Glflegolas

I would personally plan on this journey taking some time. It's possible to get from the Mountaineer's Hut to Mystery Lake in a day in favourable weather, but it's not likely that you'd have enough energy to make the rope climbs into Mountain Town after that. A good night's sleep at the Trapper's Homestead should get you fresh and rested and ready to make that push to Mountain Town.

For me, there are two main regions I do not like to linger in:

Zone of Contamination: IDK what it is about this region, I...just don't dig it for living. Maybe it's dodging all the chemical hazards? Or the overall ambience of the mine, it just feels...sad, like the area has been overexploited? Maybe sinister too? There's also just not much in the way of food and crafting resources near where there's good shelter. That being said, I do not mind visiting the area as the interior of the mine buildings is very impressive to look at, and the mines are fun to explore, too.

Forlorn Muskeg: Fog in this region is a death-trap IMO. It's super easy to get lost, and you just can't see the darn wolves and bears!

Runner-up: Blackrock: This region also has a bit of that sinister feel of the Zone of Contamination. On a more practical side, I can't stand all the wolves and timberwolves. Just a P.I.T.A.

20 hours ago, conanjaguar said:

I have a feeling there's a story behind this... care to share?

I am a 2nd degree black belt in karate and have trained for 13 years, I suppose that could be helpful in winning a wolf struggle faster

Carcass Harvesting: 1

Cooking: 3

Fishing: 1

Sewing: 2

Fire Starting: 4

Gunsmithing: 1

Rifle Firearm: 1

Revolver Firearm: 1

Archery: 1

Cleaning: 30

Repair: 85

Sharpening: 75

And, a couple other skills I would be 5's at, but aren't in the game, are Firewood Chopping (why isn't there a skill for that?) and Wildlife Defense (also...why don't survivors improve their struggle survival skills?)

On 2/11/2024 at 12:34 PM, turtle777 said:

For a late game with scurvy, BR is great. You can build a snow shelter on the ice and fish out of it.

I haven't found a spot in ML where's that's possible.

-t

Being totally objective here, we are spoiled with good options for where to live in this game. Hibernia Processing, Quonset Garage, Jackrabbit Island, Pleasant Valley Farmstead, Thomson's Crossing Community Hall, Signal Hill, Mountaineer's Hut, Angler's Den, Camp Office, Trapper's Homestead, Grey Mother's House, Paradise Meadows Farm, Island Cottage, and the Hunting Lodge are all good (and popular!) choices. There's so many I have a hard time choosing -- I'll stay in one place for a week or 10 days, then move on to my next home.

New Tip: Choosing the wrong base

Given that The Long Dark is an open-world sandbox game, having a safe, secure base to return to at the end of your adventures is important. While players' opinions on the best bases are quite varied and subjective, there are a few objective criteria that help make a good base:

• Conveniently located in the region
• Can navigate during daytime without a light source
• Has a firebox indoors or just outside
• Has an interior
• Has a bed
• Plenty of storage
• Multiple food sources in the local area
• Doesn't have live wires
• Few predators in the immediate area
• A Forge and/or Ammunition Workbench is not too far away

It is difficult to get a base that meets all these criteria, but the more criteria on the list the base checks off, generally, the better. The page on Safehouses gives a few suggestions for each region.

No, didn't find a moose, unfortunately. I do have a hide that's cured back at Lake Cave so I could go pick that up I guess?

This is the bear from the Wing area. Shot him near the eastern end of Crystal Lake, he ran westwards. Some time later I walked back to the Mountaineer's Hut, only to hear the sounds of bear breathing. I immediately headed for the dock, dug out Vaughn's Rifle, aimed, and pulled the trigger...

...the bullet hit the bear right in the chest, and he collapsed right in front of the door of the Mountaineer's Hut. It's almost as if I'd ordered a bear off Amazon and it got dropped off at my doorstep. Can things get more convenient on Great Bear Island? Not much...other than if I did that at Pleasant Valley Farmstead, where there's a six-burner stove

Wood matches are a little better at fire-starting than cardboard. That's about the only difference.

