Stranzua

I agree. This is another area of the game that offers an opportunity for growth. Adding a pickaxe with different minerals and mineral veins could be great. One of the new areas for the Far Territory DLC is supposed to be a mine so maybe they have some of this planned already. New minerals can be used to create stone tools, stone arrowheads, improvised whetstones, improvised fire strikers, etc. Plus, a miner's helmet with a built-in light would be cool too. Maybe they can also introduce an underground cave system that acts like a connector between certain regions. Adding dynamite to the game could maybe clear a path to a new transition zone/region in between Blackrock and Milton. Maybe the underground cave system, certain caves, and shortcuts can't be used/explored until dynamite is gathered and then used to clear rubble. (Something only available mid to late game.) Signal Void also makes it sound like there can be underground facilities with experiments going on throughout the island.

I just posted a thread about adding a difficulty/custom setting in between Interloper and Stalker. Interloper can stay the way it is but a difficulty right below Interloper would be nice. On interloper you have to know where stuff is and you learn where more stuff is after each playthrough, but how about making loot completely random? I mean COMPLETELY. It's not as empty as Interloper but there is no guaranteed matches or guaranteed spawns of any kind. There's no going online and learning loot tables or streamers telling you where to find everything. It's all random. In my opinion, Interloper is a great challenge and an entire experience within itself, but we are technically crashing on an island we know nothing about. Completely randomizing all loot at least keeps that a part of the game to some degree.

After trying stalker, interloper, and a custom game recently, the difference between low loot and medium loot is drastically different. On interloper you pretty much have to know where the matches are to even have a chance, and on Stalker finding loot or matches are not a problem at all. After creating a custom gunloper game and changing loot availability from low to medium, I found over 80 matches in 3 days. BIG DIFFERENCE! Personally, I would like some kind of middle ground between low and medium loot. My suggestion......make interloper have 'very low' loot availability where it's exactly the same as it is right now and make 'low' a middle ground between interloper and stalker. This way you don't have to know exactly where matches are, but it's still scarce enough where you have to keep moving and exploring to survive. Personally, I love the idea of keeping loot as random as possible without having to know exactly where to find stuff.

I wouldn't mind something that uses lamp oil and can heat up a can of food, a tea, or a cup of coffee in the morning. Other than that, you pretty much have a portable stove as long as you can make a fire. If it decreased cooking times and works in windy conditions, I guess something like that could work.

I love the idea of knowing the value of each match and maximizing it's value by lighting torches, and then using those torches to light fires. This is also why I love the idea of candles and extending the life of the flame even longer. Personally, I don't mind pulling torches from fires, but I also feel like this area of the game offers an opportunity for improvement. For example, above I suggest tying the ability to pull torches from fires to the fire skill. If fire pulled torches are all 15% at level 1, then maybe all fire pulled torches should also have a chance of just blowing out. This way things like books and accelerant still have value, and you are encouraged to craft torches and use those torches to chain or light fires instead. On top of that, you will still be able to chain fire pulled torches if you want, but you will also have to carry more while also worrying that they might blow out. They are technically just a stick after all. (As you level up the fire skill, the strength of fire pulled torches would increase while their chance of blowing out decreases) Of course, this would also require a new resource that allows us to craft torches regularly. My suggestion was tree resin or pine sap. We would have to be able to spawn on Interloper, for example, and have a decent chance of finding the resources to craft torches ASAP.

I thought that animal skin clothing was super necessary on Voyager, at least from the early to mid game. Bleak Inlet was extremely COLD!

I know that the developers are planning on adding something to help us carry around all of this glorious loot. I think it's called the travois or something like that. Hopefully there is way to get it up and down rope climbs, and maybe all these great ideas could be tied to some type of climbing/mountaineering skill.

It literally took me over 500 to 600 days to max out the mending skill on my Voyager playthrough. Took forever.

Someone suggested a sewing machine and maybe animal skin clothing can be improved by using it. If we can make it lighter and warmer while increasing mobility, maybe with some work they can at least be top tier gear. Right now, they are good but not great.

