DrZ

Thanks for sharing! Pretty similar to my load out when I slim down and go between established regions.

Interesting. Also as Interloper in PV or BI? That is a valid point and here this connects again with preferences and play style (which I love about this game btw - everybody likes to do things a little bit different which might change other habits as well...). For me this is not a problem as I center my play style around bears. They give the hide and plenty of meat and guts which I use to establish a base in every region. If you have enough meat and water you can save a lot of matches as you simply wait till the weather allows for the magnifying lens to be used for additional cooking. On the other hand I do not get that many wolf hides. In my current run I had to hunt 3 of them to get the 4 for my coat and I was wondering if I should have gone for the bear coat directly... Again, play style as I avoid wolves to the extreme (using stones do distract or torches to repel).

So in non-Interloper modes I found myself balancing weight and warmth by aiming for the best coefficient (see the wiki for clothing). I ignored protection as I try to stay out of fights anyway. Having recently switched to interloper however my thinking changed. I now go for max warmth. Two bear-skin coats sounded ridiculous to me (you know... "only" +2° C compared to a wolf skin coat and you "pay" with even more weight while not using the windproof bonus of the inner coat) but now I hope to get them soon in my current run. Yes, +2 °C sounds weak but assume you are -6 °C in mystery lake outside: If you add 2°C bonus you gain 50% more time outside. Not to mention the cold regions like Bleak Inlet or Pleasant Valley where I feel my Interloper needs every warmth bonus possible.

Timberwolf Mountain Summit I would guess

I recommend Even Darks Youtube channel for that. He has a technique with 2 fires in the bear cave and rarely takes more than 2 shots. Usually drops the bear where he wants.

Thanks to everyone so far for sharing. It is nice to read what people value the most and why. Some things are also a good reminder to push/harvest some strategy a bit more. Interesting. Personally, I had a cat tail cycle First I ate them like crazy since they are "free". Then I treasured them like crazy because they do not re-spawn (and are non-smelly calories for traveling). Now I am in between: I use them (and other non-smelly food) to establish a base in a region (i.e. kill a bear) and then save them for the next region. I know this and that's why I wrote "behavior" 😉 We already have a "did you know" thread. And I agree that using the loot table is for sure a giant boost. Just knowing where the good stuff might spawn takes a lot of the uncertainty away. But I also can see how some people dislike that. Agreed. I watched Even Dark on Youtube and his stick/coal/meat/water game is very impressive. I tune it down a notch but copied his approach. If you have enough meat/water/sticks/coal in every region you can weather any storm (pun intended). Wait for a sunny day and use the mag for cooking if need be. So you don't need to go through matches. 220 days without match is very impressive! Interesting. Care to share your typical clothing and tool layout? Yes. For me, deer went from a big win to a snack 🙂 Bear and moose is where it's at. I sometimes employ a flexible approach: I use starving and when it gets close to moving with a lot of hauling I stuff my character, use the 5kg bonus to make the transition and then starve in the new region again while I set up a base.

Yeah, I usually avoid the wolf if possible but I asked for the case that you need to get rid of it (e.g. for hauling that moose meat in from the river or some deer from the Ravine). If I want to avoid it I like to use stones. I use a similar approach than you and crouch towards the trailers where I can overlook as much as possible but since I am very impatient I just throw a stone between the trailers. If no wolf shows up shortly after I make a dash for the gate. I also tried sniping but I am too bad with the bow and with the long distance you risk missing or hitting non-lethal and then you have to hunt your arrow... Not sure if the shelter trick works with a wolf that does not use the gated area for a patrol (if the gate is open).

Update, with acceptable results after a few tries: You need a few stones and a bow. Crouch up the rock on the left and use the stones to lure the wolf towards the Ravine. Position yourself close to the step down to the left. When the wolf comes back you can take a good shot to the head from a 90° angle. If you do not have lvl 5 archery you can even stand up to shoot as you are still in the wolf's blind spot.

