Stone

@RuggedlySurviving Long term survival in FM: there are a number of suitable caves for that. @Cr41g I prefer the Muskeg forge. Its more convenient, easy to get to, its a much nicer place to hang out. The Muskeg has gone from being a place I feared to an old friend. Wolves are super avoidable, it neighbors nice regions and it feels wild. I guess I like the quiet. Thats not to say "no to ideas/change". Just showing some muskeg love.

@Drifter Man I'll start including my condition in these updates. I've also been suprised how much ground can be covered by travelling light and in good weather. Those 8 vension steaks are a big help as, for now, I'm not wasting good weather finding food. Global temps aren't down too much so with good weather, even in medicore gear, i can set out with 1 arrow down (keeping out of the wind), and move quick. The lack of a bedroll and those load-screen-indoor shelters mean I can't stop even if I want to. I've been lucky with that weather all the same. Heard about Snowball's bear encounter - harsh - been there! Bears: its not the scars they leave but the clothes they take...

Day 6 (thought I posted this already) Decide to try Marsh Ridge for a bedroll. Freezing out so use a last few sticks to cook some venison and read. Weather clears mid afternoon. Head straight to Marsh ridge, sprinting between cover from the breeze. No wildlife issues. Reach the base of Hat Creek freezing. Through the cave, out onto Marsh Ridge, hang a right and... a candy bar. This is bad. Light a fire by a deer to warm up and think. Eat a little, take a torch then retreat to the Lookout. The stars come out and the aurora flares. I'm jumping at every shape and sound but the journey is pleasantly uneventful. Arrive 'home' cold and tired. Eat, bed. Day 7 Not sure how I can get to TWM without a bedroll or cloth. Don't want to risk it. Blizzard arrives mid morning, Eat, read, take a nap. Eventually it passes. Head out for some sticks. Get ready to go somewhere tomorrow, not sure where. [Hearing @Drifter Man's tale of an ice cave filled with bedrolls in HRV, realise I can get through Milton using beds at the park and plane crash site. Plan!] Day 8 A clear day, straightforward (wolves aside) journey to the cave near Trappers. Weather remains fine, even the wolves are staying out of the way. Arrive at the park building cold but with plenty to burn. Notice there are two big benches that I can breakdown for 2 cloth each. Break one down. Bed.

Indeed @Hotzn and I believe its one of the longest ropes with a ledge 2/3 of the way up. Some serious arrows down.

@Hotzn @Drifter Man Welcome news indeed. However. This new information likely means there's never a Bedroll in the Ravine (I'd happyiky be wrong on that) Thus, my quandary remains: setting out from the Ravine floor or Lookout still leaves me too far to travel with no guaranteed outdoor bed. However, over on @Drifter Man's Snowballs thread a plan is hatching: there are numerous outdoor beds on route to HRV and it would seem a guaranteed Bedroll. Aha! Yes!? No?! And I thought MT was the last place I wanted to go. Oh the irony: avoiding the indoors and avoiding the one area with zero indoors! It was all so simple!

@Hotzn I meant not to cast dispersions on your counsel, indeed its seems we are both shy a trip to Ravine of late. Anyone else know whats down there these days?

Thanks @Hotzn @ruvuwana @Drifter Man @FunkyFuggerson. The hatchet was just dumb force of habit, it's too heavy, I just carry a knife. (Singular!) Appricate @Timber Wolf's weapon research. Bottom of the Ravine with no Bedroll is, I suspect, a one way trip. Five cloth for a Snow Shelter is a long shot. Got to hit TWM somehow. Got to do it without walking into situations where I'm only surviving if that essential item is there. Where else is there an outdoor bed? Doesn't the ruined church at Milton have one? I might be able to make that and I think a Bedroll can spawn at the park. Could hit the plane after that. But it's all the wrong direction. I think I can hit Marsh Ridge and back to Lookout in one day so that's my next attempt. Kick self as I spawned near there and didn't check it. This Outloper may just have to die searching CH for cloth at night :-)

