Stone

Anecdotal sprain insights: Sprain likeliness increases with tiredness, encumbrance and how bad for your plans a sprain would be right now. Because dumb luck means a long steep hike can go smoothly while a bump in the road sprains an ankle, the best route is always the one where you carry rose-hip tea / painkillers. I've never sprained anything while crouching. Ironically, you can take on any terrain with no fear of sprain once you've sprained everything. You'd think those sprained ankles might hold you back but nope..!

Nice project wolf @Goodzilla! And congrats on your achievement! So.. any of your survivors get rescued? *Edit: I don't know where that 'wolf' came from in my post but it's the long dark so figures, I'll just leave it there ?

@TheEldritchGod congratulations! When would you say you felt over the 'hump'? I was thinking, one way of collaborating an adventure would be to take a short video of the daily log, switching quickly through the days. A viewer, with a pause button, can then see where you went, when, condition range, injuries, calories consumed... Alas it's not a full motion picture but simple measure that gives a good deal of insight. It works retrospectively too of course.

You can do it @Drifter Man! Unless of course you can't but where is the running certainty!

We survivors are a pretty honest bunch.

The guantlet has been thrown. Umm.. how exactly do you 'prove' you done this?

As Swanson says "Fish meat is basically a vegetable"

You can already jump. It can be hard to notice because its automatic and you get very little air time. For instance - stepping onto the deck outside a cabin? You actually jump. If only you had 3rd person you'd see that. You can get more air time if needed. Go somewhere high then walk to somewhere that instantly transitions to somewhere very low. A cliff would work. You'll do a huge jump. Trust me.

This thread... The Apex predator challenge: Kill every predator on the map of your choice (some harder than others). Not so fast, there are rules: Kit up all you like but... Kill all wolves via struggles Kill bears with bow/arrow but you must.. must.. let them maul you (you're the apex predator right, you don't run and hide) Thou shall not rest until all are dead (no sleeping mid mission) Have fun I really want to do this now. On interloper.

I recognise the torch thing, starvation, and cliff decent stuff are all unrealistic but I don't mind them. However, I understand why people don't like them and could deal with them changing. But to out these in context, how about we talk about balancing the amount of animals? There's so many! And they respawn so fast! Hearing many player accounts it seems they could grow fat on wolf meat alone. Anyone feel that's needs changing?

I don't think rabbit hunting is too easy except on the easier game modes (which are too easy). When you've perfected rabbit hunting it still takes time, precious outdoor time and heat, and the calories at the end aren't great. Learning to stone them takes some practice but it's still entry level hunting. Players need that option early game, especially if there aren't many free calories about.

Hi HL, you recently said 'we'll never let you build your own house'. Players can build a structure - the snow shelter - do the team have any desire to extend this to a more robust shelter akin to first nation shelters used in similar cold environments?

Mystery lake welcoming party Getting frostbite THAT close to shelter... Moments before 'not' climbing the rope... the wolf has it all planned...

Thanks @cullam - its foolhardiness more than bravery I think!

@MrWolf it a horrible feeling - did you also feel a strange moment of detachment? Like a subtle, mid-fall transition of thought from "oh no, I'M falling" to "well, YOU'RE about to die". Maybe its just me and self preservation kicking in..

Thanks @Mixxut @Senauer @Drifter Man - if you have problems with immersion try this: when you reach the shelter door say "Locked, damn!". But do I know what you mean.

