UTC-10

Adding a new game mechanic to accommodate bow or hand drills, even flint and steel, is probably more time and effort than Hinterland would want to expend on something that would be used in Story mode which is where all this tends to end up. I have no objection to some alternative fire starting technique that I could do inside (thinking flint and steel) even with a permanent lower chance of success for that method since it means I do not have to expend a match and, in survival mode, once I get setup, I have lots of time. Something may still turn up.

Gods I am dumb but maybe that is understandable since I have never done a challenge. In fact, I didn't really look at the Challenges at all. Someone mentioned badges contained with the Challenge tab under Badges and there it was.

It should be no trouble for Hinterland to include it in the user file. They probably have a certain amount of space set aside for that kind of purposes, among other things. That would allow for badge credits to carry over tying them to the user not the character. BTW, how does one view what badges one has? Is that through the Steam interface? I only have TLD through Steam and apparently my account is limited possibly because I don't spend money on Steam. At least that seemed to be the case. If that's the reason then I better just chuck my WE game because, for now, I do not intend to "spend money" or "something" just to get my account upgraded or something. Maybe in the future, if I get more games, but that remains to be seen.

I have thought that the concept of an item is the easy part, even how to construct it, what it looks like, and what animations would be needed for it. How it interacts with the player and the environment is much, much more time consuming and difficult. This assumes that the devs can even find a point where they feel the spear is effective enough to be viable in general game-play but not so over-powered as to upset other aspects of the game.

Winter's Embrace (WE) is sounding like a survival update, albeit unexpected, that will affect environmental factors and other similar aspects of the game. The event, set for a specified limited period, would serve to get people interested in what has changed and trying to get the badges. If it was to be an opt-in thing, that could easily have been addressed with the initial announcement. I think Fearless Navigator probably introduced a mechanism for exploration and marking of facilities (for story mode) and provisions for constructed storage facilities. WE might be the next update phase for changing weather conditions that would be seen in episode 4 in a way that allows for bug fixes and tuning that won't overwhelm the devs and programmers. At a guess, this line of reasoning could point to seeing another update in the fall to introduce yet another aspect of game play that may show up in story mode. After all, COVID-19 is still a factor in the world. It could not have helped Hinterland's progress towards episode 4.

The interface boundary for this cave entrance could use some adjustment. Maybe in some future update. I am standing what must be maybe 20 or more feet from the cave entrance itself, where the interface would normally be expected, and I can enter the cave from where I am standing in the image. Now that is not so bad, but what gets annoying is that because the zone of the interface boundary extends so far out, if you face towards the cave even a little bit you will get the Leave Bleak Inlet indicator. You can still move things around or place things so long as you are facing away from the the interface boundary and your orientation never cuts the plane of the boundary else the item will disappear into inventory. Again, not a big problem but annoying.

Once Hinterland decides that quests that involve regions outside of Coastal Highway would be too hard, too complicated, or too involved (that was kind of where Crossroads Elergy, episode 3, had been before it was cutback) then we might see some kind of shortcut in an update. Otherwise it will likely not happen until episode 4 (where I presume there might be a questline that takes Astrid or Will to Bleak Inlet with some blocked roads being suddenly cleared or alternately a boat is found). OTOH, they could be mean and make us run the obstacle course every time we want to access the workshop. 😓

Notwithstanding the justification given for no compasses, a practical consideration would be that a compass would force the devs to go over how and where sunrise and sunset occurs visually else have that conflict with what the compass is saying. It would also have had to be consistently accurate. So implementation would be a required effort that they would have inflicted on themselves for an item that, so far, would not apparently contribute to the game-play in Story mode. I figure that the spray cans use in making marks that get reflected on the regional map, and perhaps the rock cache as well, will play a role in episode 4 much like the revolver played a role in episode 3. If it ever became important to a quest in story mode to be able to follow a specific direction across a trackless region, like sailing across some open seas to another island, then we'd probably end up with a compass. After story mode concludes, then anything can happen.

