UpUpAway95

My first TLD start - Find rifle in Trapper's Cabin.  Go outside and shoot moose.  Profit.

On 6/2/2021 at 6:39 AM, ajb1978 said:

The flare that brought Will's plane down is the same flare that caused the prison bus to crash. The crash caused the tunnel to collapse, mostly crushing the bus. Astrid was small enough to fit through the crushed part and escape the prisoners, but the prisoners (and Will, with his ginormous backpack full of junk) can't squeeze through.

As for electrical, complex electronics are mostly fried, but simpler analog stuff does still work. While it's rather silly that battery powered flashlights only work during an aurora, we do see that party line phones are still usable during the day. Thus it would stand to reason that a simple diesel truck from the mid 1900's that has no complex electronics could still run just fine, provided you were able to pre-heat the fuel. Diesel engines don't rely on spark plugs, they rely on the sheer force of compression in the cylinders to ignite the fuel. So hypothetically you could roll start it too although you'd probably need to find a truck that's parked at the top of a big hill first. And even then you'd only get one shot at it. In normal use you start the engine first, then put it in gear to provide power to the wheels. Roll-starting turns that on its head--the wheels are already in motion, and you put it in gear to transfer energy from the wheels to the engine in an effort to start combustion. But depending on how fast the truck is moving or what gear you have it in, it's possible that the engine won't start, and will instead bring the vehicle to a halt. (This is known as engine braking--where you put the vehicle into high gear and let the engine absorb the energy to slow you down, vs. normal braking which puts pressure on the wheels to stop.)

But why was she at the bus and why write her message there in the bus.  She could not have been in the bus before it crashed.  If she was treating a prisoner in the bus, where is he if she was the only one small enough to get into the crushed bus.  The whole story just doesn't fit right together... yet (meaning perhaps it will be something cleared up in a later episode).

21 hours ago, ajb1978 said:

Actually I have seen diesel mods for commuter cars colloquially known as "grease cars". You need to be very careful about filtering the oil of course because any impurities can seriously gum up the engine. But you can run cars on things like recycled fryer grease from a restaurant. The only caveat is the oil needs to be preheated to reduce the viscosity, but it burns comparably to diesel.

And I'm not sure if this is a boon or a bogey but any time one of these cars passes by, it smells like a Chinese restaurant.

Driving one in TLD would probably attract every bear and wolf on the map - lol.

I love HRV.  One really just needs to go in with decent clothing (in decent shape) and weapons and tools that are also in decent shape.... then relax and enjoy the exploration and the views.  The only really unique piece of gear HRV has to offer is the moosehide satchel (and I usually already have one of those before I go there)... so my love of it doesn't come from looting... more like a break from looting; particularly since there is so much to be done of that in Mountain Town.

However, Ash Canyon is now, by far, my favorite zone.  Crampons and the technical backpak and a bear that doesn't wander off to die in some obscure place, along with both a moose (or two) and fishing.

10 hours ago, SpanishMoss said:

I don't know much about cars so I wouldn't know, but in regards to your response to how the tunnel collapsed, you misunderstood what I was describing. Initially, the tunnel was partially collapsed, open enough for Astrid to squeeze through. Later on before Will got there, the tunnel fully collapsed, rendering it impassible.

What caused the tunnel to fully collapse then... there are no "aftershocks" occurring after the crash of Will's plane.

7 hours ago, Lord of the Long Dark said:

There is NO WAY you are modifying any car with even just a TBI to operate without electrical. Absolutely impossible. 
   If they have a model T hanging around the game - well that would be its own inexplicability.  But to modify a car form the last 80 years to run without the ability to do induction or Hall effect is only hysterically evident of not knowing about cars 

They have tractors in the game, which aren't that complicated... and you have a full repair shop at the cannery that operates during an aurora.  I believe it can be done and you'd be surprised what can be made to run when the chips are down; but you probably didn't grow up on a farm.  It wouldn't run like it came off the showroom floor and in the end it might not look much like the original car, but that wasn't the question, was it?

