UpUpAway95

They can throw it in if they want, but between cattails and newsprint (which I can harvest into tinder plugs) and the fact that sawing up cedar and fir also gives tinder, I really don't find I ever lack for tinder in this game.  I usually wind up stashing reams of it on dead corpses all over the place just to unload it, even in Unpleasant Valley... and that's without starting the game using the Fire Starting feat.  In a pinch, I can always break down a stick to get tinder.  I'd hate to see the hay bales disappear because I grab a tinder plug from them.  They are much more useful as wind breaks and cover to break the line of sight of charging wolves.

1 minute ago, Jimmy said:

There's difference between static loot and random loot. Guaranteed spawns will have condition loss calculated based on time elapsed, with initial condition set by the game seed. The loot in the tail section is an example of this static loot, as are other guaranteed items such as the caches in hushed river valley. Random loot, such as that found in metal boxes, lockers, and other containers throughout the world, are spawned using RNG for their contents and condition.

It's possible to find random 100% items throughout the world, but they're always a product of chance, not guaranteed loot such as that in the cargo containers.

I don't believe the loot inside the containers in the tail section is all static loot though.  Some is... the stuff that can be pegged by the 4 Loper loot tables, but other items are random.  I also think, regardless, the starting condition of the item is random (I've found pistols under Grey Mother's bed on several runs at varying levels, not Loper, varying in condition from 98% to 26%) all within the first few days of a run (since I was deliberately testing the spawn of the pistol on those runs).   I recently watched a Loper run on Youtube where that player reached the tail section on Day 1 and found a clothing item (I think it was a Mackinaw) at something like 20% condition.  The food I found in the tail section, in cargo containers, after 400 days was in too good a condition to have been decaying there for 400 days... even on Pilgrim mode.

25 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

Ah, if you were playing Pilgrim, that explains it!

Interloper has 200% decay rate compared to Pilgrim's 25% decay rate.

Thus, an item would decay 8% in Interloper for every 1% in Pilgrim.

The reason you found stuff still in the tail section is because it decays so slowly in Pilgrim mode you'd still have a 75% chance of finding wool clothing in the tail section after 400 days.

Still, it doesn't explain why some things were at very high condition and others were not.  I believe I even found "new" food items... and that's after 30 days in the zone.  I had also found "ruined" clothing in Coastal Highway on that run... and I reached there probably about 40 days into the run.  Regardless of difficulty leve, it's too variable to say that game starts with everything spawned in and then everything starts to decay at a constant rate after that.

1 minute ago, Jimmy said:

Interesting! Can you verify if this 500 day run was on Interloper? Do you remember specifically which items you found at 71%? Certain items have little to no decay, such as salty crackers. My own Interloper run when I hit the tail section at a few days past 100, I found a wool ear wrap in single digit condition, but four 95% condition boxes of salty crackers.

It was not on interloper.  It was a pilgrim game.  However, we know from the custom settings that the "base resource availability" changes with difficulty, so I would say the ratio of low/high spawn in condition would be higher in interloper.  That is, when the cell is first loaded, the game rolls the dice as to what it spawns in and the condition in which it spawns.  In cases where the "base resource availability" is high (pilgrim), the ratio of high condition items is high; and in interloper (where the "base resource availability" is low, the game spawns in a higher ratio of low condition items.  It may adjust the max condition based on the total number of days you've been in the game so that the CHANCES of something spawning in at 100% condition decreases as you go... but it is never 0%.  Then, the first time you enter the cell (not the zone), the game creates/fills the containers in that cell and decay begins.  Until the game first loads the cell, those items don't exist in the game at all... so they can't begin decay until after they are spawned in.

16 minutes ago, Jimmy said:

https://thelongdark.fandom.com/wiki/Decay

So a 100% wool toque in the tail section on Interloper will decay 0.26% per day, and despawn after 385 days, regardless of whether you've ever visited the region. The same decay rate applies for the wool ear wraps and wool socks.

Of course, many items spawn with lower than 100% condition. If you want a 90% chance of the wool items in the tail section on Interloper, you should visit within the first 38 days.

Which is not what happens at all.  On my 500-day run, I did not summit for the first time until after the 400th day.   Furthermore, I have been in the zone for aobut 30 days before I summited (since I was going for my Faithful Cartographer achievement).  I found some clothing items in very low conditon (21%) but others in fairly good condition (71%).  If decline rates for every were consistent and every started out at 100%, I really should have found nothing in the way of clothing or food at the summit by that point in the game... but I found plenty and all at different levels of condition.   I think it's somewhat random (that is, some things will spawn in at low condition and some things will spawn in in good condition... perhaps the ratio of low/high is based somewhat on the numberr of days you've been in the world).  I think decay begins the first time the game actually loads that cell.