In the initial scoping of the game, water purification tablets were probably initially considered as needed to deal with water drawn from toilets since not all of them have reservoirs and with any non-boiled water. Considering that non-potable water would have high probability of dysentery and the availability of antibiotics or even the water purification tablets would be hit or miss, it was probably eventually decided that water will be designated as potable or non-potable and toilets were then designated as a potable water source based on the assumption that it was assumed to be from a potable water source. Similarly for snow. It could have been designated as a potable water source but that would trivialize the hazard of non-potable water (snow was likely the only regular primary source of water) and if the devs then wanted a danger from water they'd have to come up with a host of things to justify it which would complicate things and detract from the focus on story mode. Using water purification tablets does involve some extra effort on the part of the player. I am in Bleak Inlet and specifically used four water purification tablets to purify the four liters of water that I got from melting snow on the workshop fire barrel. I suppose the devs could have made the melting snow process require more effort which would have complemented using water purification tablets, but I know I am glad they mostly glossed over that part.

I expect that episode 4, whenever it comes out, will likely have quest(s) that may involve searching an area and various structures and location, and leaving marks for follow-up investigation. So the purpose for coming up with the navigation marks and spray paint cans will become clear. I am in Bleak Inlet and have a bunch of spray cans but have not really used them - I have used, for various purposes, almost three cans, and have plenty more. I am kind of at a loss about them because it has been stated that eventually the game will update and markings will deteriorate over time (how long a time?). So why would I go around marking structures, vehicles, and locations in survival mode? The markings only make sense in a situation where I'd find gear and supplies but be unable to move or acquire them due to press of time (which does not happen in survival mode other than maybe the more difficult modes like Interloper) and have to move on. With "later follow up". Player-created stone cairns would seem more in keeping with how survival mode works.

As a means to increase the capacity to move stuff, a travois would fall into the same category as a sled especially since the game does not have horses or dogs so the character would have to physically use the device by him or herself. If the intent was not to increase carrying capacity, then there is no need for such a device. if the intent was to increase carrying capacity then how it would impact the character and interact with the environment would make implementation difficult. Defining the actual construction of such a device would be the easy part.

I have noticed that the bridges whose travel way (i.e. road surface) consists of logs now cause a significant amount of bouncing motion when being walked across. It is very obvious, unsettling, and annoying. Now I found, in Bleak Inlet, that the bouncing (the log irregular road surface) can be so pronounced that I can get [sort of] stuck much like trying to cross a railroad track which has motivated me to complain about it.

Discovered that the first two tiers of crates in the workshop can now be touched and presumably broken down. The third tier on top still cannot be touched. The presence of the mountaineering rope in the workshop is about the only reason why I would think that a future Story mode quest will happen there and that there may be a "shortcut" to be revealed. I look forward to Hinterland springing that "surprise" on us eventually.

While Hinterland can always surprise us, I doubt that any shortcut would be provided until and unless some quest in episode 4 (when it is released) - which by implication should happen in Coastal Highway - requires Astrid or Will (how he gets there I do not know) to access the workshop. Yes, it is a long walk around, but if they do not have a quest that requires access to the workshop there is no reason for them to provide one and if there would be a quest then no reason to let the cat out of the bag. For example, access to Skeeter's Ridge was previously restricted to the road from the east side or a two rope climb (which replaced a footpath up from vicinity of Draft Dodgers). Then with CE, there was now an additional path from Skeeters down to the river on the west side. I am about to enter Bleak Inlet and go to the workshop. I would like for the path in the Cannery to be shorter, but I don't expect anything to change.

Although over time one would expect that environmental deterioration of structures would occur, that is not a feature of Story mode which was the underlying basis for the game. Sure, players have spent years in Survival mode - which to remind everyone was not expected or intended to be an actual game mode - but the underlying basis remains Story mode which, realistically, would be expected to play out from start to finish, in game-terms, over a period of a few weeks at most. Implementing deterioration in structures would involve much more effort on the part of the development team and associated groups than they would want to devote until Story mode is fully in the can. With limited resources, choices have to be made.

