Tips for new survivors

[Scyzara]

Carefully monitor the outdoor temperatures and perform time-consuling outdoor tasks like exploration trips, cross-map journeys or chopping wood during the warmest hours of the day (typically late afternoon/early evening) if possible.

If you need to be outside for extended periods of time at low temperatures, don't hesitate to use fires (best placed inside caves so they need less fuel to get you above a felt +12°C) to warm up again. If there are no caves to be found nearby, at least try to light your fire in the most wind-protected place you can find (hollow tree/rocks formations usually work very well) and keep in mind that wind directions can change very fast.

Don't stop adding fuel once the fire temperature reaches a felt +1°C. While this is enough to stop further freezing damage, it'll take ages to fully regenerate your character's warmth bar this way. +10/15°C is a more reasonable value to aim for. (The hotter your fire, the faster your warmth bar fills up again.)

Hot beverages can also be very helpful to deal with the cold. They offer both an immediate warmth bonus (maybe 10% of the warmth bar or so) and give you a positive affliction that decreases the speed your character loses warmth for the next 2 hours. Unless you're planning to go for a 500day+ run, don't be afraid to "waste" reishi tea or rosehip tea for non-medical purposes just to stay warm. It can make your life a whole lot easier sometimes by preventing freezing damage before it happens.

(Sidenote: Cans of food like e.g. canned peaches or pork&beans can also be heated and have the same effect. Don't eat them without a second thought if the cold troubles you.)

As for tea & coffee:

Herbal tea increases your condition regeneration during the first six hours of sleep which is a pretty precious benefit. It should thus rather not be wasted "only to warm up", but rather if your character is at low condition and can benefit from the health regeneration gain.

Coffee decreases your fatigue (both immediate bonus and long-term positive affliction) which can be extremely useful for long journeys or trips that include rope-climbing. You should, however, be aware that drinking too much coffee can prevent your character from sleeping. So be careful not to consume coffee if your character is at very low condition. (Herbal tea is your friend here).

Edited July 10, 2017 by Scyzara

[Kraeto77]

On 09/07/2017 at 4:20 AM, JAFO said:

I find snares still useful.. they don't require effort from me to catch rabbits. And that ridge behind Trappers is sometimes a real PITA for hunting with stones. Flat areas generally work best for stones.

Yeah definety easier on flat ground and orient yourself to have rabbit running towards or away from self when throwing stones.

Edited July 10, 2017 by Kraeto77

[Kraeto77]

Got some easy bear hides. Set up base in pleasant valley farm house. Took down bear on orchard field from far off and as it charged me. Second bear spawn outside cabin so ran into little porch and he couldn't follow. Realised I could safely shoot him from here. You can actually run out a little bit to aggro him to charge then run back in to take a close head shot.

Anyway just need to wait to cure skins then I'll have my first Bear coat.

[Ruruwawa]

On 7/8/2017 at 8:09 PM, JAFO said:

That's because of wind?   I always thought it was a random chance..

In my experience, it breaks when the rabbit spawn moves to a new spot but you persist in putting traps out in the old spot.

[keepupthegoodwork]

So, i think there are 2 very important things to mention to new players, which is first the decay of items:

1. Sleep without clothes whenever possible, take them of before going to bed as long as it is not to cold, you can see in the menu how the temperature is and the bonus degrees the bed provides. You should do this because clothes do decay faster when worn, and if you sleep you get no use out of it.

2. Store all Food except, there were like 3 i guess (google will help, just search for decay in the long dark), outside because it will decay much much much slower and you should always make the most out of everything. For this just drop the meat in front of your "main" "base" and have no worries that someone will steal it.

3. MOST IMPORTANT: DONT RUN FROM WOLVES!! If you hear that fucker comin' at ya just look at him and move backwards, dont run, will take ~30seconds and u free. If u run, like i always did, he will bite you in the nose.

4.

Quote

Dont use online maps. Just enjoy the game and the challange.

5. Check every single corner, i found very much hidden stuff, like you have to break something down in order get there and so on. Take your time enjoy the game.

