ajb1978

Tough noogies. Do it yourself.

The hell of it is, it was originally my idea, so I have no one to blame here but myself! lol And actually, I have a new custom game going, which I've dubbed Pillageur. (Portmanteau of Pilgrim and Voyageur, but also I'm pillaging so it works on two levels.) The 4x time dilation on that save means I might even be able to pull this off with flashlights on an aurora night. It'll be tight, but if I'm efficient and really hustle, it might be possible. I'm in the middle of my cartography run and I hate to leave a task unfinished, so I might tackle the flashlight stunt in a week or so.

12 storm lanterns, 5 e-stims, 1 cup of coffee. Hightailed it to the Summit and took a picture, and even had time to mountain-goat back down in order to grab a few close-up screenshots before the lanterns went out.

Exactly. You can hit the summit with just 4 rope climbs. Start at Crystal lake, follow the river about halfway and there's a break in the cliffs to the right where you can walk up. There's a rope climb that leads to an engine. Past that to the north are two more that take you up near the summit, and then that one final long climb to the top. 4 stims should do the trick. Plus one more just to be safe. Edit: technically you can bypass that first rope too by taking the long way to the right, and up that steep footpath. But the rope is faster, and time would be at a premium.

Something I've been tempted to do, but can't bring myself to be this wasteful: Get a bunch of fully fueled storm lanterns (like 10 or so) and at least 1 e-stim per rope. Light them all and place them all over the place in the Mountaineer's Hut so that it's just a blinding beacon of light. Then bull rush the summit, e-stimming my way to the top, and see what that beacon-hut looks like from the summit. Or vice versa--light a ton of lanterns at the summit, then mountain goat down to ground level and view it from the hut.

Right smack in the middle of a total solar eclipse. (In actuality the graphics glitched temporarily while using charcoal. But the resemblance to the landscape during a total solar eclipse is uncanny.)

I've had boiled snow, although it was in a pot with a lid over an alcohol stove, vs. an actual campfire. The water had a kind of musty mineral flavor to it, which I chalk up to dust particles in the atmosphere that the crystals formed around. Boiled snow may be a preventive measure against microorganisms, but it does nothing for atmospheric pollutants. Ideally, melt the snow, charcoal filter it, then boil it.

If you don't look like this at the end of the day, can you really call yourself an explorer?

No question, just circling back on something from Mailbag 26. @JeremiahJohnson asked about adding thunderstorms to the game, to which you responded that you had not heard of thunderstorms in the winter. Well, thundersnow is definitely a thing! It's rare and requires rather specific conditions to occur, but it does happen. More frequently by the Great Lakes, but hypothetically there's nothing stopping it from happening over Vancouver Island...or Great Bear for that matter. And it's one heck of a wake up call, especially at night the way the lightning reflects off the falling snow. It's like a bomb going off in the sky.

If caught outside in a blizzard, take off your clothes. You're going to be dealing with 3 bars of cold anyway, may as well spare your clothes the storm damage.

The only time the game crashes on me is survivor mode, if I start having way too many objects in the area. I'm a bit of a hoarder, and once I get settled into a permanent location, I can easily end up with over 1000 sticks in one pile, dozens of cedar and fir in another, a big pile of coal in the corner, dozens of water bottles, etc. And even then it will only occur when I am making repeated trips indoors and outdoors, such as if I'm cooking up an entire moose or something, tossing cooked meat into the snow after putting 2 fresh steaks by the fireplace. Although in that case, there is a weird symptom that precedes it. The two pieces of meat that I just cooked, one of them will somehow instantly be 0% ruined when I go to drop it in the snow. When that happens, I know my next area transition will crash the game, so I can pre-emptively restart.

It's outside, but tacked onto the hunting lodge. Search during daylight or with a lantern lit--it's rather difficult to spot at night unless you know exactly where to look. And again, this particular note will not contain the code, but it sets you onto a side quest which will result in you obtaining it.

Without giving away the total solution, there is a note posted outside the Hunting Lodge somewhere. That note doesn't contain the code, but it will set you on the path.

Hank's hatch doesn't require the aurora, it's just a combination lock like a safe. There is a second hatch in Forlorn Muskeg that does require an aurora however, but that isn't Hank's. Head back to Broken Railroad and search for all the hidden supply caches--you'll find what you need.