The other thing I would question is just how badly are the electrical components fried by the event... The game has several electrical devices that run during the aurora... including computers with their data even retained and readable.

This broken rifle was reported on here when Ash Canyon was first introduced to the game.  It is present in all difficulties.  Speculation is that it has a purpose in Wintermute (much luke the bear spear) and will not be available to be repaired in any difficulty.  I don't believe it can even be picked up at this point.

On 5/30/2021 at 10:28 PM, SpanishMoss said:

Ep1 spoilers

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I think the bus crashed during the first flare, and wasn't taking Astrid, just prisoners. When the first flare hit, the bus lost control and slammed into the wall, collapsing the tunnel. Astrid then managed (later on) to go through the partially  collapsed tunnel, writing "perseverance" on the way through, before the tunnel fully collapsed. (At least I think that's how the story goes)

 

The tunnel is not partially collapsed... it's totally impassable and Will cannot enter the bus to get to the part where Astrid wrote the note.  Something is awry with the scenario you're suggesting.

Also, the earliest cars ran just fine without  batteries (I believe they didn't start putting them in the Model T or A Fords for several years of their production.  You had to crank them to start and they had no lights.)  So, in answering the OP's question, I think a person could convert an engine and get a car to move in TLD if they had the know-how... and the fuel to run it.  The bigger question is where would you go.  Better if you could find a snowmobile and revamp that to run.

ETA:  I looked up the Model T... production began in 1908, but batteries didn't go in until 1919.  They introduced a magneto in 1915.

I think it's fine the way it is.  Mystery Lake and Coastal Highway are noted as being beginner regions and follow the philosophy of there being less restrictive terrain with more open visibility to see wildlife from a greater distance and having simpler options to just skirt around and avoid them.  Changing the terrain in the ways you suggest would change the level of difficulty of the area.  In addition, Mystery Lake has a set story purpose, so redoing it would effect things in Wintermute and require changes to it as well.  It would also require Hinterland being committed to "redoing" things instead of progressing things... by adding more news areas that fit into the new episodes of the evolving story.  I would rather they spend their time finishing Wintermute and adding whatever they envision fits that story.

4 hours ago, Lord of the Long Dark said:

Can’t due to the electromagnetic phenomenon preventing all electrical.  The cars didn’t run out of fuel- they stopped running because of the inductive and Hall effect sensors  all being inoperative. 

How was it then that the prison bus was taking Astrid anywhere AFTER the aurora event that brought Will's plane down?

5 hours ago, Leeanda said:

Does anyone else have problems with shooting moose and bear? Today I shot a moose 3 times in the face whilst it was charging me and it didn't even flinch then just turned and ran off! Yet I have killed one running away into the fog with one shot! Same with the bears! I was practising my archery on a bear the other day and to my amusement they all missed or didn't draw any blood yet it was dead the next morning! Make any sense to anyone?

I'd consider yourself lucky that it eventually turned and ran off.  I have been stomped more than once when the game's RNG gods decided my shots weren't good enough to give me a crit.  Wasted bullets are nothing... broken ribs are horrible.

On 5/29/2021 at 1:41 AM, Lord of the Long Dark said:

this absolutely depends on level of difficulty and how far you are in the game and your fire level. 
  If you play anything other than interloper it makes absolutely no difference whatsoever how you start a fire because of the practically limitless resources. Most players wonder what a Mag Lens is even for. 
  But in interloper given the initial scarcity of matches, there is no way around it. You have to light fires using torches and try to preserve those torches by “torch walking” until you get a Mag lens.  Once you get a Mag lens you only ever light fires with it when it’s sunny out. At fire level 4 and up you can use a match directly (no torch) if absolutely necessary depending on your fire starting material because of the 100% chance for success on a stick or book or cedar. Later in the game when you have several hundred matches it’s not as much a concern but early on in interloper you can’t just play like a stalker level player.

   The poll is nonsensical because it is linear and doesn’t consider these critical variables , sorry. 