31 minutes ago, Marcurios said:

it's really easy to make it dark, i construct game meshes myself in Unity and other game engines, it would be a 1 minute job to darken the windows.
just put it on the list.

and don't give me the 'petty" remark, if you have nothing better to say then don't say anything at all.

I gave you my vote... I vote they make all the windows dark.  I don't want continuous lit fires inside buildings in the survival game.  It makes no sense and it makes it too easy to avoid using matches, which are a key limited resources in this game.  It doesn't bother me that the windows appear lit from outside and it's dark inside since, in Wintermute, that particular cabin is inhabited by Jeremiah.  I do feel that my having lit fires always available (for example, at Grey Mothers) they are making Wintermute too easy, but I accept that they want to guide the player to those locations in order to interact with the applicable NPC's.  I also accept that the two modes of the game share maps and that minor amount of incongruity is not an issue for me at all.  I don't sweat the small stuff.

I just wanted to say that the phone ringing without power is totally realistic... as I was remined recently.  I live in a rural area and, about a year ago, we retired our old analog walk phone in favor of one with base stations and handsets.  About a week ago, we had a power failure and I needed to report it to the power company, so I picked up the phone and, of course, nothing.  Then, I thought about our old phone and how I never had a problem calling the power company in the past.  So, I found that old phone, plugged it into the phone line (which is a wall socket but not a powered one) and got dial tone.  A few minutes later after hanging up with the power company, that same old phone rang and I was able to take the call... all without power.

Pretty petty, IMO since they are obviously using the exterior views from Wintermute.  In survival though, I don't want to find any "always lit" areas.  I'm the only one on the island, so a stove continuously burning makes no sense, not to mention how much easier it makes it to have a constant fire source for cooking and boiling water without having to expend a single match.  So, I would vote for total darkness in that case... but "fixing it" should be way, way, way down on their priority list, IMO.

I have found stuff in very low condition (21%) at the summit; but I don't know if it just spawns in that way or if my getting there later in the run made a difference.  I've also arrived at the summit later in the game and found stuff in great condition, so I'm sorry, I have nothing consistent enough to be sure.

16 hours ago, ManicManiac said:

This sounds like behavior you should report on the Support Portal.  If you are fatigued enough to sleep for 8 hours, then nothing should be interrupting that sleep (as much as a few people complain about not being able to interrupt sleep... ), sounds like you are experiencing some kind of bug.

I'm still trying to determine if it's something connected to the "wake player if freezing" option in the custom settings or if it's just something about the game at lower difficulties or something else entirely.  At this point, I'm not absollutely convinced it's a bug.

On 7/12/2019 at 12:36 PM, jeffpeng said:

I actually would even be fine to be woken up by the aurora. Sure it would interrupt the sleep cycle and cause some potential condition loss, but I guess it just would make sense, as you pointed out. The aurora in itself is just a pretty amazing gameplay mechanic that gets underutilized once you've got a sleeping routine. It's a bit like those 1AM reruns of Twin Peaks.

I think that, on lower difficulties, the character is awoken by the aurora.  It's probably related to the same custom settings as being awoken when you start to freeze if your campfire goes out.

2 hours ago, ajb1978 said:

I've been attacked by wolves on Pilgrim in the past.  Once was when I tried to get cheeky and see if I could pull the arrow out of a limping wolf before it died.  Didn't go so well.  The other time was when I tried sneaking up on a wolf that was munching a deer, and at point blank range, it turned and tried to eat me.

Being attacked by a wolf on Pilgrim is one of the more surprising things that's ever happened to me on this game, TBH.

Ever had a wolf turn on you and attack while just following behind it... and not too closely, though?  In fact, in this instance, I had even lost the blood trail and turned around to walk back towards the deer it had been munching when I shot it.  He came at me from behind a rock, but there was some distance he had to cover before he was on top of me.  I was very startled and, as a result, was probably slow in reacting.  However, I have followed numerous injured wolves at that sort of distance and even if I got a little too close, they started fleeing again every single time..  I certainly was not doing anything so bold as trying to remove an arrow from it.

I have had wolves turn from their meals ang growl at me rather than flee; and I've presumed that if I persisted in approaching them, they would definitely attack.  I back off at that point and, usually, if I re=approach them from a different angle, they just run off whimpering.

