Best Long-Term Survival Base


Wish

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What base is best for long-term survival?

There have been several posts around the subject, such as:

There are other posts around this subject that I have missed I'm sure.

Currently, I'm on day 431 of a Voyager run and have been steadily extracting all the non-limitless resources from each map and moving them to my base (I'm at Trapper's Cabin for reasons stated here). Even so, now that I'm about to begin a moving spree from Timberwolf Mountain, I'm vacillating.

As great games are, in part, a series of interesting choices, here are a few best long-term base considerations I'm grappling with--some contradictory--in no particular order:

  • Beachcombing - a base by the coast slowly provides access to items no longer found in game (JR Island?)
  • Safe Space - a base free of immediate threats (Jackrabbit Island, Trapper's Cabin, Rabbit Grove, Ravine, et cetera)
  • Boredom - boredom can lead to unnecessary risks, so a safe space might backfire (safe spaces too cushy?)
  • The View - aesthetic appeal to the senses to keep you happy (bases with beautiful vantage points trumping industrial locales)
  • Nearby Limitless Resources - a base near animals, sticks, coal, etc. (many possible base locations have resources outside the front door)
  • Resource Decay - exposure to poor weather accelerates clothing decay, so location is a factor
  • Structure - certain bases have beneficial structural attributes (cabins with porches, storage containers, outdoor areas, beds with good warmth bonuses, etc.)
  • Cabin Fever - proximity to sustainable outdoor locations (caves, vehicles, non-indoor structures)
  • Non-limitless headgear - as cloth diminishes, frostbite on your head could eventually do you in

Things I'm not worried about:

  • Indoor Fireplace - I've found that I use this less and less to avoid cabin fever (not on my must-have list)
  • Workbench onsite - tons of people live on Jackrabbit Island and make the jaunt to the Fishing Camp
  • Nearby Forge - Does it have to be nearby?

A few possible best long-term base locations come to mind, along with a few notable attributes:

Maintenance Shed in Broken Railroad

  • Beds both indoor and outdoor (this is amazing and the biggest selling point)
  • Tons of storage (even in the outdoor area -- hello lockers!)
  • Great view of bad weather (three windows and no loading screen = happily enjoying terrible weather)
  • Industrial location (subjectively ugly)
  • Wolves outside your door = nearby food + danger

Mountaineer's Hut

  • All animals are nearby - wolves, bears, rabbits, fish
  • Incredible view - frozen lake, tall mountains
  • Cold - worn clothing decays faster while sleeping
  • Far from forge
  • Easy to scare deer towards wolves for food without using a weapon (given close location of both animals)

Prepper's Cache by Pensive Pond

  • All animals nearby (though bears are a bit further)
  • Fairly safe (there is a wolf about but not too close)
  • Easy trip down the stream to the workbench
  • Central world location (PV in general)
  • Nearby waterfall to please the senses
  • Bad weather - ug

Trapper's Cabin

  • Safe space - your own private glen with prancing deer and rabbits (though the rabbits aren't prancing)
  • Easy to navigate interior (never have to fumble your way to your bed in the dark -- I'm glaring at you, Cabin Office!)
  • Sense of home - many of us starting playing in Mystery Lake, so the map feels home-like
  • Outdoorsy feeling - it's a cabin in the woods with a workbench!

Camp Office

  • All animals nearby (though bears are a bit further)
  • Central on ML map
  • Sense of home - many of us starting playing in Mystery Lake, so the map feels home-like
  • Bloody mess - always living in that day-after-the-party-feeling
  • Counter tops for days - organize your gear at eye-level

Pleasant Valley Farmstead

  • All animals nearby (though deer and fish are a bit further)
  • Windy, windy, windy
  • Spacious

Jackrabbit Island

  • Safe space - your own private, wolf-free island!
  • Interesting Map - Coastal Highway has a lot of variety to it
  • Kitchen Living - I tend to enter through the porch side, so I feel like I'm always living in the kitchen, which feels weird
  • Odd storage - storing objects in the kitchen appliances also feels weird (instead of a locker)
  • Easy to scare deer towards wolves for food without using a weapon (given close location of both animals)
  • Close-ish to forge
  • Scenic view
  • Beachcombing opportunities 

There are others I'm sure. The question is, which base is best for the long-term? Does beachcombing on Jackrabbit Island beat out the outdoor shed location in Broken Railroad? Does the comfort of Trapper's Cabin beat out the useful prepper location around Pensive Pond? Does the cold of the Mountaineer's Hut really matter in the long run? Before I continue my long haul, I'm interested in your ideas about the best long-term survival base.

