UpUpAway95

I would not remove dying in ones sleep, but I would like to see them allow the player to see their stats and cancel sleep, just as they can do now with passing the time.  There is a setting in Custom (that is also active in Pilgrim and Voyageur) that does awake the player if the game detects that they are freezing by a fire.  It does not wake you if you go to sleep without being by a lit fire in the first place (learned that the hard way).

I don't mind that this game heavily restricts the amount of items the player can carry (using weight).  Deciding what to wear and carry in order to stay unencumbered is a large part of the challenge of this game, and I like that challenge.

I would absolutely love a "step over" action for getting over the concrete blocks at the Rural Crossroads and getting up onto some of the logs that form bridges in the game.  However, I would not like a jump mechanic.

I really have no opinion about being able to clear off tables or move furniture.  When it is in my way, I turn it into firewood and I store most things in piles on the floor.

5 minutes ago, Stone said:

@UpUpAway95 ah, no formula but one would be of limited use as the weather/temps affect it so even if you stay out the fire duration will vary, especially on long fires. I generally assume an outdoor fire will last 60% longer and so far experience says that's a good guide for a 1-2 be period. Longer periods = bigger swings in temp and so duration.

I'll try your estimate and see if that saves me some pots of water.

16 minutes ago, Stone said:

The fire dynamics a well discussed elsewhere. I believe fire duration depends on the environment temps, not where the fire is, but wherever the player is. This can be exploited and is one reason I prefer fires outside.

The outdoor-fire mechanics aside, do you think this building heat dynamic would affect your play?

Yes, I do.  I think it would have a large affect on how forging is done... that is, how long people spend forging in a single sitting since the forge would have to be brought back up to temperature periodically.  This would not make it easier.  It would require more strategic planning... and probably more coal to maintain the temperature.  Currently, once you get the forge to temperature, it will maintain that temperature even if the player just continues to add sticks.

Also, I don't think a decline in temperature vs. the sudden "fire is now completely out" drop would make the game harder or easier.  It would just be different.  Currently, combined with the additional fire duration we get for colder ambient air temperatures, fires are often still burning or at embers (which is still at full temperature) longer than the estimate shown in the interface.  I often wake up nice and toasty with an hour left on the fire when I went to bed expecting to be out of fire before I actually woke up.  This sometimes enables me to rush out and gather some more sticks to cook breakfast and grab some torches without using another match.   There are postives and negatives to everything.

For fire duration vs. ambient air temperature... is there an actual formula where the player can calculate how much additional time would be added to a fire over and above the time shown in the interface?

43 minutes ago, StrangerFromTheInternet said:

I don't think it's a bug.

Fires last longer when it's very cold outside, and this seems to be an intended mechanic, but the increased burn duration is not shown to the player.

I think that's all I can say about this mechanic here without getting ban-hammered 😅

I don't think it's a bug either.  I don't think it's a good thing though that the estimated adjustments aren't very consistent and are not shown to the player since it disrupts the principle of making a sound and informed decision.  I don't mind dying or burning things when I mess up, but when I'm shown a time that says X and it turns out to be X*2, I do feel somewhat "tricked" into making such a mistake.  I do think the "pass time until ready" problem is some sort of bug, possibly tied to other timing issues I've spotted.  It may also be that the game likes to throw some RNG into the mix here as well.  For now, since it saves me a lot of wood, I'll happily exploit it.

48 minutes ago, ManicManiac said:

@UpUpAway95

If you have noticed issues with burn time consistency (taking into account for the outdoor bonuses), perhaps then that is a bug of some kind.  Hopefully you've reported that on the support portal.

I'm not saying the game's perfect... there is always room for the team to decide on improvements or to identify mechanics that are not working as they intended (not what people assume is intended or think it should be).  It's always a good to be able to come to the forums and post our ideas, but when we do... we shouldn't get upset if others don't agree or have differing points of view.

Perhaps "we" shouldn't "preach" at other players quite so much as you do either or assume they are upset (which I am not)... but I am getting a little tired of the condescending tone to some of your posts.

