Loonsloon

I'm back for another Deadman run in The Long Dark! This Classic Deadman run is a custom game setting designed to have maximum harshness, no condition recovery, and no birch bark tea! My settings build off the original Deadman Challenge but I've tweaked it to maximize the harshness (as I see it) and make it 'the worst it can be'. We'll review the custom settings in Episode 1. The custom code I'm using is: 8sHM-/z8P-Ly+3-gZym-OAMC

Yea I think bears and wolves are no longer afraid of fire. Wait - were bears ever afraid of fire? I think maybe not..

It was a switcheroo! First time they’ve conspired on me like that. And yea I had the teacup at like 45 degrees when he came through me.

And the run concludes:

har yea i was reluctant to take the pants off!

Winter's Embrace is just way too easy so I'm doing it naked:

After a virtual eternity eating venison steaks on Grey Mother's porch, the Birchman felt the call of the Safari once again and sets out on a hunting trip to the Hushed River Valley:

I found Birchman to be very well balanced overall - with BBT and the abundant stims, it’s very doable. I’ve played a bit of pure deadman and find it a bit too micromanagey. I like it in Birchman that you have to work for your condition recovery and you don’t just get it for turtling. I think I’ll play Birchman from now on - I like it better than sleepwalker even because it forces you to eat and be careful, but you can stockpile bbt so you can get 50% back in a pinch if you have to. On sleepwalker 50% recovery takes weeks which is tedious.

I'm embarking on a Gucci Birchman Safari in The Long Dark v1.671.69 "Errant Pilgrim". This custom survival mode run has the Stalker loot table (Gucci), has condition recovery off but Birch Bark Tea is active (Birchman) and I'm on a vengeance hunt (Safari) to skin the Timberwolves that took me out in my first visit to Bleak Inlet. And, I'll start in Bleak Inlet for the novelty and excitement of it. Hopefully this provides a bit of a 'break' from my previous nail-bitters, and with a little luck I'll be beachcoming with a warm cup of herbal tea and and a Timberwolf coat in no time... The custom code is: 8tnM-bj8P-Lx+z-gaF2-+OIB

I've taken on Deadman in a new video series. The original post describing the Deadman challenge is: https://hinterlandforums.com/forums/topic/21200-think-youre-good-at-tld-try-the-deadman-challenge/ In this run I've changed a few options to maximize the harshness of it so that it is 'the worst it can be' (see Day 1 for details). I'm also still playing 1.47 for the 'classic' terminal deadman experience (i.e., no birch bark tea). The custom code I'm using is: 8MHI-/z8P-Dw+r-QQCm-bAAA I'm well into this run now and am still alive and adding videos. I forgot to post it when I started so sorry about that, but here it is in case you're interested:

I appreciate the injury/afflictions as side quest concept. The afflictions add to the unpredictability of the game and underline the go-with-the-flow philosophy that you need to succeed. In that vein, I’m a bit disappointed that some afflictions effectively never happen - hypothermia, dysentery for example. It would be ‘nice’ to get those once and a while. I would suggest making toilet water unsafe so there’s a dysentery possibility in early game. I also think hypothermia risk should kick in a lot faster. I’d like to see more cuts - when using knives in the dark/tired for example. Anyway..2 cents here.

Tiny nitpicky comment - in my understanding, the weapon class “small arms” includes pistols, rifles, sub machine guns, light machine guns, etc. It’s anything that one person can carry around and operate. If it needs assembly or is crew served in some way, I think it’s no longer a small arm. Accordingly, to me it was counterintuitive that the book about small arms trained revolver skill and not rifle skill. Obviously a low priority issue, but since the wording of the book was being looked at, I thought I’d mention it. More generally I think that rifle and pistol should share the same skill as I now have two skills that I can’t max out on interloper:D

I’ve been using reishis a lot for temp buffs in a low condition recovery run where I can’t afford to have temperature go to zero when traveling. Over this long run I have collected reishis as I encountered them and despite using them almost daily in the beginning I still have stockpiles. Now that my clothing maxed, the need for temp buffs has diminished so I dont see myself burning through my stockpile. So in practice I have found them to be an effectively unlimited source of buffs. I didn’t realize that shrooms wash up on the beach! Strange but then there are even more..

I’ve really enjoyed the new maps. The strength of this game is artistic and existential immersion. The art direction in this game is outstanding (sound in particular). As I see it this game is not about features but feelings. The feeling of being alone on Great Bear is magical and it keeps me coming back. I love this place you’ve created. Anyway I’m obviously a big fan. I think the late late game could be tweaked (e.g. 200+days). I’d like to see complete animal extinction, shorter days until permanent night/aurora, and continuously dropping temps. Essentially, I think this game should kill you in the end. But perhaps these are things for the wish list.

I’m glad birch bark has a unique use. But we already have nearly unlimited reishi tea for warmth buffs and calories. There are enough cattails to live for hundreds of days on interloper. We definitely don’t need more condition recovery as rest recovery is already extremely OP even on interloper. I’ve been disabling night recovery (sleepwalker style) and using only awake recovery (as even low rest recovery is OP), so BBT will make that mode easier. I guess I don’t really see the need for this buff. If anything I would have made birch bark a natural accelerant which it is in RL; this would provide a tiny advantage early game. Still, it’s good that BB has a unique purpose now.

I tend to agree with the @TheEldritchGod. The improvised hat and mitts should provide next-to-no warmth. Moreover, part of the thrill of the early game is trying to find a hat and mitts to prevent frostbite. Now there is almost no possibility of frostbite. It’s like hypothermia - I really want to catch this affliction but have never been able to; almost like it’s not in the game. Now frostbite is on the list of afflictions that never happen. Please consider removing the improvised wraps from interloper and/or gating them with level 2 mending. After all if we can instantly make cloth hats and mitts, why not long underwear, pants, shirts etc. This feature seems to be a nerf that was unnecessary. There are other nerfs in this update - birch bark tea. Who thought we need more condition recovery? We already have to turn it down/off in custom settings. I would have expected less condition recovery, as at present you can ignore all your needs so long as you can find 6 cattails and rest for 9 hours. Birch bark should have a fire starting bonus (natural accelerant). The pistol is also a bit of an encounter nerf. Plus we had the flare pistol which is already an encounter nerf. I’m going off topic a bit here but in general I don’t see why the game needed to be easier. I would have preferred harder. Please understand that I love you guys and this is a truly awesome game; my critical feedback comes from a place of love!

Great story - not sure if I have the guts to take on Outerloper but now that I've seen that it is possible...