UTC-10

Regular cooking seems bugged now. Aside from the fairly long standing issue that raw venison was shown to have 900 calories (incorrect) rather than 800 calories (correct). I am Cooking Level 5 so would get 25% more calories which was true except for venison since the base raw calories was wrong (as noted). Noticed (this is for venison cooked after the 2.20 update): Cooked standard (kilo) sized venison and when initially picked up will show they have 1,000 calories. When placed on the floor or taken into inventory, their calories revert to 800 calories (original Level 1 outcome). More serious, depending on one's view, sub-kilo pieces of cooked venison would upsize in weight and calories as if they were now kilo sized pieces. I had a raw piece of venison with 46 calories get cooked, put to one side since why mix such a tiny piece with the large pieces, and found in its place a kilogram sized piece of cooked venison with 800 calories. I just checked. Venison that had been cooked prior to the 2.20 update seemed to retain its calorie content, i.e., if it was 1,000 calories then it remained 1,000 calories, even if taken into inventory it did not change.

Oh my god, I mucked up. Sigh. 😓

Found another ptarmigan nesting site in Blackrock. It is located 'north' from the Bricklayer's Retreat on a small hill roughly about as far from the Retreat as the birch sapling that I always find near there and west of the sapling. This nesting site can be mapped. I also came across one or more ptarmigans on the snow on the path to the Whistling Perch (hunter's blind). No nest, no flock, just one or two birds. Kind of surprised to see them.

tl;dr The current set of recipes for Frontier Cooking while nice do not have the flexibility to encourage a character to carry a weighty pot and/or skillet on his travels. Weight tends to be at a premium so why carry a pot or skillet on the chance one finds the right ingredients so the current recipes could be used? If a survivor already routinely carried a pot along on their wanderings that is one thing, but for everyone else one can ask "why carry a pot"? The current pot-based recipes revolve around stews which require meat, broth, and Old Mill Flour. Lack any one of the latter two ingredients and the pot is useless for Frontier Cooking (of course the pot can be used to cook the meat and it grants a slightly shorter cooking time and a long time to burn). The stew recipes should be split into two or three tiers which depending on the ingredients (other than the meat or fish) would affect the final product. Tier 1. Meat and water into a pot and simmer until tender. This basic stew (I don't cook so don't throw the pot at me) then provides for calories, perhaps some hydration, and a hot meal. The leftovers can be reheated later using a pot, unless the devs decide to allow a recycled can as big enough for a "serving", to allow for a hot meal later. This would also allow for something that the game largely lacks at the basic level namely the ability to have a hot meal as opposed to a hot drink from existing natural resources. Tier 2. Meat and broth into a pot and cooked until done. The result is similar to that of Tier 1 with maybe additional calories derived from the broth component. The ability to heat the stew later for a hot meal would also be available. Tier 3. Meat, broth, and Old Mill Flour into a pot and cooked until done. At this tier the secondary effects, both pro and con, as shown in the current Frontier Cooking recipes come into play. Otherwise the ability to have a hot meal later would also apply. The above set of tiers is just my brainstorming how such a structure could be set up. The point being that by having a lowest level and pretty readily craftable meal that has some benefits that would help the character would make Frontier Cooking and carrying a pot at least more attractive. Skillet? It just occurred to me that skillets might be problematic as most of the recipes would be for pies requiring cooking oil and Old Mill Flour. Perhaps a skillet could be used in the same manner as a cooking surface with the additional benefit when cooking most meats that tallow could be harvested and could act as a substitute for cooking oil. This needs to be thought out more. But maybe has some possibilities. To limit the accumulation of tallow it might, by dev fiat, go bad and become unusable for cooking rather quickly. This could be modified if the devs decided to implement some use for tallow such as the often requested candles but this was not suggested for that express purpose only as a possible future development. If a survivor already routinely carried a pot along on their wanderings that is one thing, but for everyone else one can ask "why carry a pot"? The current pot-based recipes revolve around stews which require meat, broth, and Old Mill Flour. Lack any one of the latter and the pot is useless for Frontier Cooking (of course the pot can be used to cook the meat and it grants a slightly shorter cooking time and a long time to burn). The stew recipes should be split into two or three tiers which depending on the ingredients (other than the meat or fish) would affect the final product. Tier 1. Meat and water into a pot and simmer until tender. This basic stew (I don't cook so don't throw the pot at me) then provides for calories, perhaps some hydration, and a hot meal. The leftovers can be reheated later, using a pot unless the devs decide to allow a recycled can as big enough for a "serving" to allow for a hot meal later. This would also allow for something that the game largely lacks at the basic level namely the ability to have a hot meal as opposed to a hot drink. Tier 2. Meat and broth into a pot and cooked until done. The result is similar to that of Tier 1 with maybe additional calories derived from the broth component. The ability to heat the stew later for a hot meal would also be available. Tier 3. Meat, broth, and Old Mill Flour into a pot and cooked until done. At this tier the secondary effects, both pro and con, as shown in the current Frontier Cooking recipe come into play. Otherwise the ability to have a hot meal later would also apply. The above set of tiers is just my brainstorming how such a structure could be set up. The point being that by having a lowest level and pretty readily craftable meal that has some benefits that would help the character would make Frontier Cooking and carrying a pot at least more attractive. Skillet? It just occurred to me that skillets might be problematic as most of the recipes would be for pies requiring cooking oil and Old Mill Flout. Perhaps a skillet could be used in the same manner as a cooking surface with the additional benefit when cooking most meats that tallow could be harvested and could act as a substitute for cooking oil. This needs to be thought out more. But maybe has some possibilities. To limit the accumulation of tallow it might, by dev fiat, go bad and become unusable for cooking rather quickly. This could be modified if the devs decided to implement some use for tallow such as the often requested candles but this was not suggested for that express purpose but only as a possible future development.

