stapeliad

I had the same problem, it took me FOREVER, I died from exposure while Gwen stayed alive (??) but they are all there. Eventually after too much time retracing my steps I found the last one.

Well, we can say we have now all had the experience of being in the middle of urgent business interrupted with a random phone call from a messed up lady saying she wanted her husband to die and he did.

Lovely work, from one painter to another. :)

Once, many updates ago, I died in the Camp Office while crafting a pair of deerskin pants. Since then I have done many stupid things, but that was certainly my stupidest way to die.

Really? that's good to know, thanks. I already have all the feat badges so maybe I will just switch to custom and dial down those sprains.

@loriaw you bring up a good point regarding impact on play style. Like you, I am over 4 years into the game with a few thousand hours logged (gulp), and we probably have a different perspective on how we are willing (or not willing in my case) to modify our play style to work around new changes that seem to cause interference just for the sake of it. Because we have put so much time into it and we have learned over time and many deaths what works and what doesn't. And the sprains don't seem to be an improvement in the game play, but a hindrance, because we already know how to play and are past the initial learning curve. And that makes a difference. It is true about The Long Dark that up to a certain point survival does not get easier the longer you are able to live. Even if you can stave off the cold with crafted clothing, you still have to maintain it. So unlike other games the basic struggle to stay alive doesn't ever really decrease. I like this about TLD because otherwise it gets really boring. One could say just go into custom mode and turn off sprains or adjust it, but in custom mode you don't get any credit towards achievements and I still need a few. Plus, the "prepackaged" modes should be properly playable. It's also noteworthy to remember that the initial intention for this game was not supposed to ultimately be a survival sandbox game- it was testing for the story mode development. I think that is in large part why we get so far with the sandbox and kind of come to a halt. It's still a special game because of the solitude and visual beauty. Right now I'm a little TLD'd out as I feel I have explored the new update to my satisfaction. I'll play again with the next update or game event. In the meantime I do hope the devs really consider the feedback about the sprains.

LOL!! Yes that and the water bottles. But I don't think they can really change it- the last time it got an overhaul was when the console modes came out and they got a lot of flack for it. What I would like to see is a way to drop your entire backpack and be able to access it like any other container. I'm a bit tired of getting sprain risk while cooking fish. No one would keep that pack on.

@upupandaway I think you may have a real point about the sprains in ML being worse than other regions. I am certainly getting more in this run than I did in Milton, and I was more overburdened in Milton. The frequency is noticeably less than in Stalker which is to be expected, but thinking of the game in Voyageur experience I think it is too easy to get sprains. As far as my play style I like to go everywhere. I'm not intentionally reckless (usually, ha! I have been known to do serious downward rock-climbing, where a couple of sprains are expected) but I don't want to have to avoid areas of the map just because of sprains. ML is hilly and it can't be avoided if you want a decent experience. I'm ending my Voyageur run because it isn't how I want to spend my time. I'm not going to adapt my play style because I know that walking on my sprain or resting will still get it all nice and healed in a few hours, because that makes total sense, right? Sprains aside though, I really do love the rest of the new update.

I was in Milton on my Voyageur run. ML was awful with sprains. In my stalker run i cleared ML, CH, DP, and both the connectors between them. I got plenty of sprains in CH and DP but more in ML... though I was there the longest so that might be why. There are only three prepper caches I look for in ML, the others aren't really worth the trek IMHO unless you are in those parts of the map anyhow. The one on the hill almost directly across from the Camp Office is the first one I always look for. The second is the one on the ridge starting out by the fishing huts going up the ridge along Mystery Lake. The third is on the hill near the yellow train car, if you are walking towards the dam it would be on the right on the incline. (In my stalker run I had the prepper cache on the ridge by the fishing huts. That was a nice find.) I'm just curious now, so I'll do a few days in Voyageur mode in ML to see.

