BeardsAreFreeScarves

I have noticed some items don't register on the smell-o-meter, but still attract predators. Other pies have done this for me. I think they have to be almost rotten to show a line or something. As for your main question, it's something I think about perhaps too much, so I will share rabbit stew and pie are a pretty good deal on calories if you need them, and of course the pie has a nice bonus. You can get rabbits easily early and sort of bug in eating stew for a while if you find or make broth early. ptarmigan stew is similarly efficient, but you probably need a bow to stock up reliably compared to bunnies. prepper's pie makes NOGOA settings a lot more interesting as a long term survival run, and one I am finally considering giving a go as a result. More health than a stim and lots more available. stalker pie has a bizarre mix of bonuses that seem to support both going out hunting with ultralight loadout, or staying in and catching up on chores or something and avoiding cabin fever. camber flight porridge gives a lot of bang for your buck, calorie wise, with easy to find ingredients. It also doesn't smell. This is probably the best travel dish. The other recipes are more situational to your exact need and nothing stands out as particularly powerful. I haven't made fishcakes but I think it makes 4 of them? seems pretty efficient for having only one meat. probably best for making clothes in quonset for a long weekend.

I frequently leave layers off by choice, especially on stalker. If you are going into a new area it helps to leave those slots open to allow extra loot carrying, or fill those slots with new clothes. This comes at the cost of warmth, but knowing your way around and when/how to make a fire makes up for it.

Yes, its the loose and container spawns I mentioned. In interloper they are set to minimize total loot. Setting to Medium overall ups the amount of items in general, while Low both lowers the number, and the quality. When Overall is set to Medium and loose item and empty container chance are at the worst level, I still find what I consider too many knives and matches. The reason behind my suggestion is to give a reason to craft tools outside of interloper, while still having a chance to find a better quality one. I would also like a setting where its possible you spend 50 days in a plaid shirt, like you might in interloper, but then in an obscure corner you find the one and only fisherman's sweater. This is the best way I can think of to allow players to experience the entire game, but still have to struggle and do without things sometimes. If you just play stalker you'll have guns and sweaters galore. double stacked expedition parkas and never feel the wind again. An alternate idea is to allow upgrading crafted tools to the good quality kind. like with leather and wood and metal make a hunting knife from improvised at the machining bench. I think I read that idea from someone else a while ago. Its a great idea, but it won't let you play something like loper and endgame in a cowichan. The simplest way this implements in my mind is also the most intuitive. Make the overall loot mean what it says, and have another setting with a yes/no for restricted loot pool to emulate interloper.

You hit level 3 firestarting and tinder is now optional, but is it really? Face it, you aren't going to ever touch another newspaper or cat tail head in your life (unless you can make a torch with it). How about you get a bonus for using tinder after this level, or a penalty for not? I need to be punished more for hoarding!

I flip between these settings often and feel like a middle ground would be very fun. The closest I can get is medium base, with interloper loose and container spawns. I still feel like I find plenty of tools, clothes, and weapons with ease this way. I'd like to make a knife a rare treasure, as well as a warm sweater, but otherwise play like interloper.

I came here to suggest cattail torches if I hadn't already. I stand behind all these suggestions to this day. I hope hinterland has mulled them over. #6 I just painted a picture of the future didn't I. forge makeshift rifle when?

How often does anyone ever drink bad water? It's always that bottle you hit drink on too fast that you probably accidentally dropped earlier. there is no intention behind it. this gives you a situation to make a decision that may lead to dysentery, or maybe just hydration. That makes the game more interesting in my book. maybe you start somewhere with fresh water and you cant find fire, so you give it a go. as of now there is no such option.