If, however, a player is wanting to extend their survival for as many days as possible, then conserving matches is never a bad thing at any difficulty level.

If, however, you freeze to death because you're too stubborn to try to light a match (even at less than 100% chance) when you are, say, out of torches, that's a very dumb thing (even on Loper where matches are more scarce). 

Also, FYI, you have a 100% chance of lighting a fire with a match at Level 3 (not 4) if you use a book as your starting material, but cedar only has an 80% chance at Level 3.  You have a 100% chance of starting a fire if you use accelerant or lantern fuel regardless of your fire starting skill... and adapting  your method to consider what you have or don't have in your inventory is never a bad thing at any difficulty.

Why would you even work to do it?  What few roads existed have collapsed due to the earthquakes and, although not well represented in the game, would be covered in heavy snow because they haven't been plowed since the aurora... making them even more impassable.   Even a 4 x 4 has nowhere to really go.

The smarter thing would be to strip cars for usable materials (which is what was introduced with Bleak Inlet and the fact that we can now hack the batteries apart to acquire lead, but still doesn't explain why we can't, for example, siphon the gas tanks for fuel or obtain significant amounts of scrap metal from them or even manufacture something as simple as a makeshift prybar... or make a low-durability makeshift knife or hatchet from some sharp piece of metal rather than having to go to a forge to do so.

The most sensible scenario is that when the earthquakes cut the island off from the mainland, supplies of gasoline stopped coming.  The gas stations and the cars all simply ran out of fuel.  There is nothing in the gas tanks or gas pumps left to siphon.  The residents may have even gone to using alcohol as fuel... hence we don't find alcohol on GB either.

8 hours ago, UpUpAway95 said:

By weight would still cover teas when made from dry (0.10 kg) and any other cooked foods.  Everything already has a weight.  Harvesting can also be converted to weight... makes it all based on one thing... neither pieces nor hours would need to be tracked.  A 40 kg bear would always count as 40 kg... no matter how you sliced and diced him or how long you took to do it.

ETA:  Fishing could also go by weight.  IMO, it's less complicated than what we have now.

8 hours ago, Dr. S. said:

The wiki says that harvesting already works by time spent harvesting (one hour = 1 point) so it doesn't matter what size pieces you harvest for this purpose. (What does matter, if you care, is type of tool, or no tool, because those affect the time to harvest.)

For cooking, I suspect the system is the way it is because cooking applies to teas as well as meat, so they went with a simple "1 cooked item" = 1 point system. I don't really see any reason to change it (or to limit the number of points gained in a day). If players want to exploit it, they can; that mostly seems tedious to me.

By weight would still cover teas when made from dry (0.10 kg) and any other cooked foods.  Everything already has a weight.  Harvesting can also be converted to weight... makes it all based on one thing... neither pieces nor hours would need to be tracked.  A 40 kg bear would always count as 40 kg... no matter how you sliced and diced him or how long you took to do it.

On 5/22/2021 at 3:12 PM, GothSkunk said:

 

1. The % value of the jerry can is indeed the condition of the jerry can itself. Don't worry about it; it never decays.

2.  Every fire you start, regardless of how you start it, increases your fire starting skill by 1 point. This obviously leads to exploits where people can just rapidly level it up  by building a lot of fires one after the other. I would like to see this limited to 1 point per day.

3. The condition of your mag lens has absolutely no bearing on its ability to start fires.

A limite of 1 point per day is ridiculously low.  It's often necessary to light more than one fire per day, especially in the early game where the player usually lacks adequate clothing and has no stockpile of wood to fall back on to keep fires going for hours and hours at a time while they run out and collect loot or hunt.  Also, outdoor fires can be blown out at a moment's notice, necessitating that a new fire be started in a different location, again just to stay warm or to finish cooking something.  Starting multiple fires in one day is not always an exploit to level up the skill.