At a guess I would have said that the ptarmigans near Blackrock Prison spawned again about 14 days after I wiped out the flock. Then I happen to be passing by, 4 days later, when a timberwolf had killed a ptarmigan at that location. So I have no real idea of how often the ptarmigans spawn. 😅

I have noticed that sometimes an old problem - cannot get an interaction point for a dead animal - comes up from time to time and ran across that very recently. Attached is my looking at a ravaged deer carcass and able to access it. However if I moved left (the butt end) or right (the head end) or beyond the carcass (and turn around) the interaction contact would be lost. If I moved much closer to the carcass the interaction point would also disappear. At this point I speculate that the problem is how Hinterland sets up points of contact apparently like a field or zone so that if your cursor hits that zone then you make contact. But the field or zone does not extend around the carcass so standing too close (i.e. inside the field/zone) or off to one side or the other side your contact does not register. Maddening as you run the cursor all over the place then see the contact pop up then disappear as you continue to move the cursor. I noticed this in the Pleasant Valley Farmstead when going from the basement into the main house. Initially what popped up was the usual cue that you can click and enter the main house, but if you step further the cue disappears and you run into the door and no clicking on the door lets you into the house. That is what this problem for me reminds me of. So maybe approach the carcass from the belly side and don't stand too close. Maybe that might help you get access to the carcass. Naturally not a whole solution for I have run into a case where a dead bear was inert EXCEPT when I freshly loaded the game then clicked on it. If for any reason I let go of that contact the bear carcass would go back to being inert. I ended up harvesting 30+ kilos of bear meat, hide, and guts in one go. Good luck.

The ptarmigan flock finally returned to the slope below the electric utility pole on the hill to the right of the approach road to Blackrock Prison. FHA (and level 5 archery) seems to be the way to go if one wants to get more than one (by using stones). I had level 5 archery before the update so really don't know how easy or hard it would be if I couldn't crouch to shoot. Now Geltaz could probably nail the entire flock from the road but I would never be that good. If one looks carefully the presence of the flock can be seen from the road.

Fire hardened arrows last for two hits on rabbits and look to be about as durable with respect to ptarmigans. About 54% loss in condition per hit. Simple arrows last three to maybe four hits on deer and animals in general. About 31% loss in condition per hit. I should go back to Pleasant Valley and bring one or more of the four bows - not quite sure how I got there - as my working bow (survival) is down to 75% and I always worry about things running out. I play vanilla Pilgrim. Haven't found or used the variant bows in the game so no experience with them. They may become repairable some time down the road, but I would not count on it. Crampons were initially not repairable but eventually were made repairable so there is some hope. I wouldn't mind being able to dispose of a ruined survival bow. Don't even need to harvest it just be able to make it go away without littering.

The June 2023 Hotfix Update appeared to have mostly fixed this problem.

