The Hunted: The Railroad Adventure

[Timber Wolf]

Day 11 – I spend the day repairing clothes, sharpening my hatchet and preparing OMB, rose hips and mushrooms.  With only 9 cans of soda, 1 cup of coffee, 1 cup of tea, and 29 cattails left - I view the rose hips and mushrooms as food.
 

Day 12 – I go outside to see if I can get O.B. stuck in a loop again, so that I can go after a rabbit.  A few of times I let him get close and then I go on to the stairs and he runs off, but he doesn’t run for long.  I wander out of the yard and he doesn’t target me, so I gather a handful of rocks by the edge of the lake and then quickly retreat to the lodge stairs.  I look for a rabbit and see one just below the stairs out by the fence.  I get over there fast and couch and wait and miss the little sucker by an inch, scaring it down to the lake.  I grumble and return to the lodge stairs.

It’s going to be much more difficult to get rabbits than I had anticipated.  There are two wolves and O.B. to keep an eye on.  So, when the circumstances are right, I’ll have to run over near a rabbit quick, crouch and get close, stone it, break its neck and then run back to the safety of the lodge stairs.

If I had a surplus of stones I could keep the wolves away and only worry about O.B. running for me, but I didn’t see many around this little lake.  I think I’m going to have to go down to the larger lake and gather a bunch of stones, and the rest of the cattails while I’m at it.

With a blizzard setting in, I go inside and start a fire and cook up all of the rose hips and mushrooms.  I produce 18 cups of mushroom tea and 6 cups of rose hips tea.  Time for bed.
 

Day 13 – I get up and head straight out the door.  I take the surprisingly easy route down the cliff, but am careless just as I’m getting to the bottom and sprain an ankle and tear some clothes.  I pop a couple pills and then move out to the lake and don’t see any wolves, so I make my way around the end of the lake I haven’t yet harvested cattails.  I stop by the bridge and finally get the rose hips I missed twice before.  I gather many stones along the way – 18 in all along with 13 more cattails.  Then I decide to go for the meat on the dear carcass that is right next to the lake and then hightail it into the maintenance yard to cook it up.  As I near the yard, a wolf barks, but I don’t bother turning to look and speed right into the building.

I break down a crate and start a fire, then cook up the venison and make 2 liters of water.  The meat tastes good and I want some more, so I’m going to run over to the gate and get separated from O.B. and then go up and harvest the meat from the two deer carcasses. 

When I go outside the wind is blowing loudly and I can’t tell if O.B. is nearby.  I decide to just make a run for it and head into the woods.  Just as I come over a hill I see him right in front of me.  Without hesitation I spin around and run back inside.  I don’t think he followed.

I sleep for an hour and then go back outside wondering where he might be.  The wind seems to be even stronger and louder than before.  Sometimes when you’re playing with O.B. you’ve just got to go for it, otherwise you can’t get anything done.  So, once again I head into the woods and hope not to bump into him.  Fortunately he isn’t around and I don’t waste any time getting across the bridge and close the gate behind me.

I go up the hill, across a fallen tree and back by the cave where I decide to harvest everything from the deer carcass.  Then I move on to the other one, but only take the meat this time.  With two scent bars up, I move as fast as I can toward the lodge.  It doesn’t matter, a wolf picks up the scent and catches up to me.

It sprains my ankle and wrist and leaves me with around 30% condition.  I hobble back to the lodge and once inside I make a fire and cook the 4 pieces of venison.  I eat one and then go up to bed and sleep for 12 hours.  I need to be more careful.

[CitrinePeridot]

So, one piece of venison got you through the night. Where do you maintain your hunger on your bar on a regular basis? Do you mainly fill up before going to sleep? Also, are rocks something you can recover on a miss?

[Timber Wolf]

3 minutes ago, CitrinePeridot said:

So, one piece of venison got you through the night. Where do you maintain your hunger on your bar on a regular basis? Do you mainly fill up before going to sleep?

I've been staying just above starving most of the time.  I'm not going to starve myself until I run out of food.  I also had a couple of cattails along with the venison.

[JAFO]

5 hours ago, CitrinePeridot said:

Also, are rocks something you can recover on a miss?

Yes.. depending on circumstances of course, you can run over and pick them up again.

[Timber Wolf]

Day 14 – Having realized getting rabbits won’t be easy, I decide to head out on a mushroom mission.  I go down the cliff and then harvest the mushrooms that are nearby.  Then I start collecting stones at the far end of the lake, which is also currently being occupied by 3 wolves.  I stay crouched while I pick up the stones.  At one point, a wolf starts getting too close and backs me away from the lake and into a couple of cattails I missed before.  Thank you wolf.