Personally, I love the idea of giving most if not all regions some reason to go there and go back repeatedly. For example, the ammunition benches, milling machines, tales, caches, bunkers, fishing huts, unique items, etc. A couple other ideas suggested on this forum are a sewing machine, the ability to craft candles, and new weapon/clothing variants, etc. This idea is for the STUN GUN. It's only found inside a locked faraday cage in the Warden's office at Blackrock. It will instantly end a wolf struggle and the only way to charge it is inside the Blackrock workshop during an aurora. It only has 1 or 2 charges and the amount of charges depends on difficulty. Available on Interloper. Yes, there is already an ammunition bench and a milling machine inside Blackrock, but if I'm completely honest, if I have to choose between Blackrock and Bleak Inlet, I'm choosing Bleak Inlet every time. Yes, you can also find the noisemaker blueprint and the ballistic vest, but after that there just doesn't seem like there is any reason to go back there. Plus, if you are like me, I am always too heavy to really find much use for the ballistic vest. Noisemakers are great, however, on survival they can only be crafted at the ammunition workbench. If they could be crafted at any workbench, then they would be much more valuable in my opinion. Right now, I would never go to BLR or BI just to craft noisemakers, which means I would only craft them when I go back to craft ammo. Eh, that can be awhile. The stun gun is perfect for that one wolf that just happens to pop out of nowhere and instantly threatens to kill your run. This way you get one or two close calls before having to go all the way back to Blackrock to charge it. Replacing the ammunition bench at Blackrock with the charger for the stun gun instantly increases the value of both regions. This way you have to go back to Bleak Inlet to craft ammo and you have to go back to Blackrock to charge your stun gun. Having several milling machines scattered across the island is great.

Fixing ruined clothes with level 5 mending and adding a sewing machine are both great ideas. In my opinion, some regions can use something region specific to make players want to go there repeatedly and the sewing machine could be one option. Here are a few ideas for the sewing machine: 1. It decreases repair times. 2. Allows clothing and bedrolls to be repaired up to 125%. 3. Allows the ability to add a third accessory slot by upgrading the technical backpack. 4. Allows you to make a new item called the bearskin satchel. An accessory that allows you to carry up to 5 kg of meat without smelling. 5. Allows you to craft other items like an improvised bedroll, improvised ear wraps, a poncho, or socks. 6. Allows you to repair sewing kits. 7. If it's manual, then maybe we will find a note that leads us to a blueprint for a part needed to repair it. The part will have to be crafted at a forge. 8. If it's electrical, then maybe it can be behind a door with a keypad like the ammunition benches. 9. A way to improve animal skin clothing and/or new ways to use animal hides would be cool to.

I never really cared either way. The bare hands don't bother me. Plus, it's something that would have to be added to every animation that involves hands, like throwing a stone for example. It's better to get the rabbit going from right to left because the left hands somewhat in the way, but can you imagine throwing a stone with mittens on? How would you feel about having to take the mittens off every time you want to throw a stone? It sounds nice but unnecessary in my opinion.

This reminds me, I encountered a bug that instantly gives you insomnia and it happens when leaving the basement in the hangar. After almost getting insomnia, I would go into the basement to lower the risk but there were a few occasions where I instantly got insomnia upon leaving the basement. Has this happened to anyone else?

Adding acorns was a nice touch.

After talking about the ruined meat system and how we can pull a near infinite amount of torches from fires, this is another example of where this game feels unfinished in a way. Using the outline of a fire, a can, or a bedroll to maneuver in the dark is just awful. At that point you have faded into the long dark because you couldn't see anything. Game over. Please try again. 😅

As a game that's always growing, there are a few mechanics that feel like they were just implemented as a temporary solution, and eating ruined meat without penalty and pulling relightable torches from fires are probably the two biggest. Like I've said before, I'm not complaining because it's extremely convenient, but as the game grows these are two examples where the game can become a little more immersive/realistic/challenging. Out of all the great ideas on this forum, I would love to see any changes that improve the overall experience without turning it into a chore. Giving ruined meat some kind of penalty and adding the ability to make cured meat/beef jerky sounds great to me.