Yes it can. I killed six ptarmigans with 7 FHA (1 missed) and wiped out the flock. Problem with a stone is it only stuns a ptarmigan so one has to break stealth to get to it in time.

I didn't do a long test. It seems that cooked stews and pies decay about the standard rate (about 3%) per day if kept inside and 1% if kept outside. This kind of decay seems to be consistent with that of [cooked] meat and fish. I suppose that since the frontier cooking produces stews, pies, and bread that they would decay in about the same fashion as cooked meat and fish under the same environmental conditions. I made some fresh broth which I put outside and it held its condition better but I forgot to check it before I departed a few days later for another place. There is no mechanic specifically for food preservation.

Looks good. Got my arrows, antibiotics, pain killers, cardboard and wood matches, all updated and consolidated 😁. Maybe I can start to rely on containers again. Hopefully the random condition glitch will also go away.

It has occurred to me that maybe the ptarmigan flock rotate among several spawn points. Cause a flock to flee one point and they "move" to another spawn point. It may not be immediate but say occurs on the next day. Meanwhile the flock is then nowhere to be found until then. That would account for someone seeing a flock at one spot but when someone goes to that spot the flock is not there. So don't frighten the birds or you might have to wait a day at another spot to see them again. Kill off the entire flock and then the flock is gone until more birds "spawn". Just a guess.

Went to the reported location above the rope climb near the bear cave in Pleasant Valley and located a flock of ptarmigan. I got pretty close (crouched) and wiped out the whole flock (Level 5 archery and fire hardened arrows). There were six birds. I hope that does not jinx future spawns at that spot. Birds averaged about 2 kilos. I went to Signal Hill control hut and then discovered why ptarmigans can be problematic to harvest. The meat portion - about 1 kilo - comes away like most any other animal. By hand (Level 5 harvesting) it takes 8 to 10 minutes. The bad part looks to be the "feathers" or "units" as the UI refers to it. After harvesting the meat, the bird carcass weighs 0.06 kilos. There are four "units" to be harvested. Each unit is treated like a complete animal hide taking 28 minutes by hand or 21 minutes with a knife for each unit. Hatchets and hacksaws take twice as long. At least I found the birds.

I went to Three Strikes Farmstead then generally following the directions to go NE and up a hill until you get to the point where it starts to go downhill and there I found a flock of ptarmigan right there in the saddle between the cliff and a rock hill/outcropping. The weather forced me to head back to Three Strikes - it became a blizzard - and I had to hunker down by the fire barrel the rest of the day. The next morning I went back to the saddle area and there were no ptarmigans to be seen. I had hunted a buck a bit earlier before heading for the saddle so it was not quite so early. I scouted around and did not see any sign of them. The next morning I went directly to the saddle area and still no ptarmigans. I was beginning to think that the ptarmigans were not going to be a spawn like the bear - once it spawns it remains spawned even if it wanders over an area - and be more intermittent with some time between appearances. That would seem to mean when you find a flock you better be careful and get as many as you can before they fly away because it may be a few days before they return. I hope I am wrong.

Found the Warden's revolver in the entry "chamber" (not the entry gate house) off the main parking/grounds of the Prison that is blocked off so no further passage into the prison building itself.

Continue slogging forward. I did check locations in Pleasant Valley and found some of the frontier cooking ingredients and cooking utensils. Haven't made anything yet. For one I had not yet found Ptarmigans so stews were out of the question. Back in Blackrock I finally found a Ptarmigan grove near the Prison. I have to go get some of them. Still getting my Prison base established.

Spent time finding a location of suitable ice to chop a hole (using heavy hammer) then conventionally fished for a couple hours since I heard that fishing might not work. Got two whitefish. I did map out for that spot in Keeper's Pass South, around the existing ice fishing hut, and did see that it was a fairly large area I would suppose. In Pleasant Valley I stepped onto the ice river near Long Curve and by chance found suitable ice around the bend in the river as it heads towards Keepers. Haven't actually done any fishing at the ice fishing hut since the update so don't know if that got broken.

