Lone Trekker

Actually that could be kinda cool. You’d appear as some survivor, and find someone’s stash, or lack thereof. 

I personally think that for multiplayer to be added, it would be better presented as TLD2 or some such, in which its an entirely different location/cast of characters. Make it based loosely around a town, where a few of the inhabitants are having the same problem with the geomagnetic storm. As time goes on supplies get more sparse and you have to  work together to make it. Perhaps they’re hoping help will come, but slowly realize they’re on their own. 

On 8/7/2022 at 11:27 AM, oplli said:

A very Dangerous map deep in the woods with a lot of wildlife scattered all around. the map is as big as pleasant valley, easy to get lost, and the only two human made buildings are a small airport and a motel for hunters. I think we lack an airport in the game but usualy airports are in big towns and i think we have already a good amount of towns in tld so that may be a good alternative. 

Another idea:

I love cave exploring but most of the time when we explore caves its not easy to get lost and they serve specific functions : getting from point A to B and collecting coal.

What about map where the is a cave that is so large that its entrance is near the border of the map and the furthest exit is at the complete opposite of that map ? What about a cave that could only be explored by well prepared explorators, at the risk of their lives. That cave could have multiple levels, giant crevasses where you dont see the bottom, stalagmites, glow in the dark lichen and more. Lost and hungry predators would patroll the tunnels and you would have to fight them or find a way around. A bit like the ice caves but much bigger and more impressive. a real treat to the one who dares to explore it. 

Add fog as the primary weather for your forest and you’ll get lost for sure!

So doing a little digging here’s my observations:

The image of the “prison” has the mountain in the background.

 Which also happens to be similar in appearance to the world map...

and what of Astrid? She is at coastal highway. 
Perseverance Mills is said to be far to the north of Milton. 
Is the world map showing north as the top of the map?

Will is near the exit to the dam. Which, potentially in the end leads to coastal highway too. 

Maybe they will not reach perseverance mills by the end of episode 4?

Anyone else have random observations regarding the storyline?

On 1/18/2021 at 10:57 AM, Lexilogo said:

I don't think it needs to be a "need" so much as an opportunity. IMO auroras should be exciting, but right now I honestly just sleep through them nine times out of ten.

A few other suggestions besides what I already said with rabbits and flashlights:

-More electronically locked stuff like what's at Bleak Inlet, so some supply caches might encourage you to hang around in an area for an aurora

-Giving players a Fatigue buff while an aurora is active, so they're not only encouraged to get out and do stuff but will also likely be woken up if they didn't realize an aurora was tonight

I really like the fatigue-buff idea, I agree that it would encourage players to get out at night. 

For an off-the wall idea:

How about an old astronomical observatory that needs electricity to align?

It could even be world-building in that you could find the notes of the scientist who used to work there -studying magnetic fields, sun discharge, etc. 

You could view the night sky with the telescope and witness CMEs from the sun and use the other instruments in the observatory. 
 

@Lexilogo I really like your idea of making auroras more important. It would be nice to have a critical “need” for it. Any ideas on what would be considered important enough to travel at night?

I like the ideas of more transition zones, I kind of like the idea of following the railroad, but with little to no movement off of it, and a bear being in your path. 
 

Perhaps some of the scenery could be the ocean cliffs to one side and vertical cliffs on the other.
 

You could climb the cliffs at either locations as part of your exploration, perhaps bring-your-own rope in order to go around the bear. Or climb up to smallish plateaus, perhaps tying into other regions or locations of interest.  

So as the lore is based on a geomagnetic storm it seems unlikely that a compass would work in the conventional sense.

It does seem likely that given the scenario our character finds themselves in it would only be reasonable to encounter said compass. 

So how about a compass that spins erratically? It dances around on the compass face. But on “specific” days it spins at high-speed -the needle whizzing by in a counter- clockwise pattern.

There will be an aurora tonight...

I rather like this idea.
Is that the same tree I passed awhile ago?

Dense forest, knolls, little outcroppings of rocks.

Lack of caves and no buildings.

Just you in the woods. 

Might make a good transition zone.

I like some of the blending and immersion in your idea. Definitely the corpse messages, the red cloth -as someone who came before you. 

I had this struggle when I was brand new to the game, and refused to search the internet for a community map so as to not spoil the experience.

The sign-post ideas would have definitely made it a bit more clear at the game’s intro, but as you gain experience you learn how to identify possible entry locations.

As noted if you are drawing your charcoal map then it is rather apparent. However I can’t say that I would go around marking every corner of the map, especially early game. But that’s just me personally. 

I’m not a fan of the concept of lines on the world map. But that too is personal preference. 

Overall I appreciate the immersion and think the basis of your idea would assist new players and help them to visit other locations, but also make the game a bit easier for them; which I’m not overly a fan of. 

Well I thought that too. I figured it followed the lore as the flashlight already possess a battery, your basically just ‘giving’ it more capacity. 

Hi again! So in keeping on the Aurora topic...

A craft-able lamppost. 

I dunno about the rest of you, but I very very rarely bring a flashlight with me due to it’s weight and lack of everyday use.

So instead I suggest being able to combine a flashlight, car battery, and something like a maple sapling to create a lamppost.