[Note, some screen shots to come - they're missing here due to upload issues] Day 15 | Condition 100% Peaking outside, its clear but windy. Want to head to MT but an interesting slope peaks my interest. A full warmth bar, nip across quickly to investigate. A frostbite warning appears. Wait.. no.. how the? Thats not a warning.. its a condition. Health Bar 10% red. Frostbite. Cursing I realise I've been carrying around frostbite risk pretty much since I got to HRV. With no gloves I'd been managing the last night in the cave apparently didn't clear the risk. It took less than a minute in the frigid morning wind. The safety net of a Bedroll has weakened my focus. But not my resolve. Warm up breifly in the cave, pack and head out. Hit a wall of brush, mountain goat around. Find the lonely cave. Make a fire, warm up. Take a few torches, head for the cave out. Through the cave, heading for the pond/cave above Milton via the gulley connecting it to the bridge. Startle a deer that happens to run into a wolf. Stop to fire/scare wolf off the carcass and harvest. Take another torch, reach the cave without incident. Lovely view. Boil water. Eat. The frostbite takes the shine off Bedroll time. Day 15 | Condition 90% Aiming to reach the ML forestry lookout today. Wait till the day warms up a bit. The good view of the woodlot below contains no wolves so, figuring they're all in Milton, mountain goat down the cliff. Sprain ankle. Take painkillers. Check the prison bus. Nothing. Avoid the Orca station, reach the rope and decend. Freezing again now. Chase a bunny into the wolf thats blocking the path. Light a fire in the cave before the climb. Drop the bedroll, put water on, sleep 1 hour. Packup, head for the rope up. Good energy makes it an easy climb. Weather holding. River > Cave and back in ML. A greeting party is waiting. Have to go around a longer route. The wind picks up. Frostbite risk returns. Head for the lookout using all possible wind blocks. Frostbite quickly passes 50%. Why not put the second pair of socks on my hands? Anyway... Reaching the foot of the Lookout's hill (frostbite 80%), a wolf barks. Its close and right in the way. Have to go the wrong way round the hill. (Frostbite 90%) NoNoNoNo SPRAIN ankle. WTF. Won't make the lookout. Nearest shelter is logging camp. Head down hill. Reach stove in shelter. Frostbite 98%. Light torch, start lighting fire. It must be too late but frostbite still hasn't hit. Shelter clearly makes a difference. Fire lit. Pile on wood and coal. Frostbite risk dropping. Snow in the wind. No Lookout for me. Drop the bedroll. Sleep 1 hour. Day 16 | Condition 90% Aiming to reach CH mine today. Weather is still awful. Burn what I can and eventually wind drops, and a few flakes of snow drift down. Head for the ravine. A wolf at the dam bridge is easily avoided. In the ravine, theres a deer just before the log crossing. Stop to light fire, warm up. I'm moving fast and have few sticks. Pile them on to get some warmth going. Immediately a wind picks up. Frostbite risk returns. Fire has minutes left. Not good. Cross the ravine. Grab a few sticks as they appear. There isn't enough wood about to stay the night without spending time out in this weather and getting frostbite. Press on. Cross the bridge. Through the tunnel. There wind is strong and flecked with snow. Start a fire in the tunnel mouth. Head some tea. Rest 1 hour on the bedroll to warm up. Wakr up warm but outsite the tunnel the blizzard has returned. Frostbite risk at 4%. The CH mine is safe and warm. Fire is almost out. Reflecting on this, I see that not reaching the Lookout and getting caught by last night's blizzard ate my fire supplies. To play it safe, the Ravine cave might have allowed me to restock but sitting out a blizzard there takes wood too and as I past it, the weather was ok (and I hoped, having had a blizzard overnight, another wouldn't be hot on its heals). Can't stay in the tunnel. Take a torch for the brief sheltered walk in the rail cutting then break into a sprint into the maelstrom of ice and noise. Sprint between wind shelter as much as possible but the route is open and, well, its blizzard! Frostbite risk soars higher but I'm getting further and further. The mine entrance is seconds away. Then this: -20% max condition. But still, this adds character right? And his is Outerloper. This is the price. Once I'm looking down from TWM, I'll be golden. Still. This was avoidable. Its that bedroll over-confidence. The mine has simple tools, another hacksaw and lots of coal. Make camp at the PV end. Finish off the moose. Bed. Day 17 | Condition 80%. Mountaineers hut today. Another short blizzard blows through first thing. Its maybe 2pm when I set out, one arrow down out of the wind. Stay to the right edge of the area. Dodgy a wolf. Cold as I approach the cave on the slope up to TWM's rope access. Outside the cave is a deer carcass. Light a fire in the lee of a tree and the slope. Boil water, carve and cook deer. Wind is blowing a little but seems the fire is well protected. Sleep an hour while the meat cooks. Ready for the climb now. Have to dogde another wolf, a little less easy this time. It follows me towards the rope but I'm not stopping. Reach the first ledge easily. And this is one of those 'photos taken moments before tragedy'. From that ledge I stood ready to climb the rope: looking up the rope, about to grab it. I then had to step away from the game and, on returning, I assumed I was 'on' the rope. So I pressed 'forward' to continue climbing. But I'm not holding the rope. I'm falling. And that fall is a killer. (I bet that wolf couldn't believe its luck!) So there ends this Outerloper adventure. I'm sorry that my carelessness cut it short. I'm gutted as, despite the frostbite, the game was coming back under control and the TWM acsent was going to be exciting - as was a hatchet wielding return to HRV. I'd would recommend the challenge of Outerloper. The beds do exist to move between HRV, MT, ML, FM. A bedroll is needed for PV and CH and the only place you can find one in CH is scruffy's cave (!). With fewer resources and options the pressure to move is constant. Thanks for the support! See you on the next adventure!

