JAFO

Congrats on 49 days, @Drifter Man! Interesting to see, too, that the Ravine isn't a guaranteed stim spawn..

A belated thanks for the write-up, @selfless!

Heheheh.. yeah, there have been a few changes to the game lately.. as you've doubtless noticed. Good to see you again, by the way! If you're in the mood, a more detailed account of how you did the 30 days would be most appreciated.. you seem to have taken a very different approach to the challenge, than most players. I get the impression you spent quite a long time down at 15%. How many days in did you reach 15%?

Thanks, @Vonwoah, for the research! But I must confess that I upvoted for the entertaining gif! I'm looking forward to the results! Ummm.. nope. See below. Umm.. the snowshelter had nothing to do with it.. except hiding you from immediate sight of the bear, so that it was just ambling along, rather than charging you. If a bear comes across you sleeping in a snowshelter, and there isn't a fortuitously-placed fire blocking his path, he'll quite happily use you as a chew-toy once he reaches the shelter and discovers there's a tasty snack inside it. Agreed 100%. It was the fire that drove the bear away, and only because, being inside the shelter, he hadn't spotted you yet. If you'd been outside with the fire between you and him, he'd charge right over it to get to you.. but since he wasn't charging, the fire is enough to convince him to go another direction.

Greetings and salutations, Dances With Bears! I'd be most interested in seeing how a Deadman "spawn on TWM, dash for the summit" run would go.. In which regard, you may also find it of interest to know that at least two people (including @RossBondReturns) have actually managed to reach the summit without using any rope climbs at all.. mountain-goating it all the way. Don't know how practical it might be for a newly-hatched Deadman, but it may be worth a shot... Many thanks for your investigation into BR stims, and availability or not of archery essentials, @Ruruwawa!

Congratulations, mate! And still in fine form, I see! Heh.. I seem to recall someone (not naming names!) stating they didn't think it was worthwhile doing so.. good to see you've changed your mind, somewhat. I think a big part of why it's painted so hard, is that to succeed, you really need a very different mindset and approach than a normal interloper run. And re-programming your brain for that isn't easy. I suspect all your Snowball runs have made your mindset rather more flexible than the average player's is. I'd add one more proviso to this.. barring bad luck or getting wolved, I think the real limiting factor will prove to be the ability to make fire. When the matches and firestrikers are gone, being forced to fall back on the magnifying glass will severely cripple one's playstyle. Agreed.. all those Snowballs, (and the 1000 Days in the Dam experience) have really paid off for @Drifter Man. They've made him more flexible and equipped his mind to quickly run cost/benefit analysis calculations on the go. Did you encounter any during your first 30 days? (I don't recall).. because if you did, not grabbing them while you had the chance would be a tactical error, I'm thinking..

So do I.. but at that point you can officially say you've completed the challenge. I hope you go on to set a new record.. (which I believe currently sits at 50 days)

Hilltop Cave? That's in PV. From the rest of your description, I'm guessing you mean the cave by the Lake Overlook? ** Only 1 week to go!! ** It's getting exciting!

Oh, cool! I'm glad he managed it on vanilla, and quite impressed, too.. what kind of shape was he in before being wolfed?

But wasn't that run when he was wussing out and only playing Deadman Lite? With a small amount of condition recovery dialled in to it?

That's the thought that's driving other Deadmen crazy.. with emphasis on the 'almost'.. "Is the chance of almost certain death worth the potential reward?"

On Twitch attempts, I keep hearing mention of "there are (up to?) 3 stims in BR". No idea if there's any truth to it at all.

That was probably more about trying to give an overall feel for what the challenge was like in a few short words, rather than literal gospel truth.. for instance, weather is highly changeable, but there are no days-long blizzards, either.. because just one of those would pretty much be a guaranteed death sentence. So yeah, it could be made more brutal.. the question becomes, should it be?

I was going to mention the same thing.. it's possible to mountain goat from where the deer is across to the path, or in the other direction too.. there's no need to go down to the vicinity of those wolves at all. A little something I learned from Deadpool.

There is no cabin fever in Deadman.. so there's one less thing you need to worry about..

As mentioned above by Drifter Man, and confirmed yesterday by TheDEADP00L, it's a way of ensuring you're able to eat all the meat from a chance harvested deer immediately, so as to avoid becoming a wolf-magnet.

Fantastic feast and amazing pictures, piddy.. but where on earth did you find the cream?