Day 4 Hard choices: venison with hot rosehip tea for breakfast. Low on wood, need to move. Thick cold fog outside but can't wait here for a blizzard to hit. Do I search for a bedroll at over at Marsh ridge or in ML? Decide route to ML has far lower wolf risk. Head out with brand/torch, aim to cross via high blind. Get turned around in the fog, should be at the bling by now. Cross my own steps, torch dies. (In no other game does this happen. Awesome!) Eventually hit rails but way off course, right in the middle of FM. Nervously pass through the bear patrol then all the way to ML forestry lookout without issue. Freezing, decide to sleep 2 hours to warm/rest up. Weather worsens, bedroll hunting is out. Opt to quickly hit the destroyed lookout via a shortcut down the steep terrain in-between. Sprain wrist and ankle decending.. and now a blizzard seems immenent. Limp straight back to the lookout. Venison, bed. Day 5 Beautiful view from the Lookout but it's snowing. Eat some venison and do some reading. Snow stops, head out to the fishing huts. Find some cloth, a flare and dodge a bear but no bedroll. Cold now. Hopes pinned on the hunters blind near Alan's Cave. Maybe build a fire there to warm up. Head up the stream, creep past a growling wolf before a bunny takes it's attention. The hunters blind has... nothing. This is bad. Wind is picking up. More snow in the air. I need to warm up but if a blizzard hits I'll end up just as cold and my clothes will take a beating. Head straight back to Lookout. 35% condition. Day over. So what now?: Return to FM hoping the Bedroll is on Marsh Ridge or press on to Ravine> CH>PV>TWM hoping for a Bedroll or cloth for a snow shelter?

@Jolan ooo, which ledge is this?

@SneakySquid @Drifter Man @Jolan @Hotzn @FunkyFuggerson @Cr41g @Mixxut @Riotintheair thanks for the interest / comments / advice. As some note, the game's technical definition of 'indoors' includes some areas I'm calling in-play. I'll screenshot some stuff (when I remember! The imers) Day 2 Fire is still going, heavy hammer is here and a piece of cloth. It hits me cloth is going to be like gold dust. While bunny cooks, smash some furniture (now love the new cooking mechanic). Hammer in hand, head for FM. Hacksaw at high blind. The wolf absence on the journey is explained by the furry welcoming party at the Old Spence Homestead. Manage to sneak in and get the forge going first time. One wolf keeps walking right up to the shelter. Hmm. Find Hoody, safe has Mackinaw (whoop!). Dine on catails and the homestead's complimentary dog food. Sleep with one eye on the wolf. Day 3 Rise early, Wolves still about. Forge knife. Harvest softshell for cloth. Forge hatchet. Regret trading the Softshell for hatchet. Sneak out looking for more scrap. Find more and another piece of cloth. Forge another knife then regret that too. If I don't find a bedroll, I'll need cloth for snow shelter on the way to TWM. Still wide awake. Noticed a deer earlier above the forge. Decide to chase it down to the wolves and they park it nicely bear to the forge. Build a fire to chase them off and harvest 8kgs. Dinner tastes good but my poor cloth choice dampens spirits. Bed. Try not to dream about bedrolls.

Please feel free to chip in advice, sympathy, critisim, whatever.. Outerloper - play interloper but never step foot in a man-made loading screen area. Trappers, Camp Office, Prepper's - nope. Mines allowed because you're not getting to PV via Carter Dam. Do-able? I'm finding out. Day 1 (..after a few false starts) Sunny morning at FM waterfall. Check shortwave tower with a wolf escort and get a tin opener and coffee. It's good, but clothes would be better. I'm heading for ML as I'm don't want to risk the FM forge having no hammer. The FM derailment / poachers hidout has a flare and softshell. I'll have fire tonight. Skirt a bear and I'm in ML, the wind blowing hard. I'm all kinds of freezing and head straight for the lookout. On the way grab a bunny and then luck out big - a body in my path has matches. Make the lookout, light a fire with the flare (cos I'm not wasting 4 matches..). Pop out for more but immediately sprain wrist and ankle. Return 6 sticks richer. Water, food, Stoke up fire because there blizzard has arrived. Sleep till morning.

If no one sees a stick fall in the forest... did it come from a torch?

I do largely agree with the Interloper views here. In defence of the current system, I would say that even lighting a fire with a match on a torch, I feel bad about using the match. However the brand mechanic seemed dodgy due to how long the brands lasted and how much heat they gave. It would be feasible to pull sticks from a fire that would be very easy to relight later - they just wouldn't look like a 'made' torch. Given a bit more maturity the game might resolve this. And die hard fans can always avoid this 'exploit'.

Adapting to nature's plot twists!

Bump! Barometer! Yes! I think it would be great. I don't know about Canada but they're common plac e in the UK. Younger that great interaction of tapping the face to jog the needle. It wouldn't break the weather as a rising / falling barometer suggest change but not to what. Now, if a player pays attention to wind direction and the Barometer then they could learn patterns, if these were in the weather system logic of course. For instance, a low pressure system coming in from continental (land) airmass will bring colder but drier conditions than one coming from a maritime (sea) air mass. With real metrological knowledge players could reverse engineering what the wider world is like around them. It's great depth but weather is, of course, still full of surprises. Essentially, for all that 'a change is coming' feeling, please add barometers!