Day 14 | Condition 97% Cook more moose, boil some water, scavenge sticks in between. Its mid afternoon before the weather is good enough to set out. Find no other way down but the cave up and nothing of interest. Use the cave to drop a level then exit and cross open ground to the other cave. A wolf spots me, approaches by going behind a snow mound and then howls as the prey has 'disappeared'. Not the smartest, if only they all did that. Into the other cave system. Then: !#%£$!backupbackupbackuprunrun having traversed this cave once, this wolf trotting from the shadows is a horrific twist. The echoing growl seems all around. Circle round to the alternative tunnel - at least I know the wolf is in one of two possible routes. Taking the other, reach the main tunnel route again and hold my breath until the cave rope is climbed up a wolf proof (?!) ledge. Enough excitement for one day. Near the top exit now. Its Bedroll Time.

@Mixxut - mountaineer's hut is in (no loading as you say). Day 13 | Nothing like the feeling of waking up warm on your own bedroll New ski jacket is a further win. Plan today: see where the caves lead. Finish reading 'survive the outdoors' to let the day warm out a bit. Looking good, but cold hands still: The cave last cave exit leaves us high on the far end of the side we entered on. Figure heading right of the cave will lead back to the exit to MT. Head back down through the cave and out beneath the signal fire. No apparent way up. Starting to freeze in an icy wind, head into the first (wet) cave. Head 'up' through an glowing blue hall, up a rope and out into calmer weather. Seems the signal fire is just past a hill to the right but no safe route in can be found (Hatcheeet!) Keep moving higher overlooking the river valley floor. Squeeze through a gap. Seemingly reaching the far corner of HRV. Pass a secluded cave.. and then hit the mother load. Moose. Dead Moose. (This is what I though @Drifter Man had met with) See the day out carving and cooking steaks by the fire. Leave plenty on the carcass. Plan to spend no more than one more day in HRV before heading towards TWM so want to stay light. The evening turns towards blizzard. Relocate the fire to the cave. Its Bedroll Time.

Thanks @Drifter Man @Mixxut @Hotzn and everyone else who has chipped in thus far. So Day 12 ended exhausted but happy to finally crash on a bedroll. But trouble is ahead. Global temperatures are dropping. I've a few skins to my name, haven't started a bow and still no gloves (@Drifter Man remarked on good time made travelling in this run and, indeed, frostbite is a bigger threat in cold/wind conditions than hypothermia so it shows I've been gifted/keeping to good, afternoon weather for travel). So whats next? TWM is now viable but HRV is here to explore. That signal fire could be sirens call... Choices, choices!?

"You have faded into the long dark".. are the words I'm now waiting for as the black screen hangs and hangs. And then daylight returns! Alive, the temp bar is down to 15% and one arrow down. This is quite remarkable and all thought of breaking down the snow shelter is banished. The wonder is short lived as the 'Interloper training' takes over. Its freezing out. Start fire, boil water, gather sticks and bunny, cook bun.. wind shifts and knocks out the fire. Start fire in a different sheltered spot. Cook bunn.. the wind shift again.. drip fed the fire sticks until the wind settles and bunny is cooked and eaten. Today I continue to try to follow @Drifter Man's directions to a cave filled with bedrolls. And possibly wolves. Head down hill from Cloud Top Falls keeping left. Find a body which gifts me an ear wrap Eventually reach Hushed River and follow it. This is a long route and I'm freezing and burning condition with no idea how much further to go. At Reclusive Falls a wolf is seen ahead, blocking the river path. The falls however open to a cave - not the cave I've been directed to - but I enter, paying the admission price of a dash through its ice cold waters. Wet now. Start a fire inside the ice cave, take of wet clothes and dry them by the fire. Cook some bunnies gathered on route. Warm again, take a torch but soon find another water fall in the cave. Take clothes off, throw torch (unsuccessfully) 'around' the water, get soaked, put clothes on again. Hope I don't need to turn back and really hope I don't bump into a wolf. Oh. Relief. Confident now, search for a bedroll without success. Peaking out of the first exit I found, maybe I can find the river again and get back on track. Trying not to panic as I have no bedroll, the day is late and the journey back to the snow shelter is long and barred by soaking waterfalls. Whats this? Smoke rises close ahead a top a not-too-high cliff. Approach, crossing a log and find another cave. The slope up the cliff towards the smoke is barred by brush guess who crafted a hatchet and didn't bring it. Yup. Try the new cave. Worried this one may have a wolf, more worried it will have no bedroll. Then a shape appears in the torch light.