Thanks!

-Wish

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Interestingly enough, my personal base of choice will always be Quonset. Despite constantly being hounded by the Coastal Townsite gang, on easier difficulties they're simple to knife-fight to death and more of an annoyance than a source of constant danger. Clothing condition suffers, but if you always take them off before doing the every-so-often clear of the area, it's not too bad. Workbench, plenty of storage, indoor firebarrel and a nice bed. Forge in DP isn't too far away.

If wolves aren't your thing, my 2nd choice is Misanthrope's. The friendly old bear acts as a sort of guard-dog, keeping the wolves at a distance. A fishing hut is very close, but Mr. Bear may want a taste. If he gets in your way too often, he's a great source of food and fur if you can afford to take him down. Proximity to the Riken forge is excellent. The Abandoned Mines provide plenty of coal. At least 3 possible rifle spawn locations nearby - fishing hut between Jackrabbit and Misanthrope's, in Jackrabbit Island house, and in Scruffy's Cave in DP. Beachcombing is good too, I've found a few saplings laying around nearby. Plenty of storage within the house. Closest workbench is Quonset, but if you're headed to the forge in the Riken anyway, you could just hit up the workbench in Hibernia instead. While Misanthrope's isn't a very "central" location to the rest of the buildings in CH, it's got very few downsides in my opinion.

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Misanthrope's is interesting -- I actually prefer the layout of the house to that of JR. On my current run, a wolf loads on that island, but not on JR, so that's why I excluded it from the list. Those waterfront cottages are great too -- especially the one-story one, but a wolf and a bear walk right by them.

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True, in my game a wolf loads on Misanthrope's as well.

It really depends on the difficulty. I have developed a liking for Pilgrim over Stalker recently and that drastically changes your preferences. Funnily enough, somehow I have scared off all the wolves in ML to the point where I had to go to CH to be able to make that wolfskin coat.

CH is definitely my favourite map as since I just love being outside over night, my favourite base would be an ice fishing hut with a door. Is it randomized which of the huts have doors? If so, my ideal location would be that hut between the two islands with a door. The one farthest to the Ravine end of CH is also nice, because it is close to beach combing.

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In my 500 day run ive decided to make the mountaineer hut my MAIN base (I do move a lot to avoid boredom)

-all animals near for food and my own sick genocidal enjoyment (i wear mainly animal clothes so i can repair them constantly to save cloth)

-as I do in real life....just love ice fishin (its also the best way to productively pass time if you are stocked on H20, my own humble opinion of course)

-the view....*gazes dramatically at the mountains* beautiful...

-if i get bored but want to stay close to home, i just go on a hike up the mountain for a few days grabbing the resources that i skipped last time

-i LOVE that 88lb (39.9kg) hatch to store all my goodies (plus the shelf)

-my only gripe is that I'm not near a forge, so i generally just go on an adventure to one of the forges if I'm in need, i make around 30 arrowheads and come home (ive taken almost all the birch/maple saplings and keep them in the hut or fishing hut)

-almost forgot to mention the cold- i sleep in a bear sleeping bag with my bear jacket (bear jacket exclusively for sleeping in to save durability) only once have i woken up to being cold, and only once did that lesson need to be learned that i sleep in 3 hour increments to avoid fading into the darkness

 

great ideas everyone, keep up it up!

 

 

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Out of the choices you listed I'd have to go with Jackrabbit island. The beachcombing is great for accumulating saplings, cloth, and painkillers(all of which will likely be crucial late late game), and it has access to the best fishing. The biggest thing, for me at least, is what are we going to do with our time now that we have all the food and water we could ever realistically need? Living at camp office or trappers I would very quickly get bored, and start taking unnecessary risks like you mentioned. Living in coastal highway, on the other hand, it seems like there's no shortage of things to do that will proactively improve my situation. Between beach combing, coal mining, bear hunting, and stick/fir harvesting, it still feels as if there aren't enough hours in the day at day190+.