I'm not sure it makes sense to make my own list rather than new topics for each. I also did not search for redundancy thru the 25k posts out there. Apologies if any have been done. I have put over 500 hours into this game and have what I think is a good list of suggestions for issues and additions to the game. These are relatively in order of importance, and in categories. I should first note I play this on PC and exclusively with a steam controller. First, these are issues in the game and QOL could be improved, potentially with my suggestions. 1. When fishing there is an option to put a fish back and it is tied to the cancel button. This can lead to me releasing fish when I just want to check my fire for another fish or something. I am not fishing for fun. No catch and release when surviving bear island. I suggest the option to put back be replaced with dropping the fish as if it were in your inventory. I understand that may be an issue with nearby predators, but I still see it as a good option. The other possibility would be to keep the fish but quit fishing. I have accidentally lost several great fish with this and is my number one frustration with the game. 2. There is a lack of consistency and transparency when using tools for various tasks. Primary is opening cans. I didn't realize for a long time I was using my knife to open them and thought smashing open sometimes got me a can out of the deal. Once I figured it out I still am not sure what the pecking order of tools is. You may want to implement a tool selection screen for this, and please include the smash option, as to me this is the only way to give realy value to the level 5 cooking bonus of efficient can smashing. If you have maxed cooking and have no tools your problems run deeper. The other I have seen mentioned is with torch lighting. You can light a torch with cardboard matches, but only if they are your only matches. Seems odd. Adding user consistency here by allowing to choose tools always makes sense to me. 3. Very similar to 2 above, but I would like to see what percent of sewing tool I have left, even when it is the only one. If I have multiple I can see this. Might as well always be there. Also seen suggestions to see cloth/leather stacks in this view, and I second that suggestion. 4. when I open the main inventory menu, it is set to the last tab and in that menu somewhere. I have to hit back to get to where I can select other inventory tabs. Often when I do this, maybe alittle too fast, It will instead just leave the menu entirely. I'm not really sure why this is or have a suggestion. Maybe just always or never be in a tab already? sometimes I accidentally eat food this way so I would err on the side of never. That does it for my list of things I think need a little "fixing". Here are some things I think would be cool or helpful: 1. Non-potable water is not exactly common to come across, yet we have purification tablets. 2 things about these tabs and this fact. 1. the tablets are weirdly heavy. I refuse to go down the rabbithole of realism and weight and suspended disbelief, but this one just stands out to me. Not that important though. 2. There are ways I think I should be able to get non-potable water already in the game. There are waterfalls and a couple of running streams and ice fishing holes. I think weight is enough of a limiting factor that being able to pull unlimited non-potable water out of these locations shouldn't be an issue of balance. 2. Rifle and Mending skills seem to level a bit slow. Mending in particular. Getting good at this requires wasting time and resources practicing in addition to fixing the stuff you actually want. It feels a lot grindier than other skills to me. The rifle skill just has limited ability to level, since ammo is needed. I suggest allowing missed shots to give you a little xp, hits much more, and cleaning a little. This might balance it out a bit imo. This is exacerbated by the fact archery levels by making the items you need to even get started and rifles have no such mechanic. Now for some random ideas and items that I think would be cool just for fun! 1. What if you could make a torch with a cattail head instead of cloth? gives them a purpose again after you hit lvl 3 firebuilding, and is realistic. Might take more lamp oil though... 2. Binoculars! That would be the best! 3. What if when a vest is your only jacket it just adds its wind resist to your outer shirt instead of superseding it? makes sense to me and makes for a decent lightweight outfit. 4. those chemical heat packs that you can boil to reset. 5. foil thermal emergency blankets to use like a bedroll, but single use or tears up really fast or something. 6. muzzle loading rifle you can forge bullets for. this is a huuuge longshot, since it means you have to add loose gunpowder, and that is just such a tease to not then make bombs with. 7. Maybe crows could occasionally feed on corpses and if you happen to hit one with any weapon they give you a bunch of feathers. I'm not saying it would be fun to hit crows with rocks and watch them burst into feather clouds, but...well yeah that is exactly what I'm saying. I hope you guys at Hinterland see this list of suggestions and like some of them! All things considered you have made a wonderful exploration and survival game that has eaten up more of my time than I think any other game. Excellent work and I cannot wait to see what is next!