V1.30 Stalker Achievement Run II

[Hotzn]

Day 21:

I wake up fully rested in the middle of the night. Errch… hate this. Okay, no sleep micromanagement now, I go up and out to the broken cabin, make a fire at the oven there and prepare more water, waiting for dawn. At dawnbreak, I deposit a lot of water here and take 5 more litres with me to deposit at the Mountaineer’s Hut. It’s snowing heavily, and I take some freezing damage and wet my clothes on the way. Arriving at the hut, I find a hatchet which I overlooked during my first visit (it’s leaning against the outer wall, nice idea). Drop the 60 sticks collected on the way here (strangely, one of those sticks refuses to lie down, standing upright instead),

make a fire and sleep in the bed for one hour (to warm up and shake off some of that tiredness).

Then I veture down to the broken boats, finding another hunting knife and a fishing tackle, collect some 30 cattails on the lake and plenty more firewood in the vicinity to equip the hut. As night falls, an aurora comes up – eerie and beautiful. I light a fire in the fireplace, give it roughly 11 hours of firewood, eat, drink and go to sleep for 10 hours.

[Hotzn]

Day 22:

So… to the summit. I want to make a first stop at the engine in Echo Ravine, and I will take the shortcut down the snowy slope. So I head out onto the lake and half to the right. Crossing the first ridge, I meet a wolf straight ahead and am forced to retreat to the fishing hut. How I wish that wolves could enter fishing huts without doors. As things are, I do it the gamey way, place down the bedroll and sleep for an hour to make the wolf outside despawn. Then the way is clear and I go straight to the engine. Climbing down the cliff, I realize the wolves are moving in an unfortunate pattern, making it difficult for me to go undetected. I hug the cliff and distract one wolf by throwing a stone in another direction. The second one is skulking around the container I am actually here for (I want the coffee which I presume to be inside). So I make a fire and attract ist attention. It approaches, then remembers fires are really terrifying and runs off. Near the container it falls into ist usual strut. This is taking too much time, forget the container. I slip by the wolf, am noticed and pursued but manage to shake it off by entering the engine-to-engine cave to my left.

Inside, I drop the bedroll and sleep for an hour to warm up and give the wolf time to get lost. Then I head back out and turn left towards Nick’s cave (at some time in the past I named the cave thusly, but forgot why – it’s the open cave with three entrances). I enter and leave to the right, then turn left until I reach the next rope. Deer Clearing is waiting up there, with a cave where I will spend the night. But I don’t climb up just yet – there is a deer carcass down here which I harvest completely and which gives me 0.8 kg of venison as additional diet. Then it’s up the rope (barely make it), and right up there I light a fire to cook the meat (better not attract too many wolves while this tired).

Then it’s on to the cave close by, crossing Deer Clearing in the process and harvesting two Cedar limbs on the way. Checking the cave, I see it’s another cave with a temperature jump, here it’s +8°C. Wonder if every cave is different. I drop some stuff (deer hide & guts for curing, firewood), light a fire, make water (also to leave as provision here in the cave) and go to sleep until the fire is out. Checking temperature again without fire, I see I’m okay tonight and sleep another 3 hours into the morning.

[Hotzn]

Day 23:

A crisp morning is greeting me, and I know this is the most difficult day. I will have to cover some distance and height and am not sure of the way. Also I remember running across wolves and bears from here on. This is going to be exciting…

I head out onto deer clearing. Ahead and a little to the left, there is a wolf chomping away on a deer carcass. Is this a „guaranteed spawn“? I’ve seen this scene here more than once before. Ahead and a little to the right is a container on a big rock. But there’s mainly clothes in there, I remember, and I’m not in need of those. I turn right and ascend through some kind of valley. Further up, I get into a wolf situation, because one of two wolves suddenly comes walking down a steep cliff (quite surprising) and corners me without it even noticing. I do some crouching and moving here and there, manage to sprain my ankle in so doing, take painkillers and crouch on. The wolves soon head up the cliff again (must be something interesting there), which leads me into thinking I could sneak off behind them.

