UpUpAway95

I think we might already know the name of the site for the lumber mill on the island - Perseverance Mills.

2 hours ago, MrsHoneypot said:

Ok, Upup. 

In real life would you sew something in a standing or crouching position? Would you, perhaps, sit for this task?

Why would you sit? It may be because this is more restful. Not concentrating on your balance to stand or crouch would allow you to pay more attention to your task. The same applies for reading, but it's possible to do that laying down.

Ok, it's just a game. At the end of the day it doesn't matter. It's just an extra piece of detail. 

In game, the screen goes black when we sew, when we cook, when we pass time, and when we sleep.  When  sleeping, we al (I'm pretty sure) imagine the character lying down. even though we don't see him/her actually getting into the bed.  What I'm wondering is what's so difficulty then about imagining the character sitting down to sew or sitting down when cooking next to a campfire (because beside a stove I would be standing), and whenever we pass time?  I don't see where it adds detail as long as these functions take place in the UI with the blackened screen and the timer and we are in a camera view anyways that doesn't ever see our arms and legs.  I already said that their adding a third-person camera view would change my thoughts on this entirely.  What do you want from me here that you're being so confrontational?

No, no, no... it's a jerry can on the negative terminal and a lantern on the positive... and move the battery a little to make room on the burner itself  Place raw venison on the burner and an birch bark tea beside it before you go out.  When an aurora appears when you're out hunting, shine your flashlight towards the antenna, which will activate the starter and ignite a fire.   After a bit, you'll receive some freshly cooked venison and a hot birch bark tea by airmail.  Warning, the contents of the teacup may shift during transport.

Where in the game are there couches where there isn't also a bed nearby?

3 hours ago, Marcurios said:

ofcourse, that's logical..if the Wolf drops on your head it will most likely detect you rightaway.
but from a logic perspective, there is no organism that does that other then people on a parachute.

if i myself would have to calculate the distance for 'close" spawns in Interloper, i would atleast make "close" the minimal maximum detection distance, meaning the wolf would atleast do it's bark thing first.
That's not the way it is now in Interloper, i was killed three times in a row by a wolf out of nowhere, while i was constantly looking and turning in a pretty much open field.

i did manage to live for 10 days now without being surprised eaten, so i guess it's just bad luck, but i read on the internet that a lot of people have this complaint, and i mean a lot, on reddit there are quite a few understandable rants about this

i think it would even be better if wolves move faster and detect you from a little further then to spawn them in too close.
if the devs want them to be relentless they could solve it another way, they'd be more scary too.
 

i was stalked by 4 wolves yesterday in Interloper, and i survived by making a fire, luckily there was no wind and i found three boxes of matches this time, very lucky run.
So if they don't spawn on top of you, and you had the luck to find enough matches to be able to do that, you can survive in Interloper.
And that is how it should be..always..

... and all I was suggesting is that it seems to me to be a bug in that setting.  You say you found both Voyageur and Stalker easy.  It's just on Loper, you're having an issue with it.  Yet, the setting is the same for all of them, but still changeable and indeed set differently on Pilgrim.  Perhaps the other settings - something that changes between Stalker and Loper is interfering with it.  I'm not a programmer, so I don't know the technicalities of how they programmed this setting, but clearly they did something to put a "buffer" distance around the player regarding wolf spawns... at least as far as them spawning when entering or leaving interiors (what programming would set the interiors apart in this way, I don't know).

Regardless, you do have an option to make a change that affects it in custom by moving that setting from "close" to either "medium" or "far."  I don't think I have ever had wolves spawn in close to me on Pilgrim, so I think the setting is probably working as intended in that case (that is, with the other settings that Pilgrim uses in it's template).

1 hour ago, MrsHoneypot said:

I think the point of the suggestion is to be able to gain a little rest while doing sedentary tasks like reading or sewing.

I'm still unclear as to how adding sitting would accomplish anything since both those activities involve the same sort of screen as Passing Time and Sleeping currently do and there is nothing in that screen at any time to indicate the body position of the player.  We imagine the player lies down to sleep, so we can also imagine the player sits down to sew.  In both cases, the screen is merely black with a moving circle in the center of it.  As I said, those more sedentary activities do already consume fewer calories than walking around.  Are we talking regen of health while doing these things instead?  If so, I'm against it unless there's a way in custom settings to turn the regen off (to preserve the concept of deadman).