There's a few unofficial locations that have stuck around, see here: https://thelongdark.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Unofficial_locations

FYI: it is a public wiki page, so if you think a definition is worth adding, you're welcome to do so

Alrighty folks, here's the page. Anything else that needs to be added?

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

Hi folks, I'm creating a slang dictionary page for The Long Dark Wiki. I know of several unofficial terms that are widely used by the community, but I'm sure there's others that I'm missing. Here are a few I know:

• All the common region abbreviations.
• Deadman: Interloper with no passive regen or birchbark tea.
• Gunloper: Interloper with firearms enabled.
• Sleepy-eye: Tiredness meter.
• Wolf-Bonker: Heavy Hammer.

Any others? I'm sure I'm missing lots.

I second this thought on Island Cottage. Its biggest drawback relative to the Mountaineer's Hut is that it's only got a 1 burner potbelly stove, whereas there's two cooking slots at the Mountaineer's Hut. This drawback is partially offset by the presence of the Zone of Contamination nearby, where it's possible to get massive amounts of coal. Overall, I think Island Cottage will be among the best locations for a long-term base in the Far Territory.

Camp Office could also be a contender, as it meets most of the Must Haves, and isn't too far from a forge. Lake Overlook can help remove Cabin Fever. It's not even too far from an ammo workbench and milling machine, and is really central relative to the rest of Great Bear.

Some other good locations that meet all the "must-have" criteria above are Hibernia Processing (it's a bit isolated from the rest of Great Bear though), the Quonset Garage, and the Hunting Lodge.

Honourable mentions that meet most of the "must-haves" include Pleasant Valley Farmstead (fish and moose are far), Signal Hill (see previous), Paradise Meadows Farm (bear, moose, fish far away), Lonely Lighthouse (no workbench), The Riken (too dark, no workbench), and Trapper's Homestead (fish and moose far away).

With the addition of the Travois, here are a few don'ts I have collected.

• Don't go on a long Travois-trip without carrying along a cured deer hide and gut. The Travois wears out as it's dragged along, and having the Travois need repair in an undesirable location (without supplies on hand) can be a very unpleasant surprise.
• Don't haul car batteries without a Travois. They're just so. darn. heavy.
• Don't load more than 20 kg on the Travois if you need to portage. Otherwise, portaging will mean multiple trips.
• Don't travel in the dark with a Travois. It's impossible to equip a light source when dragging it, which can make it very hard to see where you're going.

I heard the story of somebody (was it @piddy3825or @hozz1235?) who hauled a ton of coal from Desolation Point's coal mines to Forsaken Airfield to stay warm in blizzards. Well, I'm sure a Travois would come in real handy for that.

Oh, I'm also going to mention that the Travois is very handy for beachcombing. Some of the items that you can find (raw fish especially) can be pretty heavy and get you encumbered fast. 

On 5/6/2022 at 10:23 AM, Glflegolas said:

On that note, I don't see any reason why further standalone stories couldn't be added to the game as DLC after Wintermute is done, as long as they don't contradict the Wintermute lore. At this point, Hinterland has created a great canvas that is the island of Great Bear, upon which there are endless opportunities for story-telling. The stories wouldn't have to be super long; 2-3 hours of gameplay per story is quite sufficient to me. And they don't have to involve Will or Astrid, either; I have no problem playing as one of the locals.

A few examples include:

• Coastal Highway and Desolation Point -- how did the Riken get shipwrecked? What kind of fish were being fished at Coastal Highway? Who built the cabins around Coastal Highway? How did Scruffy get into his cave? The Quonset Garage and Lonely Lighthouse seem like ideal places for NPC's to be based out of.
• Timberwolf Mountain -- what caused the plane crash? Did anyone survive? An NPC in the Mountaineer's Hut, and maybe one in Eric's Cave, would make sense.
• Ash Canyon -- when was gold discovered? How did the technical backpack end up in the gold mine? What caused the great forest fire? Why are there no deer or wolves at the higher elevations? Who lived at the Homesteader's Respite? An NPC in Angler's Den could tell us all that and more. This story could potentially be combined with the one at Timberwolf Mountain as the two regions are neighbours.
• Bleak Inlet -- why are there timberwolves there? What happened to the sardine fishery? Who manned the lookout? Why did its lighthouse fall and not the one at Desolation Point? An NPC at the cabin would be the most logical.
• Hushed River Valley -- what drew the locals there after the First Flare? What happened to the fellow who froze to death in the ice cave? Where did all the wolves around Monolith Lake go? Our NPC guide could live somewhere in an ice cave or a regular cave and tell us more about the region.