[Note the second wolf up to the right, going back to where it came from.]

Wrong. One discovers and pursues me, I am too exhausted to shake it off. Will a flare help? The wolf stops, growling. Now what? Can I still throw the flare? Not sure if I did that or if I dropped it or if the wolf just got tired of waiting – it attacks and I have to drive it away with the hatchet. Damn, down to 48% condition, bleeding, infection risk… only minor clothing damage though, luckily. I have everything on me to treat this, patch myself up and move on. The next rope. I make it up there but am completely exhausted. I harvest a Maple sapling here and enter the cave ahead.

It’s a loading-screen cave, and one I don’t know very well. I’ve been here before on the way to the summit in another run, but my memory is clouded. There is a dead guy in here, and I take his flare as I have used mine against the last wolf. Reaching the other end of the cave, it’s decision time. Move on or rest here? It’s early afternoon, so resting would mean losing time. But I still have a can of banged-up condensed milk (46%) on me. Hmmm… will this give me another food poisoning? But if I press on, I run a risk of running into another wolf and that could be it. I decide to take the food risk… and I’m good. Drink water and off to bed for 10 hours.

[Hotzn]

Day 24:

The next morning sees me back at 100%, but without any further food. The summit must be close, one can sense it… leaving the cave, I turn right and soon recognize the surroundings – I am close to the last rope! There is a small open cave to the left with some climbing equipment and – fittingly – one can of „Summit Soda“. Heh. Well, I see the rope from here. Quite long it is…

Climbing upwards, I remember it is wise to make a pause here on a ledge halfway up. I do so, light a fire and even take a small nap. Feels like home.

Then up the last stretch and… the achievement pops up.

I’ve made it to the summit. Collect a few sticks and then check out the tail section. Ah, there IS a book here after all:

Yet another copy of Wilderness Kitchen. That comes with me. Ah, the view...

Then there is a lot of loot to attend to, and this takes up the rest of the day. When it gets dark, I dismantle some crates, light a fire for 10 hours, eat and drink to my heart’s satisfaction and go to sleep.

[Hotzn]

Somehow day 24 is bugged. I can't remove the wolf picture at the end, it says the picture is "required". What's up there?

[Hotzn]

Day 25:

This day is dedicated to looting the tail section. Of course I find some cured animal hides which I will surely take along. Then there’s the flare gun plus shells, a rifle plus plenty of ammunition and cleaning kits. A flashlight… hm… that’ll probably stay here. But most interesting to me since I can’t remember having had them before are three clothing items:

The balaclava – makes you look like a foolish bank robber, and – interesting – in contrast to other headgear it can only be worn in the inner layer slot.

Of course most of its advantages are lost this way. What remains is the +2.0°C warmth bonus, but that isn’t better than a second wool toque. And although it’s better than the wool scarf at +1.0°C, it is also heavier. The extra +1.0°C comes at an extra +0.15 kg. Haven’t I seen those numbers before?

But next… haha… an expedition parka!

Now this slows me down by -5%, but otherwise its stats are mind-blowing, so it’s probably worth it. And it’s fairly light at 1.50 kg. I think the ski jacket will have to go now, and I’ll upgrade to the expedition parka. Maybe I’ll downgrade from the cool-as-shit gauntlets to wool mittens to regain some speed in return.

Then there’s a fisherman’s sweater...

Superior in every aspect to the thick wool sweater (was the name not „heavy wool sweater“ some time ago?), it’s a no-brainer to wear it on the „inner outer“ layer. You know what I mean.

Also worth mentioning, even if I had them before: climbing socks. Again, superior in every aspect to wool socks, so the latter are exchanged for the climbing socks. Outer layer, of course.

The rest of the day goes into dismantling crates for firewood and thinking what to take along and what not. I probably won’t be coming back here in this run. Then I light a long fire and got to sleep for 10 hours.

