Grossbouff

That's the way I like it too and I can only agree with your last sentence. Mapping is a nice activity but it so unrewarding because of its poor quality. I would like to map in order to increase my knowledge of the location but it is barely the case...

I personally think that the charcoal mapping of the game character doesn't reflect what one would do in a survival situation. They are too esthetic and not enough informative. One can barely recognize rocky terrain! I am still in my second walkthrough in voyageur (the first one didn't last 1 day because I was completely lost in the cold!) and mapping everything possible with charcoal and trying to imprint the map in my brain but for ash canyon, the map is completely crazy, I would need 2 years of my life to know the map completely!

Oh well, I just spent several survival days in ash canyon and found enough saplings for the rest of my gameplay I guess the person who designed the map had smoken too much pot 🙂 and unforunately the mapping ability of my survivor has more esthetic than efficacy (really I would never draw a map like that if I had to use it for survival), you can't even recognize the rocks on the map! I had a hell of an experience trying to find my way out while at the same time trying to find the scarce animal life during the short periods of more or less clear sky between 2 blizzards! When the map is revealed, one notices that there are many caves but when the blizzard is blowing and you are trying to find shelter in an unknown environment, it is not so easy. Strangely enough I found a technical backpack before I saw my first moose 🙂

I feared so, because I already found some cut sapling from me. Until now (must be around day 80), I only found 3 maple saplings, found 1 bow, used one out and broke another one through bear-trampling. Not enough to stay fed for 1000 days (of course I can fish!). I noticed that the more I play, the more often I find rotten food, so I guess that the "timer" for food all over the world starts when the game starts. Which means that I will soon have to prepare all my food myself and I wonder if there is a natural alternative to coffee and tea?

After having investigated half of the map, I am still searching for my first moose. I would like to craft a bag. Did I miss a game mechanic here? I don't want to be given a location where to find some, I want to find them by myself but is there something I must look for when searching for mooses? Are they just extremely rare for example?

Wow awesome tips, thank. I didn't know the bear was bleeding out, great trick. I just noticed yesterday crows flying above the carcass of the bear I killed (before he killed me) so I thought it would be a good plan to find carcasses, especially those of animals I harmed without killing. Probably spares me much time tracking their blood trail! Just did a trip until desolation point (seldom clear weather there!) and took for granted that there is nothing beyond the broken bridge. I think I reached the end of the map in this direction and probably the opposite is hushed valley. I'll come back to map all the maps in-between carefully now and note where I find maple (got short of mapple after my bow broke) before I play stalker again.

On a side note I just had an interesting bear confrontation. Hit him with one arrow, got brutally treated by the teddy, stood up, bow was broken, took the rifle, hit the bear once again and got once more smashes to the ground and kissed on the face quite unpolitely. I was already saying goodbye to life when the bear collaped on the ground before me. I had just signed up for 2 bruises against 32 kg meat and I would do it again!! This game is simply terrific and I don't understand people saying they are bored when they did not even try to see all the places. Discovery is THE exciting part of the game. Discovering new locations, facing new situations, adapting, learning. And the world is so huge and the places rich, it will keep me occuped for a long time to come. What a game!

Thank you all! From your answers, I can now see that I know the maps too poorly to play Stalker efficiently. A good survivor knows where to go and how. The world of the long dark is really big, I have survived for 62 days so far and I discovered only 1% of the world!! (I suppose it is related to mapping and not walking, sometimes during a blizzard i cannot map). I will play voyageur much more and "see the world" especially each corner. It would be good to be able to label the map. For some reason my notes are not saved. I would have 2 questions still open after my many hours of experience with the game: - How does research work? I have read about ear protections but that doesn't appear in my crafting options?? - During my first 2 bear encounters, I killed both with only 1 arrow in the hand. Than for the third one, I missed the head and the bear ran away then came back, I missed him against and he cut me to pieces (still alive though and near my base so it's not so bad). Can someone explain me the mechanism here? Did I got luck the first 2 times and got a critical hit?

I found only gloves and shoes in carter dam and at the moment I cannot repair clothes (no kit, no fishing tackle) I need to move otherwise I'll hunger there.

Thank you so much for your reply! I don't know a way to access pleasant valley from carter dam in mystery lake, I'll probably need to do more mapping with my voyageur character! (no hint, I want to discover it myself) I'll probably want more warm clothes before accessing pleasant valley too because, as I remember from wintermute, the valley is everything but pleasant there. Bilzzaaaaaaaard...

Hi there! I finished wintermute and I have a deathfree run in voyageur difficulty with complete warm clothing, bow+14 arrows and I am pretty sure that I will die from old age or boredom. So I know the game a little bit but perhaps not each and every mechanism. So I decided to jump to stalker difficulty and start in mystery lake because I know the map well, it is nice for fishing and the access to forlon (forge) is direct. What a shock! I found camp office fast but found no clothes nor tools inside (but 2 sleeping bags!), so I decided for a run to the dam. I was almost frozen to death when I arrived (and I closed the gate just in time before being eaten alive - and frozen -by a wolf!). I found 1 knife, 1 hatchet, fur boots and ski gloves but now I am facing a difficult decision because I have so few clothes that I cannot risk too long walks around. I have only 11 matches and no weapon so I must manage my fires carefully and not stop every 500m to warm myself up. 1) I can go to ravine and hope for a good loot and perhaps further to coastal highway. On my run to coastal highway in voyageur, on the way from ravine down the slope to the coast I met 2 wolfes. I was fully equipped then so I disposed of them easily but if it happens now, I am a dead man. Perhaps my best bet, though, because that's the only option to get much loot and perhaps good clothes. 2) I can go back to camp office, with the price of ending with hypothermia again. I have a hook but no line so it will take me a while until I can fish and then I will again run short of matches eventually (but here at least I have more change to get loot from the many huts and houses). I would call this option my second best. 3) I can do a (long) run to the trapper house (west of the map). I WILL freeze to near death with only the hope that I find a rifle or a revolver and clothes but if I don't, i will probably die there. Probably the worst option at all. I would like to ask experienced players which option they would choose in my situation?