New Region: Deep Woods

[Fuarian]

I know that Hinterland is hard at work on new regions for Wintermute and polishing up existing regions. But eventually newer regions to Survival Mode will become a thing again. A good idea I had for one of these regions is called "Deep Woods" This region will be a mix of Mystery Lake, Pleasant Valley and Forlorn Muskeg.

General:

Essentially it would be a vast open forested area. Not too mountaineous terrain, a lot of trees, little water bodies, surrounded by high mountaineous rock walls. It borrows the vast openness and forested areas of Forlorn Muskeg and Pleasant Valley and mixes it with the feel of Mystery Lake.

Geography:

It would be a square region surrounded by high mountaineous rock walls but are surrounded by high snowbanks so they aren't too jarring and don't even appear at all.

The entrance to this region would be in the center in the south. A small logging road that connects all the locations will spill out across the region from this point. The roads will be snow covered and won't be high on the edges. 

The Forest makes up nearly the rest of the region. It will be densely packed together (but with enough room to walk through  ). It surrounds the roads and the trees go high allowing for little room to see any further locations. (along with snowfall this will be a tough challenge). Kinda like Lonely Homestead in PV or the forests in the Ravine.

There won't be any hills, it will be relatively flat except for a few bumps here and there, but nothing like PV or ML kinda hills. (kinda like the fields in PV or the Lonely Homestead.)

Locations:

Essentially there will be few key shelters around. With a few logging roads that connect all around the region. 

-A logging camp here and there, I was thinking of having two on opposite sides of the region.

-It will also have a small hunting camp with cabins like ML but a lot burned down with a larger main cabin that can be burned down or not. Kinda like the size of the Camp Office but with the utility of the Post Office in Milton. This area would be very secluded. Connects with the logging road. Chance for a Rifle. Not much food.

-Couple sheds around the sides of the region that act as small temporary shelters. Bedroll chance.

-A tiny creek leading to a small pond with a small cabin that can either be burned down or not. (debating on this one, I don't want too many locations)

-Up on the mountains in the west of the region there will be a sort of plateau area. Up on that plateau will be a Weather Service Station with a large building and a radar satellite and all that jazz. Kinda like Signal Hill but larger. To get up here you need to make your way around the woods until you find a set of ropes leading up. First you need to pass through a cave with a rope inside of it and then the rest of the ropes. This location will have a Flare Gun chance and a decent amount of food. (not like the Summit though) Exterior will be dangerous during the Aurora.

-Normally there would be a road leading up to the WSS from the logging road, but heavy snowfall and seismic activity has caused it be inaccessible. Various tree and rock collapses will cover this road. The road is on the very side of the rock wall. Close to where you would enter the region in the most southern part on the logging road but it won't be directly connected due to the snowfall as mentioned above. So some exploring will need to be done. (but it's blocked so no point). 

Wildlife:

-Loads of Deer and Rabbits but aren't near the various locations. You need to go looking in the forested areas (pretty much everywhere) to find them.

-Wolves, hunt in packs through the forest and move locations (Stalker only). They usually hang out around the creek/pond and logging camp #1. 

-Only 1 Bear and he liked to hang around the entire region. He wanders around during the day and chooses a random cave at night (closest to him unless it's the Aurora.)

-Moose (when added, we all know it's coming) won't be in this region. Doesn't really fit. -Cougar (when added, prob. not coming) Can't decide on him.

Weather:

It is cold, like TWM type cold. But never very windy. Gets VERY cold at night. (makes Stalker harder even w/ full hide clothing)

Blizzards occur often (but not PV kinda often) but don't last too long. 

It's often snowing light or heavily. But when it's not it's partly cloudy or a clear day. 

Rarely ever foggy. (FM can keep that trait)

Rarely ever overcast. 

 

So what do you guys think of this? I think it's a really good idea. Because it pretty much forces you to do hunting which I don't think the game makes you do enough. It also has a relatively different scenery and atmosphere. Most shelters in the existing regions have big open spaces in front of them but here it's very reclusive. It's also got a unique weather pattern, no longer is there annoying fog but rather a lot of snowfall and cold temperatures to make it challenging in lower difficulties. And for once a region that isn't bombarding you with wolves. 