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Good post @Wish, I've been thinking about this too. I'm at 485 in Stalker, with 90% of that time spent at Trapper's, broken up with trips out to gather material. I don't know if I'll continue past 500 or make the leap to Interloper, but there's a different kind of enjoyment from the slower paced longevity run and I quite like it.

I had some spare material at Quonset from my CH looting which I have now evacuated to Jackrabbit's. My thinking is that I would need to migrate to JR for beachcoming, coal mining, and forge trips to survive longer term. But by conservative estimate I would need to find a washed up piece of cloth every 3 or 4 days to maintain my clothes at the current level, and I have no idea if that is achievable. So far I've not exploited the beachcoming at all. I have nearly 100 arrows/shafts remaining and nearly 300 cloth, so there's no urgency, but I've thought about it. I don't think I'll move everything there but I might consider living there and see how it goes.

I can see the attraction of other places, such as the mountaineer's hut, but that will be a drain on cloth and very remote. I think I'll keep that as a base for when I finally decide to tackle the Mountain. As it stands, I'm pretty happy with Trapper's. I spend most of my time outside, sheltering in a snow shelter during blizzards, and only going inside to sleep or craft things. Haven't seen a sniff of cabin fever in a long time. I could probably stay outside all the time but I think that affects rabbit spawns. My storage containers are pretty much stuffed with cloth, cattails, matches, fishhooks, etc. The rest is on tables or outside. I can spend a night or two at the lake or the dam without the snow shelter degrading past 75%, or make a trip to the Riken and back before it hits 50% (1 cloth to repair) in under 5 days, plenty of time really. It does affect my freedom to travel for longer, but at the same time it encourages me to be quick and focused in my expeditions.

There's also something to be said for having multiple houses/supply points, perhaps one per map. I have a few stop-off points set up: the indoor cave in FM, the Dam, Jackrabbit's, PV Farmstead, etc. I leave behind some water and wood in each location and have started to leave raw meat to go rotten outside, since I can cook it back up to 50% at a later time. That way, if I need to I can stop there and recover before continuing onwards. I also leave behind about 5 cloth for emergency repairs/bandages, and a bottle of antiseptic. I also started leaving storm lanterns and fuel in strategic locations so I don't have to carry it around with me. Basically, anything that doesn't degrade is fine to leave, the rest comes back with me. It's already saved my skin on a number of occasions.

TL;DR: why have just one home when you can have seven?

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4 hours ago, Wish said:

Boredom - boredom can lead to unnecessary risks, so a safe space might backfire (safe spaces too cushy?)

I think this is the biggest challenge, regardless of what location you stay at. Personally I like the Mountaineer's Hut better than anywhere else. The biggest challenge (annoyance) is having to sleep in 3 hour increments to avoid potential freezing. Of course being pretty far from all other zones is also a negative. When you run out of some needed item, it's quite a challenge to bring additional supplies from another zone. Then again, that, in itself, is a temporary solution to boredom. :)

But overall, the best way to avoid the boredom problem is not to have any main base. Take turns living everywhere you possibly can. Stay in a place as long as you possibly can, then move to another place and repeat. You can also include "uncommon" places. For example I really enjoyed living down at the bottom of the Ravine at one point. Couldn't stay there for too long, but I really liked it while it lasted. The summit of TWM is also a cool place to live, while supplies last. I think it's also cool to come back to a place you left a long time ago, perhaps even thinking you were leaving it "for good". Coming back to live in a place like that, something like 200 days later, could be a pretty cool, nostalgic experience. 

(I ended up staying at the Maintenance Shed in Broken Railroad for something like 40 days. To beat boredom I decided to see how long I could keep a single fire going, which was a pretty fun experiment. Eventually I used up all the wood around the shed and decided to leave, moving back to ML.)

 

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26 minutes ago, Salty Crackers said:

My base of choice is the Fishing Camp. It has lots of storage, a workbench, easy access to fishing, and the ability to beachcomb. No wolves spawn nearby (except for some glitchy ones on the pier) and the bear is very easy to deal with. Beats Jackrabbit any day of the week. 

Pssht. I don't want them to take that wolf away ^^

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I have my base at the camp office. I can place everything that i have and its close to fishing cabins deers ans wolves. also from the forge. I have never see some bears in mystery lake exept in hunter 1 and 2 also in hystory mode. i just do the trip towards family farmhouse for the bears.

my opinion is: the best long-term survival base are camp office or the farmhouse. 