When I get near to the path to the maintenance yard, I stand up and run up to the yard.  I hurry through and ignore the barks of a wolf as I leave the yard and head up the path.  I check the truck at the top by the tracks and find nothing, then I run down to the other truck and train car and find a package of beef jerky.

I run back past the first truck I searched and then over to the patch of mushrooms.  I harvest all of the mushrooms and then head back down and go into the maintenance building to warm up and sleep for an hour.  Then I head out into the woods.  I walk past a deer carcass, deciding not to stink myself up, and take the path beyond the bridge and gate.  I’m surprised not to find stones in this little river area and am noticing the wind and snow is picking up.  Just then realize I have no idea where O.B. is.  When I left the maintenance building he would have spawned in somewhere around there, so I better get moving.  Not a second later I hear him roaring, so I sprint for the bridge.  I hear him roar some more as I cross the bridge and open the gate.  I turn around and close the gate and see a glimpse of him running off into the woods.  That was very careless of me.  For a moment, I had forgotten I was playing with O.B.

I go up the path and when I get close to the lodge I start picking up sticks.  Then I see a rabbit nearby, so I crouch and take aim and knock it out. 

When I go to pick it up, I accidentally throw another rock at it and then it gets up and runs away!  I really haven’t gotten much practice as this yet.

I again head to the lodge and keep picking up sticks.  As I get onto the stairs I notice another rabbit coming into the yard toward me, so I get down and crouch and take aim.  The rabbit is so close I can almost reach out and grab it, but that proves not to be close enough because I miss it with my shot.  Pretty pathetic.

Instead a wolf kills the rabbit by the car just outside the yard.  I try to get it away from the rabbit, but it stands its ground and growls at me when I get close.

I don’t get too close, so it never attacks me.  As soon as I back away it continues eating the rabbit.  I want that rabbit meat, I think to myself.  Just then I see O.B. running full tilt toward the lodge, so he must have heard me!  He of course scares the wolf away as he runs up to the lodge and then he turns around and runs off.  This gives me the opportunity to run down and grab the rabbit.  Alright, how much did the wolf leave me?

Close to exhausted, I go inside the lodge and harvest the remaining curtains and then sleep for 12 hours.
 

Day 15 – After waking, I decide to follow up on @Ruruwawa's question about O.B. reacting to stones I throw.  He does not.  However, when he gets closer to me and I take aim with a stone, he immediately charges at me.  This is the same behavior as when I take aim with the flare gun.  So, the stones won’t do me any good with him.

I stayed safely on the lodge stairs when I was throwing the rocks and on one of the occasions that he charged and came right up to the stairs, he didn’t run off and instead turned around and started walking away.  This gave me the opportunity to bounce a bunch of stones off his backside!  Still, he paid no attention to them.

Back inside the lodge I take some time and consider the options I have available for food.  I think have already harvested all of the cattails, mushrooms and rose hips that the map has to offer.  There may be a few hundred stray calories still out there, but I’m not sure where and it wouldn’t be worth the effort anyway.  So, I need to get my hands on some animals.  Here are the options I think I have:

1.       Stone rabbits around the lodge and grab them up before getting attacked by the wolves or O.B.

2.       Intentionally get into fights with the wolves that live around the lodge, wait for them bleed out and then harvest their meat.  In order to pull this off safely, I would probably have to fight the wolf, get patched up, then go down to the maintenance yard, enter and leave the building to get O.B. to spawn down there and then come back up and harvest the wolf without him around.

3.       Go down by the lake and drive a deer into a wolf, then get that wolf’s attention so he leaves the carcass, then get to the carcass when no wolves are around to harvest it, then get inside the maintenance building where I will probably have to stay until I have finished eating the venison.  Otherwise, I’ll be a wolf magnet trying to get back to the lodge.

4.       I could also kill wolves down in the maintenance yard, might even be easier there.

5.       I still have two flare gun shells left, so I could lure a wolf right up to the lodge stairs and then shoot it in the face.  It would be easy to harvest right by the stairs.  But then I would lose my only means of defense against O.B.

Things are gonna get bloody.  Here’s my setup in the lodge.

[Ruruwawa]

27 minutes ago, Timber Wolf said:

After waking, I decide to follow up on @Ruruwawa's question about O.B. reacting to stones I throw.  He does not.  However, when he gets closer to me and I take aim with a stone, he immediately charges at me.

Aw too bad!  But wolves will also charge if you aim your rock. 