Personally, I would like to see a few more options to increase energy quickly and I would make insomnia a regular part of the game. This way every time you drink a coffee or energy drink, the risk of insomnia goes up. Plus, instead of insomnia just waking you up occasionally, I would make it so it stops you from sleeping for a certain amount of time. Insomnia can also be an affliction that stacks. At level 1 you can't sleep for 6 hours and at level 2 you can't sleep for 12 hours, etc. This would require a few new energy sources like the new burdock root, energy bars, a new soda, etc. It would also change how glimmer fog works. It can either cause a completely new affliction or no affliction at all. Right now, insomnia is weak. The reason why I fully support more energy sources is because no one wants to wait for the 'chance' of an aurora, and in general, energy can be tough to manage at times. It's extremely easy to use up too much energy too quickly or have too much excess energy at night. I also wouldn't mind a way too use up some of that excess energy. For example, how about the option to 'exercise' for 30 minutes. It could be tied to a completely new skill called 'physical conditioning', or a temporary buff that increases stamina regeneration, sprint distance, or carrying capacity.

This is one reason I love having a storm lantern even with just a little bit of fuel. If you start turning it on without actually turning it on, it makes a few clicks, flashes for a split second, and recenters your vision so you're not staring at the floor/wall/ceiling. Definitely helps. This is also why I love the idea of adding candles to the game. The darkness is deadly. Feeling around sounds like a great mechanic for a VR version of the game, I'm just not sure how it would work. Maybe there are a few alternatives like making it so the eyes adjust after 20 to 30 in game minutes or adding glowsticks. Glowsticks sound like a great idea.

This game is worth every penny and the roadmap for the DLC is quite massive. 3 whole regions, 1 transition zone, 1 transfer hub, new items, new tales, new plants/animals, new gameplay mechanics, mementos, etc. If Hinterland is having trouble pushing out content, they can also create a 'public test realm' like Undead Labs does with State of Decay 2. This way players can act as testers and give instant feedback on bugs or potential balance changes, etc. It might help speed up the process.

The Far Territory DLC mentions something about adding recipes to the game. So, how about reworking the ruined meat system by adding SALT to the game. It can work just like the water purification tablets and it turns 1KG of meat into salted meat, or it can take some time indoors turning it into cured meat. Cured or salted meat decays a lot slower than regular meat, takes more meat for you to smell, but also comes with a thirst penalty. They can also make it so that ruined meat now loses calories, and the amount depends on difficulty. Eating ruined meat without any kind of penalty is definitely convenient. Right now, it's just so easy to kill a bear that meat can pile up pretty fast. Plus, after a while, you can have piles and piles of ruined meat at every base/outpost. Personally, I'm not opposed to making bears harder to kill AND adding a way to preserve meat longer. Instead of making it so the bears can bleed out after one shot even with the revolver, maybe bears can have a health bar and now there is only a varying chance that the bear instantly dies or bleeds out. This way hunting bears is similar to the hunted challenge and can take several encounters to bring it down. After watching streamers online, people are literally just side stepping the bear and shooting it repeatedly, and it makes the bears look clunky. Another example is being invulnerable behind railings or sitting on sloped dead trees that the bear can't run on. In my opinion, the bear should always be dangerous. I also wouldn't mind a variation of the bear called 'the old bear'. If people think making bears harder is a bad idea, maybe there can be 1 to 3 old bears randomly scattered across the island that are much harder to kill. Their meat can have a few hundred calories more per piece and their pelts are used to make a tougher, lighter, and slower decaying version of the bear coat/bear bedroll. I've just started playing this game and even though it's been out since 2014, i believe, it still has tons of potential.