6. Actually let your condition drop from point to point. Speaking of efficency you want to "hybernate". Food is rare, so you should store it ouside your house as i mentioned. Never eat until you going to sleep. This means. If u sleep like 10 hours IN A ROW (very important, always sleep as much in a row as possible as you gain more condition as if you would if you sleep 2x 5 hours with a brake in between) your condition is going up by like 30%. So if u hunger the whole daytime you still get out with full life and ate less than half than normally.

BUT. Its only with the hunger, its 1% condition per hour. The other stats affect the condition to much for this strategy, so its mostly not worth going for it.

 

Yea i guess thats my experience so far.

 

Got more than 2  

Hope i could help.

 

What i totally miss most in this game is to craft some more stuff. After you killed 1000 wolfes you just cant do anything with the stuff you could get out the corpse which makes me kinda upset. Please think about more crafting options.

Edited July 10, 2017 by keepupthegoodwork
ima german

[cekivi]

Welcome to the forums @keepupthegoodwork 

And yes, allowing your condition to fluctuate (knowing you can restore it at night with a good rest) is a key survival strategy in the game. You can do much more with a little bit of risk and survive far longer than if you try to stay indoors at 100% condition all the time. 

[keepupthegoodwork]

thank you @cekivi , i wish someone would have told me some of this stuff i posted above.

But on the other hands its fun figuring out very new stuff in games on his own, and in the long dark there is no "right" play, everyone just plays as he pleases and thats what i like about it.

 

I always feared the wolfes so much until i realized (i dont remember when i noticed this) if u dont run youre not that interesting 

 

[Carbon]

On 7/11/2017 at 4:22 AM, keepupthegoodwork said:

2. Store all Food except, there were like 3 i guess (google will help, just search for decay in the long dark), outside because it will decay much much much slower and you should always make the most out of everything. For this just drop the meat in front of your "main" "base" and have no worries that someone will steal it.

 The quick and easy version of this is to store all food items outside except sardines, soda, peaches and pork & beans. Coffee, tea, cat tail stalks and crackers can be stored anywhere; inside or out makes no difference to their decay rate. Leaving meat on the ground outside your door will not draw predators.

 Cooking an otherwise inedible piece of meat will raise the condition of the meat to edible levels (+50%). If you harvest a deer found in the world and the meat is "rancid", cooking it will bring it up to "gamey", for example.

 Be careful what you eat! Getting sick from eating low condition food items can be the end of your game. From @Thrasador:

~ Soda cans and all other beverages will never cause food poisoning.

~ Items with a displayed condition of at least 75% will also never cause food poisoning.

~ Beef jerky, pork and beans, condensed milk, salty crackers, energy bars, MREs, pinnacle peaches, and tomato soup are safe until the condition dips below 20%.

 ~ Suffering from food poisoning will never kill the player but will severely weaken them if left untreated. While in effect, condition will not be restored and will rapidly drop until your condition reaches 15%."

 Level up your skills as fast as you can by engaging in the activities themselves (starting fires, mending, etc) and by reading books. If you find a book, get the research done as soon as you can. Books are heavy, so it is in your best interest to get it read quickly (do this outside if possible to avoid risk of cabin fever), after which you an use it to start a fire. The benefits of leveling up are found here: http://thelongdark.wikia.com/wiki/Survival_skills

Edited July 17, 2017 by Carbon

[Rada_]

Save your sprint for when you need it. Nothing worse than having to run and being tired.

Prioritize temperature over any other stat. Sprint. Even if you are wasting energy or calories. Freezing is the fastest way to die. 

Sound is key. Learn the in-game sounds. They tell you a lot. 

Use the wind block thingy to your advantage. It would be great if anyone could explain this.

[Carbon]

 Well, when you are out of the wind, you don't have a wind chill value working against you. When sheltered, you only face the ambient temperature (+/-). In Canada - and I assume in any cold-climate country - wind chill and temperature values are reported and considered not only as a combined "feels like" but also as separate values which helps people dress accordingly. Thus, the wind blocked icon tells you that you are protected from the wind and spared it's cold value.

[Greenglades]

Collect twigs so you have fuel for a fire before you come across a hatchet. I also tend to save twigs and cloth in case you need to make an emergency snow shelter outside.

You can also break down some furniture (chairs, crates) without any tools to get reclaimed wood so you have fuel for making fires.