4 hours ago, Marcurios said:

buffer around the player regarding enemy spawns, no, you're obviously not a programmer..
spawning wolves on top of the player has nothing to do with the variable that holds the amount of wolves to be spawn (that's what i would call a "buffer" if anything).
it has to do with the proximity to the player that the npc's spawn, the coordinates derived from the players position.
so if player is at X-10.920 Y-500.430, you don't spawn a wolf at X-10.930 Y-500.420 in the game worlds coordinates.
and it's not a bug, it's a decision the devs made to spawn enemies in to close to the player at random.
So close infact, that the audio of the wolves to alert you (the bark) isn't even played cause it's on top of you and already chewing you up..

The player is a capsule that slides through the world, you can "get" it's position and make NPC's spawn near it's location.
Some games do this, and usually behind the player capsule's camera.
If they do it in your face, that's the biggest mistake you can make, cause people will insta complain.
Devs that want to scare you to death do it behind your back, but good devs don't make it a death sentence in a bloody hard gamemode.
So if you want to do that, the wolves that spawn on top of you (the unfair ones) need to be somewhat more squishy then the ones that spawn at a distance.
That's what i mean with logic, give the player a goddarn chance atleast to survive.

That's what i called unfair, cause it is..but i really like to move on now with other things instead of having to repeat myself over an over.

you haven't played to many games then, i know lots of games that do this bug free..
don't go asking next which games, just play a few more..
 

yep, though on like 4 occasions i fought three in succesion and came out living (with 30% health), wolves bleeding out and i had three pelts and a load of meat.
and i'm a beginner when it comes to The Long Dark.

Timber wolves are actually going to make Stalker interesting again lethality wise, although there a a bit much wolves in Stalker, i liked the idea of Interloper, less wolves, but more deadly, but i didn't expect 99.9% deadly though..guess it all comes down to expectations.

i do think that if they are going to add more variety in wildlife, that they also need to revise the fight and shoot mechanics, especially if there will be even more species after the timberwolf. Cause i found the revolver to be nothing more then a gadget, it hardly ever scares or kills a regular wolf, so it would never kill a Timberwolf, you'd need a rifle or bow for it, ofcourse it all comes down to how many they're going to throw in, but i think if they get added on top of what is already there, some changes in mechanics are again needed. Maybe craftable bullets, but finite as well like the other stuff so death will come eventually..

I balanced out fallout 4 with a damage mod that makes it extremely hard, but still playable, balancing a game out is extremely difficult cause there are so many variables used to calculate what is going to happen before damage to the player is applied, a mistake is easily made.
That took me 2 years to get everything right by the way, on a finished game..
That's why many games that are made on a deadline will never get really finished after release, they get the gamebreaking bugs out, but almost never care to really make balanced gameplay, most games you can become so good at, that you'll never die anymore, even on insane difficulties.
This is where this game shines so far, that's why it bothers me if there are a few things not quite right.
And it's not my opinion, it's just what i must conclude from playing it.

But i'm purely talking about the configuration of the built-in modes, cause the mechanics to do it right are there.
That just bothers me, it's kinda like almost the perfect game, i have seen this before, but it never gets really perfect cause either devs listen to their player base too much, or they need to device a trick to fix leaderboards, or they have their own reasons to do it like they do it.

i always keep revising my script so not a single error can occur, and that everything is thought of in the most elegant and simple way possible to not destroy performance.
But i guess that is a luxury you can afford when you're not working for a gamestudio with deadlines.

Since Hinterland seems less concerned about this, i have good hopes that they will change unreasonable mechanics (read- decision implemented in built-in modes) in the end.
That's also why i say what i say, i'm hoping that IF they read it, they'll atleast think about it again.

I won't hold my breath though, cause only moderators will read prolly, but i can try..