27 minutes ago, Timber Wolf said:

Alright, how much did the wolf leave me?

That's just cruel.  

As for your food dilemma, I like option #3 the best.   I've been doing this for eats in pantaloper, and it's pretty easy without weapons (but of course no OB).   Just sneak close-ish and build a fire.  Stand up and attract the wolf's attention then backpedal to your fire.  When he flees, grab a torch and light a fresh fire at the deer to harvest and cook the meat.  

Often I just drop the meat where I cooked it.  When I'm hungry I swing by to eat using spacebar instead of picking the meat up.  Or play dodge with the wolves while I haul it back to the shelter.  Or wait for a blizzard and haul it back then.

[Timber Wolf]

5 minutes ago, Ruruwawa said:

I've been doing this for eats in pantaloper, and it's pretty easy without weapons (but of course no OB).   Just sneak close-ish and build a fire.  Stand up and attract the wolf's attention then backpedal to your fire.  When he flees, grab a torch and light a fresh fire at the deer to harvest and cook the meat.  

That's a nice technique. I'll put it to use in the next day or two.

[JAFO]

6 hours ago, Ruruwawa said:

Just sneak close-ish and build a fire.  Stand up and attract the wolf's attention then backpedal to your fire.  When he flees, grab a torch and light a fresh fire at the deer to harvest and cook the meat.

I like this too.. filing it away for future use.

[JAFO]

16 hours ago, Timber Wolf said:

As I get onto the stairs I notice another rabbit coming into the yard toward me, so I get down and crouch and take aim.  The rabbit is so close I can almost reach out and grab it, but that proves not to be close enough because I miss it with my shot.  Pretty pathetic.

Instead a wolf kills the rabbit by the car just outside the yard.  I try to get it away from the rabbit, but it stands its ground and growls at me when I get close.

I don’t get too close, so it never attacks me.  As soon as I back away it continues eating the rabbit.  I want that rabbit meat, I think to myself.

It turns out that when it comes to stealing rabbits or deer from a wolf, stones can be an effective method.

@Wish describes it in a couple of posts starting here.

Basically, you need to firstly get close enough to make the wolf go into "standing ground & growling" mode, as you did above, and then, you have to nail him between the eyes with the stone, whereupon the wolf will decide there are other places he'd rather be.

Time to start practising your aim, by the looks! 

[Timber Wolf]

4 minutes ago, JAFO said:

Basically, you need to firstly get close enough to make the wolf go into "standing ground & growling" mode, as you did above, and then, you have to nail him between the eyes with the stone, whereupon the wolf will decide there are other places he'd rather be.

This is interesting and I'll have to give it a try.  I did throw some stones at that wolf, but didn't hit it in the face.
 

5 minutes ago, JAFO said:

Time to start practising your aim, by the looks! 

Most definitely!  Right after the stones were introduced I did practice a little on the rabbits in TWM by the lake, but clearly not enough. 

[JAFO]

5 minutes ago, Timber Wolf said:

Right after the stones were introduced I did practice a little on the rabbits in TWM by the lake, but clearly not enough.

Different skills anyway, I'd say.. beaning rabbits is close-in work.. wolves need more stand-off distance.

[Timber Wolf]

Day 16 – I went on a bit of a cooking marathon to get all of the rose hips and mushrooms into cups, so I’m on the other side of the clock now.  I spend some time breaking down wood inside the lodge and then sleep.
 

Day 17 – I wake up at around the warmest time of the day and prepare to go get a deer using @ method above.  I grab some reclaimed wood and a jerry can for the fires I’ll need to make and he down the cliff.  As soon as I get to the bottom, I see a deer conveniently located in between the lake and myself.  I then proceed to put on the most pathetic display of driving a deer into a wolf.  The deer just refused to go out onto the lake and preferred to run up onto the rock outcroppings around the lake instead.  It’s like it knew what I wanted and just wasn’t going to give it to me.

As I am nearly running out of patience, the wolf (the only one out on the lake) finally targets the deer and brings it down near the bridge and gate.  So, I make a fire while the wolf chews on my deer and then pull out a torch and walk toward it.  When it senses me, it turns and takes the growling defensive stance.  What am I supposed to do now?  How do I get it to follow me?  I throw the torch at it, but it doesn’t move.

Hmmm.  I go back to the fire and pull another torch.  Am I supposed to walk right up to it and then it will stop guarding its kill?  Well, that’s what I’m going to do and will see what happens.  What happens is I seem to have found a coward wolf, because when I get close it runs off!