I'm open to all opinions and critisms. 

-Fu

 

[Prestermatt]

I like the idea of a really big forest.

[snakevondoof]

as I was reading I thought "its gotta be COLD, but with so many trees, maybe wind should be minimal"

you thought of just about everything.

I could see myself spending a lot of time there!

[AZHockeyNut]

I started reading and was like...yay I gotta go back and play this game then my heart sank when I realized it was a suggestion not a new unlocked region.

Good idea though

[Mixxut]

I really like the idea. And the feeling when you know that the bear can be ANYWHERE will keep your eyes open.

[Mroz4k]

Gonna be the unpopular opinion, here.

I don't really see what this brings to the game. So, it's a new forest, just really big. Besides the fact that it would be incredibly super easy to hunt in that kind of forest, I don't see much its potential. I get that attempt to make a forest that is similar to FM in its sense but this doesn't seem very challenging if you can just walk around everywhere as there are no natural obstacles like mountains in the way. Makes navigation against animals pretty easy... except for the moving bear which can be everywhere... and by the way, that idea would need to have the bear re-worked as an animal to work. Bears in the game are fixed to a single location, like the rest of animals. While I like the idea of a travelling animal, for it to be worth the time spent, it would need to be applied to some other animals as well - not worth to apply it to a single bear in a single region. 

Blizzard would be highly immersion breaking - blizzard requires strong wind to form, and the dense forest would easily break that wind. You would be completely safe from it. On the contrary, fog would likely happen often. 

Putting lower temperature aside, this would really seem like an easier-to-survive-in place than general. As long as there is one cabin capable of sustaining indoor survival, this becomes a base where one can survive quite easily, assuming they brought in supplies like cloth, tools and matches with them. Firewood everywhere, plants and saplings everywhere, game everywhere. Craft yourself two layers of craftable clothes to slow down on cloth necessity and you can live like a king in this region. 

One thing you have clearly not considered is how incredibly easy would be to survive outdoors in this region. As long as you can build a fire, you can just sleep by a fire everywhere you are... firewood is plentiful, there is no wind present in the dense forest, and if you choose, you can actually build several fires (form a triangle ideally) to stay warm and keep all the critters away. Don't have experience with Aurora but I believe that even during Aurora, animals won't go past a lit campfire, so a triangle around your bedroll would keep you safe enough. Of course, if blizzards could happen there would still be this risk, but like I said before, if there is no wind in the region, there cant be any blizzard either. And unless the blizzard would happen very often (2-3 times a day), it doesn't actually diss the campfire trick too much. Just sleeping in short intervals would make it safe enough.

Combining the most challenging aspects of individual regions we already have doesn't necessarily result in a challenging region.

If we want some deep forest, it wouldn't have blizzard in it, but lots of cold fogs that make it easy to get lost in this region with little landmarks, but there would have to be some deep tectonical cuts in the ground, perhaps with a river and cattails to the bottom of it, and fallen trees, landslides and rock "bridges" over them, maybe even a rope-craftable bridge (new mechanic that could make TWM more interesting as well). Tons of wolves, some deer, and lots of rabbits. Moose too if it is added, cougars too. Not a lot of bears. Make it challenging hunting location.

It shouldn't be easy to go everywhere you want, but still, it should be easy to get lost in this environment so not much hills, just some general deep cuts in the earth that provide some obstacles into the way. Only "wind" would be present in rare clearings like the ones around the land cuts and rivers, but deep in the forest there would be no blizzards or wind, instead the "cold" temperature would be higher to compensate for the wind. This would also make your clothing less effective which adds to the challenge. 

Only a single "cabin" location in the region, and even that is a stretch in my opinion. Could instead have like an outdoors hunting camp or a lumbermill which would be open, and maybe a burnt cabin next to it, or a typical shack like FM homestead. Caves would be the indoor locations for this location. For other "civilized" loots, you would have corpses, and occasional hunter´s blind or a ruined snow shelter. Could even have like a tourist trail camping ground for more civilized loots, something similar to bear creek on Coastal.

