Doc Feral

I've noticed a couple of details. I kept walking like that along a slope (i call it crabwalking, for some reasons) and the screen flashed red several times, but no new sprains appeared despite having a still working ankle. Could it be that when a new sprain is "rolled" it's randomly placed and it may be wasted on an already sprained joint? Or does the "sprain risk" occupy an affliction slot, if something like that exists, preventing the sprain from having effect? Yes, I know I'm talking like a role playing game manual. Despite new red flashes even the "pain" countdown didn't reset. That's weird and somewhat disappointing, it would make sense that hurting yourself again makes pain as stingy as before. I'd say sprain "dice" should be "rolled" even if no more limbs are available, just to push the pain recovery time back.

I did. Just once, so I may guess it decreases significantly the chances.

Just yesterday I started carrying all the loot from Timberwolf Mountain to the Pleasant Valley access. So I overloaded myself and made some trips. On the way out (meaning fully loaded with stuff) I noticed some birch barks on the ground. Do you think I managed to just move along and pick them up on the way back? There should be support groups with meetings, badges and all that for lootaholics.

Looks like I goofed a little when I assumed only meat benefits from cold. But a container doesn't make any difference in spoiling times. Things on the floor in a house count as "indoors", things in an abandoned backpack near a tree count as "outdoors". The difference is that putting ruined items (such as worn whetstones and sewing kits, or the mysterious piece of ruined fresh leather) in a container causes them to disappear unless they can be harvested and recycled. This is a convenient way to get rid of rubbish, but may cause stored food to disappear when it reaches 0%, denying you the fearless pleasure of eating it anyway. So avoid putting food in containers.

"Industrial" food spoils faster outside, meat spoils way slower. The reverse applies indoors. Don't store food in containers, place it on shelves, your base will look better and food won't disappear when reaching 0% condition. Remember that reaching level 5 in cooking you'll be able to eat everything (apart from raw meat) without worrying. Food spoils anyway, I've opened cargo containers (which should hold many items) only to find a single soda can, meaning all other food had rotted away, and found plenty of 0% items scattered in houses. Late in the game industrial food will be precious travel rations which doesn't attract wolves. So keep hoarding, and remember crackers and cat tails are eternal, and that rotten raw meat can be cooked to edible.

I can easily imagine myself walking through a birch grove. "Ok, I'll pick up the last piece of bark. Yes, it's the last one. I'm only carrying 55 kgs, it's fine. Just another piece. I can handle it..."

The new sprain system is nice but scary. I mean, we all got used to the fact that stepping on a snow flake could cause a sprained wrist&ankle combo, and we got over it. Now there's the warning icon when walking on uncomfortable terrain, and it's like a ghastly voice whispering in my ears "you're gonna fall and you'll be sorry...". Sprains are probably less likely, but the warning icon makes me feel guilty. The pain affliction and healing method are a welcome addition, even if it enhances difficulty. But now bandages will be used more frequenthy, making indefinite survival even more unlikely. I still didn't see animal attacks, but they look really good when they walk around.

Concerning the Steadfast Ranger update. I have an ongoing 200-something days run, but being the slow and steady type I've never been to the coastal regions. Will the still unexplored regions count as "new" when I'll go there? Meaning: may I find the new items in them or loot is determined at the start of the game?

Sleep under it.

From what I've seen with mapping (just to make an example of a time-warping activity) fauna moves in the blurred background, so it could be that the mentioned exploit was fixed a while ago. Losing arrows to panicked wolves is surely bothersome, but following the crows may help you to avoid it. Anyway, baiting wolves grants a slow moving target, and headshots are fatal. Throwing stones works too, but they're usually further away.

Oh well, I'll just go the other way.

