Sherri

I *still* love those games. And MUDs. I like my games 'vintage'. Lol

I agree- it being hard is a core part of the game. But as they've added maps (& timberwolves) the game gets harder (more to memorize). So mapping improvements balances that a bit. And really, these markers don't REALLY make the game much easier. You still can't find the markers without being in visual range, so you could have used dropped sticks & stones or just awareness of landmarks to accomplish this. The marks appearing on your map is nice - but without an arrow on your map showing where you are, you still need to go visually find them. This is a shortcut for players who make heavy use of the journal ("Bear west of double rock north of farm") vs just spray painting it now. I don't see how this really makes navigating much easier if at all. More of a memory tool. Plus the added weight you now have to carry.

I wonder if rock caches are a precursor to predators taking/being attracted to your meat if it's left on the ground.

Keep in mind, once a game is already out for a while, it becomes harder to bring in new players. The initial wave of TLD players had very few maps to play in & learn. So they were 'eased in' by virtue of having few maps. New players like me have a huge game world to learn & we don't have everything memorised like players who came in at the beginning. So an update like this helps ease new players into the game by making navigating a bit easier. Updates like this help keep it balanced for new players.

This bugs me too. LOL

Looking forward to digging into this update. Things I want to learn about rock caches: How many rocks to build one? Item condition loss rate - better or worse than leaving meat in the snow? ?

Oh. lol

I wonder if the rock caches can be used to store meat outside your base?

OMG this is more than I hoped for. Awesome.

Nice!

I was under the newbie assumption that the revolver can't damage a moose. I unloaded an entire clip into my first moose encounter & didn't even draw a drip of blood. Got mauled. Am I wrong?

2020 bump.

Waaait a minute... you can't progress feats on custom difficulty??? I literally am 18 days into my first ever sandbox on essentially Voyager with small tweaks. I was wondering why my feat progresses weren't increasing. Man that sucks. Seriously, who does it hurt to let people enjoy it their own way? 🤦‍♀️

But is it really you vs nature... if only nature can ultimately win?

Hmm. Well a similar idea. Something to work toward besides death would be nice.

Hmmm. Darn.

With survival mode having the only goal of survive as long as you can, then die. It would be awesome to have a happy ending option. Players could choose a survival target of various # of days. At the target # of days, be at a given location on day 50/100/500/1000 and a rescue helicopter will pick you up. So yay you get a happy ending. Or can choose 'endless' for the current open ended mode. Would give Survival mode a new sense of purpose. Could even have a 'radio for help' sub-goal. The radio gives you the pickup location.

Given the # of trees in the game, being able to hunt birds would be cool. Maybe owls sleeping high in trees?

Would be awesome if there were times of day with less of a certain type of predator. These wolves never sleep.

My first ever Survival run. Started in Mystery Lake. I go search for the North-West prepper cache locations. Freezing, climbing hills. At least a dozen sprains. Why so many sprains? Cold. Lost. No caches found. No caches. Not happy. Wolves. No bullets. This is miserable. I'm done. This sucks. ... Head back home. Camp Office. Empty handed. Almost there. What's that!? A deer running right at me! Whip out my low condition bow. Only one sad arrow. Point blank shot. It hits! Yay! Oh no, deer doesn't die. It runs. My arrow! My only arrow! Give chase. Get back here! My arrow! So tired. Can't sprint anymore. Deer gone. Following blood trail. Sunset approaches. Getting far from home. I give up. Turn back home. Hey are those crows circling? They are close. What is that? The deer! My arrow!! Victory! Home is not far. No wolves in sight. Getting late. Quarter it. Quick! Tired. Lug 10 lbs of meat home. So slow. So stinky. Watch for wolves. Sprain risk. Grr. Made it! Home! Food for days! I love this game! 😊

It could even be craftable with a needle from a sewing kit & a magnet- maybe salvaged from all the useless car radios (technically from the speakers). It seems like an item that would be common in a place like this. Heck, I own 3 lol.

Having started the game with Wintermute & its glorious map feature, I find it very disorientating to get my bearings in Survival mode. Often when the sun is not visible, just figuring out which direction I'm facing is a vital problem. I've been thinking a compass would be an awesome addition. Hopefully the recent hint at some navigation updates means a compass is coming. 🤞😊

A few observations about Molly: * The exploded rifle I assumed was the one her husband went outside with (what fool would go out unarmed) and it exploded, thus leaving him at the mercy of the wolves. * There is an upstairs photo of the couple, with her husband's arm around her possessively & Molly looking veeery unhappy. That photo made me suspect abuse was a factor. * The revolver being short a round implied to me she eventually scared the wolves away to bring in his body. The character seemed very tragic to me.

A few thoughts.... - A video option would be awesome. I find them to feel more personal. Love when game devs use them to connect with players, maybe even give different staff members a chance to shine, show us around the offices, etc... a lot of potential there for a great connection with fans & humanizing the dev team & the studio. So a +1 from me - a relatively new player who is definitely drinking the TLD koolaid. - Be careful... generating video content is rarely *less* time consuming than writing a blog type post. Unless it's a chance for management to sit, talk for 15 mins then leave & all the: choose questions, setup, editing, rendering, uploading, posting & channel-care gets passed to a staff member.... but in sheer man-hours, you won't save time, it will likely take longer. - If you were routinely answering a couple dozen mail bag Qs & the video will only answer a couple... you might save yourself even more time by just not answering so many Qs in each written update. It all depends on your goal: * Connect with fans & give a human touch to the studio & staff? Video. * Save the time of the person who was doing 2-3 hr mailbag posts but ok to roll that work down hill? Video. * Save total team-hours? Shorter written posts. * Maximize Qs answered? Full written posts. * Best Qs answered per time spent ratio? Medium written posts - maybe half the # of Qs aswered as before. Or .... write answers to Qs till the 1 hr mark then stop. Some weeks will be more, some less. TLDR; Video would be awesome, but it won't save you time.