 

The variable setting I'm referring to is in the Custom Menu.  It's entitled "Wolf Spawn Distance" and can be changed by the player from Close to Medium to Far.  The description reads:  "Affects how far away wolves may spawn when you enter or exit an interior.  Closer means they are more likely to catch you unawares."  In the templates for Voyageur, Stalker and Interloper, this particular setting is "Close"; on Pilgrim it is set at "Medium."

19 minutes ago, ajb1978 said:

That was never an official game mechanic. I think there was a mod that allowed you to do that at one point, but it was never part of the game.  But yeah I agree, it SHOULD be.

I own an actual kerosene lantern, and I can tell you two things.  1: It is a piece of cake to unscrew the cap and pour out the kerosene into a jerry can.  And 2: There is no freakin' way you're filling a lantern straight from a jerry can and NOT making a huge mess.

Oh, there is a way... you just need the appropriate funnel (which can be made from a lot of different everyday items in a pinch).  I've just always assumed it's just not illustrated in the game... just like we don't have cooking or eating utensils or plates.

1 hour ago, stratvox said:

I actually use the crouch toggle to roleplay sitting all the time, not just when cooking or sitting next to a fire.

It'd be nice (but not strictly speaking necessary) have a an actual "sit" toggle that allowed the user to drop their at rest calorie consumption by some marginal quantity (say from 120 to 110 or whatever), with the need to get up again before doing anything... which may from time to time end up creating problems for the player.

This is also because I will often not use the pass time function; I've had many occasions playing this game where the player is huddled next to a fire in the mouth of a cave watching a blizzard blow by and just letting the time pass while I make a coffee or a snack or do some tidying or whatever, with the occasional look over to see if the situation needs maintaining (wood on the fire, drink some water, that sort of thing).

Passing time seems to have a lower calorie consumption that moving about.  Sleeping has an even lower one.  I don't spend time AFK without pausing the game, but I'm also pretty sure just standing still consumes fewer calories than moving (which is essentially what AFK is); so I'm not convinced adding a "sit" toggle that enabled you to still hear and see the world changing would actually be a change beyond lowering the vertical camera angle a little lower than crouching does.  They can add it if they want, but I really wouldn't miss it if they never do. 

In a game with the ability to view things in third-person, different ballgame altogether.  I don't see them making that sort of extensive change though, but a 3rd-person view is something I'd be more interested in overall.

5 minutes ago, Marcurios said:

That's because i genuinly feel that the game needs a lot of work.
I had almost as much bugs with it as i had with Fallout New Vegas, and you and i know Bethesda's track record.

And yes "bad" is my opinion, you may safely ignore my opinions.

you know very well what i mean with logic, don't tell me it's my logic.
Not in the case with a npc spawn in your face, it's silly..no matter how you defend it.
Not in any game, not in any difficulty, something isn't supposed to come out of nothing.
maybe in Quantum mechanics, not in a game.

Now i'm sorry, but i have to stop replying now cause it's going to take too much time, time i need for making my treepack
which i'm currently working at..

i asked a question in my first post, i think i can answer it myself now, since i have lived for a week in Interloper now.
I am wondering when the magic wolf is going to end my run though..




 

 

So, now we're down to just talking about a rather obvious bug with the buffer around the player regarding enemy spawns... since the size of that buffer is changeable in the custom settings.  I'm no programming expert, but I've experienced similar bugs with enemies spawning in unusual places in most, if not all, other games I've played.  (Shrug).  It's something I tend to laugh off and overlook.  When I play a game that does this bug-free, I'll let you know.

1 hour ago, Marcurios said:

well yes and no, i agree with you that playing this game right can only be done custom imo.
but i still think that the way the modes are set up are based on bad decisions.

aand i wasn't really complaining, although i understand it will be seen like a complaint.
it became a complaint the moment people started to reply, forcing me to elaborate on those underlying decisions that created these modes.

it all begun with this question;

then when i played Interloper some more i noticed some unfair gameplay elements, mentioning that, together with the reactions i got it became a complaint more or less.. that in it's turn led to the conclusion that none of the regular game modes are thought out very well, but the mechanics to make them perfect are present in the custom mode. that made me change my mind about custom mode.
but i still don't like it that it is this way.
i'd rather have good, well thought out modes to begin with.