Yesterday I started a Voyageur run to see about the sprain frequency, I was maybe 4 days in and today my save file is just...gone. This has never happened to me before and I'm honestly baffled. I didn't die. Last night I recall passing an hour to save the game, all was well and I shut down, today my Voyageur game is just... gone. Anyhow I was making a point to try and get sprains, walking up and down steep slopes VERY encumbered. Result: ONE sprain. ONE. Also, I forgot you can eat wolves in Voyageur mode, endless food, wow! I don't really want to play in Voyageur mode and I think the days I spent in it is enough to say that the sprain frequency between stalker and voyageur modes is very different. The frequency isn't an issue as far as I found in Voyageur mode, even with carrying a stupid amount of weight on steep terrain.

I am so bad at Interloper!! Lol. Indoors nearby depends on which map or where you are in.relation to a cave. Or how close you are to cabin fever! How are the sprains in interloper? I havent tried yet.

I have not played Voyageur mode for a couple of years, but I started a new game to see how drastic the sprain difference is from Stalker mode. I'm not over-encumbered (yet) but so far in day 1 I went from Hushed River Valley to Milton House with zero sprains (I really tried to get one), an amazing amount of reishi mushroom, and... ZERO wolves. That is incredible, ZERO wolves!

The issue with adapting play style in this case is... well, read @galadhlinn‘s post which states it really well. They stopped doing certain things like going up slopes, they avoided whole areas of the map. I didnt. I went up that slope to get the wolf hide. I kept tracking wounded animals no matter where the path led. I dont think avoiding slopes is the answer. But i did not die with any sprains and i do feel very happy the bear didnt get me, even though he tried 7 times. 😊

That assumes there is an indoors close by! 😊 @upupandaway you said before you play in voyageur mode. That is a different experience than stalker. This isnt a game to play it safe in the harder modes like stalker and interloper. You just cant. The wind comment was in response to how i died sleeping. It has nothing to so with sprains, you are correct. Sometimes you run out of resources and choices, sometimes you just have to make decisions and take a chance. Sometimes it works and sometimes you die. That is what makes the game challenging and fun!

The wind blew my fire out. It happens. The whole point of this thread was about frequency of sprains, which in my experience, playing the same way I always have, are more frequent. That’s all.

No i looked at my journal when I opened the game this morning. It said 82 days, I was on the evening of day 82. Also the timestamp when you sleep "You have survived x number of days...." said 82 and some-odd hours. The stats are registering slightly lower. Difference between 80 and 82 is still more than 24 hours. i don't know. i didnt pay attention to the waking up timestamp hours after 82, just the journal days marked. I'll have to pay attention to this in the next run. Anyhow it doesn't matter, I was really just tracking the sprains to time. Result: too many.

AHHH I JUST DIED the cold got me while I was sleeping. That was a good run. Many extremely harrowing close calls, one stick saved my life once! Journal said 82 days, stats say 80. I think the stats aren't accurate, they are lower than they should be. I can't believe after all the crazy dire situations I got in, I froze to death in my bedroll. 49 sprains total according to the stats, I think it was more due to discrepancy stated above. 49 sprains in 80 days according to the stats page. That's too many, no matter what. Aside from the sprains and relentless wolves, this is a good update.

Thanks for the validation @Goodzilla. I'm still playing this same run, on Day 62 now and I have gotten many more sprains. I don't treat them anymore. Currently the wolves are a bigger problem, they are really awful, I urgently need to get out of Coastal Highway but am waiting for pelts to cure.

I never go to the radio tower, maybe I should try that. My first stop is the PV Farmhouse. This challenge is so miserable but I can't seem to stop trying for a better time!

Thank you for mentioning the sprains, I also am experiencing far more of them than before. I made a thread about it but it was for Stalker mode sandbox, I'm sorry to hear it is bad in the challenges too. Now and then I get inspired to run this challenge again for a better time, but I always die right before I get to the summit. I never got the amount of stims or coffee you seem to get. I will probably get at least as many sprains though.

This has happened to me twice on this update.

I killed him with the rifle, in stalker mode. One shot worked.

Ok, here are my stats: 38 days. i'm on the morning of day 38, just woke up so let's say 37 days. 12 wolf struggles. 15 wrist sprains. 5 ankle sprains. Most of these were from walking around. maybe 4-5 were from wolves. That gives me 1.6 sprains a day. Again, this is Stalker mode. DAY 38 update: add one ankle sprain and 1 wrist sprain, so far...

This thread would not be complete without.....

I sprained my wrist scrolling down reading that last post!