I finally found a skillet. I have been finding ingredients though a good percentage of them would be ruined (0% condition). Going back to my comment about broth. Image. Broth. If you examine the recipe you need 1 kg of Ptarmigan meat, 1.50 liters of water, some salt (0.01 lg) and need to cook it for 39 minutes. Then what do you have? At this point in the recipe it doesn't say how much broth you've produced. A bit of clarity needed. The information in the center bottom implies the broth would be between 20 to 100% condition (what does that mean?), have 212 calories, 5 hydration, and weigh 0.10 kg. Not sure what that means. Next image. Ruined broth. 0% condition, 4 cups and weighs 0.80 kg. Finally information about how much broth was produced... I assume from the Broth recipe. Next image. Ruined broth in inventory. 4 cups (obviously when the recipe calls for *1* broth it means *1* cup.) The calorie content of broth is presumably 170 calories (was that a result of the broth being ruined (0% condition)? Next image. What I found going through Thomson's Crossing. I am at more than 1,000 days since starting again so I would have expected some of the flour and oats, some of the potatoes and carrots, would be ruined. I would have cleared the table before laying all that stuff out if the game would allow it. Still kind of nice to have recipes now.

Seems like maybe the devs should have been a bit more discriminating about the condition of recipe ingredients. Or maybe they left those on the same time line decay as meat and fish (roughly about 100 days) instead of the more general time line decay of 1,000 days.

I suppose the only complaint/comment I would make, at this point, for pot based meals/ingredients would be that all the stews need broth and to make broth requires 1 kg of Ptarmigan meat. How much broth that results in I don't know. The main stews need 0.5 kg of the relevant meat as part of the recipe. That would make, at least initially, Ptarmigans a priority item to make broth else one cannot really makes stews. Other than that, so far, it looks pretty good. It would have been nice to have an easier, but less helpful, useful for warmth and calories, form of simple stew. But that's just me.

At the least each patch around an Oak tree should spawn more than one acorn. As it stands it take two trees to get enough acorns for one cup of acorn coffee. Respawning acorns... I mean more acorns dropping off the nearly barren Oak tree would help.

Sewing primer book give comparatively little advancement in skill especially as one advanced in level. I read all the sewing primer books I found and the advancement from reading one, about part way through level 3 or 4, was pretty small. If you don't make comparisons before and after it would look comparatively negligible progress compared to most any other skill. I finally got to level 5 sewing and you can bet that the last stretch took two or three times as many mends as I would have had to do for any other skill. But I finally got there. If Hinterland were to implement a sewing machine (I doubt they would) its range of things it can do will be severely limited. It would likely allow mending a nearly ruined piece of clothing (e.g., at 1%) to 100% for one piece of cloth (essentially one set of repair components fixes something up to 100%) but not ruined 0% items. Ruined is ruined. They could be a bit more liberal about what it could do but I would think they would be likely to stick with something like what I described. The possibility of implementation is still there so it could happen.

No problem with the suggestion. I do think that the devs would be vexxed by how to implement such a mechanic. The more complex the problem the less likely they would chose to do it as the expenditure of time and effort needed might not be viewed as the best use of their time. Leaving the windows as visible in the dark would help like in the fishing cabins in Coastal Highway. I find the windows going dark in the Pleasant Valley farmstead to be a particular trial. The suggestion is akin to the old time measure of using the lantern electronic ignition spark to get a momentary glimpse of the nearby surroundings. In the days before it was FIXED the action consumed no lantern fuel (kerosene at the time an irreplaceable item) and now since it does the danger is to try it on a lantern that has no fuel so the animation sequence cannot finish which causes problems.

In the first place, if there was no folding chair to wedge under the door knob (to keep it closed) leading into the Steam Tunnels then your capture by the convicts was inevitable. I think the act of wedging the chair under the door knob is automatic, like when exiting the warden's building to the rooftop there would have been a chair that would (I think) automatically been used to wedge that exit door closed and similar the plank of wood for the door next to where you came down from the rooftop pathway. If the chair was there on the floor but not something to interact with then you know you're not going to make it. In the second place, if you tried skipping past the dialog cut scene (you didn't say at what point you actually saved) you had a chance of derailing the game's event tracking, which can screw up most if not all subsequent events, and what you encountered after the reload indicates that is the script got derailed. You didn't mention it but probably couldn't pick up Astrid's case from the warden's desk too and no phone call from Molly. Chances are that even that save you referred to maybe tainted and you'd have to go even further back to get past whatever script glitch has occurred. Or maybe quit out of the save game, then quit out of the game and start it back up. Sometimes just reloading a save game does not change internal settings of the main game and you get the same bad result. The minute the script goes off-track, any further progress would almost certainly be futile. You may have to go back into the end of the previous chapter and play through from there. Just guessing here. Good luck.