And no, i don't want the devs to customize the modes "to my liking", i'm not important, the well thought out mechanics are..

the voyageur equivalent of the story mode says it is the way it's ment to be played.
i mistakenly translated that back to survival mode, my bad.

i didn't notice any positive effects with the feats either, the buff you get from it is neglectable.

And my comments are not ment to downplay the devs, nor ment to say the game is bad, they are ment to provoke some further thought on the mechanics, i know they're still working on the game, someone might just think again about certain gameplay elements, if they need tweaking or such...but i'm noticing that people always need to disagree and tell me their opinion on what i said, i'm really not interested in anyone's opinion other then the devs opinions on how they came to these decisions.

Cause i know that in the end, the last thing a dev wants is to frustrate people, even if you make one of the hardest games around to play.
like i said, i don't mind freezing to death, i lowered the cold in custom, but put it back again, cause i can see that you can't hold out for very long in -40 celsius with no clothes, that's certainly not unfair..

i just like logic in games, no matter how wacky the game is..
 

For the record, my impression of your complaining about things in this game stems directly from your multitude of original posts that end with comments like "Fix this" or, as in this one, "this needs to be addressed."  Nothing else.  Furthermore, iMO, it also cumulatively leaves the impression that you do actually want them to customize this game to your liking... mostly because it's logic (and it is, IMO, a fairly logical game) doesn't jive with your logic. 

The "logic" about how game modes shift from easiest to hardest and that playing on a custom mode is "bad" because it allows players to make things "easier" is something that started early on when games were simpler overall and difficulty progression meant changing just a single element.  For example, never-ending games like Tetris got faster and enemies in shooter games just got more "bullet-spongy"  and games were meant to be "beaten" not just enjoyed.  However, just because it's a notion that has is embedded in game culture, doesn't make it necessarily "better" or "more logical" than a game being structured to counter those notions and to try to free players into seeing "custom" modes as being a means to enhance the playing experience in variety of different ways.  I'm not saying this game executes that difference in game philosophy perfectly or that it isn't going to encounter players still locked into that old "leaderboard" mentality, but, IMO, it has made a great start in that direction.  As I said earlier, I would prefer we hit a point where the standard game modes are relabeled as "suggested templates" and feats are also allowed to accumulate regardless of whether the player uses one of the suggested templates or devises their own.

Depends on where I find them and what I might happen to need most for resources in that area.  It also depends on what settings I'm playing with since those affect the availability of certain itmes  I do generally only repair what I'm unlikely to find a duplicate of and then only if I'm planning to carry it around.  If I'm not wanting to carry it around and I don't immediately need the resources it provides upon breaking it down (most just give scrap metal which is pretty common anyways), I generally just store it in one of my smaller "local cache" sites on that map.  I select my local cache sites as places that I can easily find again and reach without worrying too much about nearby predators.  I'll make a note as to what is in each cache and then come back if I need the item.   A lantern is something I am inclined to carry around if I find one.  I will repair that lantern to 100% so it is unlikely to get totally ruined by an attack.   I've found that the condition of it only deteriorates if you allow it to completely run out of fuel while using it... so, I may a point of turning off the lantern before it runs out of fuel.  That way, unless it is damaged during an attack, my lantern stays at 100%... So, I have probably broken down more lanterns than any other tool... because I prefer to keep my one good lantern full of fuel when I can and sometimes, breaking down a lantern has been the only way I could get more fuel (e.g. in DP where we can't fish).

