peteloud

I am surprised that you need to have a 'long burn' to produce 60 charcoal. I have found that normal play creates far more charcoal than I need.

I had a problem in that same area. Ice Hole provided the solution, Check out this link,

So what is the optimum approach to such a problem? Normally I am against seeking or giving spoilers but in this situation the solution seems not to be logical. In such a real situation I would take off my frozen/wet clothes, put them near a fire to melt/dry and get into a warm bedroll. This is what I did in the FM red carriage and it was a very bad way to remove the frostbite problem. It made it worse.

It is inconceivable that someone making a map of the regions would not include the position of Prepper Caches on the maps. I have played many games and have a number of active games at any time, therefore I can never remember where I found caches in a particular game. (Of course I could make a note in my journal about it, but I never think of that at the time, In fact, I have only ever made a note once in all the games that I played). I wish that we could add a marker for the caches on the map.

I have just had a close encounter with The Long Dark. (Stalker, 800+ game days). I was out in FM, shot a bear with bow & arrow and went to get the hide. I found the bear, skinned it and set out to return to the red railway carriage. En route I fell through the ice when trying to avoid a wolf. Everything below the waist was was completely soaked, and my warmth gauge went all read. I immediately raced back to the red carriage to warm up. I had previously suffered two permanent impairments from frostbite. I could see two frostbite warnings and frostbite developing. I was aware that if I didn't warm up quickly I'd be in serious trouble. I got back to the carriage, stripped off my frozen trousers, boots & socks and got into my bearskin bedroll. I soon started to warm up and my warmth gauge went from red and on up to full normal warmth. However I still had frostbite developing in spite of being fully warm. Over the next 12-24 hours, I'm not sure of the exact details, I continued to develop frostbite until I suffered two more permanent impairments and still had two frostbite warnings. I was surprised that it turned out like this. In the past, the few falls through the ice that I have had were soon cleared without much problem. Is this the normal progress of frostbite? This brought up another question. Is it better to get into your bedroll wearing wet or frozen clothes, or better to take off the wet/frozen clothes? Do wet and/or frozen clothes have a positive or negative warmth contribution?

That is an interesting analysis. I was aware of these benefits but had never got around to putting them down so clearly. What about Birch Bark Tea? That seems similar to tea, but I've not checked systematically.

I have just had a strange incident in HRV. It is a 800 days Stalker game. I was wandering around HRV looking for birch saplings and stopped at the cave in the top left corner of the map. While there the local bear appeared. I shot him with an arrow when he was still quite distant. I hit and he ran off to bleed out. I slept for 4 hours then went out look for the carcass. I made a point of leaving my standard bedroll, 90+% condition in the cave because it was the only bedroll I had in HRV and didn't want to risk it being damaged or destroyed if I was attacked by a wolf. I found the bear took his hide and a reasonable load of meat then started to return. A wolf sprang on me, without any significant warning and chewed me up a bit. As I walked back to the cave I thought that I'd better check that I wasn't carrying my bedroll, sure enough I was not. When I got back to the cave my bedroll was lying on the cave floor as expected. But it was completely ruined. Only an hour or two before it was well over 90% condition, and it hadn't left the cave.

I suspect that the darkness in some interiors is a technical issue and not part of the game. The are many interiors where there is no reason for the place to be dark. Experienced players might be able to find their way around, but that is not the point. This is a technical issue which should be resolved.

I have recently returned to HRV in a Stalker game at 750+ days and I find it stressful. I seem to have picked up most of the birch saplings in other areas so needed to go there to search for birch saplings for arrows. I had a pleasant surprise, a rare occurrence in HRV at Stalker. I normally travel around HRV in a clockwise direction from the entrance cave so that I can provision a couple of the caves that I use as bases. This time I changed my routine, went straight ahead then climbed the first rope that I found. In the past I'd always been overloaded when I found that rope so didn't climb it. Then in no time at all I found the moose backpack. In the past finding that quite a problem. This is one of the clever aspects of this game. I have played a great many games days and feel that I know most regions, but I still have surprises and find obvious things that I have missed in previous games.

Just being able to create a hole in the ice for fishing, without a shelter, would useful. It would be much simpler to incorporate into the game. Such fishing could be dangerously cold in poor weather. It could be good for getting food but invaluable for getting lamp oil.

The Whiteberry maps are very good. When I first found them I thought them fantastic. But I very soon found that the benefits from them spoiled the game. The game is supposed to be the adventure of a pilot lost in a unknown frozen wilderness and having to survive. The maps shown you where to find things and where there is shelter. It changes the essence of the game. It takes away the adventure, the risk and the suspense away. The excitement of the game is greater without the benefits of the maps, or other information gained from reading about the game.