I am not saying that it's impossible for wolf to attack the player on Pilgrim, but this attack did see more aggressive than previous wolf behavior.  The wolf also glitched out (I posted pictures on another thread), so that may have had something to do with it.  For now though, at just this one incidence, I'm not going to commit to it being an actual change or a bug.  It's just an observation on my part that causes me to believe something may have changed in the last update.

40 minutes ago, ajb1978 said:

My two cents worth, while I am able to avoid cabin fever for the most part, when it hits it's super annoying.  I don't feel like being unable to sleep indoors contributes anything positive to the gameplay experience, it just adds an additional chore that delays me from doing whatever it was I originally wanted to do.

I would be in favor of altering cabin fever so that while you CAN rest indoors, you are too uneasy and agitated to rest for more than say 3 hours at a time.  Doesn't matter what you do, you wake up after 3 hours, and have to click on the bed to continue resting.  This would be inconvenient to the player, and would essentially debuff the ability to rapidly snap back to 100% condition with a 12 hour rest herbal tea.  But if you're unlucky enough to get All Blizzards All The Time (Pleasant Valley, get stuffed) this would at least give you the option of powering through it indoors.

The game usually wakes me up before my requested sleep time  anyways... unless the sun dial is way out to lunch; and that is really annoying.  That is, I start sleeping when it get s dark, my condition is at 100%, my food and thirst meters are right full, and I have no afflictions.  I request 8 hours of sleep, but I am woken up when my fatigue meter is only a little more than half full and the moon is about halfway), even though my fire is still burning and I'm decently warm.  By my calculations, the game has let me sleep only about 6 hours.  I have to re-click on the bed and request another 4 hours of sleep and then I'll be woken again when my fatigue meter is about 95% full and it is still dark outside.  Then, I can still sleep another hour  before my fatigue meter is 100% full.  to have it happen even more frequently (every 3 hours) would be even more annoying.

I don't find spending essentially one night outdoors is not that big of an annoyance in most locations.  There are usually ample caves within reach (even during a blizzard) and, barring that, one has the ability to make a snow shelter.  In short, I'm not in favor of your proposed change.  Furthermore, I'd like to see them fix whatever it is that keeps waking me up in the middle of the night (forcing me to re-click on the bed multiple times during a night) as it is.

I think something has changed.  I recently had a wounded wolf come back and attack me on Pilgrim mode.  It was the first time I have ever been attacked by a wolf on that difficulty setting... and I have followed numerous ones that I've wounded until they've dropped dead.   Perhaps this is something in relation to the timberwolves that are about to be introduced.  Previously, if I got too close after they slowed to a limp, they would just get scared again and start fleeing again.

1 hour ago, ThePancakeLady said:

Keep in mind that neither Wiki (Fandom or Gamepedia) is "truly official". Hinterland does not submit content to either, AFAIK. Both are player made, with info added by players, not by devs. The "Official" in the Wiki title is just a way to use SEO practices, to have it hit more, and land higher, in  Internet searches using that keyword/those keywords. Just a "clever" way to get more visits to your site or page. So, though it is "usually" good information, it is still based on players using various methods of pulling (and pooling) data from game files, gameplay, and "informal" questions to devs here (Milton Mailbag) and on social media, and then adding that info to the Wiki(s).

I do understand that it is a fan-made wiki.  Atually, I though pretty much any game wiki is made by the fans and not the devs themselves.  I'm only familiar with the one for this game.  It has two?

23 minutes ago, Marcurios said:

aaaaahh that explains it, what a attention to detail, incredible..nicely done too..
but indeed, my headgear was totally dry in drizzling snowy weather.

well i'm starting to get used to it too, and i only got it once when i made the bear coat in one run, i might just have to do it inbetween.
thing is, i was kinda scared a bit that the game would not remember where i left of if i waited to long to complete the crafting, cause that seemed to happen one time in story mode with me, i crafted deer boots halfway through, then went away to do stuff for a few days and when i came back i had to do it entirely anew.
so my previous 6 hours spend crafting was negated, but it only happened 1 time, cause i didn't do that anymore, i always crafted all things in one run, only sleeping inbetween, but ofcourse all inside cause i didn't even know that cabin fever was in the game, now i know i just changed tactics.
It just annoyed me when it happened at first, but i'm starting to get used to it.

it's not really important actually, cause i usually don't like to have to be indoors all the time to craft, i rather explore the world..
the permadeath thing is what i like the most, and i always thought i would not like it, but i do..