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21 hours ago, Wish said:

Does beachcombing on Jackrabbit Island beat out the outdoor shed location in Broken Railroad?

I'd say without a doubt..  in BR, general resources are too scarce, and there are some nasty bottlenecks making it hard to avoid the locals at times.

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Personally, I love the Mountaineers Hut for sheer enjoyabilty of the run, but practicality usually sees me choosing the Quonset.  Tons of storage and placement options, everything you need inside. A very easy trip to a forge when required, fishing and cabin fever cure close by, just be sure to make safe paths with sticks or tinder plugs to avoid the loss of visibility that's common there on the ice. The only drawback is the distance to JR for snaring/hunting rabbits, and the local thugs, but they are easily dealt with on voyager.  It's close to beachcombing, coal, lots of firewood around... hands down the best imo. 

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I'm also going to add what my favorite base is on each map.

ML- Camp Office. Central location and easy access to fishing. No wolves nearby. The Dam comes in a close second. I haven't really explored the changes much, but in one of the trailers there's a bed.

CH- Fishing Camp. I've already discussed this.

PV- Farmhouse. Storage, central location, workbench, etc. You already knew this.

DP- The Riken. For some reason most people choose the Lighthouse or Hibernia, but they both have severe wolf problems. The Riken has ample storage, no wolves, and the forge. What else could you ask for?

TWM- Mountaineer' s Hut. One of the best bases in the game. Easy fishing, a workbench, and ample wildlife. What's not to like?

FM- Why are you camping here? Choose the Poacher's Camp. It's the closest shelter to the exit.

BR- Hunting Lodge. It's a bit of a tossup, but I prefer the Lodge due to it being easier to avoid wolves.

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I'll have to agree with @Stormwolf1O1. Quincy's Quonset is the best long term base in my opinion. It can be quite dangerous, especially for inexperienced players, but for those who are experienced enough exploit the potential dangers, it can be quite a bounty. Not only do you get a lot of meat, hides, and guts, but archery, and cooking skills improve quickly. The townsite pack isn't always there and culling them only uses up 1-2 arrows and will make the townsite quite safe for about 20 days. Apart from the townsite pack, there are two deer areas (there used to be four), a local bear has a foraging route right through town, and there's a rabbit area right up the hill, past the bear cave. The houses contain a lot of cloth from curtains as well as potable water from toilets. Also... tonnes of storage.

Apart from the Quonset hut, Hybernia would be my second choice. Again, wolves and bear close to shelter, easy to harvest. Deer and rabbit area just a short walk to Little Island. Forge nearby at the Riken which makes Hybernia the perfect starting base for me. Then there's the coast right outside for beachcombing.

Third would be the Mountaineer's Hut. The problem with this place is the absurd lack of storage. In stalker it always ends up cluttered after the assault and the subsequent inflow of stuff brought back from the summit.

Fourth would be the Old Spence stable (not in interloper though). As long as you're kitted up well and have matches/ferro rods and a mag lens, surviving the night shouldn't be a problem. It'll use up your hatchets like disposable razors but there's a forge right there. Wolves and deer close by and the bear can be lured using a slice of meat. The rabbits however, are quite far. The biggest problem is the 300 meter, sometimes wolf-ridden, walk to the cave for curing hides, guts, and saplings.

Camp Office takes fifth. It's pretty unspectacular but it's quite in the center of things. The bears are always quite far though. Lake cabins have harvestable cloth now which is good.

The farmhouse would've been higher in my list if only PV's climate was better. I swear, whenever I think about PV, it's the wind and the blizzards that first come to mind.

The Prepper's Abandoned Cache would've taken sixth if only the bear that forages around the blind spawned consistently. It's still in PV but the terrain helps block the wind most of the time. It's also a good storage area for the loot from TWM.

The Trappers cabin takes eighth. Except for the severe lack of storage space, it's not bad (it's not a problem in the Old Spence stable because FM doesn't have a lot of stuff to store). The biggest problem with Trappers is that Camp Office is just right there. Everything reachable from trappers is reachable from camp office just by spending 2-3 more game hours.