Occasional sharp rock pillar that cant be walked over to add the region a bit more immersion and obstacles, but still keeping the general land very open - because a forest would never grow up on an entirely flat area, such area would be battered by winds and nothing more past bushes would grow there.

Thats just my opinion on make it more immersing and also challenging while offering something new to the game. Not to diss your suggestion but it didnt really feel challenging enough, more like a lovely hunting place to go to.

[Fuarian]

2 hours ago, Mroz4k said:

Gonna be the unpopular opinion, here.

I don't really see what this brings to the game. So, it's a new forest, just really big. Besides the fact that it would be incredibly super easy to hunt in that kind of forest, I don't see much its potential. I get that attempt to make a forest that is similar to FM in its sense but this doesn't seem very challenging if you can just walk around everywhere as there are no natural obstacles like mountains in the way. Makes navigation against animals pretty easy... except for the moving bear which can be everywhere... and by the way, that idea would need to have the bear re-worked as an animal to work. Bears in the game are fixed to a single location, like the rest of animals. While I like the idea of a travelling animal, for it to be worth the time spent, it would need to be applied to some other animals as well - not worth to apply it to a single bear in a single region. 

Blizzard would be highly immersion breaking - blizzard requires strong wind to form, and the dense forest would easily break that wind. You would be completely safe from it. On the contrary, fog would likely happen often. 

Putting lower temperature aside, this would really seem like an easier-to-survive-in place than general. As long as there is one cabin capable of sustaining indoor survival, this becomes a base where one can survive quite easily, assuming they brought in supplies like cloth, tools and matches with them. Firewood everywhere, plants and saplings everywhere, game everywhere. Craft yourself two layers of craftable clothes to slow down on cloth necessity and you can live like a king in this region. 

One thing you have clearly not considered is how incredibly easy would be to survive outdoors in this region. As long as you can build a fire, you can just sleep by a fire everywhere you are... firewood is plentiful, there is no wind present in the dense forest, and if you choose, you can actually build several fires (form a triangle ideally) to stay warm and keep all the critters away. Don't have experience with Aurora but I believe that even during Aurora, animals won't go past a lit campfire, so a triangle around your bedroll would keep you safe enough. Of course, if blizzards could happen there would still be this risk, but like I said before, if there is no wind in the region, there cant be any blizzard either. And unless the blizzard would happen very often (2-3 times a day), it doesn't actually diss the campfire trick too much. Just sleeping in short intervals would make it safe enough.

Combining the most challenging aspects of individual regions we already have doesn't necessarily result in a challenging region.

If we want some deep forest, it wouldn't have blizzard in it, but lots of cold fogs that make it easy to get lost in this region with little landmarks, but there would have to be some deep tectonical cuts in the ground, perhaps with a river and cattails to the bottom of it, and fallen trees, landslides and rock "bridges" over them, maybe even a rope-craftable bridge (new mechanic that could make TWM more interesting as well). Tons of wolves, some deer, and lots of rabbits. Moose too if it is added, cougars too. Not a lot of bears. Make it challenging hunting location.

It shouldn't be easy to go everywhere you want, but still, it should be easy to get lost in this environment so not much hills, just some general deep cuts in the earth that provide some obstacles into the way. Only "wind" would be present in rare clearings like the ones around the land cuts and rivers, but deep in the forest there would be no blizzards or wind, instead the "cold" temperature would be higher to compensate for the wind. This would also make your clothing less effective which adds to the challenge. 

Only a single "cabin" location in the region, and even that is a stretch in my opinion. Could instead have like an outdoors hunting camp or a lumbermill which would be open, and maybe a burnt cabin next to it, or a typical shack like FM homestead. Caves would be the indoor locations for this location. For other "civilized" loots, you would have corpses, and occasional hunter´s blind or a ruined snow shelter. Could even have like a tourist trail camping ground for more civilized loots, something similar to bear creek on Coastal.

Occasional sharp rock pillar that cant be walked over to add the region a bit more immersion and obstacles, but still keeping the general land very open - because a forest would never grow up on an entirely flat area, such area would be battered by winds and nothing more past bushes would grow there.

