philthechamp

I feel like it would be very challenging and fun to have your skills slowly depreciate the less you perform them. Basically for every couple of days or so that you don't do the related activity your skills have a chance to lose 1 or 2 points. It would function similarly to hunger and water etc except that it obviously doesn't affect condition and shouldn't really ever threaten losing too much. I like the idea that it makes it seem like your character needs to stay sharp and focused to get the most out of certain skills. I imagine people maxing out a bit later in the game while also having a reason to check back in after getting distracted for a few weeks after that point. Lmk what you think. I could see people not liking this because its more of the same mechanics but thats kind of why I like it. I think it could be a subtle effect and still add a bit of spice.

Whittling would be very cool. I just love the idea that on interloper you could choose to degrade a knife to put time into a whittling skill. And then place your own objects around the world.

I usually go with Will for no other reason that I'm a man and it feels weird to play as a woman for me. Just like immersion breaking

I have had issues with prey running to impossible to reach locations. One time I shot a bear with the bow near the CH campground and it died on a hill that was too steep to make a fire. I tried pretty hard to make one and warm up in between harvests but it was really difficult to get a lot out of it and wasted time. It broke down the immersion a bit but other than that the actual tracking hasn't been too crazy for me. I lose a wolf if I wait a while but usually I look in the direction it ran and find the carcass the following day. Been a while since I've legitimately used the crows though.

I know there are a multitude of light and lantern options but I think that a lantern that you feed birch bark would be welcome among the list. Gas lanterns are good to momentarily see where the door is but the old school lanterns could be about keeping a fire protected while you're moving between locations. I would prefer to see a birch bark lantern on an interloper run than the many of gas lanterns you run into. It would be a cool alternative use for birch bark and create an interesting risk/reward scenario.

So I know that challenges are a deliberate alternative to the long haul of survival mode, but I can't help but think there could be more done to make them viable for a long term run. I think that a lot of players complain about the end game in survival and the challenges could fill that niche if they lasted longer. If they were expanded to be indefinite then challenges could be more entertaining. Here are my suggestions for overall tweaks. Afterward I have a few ideas for entirely new challenges: - IMO the beginning of survival is the best. I think there could be more of a delay as to when the challenge can kick in. For certain challenges like As the dead sleep there wouldn't need to be a change but Whiteout and Hunted could delay a large, unknown number of days before the bear or storm is revealed. Make it a sudden divergence in difficulty. Less about hitting quota or just making it to the trappers cabin. - I like the optimization of difficulty they have now but if they wanted to slap on interloper mechanics and make that an option for some of the challenges that would be cool. Maybe a kind of "ascension mode" where each time you beat a challenge the weather could get harsher. I'm not sure how they are optimized now but being able to keep the mission and customize difficulty would be nice. - Some challenges could be structured so the mission repeats indefinitely, with more difficulty. I imagine Whiteout where the storm comes back every 30 days and forces you to survive it through or a Nomad gauntlet where you first pass 1 day in all locations, then 2, then 3, etc. Insane but like why not. New Challenge modes all together: Olympic Torch - Needs to exist in some capacity, possibly as an event. You only have one match and no other fire starters. Survive as long as possible. I think a unique change to keep this going would be to significantly expand how long embers last for any fire. Potentially progressing down in temp until it hits zero. Timberwolf Migration - This was suggested for traditional survival, but I think it makes more sense as a challenge. After some number of days, Timberwolves start to show up in other regions, to some limit. Ammo spawns need to account for this but it could make for an exciting game mode. Radio Tower Engineer - After finding and reading journals with their instructions, make repairs to the radio towers to initiate a random event (positive or negative). Could cause a storm, could cause wolves to swarm, could unlock a hidden cache. Something with a random event initiated by the player within a normal survival game. Could be a good mod. Let me know what you think. I don't play a ton of challenges so if you're a fan of them please tell and comment.