Good one. I also use coal more regularly as it respawns in the mines and you can pick it up without wearing down your tools. Also you almost need a piece in your camp fire in PV or TWM to stay outside without freezing while harvesting a bear (e.g.). If you can not carry any more in a mine just replace it on the ground. That way you ensure a respawn of that piece during your next pass through. Technically, you need 4 pieces for the forge as you can push the temperature to 80° C with wood. But you need an insane amount of wood for that. I usually estimate around 12 pieces for a forging run so I can also run the forge for a long time to be match-efficient. Also a good one. I too often forget that torch trick. And the micro-harvesting gives an insane boost. 2-3 deers and you can jump to lvl 5 cooking quickly and boost your harvesting skills as well.

As you all probably know there is a wolf that sometimes spawns between the trailers outside Carter Dam. Cutting you off from hauling meat from the Ravine to the Dam or just go exploring or to the lake. So I was wondering if somebody has an elegant (i.e. few resources spent and high chance of working) solution (i.e. kill) to said wolf. So no flares or melee. I know the "trick" with the rock on the left where you can crouch up and overlook if the wolf is there. And if you stand up he usually spots you and runs towards you but then he is under you / the rock and you can't shoot. And then runs away which is also very hard to hit... MyUsualMe had a nice idea with the snow shelter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bpi9dFGLYzE which is ok on resources (a few cloth and sticks) but seems like a time consuming effort. I will try a few things since I have that situation right now where I want to bring meat for crafting to the dam. But maybe somebody solved the situation already

Question for Interlopers: What behavior or play style gives you the biggest boost, in your opinion? I'll start: Tea. I did not realize the value in other difficulties as you find plenty of medicine and calories but in Interloper tea has several advantages: easy to get non-smelly, so you can safely transport calories to another location also gives hydration few calories but decent if you are in starvation mode boosts your cooking skill warmth boost increases your travel distance You can even separate medication and consumption: Drink 90% when you need the calories/warmth/hydration and the rest when you need the medication (which does not decay - so it is storable). I'm eager to hear what other players judge to be their best technique to make an Interloper run more enjoyable.

Did you know you can use the work bench in TMW while beeing technically "outside" (to avoid cabin fever). Its a question of a few pixels but it works.

Just to clarify: That's not what I meant when I said "Fire is interesting as level 3 looks on paper like a big jump getting rid of tinder but in the game it does not make a hugh impact. So I think it is fine." I wanted to contrast it to the big jumps in archery and cooking. It is a jump and a nice one, but not a "game changer". Carrying more other stuff is nice but crouched shooting and eating ruined food open complete new possibilities and play styles. Interesting observation. What I could envision here would be higher levels with exponential requirements to reach them (like it is now but just continued) that give a small bonus. Like, for archery, 2% sway reduction at each level. Then you can still progress but the game does not need big re-balancing of any kind and you can introduce 20 new levels that long time players probably will never reach. Which is my kind of thing since I think even a master can still improve.

I like the skill level system and would not want to miss it. However, after playing a lot on interloper I noticed that not all skills progress that smoothly (which means logically for me, as you gradually become a master - not all of a sudden). Rifle, mending, harvesting, e.g., seem fine to me. Fire is interesting as level 3 looks on paper like a big jump getting rid of tinder but in the game it does not make a hugh impact. So I think it is fine. If I could change something here I would award long-duration fires as well (like every started 5h-intervall for a continously running fire). The reasoning is that you use your matches sparingly and so your progress gets hindered by you beeing resource-concious. On the other hand a higher skill lets you burn fires for longer so "training" with long-lasting fires seems like a fair addition to me. My main focus for this discussion is on archery and cooking. If you are playing interloper you are either on 5 or not (for crouched shooting and spoiled food+no parasites, respectively). So why not smoothen those skills out a little bit? A suggestion would be to be able to shot the bow while crouched with level 4 but the bow handles like level 2. So you have to judge if it fits the situation. For cooking I would suggest to make carnivore meat parasite-free starting with level 4. So you can widen your diet before you can eat "everything". Right now it feels like I have to race those two skills no matter what while I can let the others just progress with my game.