I make another fire next to the deer carcass and harvest the entire thing.  Then I get up and make a run for the maintenance yard.  It seems like clear sailing until I get near to the fence around the maintenance yard.  I hear a wolf growling, but I’m out of sprint.  Just a little farther….

I am fortunate and end the fight with one blow of my hatchet, losing no condition but spraining an ankle.  Oh no, I hear another wolf, and I can’t run now.  Only a few more feet to the…

This fight lasts for only a couple of seconds.  I lose very little condition, but sprain my other ankle.  Now I’m moving very slowly, but only have a few more steps to…

Holy crap!  I win a third consecutive wolf fight, and with only one shot from my hatchet again.  Finally I make it to the door and get inside the building.  What the heck just happened?  I just had 3 wolf fights in a row and am still at 75% condition!  That is just plain crazy.  I’m pretty good at the wolf struggles, but I’ve never done anything like that before.

Inside I cook the venison and continue to shake my head in disbelief that I bested 3 wolves in a row like that.  After I cook all the meat, I head to the bed to get some rest.  I notice that I’ll lose temperature if I sleep, because my clothes are only a +6c bonus which isn’t enough to keep me warm.  So, I break down a few creates to get wood and start another fire. 

I might need to revise the plan if I'm going to try to get another deer.  I should have died today.  I set my bedroll down beside the fire and sleep for 8 hours. 

[Ruruwawa]

18 minutes ago, Timber Wolf said:

I hear a wolf growling, but I’m out of sprint. 

If it's growling there's usually time to start a campfire (and now you see what kind of 'action' hero I am) .

16 minutes ago, Timber Wolf said:

I just had 3 wolf fights in a row and am still at 75% condition!  That is just plain crazy.

You have so many mug shots of this pack now it's time to give them each a name.  Can't be any more crazy, right?  

[Timber Wolf]

2 minutes ago, Ruruwawa said:

If it's growling there's usually time to start a campfire (and now you see what kind of 'action' hero I am) .

I should have thought of that!  But man, the door was so close.
 

3 minutes ago, Ruruwawa said:

You have so many mug shots of this pack now it's time to give them each a name.  Can't be any more crazy, right?  

I may never have consecutive fights like that again, no matter how long I keep playing.  I wish I had a bow or rifle, so I could name them dead, dead and dead.

[JAFO]

10 hours ago, Timber Wolf said:

I make another fire next to the deer carcass and harvest the entire thing.

"Wolf-magnet flirts with death! - story on page 3" 

 

10 hours ago, Timber Wolf said:

Then I get up and make a run for the maintenance yard.  It seems like clear sailing until I get near to the fence around the maintenance yard.  I hear a wolf growling, but I’m out of sprint.

What?!? Man.. you know better than that.. always keep some sprint in reserve!

 

10 hours ago, Timber Wolf said:

I just had 3 wolf fights in a row

Well, hopefully by now you realise that just like the Quonset Gas Station, the Maintenance Yard is wolf-city... and needs to be treated accordingly.

On the bright side, tomorrow you'll have three wolves to harvest... 

[CitrinePeridot]

Hold on a minute...THREE of them?! Heck, I'm getting my tailed served in my runs of the story mode by just one. Granted, all I have at this point is the shard, but geesh. I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever manage to make it past this point. LOL Good for you, though. I'm impressed.  :-)

[Timber Wolf]

Day 18 – Feeling frisky after my thrashing of the local wolves, I don’t deliberate in the morning and just go straight out the door with all of the cooked venison, heading for the bridge and gate.  I make it to the fence line and hear the crows squawking at O.B., so I go back inside.  I turn around and go right back out and to the fence line, but don’t hear anything so I take off into the woods.  I stop just as I get to the highest point and quickly scan for my grumbly old friend.  He’s not around, so I run to the bridge.  The wolf on the lake picks up the scent of the cooked venison, but is too far away to catch me before I go through the gate and close it.

It’s very cold out today and I’m already running a risk of hypothermia.  I don’t delay and head up the path and around the bend.  I slip up above the wood barrier of the path to take the shortest path to the lodge.  I turn the corner and run down the path toward the lodge, wasting no time.  I don’t see or hear the neighborhood wolves and make it safely inside.  I have returned home with 5 kg of cooked venison.  Pretty sloppy, but successful mission.

I sleep for an hour and warm up, then go outside to see if I can stone a rabbit.  I spend a little time surveying the area, coming to the conclusion it’s not worth it to go for rabbits.  They yield so little meat and O.B. is almost always watching me.  As soon as I take aim with a stone, he comes running.

This is definitely a fun place to play around with O.B.  He only enters the yard by the car, so I can jump in and out of the fence line and dance around with him.