Thats just my opinion on make it more immersing and also challenging while offering something new to the game. Not to diss your suggestion but it didnt really feel challenging enough, more like a lovely hunting place to go to.

It's not meant to be challenging really. That's what Forlorn Muskeg is for. It's meant to be a good place to survive. 

The problem with all the regions is that they can be too easy. But they have the locations that are perfect for surviving in. 

Fishing for one is way too overpowered and that's why I didn't include any here. Hunting is easy but here I would make it so that all the deer and rabbits are far away from the main locations so long treks in the cold dense forest would make it hard. And I also said that wolves and bears should both wander the region. Sure it would take some reworking but would be awesome!

And yeah okay, sure add fog. But make it a cold fog, not a warm misty green fog. Because I hate that the most. 

[Mroz4k]

Fogs are all cold, when they are in an advanced region. I am talking about the fog I am used to from TWM - it comes almost every morning during the sunrise, and with it the temperatures are at the lowest points of entire day.

I don't want to see any regions added that are easy to survive on. Already too many that are easy to survive in. Forlorn is not really a challenge, either, if you are at least a little bit resourceful, you can find quite a lot of adequate shelters on that mode. I would like to see some "ice plains" region which would be truly brutal in a way that there would be next to nothing there, except for a couple of haybales that could be used as a temporary last resort shelter. But that's just me. 

As for the hunting, like I mentioned, the issue I have with it is that the dense forest would actually make it very easy. In order for wind to be effective, it needs some open space - too many trees would negate the wind, meaning that survival with just a snow shelter or bedroll will become easy. 

The issue I have with the hunting wasn't really a matter of "there are plenty of low-risk hunting spots" but it was more of a "dense forest makes hunting super easy" kind of argument. By scaring deer towards trees, they will often start running straight at you, giving you some really easy critical hit kills for little effort. The fact that these hunting spots would be far away wouldn't really matter - because even if the forest was dense, walking through it would be relatively easy, especially if there would be no hills in a way that slows you down, not to mention, hollowed out trees and even just dense forest itself provides pretty solid wind protection for a fire which is enough to survive a night out in such region. So, on a hunting trip could be done with over-night bivac. Perfect to get rid of cabin fever. Even if you made this forest as long as a Pleasant Valley, walking it over would be a matter of two-three in-game hours, because even dense forest would give you solid visibility if the elevation in terrain was always the same, which makes for easy travelling. That's why I suggested some of the basic obstacles in a way. I suppose another type of obstacle could be fallen down trees.

[Fuarian]

2 hours ago, Mroz4k said:

Fogs are all cold, when they are in an advanced region. I am talking about the fog I am used to from TWM - it comes almost every morning during the sunrise, and with it the temperatures are at the lowest points of entire day.

I don't want to see any regions added that are easy to survive on. Already too many that are easy to survive in. Forlorn is not really a challenge, either, if you are at least a little bit resourceful, you can find quite a lot of adequate shelters on that mode. I would like to see some "ice plains" region which would be truly brutal in a way that there would be next to nothing there, except for a couple of haybales that could be used as a temporary last resort shelter. But that's just me. 

As for the hunting, like I mentioned, the issue I have with it is that the dense forest would actually make it very easy. In order for wind to be effective, it needs some open space - too many trees would negate the wind, meaning that survival with just a snow shelter or bedroll will become easy. 

The issue I have with the hunting wasn't really a matter of "there are plenty of low-risk hunting spots" but it was more of a "dense forest makes hunting super easy" kind of argument. By scaring deer towards trees, they will often start running straight at you, giving you some really easy critical hit kills for little effort. The fact that these hunting spots would be far away wouldn't really matter - because even if the forest was dense, walking through it would be relatively easy, especially if there would be no hills in a way that slows you down, not to mention, hollowed out trees and even just dense forest itself provides pretty solid wind protection for a fire which is enough to survive a night out in such region. So, on a hunting trip could be done with over-night bivac. Perfect to get rid of cabin fever. Even if you made this forest as long as a Pleasant Valley, walking it over would be a matter of two-three in-game hours, because even dense forest would give you solid visibility if the elevation in terrain was always the same, which makes for easy travelling. That's why I suggested some of the basic obstacles in a way. I suppose another type of obstacle could be fallen down trees.

