Jimmy

Did you know that you can use the escape key to cancel harvesting meat? This is useful for a few reasons. First, this can be used to harvest two approximately equal sized pieces of meat from a rabbit. If your rabbit has something like 1.3kg of meat, you'd normally end up with a 1kg and a 0.3kg piece. Instead, if you harvest the full amount but press escape when the circle is halfway complete, then harvest again fully, you'll end up with two pieces of meat, each one 0.65kg or so depending on how accurate you were with cancelling. This means both pieces will take the same amount of time to cook. Since the time taken to harvest the meat is identical either way, this is a useful habit to use so you avoid wasting time waiting for your campfire to finish one half. Second, your cooking skill increases based on the number of cooked items you harvest from a fire. It doesn't matter if they're 1kg or 0.05kg, you get the same experience towards Cooking 5. You can exploit this to rapidly increase your cooking skill by harvesting small pieces of meat from carcasses and quickly cooking them in a few minutes. Whether this is an exploit or working as intended is up to your judgement, since as of yet Hinterland still calculates this skill based on items cooked, not time spent cooking.

if I plan an early Summit to Timberwolf Mountain on Interloper, there's a fairly linear route to guarantee enough calories that I shouldn't require food, merely a bedroll or enough cloth for two snow shelters plus a hacksaw. Coming fully rested from Pleasant Valley, I usually grab a half dozen birch barks and two rabbits before hitting the Mountaineer's Hut. Dropping the rabbits at the hut and warming up while I harvest them, I set them to cook for the half hour or so while I bag the two other rabbits down on Crystal Lake. The four should fill my calorie meter, and give me enough time to brew a cup of hot birch bark tea for a warmth boost. Full and warmed up with a half dozen torches pulled from the fire, I then wander down to the Wing, grab the canned food, tea and coffee, then run down Echo Ravine carrying my fire to ward off the wolf at the Engine and start up a small campfire to scare him off, looting the sweaters, socks and shoes. I slip up to the cave above the engine, set a fire and brew a litre of water in some cans while I warm up a second birch bark tea on the ground. While this boils, I grab the four or five coal from the cave, and check there's no wool ear wraps near the corpse in here, which is a possible spawn. By the time I'm done looting the cave, the water should be just finished boiling, so I harvest any burnt out torches, feeding them back in the fire if I need more duration to pull back to a half dozen torches, then drink my birch bark tea and climb up to the three-way Cave. I'll use the duration of my warmth to stock up on sticks and bag the three rabbits nearby, then boil another litre of water while I harvest their carcasses for meat, cook them for dinner before I sleep here, and spend the litre of water I made by brewing three coffee and one tea for when I need extra condition recovery while I sleep, remembering to drop one coffee before I rest and feeding the fire up to eight hours duration for a ten hour rest. In the morning I pick up the coffee, eat whatever leftover rabbit I have, then take a sip of water, pull a torch and make for the Deer Clearing. If the deer carcass is near the base of the rope, I'll start a small fire here, warm up and harvest the venison while I brew water, and heat my coffee again, then drink my coffee, eat the cooked venison to max out my calories, then drop any leftovers and ascend the rope to the deer clearing. If there's no deer carcass I simply drink my hot coffee at the base of the rope to maximize the warmth duration, since I'll be without a torch after ascending. I usually grab the coal in the cave and whatever other loot is there, then loot the cargo container for tomato soup, cloth and scrap metal before hiking to the rope climb up to the Secluded Shelf, drinking a second coffee before the climb. I typically don't bother with a torch here, paying the price in warmth and condition to save a match like the cheapskate I am. Once inside the Secluded Shelf, there's coal galore to loot here, plus a possible magnifying lens on one loot table. With a dozen or more coal in my pack, I head out of the cave, grab the rabbit outside and hope for a deer carcass before the summit climb to fill my calorie meter once more. If I've been efficient, I should have just enough energy to make the third climb to the summit without resting by drinking a third coffee, though I may need to drop all my lovely coal and assorted firewood beforehand. After that, it's just a case of gathering sticks on the summit for a fire inside the Tail Section, resting, looting the place down to the rivets, and then spraining every part of my body returning to the Mountaineer's Hut the fast way. Calories at this point should be sufficient to see me down the mountain even without touching the looted foods from the journey, though returning to Pleasant Valley might cost a few cattails harvested from Crystal Lake without a rabbit hunting detour. If I feel particularly scroogish, I'll save the cattails and head directly for the rabbits at Misty Falls Picnic Area to fill my calories again, though I might also require a second hunt at the rabbit grove near the hunter's blind if I didn't already clear this spot on my trip up.