The maintenance shed is okay but BR just lacks resources in general. Has anyone found any birch sapling in BR yet? The bear is far which is a bit of a problem.

The barn sits at tenth. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so dark. It doesn't have a bed but you can sleep in the truck without using up your bedroll if you store your bedroll before you sleep. About five arrows on the target outside in all difficulties except interloper.

Although the hunting lodge has a bed, a windproof fire, and a workbench, the difficulties one has to go through just to harvest the bear from this place is ridiculous. This, along with BRs lack of resources, puts it at dead last. The most efficient way would be to go down the rope, pick up the stuff and go back around on the road. Even if you don't use the rope back up, you'll still tire yourself much more than any other shelter with a bed, a windproof fire, and a workbench.

 

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4 hours ago, Salty Crackers said:

I'm also going to add what my favorite base is on each map.

ML- Camp Office. Central location and easy access to fishing. No wolves nearby. The Dam comes in a close second. I haven't really explored the changes much, but in one of the trailers there's a bed.

CH- Fishing Camp. I've already discussed this.

PV- Farmhouse. Storage, central location, workbench, etc. You already knew this.

DP- The Riken. For some reason most people choose the Lighthouse or Hibernia, but they both have severe wolf problems. The Riken has ample storage, no wolves, and the forge. What else could you ask for?

TWM- Mountaineer' s Hut. One of the best bases in the game. Easy fishing, a workbench, and ample wildlife. What's not to like?

FM- Why are you camping here? Choose the Poacher's Camp. It's the closest shelter to the exit.

BR- Hunting Lodge. It's a bit of a tossup, but I prefer the Lodge due to it being easier to avoid wolves.

Good list (although in ML I prefer the dam, for hunting in the Ravine, and the maint yard in BR).  I have a pretty specific checklist of what makes a good long term base and these pass the test (except FM :P).  Note, I play mostly Interloper.

  1. Outdoor fire that's a) as windproof as possible and b) very close to an indoor shelter.  I do all my cooking and water boiling outdoors for the 22% of hours needed to fend off cabin fever risk, but I prefer not to heat the great outdoors the rest of the time.  
  2. Plentiful fuel for the fire.  As I play mostly interloper, I prefer sticks and coal (or reclaimed wood while it lasts) since an hour or two straight chopping limbs can be pretty risky on Interloper.
  3. Nearby workbench
  4. Good hunting or fishing.  I don't care which.
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For me, I like to be away from wolves and have good access to fishing. I prefer fishing to trapping (but who traps anymore?) or rock throwing because although fish are really heavy, they have a ton of calories and cook in only 10 minutes. Rabbits have barely any meat on them, and it's easier to just bow hunt deer for guts. I also prefer freshwater fishing to saltwater fishing, because most of the time in CH you just end up with a 250 calorie rainbow trout. I choose to stay in CH due to the access to beachcombing. Beachcombing lets you have a steady supply of cloth and scrap (hats forever!), and if you're really lucky, you can find ammo for the Distress Pistol and the Rifle, and even raw saplings! Due to this, I believe CH is the best region to live in. Fishing Camp is just the most convenient base.

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1 hour ago, Salty Crackers said:

For me, I like to be away from wolves and have good access to fishing. I prefer fishing to trapping (but who traps anymore?) or rock throwing because although fish are really heavy, they have a ton of calories and cook in only 10 minutes. Rabbits have barely any meat on them, and it's easier to just bow hunt deer for guts. I also prefer freshwater fishing to saltwater fishing, because most of the time in CH you just end up with a 250 calorie rainbow trout. I choose to stay in CH due to the access to beachcombing. Beachcombing lets you have a steady supply of cloth and scrap (hats forever!), and if you're really lucky, you can find ammo for the Distress Pistol and the Rifle, and even raw saplings! Due to this, I believe CH is the best region to live in. Fishing Camp is just the most convenient base.

Yep, yep.  On interloper I prefer DP to CH for the fuel... so many sticks and coal.  And beachcombing is good there too.

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i usually live in pv at the homestead basically for the porch, and central location.

 i also like the outbuilding nearby if i need to sleep out there if cabin fever risk happens. 

i also have "cooking day" and "water making day" in there, so i don't get cabin fever doing my cooking and water prep.   of course before i do those i have to have "wood getting day".  

after i am decently geared i like to shift to timberwolf mountain and live at the hut.   everything you need is right there..