13 hours ago, Deadly Shadow said:

Are you telling me that moose (and bears but I don't really care about the bears as much the moose) don't obey the passive wildlife rule?? because I've heard they don't but I've never been able to find a clear answer so it would be really helpful if someone could confirm or not if they obey the rule, im sure bears obey is because I had a pilgrim game going and I saw the bear around trappers cabin in ML and I had just left the cabin, like I was still on the hill. and the bear detected me and ran away, I assumed at the time (because I was still very new to the game) that it was because of the passive wildlife rule, but I was above it, and wildlife will flee if they cant find a path to you, now im debating which of the 2 reasons it could be because there's a quite clear path but I was quite high above it so the game might have just considered it to high, but then again ive seen Hadrian (a tld youtuber) get followed by a bear in PV and he climbed the robe (the one going up to signal hill) and the bear followed him all the way up and down so I don't know what to think anymore. 

tldr; do moose (and bear but mostly moose) obey the passive wildlife rule? and do they obey the Predator Grace Period rule?  

AFAIK, both moose and bear do not spawn until after the Predator Grace Period is over... at least I have never seen one in any region within 24 hours of starting a Pilgrim (correction Voyageur) run.  (Re correction:  Thinking about it further, I do think I have seen a moose spawn near Trapper's Cabin right at the start of a Pilgrim run).

I also feel they do respect the Passive Wildlife setting and will generally run away.  It is, however, for even wolves to attack in PIlgrim mode and I believe they have gotten slightly more agressive since the last update.  More often than not now, wolves will defend their kills until scared off by throwing a stone at them or firing the pistol.  Before this last update, I have shot moose and they have run away, but since this last update, every moose I have shot and not dropped with a single shot has charged, forcing me to get a good second shot into them before they could close the distance to stomp me.  I have also been stomped when I missed that second shot.  The bears, so far, have always run... even after I have shot them and I've generally just left them to bleed out after the single shot (using crows to find them after they died).   Here's hoping that continues to hold true.

2 minutes ago, Serenity said:

Doesn't that happen with outdoor fires only? Unlike indoor fires they get a bonus, but unfortunately that isn't shown in the length of the fire. If it happens to indoor fires too, it may be because of the length bonus from the fire starting skill, though with carcass harvesting and cooking those are included in the times shown.

And yeah, having a scorching sauna in your cave is always a bit weird

I've noticed times variances both indoors and outdoors... and in the indoor portion at the back of caves as well.  I've also noticed the variances with the "pass time until ready" function while doing it from either "cooking slot" both when at a stove or around a campfire.  I've yet to make any sense of it really.  It seems totally random to me.

1 hour ago, LoneWolf5841 said:

This may be an odd suggestion for the game but as a person who is fascinated by thunderstorms, I am interested in this. my suggestion is can there be lightning in the game during snowstorms, especially during blizzards. Lightning could also happen during light snowfall as well. I would love to be next to a nice warm fire listening to the fire crackle with the occasional flash of lightning then the rumble of the thunder produced by it. This could mostly be an ambiance thing more than anything but if you wanted to you could add a very low chance of getting struck by lightning this would have a 99% fatally rate but if you're lucky you could survive it with major burns but would have almost no condition so you would have to recover this would obviously be a extremely low chance to both survive a lightning strike as well as to even get hit by it just like in real life but it would motivate you to find shelter until it passes. The second bit isn't entirely necessary though I would be fine with just the lightning itself just for an ambient effect. Now my 2 questions are would a geostorm like the one in the game prevent lighting from occurring? If so make lightning only possible during the Aurora, secondly, can lightning even occur during a snowstorm? I live in an area where snow is not very common but the occasional times it does snow there has been no lighting involved. I feel like lightning could occur in a snowstorm but if can't occur in snowstorms could someone perhaps explain the science behind why it can't? 

Around here, lightning can occur during a snowstorm but it is EXTREMELY rare.  I've never actually seen a bolt of lightning during a snowstorm, but I have heard thunder... maybe once in a year.  I believe it is something that is more common in US states which have snow (i.e. at warmer mean temperatures  than what we generally have here in Alberta, Canada).  BC's coastal climate is moister and generally a little warmer than here, so they may see more winter thunderstorms than we do.  I've only seen auroras when the skies are clear.  I'm not sure if they form above the clouds during storms or not.