Day 11 Condition 94% HRV day. The howling wind at dawn turns to a breeze light enough to permit a torch, but cold enough to near freeze me in the time it burns. Exit cave. throw torch up the stepped climb out and light a fire by the plane to warm up. Wind drops, it's clear, just two arrows down. Down hot tea and head on for HRV. Through the cave, turn the corner on to the road and nearly walk into the bridge bear. back up and crouch on a wind protected ledge. It's cold and hes intent on blocking the road. Dash for car, he stands up to charge me but thankfully no one locks their cars so I safely make the passenger seat. Bear returns to its cave, slip away, over the bridge, dodge a wolf and find the cave to HRV. Pop a flare which still has plenty of life when I exit. @Drifter Man has provided a welcome route suggestion. Turn left and start hunting for a snow shelter that (might be there). Start to panic when I reach a large lake and still can't find it. Double back to check but then spot it hidden behind brush by the first fall. Find another hacksaw, good condition toque, and pork and beans. Great the fire going with the flare. Warm up. Gather wood and a bunny. Cook, eat. Bed? The wind is blowing but my fire seems ok. Sleep for 2 hours. Wake to worsening weather. Fire is out but shelter is still oddly warm. Sleep another hour. Outside a blizzard is raging but i'm still totally warm. Is this a magic Shelter? Condition 75%. Rashly (because the lack of Bedroll is making me a bit crazy) I decide to put my head down and sleep for 8 hours in the magic Shelter...

Day 10 | Condition 92%. I want to head to HRV but don't know where or if I'll find a bed at the other end. Want to travel after mid day when it's warming up but need good weather. It's clear now but too cold. By Midday its windy. The travel window passes so I set about collecting wood. The wind drops enough to method break down crates around the crash site. Get a fire going. Snow starts. Keep gathering wood until I'm freezing but have enough for the night. No loot in the crates ☹️ Eat some venison, stoke the fire, bed.

Day 9 | Condition 81%. Wake early to light snow. 30mins of fire left, but all local fuel was harvested yesterday. Plan today: Farm > Chruch > Plane crash. Camp at the Church if needed. Decide to grab a torch and run for the farm. Grab sticks enroute and make the fire barrel with enough torch to light it on the 2nd attempt. Scavenge more sticks to get the fire hot but can't resist stoning two bunnies despite my temp redlining. Its still early and freezing; takes 20 sticks to get two arrows from the fire. Harvest and cook both rabbits. Search of the area turns up a rope (for MB access) and nothing else. Warm again, take a torch and head for the Church. Snow stops. Now just 1 bar down now when out of the wind with the torch. Pause while a wolf passes in the distance. Flank around the left of the Church and see a wolf behind it on the pond. "Bark!" but its not the pond wolf. Nothing behind me so back up. Ahha, a wolf appears from the Church porch. Try to lead this Wolf 2 in a circle round to the woodlot side and a bunny. Bunny is uncooperative. Another "Bark!" from a new direction. And now a growl. Wolf 3. Wolf 3 is guarding its fresh bunny kill on the road. Head between them, straight for the Church hoping Wolf 1 is elsewhere. Discover (as someone pointed out before I posted this) that the Church is an indoor-loading-screen area. ...Damn. Angry at myself but oddly calm about wolves. Wolf 1 isn't out the back so pass the Church, head up the hill then back to the road with no sign of Wolf 2. I'm temp bar 1/3, gotta push on. Quick stop in a car on the bridge to 'let' the bear pass. Cold by the time I hit the cave system to the plane area. Grab some coal, wood and a dusty can of tomato soup.in the cave. Get down to the bunny pond freezing. Theres a wolf blocking the plane path and a dead deer by the pond.. Light a fire by the deer. Warm up, stone a few bunnies, cook rabbit and venison. Wolf comes/runs away a few times. Snow starts and wind picks up putting my fire out. Getting late, head for the plane. Wolf has magically vanished. The crash site has a stim, some wood but thats it. Proper gale as I cross the log to the cave. Make camp, fire, a little water, eat, bed | Condition 63%.

@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.