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56 minutes ago, Simone Else said:

i also have "cooking day" and "water making day" in there, so i don't get cabin fever doing my cooking and water prep.   of course before i do those i have to have "wood getting day".

I'm guessing therefore that there's also a "food getting day".. and the other 3 days of the week are basically "trying to deal with this goddamn PITA weather" days.. :D

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My favourite used to be Trapper's, especially for the proximity to rabbits, deer, and far enough away that wolves usually aren't a problem. Another major advantage is the relative ease in which you can travel from Trapper's to the railway, and from the railway to the forge at the Old Spence Homestead. But that also presents itself as a disadvantage because Trapper's is so far from the rest of the map. Any trip to CH or PV must be weighed against the risk of lengthy travel. 

In my current run, I'm planning to attempt survival at the Hunting Lodge in BR. It's a huge challenge because I'm going to be even more isolated than I would be at Trapper's, but the views from the Lodge are spectacular, and it has that aura about it. I would usually never do this, but when you've played the game to death and made base everywhere else, you have to go for something fresh. Once I get CH to PV to TWM scavenged, I'm going to try to haul everything back there and dig in. It may take multiple runs, but it's gonna be fun either way. 

But my all-time favourite would have to be Jackrabbit Island. Unlike the OP, I hate the fact that there's no fireplace in either Jackrabbit or Misanthrope's. Cabin fever isn't an issue for me in most playthroughs because fish are usually my food of choice, and Jackrabbit is surrounded on all sides by ice-fishing huts. I usually spend six or more hours fishing, which offsets cabin fever, and it would be nice to have a fireplace to cook my coho salmon. And that is one of the main reasons why I typically settle down in CH -- even if you only get one or two coho in an 8-hour fish, the calorific intake is absolutely worth that time, and combining all that with beachcombing means you can survive there for days upon days. 

Mountaineer's Hut is just too dangerous because of the unpredictable weather on TWM. The same is true for the farmhouse on PV, the worst map in the entire game for blizzards. The lighthouse on DP is creepy as hell. 

Special mention, too, for the Camp Office, the location in which I first made it to three-figure days survived. It's also close to ice-fishing huts, but the fish on ML are paltry in comparison to CH. My biggest con for Camp Office is the body that's there in almost every run. I don't like sharing my base with a dead dude. 

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I have a follow up question for you guys - which are the best caves? I'm thinking about trying living only in caves for the full caveman experience. Maybe even extend it to mines and try living in the PV-CH connection, with the workbench and unlimited coal. Might make for an interesting strategy. Lack of a bed and natural light might be the biggest issue.

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28 minutes ago, Cray said:

I have a follow up question for you guys - which are the best caves? I'm thinking about trying living only in caves for the full caveman experience. Maybe even extend it to mines and try living in the PV-CH connection, with the workbench and unlimited coal. Might make for an interesting strategy. Lack of a bed and natural light might be the biggest issue.

The mine itself will likely be the best because of the workbench, like you mentioned - but I am unsure whether its useable, because it is in the middle of the mine with no light next to it... so not sure if you dont need to burn lanterns by it to be able to craft... something worth considering.

Most of the caves are going to be habitable, if we are talking about the "indoor" caves. So I think which cave is "the best" is simply a matter of where you wish to live in general. I think it will be best to say which caves "not to live in".

No 1. worst cave to live in is the cave in DP under the bridge - the wolf den. For obvious reasons.
Another bad cave to live in is the Winding river connection cave - because this cave in particular does not spawn any coal. So there is little to no point to live there. 
Almost all the caves that have "falls" in them are not particularly good to live in for long-term, because I expect you will want to preserve your lantern fuel and walk in the dark. Some caves have "fall areas" which can be relatively safely walked down even in darkness.