I'd predict Ash Valley being between Broken Railroad and Hushed River Valley. From the appearance of the teaser art, the cliff coloration bears resemblance to HRV. The signs of logging mean it would logically be connected to the Great Bear railroad for transport, so I'm guessing the connection to Ash Valley will be either across the Broken Bridge at the end of the Broken Railroad or through the lower ravine below it. We might possibly see a connection to Hushed River Valley through here too, giving two separate 'stub' maps an additional exit. This would be an interesting choice that allows for routing a large loop across the western side of the map. For an Interloper, this would give the option of hitting HRV for the mackinaw jacket and a hammer from the Signal Fire, then forging at the Maintenance Shed (unless the exit to Ash Valley is at the bottom of the ravine). A tempting alternative to Spence's, depending on Ash Valley's danger levels, shelter locations and resources. I can't agree with your placement for Ash Valley on your map because I predict that's where we'll see Blackrock Penitentiary. The Crashed Prison Transport Bus in Mountain Town points towards this area of the map, so we can assume this is road is linked to the prison.

Mountain Town Milton House Aside from the spawn in the pantry, I also discovered one in a cupboard. However, a second run failed to produce either. Seems this isn't a guaranteed location.

I find that, so long as you're able to avoid hypothermia, the penalties for cold don't have too much impact. Provided you can rest at a positive temperature, a good night's sleep will fix all your ills from the day's misadventures. Good luck on your Pleasant Valley run! I did that one as my first run too, though I started at the Picnic Spot and therefore hit Thomson's Crossing first. After there, a run to the Farmstead via the Barn, a loop to Signal Hill, a blizzard worth of clothing repairs, and an early morning climb up to Prepper's Abandoned Cache via the Crash Site set me up for a Timberwolf Mountain run. Are you going to try for Coastal Highway from the Community Hall?

I can verify the Summit of Timberwolf Mountain does not contain guaranteed syrup spawns in the cargo containers or corpse. Checked myself, so looks like it's a semi-random spawn on the corpse at best.

The beauty of this event is that there's a built-in goal for more experienced players too. I'm currently syrup hunting. Still have no clue where they might hide that golden nectar of the gods out at Hushed River Valley, but I'm sure I'll find it eventually!

Broken Railroad Hunting Lodge

Already got you covered.

Yep, it's Interloper weather, but Voyager loot and wildlife. Indoors are colder than normal Interloper, but the massive available clothing loot table offsets any trouble here. Basically, it's Easyloper.

The challenge is to consume 25 across all saves, but my impression is that you'd be hard pressed to find enough within a single save file. If you're hunting the badge for prestige, it's probably faster to just start a new game, run to the closest likely spawn, drink the syrup and then start a new game. If you don't care either way, just play for fun and see if you get a happy surprise.

I know you want that badge, so share your locations for syrup! Pleasant Valley Farmstead

Yes, this suggestion has been dragged out many times before. It' sled to many strong opinions. Asking if Hinterland will add add a vehicle to carry items is something of a loaded question. Since there's been locked threads over this issue, you might be skating on thin ice. Nevertheless, some have doggedly continued asking for a sled with the option to tame a wolf to pull it. Given that the game doesn't have vehicle mechanics, it'd likely require a major over-haul of the game. For now, I think most suggestions for this feature don't carry much weight with the devs.

Queenslander here, so g'day mate! Good luck with your spot of bother down there with the virus.

Oh, we're making bad jokes? Episode 4 & 5 release date.

Oh god, I went and created a full formal ten course meal. Only the lack of cheese or salad items prevents me bumping this up more. Hors-d oeuvre: Smoked Salmon Canapés Ingredients: Coho salmon Salty crackers Smoke the salmon over a bed of birch bark, green pine needles and charcoal. Once completely cured, drop salmon in snow overnight, then shave thin slices using improvised knife at workbench. Serve on crackers and garnish as desired. Potage: Stewed Beef and Pork Bean Potage Ingredients: Beef jerky Pork and beans Soak the beef jerky in potable water to rehydrate overnight, then mix with pork and beans and heat over coals in a recycled can. Serve warm. Poisson: Oat Crusted Whitefish Ingredients: Lake whitefish Granola bar Crumble the granola bar and roll lake whitefish in mixture. Cook on flat stone over fire to ensure even browning of oats. Serve directly from stone. Entrée: Rabbit Satay Skewers Ingredients: Rabbit meat Peanut butter Thread thin slices of rabbit meat onto sticks, then roast over open flame. Mix peanut butter with potable water to create satay sauce for dipping. Serve warm. Sorbet: Rose Sorbet Ingredients: Rose hip tea Summit soda Mix summit soda and cold tea in a 2:1 ratio and allow to freeze outside. Scoop into balls and serve between entrée and releves. Relevés : Wolf Côtelettes with Sticky Coffee Glaze Ingredients: Wolf meat GO! Energy drink Tin of coffee Roast wolf chops over open flame to infuse with smoky flavour until browned, basting with a mixture of energy drink and coffee from a recycled can to add a sweet but bitter flavour and a racing heart reminiscent of that felt when hearing a wolf's bark. Roti: Loin of Venison with Orange Sauce Ingredients: Deer meat Orange soda Roast the deer meat in coals at low temperatures to avoid drying meat, and prepare a reduction of orange soda by slowly simmering liquid at low heat until it turns into a thick syrup. Carve and serve topped with sauce. Entremets: Chocolate Fudge Ingredients: Condensed milk Candy bar Melt candy bar and strain to remove nuts. Mix with condensed milk, simmer in pot on low heat over coals, then place in snow and allow to cool and set. Slice with knife and serve as a sweet palate cleanser before the end of the meal. Savoureux : Sardine Pan con Tomate Ingredients: Tin of sardines Tomato soup Salty crackers Serve sardine fillet on cracker spread with tomato soup as a savoury, salty palate cleanser between sweet dishes. Dessert : Chocolate Mousse with Peaches Ingredients: Condensed milk Candy bar Tinned peaches Whip melted chocolate and condensed milk with small amounts of potable water until they form a bubbly texture. Serve with a side of peaches and shaved chocolate.

