UTC-10

In custom settings, you can switch intestinal parasites on or off. That much I do know. As far as the duration of the treatment required, I never thought about that so I never looked at the settings with that in mind. I never played with intestinal parasites ever. I would suppose that the devs tied the required treatment duration for parasites to the underlying mode chosen. assuming parasites were turned on. If someone wanted an interloper experience in custom play but shorter parasite treatment duration, then they'd be expected to take any mode except Interloper and customize it to emulate Interloper.

A lot of things should be possible but implementing them is the bottleneck. I expect that the devs have to pick and choose what they spend their time on. Long before Bleak Inlet, I had suggested that maybe there should be a large grind stone somewhere such that the player could take nearly ruined knives and hatchets to be "repaired" back to 100%. The grind stone would not be movable (ala the forges), would be relatively isolated, and it would be an alternate way to keep tools up when/if whet stones were not available. I guess the aurora-powered drill press fits the bill more expansively allowing a wider range of "repairs" than I had imagined. Once that was done, I would expect alternate ways to create whet stones went on very low priority since the issue was (to the devs pov) largely solved.

Introducing consumable alcohol would likely be a much more complex implementation than may be imagined. The devs have shown a propensity for seeking a balance between presumed advantages (incentives) gained and likely disadvantages (disincentives). For instance, consuming a set amount of liquor (e.g. 0.1 liter - I don't drink so don't have much of a clue in this matter) may make someone feel warmer (increases Feels Like Temperature) while temperature-related effects such as hypothermia and frostbite risk become static until the alcohol wears off (the player is 'warm' so why worry) at which point the accumulated risks 'that were not felt (or shown on the meters)' now take affect which could then afflict the player immediately with hypothermia and frostbite (even multiple applications of the affliction, if applicable). There might be mitigation, like if the player stays 'tipsy' in a now warm (by hypothermia and frostbite requirements both of which are different) environment to offset/neutralize the accumulated "risk" but the player won't know exactly where he stands until he lets the 'tipsy' effect wear off. So implementation is likely not going to be easy which means the devs probably would not choose to implement unless it becomes integral to or associated with a quest, but they can surprise us.

The Long Dark was intended to be a story-driven game for which survival mode (the sandbox for developing survival mechanics) proved popular enough to be brought out as an alternate mode of play. Since story mode is not complete, there is little incentive to turn survival mode into a more combative game since that would spill over into story mode which is where the devs energy is largely but not exclusively focused. So it may eventually happen, but not right now. At the current pace, it will likely be up to a year or so before story mode is complete (guesstimate by me on absolutely no actual information). 😁

The more that has to be saved, the longer the game takes. When it comes to speed of saving the game versus the reliability of saving the game, I think Hinterland has chosen reliability over speed. They tried to speed it up but then some people reported that their games were not saving game progress. So, as they try to fix that, reliability in the process was given priority over speed in the process (i.e. running the game and the save concurrently). When and if they fix it, they can go back to looking at speed because reliability would now be a non-issue.

You should be able to play the game that was started under Winter's Embrace, but the settings would revert back to standard vanilla Voyager ones. It may also be a trial by Hinterland for events that can be more inline and maybe acceptable to more players than events like 4DON.

I know I never saw markings for prepper caches ever and this despite making attempts to charcoal them in. Recently I was surprised to find that now they do show up. I assume that happens when you find one. I found the medical cache in Mystery Lake and it showed in the black of the map, since I had not used charcoal. I was rather surprised to see that happen.

Now that Winter's Embrace (WE) 2020 has concluded, we might consider things that might be added in the 2021 version of WE. Since WE was Voyager-based with environmental modifications, there seemed to be no reason why WE 2021 would not allow a player, if they so chose, to play under vanilla Stalker or Interloper mode difficulty. The stated caveat would be that WE 2021 was intended for Voyager-mode and, aside from environmental changes for the event, all other aspects of Stalker and Interloper (including scarcity of food drops) still apply. IOW, there was no effort to make Stalker or Interloper play in WE 2021 "fair" or "fairer" or even "doable". As a thought, the ability to do Canadian Feast across different WE save games should still apply but, for the masochist or determined player, there might be a special badge - Canadian Feast - Stalker [Only] and Canadian Feast - Interloper [Only] in addition to the usual Canadian Feast badge. There is the problem of cheesing ("cheating") because of the scarcity of maple syrup in any given sandbox, but Hinterland can try to figure out how to handle that.

I would agree with both suggestions. I do not know why empty paint cans did not get the "X" for ruined when at 0% but suspect there is something in episode 4 related to that. Perhaps there would be a very limited number of spray cans (like 1 or 2) and the character might have to refill/recharge the available spray cans to fulfill the quest. This would potentially tie into a possible quest where the character might have to survey the area (Coastal Highway) and mark resource locations and such. I also do not know why attempting to use a spray can, even if I don't have one, brings up the selection menu for markings but no warning when I don't have spray paint in inventory? Of course there is the empty spray can graphic on the lower right, but still the implied action (uncapping a spray can) is misleading.