I dont even need a warmth duration bonus from the thermos I literally just want a way to reduce clutter in the UI. If I could fill a thermos up with up to 10 teas and heat them all up at once that would be amazing. The problem is didnt they heavily nerf crafting teas so that they dry up if you leave them next to a fire? If you could just heat them all up in the thermos without that risk then the thermos would be worth it.

A million times this. I think the Long Dark stands out among video games because of the lack of traditional content forcing you to respond. You have to make fires and thats about it. The result is a soothing mandala of picking up sticks, warming up teas and exploring the world. Its for this reason that I have to say in game events like storms or earthquakes shouldn't be a thing. The player has to have a consistent read on the flow of weather over time to make their own decisions. Forcing us to respond in some particular way to a sudden event would pull us out of that kind of decision making. On the other hand, there could be some more features to add to improve the late game. I just think that these things need to be initiated entirely by the player. The environmental cleanup works with this, bc the player has to decide to initiate the change. I also think the radio tower/ hydro electric dam repairs fit into this. Neither require any drastic changes to the gameplay, and the result could be mostly cosmetic. Even with these 2 suggestions the player could choose to live in a world with more wildlife/ better scenery or choose to be the industrialist and have better vision at night due to the glow of radio towers (something like that). It just gives you a new goal to think about and reason to move around the map + the payoff of feeling like you had an influence at a later stage. Other things that I have thought of: - a unique skill tree only available after all levels are maxed out (require reading on interloper?) could just be a simple movement bonus, calorie intake bonus, or any kind of subtle boost - Very rare named animals/ fish that appear after some number of days. I think there already are 'special' fish in certain spots and I think that if we saw named animals it would totally change how we respond to them at a point. They could even have their own quirks. Do we keep them alive to say hi? Do we take their pelt and make new clothing? etc. - Crafting. This is talked about a lot. I dont want a whole home builder with 4 different types of flooring and walls but it would be nice to hang certain things on walls or just remove the clutter around some of these houses.

I agree about the thermos! I had always thought that a thermos that could hold 5-6 doses of tea would be a great addition. Teas end up taking up so many slots on the inventory and there could be a benefit how long they stay hot. Only real change they'd have to make is making the perk come in based on the amount you drink and not holding it until the last 0.1L of tea. Anyway, I like some of these but I also don't think they should be adding in more negative effects for things like dehydration or pain. It would get very crowded and tedious very quick. I do think they should build upon the well fed bonus and create a "Malnourished, Healthy and Lumberjack" body type each only having a unique benefit based on calorie intake. I wrote a post about it and I think it was a little over convoluted for people to get behind, but the reasoning behind it I think is solid. Give people on loper the option to go for a good benefit without ruining the starve during the day method. Otherwise that strategy is pretty rampant and there is no real change to the late game when you could prioritize keeping calories about 1000 instead of just above 0.

I think I've heard some musical cues for bears, but only when they are initially in your range. I don't think the music continues bc they don't necessarily stalk in the same ways that wolves do. Hope that helps

