DrZ

Hi everyone, first of all I would like to thank Hinterland and @Raphael van Lierop for their openness. They are open about their current thoughts about the game and open for community feedback. I value both traits and took the time to complete the survey. I love hearing about the new update but I want to focus on the future of TLD in this post. Interestingly enough, two weeks ago I was checking something in Steam and saw that I bought TLD in 2014. "Right. It is that old..." was my thought. I love TLD. I think on Steam it is the game with the most hours for me and I bet it is in the Top 3 off all games I ever played. And I want to spend many more hours surviving the Quiet Apocalypse. But my revelation how old it is also made me realize that it also will fade into the long dark some day (pun intended). All games do. So while the thought saddens me a bit it is clear Hinterland has to think about the future. In this day and age I commend Hinterland for sticking to their promise. I also do not think they should feel obligated to deliver beyond that promise (although I would certainly take it ;-). But I also would love to explore more regions and see the game mature a bit more. I would happily spend a few bucks here and there for new content and further improvements for the sandbox. (Tbh, I am not so sure about Wintermute.) And since I am sure, no matter how good the new content will be, there will come a time when the game will feel old and stale for me. That's why I strongly support the idea of diversifying for Hinterland. When Episode Five comes out TLD will be ten years old or close to it. If Hinterland can come up with a worthy successor that would be ten more years of enjoyment 🙂 So to summarize a path forward that would be viable for Hinterland and great for me as a player could be: 1) Finish Episode Five and push for a bit more maturity within the game mechanics (Sandbox) 2) From then onward release content (DLC) that keeps players engaged and the lights on with some spare change and resources for the next title 3) Find a workable balance between the two streams and within the streams I know this sounds easier than it is and these are just my two cents. But I could not fully express those in the survey 😉 Cheers, Z

Yep, that is one problem for TWM. I usually harvest one or two metal shelves in the preppers cache below the rope to TWM.

I would recommend to tweak your play style to become a bit more "interloper-ish". Meaning you keep moving. In interloper this is essential as food always runs out faster than it re-spawns sooner or later. I pick a base on every map and carry the essentials with me. Since I am moving around constantly, I can leave things behind. I will come back to pick them up if I need them then. Also keep a journal of the most important items where they are.

At the creek I used a fire to protect me at the narrow spot. Another time I got the bear he was at the fishing huts and I just stepped outside. He panicked (probably because I was on the "porch") and when he came back I shot him. In general I use spots where bears cant go. Inside a car (obviously) but not on trees as there seem to be some that the can get on (happened to me at the unnamend pond). What worked pretty well in my current run is to "scrape boulders" lacking a better term. You pick a boulder or rock wall that has its structure sloping upwards so your character can move upwards on that wall. Does not need to be far. 1-2 meters (along the relief - not height) usually is enough. If I shoot from there they always run away. I assume as they can't come to me.

That's actually a pretty safe way to kill him: Shot him from behind. A critical hit is unlikely but he will run off and bleed out.

Thanks for pointing these out. Of course, you are correct. Although I would say "technically correct". I personally do not count on beach combing as it is very limited, not predictable and, most importantly for me, I suck at it. 😆 And yes, birch bark tea is, I think, the only non-smelly regenerating source for calories. And I really like to use it for that and stretch my other non-smelly food as it also quenches your thirst. However, living on it purely would waste a lot of water (and therefore fire wood) and also requires a lot of preparation (i.e. collecting it over several maps), especially if you want to maintain "well fed". But yes, I agree with you. There are some "*" to my statements.

Thanks to everybody here - some good points and insights. I appreciate them as well, as I am currently on interloper on day 150 and aiming to reach the 500 milestone. So I do not have the actual experience to run out of stuff but I would like to add some of my considerations for my current interloper run: food: it is infinite if you keep moving. However, non-smelly food is not. So I use cattails and such sparingly as I want to have them as long as possible in the game as emergency snacks if I am ambushed by a blizzard or to sneak into the canary (see below) range weapons: In interloper you only have arrows but I know from several people that the saplings last quite a long time. Still, it is finite so I try to stay conservative: Shoot only if it is a good shot, go for big game, some deer (usually for the hide) and never shoot rabbits melee weapons: I think whetstones are a too rare in the game given that you need to wear down your tools a lot to craft some clothing items. So I am conservative with those and try to use the canary to sharpen knife, hatchet and hacksaw. clothes: Also finite so switching to fur helps. I noticed "Even dark" on youtube (currently on day 1650+) stoped wearing cloth-clothing indoors. Looks like a pain in the neck... So I suggest to not fix clothing too soon. I personally aim for 80%-70% condition depending on the warmth bonus. medicine: not an issue - especially if you drink your teas down 90% if you need the warmth/calories but save the last sip for treatment. One other item that I consider regularly is matches. I like Athenon's advise to not hesitate in the first 30 days but after that you should conserve them. As already mentioned bulk cooking and boiling is the key. If you have lots of food and water in one place just accumulate wood and raw meat until the sun comes out. Then go for it. One member here stated to have gone 220+ days without using a match and I think that is quite doable once you set up your bases.