I get what you're saying. Maybe have this be a transition region then. Because challenging or not, I still want a region that looks and has this sort of feel to it. Mystery Lake kinda has this around Trapper's Cabin but still has too many hills for my liking. 

Really all I want for Sandbox gameplay is something that keeps you invested. Like a change in weather patterns or animal population die-offs that force you to change regions. Stuff like that.

[Mroz4k]

2 hours ago, Fuarian said:

I get what you're saying. Maybe have this be a transition region then. Because challenging or not, I still want a region that looks and has this sort of feel to it. Mystery Lake kinda has this around Trapper's Cabin but still has too many hills for my liking. 

Really all I want for Sandbox gameplay is something that keeps you invested. Like a change in weather patterns or animal population die-offs that force you to change regions. Stuff like that.

Not sure where, but I remember seeing a topic which was a suggestion to "shelter vulnerability" - meaning the weather could cause a tree to fall, which would ruin the cabin a lot and cause weather to get inside. I feel like that would be a pretty cool addition that could literally force someone to switch bases. But I get what you are saying. I think it would be actually really cool if a regularly hunted region spawned less and less of the particular animal - so if someone lived in the Mystery lake and continuously hunted rabbits and deer only, then after several cycles the animals would spawn less and less until there would be none left - except for ever-present wolves who were not hunted at all. This could be really cool in two ways - first of all, killing off wolves in your region would make it safer for a while, and people who wish to go for long-term survival would be forced to go on long hunting trips into other regions and hunt and cure items there, instead in your primary region, to make sure you can always find food in your home region when you need it.

I am not saying that the deep forest is a bad idea - in fact, I think is an amazing idea - just not necessarily the way you want it to be. The terrain you described would be way too easy to navigate - so if there won't be hills in a way, there need to be other obstacles that will make it more difficult to navigate inside.

I get how you feel - part of why I really love living on Timberwolf Mountain is because out of all the places, it has most of that sort of "raw nature" feel to me. Despite having plane scraps everywhere... Only other places like that are the woods around Trappers like you said, maybe the surrounding around the PV pond or up around the Skeeter´s ridge, and in Coastal the woods around bear creek. 

If there was a region that has that kind of feeling to it I would be happy, too.

[Fuarian]

47 minutes ago, Mroz4k said:

Not sure where, but I remember seeing a topic which was a suggestion to "shelter vulnerability" - meaning the weather could cause a tree to fall, which would ruin the cabin a lot and cause weather to get inside. I feel like that would be a pretty cool addition that could literally force someone to switch bases. But I get what you are saying. I think it would be actually really cool if a regularly hunted region spawned less and less of the particular animal - so if someone lived in the Mystery lake and continuously hunted rabbits and deer only, then after several cycles the animals would spawn less and less until there would be none left - except for ever-present wolves who were not hunted at all. This could be really cool in two ways - first of all, killing off wolves in your region would make it safer for a while, and people who wish to go for long-term survival would be forced to go on long hunting trips into other regions and hunt and cure items there, instead in your primary region, to make sure you can always find food in your home region when you need it.

I am not saying that the deep forest is a bad idea - in fact, I think is an amazing idea - just not necessarily the way you want it to be. The terrain you described would be way too easy to navigate - so if there won't be hills in a way, there need to be other obstacles that will make it more difficult to navigate inside.

I get how you feel - part of why I really love living on Timberwolf Mountain is because out of all the places, it has most of that sort of "raw nature" feel to me. Despite having plane scraps everywhere... Only other places like that are the woods around Trappers like you said, maybe the surrounding around the PV pond or up around the Skeeter´s ridge, and in Coastal the woods around bear creek. 

If there was a region that has that kind of feeling to it I would be happy, too.

-Over-hunting/fishing is a good one. 

-Super blizzards are a good one to force you to either hunker down or leave the region. 

-Cold fronts. 