I think Calories should be the very first place to look when considering new buffs and other core game changes. Body types are a good place to continue building TLD because other abstract effects that build on core stats like dehydration or anxiety will become too distracting from gameplay. Body types and reasonable effects thereof have the potential to be immersive and provide more nuance between the difficulty levels as well as, critically, the late game... Key features to make this work - I don't think there should be any nerfs. Only slight benefits to each type that wouldn't require any current behaviors to change. I think they should keep the same +5.00kg weight for non-zero calorie weeks, and add in these minor differences based on average calories. I think that average calories while awake, similar to how hours spent indoors are tracked, should determine one's body type. Calories in general make more sense to develop because your metabolism and energy tracking is critical to survival and the current buff as it stands is fairly inconsequential. Consensus is that the game also lacks late game content and interloper realism, which this could address. The benefits and body types as I see them: Malnourished - If you are starving for most of the day and choose to eat right before sleep you would be malnourished. The boost would be that you gain 10% more calories from food if your average calories are above 0 and below 100. This would make it possible to only eat cattails but get more bang for your buck if you parcel them throughout the day. If you're consistent you can get the +5.00kg and be a little more calorie efficient (which is biologically more accurate as your metabolism adjusts in survival states). Changes should be implemented through an average because it allows teetering between 160 and 0 calories to become a new game feature while finally giving a practical alternative to the interloper-starvation trend. With that in mind, starving all day would make it relatively harder to gain calories if you sink into it but doesn't change anything as is. This gives the illusion of 'resisting starvation' by altering calorie intake itself at a critical small window. Very cool, immersive feature, IMO. 'Natural' Weight - Staying below 100 calories per day, unless you're on interloper, should honestly be fairly irregular considering your body is trying to be at its natural weight. If you keep above 200 calories per day then you should have some natural coordination. I think that there could be a clean +5% wolf struggle bonus just for being in this shape. I don't want this to be too noticeable. Mostly that you might worry about 'being out of shape' should you stay above a certain weight or begin to starve. Again, the nerf is only relative which is what could make this body type system work as opposed to stacking additional features. "True Lumberjack" - Lastly, should you be so formidable as to stock enough healthy supplies, and then some, and stay consistently fed throughout the week with over 1500 or 2000 calories while awake (possible on interloper?) then you should be rewarded with the most intimate buff the game can offer. A warmth bonus. Similar to the 'cold fusion' feat which is arguably the most essential, keeping above a certain high calorie count should be recognized by an additional +2.0C warmth effect. The opportunity cost could incentivize lighter gear as well, proving a constant challenge and alternative to heavy clothing in the very late game. I know that my outline is a little convoluted and could use tweaking, but overall, calories and body types should be the very first place to look when considering new gameplay effects. This is a series of individual pieces of game content that could have a positive effect on situational playstyles and the late game. Too many psychology buffs or abstract random effects are unenjoyable, but the calories we have constant control over. Its an intimate enough survival system that hopefully doesn't discourage any current playstyles. If there are ever going to be more active effects in game--This should be how they do it...Let me know what you think.

I really like the aesthetic of this vs the torches which are a little trite to throw on the ground constantly. I've thought that a non-gas lantern would be a good addition as well so If something like that could be packed with birch bark or similar it could be a cool way to move around. Birch bark is very valuable as is though. Also, in terms of animals I think they should add more bird movement or the occasional owl or bat as it gets dark. They shouldn't go crazy, but they already have the in game sound for those things. Birds are harder to generate though en mass. I don't know if I want to see any more predators tbh.

Took a minute but here you go. Its obviously not Van Gogh but its what I was taking about https://imgur.com/a/vOEKfJF (also meant to say mystery lake camp office not cabin)

Literally just dropping the prepared herbs and placing them on the workbench. Reishi make good mountains, birch bark looks like water, rose hips, the sun. If you take a few of one kind an overlap them you can create a few different shapes/textures. I also add arrowheads which look like birds from far away and feathers which look like trees. Its sort of clunky but does motivate me to bring things back to base. I used to just put tools neatly in rows on workbenches and that felt kind of lifeless after a while.

I mentioned this briefly in the seasoned backpacking thread but now I'm curious. Does anyone else make artwork on the workbenches with the prepared vegetables? It works surprisingly well because prepared bunches are able to overlap with one another when you move them. I usually make a landscape inspired by the game when I'm forced to kill time. I wish I had pictures to link but I've been taking a sort of mandala approach to it...its very rewarding bc otherwise I just end up dropping the excess veg in a pile. Anyway, my suggestion is to add more harvestable veg to the game which add to the color pallet (yes I know, an incredibly specific, purely cosmetic, request, but thats what this forum is about lol). I also feel like deeper (not bright) colors would help new veg feel distinct without crowding the UI. Pine nibs (young budding needles) and pine tea would function pretty well starting as another sapling. The green nibs would look good in the landscape and make sense to appear on a young tree. The tinted green tea would look good as well. I believe pine oil is an appetite suppressant too which is very interesting. The game is already filled in with mushrooms where there are stumps so I think I take back thinking they would be a practical addition (poison mushrooms fr sound cool though). Saplings can just be more easily added as a stand alone bc they don't need to compete with the other saplings which have entirely different functions. Other things they could include are juniper berries or chokeberries which have that dark violet color and are available year round. I don't think they really need much else. I just hope that color is considered for future veg. A green/violet/orange prepared look would be great for the workbench paintings and could become a rare find in the wilderness. I know its specific but I also wanted to post this as a stand alone thread to see how everyone makes artwork in game in general. Maybe I'll ask it on reddit too (sorry for redundancy)