I've seen two wolves on that lake. But after half a day one was gone and then I just killed the remaining. Afaik, you can harvest down to 0.1 meat and have the same de-spawn rate compared to untouched.

Unless you got a hacksaw and you open all the cargo boxes TWM is pretty difficult. Usually players leave it as soon as possible for Pleasant Valley. There is a plane crash near by with lots of clothing to get going on that front.

Does that still work for everybody? I used to do it and a few months back noticed that the deer (at least in CH) knew where a wolf patrol area was and I was quite unable to scare them in that specific direction. They were fleeing away from me and the wolf 95% of the time. (One workaround I used successfully was to turn it upside down. I lured the wolf towards the deer with some smelly meat... )

Good evening @s7mar7in, I am far from a "radial menu" expert but your observation does not surprise me. It is my understanding that the menu completely decouples you from the game while it is open. Which brings up another thing I don't like about the radial. If you are running (e.g. for your life) the radial menu stops you dead in your tracks. Again, it's preferences and I like to keep moving (i.e. not interrupting my movement in-game) and observing the scene (i.e. no menu popping up in the middle of my field of view) so I am naturally leaning towards the keys. Thank you for noticing 🙂 That depends a bit. Personally, I am not sure if I would use that feature. Especially, if tool cycling becomes faster. From the programming perspective this is more elaborate. You need a new menu or check mark (like the one "show in radial menu") but for primary weapon/light source. Then you need to change the cycle logic according to individual player selections. Avoid double selections, etc. Meaning you need to make design choices for the interface and think about a consistent game-logic. While still a minor feature (compared with a new in-game tool or a new animal) there is some brain power that needs to go into this. Since I have a hard time judging how many players appreciate/use this it might fall short from a cost-benefit perspective. Compared to my cycle request that might be done by an intern. But again, all of this is just my opinion and/or estimate. I've never seen the source code 😉

@ManicManiac In my opinion this is worth an improvement (this is not a fix since it is not broken) and I get that you disagree. Different players, different preferences. I am speaking from a programming perspective as this is really not a waste of resources since probably very little is required. (I guess a few isolated lines of code and of course some testing...) Ok, then you probably misunderstood my rhetoric question. I get your interpretation that radial is advanced and lean and number keys are for an inexperienced character. My point was a different one: Imagine a noob character has a bow in hand and stones and flare gun in the inventory. He wants to switch to the flare gun. So he presses '2' and has it in hand like a pro - i.e. no fumbling. If he wants to get a stone in hand he starts to fumble all of a sudden. But he stops fumbling if he drops the flare gun from inventory. That makes no sense to me. I will try to get more used to the radial. Let's see how that goes.

Then why is the character always fumbling when he needs a stone but never when he needs a flare gun? 😉 Again, from a programming perspective it is very easy to help players that like the number keys better. And I don't see a game-play reason...

When I said I hardly use the radial I meant "I only use it for snares" lol

Thanks, that is a valid point. I never use the radial that much as I think I started before it was added and it always feels console-y to me. However, when I need to switch weapons it usually is in a tricky situation where I do not want to lose my aim. So using the mouse for the radial makes me uneasy as it moves the point of aim and blocks the view...

Hi, one thing that annoys me regularly is the pace of tool selection via number keys if you have several options for one number slot (e.g. matches, flare and lamp or stone, flare gun and bow). For e.g. I have a bow in hand and want to switch to stone I need to tab "2" twice to skip the flare gun. BUT not too fast. I need to tap it, wait until the flare gun is out and then tap it again. Would be really nice if a double tap would skip one item in the cycle list. Cheers

Also seems to work the other way around: Killed a wolf with an arrow once that was standing really close to the Dam fence and was growling at me (head seemed to be on my side of the fence). Never worked when it had a distance to the fence.