Serenity

It's one the lowest level within AC. After that, yes, some climbing may be required. You can sort of goat/skyrim down from TWM to PV though. But you'll probably take some damage

The moose in AC is on the lowest level. So I don't see why there should be any climbing

You do get slower when you are overburdened. And I think fatigue drains faster. Maybe the effects could be more severe, but it's noticeable.

I don't mind the hypothermia risk as condition drains pretty fast when you're cold. On Interloper it's not something you want to keep up for too long. On lower difficulties the lack of consequences comes more from the full condition recovery when sleeping.

I fully agree with the point about food though. Long term starvation should be an issue. There have been some proposals about introducing some kind of long term calories store to simulate fat reserves.

There are only three forges in the game. But below Interloper the only thing you really need a forge for is a lot of arrowheads. Even then you can find some arrows and arrowheads here and there. But hatchets and knives are plentiful and they are lighter than the improvised version. So for now you're better off just looting houses.

Workbenches can usually be found in major locations. It's a metal table with a vise on it and a single drawer. In some regions they are rarer, which can play a role in picking a base.

Wouldn't you love that commute to your workplace?

12 minutes ago, odium said:

I dont prefer TWM for my loper starts.

I like it. I see no need to rush for the summit though. There are some nice things there, but the main attraction is the flare pistol. And you can get that from the Ravine too.

What I like it for is the two boxes of matches (one in the three-way cave, one in the hut), plus a tool (mag lens, hammer or hacksaw) and maybe a clothing item. That is Interloper loot of course. Lower difficulties have more stuff. I make my way to the hut, maybe spent the night there and then head for PV where there is more great loot in the farmhouse. Then I return and do the summit about a month later.

2 minutes ago, dizinator said:

I spawned at the garage and there's already a moose and a bear patrolling the back. 

That place is a mixed bag. There are a lot of great things going for it. Lots of storage. Several other houses nearby for loot. Lots of sticks. The bear and the moose are easy to hunt with the cars.

But it can also be a wolf infested death trap. Normally the pack hangs out on the ice, but every now and then one or two of them take a stroll through the town. And the sight lines are terrible. So going in and out is always a bit nerve wrecking. Some people like to avoid it entirely because of that, but they can also be managed.

Be careful with Pilgrim though. You can learn the maps with it, but with the game mechanics it teaches you bad habits. You won't learn to deal with wolves and the weather is never any danger to you.

Voyageur is fine to start with and to learn the maps.

Stalker isn't really too hard in the long run. There is tons of loot everywhere so equipment is not a challenge. The beginning is pretty cold, but that has more to do with the lack of good clothing to start with. Once you're equipped fully you can be warm most of the time. The gimmick is the huge number of wolves, which can make exploring somewhat annoying as you often get cut off in certain areas

It's just really hard to find a rifle or anything at first

Don't hesitate to explore other maps. Coastal Highway and Mountain Town are also good beginner maps

 I ended up finally making a bow

The bow is a fun to play with and it's a lot lighter.

If you have issues surviving wolf attacks invest in better clothing. Protection is what it's about. Also a single arrow hit won't necessarily kill a wolf with a low archery skill. But it's usually enough so that the hatchet can finish it off.

Starting there can be difficult even on Voyageur because of the crappy clothing. If the mountaineering hut is too cold make a fire during the coldest part of the night - you don't necessarily need one for the whole sleep period. Then spend part of the day collecting sticks.

If you want to be warm you can move into the indoor cave between the engines. From there you can open the cargo containers to get better clothing. Eventually you will be warm enough for the hut.

It's not such a huge task as it sounds. You can do almost all of it in CH itself. Maybe with a quick trip to another region. Certain items like bullets can be a bit of an issue

So I just had a bit of an issue/annoyance with the crafting menu. I made a bow and arrows. And when I made a bow I could select tools I didn't have. Namely the regular knife and hatchet. It defaulted to the knife, but since I didn't have one it didn't show the crafting button. That confused me a great deal at first as I didn't even notice the tool selection. And when crafting in one hour increments I constantly needed to select the right tool again. It shouldn't be that way

That the game unfortunately doesn't save the default tool has been a major annoyance for a long time, but I can't remember it showing tools as an option you don't even have. Is that new? I haven't played a longer game in a while.

The Darkwalker

No moose meat though

It does seem pretty though. And you can see your feet 😆

As said you need to adjust your walking direction at the same time as you turn around. So as you turn left change from walking forward to walking sidesways. That just takes practice, but it becomes automatic.

58 minutes ago, Kos said:

in windows (laptop)

You need to use a mouse

It's like in all other games: adjust your view with the mouse and compensate the walking direction accordingly

Hunt him at some place where the bear can't get to you. A rock, a fallen tree or the inside of a car.

I can see the late game issues, but in principle I don't necessarily mind it.

I think the shaking effect is implemented very badly though. It's way too fast and looks silly

Weirdly you can even cook up 0% raw meat to being edible. So it can't ever go truly bad. Just leave it outside in the snow so it doesn't despawn like in a container

Cooked meat does decay a lot slower, but it will get ruined eventually. So it's best to not cook everything if you don't eat all of it

1 minute ago, Catlover said:

 I had no idea about that, otherwise I would've gone there

You probably walked right past it. It's halfway between the engine and the open cave

I, rather stupidly, spontaniously decided to climb the mountain knowing near nothing about the region aside from how to find the mountaineers hut.

It's not stupid. It's how I learned the map too.

And it's not wrong to take it slowly and do some stuff around the lake first instead of heading to the summit right away

Unless they've changed something wolves generally don't eat meat just lying around on the ground. Only stuff you dropped with the decoy button

It's a great spot to kill him. Shoot and immediately duck back into the car

4 minutes ago, Catlover said:

Is it possible to have Fluffy 2.0 in the ice cave? I can't remember if she spawned randomly in one of the two, or had a designated cave.

She's in the cave leading to the fire. I wanted it to be a surprise 

Once you're at the three-way cave with the campfire why go back down to the wing? You were already halfway to the next higher way point

There is also an indoor cave close by that's entirely warm

Wolves aren't the problem. Quarters decay extremely rapidly and need to be butchered right away. The point of quartering is that you can quickly get all the meat and guts/hides and then cut your steaks in a warm or save location. It's more for bears and moose than small animals