-Pre-determined main shelters being burned down. Like the Camp Office or Trapper's Cabin, this way you will always have that feeling of dread when coming up upon a location to know if it's burned down or not. Main locations like these that are burned down should have loot surrounding them however. This will force players to take smaller shelters up as their main home. Kinda like when we all first came across the Destroyed Lookout. Not all shelters should behave this way though, it has to make sense.

-Key locations should have more or less loot by chance. Imagine walking into the Gas Station to find it ransacked with almost nothing there. Imagine the townsite being empty. But having someplace like the basement in Crumbling Highway be stocked full of supplies but have it guarded with wolves and be hard to get to. But it would be random so you wouldn't even know at the beginning of the game. Imagine if a minor location you rarely ever visit has tons of loot you need. Obviously for this you would need to balance everything out.

Stuff like that would make it more engaging.

[ArcherAC3]

17 hours ago, Mroz4k said:

If we want some deep forest, it wouldn't have blizzard in it, but lots of cold fogs that make it easy to get lost in this region with little landmarks, but there would have to be some deep tectonical cuts in the ground, perhaps with a river and cattails to the bottom of it, and fallen trees, landslides and rock "bridges" over them, maybe even a rope-craftable bridge (new mechanic that could make TWM more interesting as well). Tons of wolves, some deer, and lots of rabbits. Moose too if it is added, cougars too. Not a lot of bears. Make it challenging hunting location.

It shouldn't be easy to go everywhere you want, but still, it should be easy to get lost in this environment so not much hills, just some general deep cuts in the earth that provide some obstacles into the way. Only "wind" would be present in rare clearings like the ones around the land cuts and rivers, but deep in the forest there would be no blizzards or wind, instead the "cold" temperature would be higher to compensate for the wind. This would also make your clothing less effective which adds to the challenge. 

Yes, totally, +1 (for this highlighted part!)

I actually agree with everything you said besides that this wouldn't be an interesting region. I'd love to have a huge forest, risk getting lost and be forced to hunt - this, with the features you mentioned.

[EricTheGreat12]

On 2017-09-27 at 5:31 AM, Mroz4k said:

Gonna be the unpopular opinion, here.

I don't really see what this brings to the game. So, it's a new forest, just really big. Besides the fact that it would be incredibly super easy to hunt in that kind of forest, I don't see much its potential. I get that attempt to make a forest that is similar to FM in its sense but this doesn't seem very challenging if you can just walk around everywhere as there are no natural obstacles like mountains in the way. Makes navigation against animals pretty easy... except for the moving bear which can be everywhere... and by the way, that idea would need to have the bear re-worked as an animal to work. Bears in the game are fixed to a single location, like the rest of animals. While I like the idea of a travelling animal, for it to be worth the time spent, it would need to be applied to some other animals as well - not worth to apply it to a single bear in a single region. 

Blizzard would be highly immersion breaking - blizzard requires strong wind to form, and the dense forest would easily break that wind. You would be completely safe from it. On the contrary, fog would likely happen often. 

Putting lower temperature aside, this would really seem like an easier-to-survive-in place than general. As long as there is one cabin capable of sustaining indoor survival, this becomes a base where one can survive quite easily, assuming they brought in supplies like cloth, tools and matches with them. Firewood everywhere, plants and saplings everywhere, game everywhere. Craft yourself two layers of craftable clothes to slow down on cloth necessity and you can live like a king in this region. 

One thing you have clearly not considered is how incredibly easy would be to survive outdoors in this region. As long as you can build a fire, you can just sleep by a fire everywhere you are... firewood is plentiful, there is no wind present in the dense forest, and if you choose, you can actually build several fires (form a triangle ideally) to stay warm and keep all the critters away. Don't have experience with Aurora but I believe that even during Aurora, animals won't go past a lit campfire, so a triangle around your bedroll would keep you safe enough. Of course, if blizzards could happen there would still be this risk, but like I said before, if there is no wind in the region, there cant be any blizzard either. And unless the blizzard would happen very often (2-3 times a day), it doesn't actually diss the campfire trick too much. Just sleeping in short intervals would make it safe enough.

Combining the most challenging aspects of individual regions we already have doesn't necessarily result in a challenging region.