I would really prefer that Hinterland either completely change the basis on which these skills are leveled or not bother trying to police what individual players do in their single-player games.  However, for the sake of discussion... the cooking skill could level by weight instead of by the piece.  The same could be said for harvesting.  Fire starting, however, is more problematic to change the basis on which it is leveled.  They could increase the overall number of points required to fully level and then scale the points given depending on what is used to start the fire.  Fires started with a torch would get 1 point since the supply of torches is effectively infinite and the player is basically assured of eventually succeeding.  Fires started with a mag lens could also be worth just 1 point for the same reasons.  Fires started with a match, however, could be worth 3 points, since they are a more limited resource in the game and, at least for the early game, the odds of success are much lower overall.  Fires started with a firestriker could be then worth 2 points since the odds of success are a little higher than with a match.

I think as meds decay (and teas should also decay once made) that there should be an increasing chance of the medicine not working (i.e. becoming less effective since this is what happens with painkillers and antibiotics that are past their shelf life).

I refuse, however, to be trapped on a ledge and unable to descend or climb a rope because putting on a bandage doesn't stabilize the injury enough to do so.  I refuse to accept that I would not be able to "bite down" and force myself into a run to get away from a predator even with a sprain.  I think bandaged sprains should allow normal activity.  If the player does anything beyond a walk, the pain should return and require another pain killer should the player wish to alleviate it rather than tolerate the pain effect on their screen.  Pain killer addiction risk should intensify the more painkillers are used.

Go into the custom menu.  Select the Interloper template.  Change only your "Starting Gear Allocation" from "Low" to "Medium."  Low is the standard Interloper starting gear; medium is the Stalker level starting gear.  The only real difference is that Medium will give you 1 box of matches and a bedroll in your inventory at the start.  If you leave all the other settings the same and refrain from using more than 2 feats, the rest of the run will play just like a standard interloper run.

This beats asking HL to change standard inteloper.

5 hours ago, Andy_K said:

Was the wolf definitely healed? It may be hard to be sure - it's not uncommon for a bear which is bleeding out to stop leaving a blood trail and return to normal behaviour, but then drop dead several hours later as it was actually still losing hp as intended. This is definitely worth investigating though, as when I shot the wolves in Ash Canyon I was convinced I'd spent long enough outside for them to bleed to death.

Despawning is the other likely option. If we know it can trigger when sleeping, then this can be avoided. What about simply passing time, or other activities which speed up time? And will just being indoors during night time or when the weather changes also do it? The safest option is just to shoot things earlier in the day and stay outdoors till it drops... but this is interloper, so I want every edge I can get  (and every arrow I can get back)

 

 

It definitely never died... my kill  count never went up until later when I shot a completely different wolf patrolling an entirely different area within the same zone.

A couple of months ago, I shot a wolf and stood in a spot where I could basically see it wandering around as it bled.  However, just when I thought it would surely drop dead, it gave a shake, stopped limping, and walked away like nothing happened.  This is the only occurrance I've had though where an animal who left a clear blood trail and was clearly wounded did not actually bleed out (moose excepted of course).  I formerly believed it was a bug whenever I entered a building or slept when the animals did not bleed out... now, though, I'm not so sure.  There may also be some RNG that determines arbitrarily that the animal has not been wounded severely enough to die.

2 hours ago, Mistral said:

Almost guaranteed? Isn't it 100% guaranteed... I don't remember it ever taking more than one match (unless you do accidental double-click and hear the sound cue, but that's user error not by design). Then again I don't pay that much attention to the numbers given that even on Loper and Deadman there is ridiculously massive excess of matches laying around everywhere

Anyhow the annoyance with torch start fires is that if you also happen to have firestriker, that is automatically the first choice in the fire starter menu, so very easy to accidentally click on... I'm sure it's a bug too since lit torch does take priority over matches but not over the striker

As for mag lens condition, no it doesn't matter it is eternal. There are non-decaying items in the game

That's what I thought... until the day I actually had a failure lighting a torch... now I say that nothing is 100% guaranteed, but only "almost guaranteed."  Still a lot higher odds that just trying to start the fire directly.  It doesn't bother me much that the lit torch is not first on the list.  I've learned to pay attention and be careful to select it.