[Hotzn]

Day 26:

So… the rifle stays here, since it’s heavy, I want to cover distance and there are other rifles out there. The flashlight as well. A lot of food (sigh) stays. Lots of stuff. I’m just a couple of grams below 30 kg when I start my descent. I climb down the slope where the corpse is, below the tail section. It’s foggy and I lose direction, but remember I have to stick somewhat to the right. Arriving at Crystal Lake without trouble, I drop some provisions in the Hut (might make a hunting trip back down here) and continue on to the bunker at the transition to Pleasant Valley. Again rearrange my equipment and leave provisions, then head out to the picnic area, to the point of disagreement (or what it’s called) and from there over to the burnt cabins above Draft Dodger’s. It’s late afternoon when I arrive here, and I decide to spend the night in the basement below one of the cabins. And that’s a good idea, because I find... this:

Taking a closer look, I am astounded to see that studying this book takes 25 hours. There seems to be a lot to learn about guns. But for now I mend my clothes a little, roll out my bedroll on the floor, have dinner and go to sleep…

[Hotzn]

Day 27:

Hotzn, wake up! Do you still know what you’re doing? It’s the achievement run, and the achievement on the top of the list is Penitent Scholar. So I have to keep moving and collect books I have not yet read. And read them, of course. The next place which could hold a book is Draft Dodger’s cabin. I’ll check that, then get back to the road and head left until I reach the mine to Coastal Highway. Coastal Highway has a lot of places which potentially hold books. I’ll establish a temporary base on Jackrabbit Island or in the Quonset Station. Plunder the map, do some hunting, craft some of the wild clothes. Collect some wood in the process and then do the Deep Forest achievement (keep a campfire running for 3 nights straight). And start mapping Coastal Highway.

This fantastic plan fills me with vigour. But a blizzard is blowing outside during the morning, so I have to start off the day reading into Advanced Guns Guns Guns! Then I walk over to the rope and descend, take a short look into Draft Dodger’s Cabin (nothing of interest here), move over to the road on the frozen river between the Farmstead and the Outbuildings and travel along the road undisturbed to Rural Crossroads. It’s late afternoon when I arrive and I’m exhausted, so I will stay here overnight in the cabin with the bed. There is quite some stuff here from my last visit, I drop some more, do more reading, then at nightfall eat, drink and go to sleep.

[Hotzn]

Day 28:

In the morning, a wolf is sneaking about between the cabins. I manage to sneak around it, follow the road until the trail branches off to the right. I follow the trail to the mine, cross it (just pick up some coal), exit on the other side, turn right and descend to the trailer. Here, I find a wool shirt (though ragged). Maybe I never had this before. Is there such a thing as a wool shirt in real life? All my shirts are made of cotton only. I take it along for later testing. Now down to the road it goes and then onto the ice. By early afternoon, I enter the cabin on Jackrabbit Island. Some stuff here, but nothing spectacular. But… I’m home. This is my favourite base. I store my food in the fridge, clothes in the cupboard, tools on the kitchen counter and so on. First thing I need to do is stock this place with firewood, then make water. So out I go to collect wood, then make a fire next to the cabin (on the veranda, oh yes). When I have made some 18 litres of water, day 29 dawns and I go to bed.

[Hotzn]

Day 29:

It’s been a rough night, so I eat a can of sardines in the morning before going to bed. 20% condition… bam, food poisoning! Ha, I’m an expert on this now… take antibiotics, drink and go to bed for 10 hours. Healed.

My condition is at 71% now, so I presume that the condition loss from food poisoning stops as soon as I take antibiotics and go to sleep. The day is almost over and I want to regain some condition before going on any expedition. So I eat a little dogfood, contemplating my next steps...