Irgum, " Hoard everything of course!" I presume that you play at Pilgrim level, or easier. I prefer to treat TLD as a game about survival in harsh conditions rather than a warehouse-stocking game.

I was disappointed with my bearskin bedroll when it was just as easily destroyed as a normal bedroll in a wolf/bear attack. I had expected it to be more resistant to these attacks.

To put these finds of lots of rifles and loads of good clothing into perspective we need to know at what level you playing.

I am having exactly the same experience and puzzlement. I can hardly get out of Mountaineers Hut because of wolves on the ice.

That's interesting. In an old, not very old, 1001 day Voyager game I get 100% and have only 245 locations. I thought that I had mapped the entire game. There was one location with which there was a bug, probably sorted out by now. I wonder how I managed to miss some locations. Have additional locations been added in the latest versions of TLD?

For a second time in 2-3 days I accidentally ate some raw meat, (with level 5 cooking). It was ruined rabbit this time. It all happened so quickly I can't be certain exactly what happened, but I'm fairly sure that I did not get a "Eating this raw item could make you sick. Continue?". I shall deliberately do it again to check. . . . . . Nope! I did not get that message. I found a piece of ruined uncooked rabbit and ate it. After clicking on the piece of rabbit I got this but automatically clicked on the "EAT" button, then went into the Food Poisoning state.

I have needed reishi mushrooms for intestinal parasites in spite of having level 5 cooking.

Yesterday I returned to TLD after several weeks of not playing it. It was a Stalker game at around 450 game days. I had level 5 cooking skills but still got intestinal parasites when I inadvertently ate some raw meat. What a hassle it was. I had hardly any antibiotics or reshi mushrooms. At around 450 games days, I had already picked and used most mushrooms so finding more was big a problem. This was made worse because I was out at Desolation Point. I was saved by finding a few deep down in the Ravine. Inadvertently eating raw meat is easily done. It is too easy to accidentally click on a raw meat icon instead of a cooked meat icon. I have done it a few times but usually intestinal parasites don't develop after a single treatment antibiotics or reshi soup. It would be better if there was a message saying, "Do you really want to eat this raw meat?", before proceeding.

ManicManiac It is interesting that you travel as light as possible on summit ascents. I usually do the opposite and take along a full load of reserves. Sometimes I need a lot of reserves, usually on early attempts. As I progress I like to hunt deer and collect wood & sticks and leave all caves, and other critical places, stocked with supplies, so that on subsequent ascents I don't have to carry so much. I make sure that I have a spare bedroll somewhere en route in case the bedroll I am carrying is destroyed in a wolf or bear attack. However I have often suspected that a lightweight push for the summit in good weather might be a better strategy. If you leave the Mountaineers Hut early, in good weather, carrying minimal supplies, can you get to the summit in one day? (My comments are for playing at Voyager or Stalker level, I presume that at Pilgrim level it is like walking through a supermarket.)

There are two places where there is usually a bear that is very easy to kill, with a place to pop into to avoid a mauling if you only would the bear. There is a place where I often find a moose that is easily and safely killed, although it can take quite a time as it rushes off and only slowly wanders back if you only wound it. I won't spoil your game by saying where they are.

My advice is to leave the guns at base, because they do almost nothing that a bow and arrows can't do, and they weigh a great deal. You would save a load of weight therefore you would be able to move faster, be able to carry more food, and other supplies, and bring down from TWM more of the interesting resources that you might find in the crashed aircraft. Make a load more arrow heads while in DP, and take a dozen with you, as well as your dozen arrows.

Poor illumination inside buildings is the aspect of the game that irritates me most. OK, there might be workarounds, you can use a lamp or torch, or you might even know the layout of the building and be able to get around in very low light, but that is not the point. The level of illumination inside buildings is not good. I have just been playing an Assassin's Creed game, and there is no problem with interior illumination. TLD has some very good lighting effects. I like it when the sun streams through a window into a room, but often the rest of the room is unacceptably dark. The illumination given by a fire often gives the room a cosy atmosphere. I assume that lighting a room in such a way with Unity is quite a complex issue. Whatever, this is an issue which needs fixing.

Completely map every region, that is leave no black patches on your charcoal drawn maps. I think it is great task because it forces you to visit and explore everywhere. Don't do it in Pilgrim, that's too easy.

ThePancakeLady, Thanks for that. Many times I have checked the number of cairns that I have found but I have never clicked on 'Select' and seen the list of all the cairns found. I still wish that when I find a cairn for a second time that there was a indication that it had been previously found, by some sort of minor change to the cairn, colour or text, or that a little box came up saying already found. I am often amazed that how after playing TLD a great many game days I have still missed some very basic elements of the game. I wonder what other things I have missed.