2 hours ago, Marcurios said:

Go and play Fallout New California (A.K.A. project Brazil), i worked on that with a bunch of friends.
https://www.moddb.com/mods/falloutprojectbrazil
Also working on Fallout The Frontier
https://www.falloutthefrontier.com/
few more examples of what i have made, but just like 2% of my entire work, otherwise i have to spam the thread with links;
http://www.mgenyc.com/tag/marcurios/
https://www.moddb.com/members/marcurios/mods

And before you go and say...ohhh, but they are not games but mods, then no, they are games, both bigger then the entire game New Vegas.
i wrote scripts for that regarding survival mechanics in The Frontier, yes, it had cold weather and protection from freezing with clothes and fire even before The Long Dark existed, even though it has'nt been released yet, we have some money from donations, but not a kickstarter amount of money, so developing takes time, not to mention to rig up all those vehicles Fallout lacks vanilla that you can fly and ride, even in space..
And i merged all mods into the main master for Frontier, and made the weather (scripted and made entirely new 360 degrees cloud system), and a bunch of terrain textures.

i also made assets for Unity games that are used in a few games, but i don't actually keep track in the exact amount, but there are quite a few..

And yes, The Frontier will still be a year away from releasing, but if you ever played Fallout NV you will be stunned from what The Frontier will add in terms of mechanics and new driveables and flying contraptions and rideable animals and more.

On top of that i made hundreds of scripted mods and weather mods and texture and model mods for Fallout 3, Fallout NV, Skyrim, And Fallout 4, Doom 3, STALKER SOC etc..

I also helped out with a bunch of big selling assets on the Unity store like GAIA and more..

Let's just say i did enough programming and scripting mechanics to be able to determine what works and what doesn't from a fair gameplay perspective.
Even if you could not find any clothes and would freeze to death every single time, that would be more fair then a wolf spawn on top of the player.
It's just a big nono in the game industry.

@UpUpAway95 i agree with what you said, suggested game modes would make more sense, then you could just disagree with their suggestion.
As it is now they say with Voyageur it's the way the game is ment to be played, i don't think such a statement is correct.
The way it is ment to be played is the way someone wants to play it, so in that regard, custom is the way to play it.

So now you're, in effect, complaining over a few words in the description of one of the game modes they currently offer, which seems pretty inconsequential in the overall design of things to me.  Is that what has prevented you so far from playing a custom game and instead repeatedly raising issues with the "design" of the all the various experience modes... wanting the devs, in effect, to customize those standard modes to your individual liking?

ETA:  So, I checked the ingame descriptions out.  There is actually nothing in the description of Voyageur that suggests it is in the way the game "is meant to be played."  It reads:  "For new or experienced players looking for a balance between Exploration and Survival."  Pilgrim's description indicates that it is "For new or experienced players most interested in pensive Exploration."  Stalker indicates that it is "For veteran players looking for a punishingly challenging Survival experience." and Interloper indicates "For expert players looking for the ultimate wilderness Survival challenge."  As a result, I don't think there is anything amiss in the descriptions of either Pilgrim or Voyageur since they are settings where the player can be successful without being at all familiar with the game or the maps.  Stalker and Interloper require that the player be familiar with the game and the maps.  I would perhaps change "expert" to "veteran" for interloper as well... or use another word that more clearly tells the player it requires familiarity with both the game and the maps.

The description of Custom, IMO, should perhaps be adjusted to eliminate the "separate from standard Survival Mode" reference.  As I've suggested somewhere here before, I think feat progression should be allowed also in Custom games... but, in the end, the feats don't really have that much of an impact so I'm not as fussed over that as I once was when I was a new player.  I really enjoy having the flexibility in a game to adjust the game modes myself without having to resort to using mods.

6 minutes ago, MrsHoneypot said:

There are soft chairs and sofas in the houses at Milton and CH. Sometimes in the cabins you find here and there. 

If you're in a place with none of that, why can't you sit on your bedroll? We could drop it and sit down on the rolled up bed. Surely that would keep the chill at Bay.

You can activate the Pass Time screen anywhere.  When I sleep, I imagine lying down on the bedroll or the bed while the screen is black.  When I Pass Time, I imagine sitting on whatever is nearby when I decide to pass time.  I honestly don't have any problem with not being able to actually see the character moving into a sitting position.  I can also crouch by a fire while I'm cooking and imagine sitting that way.