This leads to me examining more closely where the safe zone is defined around the stairs and discover it extends all along the edge of the lodge.  Which means I don’t even have to get on the stairs to be safe.

I go back inside and take a look at my clothing.  Much of my clothes are worn down, including my wool mittens at 1%.  I spend the rest of the day repairing clothes, which increases my temperature bonus from +6c to +12c.  I also spend my only whetstone to bring my hatchet from 12% to 92%.
 

Day 19 – As @JAFO pointed out, there should be some dead wolves down in the maintenance yard, so I head out and down the cliff right to start the day off.  When I get to the bottom, I swing over to the hunter’s blind, grabbing some OMB along the way.  I find another hatchet sitting next to a corpse.

A lone wolf is out on the lake and I easily navigate around it.  When I get to the maintenance yard, I retrace my steps from a couple days before I see the three spots I got into fights with the wolves – but I see no dead bodies.  I make my way around to the other side of the yard and see one in the middle of the path.

I harvest everything and go inside the building to warm up.  I leave the guts and pelt inside and the meat in the outside portion of the building.  Then it’s time to look for more dead wolves.  When I go back outside, the wolf carcass I harvested has already disappeared, but there are still crows circling overhead.  I find another dead wolf behind some of the junk in the yard and harvest everything from it.

Then I go back to the building and drop off my meat, guts and pelt.  It’s rather warm out today, so I don’t need to stay inside to warm up.  I look around the rest of the yard and around the fence line, but I don’t see any carcasses and don’t see or hear any more crows.  Maybe the third fight was actually with the same wolf from the first fight.

I give up looking and go inside and cook all but one piece of the wolf meat, my fire burns out before I can finish the last one.  I eat a couple pieces and then sleep for 10 hours.
 

Day 20 – When I awake, I break down a plank and start another fire.  I cook the last piece of wolf meat and boil a liter of water.  I really don’t care for this maintenance building, so I go outside to see if O.B. is around.  Outside I find a blizzard is just about to start up.  I’m not sensing O.B. is nearby and decide to continue to roll the dice and take off into the woods toward the bridge and gate.  Not long after I enter the wooded area, I hear O.B.’s crows making noise.  I spin around to see him tracking me down.

I run for as long as I can and then spin around and pull out the flare gun.  He isn’t in terminator mode, so I am able to get through the gate just as he stands and roars.

Now safe from the great beast, I only need to contend with the blizzard and the wolves up top.  I am showing 1 scent bar, but that’s plenty to get the attention of those wolves.  I will move as quickly as I can to get back to the lodge.  I’m hoping the blizzard has the wolves in hiding.

That’s how it turns out and I make it back into the lodge safely, where I drop 7 - 1kg pieces of wolf meat.  I’m at 9% risk of parasites, so I better wait for a while before I eat any more of that.  I’m also now down to only 8 cattails.  It won’t be long before all I have left is meat and reishi tea.

With a blizzard raging and nothing better to do, I break down the rest of the shelves and planks upstairs.  This lodge is absolutely loaded with reclaimed wood!  I have many piles of it now.  I eat some venison and then go to bed.  As I sleep, the risk of parasites passes.

[alone sniper]

Wow !!
Amazing idea @Timber Wolf !!!  (I think i found out this topic a bit late  ! But i'm happy cause i found it eventually )

[Timber Wolf]

On 9/17/2017 at 0:48 PM, alone sniper said:

Wow !!
Amazing idea @Timber Wolf !!!  (I think i found out this topic a bit late  ! But i'm happy cause i found it eventually )

Thanks!  I'm glad you are enjoying it.

[Timber Wolf]

Day 21 – Ready for more action, I head out to get my hands on another deer.  I take the “stairs” down the cliff and go through the woods to the lake.  Three wolves are occupying the end opposite the bridge and gate, so I move away from them down the shoreline.  Then I cross the lake and go into the woods looking for a deer.  I spot 2 of them right away and drive them up against the maintenance yard fence.

I run right behind them as they turn the corner of the fence, where a third deer joins the parade.

One of the deer goes around a large rock back toward the lake, so I follow it hoping to drive it into a wolf.  This strategy works perfectly and one of the wolves downs it near the edge of the lake.

With another wolf not far away, an urge to show these wolves who is boss overwhelms me.  So, I pull out the flare gun and walk right up to the wolf that made the kill.  It turns to me and guards its kill.  I take aim right between the wolf’s eyes and fire. 

And I miss.

The 2 wolves run off, but I feel foolish for having wasted one of my last flare gun shells without killing the wolf.  Just one left now. 