I wish that the boarded up houses could be accessed in Survival mode. Even if their interiors were not much different than the houses whose interiors have not been finished, there is otherwise nothing that says that the way the houses were sealed could not be undone with a prybar. Like the foreclosed house in Thomson's Crossing located where there used to be a house I used as a base before CE. I want my stuff back! 😠 Sigh.

I play Pilgrim, exclusively, so have more slots to choose and I have only Straight to the Heart left to be finished, one day. Fire starting master is always activated. Winter's Embrace was the first time I played in a non-Pilgrim sandbox for a long time. It was a learning experience. I had felt that Pilgrim fostered the development of some bad habits and expectations. I was right. 😅 As a nominally expendable sandbox due to the limited time for the event, I got further with STTH than I was likely to get with any of my regular long-term Pilgrim sandboxes. Mindsets can change with expectations of how long something will be played.

For a long time I was concerned about falling between the ties between the tracks so kept strictly on the rails. Looking back, it was kind of silly but then I didn't want to find out the hard way (that one could). I am a little bit better about that now.

I would have passed this poll by because there was no "don't matter to me" choice available, but on consideration I still won't mark the poll but am now leaning towards female because there is a tiny little irritating thing that Will does that upsets me which might just be my imagination but it's there. When he seems to clear his throat before saying (I forget the exact phrase) "gotta drop some gear". The phrase is okay. It is the or what I take as "throat clearing" that has rubbed me wrong pretty much since I first heard it. Strange the things that come to irritate one's self. Otherwise I tend to alternate.

They do not decay. That was changed a longish time ago. The devs did not see fit to actually make all matches be 100% so they can be a pain to consolidate. They did not actually articulate a reason for not doing so but I guess maybe they didn't want to have too many 100% non-decaying item categories in the game or maybe having matches of different condition seemed more "realistic" or consistent with the game world they envisioned. Other things like fire accelerant, for example, was made non-decay and made 100% so all the cans of it could be consolidated. The original decay line was 100 days iirc before it was changed to 1,000 days. Since matches can be critically essential to survival, especially in the long survival runs, they may have decided that better to forestall complaints about matches decaying away and aborting a player's run and just make them non-decay.

The event was fine. It took a while for me to get motivated because I only played Pilgrim and it was in Voyager, but once I made the mental shift away from "survive as long as possible", it worked out find. Also showed me some of the finer details about coping with wolves that I had to learn since Pilgrim does foster some bad habits. The limited real-time to play it did help me make my shift. I didn't go to Mountain Town or Hushed River Valley, deliberately for my own reasons, though I would have wanted maple syrup to be somewhat more common than it was for me (4 syrup across the rest of the map, excepting MT, HRV, and BI).

I could be wrong about what I think I see since I don't really use a torch often and when I do I may go to some lengths to use a particular form of match (cardboard vs wood). When lighting a torch, can the player be given a choice of what fire starting device he will use even if he only has one type? I can presently see that if a player has wood matches and a fire striker that the game will ask which one the player will use to light an equipped torch. I would ask whether it would be a problem to have the choices, as a first step, include available fire starting devices - cardboard matches, wood matches, and fire striker - even if the player only has one type? As second step if that is feasible, how about extending that to differentiate different condition matches and fire strikers and let the player decide which and what condition device he would use? Admittedly that can get in the way. As a side benefit, such a step would mitigate the occasional problem of carrying an equipped torch, hit the LMB because one wanted to interact with some object and because the game has not yet recognized the object, it assumes the player wants to light the torch so it strikes a match which immediately goes out because most times the player does not CLICK and HOLD the LMB to complete lighting the torch as it was not the intended action. I do not consider this any kind of priority. We learn about not casually equipping a torch. I think this as more a quality of life issue. Make it easier than dropping all my wood matches because I want to use a cardboard one. 🙂 I do like the option to choose which matches I use - cardboard or wood.

I don't know what algorithm the devs used to determine blood droplets, but I wonder if there might be a way to make the blood trail give some indication, such as the number of drops, about the severity of the bleeding wound? I have never hunted nor shot an animal, so I am in the dark about this but this is a game. It might be scaled as 1 hour bleed out is represented by pairs of blood drops and anything longer by single blood drops. This could modify my suggested benefits for a given level by allowing the player to get an idea of what kind/how severe the hit he got on the animal was.

Saving the game takes time depending on how much it has to save. When the sandbox first starts, there is not much to save so it goes quickly. As the game progresses, there is more and more to save. Since a failure of the game to actually save game progress would be a serious problem and there was a problem about that cropping up late last year, the devs probably made doubly sure it would save. Which then made the game "freeze" for a few seconds while it did that so then they put the save game function (probably) on a separate thread to run concurrently with the main game so things didn't get held up. Then they got the failure to save problem again so they went back to the old way and that, again, take a while to do and holds up game play. Hopefully the devs will figure out just why the (assumed) concurrent threads resulted in failures to save game progress, so it can be reinstated, but they will likely be even more cautious about going back to that until they are sure they got it licked.