4 hours ago, Marcurios said:

you can disagree, but spawning wolves on top of you is unfair.
got nothing to do with difficulty levels as you put it.

i don't say custom is bad, i say the modes that devs configured have flaws in design.
i'm saying they need to keep thinking about what makes a game better, and adjust their built-in modes to be just as harsh, but more fair.
the option is there to spawn wolves far away, then why would you deny the player the possibility to detect them early and to device their own strategy on how to deal with them ? they simply did that cause they figured it has to be really really unforgiving and plentiful hard. and you have to die, no matter what..even if there is nothing you can do about it.. i'd say it has to be fair in the first place, then you can think about how to make it real hard so people have to think real good to survive, but if they do that well, they will survive. now it's just i survived for a week, and walking to my next destination, and oh, all of a sudden a death sentence spawned right behind me. ofcourse not in front of you cause that would look silly, no right behind you, the wolf doesn't even bark, you're in the struggle menu rightaway yelling WTF ! it literally happened three times now with me, i was on a open field, no wolf to see for a mile, and yet i got jumped in my back, now how's that for fair ?

So i play a custom game with the wolf setting to spawn far away, and whaddayaknow, i don't die from a sudden spawn anymore..
That should not be custom, that should be Interloper, and if people want crazy unfair dumb mechanics deaths, they can choose custom.

 

I might come on a little strong about this, but i can't really stand the decisions devs make, maybe because i make my own games, and in that regard, i always keep thinking in how to make it better, not easier, not more fun, but better, as in, if you use the brain you have, you will be able to aquire your victory. i do like the game, but i don't like the decisions made in different "experiences" first three are too easy, last one is unfair.
So it seems custom is the only way to make the game work, and i kinda dislike that.
The mechains to do it right are all there in the custom settings, yet they chose weird "experience" modes imo.
but it probably is just me, a few of you guys constantly disagree with me about it, so i guess to each his own..

In my  opinion, they should do away with the standard "difficulty' modes altogether and have only the custom menu with a few "suggested templates" put up in no particular order so that people don't mentally assign "difficulty" to them.  I'd actually like to see difficulty modes eliminated from most games, along with leaderboards.  From what I've seen online, standard difficutly levels tend to only generate boasting and bickering.  I'm thankful I"m not a game developer.  Being just a player, I'm free to just like what I like... and I like what they've done with this game regardless of whether or not you think it's poor design.

2 hours ago, Marcurios said:

it's just bad game design, that's what it is.
 

I disagree.  It's not run-of-mill difficulty levels where everything just scales up, and that why there is such a difference in how you have to think about survival between stalker and interloper and it is what enables the sort of flexibility you have to create different custom games that also cause you to have to think differently about survival.  I love it.  It adds a ton of replayability to the game.  You just have to get over your conditioning of "custom = bad."

Surgeon General's warning:  Drinking and gaming can be hazardous to your computer's health.

1 hour ago, Marcurios said:

That sounds like a good strategy to enjoy Interloper mode, not to survive as long as possible, but to see if you can get somewhere you have in mind.
Thanks for that suggestion, i'll try to do that..

And yes it's true, as long as you do NOT know all the spawnpoints and connections yet, it's still a good game.
But i was kinda dissapointed to hear that one day i will know where important stuff is placed like bedroll or matches.
But for now i'm no way near there.

@UpUpAway95, you're right ofcourse, if you have the option to make it even harder then Interloper, then i have nothing to complain about essentially.
just got frustrated that the difference in difficulty is so immense, i wish i would atleast have a chance to come out of a wolf fight with 2% health, so i could crawl to a car and die in that car.., instead of wolf jumps me, 100% chance to die immediately, it just feels lame..i would rather limp away, since i had no cloth, and no bedroll and no food and only 2 liters of water, and was far from a building, so i would have died anyway, but it would ateast have felt more dramatic to bleed out in a car nearby..the sudden death is way more frustrating then the one i had from starvation in the second run, i slowly died, saw it coming, it was kinda cool..being mauled by a wolf that you don't see coming, they aren't even barking in Interloper from what i can tell so i can't even get a heartattack scare..is not so cool..

Well atleast in the end when i never get the hang of interloper, i could always customize the game.
But i want to be able to do atleast something before i die, so i'll keep trying for a while..
Even if it's for like 1 day more..