Concerning perishable items: apart from food (the only eternal ones are water, crackers and cat tail stalks) you should store pills outside containers. When items degrade to 0% condition they disappear from containers if they can't be recycled (clothes for cloth or leather, torches for sticks, tools for metal and so on, not sure about canned food for cans). I suppose 0% pills don't work anymore (never tried), but pills make a wonderful path marker, especially in caves. Dropping a single pill will create a pill box (I know it doesn't make sense but it's ok for me) which is quite colorful and easy to spot. When the tunnel forks I put two pills (one for each "doorway") to mark the correct path. I use antibiotics even if they're still good, since they're almost useless, unless you're unlucky enought to get parasites before raising cooking skill to 5. Water purification tablets are even more useless and create larger boxes, but they're not as plentiful. If you loathe using such vile exploits of graphics you can use tinder bundles or cat tails heads, which you can spin and arrange in place to create nice arrow signs. Stones work too, but you may be confused by the naturally spawning ones you find in caves. Pills are the best because of their negligible weight.

The new cooking system is way more efficient, you can use two or more fires at the same time in caves, some multiple stoves, and you can time the fire so that you can leave the meat to cook and go on with your business. Your example about cooking a whole deer is not impressive, how many steaks did you get, 9? You could have made five fires by torch pulling (in a cave, obviously) and be done with it in a hour (in-game). I remember cooking a moose with the old system, it took days. Now THAT was a cooking game. By the way, clicking on the fire and selecting the pot icon saves you the trouble of aiming the steak at the slot, if your inventory is not clogged with cans, pots and cups.

Io frequento la parte anglofona del forum.

Did you use the stim before going for the spear or after? Just asking, because using it before exiting the hole may be enough.

Using a small piece (the 0.1 kgs or so harvesting leftover) of cooked meat is better. While effective as a decoy, it doesn't smell as bad as a gut and won't draw so many wolves to you. It does smell and attracts them, just not as much and from a smaller distance. Check the hud: a single gut gives you a full stinkpuff, a small piece of cooked meat doesn't.

Thanks @Ice Hole but I'll keep using ropes when going upwards. The way back is another story, given how much loot I always carry I try to spare myself some climbs. One container in the plane was empty, another one along the road only had a soda can in it. For the second one I surely blame it on arriving there nearing day 200: food items surely rotted, and being in a container they disappeared. Now the descent begins. Just to point out how covetous I am, I satisfiyingly mapped the mountainous area and printed it, so as I move I can mark the caves as I check them, to be sure I'm not abandoning useful stuff (mostly skins, guts and some tools) left behind from my many previous temporary camps...

Now that I'm exploring Timberwolf Mountain for the first time I managed to leave two out of three bears alone, and even a wolf I saw eating a deer. One bear was definitely too close to my temporary camp. The others were lucky, I was too much in a hurry. It's MY land to rule, after all! Edit Another thing: I'm a total Scrooge! So if I can get a good bargain from an arrow I'll never miss the opportunity, no matter how many steaks I already have in a snow mound or how many pelts are carpeting my base. Killing a feeding wolf gives two skins and more meat than simply a wolf or deer. And when it comes to bears... as said before, with one well placed arrow I can have a bear hide, ten guts (I always quarter big ones) and enough meat to keep partying for weeks. It's just too tempting.

I don't know how much did it take, but I've made it to the summit. At least a week, stopping everywhere for gathering, hunting, skinning and so on. And risking death by dehidration a couple of times forgetting to pick up the cans before moving.

Once I was having a hard time dodging wolves, my cat walked into the room (she was like two pounds of cute purring fluffiness) and I almost fell of the chair.

Orange Soda and rabbits, because both are Snappy.

How would you define your gaming style? I'm definitely a conqueror. When I start exploring a region I collect all plants, saplings, food, the hide from every carcass, every tool, and harvest all curtains and low quality apparel and create a few well stocked outposts (more like strongholds), while mapping locations. And I have to force myself not to slay all potentially hostile wildlife when I have the occasion. If there's a wolf munching on a deer or bunny it takes some serious effort to just move along. Not to mention bears. Of course I play stalker, so resources are enough and wolves... well, more than enough.

I'm still scrolling down suggestions without reading... Thank you but I want to do it myself. It's my typical game style. Start playing. Kids call. Pause. Wife calls. Pause once more. Something else. Just quit. Without saving nor mapping. And so I've forgotten about reaching the Deer Clearing before. Now I'm back there, exploring the area.

"Lakeregion"? So you're in Mystery Lake? Did you snare a rabbit in Milton? You find the snare in Milton, right? Wintermute survival school missions may be region-sensitive.

Götterdammerung. I must have missed a cave.