Mroz4k

Freedom.

Yea, part of the reason why I have never found myself in a particularly horrible situation on a hike (and also partly why I seem to be doing pretty well in TLD) is because I plan ahead for the worst case scenarios. Before mobiles were a thing, my classmates would make fun of me for bringing flashlight to the cave with me on an elementary school trip, nothing could go wrong, guess who was laughing last and suddenly had lots of friends when the lights went out... Planning is such an underrated thing in survival, yet it ultimatedly is one of the most important aspects of the preparation. TLD becomes relatively easy game to deal with if one learns to plan ahead for multiple scenarios and prep for them in advance.

Almost two months later and this video STILL gives me goosebumps each time I listen to it.

Hoping to see some more of these sometimes soon - this has kept me a good company while browsing forums. But I get that this is somewhat time-consuming. Not that I have anything against both of you, gentlemen - but if you two dont have the time, perhaps different staff members might host another one? I am sure the community will enjoy hearing either you, or some other people behind the TLD, and what kind of people they are. Podcasts are a great way to introduce the staff to the public.

Yea, I know. Dont have enough experience to be comfortable with but have plenty of knowledge, and some experience as well. I know I complain a lot about not having the chance to hone my survival skills, but I am not completedly without experience for sure. For example, I did make fire through friction before. I have even made flint tools, which I believe is a thing many people never even tried. I dont neccesary want to go so stripped of all the things, that is my friends idea. I am actually trying to dissuade his outlook on things, because I realize how crazy that general idea is. I think he doesnt really realize the survival that much as he is romantized by the shows and youtube vids he saw on internet. I am fairly confident I would handle it, but I am more concerned about him. He even refuses to take a water canteen with him, claiming he can hollow out a piece of log and fill it with water, and boil the water by putting stones into it... me, on the other hand, have a bit of actual experience, I know how bad it is without a metal container. I have been holding "somewhat amateur survival courses" since I was 13 years old, starting on my highschool and going from there I would definitely want to bring more things. If anything, I would like to bring those items, have them as an option, and then chose not to use them. He even wants to refuse to take things like beacons, which I stand firmly behind - I am not going anywhere without having some sort of emergency line for a potentional disaster. Not leaving without having a well equipped first aid kit as well, or things like bear sprays. What I think we will eventually agree upon is that we will come by an equipped car, have access to those things if we need them, but instead choosing not to use them unless we have to. And I am definitely dragging his ass through a one or two day training where we test out if we are really ready to do it. And get used to each other and cooperation, doing some tasks we will be doing during the actual holiday. Also going to study local fauna and flora beforehand.

That is good to hear! And I fully agree, being close to death puts one into a great perspective when they can reflect back on life they almost lost, it can be a great motivation to not waste life and focus on doing things one wants to do, because we really dont know how much time we have.

Well said story, Mr. @snakevondoof , and truly motivating one. You have my deepest respect for handling that situation so well. Most people would never prepare for it in advance, and even less of them would be able to maintain their composure and make that right call in a seemingly hopeless situation. I went through a lifeguard training in the US last summer so I can pretty well picture it from the story you said. It is NOT easy, trying to swim with someone who is not cooperating, using only one hand, especially not against strong current... I would agree with what others say, you are a goddamned hero, sir Hope this experience didnt put an end to your outdoor adventures Will try to think of mine, but I have been thinking for a while and nothing comes to mind. It is either because its virtually impossible to get into a bad situation here in Europe, or because I am just too cautious. Might be combination of both. I have almost died a couple of times, but it was never anything outdoor related.

Yea, not yet. As a student, I am happy to be able to pay my things now (even though I work full-time, well, "worked" - got fired 5 days ago, currently on a job hunt), once I am satisfied with studies and am only working and make sufficient money, I will be happy to do some traveling. I do have a plan, something for next summer. Still in planning stages, but it looks realizable. Now, for the reason I came here... I may or may not have "obtained" piece of log which I tommorow plan to transform into a primitive bow. I have made plenty survival bows in my time, always using saplings... but this time, I will be making an actual bow out of a log, by carving and filing it down to the perfection, having it cured and by the end, hopefully done properly enough so it doesnt snap and fires accuratedly. Since this will by my first time, I am not putting up much hope... But if it goes on properly, I will have a ranged weapon of my own. Always prefered bowhunting in TLD to guns anyways... might as well get better at archery in real life, too (also found some quartz-like stones too, will see if I can flake them and create flint arrowheads, probably not but will try)

Heh, cant even cut down a tree without going through a byrocracy of having it confirmed around here. Its sad... I find myself wondering more and more every day whether it wouldnt be just better to save up a decent size of money, and follow the example of Dick Proenneke, build myself a cabin somewhere in Alaska, out of the reach of civilization and live a quite, content life homesteading. Not that anyone would let me since I am not a US citizen.