[Mel Guille]

As you travel, try to check your clothing from time. Snowy weather or falling through the ice can make your clothing wet, making it less effective.

Wet clothing can even freeze, putting you at risk of frostbite and hindering your movement -- you can't sprint while wearing frozen pants!

[Carbon]

 Lamp oil can be harvested by cooking fish and can then be used as an accelerant to start fires quickly (and guaranteeing ignition), refuel the lantern or to make a torch (which can be crafted without a workbench).

Edited July 14, 2017 by Carbon

[ChillPlayer]

Surprisingly enough my two year old "Comprehensive Guide to Surviving Wolves in Stalker" is still valid for the most parts and packed with information for new players:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=391000817

The section about handfighting wolves needs a rewrite, I will update the guide once the final release is out

[Thrasador]

On Monday, July 10, 2017 at 8:05 PM, Carbon said:

Be careful what you eat! Getting sick from eating low condition food items can be the end of your game. My personal rule is that until you reach cooking level 5, any food or drink under 50% condition doesn't get consumed (yellow text with a star). This is probably too extreme, but I would rather be safe than sorry. Food poisoning is treated with antibiotics and rest.

Not to cause an argumet or overly complicate things, I have been living by the information I read on the two Wiki's. The Gamepedia one is more out of date, so I prefer the other Wiki. That Wiki has this to say about food poisoning:

"Food poisoning can be randomly assigned at any time when a food or drink item is consumed. Uncooked meat and lower condition foods are at the highest risk, while good quality canned or processed foods, except for Can of dog food, are some of the safest consumables. Soda cans and all other beverages will never cause food poisoning. Furthermore, items with a displayed condition of at least 75% will also never cause food poisoning. There are also several food items that are completely safe until their condition goes below 20%, these items being: beef jerky, pork and beans, condensed milk, salty crackers, energy bars, MREs, pinnacle peaches, and tomato soup. Suffering from food poisoning will never kill the player but will severely weaken them if left untreated. While in effect, condition will not be restored and will rapidly drop until your condition reaches 15%."

So low condition soda cans allegedly never make you sick, I have tested this on myself. I have consumed numerous sodas below 20 condition and have not gotten sick.

I have also been testing the other claims about the canned foods, MREs, beef jerky, crackers, and the like and have consumed many of those items below 50, but above 20 and have not yet gotten sick....so far.

Just watch out for Dog Food, this isn't Mad Max, even high condition dog food can make you sick....that one is always a gamble. (I still eat it in real life and in the game though)

I just wanted to clarify in more detail so new players are not just throwing a bunch of potentially safe foods away because the condition is lower than 50. Especially the sodas....on Interloper every calorie counts....

Anyway....this information was more pertinent before Carbon edited his original post to include the information I just listed, lol....

Edited July 17, 2017 by Thrasador
Clarification that my post was necessary before Carbon edited his post to include the information from my post...

[Ruruwawa]

39 minutes ago, Thrasador said:

you need to climb a rope or traverse the waterfall cave to get down

I always just climb up the rocks near the waterfall to get up there, super fast that way.   I would be very surprised if wolves can't climb where we can.

[cannajan]

Beware of Frostbite, if you actually suffer from it you will get a permanent decrease in total health.

Old mans beard is the same as antiseptic so you dont need to carry both.

[Piers Arkan]

I had no idea about this until yesterday, but it appears that at least for me, any difficulty below stalker, be it pilgrim or voyager, will not carry the parasite risk in carnivore meat that is cooked. It is still always desirable to cook said meat, both to ensure shelf life and safety for consumption, but if you had any fears about the meat being off limits until the later portions of the game? have a little less fear maybe. 

[thekillergreece]

Currently, there is one active DAILY threat in the game. More threats might be added if the roadmap features get added.

Wildlife.

