xanna

See, that's how I thought it worked, but I haven't done the Tale myself yet so I wasn't sure. I'm glad it works that way. I found a suspicious-looking mound of snow in Pleasant Valley that I fancy is part of the Tale, but I won't know till I come back in a couple hundred days with the transponder!

A thought I had about the Contamination Zone is that it gives real vibes of desperation. The survivor has to go into that obviously dangerous area, get protective gear to do so - in a survival situation you're not doing that unless you need something really badly. I like this feeling. You have that desperate energy at the beginning of the game but it eases off as you become equipped and adapted to your new reality. Obviously it won't usually be desperation that drives us as players into Langston Mine, it will more likely be curiosity or completionism, but I like to be suspending my disbelief and imagine the terror and desperateness that would lead someone to go there. True apocolypse vibes.

A warning about watching or reading guides and maps online: the game underwent a big change in December 2022 so any guides from before then may be out of date about certain things. in particular the loot spawns all changed, and I don't think we yet have updated fan maps with the new loot spawns for most regions. Soemthing to be aware of.

How customisable the game is. I've never played a game where I could tweak so many aspects to my personal preference. And it still is balanced, too! In fact, the careful balancing of game play is another things that feels special about TLD.

This is so interesting. I had always assumed that the max coldness was over a much longer period. My current long run is about 170 days and I swear it's still getting colder, but it is easy for my imagination to project that, it's not like I'm taking notes. I also start my longer runs by doing the warmer maps - Mystery Lake, Mountain Town etc - so my experience is still getting colder over time as I wait till later game to go to Forsaken Arifield or other extra-wintry places. I'm pretty relieved to learn that my game is not still getting colder! There are four options for the World Gets Colder Over Time setting: None, Low, Medium and High. It's not clear if they affect the rate at which the world gets colder, or the length of time that the rate is in effect for before it maxes out. From what's been said above, it sounds like it's probably a bit of both.

Aw, thanks @UpUpAway95 ☺️ This is a good point. I'm a big fan of customising the game settings, but this is the downside - no Feats progression. Very good advice. Death isn't the end, even permadeath, it's an excuse to try again and do something differently!

It is IRL, but it's not in the game - the bloodloss affliction doesn't drain energy, and anyway having zero energy doesn't cause you to fall asleep involuntrily. For me it's therefore hard to use this as reasoning. I am always very quick to bandage up a wound, I don't wait to do it. I'm too scared of the blood smell attracting more attackers, and losing condition so quickly. I bandage ASAP, like immediately, and often wait until I'm somewhere safe to apply antiseptic. I can't imagine ever going to sleep while bleeding because of that, but obviously we're all different and this issue has been raised by a few different people now. I have definitely gone to sleep without dealing with infection risk before, and that aint good either!

Learning the maps makes everything easier. You can do this by playing in an 'easier' mode and moving around a lot until you're familiar with them. There are excellent detailed fan maps for every region. Most are available on the fan wiki. Of course, once you've learned the maps you can't unlearn them and there is something special about starting a new game and not knowing where you are and where to get resources.For me, I miss the feeling of discovery of not knowing where I am. Related to that, keep moving. Don't stay in one region for too long. This will give you a lot of loot and food to keep you going so you don't have to worry about resources while you're figuring out other aspects like dealing with wolves and weather. Watching experienced people play online is a good way to learn skills fast. Like with the maps, I'd say that it's not as rewarding as figuring things out for yourself, but if your goal is to get good fast, that's the way to do it. Our own @Zaknafein does videos of playing with a commentary that explains what they're doing as they go and includes lot of information and guidance for new players. They also do a few shorter instructional videos about different aspects of TLD gameplay, eg Beginner's Guide for The Long Dark or Survival Tips from The Long Dark Veteran Players. Definitely check them out. There are lots of excellent players of TLD on Twitch, and the community over there is very friendly and helpful. As for keeping motivation, figure out what it is that you enjoy about TLD and don't be afraid to customise your game to maximise the activities you enjoy and minimise the things that bore or frustrate you. Play on the mode that you enjoy most, don't worry about 'progressing' to Interloper. All game modes are valid! e.g. for me, I enjoy the scarcity of resources and the challenge of making do, but I am not very interested in fighting animals, so I use a custom game that reflects that, and it keeps my interest up. It took a few runs to tweak my settings to be just what I want, but it's an interesting evolution. Another thing I do to keep me interested is to play different kinds of run to suit my mood. Sometimes I don't want the calm grind of a longer, 'easier' run, I want an exciting and more chaotic run, like an Interloper or Deadman run, knowing that I won't survive long - I call these games The Short Dark as I usually don't survive beyond a week! Good luck, Survivor! I hope you find a play style that works for you.

A mug (not a tin mug) with an outdoors TLD scene that's thermoreactive so when you pour in your drink an aurora appears

Fantastic work 😂 😂

I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to say that the Tales bunkers don't have a wheel that turns to open them like the others do, so if you see a wheel-turny hatch you're not in Tales territory.

Depends where you spawn, too. If you spawn in Forsaken Airfield, by the time you get somewhere warmer the whole world will have gotten colder so you'll never exerience a milder day.

My serious answer: the light. Obsessed with the lighting in this game.

No zombies 😁 Welcome survivor @Choppy! Happy to have you here.

I've waited a few years for my mug, I can wait a little more

Clicking through to HinterlandStore.Com at 13:02 PST (Said with love not grumbles, and congratulations to Hinterland for selling out so well and being so popular!)

You're right. There are some beautiful traditional storm lanterns around, but I've never seen one with a built-in ignition. Even Coleman don't make their add-on spark ingniter any more.

Maybe the spelunkers lantern, but LED and USB chargable so it can be a bedside light or desk lamp

How about T-shirts with a spraypaint symbol?

I am literally avoiding it right now, to the extent that it's probably where I need to go next so I'm avoiding even loading up my run! I'm not interested in the vest, but when I do go there I will probably loot as much as I can, maybe kill the bear at Bear's Bend (because the log bridge over the road makes it irresistable) and try to hang around to get a better familiarity with the place. Still not looking forward to it though!

Looking at posts like this for inspiration, seems a lot of us feel a connection to Trapper's, Camp Office, Quonset and Grey Mum's. I think Quonset might not be picturesque enough, but I would love a Trapper's or Camp Office snowglobe. Or the red barn.. ?

Yes yes yes, this is genius! I would love these as patches or badges (buttons) or pins.

Oh no, not at all! Don't worry. I get a bit obsessed with in-game things brought to life so that's what I went looking for. For a game like TLD the in-game items are a bit... uncelebratory - no one wants TLD-branded bandages or painkillers! I literally looked down the list of items in the fan wiki for inspiration and matches was the best I could do lol

Oops, yes sorry, read too quickly! Thanks for the correction, @AdamvR