7 hours ago, desertedone said:

How much carry capacity do you think isn't too much? I'm thinking about 35 kg at best with well fed, about 40 kg for well fed+moose satchel. 

Not sure I understand the question correctly. In any case iirc encumbrance is gradual in this game. So even below the threshold of your 'maximum' carrying weight, weight slows you down and tires you out. Or, in other words: You move faster and tire less quickly with 10 kg of luggage than with, let's say, 20kg. At least I remember it like that.

When setting out on expeditions, I try to take as little with me as possible for that reason. For smaller hunting or exploration trips which are intended to bring me back to base within a day or two, I try to stay below 20 kg, often around 17-18 kg. I move considerably faster than with all the gear, and I have room to bring back loot without becoming over-encumbered (meaning without going above 30 kg).

On 1/16/2020 at 5:48 PM, EjectedCasings said:

Seeing all of the people who get these 2000 day+ runs has made me wonder: if you survive all those years, what about seasons? Canada in summer is very different than it is in winter, and it never makes an appearance in game. Maybe springs could be short but animal spawn rates would be buffed, while winter animals would be far less plentiful and hostile wildlife far more abundant. Of course the odds of this suggestion being considered are very very low, as it kinda changes the main premise of the game, but I think it'd be a cool option for custom games. Thoughts?

If you do a forum search on this topic, you will find numerous threads, in the wishlist section and other sections, some of them ancient. For example this one from 2014:

Ancient thread concerning seasons

8 hours ago, desertedone said:

I think it's either Bleak Inlet or Desolation Point. The challenge to fire a distress pistol at Desolation Point can point out that you're calling for help by a passing ship or air vehicle. Bleak Inlet sounds like the final showdown with the gunsmithing. 

Desolation Point seems very underdeveloped that you would think they're going to touch up on it later.

The challenge to acquire and fire the distress pistol was created after a corresponding sandbox community challenge on these forums, so I would doubt that it contains any hints to the future story.

Concerning the 'showdown', I would personally be disappointed if the story ended in a shootout. In my view, the 'showdown' should be... quiet.

Interesting, +1. Shall try that out sometime.

17 hours ago, MrsHoneypot said:

Do you think, if you planned your journey properly, that you could survive Entirely without a bedroll?

Yes, as others have already answered above. One might add that it has become considerably easier to survive without bedroll over the last updates, as "natural beds" have been introduced to various places (I've seen them in some caves and barns so far). But even before that, you had snow shelters and cars as potential sleeping places without need for a bedroll.

Bumping this.

I would not consider this as necroing, as I saw that the torch-pulling/brand topic is still/again being discussed in other places, and I never found the reasoning behind killing the brand and reintroducing torch-pulling. Not intending to get onto anyone's nerves - as I said earlier in this thread, I was and still am genuinely interested in the reasoning behind it. Knowing why the devs did this would somehow put my mind at rest. If the reasons have been given in other threads which I missed, I would be grateful if someone could put a link here. Thanks.

On 11/7/2019 at 4:28 AM, LucidFugue said:

I remember the game being very harsh initially. I've always sort of assumed that voyageur is still hard for new players because not knowing the maps is a major disadvantage, let alone all the other game knowledge you get from playing. But yeah, because the Sandbox was just for testing mechanics, indefinite survival wasn't a thing.

As I recall you pretty much wanted to hit all the possible rifle spawns within the first days. I think it was Trappers, the Lookout tower, and one of the possible bunkers. Maybe also camp office? If you wanted to survive more than a week or two you'd need to learn to chase deer into wolves and use a single bullet to get the most meat. You'd time that with making a huge fire because matches were also a limited resource. The magnifying glass wasn't a guaranteed spawn so every fire counted. 

Once you were out of ammo and flares the only way to continue getting meat was to chase a deer into a wolf, then win the wolf struggle. That usually resulted in injuries that needed bandages, so folks were slowly sacrificing their clothing to make bandages, until finally ending it - starving and naked, fighting a wolf over a deer carcass. 

I never lasted that long. But it was fun to read everyone's stories. 

I remember those times very well, the brunt of my TLD playing time went into those versions. Remember you could not outrun wolves at that time, breaking line of sight was not (yet) a viable maneuver, and the wolves came running at once and never slowed down to walking speed. However, the astute player had one way to get free deer: You had to calculate the angle at which to chase a deer into which wolf, and where the wolf would then probably bring the deer down. If you could manage the deer to be felled near a structure, you could lure the wolf away from the carcass and shake it off by entering the structure. Free deer. This worked especially well in CH on the ice.

I also remember that the routes of rabbits, deer and wolves overlapped largely, so you would have freak chases occurring quite often. All of a sudden, a rabbit or deer could cross your path with a wolf in its wake. 

Played some more stalker yesterday, and I think I had a wolf (a living one) underground on the TWM map. I was crouching over the lake in front of the Mountaineer's Hut, looking for cattails and at the same time trying to avoid the attention of a wolf on the left (looking at the lake from the hut) and the bear on the right. Suddenly, near the fishing shack I was barked up and heard a wolf's footsteps approaching at a gallop, very close. I almost jumped off my seat, as I had watched my surroundings closely, I could not imagine how I could have overlooked a wolf so close by. Then the footsteps stopped and the wolf growled as if standing right next to me. But invisible. My only explanation is that the wolf must have been moving under the ground.

Then, later, I made my way up to Deer Clearing (traveled there at night during a quiet snowfall with torch in hand, very beautiful) and stabbed a wolf with the knife. That wolf did NOT sink into the ground, but collapsed about half-way between the containers and the Deer Clearing cave. However, harvesting the wolf with a fire next to it seemed to attract and repel another wolf. I heard it approach (growling) and take off (whining) several times. Not sure what caused it to take off, I did not aim at it. But I had wolf meat cooking on both cooking spots of the campfire, maybe that is also repelling wolves.

Ah, so wolf carcasses can sink into the ground now? Good to know. Tried out a stalker run these days after a long hiatus, knife-stabbed a wolf and couldn't find the carcass afterwards. So maybe it sunk into the ground.

On another note - I saw some wolves in PV patrolling behind the red barn which looked bigger than usual. Didn't move closer, but would be interested whether Timberwolves are already in PV. My information was that at this point they are only on the new map. Or maybe I just misinterpreted their size and they were normal wolves.

Congratulations. Good read, as always.

Can't wait to meet the first Timberwolves. To be afraid again in this game, ah... the pleasure.

On 1/6/2020 at 12:14 AM, GothSkunk said:

As the thread title suggests. Give wolves and bears an increased chance to charge at you from farther away when you have a sprained ankle.

Reason: You're limping. It's obvious to any living creature with eyes that you're wounded and in discomfort. That makes you vulnerable. And you being vulnerable makes them more bold.

It's likely that this is already in the game. Predator attention is triggered by various factors - injuries, carried items (smell), I think even fatigue. Not sure whether sprains play in here as well, but I would suspect it.

On 1/4/2020 at 11:32 PM, duran1137 said:

I love playing the sandbox game for hours , perhaps on the coastal map you could boil salt water dry retrieved from a fishing hole  and (craft) salt for making  jerky  meat and fish giving long term preservation and storage possibilities.

I would think this has been suggested many times before. Considering the multitude of maps we have now, i could see this addition making sense. A special oven which would give another map a unique purpose. Meaning there should be a singular place where you can make jerky from cooked meat.