Wolves are your primarily concern everyday in the game. Sure, you may want to go out exploring, scavenging, relocating your base and loads more stuff, you need to watch out for wolves who regularly police the sandbox maps. In fact, they are the POLICE in this game. They are often found alone and sometimes in a pack, roaming around the map, sometimes in fixed pattern of patrol. They will begin investigating any form of suspicious stuff such as lit fire, lit flare or even dropped meats. For meats, they will begin consume the meat, be it you dropped or from a deer/rabbit they killed or you killed from. Wolves have EXCELLENT hearing abilities as well as senses. What does it mean? If you do enough noise, be it shots fired or something like that, a wolf may be attracted and patrol to the location you caused the most noise. Crouching and going slow can help you avoid getting unwanted attention from the "authorities" aka wolves. Wolves will catch and chase all preys they spot. They will avoid at all costs from bears, even though it may be unrealistic as in-real life, wolves can still attack bears whenever it's necessarily, they will just avoid them like deers avoid from wolves. According to roadmap, a wolf versus bear fights is planned but may not happen at all as they are not promises but aspirationals. Wolves yield very good ammount of meat, enough to settle down for 2-3 days. Wolves will not roam inside any interior buildings but I can't say much about it to avoid spoilers. It's not recommended to go out in night times because you will barely see anything front of you and wolves are far more aggressive and can even see you from long distances which is obvious as you have to light up your lantern to explore.

Bears are your secondary enemies to avoid. They are the "SWAT" in this game. They are not an active threat to the player as they often roam around the map (Again, fixed and scripted patterns of patrol) giving less regard to the player. Bears will never attack wolves, deers and rabbits. Bears can be heard from distance from their walking because they are too heavy. Bears can make appearance on all Sandbox maps, some maps will have up to 3 bears, some with less than 3 bears and some 5 or more than that. However, if you get spotted by a bear, don't be alarmed. There is "Spotted" pattern and "Chase" pattern. How do you know if a bear spotted you? It's simple. You did some noise near the bear and the bear decided to slowly change his direction to you and he is now "following" you until you walk away from the bear where he will return back to it's patrol pattern. If you open fire your gun to the bear, the bear will immediately give a chase. If you fail to keep long distance from the curious bear, they will stand up, roar loudly and begin giving chase. No matter your speed, they will always catch up with you. Bears yield meat enough to settle in for 1-2 weeks.

[henroe32]

Navigation is important when new to the game. People have already said that not using online maps is good an I agree as this can really take away from your experience and the mystery of the settings. My only advice for using the online maps is if you are playing a challenge such as The Hunted Part 1 where knowin the next shelter to get to is key.

If you don't know a map try to navigate it using paths and roads to make it easy to retrace your steps. Unless desperate, try to never traverse hilly regions off path unless you can clearly see a destination. 

Once navigated or mapped with the new mechanic, it's easy to find locations using hard  easy to follow paths such as the rail on Mystery Lake.

[GhostHawk]

Tip: A way to kill a dear with a gun is to spook it and make run into a wolf. Then you must simply just scare wolf away from your kill flares scare wolves.

Tip: A way to kill wolves without a gun is to have the wolf attack you then after the encounter the wolf might start bleeding if you use a puncturing weapon against it. I would recommend you take you jacket and whatever else you can before the encounter.

Tip: You get a one hit kill on a bear if you hit it in the nose with a bullet ( I'm not sure if it works still.).

Tip: All the plants that are common and that I know about have medical uses Oldmans Beard, Reishi Shrooms, Etc.

 

 

[henroe32]

Although you see it recommended, if it is cold do not take off ALL of your clothes. Cold can kill very quickly.

[Ruruwawa]

On 8/2/2017 at 4:30 PM, GhostHawk said:

Tip: A way to kill a dear with a gun is to spook it and make run into a wolf. Then you must simply just scare wolf away from your kill flares scare wolves.

Now that stones are in the game you can throw a rock to startle the deer, and save the bullet.  

[JackIeboy]

How can I Button mash on a Xbox 360 controller fast enough so I don't die from blood loss?

Edited August 12, 2017 by JackIeboy

[JAFO]

1 hour ago, JackIeboy said:

How can I Button mash on a Xbox 360 controller fast enough so I don't die from blood loss?

By focusing not on mashing as fast as you can, but in a steady rhythm. Many people find every half second is the sweet spot. For me, it currently seems to be about twice that fast. YMMV.

And use the best weapon you have available for fighting. The hatchet is the best melee weapon in the game. But there's always a chance of being wounded. So always have 2-3 bandages and antiseptic on you. Stop the bleeding before applying antiseptic, otherwise the smell of blood might attract more wolves to you.