23 hours ago, Old Hermit said:

I'm not a fan of goating for avoid rope climbing, and goating in general. i see it as a design bypass, so i only use it when i'm really stuck.
But i respect all  you that uses and studies goating as a game style.

Back on topic, if the problem is carry some gear down during climbing, i'd prefer the idea what @GreschBandicoot suggests, and use the rope to do it.
I think it could be part of a climbing update, maybe (i suggested it elsewhere on forums).

I think allowing for varying degrees of ropeless descents is a designed feature of the game.  For example, take a walk from Miner's Folly in Ash Canyon to the big depression that starts in the terrain near the burnt house near the bear's cave and just walk downhill (crouching when it gets a bit steep), then tell me that using it to take gear from Miner's Folly down to Angler's Den is an exploit.  If they wanted to force players to cross the bridge(s) and then use the ropes only to get down, they could have easily not made that terrain so inviting.  The ropeless descent from the TWM summit is almost as easy as that one.

Conversely, chucking gear down the length of the ropes should render it completely broken and unusable when it hits bottom (if it doesn't get hung up on some rock outcrop part way down and become inaccessible.

I wouldn't worry about the condition of your lantern fuel.  When you refuel your lantern the condition of the lantern fuel just doesn't matter.  For example, your lantern won't degrade faster just because you've added in a low grade of lantern fuel.  The lighting of the lantern success rate is based on the condition of the lantern (and your lantern condition has to be pretty low for it to fail.  In fact, I've never had one fail to light.  The fuel burns at a steady rate regardless.

Your skill level affects your chances of failing to start a fire and that varies with what you're attempting to start the fire with.  The best strategy early on (if you don't have a magnifying lens or can't use it due to the weather) is to light a torch first (which is almost guaranteed to light with just one match) and then use the lit torch to start your fire.  You can then keep trying to light a fire with the same lit torch multiple times in case of a failure to light (i.e. it saves matches).  If you have a mag lens and you want your fire indoors, just light a fire with the mag lens outside the entrance (weather permitting) and pull a torch from that lit fire... taking that lit torch inside with you and then using it to light the fire, say, in your stove.  You get 1 point for each fire you light regardless of how you light it.  You don't, however, get an additional point for lighting the torch first.  Lighting the fire with the lit torch still only generates 1 point.  You will, however, get 2 points for lighting a mag lens fire at the door and then using a lit torch to transfer that fire inside.

21 hours ago, Syraith said:

I tried once goating once when I had broken ribs on a 300 day stalker run once, haven’t since lol

i should look more into it though, just haven’t tried finding passable areas on my own.

One way to go about learning them is to start new characters in each zone on an easy difficulty and just start goating around.  That way, if you mess up and fall, you're not losing much and it doesn't take much to just start another character in that zone to continue learning the paths you want to use.

3 hours ago, Syraith said:

I have thought about mentioning this. It wouldn’t be quick to add condition loss variables (does it land on rock, snow, etc… from how high, yadda yadda…) but the most annoying time for me when it comes to carrying and wanting to throw stuff off would be coming down from the summit in TWM. Either when carrying the rope down so you can use it on that third climb spot, or throwing a few items from the broken end of the plain so you can have a few extra supplies when you get down.

There haven’t been many times I wish I could throw things, but it would be nice. Not upset that it isn’t possible though as it’s just another challenging mechanic to work with, but still would be fun.

It's easier to just mountain goat down from the Summit overburdened... most it might cost is a sprain or two, but I can often get down now without even getting one.  Leave the rope up there for a later climb when you're well supplied and not overburdened (chances are you'll never need it anyways and will probably not ever come back to the summit to get it).  For most ropes, there is a goat path that will get you down without using the rope... again, maybe with a sprain or two and a bit of clothing damage, but usually quite doable.  When I first started, I thought that dropping/throwing things down would be really helpful, but now that I know the maps and goat trails better, I doubt I'd use it much anyways.