As promised, here's a distillation of lessons learned from TheDEADP00L's 29 day run, and the strategies and tactics that grew out of them. They come from both my own observations, and discussions between Deadpool and his viewers. Most of them are in no particular order or priority. And this list is probably far from complete.. I'll probably add more as time goes by. Part One: Planning "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail" ~ Benjamin Franklin The 7 P's: "Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance" ~ Every Military Everywhere When you spawn into a new run, get yourself to shelter, then pause the game, take stock of what you have, and take the time to make up a plan. From start to finish. Before you take another in-game step. You need to prioritise getting the flare gun as soon as you can. What route will get you to it from where you are, and where will you go once you have it? This goal also needs to be integrated into the rest of your planned movements, as described below. At a bare minimum, you should make a bow and several arrows. probably a knife as well. Decide on which forge you want to use to craft the arrow-heads/knife. Figure out a route that will take you there, and another route back out of the same region. Where will you collect coal en-route? What will be your preferred crafting location for weapons and clothing? You'll want to drop as many supplies as you can there before doing your forging run. What route will you use to get those supplies there, and what route will you use for the return trip? What route will you then take to your next destination? What is your end-game destination, and why? For most places you visit, your mindset needs to be, "This is the last time I'm going to be here.. I won't be coming back." Make your plans accordingly. So far as possible, never take the same route through a region twice. Looping around, or criss-crossing, means you won't have to go back along a route that you've already stripped clean of supplies. Almost every region has multiple routes through/across/around it. Even the Crumbling Highway/Old Island Connector has two routes you can cross it by. "No back-tracking" should become your mantra. Once you have a bow and arrows, you'll be able to relax the no-back-tracking rule, because all those barren regions will have meat just walking around for the taking. All these steps.. "first I go here, do that, then I go there, place these items ready for later, move on through A en-route to B, do X, then back via C and D, do Y, then go to E and F before finishing up at G" (there will probably more steps than this to your plan, but you get the idea) need to be figured out in broad detail before you get going. Write it down if you don't think you'll remember it all. Part Two: Rules, Strategies, Tactics Pay religious attention to not taking damage. Watch all your bars, and when one gets low, take whatever action is necessary to correct it. Thirst, cold and hunger do more and faster damage than exhaustion. Pay particular attention to them. (Yes, I'm stating obvious stuff that you already know.. because lopers are too used to ignoring stuff like this) If you have no can-opener, and you can do so without taking damage, rather than wasting some of the calories by smashing them open, try to get by on other foods. Even though they're heavy to lug around for a while, building up a stock of cans can serve as a stash of food for a crafting session later. As you travel, place firewood drops of sticks, cedar, fir and coal at strategic locations and region entrances/exits, so that you'll have firewood ready to take with you when you need to go that way in future. On your travels, make sure to collect scrap metal.. cutting up metal at the forge will cost you a lot more calories than carrying some with you. There will be times you need to break down items for firewood. In terms of wood gained/calories burned/time spent, the hammer is more efficient than your bare hands. While lanterns have their uses, torches are everywhere. Lantern fuel is far more valuable for use as accelerant. Accelerant means you don't have to spend several in-game minutes freezing your ass off at 20° below zero while you wait to see if the fire will light or not. I don't care if that shit's heavy. Bring it with you. All of it. Be wasteful with your resources. In a sensible way, that is. If it helps you get food, do it. If starting a fire will get that wolf off your back, do it. If a chain of fires is the only way to advance against wolves blocking your path, do it. If you need to sprint to get to a sheltered place to warm up before you start taking damage, do it. Don't let being stingy with your resources get you killed. If the wind permits, you should try to always be carrying a lit torch. Yes, that means making a bunch of torches whenever you can. Not only do you get a small warmth bonus, when a wolf turns up, you can scare him off by making a fire, without using a match. Whenever possible, collect your burnt-out torches, and harvest them into sticks. If the wind doesn't permit carrying a torch, then you should have a flare-gun at the ready. Don't forget to load the damn thing first! If at a key crossroads location, which is to say, one that can be approached from more than one route, make more water than you need, and leave a couple of litres or more behind when you go.. next time you pass through, you may be glad that you did. Bonus points if you leave some sticks and/or other stuff as well. If the potential warmth bonus gain is worthwhile, fix that clothing! Staying warmer means you can travel further, harvest more, and stay outdoors longer between fires. It also means you'll have a bit more time in which to get to shelter, when the weather turns sour. There is plenty of coal in the world.. dropping strategic reserves of coal at both ends of mines, and other locations, along with any excess water, will pay dividends down the track. On your return trip through such places, don't forget to grab whatever quantity of it you can manage to take with you. (You're not coming back, remember?) Be efficient with your fires.. try to make them do triple duty.. you should be warming up, making food or water, and doing something else all at the same time, whenever possible. Harvest those burnt-out torches you've been collecting, maybe. Repair some clothes. Sharpen your knife, if you've made one. If nothing else, while your food or water is being made, get some sleep. The best time to move through caves and mines is at night. Your character's eyes will adjust to the dark (if necessary, an hour's sleep will do it) and you will be able to see to find your way, and even find items, without any light source at all. Crouching can make it easier to spot coal on the ground ahead of you. Get into the habit of taking items that need curing with you, and get religious about both dropping them as soon as you get to any interior location, and picking them up again before moving on. You can't afford to leave them all over the place, where you'll later need to back-track through now-barren regions to collect them for crafting. (And that's if you remember where you left everything!) When you have a bunch of mostly-cured stuff, drop it at a crossroads point (preferably one with a crafting bench) to finish curing, to which you can return (via a different route, remember?) once you've done a forging run. Make sure your stomach is never empty, but if you're getting by on cattails or other non-meat items, keep it fairly low. If you harvest a deer, ideally you should eat ALL the meat right then and there. That way you won't be attracting wolves. If your stomach is too full, you won't be able to eat it all. Harvesting meat? If at all possible, don't miss the chance to grab some guts, or even a hide if your long-term plan (you did make one, right?) involves crafting some clothing. As you travel with them, remember to get in some curing time at every opportunity. Once you have line, fishing is very worthwhile.. but you need to prepare first. Stock up on firewood so you can settle in for a good session. Dawn and dusk are the most productive fishing times.. try to be there for them. Also, fish-oil = accelerant. Sleep should almost always be done one hour at a time. This ensures that if there's a sudden break in the weather, you won't miss it, and will be able to put some distance under your feet before the weather turns bad again. Stuck inside because of an aurora? Not many people know it, but that means you have enough light to read, or craft, or repair clothing.. same goes for full moons. Take advantage of them whenever possible. Never have meat or rabbit carcasses on your person for longer than necessary. If you're after 2 or 3 rabbits, when you kill one, drop it before hunting the next one. Pick 'em all up when you're ready to go. When harvesting meat, drop each piece before harvesting the next one. If you're cooking more than one piece of meat, drop them all before you start cooking. If you're not cooking on the same fire you used to harvest the meat, drop the meat before you light the fire. The less time you spend being a wolf-magnet, the better. Following these principles/rules will mean you end up carrying a fair bit of stuff around at times. Being over-encumbered may cost you some calories, but it is still far better than having to back-track over routes you've stripped bare, to grab things you left behind. Doing THAT will cost you condition.. in both directions.