I found this article that explains some of the science involved and provides links to some great video clips.

https://stormhighway.com/thundersnow.php

43 minutes ago, LoneWolf5841 said:

Tape we need some kind of tape not for crafting but for marking basically you can use this tape to mark places you been to for example if you search the entirety of a specific house you could go to the door equip the tape and there would be an option to apply tape to the door and it puts a big X on the door letting you know the next time you come across it that you already searched it and maybe if you leave an item inside that you want to come back to you could lay 1 piece of tape on the door so a \ instead of an X this would let you know hey I searched this building  but left something inside that I wanted to come back for. Obviously the tape would have to be found in the world like any other item but will be fairly common and it has a durability to simulate running out of tape and this item would be unrepairable so once its condition drops to 0 you have to find more. This is a simple idea and would like to see its' addition to the game if you want to it could be used to craft something but I just want to mark doors with it lol. And yes I know you could drop something in front of the door but I really don't like doing that because every resource in the game is valuable so that item in front of that door will be picked up later and used so this idea with the tape would solve that. 

Easiest method I've found is to drop a tinder plug in front of the door of any house I've fully search.  You can also place them on the hoods of vehicles you've searched.  You can also use them to mark pathways (even by lining them up to form arrows in the snow).  You absolutely do not need to use tinder plugs after you get to Level 3 in Fire Starting Skill and they are readily available from newsprint, cardboard and from chopping up fir and cedar logs for fire wood.  You can also craft them from sticks, and as such they are a completely renewable resource.  Personally, I would not bother with carrying tape (another item in the inventory) for such a purpose.

19 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

It's an interesting thought.

But honestly, the systems seems to work fine... sure perhaps there could be improvements made, but I trust the team to do what they think is right.  I'm not sure we should be clutching at the idea of  "realism" though...

 

Realism aside, the fire mechanic is not even reliable.  It doesn't give an accurate time for the fire to last.  I can cook something that is supposed to take an hour and use up only 10 minutes on my fire by merely using the "pass time till ready" function in the cooking menu.  I can put 2L of water on a fire that tells me it will last for 2 hours (just enough time to boil the water) and go to sleep for the night... and I wake up to burned pots because the fire lasted longer than it said it would.

As for how fires affect the ambient air temperature... I personally found it a little embarrassing... telling my friend about this great challenging game that was set in the frigid Canadian wilderness only to have the temperature show up as 65C because I had a fire going in a large open cave during a raging blizzard.

I know you think the game is perfect.  I know it had come a long long ways from the way it once was.  I give every possible credit and respect to Hinterland.  They are doing a great job... and I can also play the game just how it is just fine... but it does have some things about it that can be improved upon... only IMHO, of course.

I probably would never use it... not worth the extra weight.

On 9/8/2019 at 9:22 PM, Jolan said:

@ManicManiac  You define "driven mad" totally different from me.  I've probably spent 4 hours trying to get to those carcases and/or that island.  Next really "warm day" I'm trying for it again in my skivvies.  I've got plans, sketches, diagrams..... 

 

That's my take on it as well... using Albert Einstein's definition of insanity - "doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

2 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

If those places don't have a lack of food... then there wouldn't really be a reason to add more fishing huts at all then, is there?   

Look, we clearly have a difference of opinion on this.  I don't see gaining much from going round in circles on it.  I don't see a need for any more fishing huts to any of the existing regions because I feel that the Hinterland team already placed them as they saw fit, and I trust their judgement.  You seem to think there should be more...  We don't agree and that's okay  

Couldn't that same stance apply to, say, fire drills being added to the game.  Hitnerland has already given us numerous fire starting methods as they see fit.  Why should there be more?

All I'm saying is that, since the all the regions have ample food from wildlife, does the addition of a single fishing hut in any of them disrupt the game balance.  IMO, it doesn't.  All it does is add a little variety to what sort of activities the player can spend their time doing in those regions.  I don't think more variety is a bad thing.

Right now, the fire mechanic is not realistic.  As long as the first is going, it and the air temperature within range stays at its highest level.  The air temperature will stay high even as the fire dies to embers.  Once the fire goes out, the air temperature instantly falls.

I once stayed through a blizzard in the open cave at Marsh Ridge (Forlorn Muskeg).  It is a cave that is not deep and has no indoor area at the back but it is shelter from the wind.  I loaded up my fire for just over 6 hours of burn time by adding in the mix the single lump of coal I had and went to sleep for 6 hours.  While my character was sleeping, a friend came into the room and was curious about the game, so I went to show him how cold the game was just after I awoke.  The air temperature inside the cave was a jaring 65C.  We had a good laugh about it since I really should have died of heat prostration in my sleep.  As soon as the fire died though, the air temperature feel to -23C.