 

If you're crafting in more that one stint, I've noticed that you have to remember to keep the appropriate hides and guts in your inventory, along with the item itself, which should be labeled "in progress."  I originally thought that the hides would vanish once I started something, but they don't.  It means packing around a bit of weight, but I find the safest is to just keep it all in my inventory until the process is finished.  I should also let you know that there appears to be a bug in the calculation of time remaining.  I've crafted items before where the game did not appear to accurately subtract the amoung of hours I had crafted from the total and left the time remaining longer than it should have been.  It may just be that the game did not actually let me craft for the same amount of hours I told it that I wanted to craft (the same way it short-circuits your sleeping).  That's just a guess though.

1 hour ago, piddy3825 said:

I've had the temp decrease over time although in my case I did not add my remaining pieces of coal after I brought the forge up to 180 degrees.  In my case, I merely added reclaimed wood and if memory serves, it went down about 10 degrees between each 10-11 hour crafting session or rest period that I gave myself.  Now anytime I leave BR I try to bring back at least 3 lumps of  coal if not more when I had back to Maintenance yard.

I'll keep a closer eye out, but I've honestly never noticed a drop in temperature of any fire in the game until it actually burns out.

I chose the middle option since that would be my preference... although, I'm not infallible, especially when I'm cold, starving, dying of thirst and just plain desperate with wolves at the door... so, yeah,  I  have taken it by mistake a couple of times (what can I say... stuff happens).

34 minutes ago, Marcurios said:

well, i asked because i just dried everything and repaired all my clothing i currently wear, then i went out into the snowy weather for approxiamtely 1 hour and only the wolfskin coat was 50% wet, nothing else, not my deerskin boots, not my snowpant nor my canadian toque, they where all dry, only the wolfskin coat was wet, after everthing had been dried to 0% just prior.
That's when i began to suspect the coat might be bugged. cause it has the highest waterproof rating..
Or that the mechanic must be different from what i assumed it is/was.

 

thank you. it doesn't have to be removed, but the mechanic was born from the leaderboards as i read somewhere, it could be made to make more sense then it does now. i myself like solitude, i'm not easily bored when i have a guitar and a good meal and warm fire in my fireplace.
just saying something that might make sense to combat being mentally fatigued..music is good for the soul..
 

OK.  I think that might be a case that it's from falling snow.  When you walk on  ice, for example, it is your boots that will get wet.  If you go out in a blizzard with winds, then both your pants and coat will get wet.  If it's just snow falling straight down, your coat will get wet first because it's hitting your shoulders, although I can't explain why your touque wouldn't have gotten wet.   There's no harm in submitting a bug report on it.

I honestly have never paid attention to any sort of leaderboards for this or any other SP game I play, so how the cabin fever mechanic came about doesn't affect my opinion on it.  I just simply find it one of the better "affliction" mechanics in this game.  It makes me think things out and plan my days to avoid getting it... and I like that.  I think everything in this game as an random component as well... just so we don't ever get to thinking we have the game totally beat such that it can't ever kill us.  Afterall, it is a permadeath game.

Yep, that would definitely suck big time.  I'm sorry for your loss.  As for cause, perhaps your fire went out and the weather got colder in the night.

1 hour ago, Marcurios said:

oh ok, i'll keep an eye out for that hypothermia meter to see what's what.
the wiki says this about it;

The Waterproof bonus provided by clothing measures how quickly clothing becomes wet during outdoor activities. Clothes gradually become wet when it is snowing or when the player walks on ice. Clothes also become completely wet if the player falls through weak ice or passes through a traversable waterfall.

So it says it "measures" how quickly it becomes wet ??
what i have seen is it "get's" wet quicker, atleast the wolfskin coat does from all other clothing become wet the fastest, even if it has 60%, might it be bugged then ?

I don't see how you can possibly make that sort of assessment.  You would literally have to wear a different coat on the outer layer with the exact same coat on the inner layer during the exact same weather for precisely the same amount of time and then compare how wet each one got.  I don't think you've done that.  Most likely, since getting the wolfskin coat, which is warmer, you're staying outside longer and during more inclement weather because your character doesn't start shivering as quickly.  In my mind, the exact math on that one just doesn't matter that much.  I do know that the warmth value of clothing items decreases as it gets wetter, so I'm anticipating that, perhaps, the math is that this decrease is smaller for items with a higher waterproof value. 

Regardless, I simply go inside when I start to get too cold.  I check my clothes and if they are wet, I'll start a fire and let them dry by the fire before I go to bed.  Usually, I use the fire time to cook, heat teas, or make water.  I might also craft or read for an hour.

