Serenity

Think about what you really need and only take that down to the Mountaineer's Hut. Much of it will be duplicates or things you can also get elsewhere. You can make two trips to get the most important stuff there. Where it can stay. There is no need to carry it all the way to PV.

3 hours ago, Syraith said:

And yeah, making sure you have enough coal going there is a must. 

Going there the first time there is enough coal for at least one forging session. There are crates in the broken down huts along the shore. And the cave nearby may have a little. For repeat visits it's problematic though.

9 hours ago, jeffpeng said:

means to actively hunt are rather hard to come by on Interloper in the first place, and even then are hard to maintain - and eventually even things to kill become scarce, including predators.

Even after 300-400 days there is little sign of that. It's easy enough to hunt bears and live for weeks just one a single one. Which isn't unrealistic, but it's not hard.

Fishing and trapping rabbits also give you plenty of meat. You can put then more snares than there are visible rabbits. Not all of will get one, but there are lots of them. I thought rabbit coves depleted over time, but they never stop. Or if they do it's way too late.

Could be coincidence. Especially wolves aren't always around.

That doesn't sound like what happened here. There have been bugs over the years where items were truly stuck in progress just like the poster described

In the long run the number of matches on Interloper feels about right. There are still lots of them, but they aren't as annoyingly common as on Stalker. On lower difficulties you find so many matches everywhere that they can literally become a burden.

Early on matches are only a problem on certain maps. With a FM start you basically have to go to Spence's Farm or you're probably screwed. With a TWM start you easily get two packs right away and then more in PV.

You can also go for a while without a fire. But again, depending on the map. Toilet water can last you several days on some maps.

Also if you absolutely can't find matches early: you can use a flare to start a fire

Drop one near a wolf and walk away. They will eat the decoy instead of you

They are more tricky to use than in the past. You used to be able to drop one, wait and just shoot them right in front of you. That no longer works. If you stay near the decoy they'll ignore it.

It would be nice

I like the path though. Even if it's pointless. Things like that can add a lot of believability to a world

No fix for the giant birch bark in AC? It's not a huge issue of course, but it's very noticeable

Outdoor fires last longer than indoor fires. Depending on the temperature (colder = longer). But the time shown doesn't take that into account. It just burns slower.

In practice it's a bit more complicated: https://thelongdark.fandom.com/wiki/Fire#Outdoor_fire_bonus

It's difficult. Blood trails disappear way too fast. And animals sometimes climb up weird locations when hit. They can also run very far. As said the best bet is to have clear weather and look for crows circling in the sky.

But you need to get used to the idea that sometimes you won't find your kill. Raise your shooting skill and eventually most good shots will kill with one hit.

The fishing hut is perfectly fine. Seriously. Make a fire and you can fish during blizzards

Quote

I dropped ruined pork can in the container behind the hut and it disappeared

Completely normal. Ruined items in containers always disappear

1 hour ago, darkscaryforest said:

So the reason I asked about the bearskin bedroll is that I would eventually like to live in remote regions like HRV, timberwolf, etc for extended periods. To make that work sustainably long term, I'd need to sleep without a fire or find an online subscription to have a match mailed to me daily.

You don't need a bearskin bedroll for that. Just good clothing kept near top condition is fine. If you want to play it save sleep in 2 or 3 hour increments and only make a fire when it's actually cold. That can only happen during a blizzard if you let your clothes deteriorate too much.

Where the bearskin bedroll helps is sleeping in shallow caves and other half-outdoors locations. But even in AC or HRV that's optional. HRV has plenty of warm caves, including always warm indoor caves. And AC is actually very comfortable to live in once you figured it out. Maybe bring some scrap metal, but otherwise it has everything you need for staying there over a hundred days.

3 hours ago, WinterFox said:

I have to survive a deadly blizzard🥶

Unfortunately you don't. The blizzard is just the story excuse for the time limit. But you don't have to live through it. It's an interesting challenge and teaches you Coast Hallway, but it's pretty easy.

You could also have paid closer attention to the main menu. It now shows Bitter Marsh in AC and not the redesigned Thompson's Crossing. That tells you that the game already updated

Not a glitch. That was changed a while ago

The gate to the hydro dam courtyard isn't an invisible wall anymore either

It's just the name of the recent update. Not some kind of expansion or add-on

31 minutes ago, Stinky socks said:

I think timberwolf mountaineer hut got so many things right in this regard.

At the time it was released it was touted as the ultimate wilderness map. It's great, but because of the lake area it's very easy. HRV was an attempt to have a true wilderness map.

 constant soaking isn't very pleasant either

You don't have to traverse the whole caves all the time. It's possible to just live in the exit areas.

Also there are two ice caves. Only one has waterfalls

Notes in the journal are definitely more useful to keep track of what you stored where. There is just a lot more detail when you write things down. And I find the map pretty useless in general.

I find spray arrows can sometimes be useful. Especially in fog. But it's certainly optional and I usually don't carry around paint

I'd like killer rabbits

The big danger with moose hunting isn't death like wolves or bears. It's broken ribs. They take ages to heal

It's pretty rare. And the crates that have something are fixed. Other cases:

AC isn't desolate at all. People saying that's it's a quick in and out is complete and total BS. You can spend weeks there and have fun. The scenery is beautiful. The lighting in some areas is something you won't see anywhere else. There are empty areas, but also ones with tons of resources and environmental variety. The amount of saplings is outright ridiculous. It has 3-4 very distinct houses you can live in and rotate between. There is fishing. Outdoor and indoor crafting benches. A very nice bunny area. An outdoor fire barrel. Indoor caves with coal. A fun to hunt bear.

HRV doesn't have any man made structures and feels way more remote than AC because of that, but it's interesting just for the map layout. Even without structures it contains enough to live in and explore for a while. And there is some great loot to be found in various corners.

Both maps have things you won't see on any other map. Overall it really helps to think more in terms of scenery and variety. And not just about the loot. What's the point of just hanging out in a few easy maps? I get the feeling some people are like "I only want to go into AC for five seconds to get the backbag and then hang out at the Trapper's cabin for 200 days"

I don't usually do much snaring, but Ash Canyon has a fantastic spot very close to Angler's Den.

3 hours ago, Hawk said:

I'm assuming GOG and Epic users will be out of luck on the DLC.

Both sells DLCs for many games. See Outer Worlds for example