I crouch and harvest all of the meat from the deer.  The 2 wolves didn’t run far, so I go into my inventory to quickly drop all of the venison to get rid of the scent.  In my haste, I accidentally start eating one of the raw pieces of venison, which results in food poisoning.  I take some antibiotics to combat my affliction. 

I decide not to harvest any more of the deer and throw a stone out on to the lake to point the wolves away from me.  Then I get up and run for the maintenance yard.  As I’m running I realize I never picked the venison back up, so I have to turn around and go back to the deer.  When I get back to it, I change my mind and decide to harvest the rest of it.  I get up and run as soon as I’m finished.  Almost immediately I hear a wolf bark.  In the next moment the fatigue meter pops up indicating I have very little energy left.  I walk backwards up the path, watching a wolf following my scent down by the lake.  Then I turn around and sprint until I am completely fatigued.

It’s at this point I realize I have taken the wrong path and am actually heading all the way up to the railroad tracks.  My mistakes are compounding and I’ve made myself very vulnerable.   I don’t see any other choice than to try to get up to and then down the tracks to the path that leads back down to the maintenance yard.  I don’t think there are any wolves in this area, so I should be able to make it safely.  However, if there are any wolves hanging out in the maintenance yard, I could be screwed.

Fortunately, when I get down there are no wolves to be seen or heard.  I make it safely inside the building and drop the hide and guts next to the ones from the other deer and the 2 wolves.  I take a 3 hour nap and then breakdown 2 creates using my hatchet.  Then I go back to sleep for 12 more hours.
 

Day 22 – I wake up to hear a blizzard raging outside and then start a fire to cook all the venison and make some water.  Continuing with my bold attitude, I leave the maintenance yard with all the cooked venison and go into the woods, heading for the gate.  As I reach the top of the hill, I see O.B. is in the way.

So, I turn around and head back, but a wolf comes outs of the maintenance yard blocking that way.  This drives me down the path to the lake, where I see 3 more wolves.

This pushes me down the only other path that’s still available and I move quickly, hoping to stay away from all of the predators.  I pass by the spot of the deer kill and see the carcass is gone.  One wolf pursues, so I move around a large rock trying to get it off my tail.  When I get down to the ice of the lake, I sprint across toward the gate.  Then I see O.B. running down on the other side of the lake.

I remain calm and wait to see if he will give me some space.  He does and I back my way up to the bridge and safely across I open the gate.  I go back out to look at O.B.

He’s pretty easy to manage when he’s not in terminator mode.  And since the gate keeps us separated, I decide I want to spend a night outside.  When I get to the top of the path, I take the other path that leads to the cave.  I find 3 pieces of cedar in the cave and move them to the back of the cave, where I also drop some sticks I collected and the cooked venison.  Then I go back out and harvest a cedar limb and a fir limb and pick up more sticks, and drop them all in the back of the cave.  I should be safe from O.B. here, as long as I don’t stop playing the game.

Night is just beginning, so I go out to collect some more firewood.  After dropping some wood, I see a rabbit hopping right up to the edge of the cave.

I go into my bag to grab a stone, but don’t find any.  This prompts me to go to the little area of water beneath the large fallen trees and look for some.  I find 3 stones and then go back up by the cave entrance and look for rabbits.

I then realize that this is a completely safe rabbit hunting ground for me.  The wolves are too far away by the lodge and O.B. is stuck on the other side of the gate.  In fact, this is a fairly large safe zone I’m in, and with plenty of wood.  This is very interesting.  I could incorporate this place into a stop along the way on a deer run. 

I could leave the lodge and go down the cliff to separate from O.B.  Drive a deer into a wolf and then bring the meat back to the maintenance yard building.  Leave or bring some of the meat and get to the gate and fast as possible.  Then come up to the cave and hunt rabbits.  Then finally go back to the lodge.  I think I'm starting to figure out life with O.B. in the Broken Railroad.

Without the pressure of O.B. and wolves patrolling the area, I stun a rabbit with my first throw. 

I bring it to the back of the cave and harvest it.  Then I make a fire, cook it and eat it while it’s still hot.  I pull 2 torches out of the fire, extinguish them and put them down on the ground for future use. 

I fall asleep smiling in my new happy place.

[Ruruwawa]

16 hours ago, Timber Wolf said:

I then realize that this is a completely safe rabbit hunting ground for me.  The wolves are too far away by the lodge and O.B. is stuck on the other side of the gate.  In fact, this is a fairly large safe zone I’m in, and with plenty of wood.  This is very interesting.  I could incorporate this place into a stop along the way on a deer run. 