1 minute ago, Marcurios said:

@UpUpAway95 thanks, do you know how the waterproof mechanic works by the way ?
i have a wolf coat, it has the highest waterproof number, 60%, but it's always the one piece of clothing that get's soaked first ?
Is it the other way around, the higer the number the easier it get's soaked ?

I'm not too sure yet on that one.  Your clothing on the outside layer is what always gets wet first and that's wear I always put my most waterproof stuff anyways.  I believe the waterproof rating just means you won't feel it as much; that is, your hypothermia risk will not climb as quickly if you're wearing more waterproof clothing.

40 minutes ago, Marcurios said:

ah ok, so you can sleep inside, if you're out the rest of the day then ?

does it get canceled out then during the day ?

is there a site where they explain how the mechanics actually work then ?
it might make it easier to understand some stuff.

i do agree that planning is strategy.

but i thought the cabin fever was random if you spend longer inside, the chance is higher that you get it.
so i just started living outside totally, only go inside to put my stuff in cupboards and craft what i need on the workbench.
i didn't even cook inside anymore..

The Long Dark does have an official Wiki.  Here is a link to the page on Cabin Fever.

https://thelongdark.gamepedia.com/Cabin_Fever

57 minutes ago, Marcurios said:

ofcourse if you like it that's your thing, and everything else you said is ofcourse valid.
but if i use a custom game, i do lose the ability to gain feats, i do understand why they did that, but i want them.
that's why i cannot play custom.

also, it just has become tedious for me now, i sleep outside next to a fire, 1 hour at a time, to not freeze to death.
and to keep the fire going, and to not get cabin fever..
it's just a nonsensical thing imo if you can work around it like this.
also, always sleeping in the outside harsh winter conditions would be much more difficult for a human being to keep up then sleeping inside at night, and go out exploring and hunting during the day..

I agree with Serenity that crafting just takes much too long.
you just can't easily do all the things you need without working around these things becoming tedious and take away from the experience..

You have multiple solutions:  1) You can light a fire for up to 11 hours and on Voyageur difficulty the default is that the game will wake you if you start freezing to death by a fire.  2) As long as you are sheltered from the wind, you can sleep outside even without a fire on Voyageur difficulty as long as you have reasonably good clothing (+20 and above total warmth).   3) You can plan to craft projects in portions... do a couple of hours of crafting and then go outside to hunt or collect wood for the rest of the day.  As long as you spend a decent amount of time outside every day, you will not get cabin fever.

IMO, it's a very good game mechanic and causes the player to have to plan ahead and manage their time to be both indoors and outdoors.  That some projects take a long time to craft just makes them all the more valuable when you finish them.  IMO, in a survival game, thingss should not come easy and without deliberate planning.  Planning is strategy.... not tedium.  Tedium comes from lack of planning in this game.

You can also craft outdoors... in Forlorn Muskeg and Spence Farmstead and in Mountain Town at Paradise Meadows Farm.  You will be safe there since wolves do not enter those two areas.  There is also an outdoor crafting table at the Fishing Camp in Coastal Highway, although there you are risking an attack.

5 hours ago, Marcurios said:

yeah i got it cause i made the bear coat.

now i got the bear coat and bear bedroll i can sleep in a cave, even without fire.
they should have named the game becoming a caveman.

i don't really like to play a game customized, i like to play it the way it was intended.
but ofcourse i'd like some convenience too.

right now you have a few choices, spill your clothing on a snow shelter outside the house, keep tracking through the wilderness and do a few hours sleep
everytime under a rock with a few sticks fires, sleep in a fishing cabin, or a cave.
i do like to have a few cupboards at a base to conveniently put my survival gear in without the risk of having to sleep outside while crafting.
i read somewhere that they have put this mechanic in cause there was a leaderbaord and people took advantage of being able to sleep inside and live on bunnies to get a high score, i personally dislike leaderboards, it has no place in a game like this, i also dislike mechanics that are badly thought out to patch nonsense like this.
it ruins games for me.

IMO, the game is intended to be played with difficulties set to however you enjoy them.  That's why they put in the custom settings menu in the first place... and then they even did not remove the ability to get achievements by using a custom game.  There is no reason why those of us who like the mechanic should lose it.  You have a valid option... a custom game.  I like the cabin fever mechanic and I especially like the custom settings menu, so that I can change up my playthroughs in several ways that really force me to adapt to a variety of different circumstances.

If you want to have no cabin fever in a standard difficulty, that option is also available to you.  You can play on the Pilgrim setting.  Cabin fever is turned off by default in that difficulty.