You could assemble it and post it outside somewhere, even multiples of them to light your way. It automatically turns on during an Aurora. 

3 hours ago, odizzido said:Or the other way would be just wait for an aurora then set it up and you would know after the first one. It would require you to catch one and then prepare for the future. I like preparation stuff so I think this would be my preferred option.

This is how I had envisioned it working. I like the crafting idea. I had just pictured a digital alarm clock flashing 12:00 with alarm blaring. 

Hi everyone! So like the title implies, an alarm clock that buzzes during an Aurora. 

Set it next to your bed and when the Aurora arrives it’ll wake you up from sleep. It could even have an on-off button.

Just a little thing you can use for simple benefits... Waking up to operate the milling machine, Getting in some extra reading or crafting time, etc. 

I agree to keep the indoor locations as seperate loads, but what if there was animation tied to it instead of a loading screen...

You are being chased by a wolf! You sprint into the door. (Rather than holding the button to let you in) this triggers the animation in which you crash through the door -swinging it open, then slamming it shut. Your focus has been on the door knob. You get inside (though not actually loaded yet) push against the door and verify it’s actually shut, mess with the lock (hand shaking) keep a hand on the door while staring toward the knob, breathing heavily, your character says “that was close!”

You stay in this position until the interior is loaded (around you) then looking away from the door at the floor you look up to the actual loaded environment/position. 
 

Something to help with immersion. 

On 11/28/2020 at 9:28 AM, Satouthedeusmusco said:

First off. Let me say that I'm the kind of person that doesn't believe balance is the be all end all of a singleplayer game. I don't think every item should be as important as the other. And I don't think some strategies being objectively better than others will ruin a game like the long dark.

 

In my opinion, adding more animals is great as long as they are significantly different from the other animals. There are two animals in particular that I think would be great additions.

 

Boar: Don’t let your opinion of domestic pigs fool you, the boar is a dangerous beast. Boars prefer running away, but if they are cornered they might charge and initiate a struggle with the player. A boar struggle is slightly less dangerous than a wolf struggle and just like a wolf struggle you can fight back. Boars will also run from predators, players in the path of a fleeing boar will be knocked down, suffering a sprain. Gameplay wise, the boar could serve as a somewhat dangerous prey animals that isn't a moose. I think the game kind of lacks an intermediate

 

threat right now. Currently I find it a bit weird that there are so many predators but so little prey. Loot wise boar hides aren’t that useful. But they have good meat and plenty of guts on them.

 

Cougar: A new apex predator. The cougar will serve as a dangerous late game threat. She’ll be very rare and elusive. Like the moose, if you want to hunt her you’ll have to look for scratch marks on trees where she sharpens her claws. Like bears you might find a cougar sleeping in a cave, and like wolves you might find a cougar feasting on a recent kill.

 

But don’t think you’ll often be the one hunting her, she’ll challenge your position at the top of the food chain by hunting you. Cougars will actively stalk the player. The process will be very in-depth. The player will know that a cougar as begun stalking them when they wake up during the night to the sound of the cougars bloodcurdling screams. In the morning the play will find scratch marks surrounding their base. The stalking process will now begin. The player must avoid cramped passages and sharp corners where the cougar might ambush the player. The player must avoid sleeping outside without a fire or risk being awoken by sharp claws and teeth. Even caves and fishing huts aren’t safe. The player should also frequently look behind themselves for the cat might strike in the back. Gameplay wise the devs at Hinterland could save a lot of effort here while also making this stalking more tense by not actually spawning the cougar in during the stalking phase. If the player is prudent and never gives the cougar the opportunity to strike she might give up on stalking the player and leave them alone. Overconfident of desperate players will eventually be ambushed. During the ambush the cougar will actually spawn (either behind the player, around a corner or at the entrance of a cave that the player is sleeping in) and pounce. A cougar pounce leads to the most dangerous struggle in the game as while the player can fight back, losing it will always result in death (you're her next meal after all). Loot wise cougar hide could be used to craft a stealth robe that makes the player harder to detect. The meat is pretty bad, and there are few guts on the cougar.

 

 

 

And lastly there are a couple of animals that I think would make a fun addition, though they probably wouldn’t be that impactful.

 

I’d like to see some kind of bird that spends lots of time on the ground like a turkey or pheasant. I’m not actually Canadian so I don’t know what bird it would be or if they even exist. It’d be similar to a rabbit but rarer and harder to hunt. You wouldn’t be able to stone it like a rabbit. The bird would have some high quality meat but most important you’d be able to gather a large number of feathers from it that you could use to craft higher quality arrows that travel further.

 

I’d like to see some kind of ferret of weasel. It’d be incredibly rare and would hunt rabbits. It would also steal dead rabbits from your snares. You could stone it like a rabbit, but if you catch it you’d have to initiate a mini struggle where it will claw and bite at you before you can finish it off which could give you a nasty infected bite wound and cause bleeding. It would have little meat and guts but from his hide you could make a very high quality hat and gloves

Actually I very much like your approach to the cougar. +1

Perhaps it would have a trade off. Lack of feathers to gain other benefits.

Inner peace: gradually restore condition, restful sleep, and/or cabin fever reduction.