Yeah, I'm playing on console so I can't use mods. It does sound like there are a lot of great mods out there though. Anyways, I feel like this thread is a little different than the threads you shared. When I was writing this, I was thinking about 4 things. 1. Torches are OP. 2. Right now, there is no reason to craft torches. 3. The fire skill levels up a lot slower than cooking and carcass harvesting. 4. Desolation Point can use SOMETHING region specific(I have a few suggestions for this region. The materials to craft candles is one of them.) This is the first time I have ever heard of brands. Sounds interesting. Personally, I don't have a problem pulling torches from fires and being able to relight them. However, I'm definitely not against the idea of removing the ability to relight them. Either way, my suggestion is to make the torch or brand weaker at the beginning of the game by tying it to the fire skill. In my opinion, it can work either way. They can even make it so that fire pulled torches can only be relit after reaching fire skill level 4 or 5. That could work too. On top of that, if crafting a torch increases the fire skill, then it gives us an incentive to craft torches. If fire pulled torches are all 15% at level 1, then people would have to use up more carrying capacity if they want to chain torches anymore. They can always make crafted torches lighter too. This is why I suggested a new crafting material like tree resin/pine sap. If they do change the torch mechanic, then we can use a couple ways to craft different torches with varying blueprints\burn times. Then, on top of all of that, I like the idea of adding candles to the game. This game gets DARK at times and it's deadly. If we can no longer pull an infinite amount of torches out of the fire and have to craft them a lot more, candles can help us extend the life of the flame. I also thought that stacking the light from multiple candles to do certain tasks was cool also. Talking about the fire skill, I also have another small suggestion. After tinder becomes optional, why not just allow us to use it as fuel? Even if it's only 1 or 2 minutes then at least all of those cat tail heads, tinder plugs, and papers can still be used for something other than breadcrumbs.

Right now, we can just pull a torch out of a fire for the cost of a stick, and I'm not complaining, but it is very convenient. It makes me wonder if the developers intend to change this at some point because I never had to craft a torch in the hundreds of hours that I've played this game. So, if that were the case, how would you feel about changing how torches work, and how would you change it? Or, would you just keep it the way it is? 1. From now on, pulling torches from the fire are now linked to the fire skill and at level 1 they are all 15%. Every level increases the strength of the torches by 6%. 2. Tree Resin---A new crafting material found all across Great Bear Island that allows you to make stronger longer lasting torches. 3. Candles--Candles are now found in certain places like churches, cemeteries, etc. They offer anywhere from 4 hours to 72 hours of light. They offer a small longer lasting alternative light source to navigate through the pitch-black darkness. Lighting 4 candles in close proximity will allow you to do repairs, mend clothing, research books, etc. Can be crafted using 'whale blubber' exclusively found in Desolation Point, and 'wick'. You can also use the candle to light a torch and use the torch to light a fire, and vice versa, completely maximizing the value of each match. Only works in actual shelters and does not work outside or in caves(without loading screens). 4. Crafting torches and candles now increases your fire skill.

This can also allow the option of creating Molotov's. The addition of Molotov's could also give them a reason to put gas in vehicles. Plus, the empty bottles can also be used as a distraction for predators, and they can have a bigger area of effect than stones. Maybe the Molotov's can be used to scare wolves and block predators from charging you directly. For example, if you're in a choke/small area like a cave or approach a cave with a bear in it, you can throw the Molotov at the entrance to create a fire wall. It can also help if your surrounded by Timberwolves. The addition of Molotov's could also tempt Hinterland to add Timberwolves to a few more areas like Pleasant Valley or Timberwolf Mountain. Right now, the description for Pleasant Valley says it's 'in the heart of Timberwolf country'. I was actually surprised there wasn't any there on survival because they are there in the story.

I definitely wouldn't mind a few more symbol options when using the spray paint. What about a regular question mark, a star, or even a few numbers/letters. Couldn't hurt.

Here's an idea, in Vikings season one Ragnar used a stone that was somewhat translucent to pinpoint the location of the sun through the clouds and the fog. It probably wouldn't work during blizzards, but it's a creative alternative to the compass. They can even make it so it's found inside the Riken.