I could leave the lodge and go down the cliff to separate from O.B.  Drive a deer into a wolf and then bring the meat back to the maintenance yard building.  Leave or bring some of the meat and get to the gate and fast as possible.  Then come up to the cave and hunt rabbits.  Then finally go back to the lodge.  I think I'm starting to figure out life with O.B. in the Broken Railroad.

Nice.  It's like you're the Jane Goodall (Joe Goodall?) of Broken Railroad.  

I haven't played BR on Stalker yet, but in other difficulties there's a wolf that patrols the road near the cave.  I'm surprised it doesn't come running when you grab a bunny.

[Timber Wolf]

10 minutes ago, Ruruwawa said:

I haven't played BR on Stalker yet, but in other difficulties there's a wolf that patrols the road near the cave.  I'm surprised it doesn't come running when you grab a bunny.

I haven't seen any wolves around this area while playing with O.B.  So far, they have only ever showed up around the lake by the lodge, but I'll keep my eyes peeled!

[Timber Wolf]

Day 23 – So, I went to sleep and then stopped playing the game, somehow forgetting that when I start it back up O.B. will be spawned in somewhere around the cave.  I also wake up to a blizzard, which means I won’t be able to tell where he is. 

With no option better than making a run for the lodge, I quickly pick up the cooked venison and make a run for it.

I feel confident I can get straight back to the lodge, but get mixed up trying to take a shortcut and go the wrong way for a while.  When I end up on the snow road and figure out where I am, I hear the one sound I was hoping not to – O.B. roaring.  I can actually hear the sound of him running over the sound of the blizzard.  I get off the snow road and onto the path that leads around to the lodge, when he catches up.

After O.B. gets done tickling me, he blocks the path, so I run out across the little lake and then into the lodge.  He leaves me with a blood loss and an infection risk and 23% condition.  He also did a real number on my clothes, so I spend the rest of the day repairing them.
 

Day 24 – Ok, this time around I’m going to use a different route to get from the maintenance yard to beyond the gate.  I had forgotten there’s a way to get up to the other rope anchor, which will separate me from O.B. for most of the way (thanks @AZHockeyNut for showing me the way!).  I’m also going to split up my gear and bring some to the maintenance building and keep some until I get back up to the cave.

I am quickly down the cliff and driving a deer toward the lake.  It doesn’t cooperate and runs every which way, but on to the lake.  When it goes back into the woods, I notice another rabbit run that I can take advantage of.  But not now, this time I want this deer that’s making me run way too much. 

Eventually I am able to drive the deer to the lake and watch a lone wolf target it.  I crouch and wait for the kill, and realize I’m not carrying any firewood.  So, I get up and start collecting sticks in the woods.  After I get enough, I see the deer just chilling out by the hunter’s blind.  I head over there and try to spook it out onto the lake, which I successfully do.  Unfortunately, the wolf has already targeted me, so I make a mad dash across the lake hoping to ditch it.

The wolf follows me closely and when I run out of sprint and turn around, it’s right there ready to pounce.

I do a pretty good job of fending it off and end up with blood loss and an infection to deal with, but still 60% condition remaining.  I get up to the maintenance building as fast as I can.  I’ll be getting no deer this time, because O.B. will spawn down here when I go back outside.

I take a 3 hour nap to warm up and recover condition, but am still only at 69% when I wake up fully rested.  There is a lot of daylight left, so I head out to find my way up and away from O.B.

Once outside I head out of the maintenance yard and over the nearby rocks.  Then I find my way up on top of another rock formation and turn around to see if O.B. is following me.

Sure enough, he has found a way over the first bunch of rocks.  It seems like a safe assumption that anywhere I can get up to, he can too.  I’m not interested in finding out just how closely he can follow, so I quickly make my way up, over, and down to the rope anchor.

I think I’m probably safe from O.B. up here, but if I give him enough time he could probably catch up.  I know I’m safe from wolves, because there aren’t any up here.  In fact, there isn’t anything at all up here.  I continue down the road until I get to the bridge.  I could cross this bridge and continue on, but I will end up bumping into an invisible wall and won’t be able to go all the way through.  There’s a glitch in the map design.  And it’s a real bummer to, because I’m pretty sure this road would otherwise lead straight to the cave I am going to.

Anyway, what I am looking for now is a safe way down by the bridge, so that I can quickly spin over to the gate, which will definitely separate me from O.B.  It doesn’t take me long to find a good way down that leaves me just a short distance from the bridge and gate.