Yeah.. he's still mindblown at the luck he had with this start. But he's definitely capitalised on it by playing a lot smarter this time around.. As he describes it "All that time I felt like my brain was melting? It wasn't melting, it was re-wiring itself to the new realities and requirements of this challenge." He's thinking a lot smarter about his whole approach, step-by-step goal and movement planning, and long-term strategy as well.. it certainly seems to be paying off for him.

Twitch streamer Mosterdpot has reached 30 days... Deadpool progress update.. Deadpool #9 spawned on the BR/FM border, and by the time he reached ML had found 2 (!) Mackinaw jackets and a plaid shirt, among other sundries. Thanks to paying religious attention to not taking damage, after 3 days he was still at 100% condition. He has so far made his way to DP, and, at Day 13 is at 93% condition, has not yet used a stim, and has 2 stims on hand if needed. He collected the flare gun along the way, and has stashed some canned food along with enough coal, deer hides, rabbit skins, cured guts and saplings, to craft boots, mittens and a bow and arrows when he returns from his forging run. He's done a full rethink of his tactics and strategies, which I'll cover in another post soon.

I have a question about the scent and wind mechanics. We know that wind can carry your scent further in that direction, extending the range at which wolves can detect you.. but is the detection range upwind of the player concomitantly reduced, as would logically be expected in that situation? Thanks to both you and the team, for making the most addictive and absorbing game ever!

Now that takes guts! Kudos! Success in Interloper needs very good knowledge of the maps as a base foundation to work on.. in Deadman mode, that goes double. I wish you luck.

Thanks for the followup explanation, @TheEldritchGod... yikes. You really did do things tough.. kudos to you for hanging in there and making it, through sheer grim bloody-mindedness and determination! Personally, I think you might have been better served by watching some other Deadman attempts on Twitch.. The ones recorded by TheDEADP00L are quite entertaining, and educational too. https://www.twitch.tv/thedeadp00l/videos/all* * Bad language warning applies! Fair enough.. but it kinda gave some others the impression that only that kind of gruelling slog could get one across the finish line.. which is why a couple of us were being somewhat critical of it. It is possible to do this challenge and also have fun doing so. And the whole point of a challenge is that yes, it might be tough, incredibly challenging and difficult, but it still ought to be, on some level at least, fun.

Ok.. the wiki may be wrong on this point..

Pretty much describes exactly what TheDEADP00L did.. and yet he made it to within inches of 30 days.. if it wasn't for a really dumb decision (we were all yelling at him, but it was too late) he'd have made it with room to spare, and gone on to day 50 or beyond.