Yea, but when it comes to any recent major attacks in Europe (for example the attacks in France, which actually resulted in these stricter limitations), those were all carried out by weapons, which were obtained illegaly and even already banned in those countries to begin with (at least I believe so). Therefore I find it a bit strange that there would be policies to make it more difficult to obtain a registered, legal gun, instead of focusing on removing illegal weapons trade instead, or better checks on borders. Especially now since in the past few years, these attacks have significantly increased in number. I suppose I shouldnt stand so against it - Czech Republic is considered the third most peaceful country in the world and I believe that is mostly due to a part that it is so difficult to obtain firearms here - you have to take lessons at the range under instructor, then pass a test on the range, a test in a classroom of how to take the firearm apart, and also mental evaluation - and as a result you can buy most of handguns. Not to mention the actual tests and lectures cost around 8-10K crowns which is about half of an average pay in here. Also, while I seriously dont like it, I also get the reason why hunting is banned altogether in here - Europe is unlike Canada and States, where you can sometimes go for 1 hour on a car and not see another city... in here, you go half of an hour on foot by a road and you are quaranteed to run into a town or a village, or at least a house... there is no free wilderness anymore, and if hunting were allowed, not only we would quickly lose all wildlife, but accidents where hikers get shot instead of an animal would likely be common, since there are already a lot more hikers in the mountains then there is a game.

Dont have no firearms - european laws on guns are very strict and are getting much worse due to all the terrorist attacks in the past two years. I would like to obtain a handgun licence (cant do much more than that here) and get myself a glock 17 for personal protection, but both the licence and handgun are pretty expensive, I have very little in a way of income and a ton of other things I need to buy first before even thinking about this. Czech Republic law separates guns into 4 cathegories, going from automatic weapons in a cathegory A which are strictly banned all the way to D class which is dedicated for airsoft guns and air guns (and only of rather weak FPS), which can be purchased for 18+ without a licence. Handguns are cathegory B and can be purchased after obtaining licence. Shotguns, rifles and several other guns are class C and can only be purchased by professional hunter (which is not a hobby, but a profession, hunter club here means you are a forest custodian for your profession, and hunting is only allowed during organized events. Hobby hunting is strictly prohibited.) A lot more people are recently interested in obtaining guns in here because people are afraid of the immigration and the fact that a lot of radicals come by with the immigrants. But the increased gun laws make it more difficult - which is a joke, since all the guns used in terrorist attacks were obtained illegally. When I was in a States, I wanted to buy and bring a cool air gun home with me for target shooting - but couldnt. No rifles I was interested in had an FPS low enough to pass through a Czech airport control. So I just got myself a nice bowie knife. Its funny how a thing considered a "toy" in the US is considered a "firearm" in the Czech Republic. I suppose the only "firearms" (according to my country´s riddiculous laws) I own would be a cheap and weak SVD Dragunov airsoft rifle without a scope, unpainted, and an old air gun I inherited from my grandfather - sadly that one is damaged and bent for it so it is not exactly a precise gun to use. Its a damn shame because that air gun is vintage by now. Gun ranges in here dont have automatic weapons to shoot out of here, either. At least not to my knowledge. The only way to get a chance here to fire an automatic weapon is to join a czech SWAT team in police forces, or the army.

I have no wrists or ankles to sprain, dude... I dont know what you are talking about. Dont you see? I am obviously a wolf. wooof wooof, rrrrrrr...

This was fun to read. But I would prefer to smoke a powdered dried reishi over them any day...