His bearing would indicate he'd experienced a (h)arrowing encounter.

Hey, I'd take a best in slot clothing item over a can of tinned peaches any day!

Learning the wolf behavior mechanics and how to handle encounters is one of the major stepping stones towards moving into the more difficult game modes. Habits like carrying torches, losing aggro, and simple map knowledge of wolf-free routes forms the core of surviving in the game once you've mastered warmth and calorie management. To answer your original questions: 1. Absolutely learn the safe paths. Then, when you're goal planning, decide whether the risk of an encounter is worth the rewards you'll gain. Is your safe detour adding too much extra travel time? Can you afford the cost in resources to break a wolf attack if you're unlucky? Is there a safe location to avoid pursuit nearby? For example, if you're planning to reach the Timberwolf Mountain Summit, you could theoretically avoid all wolf encounters, but in so doing you'd miss a lot of extra loot. I usually challenge the pair guarding the engine section despite the risks, knowing that the rewards outweigh it, and there's a nearby transition cave to escape if things go badly. 2. In the early game, minutes matter most, so any activity that accelerates time is often a poor investment of resources. Past the first few weeks in game, you've likely gathered enough clothing and calories to allow you to settle in one location and work on crafting, so less urgency is placed on overland movement, and you spend time passes more quickly relative to the first few weeks. Eventually, you'll have combed over all the major locations, and focus turns towards simply sustaining survival with wood gathering, cooking and fishing, hunting or snaring game. These are all fast activities, so days or weeks can pass in a single session when you're not moving across the map towards the next loot location. 3. I recommend leaving Desolation Point. Take your loot and brave the Crumbling Highway, swing through Coastal Highway to Pleasant Valley and tuck into the goodies over at Thompson's Crossing. You're probably lacking some high tier clothing items that aren't easily available, and if you search Thompson's, Barn, Farmstead, Signal Hill, Plane Crash and Prepper's Cache, you'll have big odds of finding some nice quality loot. Additionally, this sets you up for a Timberwolf Mountain climb, which should always be an early game goal due to the massive amounts of goodies you'll earn along the way. But if you instead prefer to settle down and make the most with what you have, go for it! There's no 'wrong' way to play, because eventually every game ends, and if you had fun playing, you've won.

The bow is lighter, but the rifle is easier to use. Whichever one you take depends on your preference. Ultimately, the rifle has the security of dropping a wolf or deer with one shot so long as you can hit it, whereas the bow has a high chance of simply injuring the target and causing them to run without a critical hit. When hunting a moose, all bets are off, and while you can get lucky with a head crit even without skill in your chosen weapon, there's no guarantees. So pick whichever you feel most comfortable with, bring plenty of ammo, and good luck!

I came here expecting bear cavalry.

I've never observed a notable decline in snare returns from over-hunting. So far as I can tell, there's no penalty for simply stacking a few dozen snares in a tiny space and collecting rabbits infinitely. Past the initial investment of time and energy crafting the snares, you get a no-effort means of replenishing your food supplies, assuming you have fire to cook them. Really, the only downside is the boring nature of existence surviving on snared rabbits. With no real skill involved, it's tedious grinding for little reward beyond watching the days go by. That's fine if you're chasing achievements, but otherwise I'd rather have fun exploring, actively hunting, and occasionally getting chased by the odd predator.

While wolves don't rest, note that you can actually find bears asleep in their caves if you track them. So it seems this has already been considered and implemented by the design team.

Personally, I've never seen the point of the balaclava. Compared to the wool toque, it has identical stats except better windchill and protection values. But, since it can only be worn on the inner layer, these are essentially meaningless due to the fact that only the outer layer's windchill and protection values are added to your total. That being said, free bonus is free, so I'm not gonna complain. But still, I just don't get that excited when I find one compared to, for example, wool longjohns or climbing socks, which are undeniably the best in slot.

Yeah, the balaclava will only appear in the right head slot on the clothing menu. The left head slot won't display it, since that's the outer layer.