Stone

Reading gun books on Interloper?

...unless you consider the victim's welfare in which case is causes horrific pain and suffering. But it seems like they would be around. Unless the forest talkers have removed them all

Some nice suggestions, some a little scary (death by timberwolf army!) What do people think about this: late game improvements should ultimately be about extending the wonderful early/mid game dynamics indefinitely. I suggest this because the community largely likes the way things are but just wants more purpose when they've done everything and the game challenge drops away. Personally, I'd say that means anything that requires they player to travel and, in doing so, re-introduces the challenges that came with that earlier in the game. Late game players are very well equipped so that challenge probably needs to force decisions and loss of gear. Something I thought could do this would be other survivors passing through that are in need of help. They could simply appear at an indoor location (hinted at by putting up a flare). They'd then require a challenging shopping list of assistance - maybe they need supplies and full set of outer clothing to be on their way. Once you gather that stuff, nothing fancy needs to happen, they can simply despawn when you're away/sleeping. They could thank you with a small but un-craftable reward. And of course the players 'other survivors helped' count goes up one. 😄

Map knowledge is a huge help. @GreenWind I think, once you've got the hang of it, it becomes too easy - the difficulty drops. If you don't want to try custom settings, try the Zero challenge - Interloper but spend 0 hours indoors ;O)

After a few exciting days of near death dilemmas, day five calls for some recovery. And crafting. Stoke fire, hacksaw up some shelving. I've got enough coal but scrap is limited. Settle on crafting 1 knife and 6 arrow heads. Day six comes with condition back above 50% with some warming birch bark tea to boost that further. The confident feeling of a knife in one hand, torch in the other, make a plan to hit Milton. Head out over the at mid-afternoon keg, aiming to reach the marsh ridge outdoor cave by late evening. Stop, just past the tracks for a warming fire by a dead deer, the knife serving up steaks for the fire quickly . Eat. Feel good. Sticks are essential so head up the bank at the side of the picking up a few shrooms on the way as the sunsets. The moon rises with the Aurora. Hmm... keep stick hunting, spot an abandoned camp, fail to spot a wolf. Its already charging. We dance briefly, it running a tight circle around me, may be I can pull my flare gun...nope. I've a knife for the struggle but click as I might it feels like it won't end... then the wolf flees. 15% condition. 14% quickly patch a cut. 10%. Wounds cleanly dressed. One sprain. Wait... I'm freezing!? Where are my pants!? The wolf has eliminated my jeans. Stumbling now, naked at the waist, condition keeps dropping. In the slight shelter of the rock arch beneath the ridge I make a fire. Pile on sticks. Warm up a bit but this is dire. 4% condition. My clothes have been trashed. Nip out for more sticks but warmth evaporates and I get back with just six more, freezing again. Put all but 1 on the fire. Sleep for as long as possible hoping the wind leaves the fire alone. Wake, still alive, fire still has some time. I'm fine for food and water but its early morning, still too cold even for those with trousers. Make one vital repair to clothing. Have a hot drink then zip to the low blind and abandoned camp. No sign of the wolf but find some useful firewood and a soda. Head back to the fire. More wood on. Sleep another few hours and hope the weather lets me travel when I wake. It remains cold but clear with no wind. Another day of move or die! Down a hot drink, pull a few torches then head for the waterfall. My condition is still bad. The hot drink helps but cold quickly bites. Try a irrational/desperate shortcut up to Marsh Ridge just gets me a bunch of sprains. Eventually haul my self up from the top of the waterfall and throw down another fire at 5% condition. Slightly sheltered with a few hours on the fire I sleep again. Another hot drink, head on to the outdoor cave. A Moose scares the crap out of me but I back away in time. Even if I could down it with the flare gun, I'm in no state to make use of it. Last afternoon, the weather is decent. The outdoor cave has a fire-skill book and cereal bar. This should have been camp last night. Head on instead for Milton Basin. Hunt sticks, reach hermit's cabin, fire, warm, kill a few bunnies, more sticks, sleep. Wake with time on the fire. Cook bunnies, plan Milton approach. Despite the horrific wolf/clothing issues I've slept a lot and my plan is to reach the rope climbs with maximum energy to minimize the drain from the climb. Hot drink, leave the ruined cabin for the rope. Opportunity knocks. A wolf brings a deer down on the ice nearby. I can't resist. Scare it off lighting a fire and proceed to harvest the whole thing, cooking as I go. Food is covered for the rest of this round trip to Milton. Leave some uncooked steaks on the ice for the return. Climb the first rope. Warming fire and quite sleep in the cave mouth then a hot drink and up the 2nd rope. The wind comes up, which sucks but make it across town largely sheltered with the hot drink working its magic an no wolf issues. Make fire and camp in the radio tower cave. Kill some bunnies, collect some sticks. Hours indoors: 0... but I really need some new clothes.

Just a random idea after hearing people's falling off trestle bridge woes. There are some place in the game where falling is instant death. In these places, instead of a instant fall could this trigger a sort of struggle: as if the survivor had begun to fall, turned, grabbed hold and tried to climb back up. This would be like a wolf struggle crossed with a rope climb - click fast to climb before the energy bar empties and you fall. A tired survivor would likely fall, a wide awake one should survive and return to the spot before falling. Just a thought. Could make for some excitement! 😁

They're like buses. I believe they move about so you can just be unlucky and miss them. If I'm after moose I usually just hunt ML or Milton basin/marsh ridge. But patience is needed.