After I pass through and close the gate, I head up to the cave.  Along the way I pick up a few sticks and stones.  I drop some items in the back of the cave next to my other stuff and then go out to hunt some rabbits.

It is truly a pathetic display and none of the 7 stones I’m carrying hit their mark.  Instead, I just waste a bunch of energy and sprain an ankle in the process.  It’s clear I need more practice and need to be more patient while hunting the rabbits.  Since this trip was more about improving my routes than obtaining food, I go back into the cave and sleep in my bedroll for 4 hours to heal the sprain.

Night has fallen by the time I wake up and I head back to the lodge.  I pay close attention to the route I take and gain a better feel for the shortest path back to the lodge.  Along the way, I collect a few sticks and stones and pick up a fishing tackle that I dropped in the spot where O.B. tried to tickle me to death.

I’m now feeling very good about the routes I use to navigate around this map and am also feeling pretty good about the food opportunities that I have.  I set out on this adventure assuming that the time would come when I would run out of food and be forced into more and more dangerous situations.  As it stands, I think I could probably live comfortably for an extended period of time here with my buddy O.B.

I’m not tired after my sprain healing nap, so I break down the last of the wood and cloth in the lodge.  All that remains for things I can break down, are the one table and three shelves I’m using, along with some cardboard boxes.

[Timber Wolf]

Days 25 – 45 – I settle into life at the Broken Railroad, making a loop around the map almost every day.

I first killed all the wolves around the lake and maintenance yard and stole a couple of deer in the process.  I quickly gave up on trying to use stones and just walked right up to them.  I fought these two, one right after the other.

Then I worked on my rabbit hunting skills.  I rarely miss my target now after some practice.  And after making several trips around the map, I realized the outer portion of the maintenance building is actually the best place for my main base.  I can come down from the lodge and leave O.B. behind and until I go inside the building, he won’t be around to bother me.

I also start making use of the other cave that is just a short walk from where I come down the cliff from the lodge.  There is a rabbit run near the cave that I can hunt while separated from O.B.  I also redistributed my equipment and materials as I moved around the map – from maintenance building, to the upper cave, to the lodge, to the lower cave, and back to the maintenance building.

While circling the map, I learned that my route to the bridge and gate isn’t completely safe.

I also discovered that O.B. will actually run through the gate if he is in his panic mode.  I was surprised by this, because every time I step through the gate he turns and runs away.  So, I had to close the gate to keep him on that side after he ran through.

Despite finding this out, I am now leaving the gate open all the time.  I was opening the gate when he got me the last time and he’s almost gotten me right there on two other occasions, so I don't want to have to spend the time opening it.  If he ever comes through and up to the cave when I’m hanging out there, then I’ll start closing the gate again.

One morning I saw a beautiful sunrise just before heading down the cliff.

And came across two cattails in the middle of the lake I somehow didn’t see before.

Also found a new place to hang out and watch O.B. - up in the large tree near the lodge.

Which lead to another surprising discovery.  After climbing up the tree, I moved back down when O.B. was nearby to find out at what point the tree stops being a safe zone and I am vulnerable again.  As I crossed that line he immediately charged at me, so I backed up a little which spun him around and off he went running.  There were also two wolves close by and they started running when I set O.B. off.  None of this was unusual, but what happened next I didn’t think was a possibility.

O.B. got stuck in a loop with the two wolves!  The 3 of them would run up onto the little ledge by the rope anchor, turn around and run down and then around the rope anchor, then loop around into the backyard of the lodge and out on to the ledge of the cliff and then turn around and run back on to the little ledge.

I was so amazed by what was going on, I almost forgot to take pictures of it.  And I wish I would have thought to record it!  I think they went around in this loop 4 or 5 times, before the parade broke up and O.B. and one of the wolves ran off across the little lake.  This left one wolf continuing in the loop, so I took this rare opportunity to let a wolf run through me.

Back to business.  I have improved my clothing by crafting a wolfskin coat, deerskin pants, deerskin boots and rabbit mittens.  It’s been a productive and fun three weeks, but it has also come at a cost.  I don’t have much antiseptic left or OMB.  I don’t have any pain killers left and only 2 cups of rose hip tea.  My hatchets and knives are wearing down.  I’ve spent quite a bit of cloth repairing clothes from several wolf struggles and an O.B. tickle job.

Food is my biggest concern.  I have no more man made food, no more cattails and have already drank some cups of reishi tea just to get calories.  I can get two rabbits by each of the caves, but that won’t be enough to survive.  I need to get deer and improve my process for getting deer.

[Drifter Man]

It's fantastic to watch how you game the game