There are a bunch of mushrooms species to draw from. The problem is most are only around in late summer and fall but there's no reason that they can't include some rare species. For a lot of mushrooms, being poisonous depends on the soil so the devs could really play fast and loose with the details. I think poison mushrooms would be very cool. Stuff em inside fish and suddenly decoys kill predators. or make tea that could just have a higher chance of making you sick. Either way it should be a rare find. Possibly illuminate during the aurora? Other veg- This is more likely to be included: Pine nuts or pine needles. Pine trees are very edible and make a great tea. There doesn't even need to be any medicinal benefits, just another sapling that provides a few green nibs and possibly bark. I don't think they need to add too much to be honest. I'd like to see long term food harvesting with maple syrup but thats only a dream. One thing that I specifically do with harvested plants is make little collages on the work benches. With that in mind any plants with deeper orange, red, green, violet, tones would be very well received by me.

I definitely see what you mean by this. I think that too many animal skin rugs/ chests and things would disrupt the vibe. This isn't Skyrim. I'm glad you used the word minimalism bc I think that's a great description of the intent and appeal behind the game. When I suggest a lean-to or tent I hope it would be one or the other, and they could probably add more of the textures without it being a distraction. (also scorch marks I forgot to mention) As for the thematic concept, I agree, but I'm not sure what the exact timelines are supposed to be. Embers could last for a very long time so I don't think it necessarily think implies that anyone is still alive or still warm, but it does get close to breaking that down. I don't necessarily read the campsites as being from a survivor from Milton but rather something that's leftover from a previous TLD run. It's like a 4th wall breaking, 5th wall building, story telling game feature. But that's also a little convoluted so I definitely agree with you that it should be clear that this apocalypses has been in motion for a while. Maybe a few months to a year? I still like the discovery aspect of of turning a corner and seeing some embers, life, barely clinging on though. In that way I think it fits the theme well but maybe they would also have to show the bodies clearly frozen over from a few days prior... I mostly play interloper for the reason that you don't have matches so this is basically a way to garner more interest in that or a custom game w/out matches. I also really just want to see more snow shelters on the edge of cliffs. Maybe I just need to play more voyager and build them myself. While I like the constraints of interloper you're not always incentivized to hang out just because of a view lol.

I think that a fantastic addition to this game would be a pre-lit survival campsite w/ snow shelter in the starting region. I think this is an improvement because it gives the survivor a chance to jumpstart the experience in the region with an incentive to venture to a somewhat hard to reach location. The reward of a lit flame for the initial exploration is, in my opinion, a better overall way to start the game. I imagine there would be 2-3 potential locations for new survival camps per region with a campfire in your starting location beginning with an extended hour long 'embers' effect. Under this system one wouldn't necessary be required to immediately go to the same known indoor structures looking for matches. In stead, you're looking up for the signs of smoke, trying to weigh the distance with time, wolves, weather and a myriad of other things. I don't think there should be more than one additional campsite per region, but rather just outline a few more potential spawns... In all, I think a pre-lit camp in the starting region would open up a whole new world of initial strategic decisions as well as allow for each game to begin with just the right amount of variability. Also, as it stands now, items at snow shelter camps just seem to be adjacent to one another and the campsites themselves are not as purposefully placed as they could be. It is so critical to face the campfire and snow shelters toward the best view, which is usually just the horizon. Sometimes pre-set campfires aren't interactable from within the snow shelters and need to be rotated while the snow shelters themselves sometimes face walls rather than a nearby landscape. Its a small thing but majorly important because I see these campsites as rewarding the player with good views later in the game as well. If they tweaked the current layouts, added 2-3 more potential spawns for survival camps in prime locations, and considered implementing a pre-lit flame in the starting region I think the devs could create a lot of unique moments without breaking the game. That's not even to mention the fact that they should include more static structures at campsites like lean-tos and deer hide tents as well as more storytelling features like claw marks, blood stains, bodies, etc. Anyway, let me know what you think. Also do you agree that starting with matches is slightly broken? Does a pre-lit campsite solve that problem? Would this work on interloper? just curious. Peace- Phil