If we want some deep forest, it wouldn't have blizzard in it, but lots of cold fogs that make it easy to get lost in this region with little landmarks, but there would have to be some deep tectonical cuts in the ground, perhaps with a river and cattails to the bottom of it, and fallen trees, landslides and rock "bridges" over them, maybe even a rope-craftable bridge (new mechanic that could make TWM more interesting as well). Tons of wolves, some deer, and lots of rabbits. Moose too if it is added, cougars too. Not a lot of bears. Make it challenging hunting location.

It shouldn't be easy to go everywhere you want, but still, it should be easy to get lost in this environment so not much hills, just some general deep cuts in the earth that provide some obstacles into the way. Only "wind" would be present in rare clearings like the ones around the land cuts and rivers, but deep in the forest there would be no blizzards or wind, instead the "cold" temperature would be higher to compensate for the wind. This would also make your clothing less effective which adds to the challenge. 

Only a single "cabin" location in the region, and even that is a stretch in my opinion. Could instead have like an outdoors hunting camp or a lumbermill which would be open, and maybe a burnt cabin next to it, or a typical shack like FM homestead. Caves would be the indoor locations for this location. For other "civilized" loots, you would have corpses, and occasional hunter´s blind or a ruined snow shelter. Could even have like a tourist trail camping ground for more civilized loots, something similar to bear creek on Coastal.

Occasional sharp rock pillar that cant be walked over to add the region a bit more immersion and obstacles, but still keeping the general land very open - because a forest would never grow up on an entirely flat area, such area would be battered by winds and nothing more past bushes would grow there.

Thats just my opinion on make it more immersing and also challenging while offering something new to the game. Not to diss your suggestion but it didnt really feel challenging enough, more like a lovely hunting place to go to.

One thing that I think is good and bad is that the Devs made every region unique. While I think it is a good idea, I feel that every new region that comes out has to always be better. Having a simple map would be very interesting in my opinion 

[oplli]

On 27/09/2017 at 11:43 AM, Fuarian said:

I get what you're saying. Maybe have this be a transition region then. Because challenging or not, I still want a region that looks and has this sort of feel to it. Mystery Lake kinda has this around Trapper's Cabin but still has too many hills for my liking. 

Really all I want for Sandbox gameplay is something that keeps you invested. Like a change in weather patterns or animal population die-offs that force you to change regions. Stuff like that.

Yeah i think is could be really funny and i hope we will se that chages in the game.

[MarrowStone]

A year or so ago, there was a discussion on these forums about a map suggestion VERY similar to this, and i still agree that a deep forest map with only blinds, caves and another mountaineers hut, would probably be my favourite location. 

In that previous thread we discussed a new obstacle type: underbrush that damaged your clothing and slowed movment, provided refuge to animals and make it hard to sneak. Im not sure whether itd be a good thing to add or not but just throwing it out there. (I think ravines and rolling terrain is enough to get people lost.)

I also believe it brought up the suggestion of tree stands to replace the blinds. Ill look for that discussion and link it here if i find it.

I liked one of the above ideas to add a climbing rope to inside a cave as well, caves are creepy enough and hearing your rope stretch and echo through the cave as you climb a cliff face in near darkness to that creepy soundtrack would probably be very inmersive. (Light would probably have to flood in from a hole in the cave's ceiling so you can see well enough to climb.)

[MarrowStone]

The first comment on the post called it "deep forest"too. Haha

However, half of it was a shouting match on how boring such a map would be, so ideas on making the map as unique and interesting as possible should resolve that.

[Rusty_Old_F250]

I love the idea of a map like this, but I think for this to work it needs to be massive, and I mean MASSIVE! Bigger than PV by a large margin. Minimal landmarks, very easy to get lost even if you know it well. One of the "problems" I run into is I know the maps so well, I never get lost anymore.

One more idea: make it border the ocean, with a very isolated fishing village along the coast. 

Sam

 

 

[Mroz4k]

4 hours ago, Rusty_Old_F250 said:

I love the idea of a map like this, but I think for this to work it needs to be massive, and I mean MASSIVE! Bigger than PV by a large margin. Minimal landmarks, very easy to get lost even if you know it well. One of the "problems" I run into is I know the maps so well, I never get lost anymore.