This was partially implemented in Tales of the Far Territory in the form of Tales.

Until/unless the lighting issue is fixed, the Travois is nearly useless when it's dark out, or when travelling through a dark cave.

I'm guessing the durability of the Travois is somewhere around 15-20 km, as I walked with it for 2 in-game days straight (Island Cottage to Misanthrope's Homestead) and it wore around 96%. That's something I can easily verify with screenshots, however. For someone who lives in the Mountaineer's Hut and is merely doing short trips to bring home hunted game from the Wing, that's loads of durability. For a nomad who likes to travel around Great Bear a lot carrying lots of supplies (guess who I am?), that can mean a lot of Travois wear.

It's definitely a tool I like to keep on me, because I can be a bit of a pack rat, and having a bit of extra carrying capacity is pretty handy

I imagine that if you get 4 cases of chemical poisoning at the same time, you will die unless you have the Well Fed benefit, since each instance reduces your max health by 25%.

Made one of these up in Forsaken Airfield, loaded it down with around 20 kg of fish, and set off for Camp Office. Here are my thoughts on it so far:

Is it useful?

Very much so! It's excellent for getting all the meat from a carcass in one go, carrying large amounts of fish, moving from one base of operations to another, and moving car batteries. It is excellent in wide-open regions, such as Forsaken Airfield, Pleasant Valley, Forlorn Muskeg, and Coastal Highway. If you are planning to have your safehouse far from good hunting and fishing grounds, I'd go so far as to call the Travois an essential tool.

Any travois-use tips?

For a longer trip, don't carry more than 20 kg of supplies on the Travois. If you carry too much weight and are forced to pack it up, you will not be able to move. I suggest carrying smelly items on the Travois, as this reduces your scent radius. Also, try to stick to roads and open terrain wherever possible, as navigating difficult terrain can become a major hassle as you will be forced to pack/deploy/load/unload frequently. Finally: listen extra carefully. You can't turn your head, so wolves will be harder to detect.

Where is a travois not useful?

Any region that has a lot of rope climbing, and, to a lesser extent, complex terrain. The Travois probably isn't especially useful in Hushed River Valley, Ash Canyon, or Timberwolf Mountain (with the exception of the Crystal Lake area). It is also not helpful when moving to/through Mountain Town, as carrying a bunch of extra gear on the Travois will result in having to make multiple long, tiring rope climbs.

Any complaints?

The major one: lighting. I can't hold a light source with the Travois equipped. While this may not be an issue to some people, I wish there was a way to hang the Storm Lantern to the end of the handles! Travelling through the long tunnels in the Far Range Branch line was not fun at all.

The second minor complaint I have is that it doesn't seem to be exceptionally durable. This trip used up around 67% of the Travois' durability. While I don't imagine most people do long trips like this very often, it does appear that I might not make it to my final destination (Misanthrope's Homestead) without a repair en-route. 50% more durability would be ideal for me, but, then again, I imagine lots of people will only use it for short trips after hunting/fishing, in which case the Travois will last a very long time before needing fixing.

Overall:

This is a great addition to the game, thank you Hinterland

I actually explored that area first when I first entered the Zone of Contamination and had it mapped, so I knew right away where to go

I definitely do not remember there being a workbench before. That makes the cabin that much more useful as a base, no?

When playing the second Tale (on PC), I have noticed that after listening to the narrated readouts, the level of ambient environmental sounds (walking, opening doors, etc) is diminished so much to be nearly inaudible. The only way to get the audio back to normal is to go into and then out of a building that has a loading screen.

While this isn't a game breaking bug, it is a bit annoying.

Hello, this is a slightly silly question, but here goes. I've managed to complete almost all of the second Tale and have found my way to the waterfall mentioned in the Tale, but can't figure out where to lay the dead guard to rest. Where exactly do I put the bones?

Thanks