I agree with what you're saying.  Fires and air temperature should react in a more realistic way.  It should consider things like whether or not the fire is in a building, a small enclosed cave or a large open one or even out in the open.  It should also take into consideration the weather "outside".  However, I think though that it requires a major change to the mechanics of the game.

Just now, piddy3825 said:

Your not implying there's a lack of cloth in Milton are you?  Yes I agree with that observation for DP, but all those curtains in Milton?  

Milton Basin... there is a lack of cloth in Milton Basin.  You have to climb out of the basin to access the cloth in Milton.  I'm pretty sure that ManicManiac was referring to the basin as well when he was talking about staying there indefinitely by setting snares to catch rabbits.

1 hour ago, ManicManiac said:

Nothing wrong with it at all... we can each play how we want to.

I was just speaking from a gameplay perspective.  People that gravitate towards Coastal Highway do so because it has (or at least relative) close access to pretty much all major features and that's fine...  Most people will tend to gravitate to wherever they will have the easiest time (it's just kind of human nature).  I'm only positing that it wouldn't be a good idea to for the team to plop fishing huts everywhere just because people want to make a particular spot easier to live in.   

My thoughts on this are only that I respect that the Hinterland team was very careful about the placement of fishing huts... and instead of trying to get them to add more, I find it's far more enjoyable to just get better at living in the world they have provided for us. 

When I first got to Milton basin, I though man... this isn't a good spot to stay for long periods of time, that is until I found the rabbit runs.  I set up some snares and found out that it was easy enough to stay there indefinitely because of how reliable those snares are.  Turned out, I just need to get better at playing the game... didn't need to be able to fish in the basin at all.

This is why I have the option that I do on this particular thread.    There's no right or wrong, there are just opinions... and this is just the way I see this topic.

Since none of the regions that I listed have a serious lack of food, I really don't see how adding a single fishing hut to each is going to negatively affect gameplay by making things so easy.  I've never set a snare in Milton Basin, but I don't find it any more difficult than you to stay there indefinitely.  I just spend my time throwing stones at the rabbits instead and taking down deer and the occasional moose.  What causes me to leave that area is the same reason I don't spend a whole lot of time in Desolation Point... it's the lack of cloth.  Eventually my underwear wears down and I need to move to a place with settled homes to carve up curtains and get more cloth to make repairs.  The same holds true for HRV even though it is a much larger zone that either DP or the Milton Basin and, as such, has a lot of food sources already.  So, all in all, I think most people would still gravitate to Coastal Highway even with fishing availalble in a few more zones.

2 hours ago, piddy3825 said:

really could use one in Hushed River Valley as well...

Perhaps leave out Crumbling Highway and put one in Hushed River Valley then... Monolith Lake area.

1 hour ago, ManicManiac said:

Honestly,I don't think we really need any additional fishing huts in any of the existing zones... each spot has to have benefits and drawbacks (at least from a gameplay perspective).

If there was even one location that "had everything"... then pretty much everyone would just gravitate to that spot because why wouldn't we live in the place that give us access to the most things.   

Like Coastal Highway?  What's so wrong with gravitating to a spot after you've explored whatever you want to explore to the extent you want to explore it in your single-player game?  Milton Basin and Crumbling Highway would still not have a forge.  Desolation Point has a decided lack of cloth.  Crumbling Highway would have the difficulty of being a wolf-infested alley with only one real shelter to get away from them once they smell you walking around with your raw fish... and no way to make a fire within that single shelter.  Besides, lack of fishing doesn't seem to have prevented you from gravitating "indefinitely" to the Milton Basin, has it?

I would like them to add in 3 of their fishing huts - one in Milton Basin, one in Desolation Point, and one in Crumbling Highway - and not worry about allowing us to fish just anywhere.  I like the challenge of getting to one of their placed huts by getting around wolves and such.  Being able to just drop a hole into the ice anyways would just be too easy.

2 hours ago, past caring said:

Thanks - but which is the left or right button, that's what is confusing me. Is it the same button(s) I use to switch between wearing clothing items of the same type or to increase/decrease the number of hours I read a training manual - i.e. the left and right shoulder buttons on the controller? Or is it the button I use to move between the different types of clothing items I am wearing and to increase/decrease the number of hours sleep - i.e. the left analogue button?

This video on Youtube might help,  It's a tutorial on the controller controls for TLD.