I now have plenty of firewood and water. Some food remains, but I will soon need more of that. I also need cured guts to start crafting clothes and make snares. And I want to scour the map for more books. I can combine all that by making a tour along the road, harvesting the occasional deer carcass on the way, leaving the guts somewhere inside to cure, and plundering all buildings. I shall set out tomorrow. The rest of today will be spent gathering some more resources from the vicinity of the cabin. So lessee… aha, in the fishing hut halfway towards Misantrope’s there’s a rifel at 98%. Nice. Also another copy of the Frozen Angler. The dead guy behind the island has another copy of Field Dressing You Kill on him. On the way back up to the cabin I stone a rabbit and take it with me for harvesting within the safety of the cabin. Now I have a gut curing on the floor. That’s enough for today – I have dinner (pork & beans at 31%, no food poisoning), drink and take a look at some of my unread books before going to bed...

[Drifter Man]

10 hours ago, Hotzn said:

Maybe I never had this before. Is there such a thing as a wool shirt in real life? All my shirts are made of cotton only. I take it along for later testing.

A true TLD scientist! Hungry, freezing, encumbered... gets curious about a shirt he found takes it along for testing.

[Hotzn]

19 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

A true TLD scientist! Hungry, freezing, encumbered... gets curious about a shirt he found takes it along for testing.

Of course. Though I have to say that in Stalker you hardly get cold or grow hungry. It's the achievement run alright, so I'll head on. But Interloper is the real stuff. Maybe I even need something more difficult...

[Hotzn]

Day 34:

Fast-forward a bit. I’ve visited the Fishing Camp, Coastal Townsite, the houses further towards Desolation Point and to Misantrope’s, now I’m back on Jackrabbit’s. Didn’t find anything spectacular. Coastal Townsite was infested with wolves (thought I saw five of them), I only managed to search two houses by the seaside there. So far no further readable books.

Food is running low, so I descend onto the ice and chase a deer into a wolf. I aim it so that the deer should go down near my base, but the wolf doesn’t run for the deer immediately – rather falls into a strut, and the deer runs off. Then slows down again into a walk, but the wolf is still in pursuit… deer senses it and takes off again. Both disappear up the slopes of jackrabbit. Interesting, the wolf seems to rather tire the deer down than just run faster. If this is intentional, it’s brilliant and to my knowledge displays the wolf’s natural hunting behaviour. It also makes it more unpredictable where the deer finally goes down, which is also good in my opinion.

Anyway, I creep around the island until I find the wolf, perched above the dead deer. I got the rifle on me and shoot at it from behind, bring it down right there with a lucky shot. Looks like this:

The rest of the day goes into harvesting the deer and parts of the wolf (hide & guts), then a blizzard starts and I retreat into the cabin. Before going to bed, I read 3 more hours into Advanced Guns Guns Guns!

[Hotzn]

Day 35:

Mainly a cooking day – I harvest the meat from yesterday’s wolf, then relight the campfire on the veranda and cook all the meat. I neatly store it here, although it somehow bugs me that all this meat lying about here in the snow does not attract predators. Wolves should come and take it if it’s not in a container. I still have hopes up that Hinterland will introduce such a mechanic. In combination with the introduction of containers this could provide interesting gameplay.

By the way, there seems to be something wrong with the collision on the floor of the veranda - items dropped disappear below the snow cover:

Some daylight remains, so I eat a piece of wolf meat (1% parasite risk) and finish Advanced Guns Guns Guns! The Penitent Scholar achievement does not pop up, so either there is a book out there of which I have not yet seen a copy of, or I really have to read all readable books in the game world, double copies and all. Does any of my dear readers know of any rare book edition I may have missed? The book on field dressing says „Vol. 1“. Is there a „Vol. 2“?