One more idea: make it border the ocean, with a very isolated fishing village along the coast. 

Sam

So, if you get lost, pick a direction and walk in a straight line. If you run into the border of the map, pick left or right. If you still cant find a way to locate your wherebouts, by circling around you will eventually find the ocean which is an insane border-mark in itself, so with the ocean in place, it would not be difficult to get unlost in that region.

And trust me, PV sized forest would be enough to get lost into - the fact that majority of PV is a plain that is almost entirely exposed, it feels like that map is not that big. But it is big. If it was densely forested, it would be easy to get lost in.

[Rusty_Old_F250]

On 10/5/2017 at 11:05 PM, Mroz4k said:

So, if you get lost, pick a direction and walk in a straight line. If you run into the border of the map, pick left or right. If you still cant find a way to locate your wherebouts, by circling around you will eventually find the ocean which is an insane border-mark in itself, so with the ocean in place, it would not be difficult to get unlost in that region.

That's true, but I think a massive map would be an effective damper on how effective the corner strategy would be. 

Basically my idea is a map that is, although not devoid of landmarks, large enough and with very similar terrain, that it would be easy to become lost even if you know the area fairly well. Picture the forested stretch between trappers homestead and the rail line and you'll get the general idea of what I have in mind.

One of my favorite things about timberwolf mountain was how similar all the different layers of terrain were (at first glance), and how difficult it was to form a mental picture of the place. 

Sam

[MarrowStone]

Also the added hilly terrain with some small flat parts and ravines cutting through would render the map strategy of, "find the border" easier said than done. Also, if the border was more rounded instead of rectangular then getting your bearings would be even harder because the wall isnt able to be used as a big arrow and following it would be inefficient due to it not being a straight line. 

A densly forested, hilly area with most climbable, possible ravines and a rounded border would be a very challegnging map to navigate indeed, not to mention wildlife you meet will likely be right on top of you by the time you see them. 

[Cattleman]

Just my opinion or idea of how I picture a region like this to be... Imagine Forlorn Muskeg the size of Pleasant Valley or larger... Have you ever tried to navigate FM in a thick fog?... Really easy to get lost! Now lets add/change the environment to make this new region unique... Instead of weak ice throw in the afore mentioned ravines maybe with a river or stream in the bottom of one, now cover 80% of the map with dense forest (a couple areas/places so dense you can just barely walk between the trees) and a rolling terrain, probably only one major location with a building that is easy to find (accessed by a road, easily followed trail, or on the highest or lowest elevation in the region... Something that can be easily found from 1 and only 1 other region transition point), and 1 or 2 other major locations that are completely isolated and are very hard to find (no road or trail access and not visible until you are nearly within spitting distance), then about 4 or 5 minor locations that are sometimes destroyed, add the possibility of a peppers cache to spawn in one of say 8 different locations (or what ever number of possibilities ML and PV have), add a few caves and tunnels (maybe a ravine bottom could be accessed through a tunnel), very little processed food to be found (except preppers food cache), lots of natural resources (OMB, rose hips, mushrooms, cattails, etc.), weather is very cold, very windy in the few open or high places and in the ravines, thick fog is common but not as frequent as it is on FM... However it may last for several days occasionally, lots of wildlife of all types. All in all even though natural food sources are plentiful this would be a region that would be very very hard to start out in (but still possible even if just barely) and still hard to survive in later because of navigation difficulty, extreme weather, and high likelihood of being attacked by wolves and bears.

[Rusty_Old_F250]

@MarrowStone @Cattleman

Good ideas, I like the ideas of several major locations (i.e. cabin with woodstove) hidden and very tough to find. It's nice to have options when choosing a base.

Like I've said before the key to making this work is size. It has to be big, the bigger the better

One more thing... I really like what the devs have done with the abandoned camp that spawns in one of several spots in FM, let's take that a few steps further by moving entire cabins around. And critical bridges. Leave the one main, easy to find base in the same spot, but randomize the others a bit. 

Sam