Jimmy

Obviously the tungsten filament in the bulbs on the bus have been fried by the aurora.

I think we can assume that the supply of power to the elevator in Episode 2 is a special case due to it being literally located in a power plant chock full of coiled copper wiring designed to transmit electricity. That's a great spot to leverage the power of the EM field generated by the solar flare. As for diesel engines, I personally chalk that up to Great Bear having no shipments of fuel. The Quonset buffer memories indicate that shipments from the 'up-island refinery' were infrequent. Still, my original comment is pointed at the fact that even a single EMP event would basically destroy modern society and plunge us into a new Dark Age. It's probable more than nine out of ten people would die in the first ten years if a major disaster such as this were ever to eventuate.

Perhaps introduce failure risk with treatment too? Hey, sometimes antibiotics don't work.

Actually, there's research on this topic if you're interested. Most of what I've read deals with high atmospheric nuclear detonation EMP rather than solar super-flares, but the net result is the same: total collapse of any infrastructure dependent on electronics, which encompasses pretty much every aspect of modern logistics. There's little risk of toxic radiation fallout with this method, since most of the gamma radiation spends itself in the E1 reaction, but that's not gonna matter much when the lights and water go off for good. Basically, a single big nuke detonated high over Kansas, for example, could destroy almost all complex electrical equipment in North America. Edit: See Starfish Prime and Project K for great examples of this in real life.

This obviously requires further testing! I'm gonna create a Pilgrim file and start in Pleasant Valley, save before entering Timberwolf Mountain, then make a backup of the save file and document the loot in the summit. Let's see whether there's identical condition items or if it's all RNG!

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.

It's something I think deserves real kudos for the Hinterland team that their Quiet Apocalypse has such a realistic basis. My inner biologist just cringes whenever I try to look at a zombie game from any type of realistic position. The geomagnetic event in this game, however, could well actually occur, and our society is woefully unprepared for it should it eventuate.

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.

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.

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.

This.

What's more interesting about this test is that the results don't quite line up with the text description of the item: Freshly harvested hide from a Deer. Can be used for crafting and repair after air-drying indoors for 5 days. If it cures 24% in 24 hours, that would mean it would complete curing in 4 days and 4 hours, not 5 days. The hide should have only cured 20% in 24 hours to match the text.

I spy with my little eye... So this as-yet unnamed character appears in the opening cinematic upon starting a new Wintermute game, and there's a few easter-eggs to be spotted. First, the variety of equipment in the background suggests this person is a researcher of some description. Second, in the shadows of the upper left of the image appears to be the outline of some variety of telescope. Any guesses when this NPC will appear in the game?

I'll just say that with the amount of times I've had a revolver in hand, stopped to pick up a stick, missed it and blown a hole in my invisible boot instead... ...I'm quite happy the rifle can't be fired without aiming first.

Makeshift Shovel Art already exists for a shovel in the game (kudos to ThePancakeLady for finding this one). However, there's no current use for this item in the game. With the exception of one locked door in the game, all houses and basements are either unobstructed or simply external scenery without an actual room attached. The base map isn't designed to be modified as there's no actual 'snow' in the game, simply white ground. Carcasses aren't ever buried, merely frozen. Adding this item would simply be creating a mechanical system of having high value loot locked by access to a relevant tool. We already have the prybar for this purpose. Makeshift Sleigh This has been suggested before, and before, and before, and before, and before, and... Well, you get the idea. This would be a nightmare to add to the game. First you'd need art resources for the sleigh, including assets for the items carried as cargo. Then it'd need to dynamically move along the terrain, avoiding such issues as clipping through trees and rocks, interacting with mobs like wolves and bears as they approach, and generally causing the developers incredible headaches. Now, that's not to say that the Unity engine can't handle vehicles. But there's only so many development man-hours available, and at this stage, adding radically new content such as this is being done essentially free, since all updates are being added to the game at no additional cost. Right now, our character doesn't even have feet. I feel that a sleigh would be far too much extra content to consider feasible without costing development time from other, more pressing, areas of content. In terms of mechanical systems, there's already an item that can be crafted to increase the amount of weight which can be carried. A sleigh is simply a repeat of this concept, and one which definitely would require far too many development resources to consider worth the investment. Sanity Meter This has been suggested before (more than once), and is noted as part of the roadmap of the game. The big issue boils down to how it would be implemented in a way that makes everyone happy. It's safe to say Hinterland has this one on their radar and have probably given it a lot of thought already, but your suggestions are good ones! I'd recommend also using the search function on the forum to find other topics discussing your ideas.

Yes, yet another cooking suggestion! This has been suggested before, but the following outline is for a discussion of the mechanical benefits of sausage making. Each type of sausage would be crafted from an existing single type of meat. Creating one kilogram of raw sausage would be performed at a work bench and require one kilogram of raw meat, one fresh gut, and one cutting tool (hunting knife, improvised knife, hatchet, improvised hatchet). Crafting time for raw sausage would be a short duration, between 10 to 30 minutes depending on game balance decisions. After being crafted, the sausage could either be cooked or cured. Cooking raw sausages returns the same kcal of energy as the ingredients, but 0% dehydration due to the sausage skin sealing in the juices. Curing raw sausages takes 5 days as per raw gut, retains the same kcal of energy, reduces item weight by half, and causes dehydration on consumption by an extra -5% compared to the same cooked meat. This recipe adds an incentive for harvesting guts from animals, which personally I find I skip once I have more than half a dozen or so. Harvesting guts takes time and energy; this increases resource expenditure by remaining outside longer, increases risk of ambush by wolves whilst carried through higher scent footprint, and increases tool wear if used for harvesting. Requiring a workbench for crafting likewise increases travel time with raw meat and guts, adding risk against the benefit of higher quality food compared to cooking the meat fresh on site. In exchange, the two options offer two different benefits for their investment. The first option reduces hydration needs, effectively reducing 0.03-0.09kg of water required when consumed. A minor benefit overall, but useful for short distance travel to avoid extra water weight, and is especially attractive for black bear meat with its high hydration loss. The second option requires a higher time investment, but offers a hefty weight savings with a minor water weight penalty increase, ideal for long distance travel rations. This would put cured moose sausage or cured bear sausage into the same kcal/kg as peanut butter, but with slightly more hydration loss in trade. Could you see yourself spending the extra time and effort crafting sausages if these benefits existed?