That is very unhealthy and stress inducing way to live. Id suggest to try and relax a bit. I kind of wish I had a chance to live off the land like the TLD character does, because I believe this stressful "cant wait for nothing" mindset is whats slowly poisoning the human civilization. Boyfriend of my best highschool friend has a dream to run a 7 day experiment in wilderness, using minimum tools, and I will probably join him on this fools errand... but we both agree that this is going to be a great eye-opening experience. Because in survival, you have no time to worry about what tommorow will hold, but rather about taking care of the essentials you need today. Give them time to relax - a wise man once said "All changes for worse are quick to come, a change for better always takes time". Think about it, doesnt it really apply to just about anything in life?

Its not really new, it has been in a game for quite some time. And also, the idea that they go up slopes you cant climb is wrong - the animals follow the same physics as the player, they will not go up something you cant walk as well. In fact, when tracking leads you to mountains, and you reach the slope where they cant climb anymore, you need to chose in which direction they went. It pays to remember that the wounded animals will run around obstacles they come across, so if the wolf came up a slope it cant run up, but hit it from a side, it will continue running forward along the obstacle untill he can cross over it. If you cant find the carcass and there are no crows present, another thing that can help you find it is mapping. If you map from a high vantage point, chances are the corpse will show up on your map even if you dont notice it with your eyes. Crows are useful, but they are only limited to good weather. Rely on them as last resort, because optionally you want to harvest the carcass as soon as possible to get the meat with great condition and the carcass will still be thawed, meaning processing it will take less time. There were changes in the settings, especially with Wintermute, which introduced some changes in graphics. So this is in your settings - the blood effects will be rendered in closely, either your machine is not that good or you just have worse graphics level set. My previous laptop was pretty garbage already so I had it turned down almost to the point where I had to stand over it to see the blood.

Well, I am for it, for once. On a condition that the existing shelters can also become less favorable by the actions of a wildlife, or a weather, damaging it. Imagine a storm hitting in, and a branch falls onto a roof. Suddenly there is a hole, decreased inner temperature, and an option to mend the hole, which would take lots of calories, time and most definitedly some material as well. I imagine reclaimed wood would be the way most shelters would be repaired, and there would have to be a way to create the reclaimed wood with a hacksaw on a workbench, I think. Like, imagine that the Mountaineers hut with its hole in the roof would have some sort of access to the roof where you could repair it, and during bad blizzards there would be a small chance of a random damage to it again. This would make "camping in huts" more difficult, and as the game would progress, less and less places would stay habitable. But as far as "building entire new structures", I am not a big fan of that, honestly. Shelters built in TLD are temporary because trying to build anything more durable is a waste of energy in a cold enviroment. The only really permanent structures I could imagine in TLD are igloos and some kinds of teepees, but neither can even compare to having a real, solid shelter.

I have to admit I have seen Elegy at least two - three times every day ever since I saw it the first time on this post. And I bet I am not the only one. I am going to the cinema for this movie once it comes out. Probably repeatedly, with all my friends. It is the first forum post I click once I get on the site, to watch or just listen to it.

A Little tip from a fellow hoarder: When you loot locations that are high-yield high-risk, clear out all the animals in it, and then just take everything worth anything and stuff it in a location that is close to this high-risk location but outside of the danger zone. For example, when looting Coastal town and the gas station, kill off all the wolves first, then loot the houses entirely and do a series of quick, short rounds up to the Lonely coastal house, assuming there are no wolves spawning up there. And I mean strip that whole thing bare - not leaving a single curtain behind. This will help out later on when you start carrying it all back to your home base since you won't have to deal with them wolves again. This can be used to move things as well - clearing the way to, let's say, the Coal mine from the lonely coastal cabin, you can then move all your equipment bit by bit to the mine, and continue on this way. It is better than trying to make long trips at once because that way, the animals in that sections are more likely to respawn. The easiest way to hunt with a bow, huh... for deer, it will be like I said - just spook the deer in direction of a hill or a thicket of trees, it will try running around it for a bit, but occasionally they will bounce back and start charging you head-on. Then you just draw your bow and aim a little bit ahead of the deer in the direction where the deer is heading. If it is coming straight at you, it is really easy, but most of the time they will be running a bit to the side, so you need to anticipate the fact that the deer is moving fast and the arrows travel somewhat slow. But once you master it, taking a shot in the head or neck is usually an instakill on a deer. As for predators, wolves are easy - you just pop down a bait with the button 3 shortcut, back down and let the wolf go for the bait. You are a bit away from it, and you can just draw the bow and let it walk right into your line of fire. Again, headshot is probably going to be an instakill. I don't recommend using that tactic on bears, though. I hunt bears by finding an elevated position some distance away, and I try to arc lob the arrows on him, hoping for a hit. If it does, I just evacuate that area and give it time to bleed out.