It does show you what the LB and RB buttons are... the ones you use to sprint.  For fighting the worlf, however, he only uses his fists.  As I said, if you have other eligible weapons in your inventory, just wait a second for the UI to open as the struggle starts.  Then usi RB or LB to scroll through your eligible weapons before starting to hit A.

2 hours ago, past caring said:

Hi All - new(ish) to the game. I've had a couple of decent custom runs (60-80 days) but after getting killed yesterday I now cannot remember what button to press to select a weapon in a wolf struggle - playing on the PC with the Xbox360 controller. And I keep dying because I'm doing no more than punching the bastards even though I have knife, hatchet, crowbar etc in my inventory. Any help gratefully received (and yes, I know I'm an idiot). Cheers.

Wait a second for the UI to come up and then you have to scroll first using the left or right button.  When you highlight the item you wish to use, hit "A."  Don't worry, you're not actually taking damage while that UI is open.  If you don't make a selection within the time the UI is open or start mashing the "A" button too soon beofre the UI opens, you'll wind up just using fists.

1 hour ago, odizzido said:

Fir is a limited resource so I would be against using it as a consumable. It would make it the same as matches. There needs to be a point to this too, giving the option for fire when no other options exist so it can’t be too hard to attempt. 

Personally I would have the fire bow require a cured gut and a stick. Or shoelaces from the shoes you spawn in with and a stick. Fir or cedar could be required in your inventory but not consumed. No knife or anything should be required.

the chance for starting a fire with the bow should be 100%, but the time required would be unknown, like fishing.

that would make it easy for gameplay and a source of unlimited fire. The downside would be you could try all night and fail, burning a lot of calories and wasting your night when you may have been able to find matches instead.

Just the other day, I was clearly told here that fir and cedar limbs respawn after a storm in TLD.  That means that fir is not a finite resource.  That means everything this idea is constructed from will spawn in the world infinitely.  The spawns may be rare, but they are there.

You can craft 3 (correction 2) lines from a gut and they are very light to carry, so I think that's a fine suggestion.  It only means that the player has to plan ahead a bit and craft a few lines to carry around to make fire bows.

For fishing, you do it for a fixed length of time (1-hour increments) and only your level of success is determined within that time... did you catch 1-2-3 fish or none.  I'm really not sure how you would incorporate doing something continuously for an indefinite amount of time until success is achieved into the current "clock-wheel" interface we currently have for such things.  If people are setting a time in 1-hour increments to start a fire, there is going to be a lot of freezing to death going on while they try to start one.  This, IMO, would render the suggestion useless... I personally would never take the risk as long as I had a single match, firestriker or flare or a lit torch (torch walking) or a magnifying lens and a sunny day.

I like this line of thinking, but I have some concerns and modifications

1) I would give it a lighter weight than the combined items because fir wood is already quite heavy and it would be logical that you would lose some of that weight in carving the fire bow.  I think it should also take 30 minutes to craft and require a knife or a hatchet (if it is desired to still have Lopers reliant on finding flares or matches prior to going to a forge) or, alternatively,  required a hacksaw, knife or hatchet (to allow Lopers the possibility of making it prior to their forge run).  It should not require being at a workbench or simple or quality tools.

2) I would not return the fir wood when harvesting.  Instead, it should return only the 2 sticks based again on the notion that mass has been lost from the fir wood during the crafting process.  The line should be consumed and not returned.  This is also to prevent the player from benefiting from the fir wood resource fully both when making the fire bow and then in breaking it down and burning the fir wood immediately after.... which would make the loss of condition of the bow with each use pretty meaningless.  The same holds true for returning the line.  Condition loss should be 5% per use, the same as most other items in the game.

3) Since you've laid out a two-step process (one to get an ember and another to start the fire), I would increase the chance of getting an ember to 50%.

4) Using the ember to start a fire should increase the firestarting skill the same as starting any other fire does.

In a word - sprains.

9 hours ago, RossBondReturns said:

Yes limbs respawn often after blizzards. Really violent windstorms "tear them off trees" et voila!

Easy to test especially around Trappers and Mountaineers Hut.

I play on Stalker.

Thanks.  I guess I've never taken enough of them or gone back to an area where I noticed it happening.  They take so long to harvest, I usually found I wind up freezing to death while trying to cut them up, so I've pretty much stuck to collecting coal, sticks and branches... along with any indoor reclaimed wood I could gather.