After your first fire, pull a torch and always keep one with you the light a fire. That way your one match always lights the torch and you can use the torch to light the fire multiple times. Going up the mountain I recommend coal, teas and coffee. Never climb a rope with less than 50% energy. Ideally have much more and drink half a coffee before climbing. Don't run, save your energy for climbing. Good luck!

I'm glad I'm not alone in wanting snow shelters (or some simple sort of self build) to have a more meaningful role. They are highly situational currently and, as @jeffpeng points out, somewhat redundant once you enevitably have a hot sheltered fire next to one. In the game they're so rarely ever necessary it's pointless. I'd be in favour of a more robust shelter - one perhaps that was safe and warm enough to be usable without a fire. However, that would be best introduced with a game mode that makes them a necessary tool in the survivor arsenal. For me that would me a more with less shelters. I.e. Interloper but lock the player out of most buildings.

Skip stalker. To many wolves. Hit Interloper. I only lasted 17 days on voyager. It felt like a hunting holiday by that point so I quit for Interloper. Go challenge yourself. Epic stories of defeat and victory await you.

I second the suggestions for a large forest area. Somewhere with minimal man made shelters and few caves (maybe none of either) that gives an proper 'into the woods' vibe. This would make navigation and shelter the main challenge but with plenty of wood and Knolls, fallen trees etc for sheltered fires. Poor sightlines would favour having few predators. I like the suggestions for a few clearings or shallow ponds, maybe some streams. Just a simple wild area. Hushed river is great but it's so busy, with so many hazards, it always feels quite stressful - why would a survivor risk hanging around there! I think it would work well linking the hunting lodge end of broken railroad to the monolith lake end of hushed river. Those areas feel a bit too out of the way at the moment.

Camp office. It's just easy going. ML has decent weather, easy to find or avoid wildlife and everything nearby. The Forlorn Muskege is close which I think is the most overlooked zone in the game.

@odizzido indeed, its tricky. While i know a bit about wolf mechanics I couldn't speak to the precise issues. However the ambush risk would be huge which is why it might be best to minimize predators (perhaps only for stalker mode), and or keep them to one area that a bit clearer for visibility. I like @Lone Trekker's suggestion that it would be a good transition zone. Maybe a large zone where the main risk is you could get 'turned around'. Making it a transition would better give it that purpose.

I wish there was an untouched forest zone. No human shelters or caves. Just a large forested area with naturally occuring shelters, lots of wood and game but few wolves. Maybe some rivers, clearings and lots of natural shelters such as fallen trees and rocks creating nooks out of the wind and weather for the observant survivor. A zone to challenge navigation and independence from 'warm' retreats. Somewhere you can tend a fire, hunt and pretend the quite apocalypse was just a bad dream...

Go.. to the menu, new game, Interloper. Then report back 😁

I really like the idea. Mainly because it makes having a fire indoors worthwhile (on loper, wood/fires last much longer out in the cold). I suppose weather would factor too - blizzards blowing in drafts through any little gaps.

Once there is no risk to take risks it does the only risk left is tedium. Late game for my current game is living in in ML broken up by camping trips in HRV and fishing in CH.

Don't try walking off where the rope is without using the rope itself. I've done that. By mistake. It ended badly.

I suppose if your main issue @upnorth is that hypothermia risk isn't severe enough, I'd say firstly: it's a risk, not hypothermia itself. Secondly, and more generally, the 'proper' mechanics are arguably on display in Interloper. Yes, you can move pretty well encumbered but it has its impacts which work pretty well with the games other mechanics. I don't ever feel I'm carrying an unrealistic amount of weight. More an unrealistic volume. I mean 80 sticks... How am I carrying that without a back pack?

A torch in hand is worth three (sticks) in the fire. Add a stick to a fire and it gives the fire a 1 degree heat bonus. Take a torch and you get -1 degree from the fire but +3 from the torch.

Beware the maple syrup.

Yeah, it sucks, but that would kinda make all clothing technically indestructible. If it made you feel better about it the devs could, instead of having wolves ruin your clothes, have them eat such pieces whole. Nom Nom. No more socks.

Well, I do find Will more annoying over time. Sorry Will.

Yeah not to bring you down @Bulhi but as @k0s0ff says, if you make it easier it's actually less interesting. The booking thing sure is an original thought though! If could be said that TLD starts out by forcing you to take risks (exciting) and evolves to inviting you to take risks (still exciting) but then that invite to risk/reward dies away. So reigniting that risk taking seems what's needed.

Coop could work and timelapse, I think, isn't so hard to work with. You could only speed time up if everyone is time-lapsing. So you have to coordinate. To make that easier, you could both do certain tasks jointly to speed them up, such as harvesting. This topic often addresses what would or wouldn't work. But @Faye, @Mroz4k, what would you most enjoy about co-op or multiplayer? What's not there that would enhance that?