Without giving it away, I will say be sure to thoroughly search every interior location for notes and books. The side quests are mostly initiated by finding a note or skill book. The hatch no longer belongs to Jeremiah, and the quest instead starts by finding a note with the hatch code on it.

The abrupt eviction was a bit jarring, but fits the narrative. Jeremiah is a hermit by choice, and as soon as the mutual need is resolved, he wants his life (and his privacy) back. But I mean he lets you keep the rifle. So that's pretty awesome of him.

I do hope this paves the way for more "moral dilemmas" like that in the future. Like in the old trailer, where you don't see it happen but it's heavily implied that Will killed someone with a hatchet. Maybe being in that specific situation and having to make a choice completely in a vacuum whether or not to intervene. And generally, I like when these kinds of decisions affect the game, but not too much. Like avoiding any of this "oh you got the bad ending because you didn't save so and so". Just like...slightly different paths. For example, spare the prisoner, he eventually makes his way to the coastal highway, takes the supplies in the abandoned lookout, and places mountaineering ropes that offer a shortcut down from the lookout. Kill him, and those ropes aren't placed, but then the supplies remain in the lookout instead. Either way has an effect on the game, but neither is really a reward or punishment for making your choice.

I pulled the knife out, personally. And he probably won't survive anyway. That wound was deep, and probably pierced intestine. Untreated, that wound will become septic for sure, leading to a slow tortured decline in health, and a miserable end. So there's a rebranding on the moral dilemma. Push the knife in and grant a quick death, or pull it out and let him suffer.

Will and Jeremiah seem to talk about morphine a lot, and given that morphine never actually plays a role in the game at all, leads me to believe there is some subtext there. Was that intended to serve as a sort of anti-drug PSA? I mean for all the things they could be talking about, such as the risk of infection, possibly Jeremiah's injuries needing stitches, broken bones, etc. there seemed to be a disproportionately large amount of dialogue around morphine's addictive properties, and the euphoric side effects. I'm just wondering if you can provide context or backstory for that.

WOOHOO Congrats! And....omnomnomnomnomnom

That is odd. I started three separate games, and all three had a pumpkin pie there. Meh well at least you tried, that's got to count for something right?

Try the fishing hut between the Log Sort and the Coastal Townsite. Like smack in the middle, if you drew a line between the log sort and townsite, closest to the shore. I started a game as a test, and I don't know what compelled me to seek out that particular fishing hut, but it contained a pumpkin pie on my first try.

A bittersweet homecoming. I feel like I have concluded this survivor's story, but I kind of don't want to say goodbye. The first day was a mad rush to get as much done as possible. I was set for life, I could've just sat down and done nothing the rest of the game. Day 2, I kind of did just that. I went out, saw a few wolves, was like...nah, don't need to deal with that. Went back inside and waited out the clock. Day 3, I started to get paranoid, and began gathering firewood. Killed several wolves, one managed to jump me so I took him out in CQC. Good on you man, you got farther than any of the others. You actually managed to take a solid nip. Day 4, I left everything behind and ventured into the one remaining region I had not yet visited. Mostly catch-and-release looting, although I did take some ammo with me. And two pies, one of which I ate, the other which I saved as a collector's item. It's the principle of the thing. And now, I have returned to the main base, my clothing banged up a bit, but with a brand spankin' new moosehide cloak that I will never wear. Wondering what future adventures this survivor may have gotten up to, if 4DON were 10DON. Farewell my friend. I'm thankful I got to share your story, and wherever you go after this event concludes, I wish you the best.

I decided to go the distance, and using terrain for cover and tactical use of pumpkin pies and hot coffee, made it to the wrecked plane. I acquired a nice moosehide cloak, 10 rounds of rifle ammo (not that I need it anymore), along with a bunch of candy bars and some coal. None of which I really need anymore. I went down and camped in the story mode starting cave, built a nice fire to warm up and dry my clothes, slept a bit, then made the return trip. The wind shifted in an unfortunate direction that afforded no cover, so I was eventually brought down to freezing. Just as I took shelter in the church and started a fire, the time was up. I won. 4 days survived, same guy. I feel obligated to get him back to the Camp Office, just to provide a nice conclusion to this story. But I kind of regret bidding this survivor farewell. He accomplished so much, in so short a time.