Rest of the caves should be pretty good to live in - I often find myself sleeping in caves when I am on long journeys, so I have quite a bit of experience in this regard.
Best caves to survive in for the long time are the ones that provide the most resources. These would be my reccomendations:
Cave in FM -  it spawns rocks and coal in plenty, and is in the middle of natural resource areas.
The cave I would personally reccomend:
"Pleasant Valley cave" to the left from TWM entrance, in the little valley by the river. I love that cave in particular. It has a fall area in the beggining but if you are careful, you can safely go down it even without a light... and it has TONS of coal, as well as some stick and branches spawns inside, occasionally also a log. Its is pretty sizeable, but warm, and has many areas where sunlight comes through, meaning you can navigate it pretty well during the day without the use of a lantern(also, by this "open" areas, it is a bit colder but you can create campfires there, even in the middle of a cave) - If this is going to be your choice, you will need to make a bearskin bedroll ASAP because you likely wont have access to much cloth in this way, this is an advantage of coal mines which are close to beachcombing areas.

For your specific needs, the best ones will likely be the coal mines themselves.
The transition mine between DP and crumbling highway would be a good choice, if not for the wolves by both entrances... because this way, you have access to both DP and Crumbling highway for "beachcombing items" - and beachcombing will be a neccesity because you will need cloth to keep your bedroll alive, at least before you get the bearskin one. Additionally, the access to workbenches is obviously going to make a lot of choice.

If you want to "live" in the "outdoor" caves, then the best one by far is the "cave" in the "Ravine" area, by the entrance to ML - it is in 100% predator free area (unless you sleep without a fire, of course, which can spawn a wolf or bear out of thin air), so safe deer and rabbit hunting, lots of firewood around, some birch bark, close access to ML, somewhat close to Coastal and PV as well, since the Dam is close, and Coastal is on the other side of the trestle.

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Also, don't make base in a cave that has bones next to the entrance, otherwise you'll wake up with Mr Bear glaring down at you. 

Realistically, you want to use caves for when you're travelling from zone to zone and you don't have enough daylight to make it to indoor shelter. I wouldn't recommend long-term habitation, but I wouldn't completely advise against it either. Problem is, unless you're going to stockpile all your supplies there, most caves are too far removed from major hunting and fishing locales to be viable. Maybe after you've scavenged everything and are in end-game mode, but overall I can see the allure but it has its cons. 

A general rule, especially on harder difficulties and early in the game, is to keep moving. The caves are great until you run out of supplies, a blizzard moves in, and you can't find your way back to a hunting/fishing ground to scrounge up more. Settling down is really an endgame feature, but don't let that dissuade you if you really wanna go for it. 

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27 minutes ago, Snake Doctor said:

Also, don't make base in a cave that has bones next to the entrance, otherwise you'll wake up with Mr Bear glaring down at you. 

Pretty sure that is a common sense, especially for someone who has played the game for so long like Cray :) Also, most people know that bones indicate the presence of a bear - but bear "dens" only apply to selected "outdoor" caves, there are no indoor caves that would act as a bear den.

29 minutes ago, Snake Doctor said:

wouldn't recommend long-term habitation,

Point was to attempt long-term habitation, a self-imposed experiment of trying to survive in caves solely. Obviously, caves are not ideal for long term habitation.

31 minutes ago, Snake Doctor said:

most caves are too far removed from major hunting and fishing locales to be viable.

This is not true. At least not when it comes to hunting - in fact, caves are usually surrounded by viable, rich hunting grounds. Thats why caves make for decent outpost areas, where you can stockpile emergency rations for when you are in a deep. Especially if you hunt a lot in that particular area - for example the outdoor cave I mentioned on "the ravine" - its quite possibly the best hunting spot in the entire game.

34 minutes ago, Snake Doctor said:

The caves are great until you run out of supplies, a blizzard moves in, and you can't find your way back to a hunting/fishing ground to scrounge up more.

This is only true for when you are caught off by bad weather in a close vicinity to the cave. Othervise it pretty much applies to all "shelters" - also, it is quite possible to survive a blizzard with only the use of a snow shelter, or an outdoor "semi-shelter" where one can hide from the wind. For example hiding in between rocks, or under frozen floats in FM. And in general, when you are caught off without supplies by a blizzard, it is not much of a management of where to go, as a management of "what to do to survive it" - meaning taking turns of consequently freezing, scrounging for wood in a blizzard, in order to get a fire going later on and have some time to rest and recover, just "dealing" with it. Survived many blizzards in the game due to my knowledge of where to locate such semi-shelters, and when to take a "break" for it if the blizzard wasnt stopping. Dont find blizzards particularly challenging other then in Interloper anymore. But that is mostly because I know the maps pretty well by now.

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