I'm sure if you stick with it, you'll get better at lasting longer and longer.  I've watched some different Youtubers play and the differences in their skills and confidence between their earliest interloper runs and now is amazing.  It's remarkable how almost nonchalantly they can move about the world and how few resources they can survive on.  There are a lot of neat custom challenges out there as well... everything from being unable to wear manufactured clothing (only stuff from hides) to having to survive in a single zone or, as I mentioned previous, Deadman (which is not being able to regen health).  They share the custom codes that make up the challenge.

For myself, I probably won't ever get that good... but trying is always the most fun anyways.

2 hours ago, loriaw said:

Eons ago when there was only ML, CH, and PV I was playing on Pilgrim mode and had a wolf attack me the same way one on Voyager or Stalker would. I had not shot at him and was not hunting (I was building a fire at the Three Strikes Homestead). My initial reaction was pitiful since I was in no way prepared or paying attention to start with ~ and I died. After tossing some change in the swear jar I hopped on the forums and asked about it, and dutifully reported it as a bug. Then I proceeded to do my best to recreate that, and have to admit that when I had another wolf attack me in ML I continued that game and it was … glorious. Seemed that once the bug appeared, it randomly struck regardless of region throughout that entire play through. I even asked about a way to recreate it in the Mailbag, but either Raph misunderstood me, or I am hopeless at fine tuning the custom settings. In any case, I could not (and that makes sense because the AI is set … being able to change it via custom settings would effectively break the game). 

As for wolves turning and growling while eating one of their kills; I run straight at them. They will turn and face me and growl, and then run. Every time. 

I have had several attack after being wounded, but there again, that bit or realism is something I appreciate in an otherwise so artificial as far as animal behavior. Most wounded animals will turn and fight, particularly predators. Prey animals will continue flight even after they have dropped from exhaustion; I watched one of the men in our hunting group go for a rather wild ride on a Whitetail that he assumed was dead and simply straddled it to cut the throat. Bambi proceeded to leap up and bolt at a dead run through the trees.  Poor Tom hung on for all he was worth. It was one of the funniest and scariest things I've ever seen. 

Personally, I'd prefer a mixed AI that was closer to realistic and just as unpredictable regardless of the difficulty mode, and I know it can be done because it has … it just doesn't seem to have been a priority in this particular game. 

I don't think the bug that caused wolves to attack on Pilgrim will be back, outside of an occasional attack after you've wounded one. They will growl and momentarily defend their kill, but absolutely run off when you get close enough. Attacks after wounding one while you are still in their radius make sense, and at least now you know to be watchful and prepared.

Yes, even bambi can put up a pretty good fight... and even a little one.  Once got beat up pretty bad trying to do a fawn a favor that had become entailed in a broken part of our fence.  Surprisingly and thankfully, mom just stood at a distance and watched or I might have been in real trouble.

On 8/10/2019 at 10:40 AM, mayimbe said:

Thank you for responding, but medicinal plants should make them infinite and thus not limit the long-term supply of medicines.

Why?  So far, this game is not about guaranteeing your survival infinitely.  It's more about managing your resources to survive as long as you can (which implies that there will always be death at the end of a run).  The more skilled you get at making decisions that avoid attacks and avoid getting food poisoning or parasites, the longer and longer you will be able to survive... but it will never be forever.  On the harder difficulties, other things even come into play - the weather gets progressively colder and animal respawns slow down significantly.  It is a game that IS trying to kill you and will ultimately kill you.  It's not about setting up a home in the Canadian wilderness.  

Even so, people have survived 10 in game years in this game and several have survived longer than 500 days in interloper mode (the setting with the fewest resources).  Running out of cloth and medicines is really something you don't need to be worrying about.  Avoiding that bear or wolf and gathering enough wood and food for the night are your day-to-day concerns.

I hate to keep saying it, but playing on a custom setting is the alternative that is designed into the game.  Each setting tweaks a different aspect and each mode is just really a different collection of those settings so you can sample what aspects of the game play you want to be harder and what other ones you want to be easier.  They still allow the player to gain achievements while playing on custom settings, so there should not be the sort of stigma attached to it as there is in other games.  They want you to feel free to adjust your experience to suit yourself.

