Snowballs in Hell


Drifter Man

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2 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

Snowball 47 / Day 100

It appears I missed the deer train. Deer was supposed to appear on Day 97. I planned to spend that day (and Day 98 as well) in the fishing hut to fend off cabin fever, but I lost track of time due to the brief distraction of the Story mode. Instead I mostly remained in MH with a short and very successful stick collection run towards the bear cave at Echo Peak East. Surprisingly, Day 97 didn't bring cabin fever risk, and the deer did not appear either. I was looking out for it on Day 98, already from the fishing hut, but when there was no trace of the deer, I went back to my fishing routine during the night. While fishing, I think I overheard the characteristic "moo" sound of a deer dying, so I believe a wolf got it while I was occupied with the fishing tackle. I caught more than enough fish, though.

Unfortunately, the survival clock was removed from the journal and it is no longer possible to determine the exact hour and minute. This is going to kill many branches of "TLD science" that depend on reasonably accurate timekeeping. I can't properly keep track of indoor/outdoor hours anymore, and I can't pinpoint the right time of the day to take temperature measurements. Determining the fire duration bonus, like I did a while ago, would be nearly impossible now. I know I've never been supposed to do this, but I'm going to miss these options.

That does really suck...

I really wish they hadn't made that change...

Your data collections are a wonderful game resource, that will now be less precise...

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3 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

Snowball 47 has survived 100 days in Timberwolf Mountain.

My toque is off to you!  A most amazing run!  :)

 

5 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

Unfortunately, the survival clock was removed from the journal and it is no longer possible to determine the exact hour and minute.

This is disappointing and shoots some plans I had to gather weather data.  :(

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5 minutes ago, Timber Wolf said:

This is disappointing and shoots some plans I had to gather weather data.  :(

I wonder... if you guys asked them nicely, they might put it back in, come the next patch, for Survival Mode at least.. might be worth a shot.

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1 minute ago, JAFO said:

I wonder... if you guys asked them nicely, they might put it back in, come the next patch, for Survival Mode at least.. might be worth a shot.

I doubt it.  I was kind of surprised it was still there after they switched time left to the sun and moon symbols. 

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Thanks guys! I'm surprised myself how far I made it... I'm using up non-renewable resources, but in terms of food and firewood it's pretty much sustainable. TWM is a survivable map on Interloper, without bedroll and improvised tools. How much fun you can have there is another matter :)

1 hour ago, Timber Wolf said:

I doubt it.  I was kind of surprised it was still there after they switched time left to the sun and moon symbols.

Exactly, and it makes perfect sense when the survivor is not supposed to have watches. The experience and measurements made before we lost the clock will be a unique source of behind-the-scenes information until they change everything again.

There's still a way to measure min/max temperatures of the day by checking the stats regularly at dawn and in the afternoon. For TWM on Interloper I can say with good confidence that post-Day 50 temperatures are in the -40 to -50 range in the morning and -30 to -35 in the afternoon (without blizzard).

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4 minutes ago, Drifter Man said:

The experience and measurements made before we lost the clock will be a unique source of behind-the-scenes information until they change everything again.

Then again, I have been making backup copies of every version since .365 and could still test with them. :)  However, they may have made changes (even minor changes) to the weather and temperatures, which would make the results inaccurate.

In fact, anyone can download any version of the game that has ever existed through the Steam Console, if one was so inclined.  ;)

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56 minutes ago, Drifter Man said:

There's still a way to measure min/max temperatures of the day by checking the stats regularly at dawn and in the afternoon. For TWM on Interloper I can say with good confidence that post-Day 50 temperatures are in the -40 to -50 range in the morning and -30 to -35 in the afternoon (without blizzard).

Why not just start working with the current best clock the game provides? Start referring to time by the positions of the Sun&Moon clock.. They do a full circle every 24 hours, and it's not hard to estimate time to within an hour or so, with a little practice. I do it all the time. If in doubt, pretend it's a clock face and refer to '1 o'clock', '5.30pm' or whatever.

It's only rough, but it's the best we have, and having the results in terms that people can easily relate to in the game is a plus.