Binoculars! Seriously that would be a very fun item to have. Even the rifle scope (which I think should be fairly inaccurate and only useful for surveys) would be very cool. They'd further incentivize getting a good vantage point and help you better take advantage of clear days. I also think there should be a tangible 'highlight on the map' feature with these tools but I understand if they made it purely visual. Slingshots would be fun (simple stick and cured gut) and could do some? damage to wolves or actually kill rabbits (good for post-exhaustion) Ice axe - I haven't heard of this one before. I think it would be integrated seamlessly although during a climb that means you only shimmy up with one hand on the rope and your dominant hand ice picks into the wall? I like the idea that there is a tool for breaking ice although that means I have literally nothing to do with the prybars. The rest seem cool but I feel like already exist in the game to some degree. Things like Bear spray just aren't my cup of tea. Speaking of which I would SO much rather see new veg and the introduction of a thermos to store high quantities of tea than hunting tools. That's just my play preference though.

What's wrong with the mid game as is? I definitely see more stability from when you get the bow to when your supplies really start to wear thin, but for me that's the window to distribute supplies and explore cool 'irrational' areas. I even feel like I forge fairly quickly (within 10 days) and it'll still take me dozens of hours to get to a point of real exploration. I also would say that is evidence that we shouldn't have Firestarters at the start. They should be extending the early game feel for as long as possible... I've seen craft-able candles suggested on other threads and although that might change the cinematography it would free up the devs to give us less matches and force us to extend what we have with them during the midgame. I would agree that the total matches could be tweaked but I don't think they should be randomized. There needs to be a lot of consistency with a resource like that so that total days survived are comparable. The polaroids are a waste in my opinion. They made them far too hidden to be fun to look for. They already basically offer a quest marker on a hard to reach part of the map and I honestly have no idea where I'm supposed to look for them initially. I check all the main and some hard to reach points of interest and they just rarely turn up. Idk I just don't want it to turn into another "look up the potential spawns on reddit and go from there" situation. They are definitely on the right track because mapping is a great mid game activity but these things should still be accessible IMO. There are so many corpses on interloper yet its almost irrelevant to search them. I also like the idea of other interactable features in the game. I think they could make better use of the radio towers or create similar semi-randomized item spawns etc. IMO, total randomization doesn't seem feasible from a design/balance pov but all they have to do is create other incentives to explore the map. It doesn't necessarily have to be through an in game necessity like matches although I wouldn't complain if that were tweaked.

I think this is a good point in addition to what OP was getting at. I don't know if I'm sold on a guaranteed Firestarter from the beginning but it is very silly how you have to have this like omniscient mindset in order to get through loper. Randomly spawning all of the items would be a serious overhaul and hard to balance but it gets at a good point. I would rather see more campsites/ snow shelters and things like that in the game. Memorizing indoor structures is tedious and indoor structures, aside from base building, are really not that fun to spend time in. If they had a few potential spawns for snow shelters, smoking/ lit fires near dead bodies, and other individual evidence of recent survival it would give us more to look for initially without handing us bedrolls and matches. The only mechanical change here would be to extend the "embers" effect for the first few hours of a random fire to give us a chance to save it and have a light...If there's a blizzard I think that also means you'd just have to deal and go at it the current way. Its good to make that distinction but to me it doesn't feel like "players new to interloper" is the target player group. On my first interloper run I died in a blizzard and couldn't find anything. I feel like thats supposed to happen. Its incentive to master the the easier difficulties and learn the maps. That being said I get bored of the other difficulties so I quickly had to learn how not to feel new to interloper in order to make it passed the first few days and actually get on with the game. I really like using torches in blizzards for the survival story aspect of it but it just feels a little too useful to give to everybody who is playing interloper. There might be some changes needed to make to placate the initiation experience but personally I enjoy being given as little chance as possible lol.