Okay, did not mean to pick a fight. My point was, if you want to give out tips, you would do better using the IS system as 80% of the population will understand it better than the American measures. Ideally, you should use both. Prybar is definitely worth carrying around. The lockers are one of the richest containers you can find, with some high-end loot in them. That is worth the extra kg... not to mention pry bars have other uses, for example fishing (can be used to break the ice) or as an emergency weapon during a wolf struggle. When you are moving around looking for loot, you should carry it, and be careful about its durability, because breaking it while forcing something open will break the lock as well and make it impossible to open with anything else. My very first playthrough was waaay back when Mystery Lake was the only location in the game and there wasn't much to do in the game in general and the game only had a single difficulty setting. And I guess you could say I knew everything because I used basic logic and my survival experience when approaching the game. My first ever game lasted almost 12 days, which back then was quite a feat in itself, most people did not survive through the first night. 50 days was only reached by the best players during that time, and it was borderline impossible to reach more than a hundred which was only reached through a very careful rationing and boring camping indoors, since cloth, metal (for repairing) and medicine were all resources quickly depleted. Your hunting tip was ok. It is not that amazing to think about, everyone who ever tried to play the Hunted part 1 would have known about this. It was nothing amazing. And I guess I just prefer killing bears without them even knowing about me, for starters I don't really use rifle to hunt anything, in general (sometimes I use it on deer but I generally just go with a Bow, all the time). But other than that, you know very little about hunting if you think that shooting the game over and over make any sort of meaningful difference. The moment you hit the animal and get a skill point, that animal is dead. It WILL bleed out, eventually. The only difference is when you hit it from a very side with a bow or a bullet and simply "graze" it. That is a bug, the animal will react as if hit, you get a skill point, and there will be blood, but the animal will not be bleeding and will not die eventually. Before giving out tips, you really ought to consider making sure that the tips you give are correct, I would reccomend reading up the wiki about hunting first (even if it's a bit outdated at this point) You don't need to hunt wolves for hides. You don't need wolf hides. Wolf hides can only help you make wolfskin coat which is pointless to craft - better to go for bearskin coat right away. Wolfskin coat is very heavy and not that good, and its ability to make wolves go running is pretty weak to rely on. Not to mention you need a knife to make it which is quite pointless damage done to your knife. Hides are the one thing I never take from wolves. I spent over 80 days on Voyager just living in TMW, hunting with a bow. I got attacked by a couple of animals and I got mauled at least twice, once because I tried to take the bear down with a rifle. I had 6 bearskins tanning, two wolfskin coats and at least 4 pieces of every craftable clothing item one can get on top of a mountain of meat, I was at the point where I ruined a few knives and two hatchets. I mainly used the bow to hunt, and this was back when bow hunting had ridiculous sway and no croshairs. Since you so much insist on playing this pissing contest. If I can find hatchet on day 1, by day 3 I have all the "raw" materials curing for a bow and I can usually make one around day 8 - 10 which is pretty early on, and by that point, I tend to have 2-3 arrows and 2-3 broken arrows in my possesion. I often also find a mediocre bow around Day 3, but the soonest I can craft one is around day 10. They are not that rare to find on Voyager in hunting blinds. Using Interloper mode for reference, you need one cat tail stalk per two hours of sleep, so the bare minimum you can safely live with is 5,5 stalks a day on the hardest difficulty in-game. Because you will be starving the entire day, and will only eat before sleeping, where cattail stalks give you 150 cal and you use up 75 cal by sleeping an hour, and on Interloper, you want to try and sleep in 10 - 11 hour intervals. That is not taking into account Feat bonuses. Your estimate is wrong because it greatly depends on what you do for the whole day, if you starve at all or you chose to be well fed all the time. For example, pulling chair apart with your hands will take an hour but will cost you much more calories than if you did nothing but lollygaging in the farmhouse.