I use the caches primarily for ... storing things. I have one by the tracks near the Camp Office to hold the gunpowder components I was going to take to Bleak Inlet. I put a cache near the transition cave entrance in Bleak Inlet so it is easier to sort through stuff (I still leave other things on the snow because even 30 kg in a cache is not enough). I even put a cache near the Old Spence Forge and Poacher's Camp to get more storage space. The need to accumulate 50 stones takes time and effort so one balances the value of placing a cache with the cost to get the stones. But the additional storage afforded is quite useful. I suppose it would have been nice, though probably problematic to implement so unlikely, if meat and fish (stipulated as cooked) placed in a cache would then decay as per most modern foods in the game (i.e. along the 1,000 day line) rather than 1% or more per day. It would largely negate a need for food preservation for the longer term and if food that went to ruined in a cache then disappeared as it would in any container, I think I would be able to come to terms with that. It would give me a reason to make a tour of my food caches and move food outside or get fresher stuff to replace it.

I have not seen any new Geltaz stuff. I hope he's okay. Maybe moved on to other endeavors. I was always astounded at what he could do with a bow.

Occasionally we get these "fantastic" and unexpected kills. I recall standing outside Trapper's seeing a deer out in the bowl down below, maybe 50 or 100 yards (yeah, 100, whose telling this story ) loosing an arrow at it and *presto* it dropped in its tracks. Astounding. No recording of this "Geltaz" shot .

Alcohol for consumption with ancillary use as a disinfectant does not bring to mind any improvement, in the current game state or in Story mode, as far as we know, to its introduction. Since Hinterland would want to balance any "advantage" from such consumption with "disadvantage" of such, the potential downside looks worse than any upside so it is doubtful they would expend the time to implement it. If it was to be an important factor or use in Story mode, in some quest or some background aspect, that is a different matter. And Hinterland might surprise us in that vein.

When I harvest a bear or moose, I take the meat in ten kilo lots, then move to a short distance and drop it on the snow then go back to get another lot. Each pile represents ten kilos of meat. When I bring the meat to my base or cook station, I tend to take one lot at a time and dump them into a discrete piles if I don't put them into some kind of arrangement. That works better for me. Since I tend to not get everything cooked or, more particularly, consumed before it reaches ruined condition, putting the meat (raw or cooked) into a container is not something I would do ever. But it would be one way to organize things.

Found a second polaroid for Forlorn Muskeg, but for the life of me I cannot remember where I found it. It might have been at the abandoned camp (ruined snow shelter, etc.) near the Muskeg overlook, an unnamed cave between Old Spence and the cave to Bleak Inlet (but then it would have had to be laying on the cave floor, or maybe in the cave to Bleak Inlet on a corpse though I think that last unlikely.

If one does set fires around a vehicle, be sure to check where exiting from the vehicle from any door will put you. Same with interior caves both on both sides of the interface. The game does not care where it puts you, so place a fire in the wrong spot and obviously, when you transition, you wanted to be placed on that spot in the fire. People have gotten "burned" because they didn't check that. As another concept, since we now have the capacity to build a cache using 50 stones, maybe we'll eventually be able to use 50 stones and construct a two cooking surface field stove. The weight of the stones and probable lack of wolf deterrence (game balance you know) would likely make it something that is built for a purpose such as in a location where the [expletive] winds keep blowing your [expletive] fire out or as a means to make snow shelters maybe more survivable since there are limits to its base protection. I suppose a smaller version, using 25 stones, might provide for a one surface field stove or maybe just a warmth stove that is wind-proof.

Found a polaroid for Forlorn Muskeg in the northern hunter's blind (taking orientation of North being top of the map in the game). Wasn't quite expecting to find it there.

Fluffy was removed from Carter Hydro because the change on the generator level apparently made pathing there too difficult at the time. The workshop at the Cannery and the cave where Scruffy is much more open in a relative sense so less places for a wolf to get stuck. Given that wolves can now enter the Carter Baseyard if the gate is left open due to improvements in pathing, it might herald an eventual return of Fluffy if Hinterland feels it is worth the effort. I have not heard anyone mention The Return of Fluffy.

I would expect that any implementation of food preservation techniques beyond that currently available (putting meat and fish outside in the cold) will be somewhat more and significantly less useful than hoped.