Stalker is about being attacked by wolves.  Interloper is about lacking resources.  Voyageur is combines fewer wolf attacks and ample resources to allow you to more freely wander the map.  Pilgrim is about essentially eliminating animal attacks.  You can go into custom as then select any of these difficulties to see the template that comprises each one... and then tweak what you want to adjust it to suit you specifically.  You can even adjust certain setting to be "harsher" than on interloper and stalker (e.g. playing "deadman," which removes health regen is a popular custom game setting.  They don't just scale like a FPS game does.

I would love it if they allowed the player to change settings around in a custom game after the file starts, but even as it is, it's not that heartbreaking to leave a file if it no longer interests you and start another with different settings.  The ability to tweak the settings keeps the game interesting since you have an innumerable number of different permutations to work with.

The only things that require a standard mode are the feats... which just grind up over time and can only be applied to another new game anyways.  In effect, they are just another way to customize your game.  They offer some minor perks, but nothing that can't either be earned during a playthrough (like being able to start a fire without tinder) or altered through a custom setting (like an extra little bit of warmth ( just lower the setting that determines whether or not the world gets colder over time to compensate).  It's the most flexible game I've ever played this way.

In addition, they are going to be adding a new animal - the timberwolf soon (possibly with the next major update), which will add a nother level of excitement to the game.  They are also going to be adding another episode to Wintermute soon.  These are major changes already in the works... why not wait to see what effect they actually have on things?

If they add an ability to spin fibres, knit socks could possibly be made from spinning the softer under layer of fur of almost any animal already in the game.  We could make a spindle or spinning wheel from reclaimed wood as a start to acquiring the skill.

They could even consider adding a mountain goat and allow us to make a version of mohair (although mohair itself comes from angora goats), but you get the idea.

I would certainly like a way to make socks and even underwear from renewable sources. 

21 hours ago, Draglorr said:

Man, i was up a relatively steep slope and got two sprained ankles,(with no over encumbrance)  then proceeded to get a sprained wrist on the way down!! Jeez man!! This guy is freaking disaster prone AND has the the weakest, most injury prone wrists/ankles i have ever seen! Any one else think this is ridiculous? or am i just unlucky?

I'm apparently unlucky as well.  It's still a mechanic that is heavily dependent on RNG, so thinking you're controlling it by going around unencumbered and well rested and staying off the steepest slopes is more an illusion than anything.  If the dice roll a sprain, you get a sprain.  I've just recently gotten 2 in rapid succession just walking from the Trapper's Cabin to the Camp Office in Mystery Lake (going over the little hill near Max's Last Stand.  You can also get all four in rapid succession  (I've done that too).  People just like it this way better because they can use a bandage to "fix" the problematic aspects of it.  I would prefer they eliminate the random aspect.  If you're unencumbered and well rested, you should be able to walk on any moderately sloped without risk of a sprain, period.

While sitting in the car, bring up your radial menu (LB).  Select the campfire icon, which will bring up a second radial menu that will have a bedroll icon at the top.  To enter the Sleep UI, just select that bedroll.  To pass time and not sleep, just select the deck of cards that show up just to the left of the bedroll icon.

Some cautions - cars are not at all warm and do not provide any warmth bonus like your bedroll does.  It's easy to freeze to death sleeping in a car, so sleep only in very short bursts of max 2 hours if you are at full health.  Watch your warmth meter and health meter carefully even when just passing time in a vehicle.  At least if you are just passing time, you can cancel the command before the full time is up and save yourself if you're freezing to death.  With sleep, you'll just never wake up.  You can also light a fire near the car to sleep, but that's no guarantee that the fire will stay lit.

1 hour ago, ajb1978 said:

This has the potential to be another vigilant flame, where it improves the game overall, but a small but vocal minority hoot and holler to no end about how it breaks the game.  Frankly, I'd be all for it, especially if we get some additional choices like the option to cauterize a bleeding wound with a lit flare or torch, which instantly resolves both the infection risk and blood loss, in exchange for a Burns affliction that has to be healed separately.

I agree.

Hopefully, though, we don't see people trying to grind injuries in order to get the skill up.