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21 hours ago, JAFO said:

Why not just start working with the current best clock the game provides? Start referring to time by the positions of the Sun&Moon clock.. They do a full circle every 24 hours, and it's not hard to estimate time to within an hour or so, with a little practice. I do it all the time. If in doubt, pretend it's a clock face and refer to '1 o'clock', '5.30pm' or whatever.

Good idea.  Back when I was testing test_branch Cartography extensively, I found that daybreak always occurred when the sun icon was exactly half visible above the horizon.  Prior to that it was 'too dark to map', regardless of what the sky looked like.  You could make this a bit more precise by holding a piece of charcoal and spamming it until it lets you map.

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1 hour ago, Ruruwawa said:

Good idea.  Back when I was testing test_branch Cartography extensively, I found that daybreak always occurred when the sun icon was exactly half visible above the horizon.  Prior to that it was 'too dark to map', regardless of what the sky looked like.  You could make this a bit more precise by holding a piece of charcoal and spamming it until it lets you map.

I waited until the character said "Looks I survived another night" and then measured one hour to get the exact time at sunrise :) But it's easier just to check when the temperatures are lowest.

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Thanks everyone for your support! I'm actually far from mastering the game, for instance I still cannot hit anything with the bow or rifle, unless it stands in place. So I'm still going to have a lot of fun with TLD.

Incidentally, life has caught up with me as soon as I hit 100, so I will be posting fewer updates. Snowball 47 lives!

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Snowball 47 / Day 107

After reading the last two or three pages of this thread (to find out what he was up to), Snowball 47 got up from bed again. Fire was crackling in the fireplace in the Mountaineer's Hut, a reminder of a blizzard that started and ended two months ago and made the night too cold for comfort inside. He remembered: today was a counter-cabin-fever day, and there was a deer on the lake, so he had work to do. Snowball 47 opened the hatch, picked up some sticks, took the hacksaw from the workbench drawer, then lit a torch off the dying fire and headed for the fishing hut. It was late in the morning, Day 104.

In the fishing hut he started a fire, putting some 50 sticks to it to get it up roaring, and made 6 liters of water. In the meantime, windy weather gave way to light fog, and Snowball 47 knew it was time for a hunt. At first he spooked the deer too early, so he returned to his fire to warm up again and waited. In the second attempt, he drove the deer with stones to the middle of the lake, and then straight against the wolf. As soon as the wolf made its kill, Snowball 47 lit another torch off the fire and approached it. First he started one small fire farther away, to have a fallback position in case he would misjudge the distance to the wolf. Then he sneaked up to the scene and started another fire just a few meters away from the wolf, which immediately yelped and ran away. Easy.

Satisfied with the outcome, Snowball 47 returned to the fishing hut and opened the fishing hole with his hammer. He kept fishing for about 10 hours, almost until sunrise of Day 105. He caught a few pieces - not much, but food shouldn't be a serious problem now that there was a load of venison lying in the permanent fridge that the world has become. Soon he started losing condition from the combined effects of starvation and exhaustion, but he knew he was going to recover. He passed time until late afternoon and as the winds were light and the wolf far away, he lit a torch one more time and transferred the fire to the deer carcass.

At first he put in about 20 sticks, which was enough to keep him a few degrees below zero of felt temperature. He managed to get all 7 kg of venison from the carcass in one go, using his hacksaw, before he started freezing. He immediately dropped the venison onto the ice and added a piece of coal into the fire. Warming up now, he took the skin from the deer, since the deerskin pants would soon need repair. When he was done, there were about 4 hours of left in the fire, so he pulled out torches to recycle the fuel - more than twenty. He dropped the torches next to the venison to lighten up the load for the way to Mountaineer's Hut. Then he looked around one last time to make sure the wolf was away, and returned home.

After eating some fish, he slept first for 9 hours and then some more, and recovered to 88% condition. It was Day 106, and it was time to replenish the firewood stocks. Unfortunately, sticks hadn't reappeared since the last run and he returned back with little success. At least he recovered the torches from the lake and turned them back into sticks.

Now it's early morning of Day 107 and Snowball 47 woke up again to the sounds of a blizzard raging outside. Maybe he will have to strike a match again to stay warm. And be one match closer to death.

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