I would not mind seeing a few more pieces of deerskin clothing, so one can craft a rather complete ensemble of deerskin-based clothing. A buckskin shirt for one. One layer so its like a thin wool sweater. Add another layer with some rabbit skins to make it more like a thick wool sweater. Add in even more rabbit skin padding, maybe even another deer skin, to turn it from a heavier shirt into a jacket which would be more equivalent to a simple parka. It would be nice but still a lot of work.

Since the stated intent by Hinterland is that spray paint markings would eventually fade, though not right now, I would hope they would come up, eventually, with a set of stone cairns, distinct in design from the ones for backers, which would be more permanent, at least as trail markers. It might, as a guess, consist of three stones stacked in a pile, with one or more arms (one or more stones on the ground next to the cairn to point in a desired direction). It should be permanent, unless removed by the player, not subject to Lost and Found, and can be placed just about at will subject to whatever limitations on crafted and placed items that Hinterland deemed appropriate or necessary. As a ground navigation assist, it would not show up on the charcoal map. A box of four stones around the cairn with another stone to indicate direction might serve as "that way is a shelter/resources" marker. Something simple and not elaborate. As a practical matter with spray paint, I find many of the symbols to be relatively useless for my purposes and, since I think long-term, I would put a campfires (I play Pilgrim) to be there as markers when they do eventually fade.

I think that the assortment of weapons available does a generally good enough job. The whole point of the game is story mode so taking the time to craft a crossbow or more modern style bow or firearm does not fit the premise of the game. So, for now, the devs probably do not see adding even more weapons, particularly crafted weapons, to be adding to the story. I have said in the past that the concept of an item or action would be the easy part. The graphics would be easy. The animations probably comparatively easy. How it affects the environment and player, and the consequences resulting from that interaction would be much more difficult and time consuming. I suppose I would add that they would likely make the crossbow be less capable than what might be imagined. People would ask, "why can't I crouch and use a crossbow, I can do that with a rifle or a revolver" and they'd probably think, "I don't want to have to deal with that". If survival mode of TLD continues development post story-mode, so things would not be constrained by it, then we may well see other things start to show up.

As a possible new leveled skill. The point would be to make it easier to actually follow a bleeding animal and locate it. Currently, the tracks and blood drops fade 1) after a while if there is wind or snow, 2) after a while if there is NO wind or snow, or 3) after a while after the animal dies. Also it some times takes a noticeable amount of time for the droplets to appear - I have been tracking a deer or wolf then came to the apparent end of the blood trail, cast about, returned to the last spot where I saw blood drops then 'there are more blood drops". Level 1 - default as per the current game mechanics. Level 2 - blood drops appear more quickly, assuming a player was not running, the blood trail should not otherwise peter out. Level 3 - blood drops and tracks last longer, say additional 30 game minutes over usual time, assuming good weather, even if the animal has died. Level 4 - blood drops last longer, say additional 60 game minutes over usual time, assuming good weather, even if the animal has died. Level 5- blood drops last, say additional 120 minutes over usual time, assuming good weather, except now the player has a clue/sense of the direction the animal was in relation to him when it died but not distance. The skill should only apply to animals that have been shot with the revolver, rifle, or bow. Snares do not count since the rabbit should be dead at it. In bad weather, the usual covering up of the blood and tracks apply. Hunting books could help advance skill to Level 4 after which experience is needed to advance. Otherwise how many hunts the player needs to advance is something to be determined later. Just a consideration for eventual implementation. Not expecting anything like this anytime soon. 😁

In Winter's Embrace, I have noticed that the map now shows the prepper caches when discovered. It does not show the vicinity like using charcoal but it is there sitting in a sea of black. I suppose I could use paint or charcoal to highlight the location more. I have not checked in my regular games to see if that shows or whether I might have to go back to the cache and maybe enter it or map it to get it on the map. ETA: I checked my regular save games and the prepper caches I found did not appear. I have attached a screenshot of Pleasant Valley from my Winter's Embrace game so the icon can be seen. It was the medical cache in this case.

It does not matter using charcoal at a vista point if the game has not inform you that you are at a vista point. It is also possible to move off the vista point, maybe because a different spot looks better, which means one would not get credit for the vista until one moves back to the designated spot. I assume you had found the polaroid that showed the Hat Creek radio tower as a vista point, that it showed up on your in-game map of Forlorn Muskeg, and the game told you that you were at a vista spot? So, it should have worked.

For hunting purposes, the animal mode for effective hits generally consists of critical hits which kills the animal instantly and bleeding wounds where the animal will die after bleeding out. How long it takes for an animal, excluding moose which do not bleed out and rabbits that tend to die with any serious hit, depends on the animal and the location of the hit/bleed. The most severe (shortest time) bleed-out timers are associated with head/neck hits and may take 45 game minutes to an hour (or more) as I understand it. The nature of the critical hit versus bleeding wounds model means that for bleeding wounds the shortest applicable bleed timer applies. It cannot be hurried by shooting the animal multiple times. The purpose of multiple shots tends to be to try and get a critical hit so the animal dies on the spot. So if a wounded animal has a four hour bleed timer and, with one or more shots, it gets a one hour bleed timer and more four hour timers, the timer with the shortest remaining time to bleed out applies.