I rarely stumbled upon matches when I first started on interloper, but it does happen and is an important part of the experience IMO. I like the versatile use of the flares and think that they should amp up the drops on interloper, but I don't think you should start with one. Being totally barebones or as barebones as possible is a huge selling point. I also think that 'new players to interloper' is kind of an oxymoron. Its the most challenging difficulty and shouldn't be so straight forward that new players are comfortable in the first few days. It can be discouraging to die on day 1 but wolf spawns and blizzards are necessary hurdles that make experience more rewarding when you do navigate them. Chance is also huge factor in general and repeated attempts are the only real way to adjust to the constraints. I personally have had to readjust my goals for interloper because I have gotten very committed to getting 50+ then 100+ days but then you'll die to glitchy wolves or for some other silly reason and it leaves a sour affect. Its really just about taking 1 day at a time and trying to enjoy the punishing reality as best as possible. The first few days are the hardest. But it gets easier. And then it gets really difficult again.

If they introduce a new item I hope it would absolutely still allow you to carry the same individual cups around. Thats why I think it should be a new item in the first place and not an entire overhaul. To add to what I was saying about the medicine, I think that if they made it so you have to drink X (0.2 or 0.25 which is the whole cup) within 1 day to get the buff it would be a solution to the exploit and make it easier to track the teas. This would mean that you risk losing the buff if you did half tea one day and half the other but there are ways around that both in design and user decisions. At least then its about totally consumption rather than tracking which 0.1L of tea is the one that gives you the boost. I still just feel that even if the cups are dropped and heated around a fire at the same time they are still managed entirely as individual cups and individual clicks. That right there is what I'm trying to avoid. If you like that and enjoy building a massive tea garden (which I have seen youtubers do and is really enjoyable) I hope that this wouldn't change that but just give someone the option during an interloper run when theres more of a crunch for every second. I also don't imagine it would be a carry around everywhere item but something that you integrate into a playstyle as needed. We haven't even talked about the potential to cook more than on does of tea in the 2L pot but I think that would be part of it too, or at least "heating up" more than one dose. In the original post I was really trying to sell it and was saying how it is essential a thermos is, which I personally believe, but I don't think that means it should be required. If that makes sense

But thats the point. It breaks immersion to drop and click a bunch of times every time you need to stop, which as an interloper player is already pretty frequent considering torch chaining is essential. I'm suggesting to displace that work onto tracking the decline of one volume in a physical container that can itself can be placed around. I think it provides a unique immersive quality which I feel like some players would naturally adapt to, and I just like that it doesn't have to provide a huge buff to be useful. Personally it seems more realistic because individual cups accumulate very quickly and this gives the player a reasonable way to manage them. I dont think you should be able to cook with this thing but if you take a few seconds to "pour" the tea in it might stay heated slightly longer (depending on the volume, which would be key). I would keep most of my dry tea at a base and pour hot tea in the thermos while in that safe zone before going off for the day. If I need to stop again to heat up more so be it but I would just prefer to operate out of one thing rather than bunch of scattered things. I think the game already has a reasonable balance with the teas now, I just think this is better and hopefully wouldn't fundamentally change much.

I would definitely do that if it didnt take as much time/ a match to drop and add more tea to the inventory. They're very useful to have at the ready. I think it already functions like the water jug though, in that you can stop drinking at any time and it leaves behind a partial amount. Why not just list them under their own slot? I don't think the skin is what urks me as much as having to heat them all up individually. The heating up function is what would be harder to track for the game imo because if you can reheat continuously rather than give a static amount of medicine (which I don't think is entirely broken people are just skimming for calories and treating it like a painkiller, which also stack up to 6 in your inventory)