[Hotzn]

Day 36:

Hotzn, that achievement! More books are needed, and where could they be? Maybe I should render a visit to Desolation Point? Search that map for books. Yes, I’ll do that. Just a quick trip, just look for books, leave most other stuff where it is for now…

The morning is misty, but I reach Crumbled Highway (or is it Broken Highway?) without incidents. Search that basement there, cross the mine to Desolation Point, check out the church (find another copy of the Frontier Shooting Guide inside), revert back to Mine No. 5, cross it and then head into Hibernia (have to dance around two wolves here, hide in a car, then run for it). Lots of stuff there, namely another copy of Stay on Target. When I have searched the processing plant, it’s night and I go to bed on the first floor.

[Hotzn]

Day 37:

Trailers next to the processing plant… a Mackinaw Jacket. This is good, but not as good as the expedition parka. I could wear the Mackinaw jacket as second layer (currently there’s a down vest there), and this would give me an additional +1°C. But slow me down considerably. So no. Riken holds nothing special at this point, so on to the lighthouse. It’s really bright inside, which feels good and homey. I also like this little detail very much:

And then on top of the Lighthouse I find this:

So there IS a book on sewing! Has that been around for long? I remember that some time ago @Scyzara reported a sewing book did not exist. Do I remember that correctly? So now it has been added? That might be my missing book! And it only takes 5 hours to read… I have enough food and water on me... it's safe and warm here in the lighthouse... so I read it... and... get the Penitent Scholar achievement!

So it has been established by Prof. Hotzn, a venerable member of the Society of TLD Scientists and a scientist with undisputable reputation in the field that: The achievement Penitent Scholar does NOT require every readable book in the game world to be read. It can rather be assumed that one copy of each existing  readable book is sufficient. The existing books are:

• Field Dressing Your Kill Vol. 1 (for carcass harvesting)
• Wilderness Kitchen (for cooking)
• Survive the Outdoors (for firestarting)
• The Frozen Angler (for ice fishing)
• Frontier Shooting Guide (for rifle/firearm)
• Advanced Guns Guns Guns! (for rifle/firearm)
• Stay on Target (for archery)
• A Sewing Primer (for mending)

[Pillock]

Congrats! What's the next achievement? Have you fired the rifle yet?

[Drifter Man]

Congratulations Professor! Excellent work, the list of books will benefit all survivors who are curious, warm and fed enough to read.

[Hotzn]

13 hours ago, Pillock said:

Congrats! What's the next achievement? Have you fired the rifle yet?

Yes, Sir! The attentive reader will have noticed that I shot a wolf on day 34, as demonstrated by screenshot and explicitly described. You are probably referring to the Silent Hunter achievement or some other which would require me not to fire the rifle for a certain period from starting the run? I already have that achievement. Back in the day when there were only 22 achievements altogether, I had them all.

Well, I was a young man then, and times were different. I would laugh at achievements, obtaining them without any conceivable effort with a flick of my wrist. Now I return, old, worn, weary, perceiving every newly introduced achievement as a threat, an unwelcome task, a challenge to my ever waning powers. But old Hotzn shall not give in. He trudges through the snow, thinking about how @Drifter Manwould drop a fish while naked (bam!). He does not give up. His old hands will break down those youthful and foolish achievements like puny sticks. He will show them...

[Hotzn]

13 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

Congratulations Professor! Excellent work, the list of books will benefit all survivors who are curious, warm and fed enough to read.

Thank you, dear colleague! When we see one quietly reading a book while sipping on a hot cup of herbal tea, we know that is one who is not going down so soon. Not like those who go out into a knife struggle with a wolf wearing their best Sunday attire.

[Pillock]

3 hours ago, Hotzn said:

Well, I was a young man then, and times were different. I would laugh at achievements, obtaining them without any conceivable effort with a flick of my wrist.

No need for bring that into it, I don't think. But things get harder (more difficult, I should say) when we get older.

So, what's the next target?

[Drifter Man]

16 hours ago, Hotzn said:

with a flick of my wrist

[Hotzn]

On 8.6.2018 at 7:28 PM, Pillock said:

So, what's the next target?

Hmm... this very moment I am firing up my rig to continue this run. So I'm thinking about that just now...

[Hotzn]

Day 38:

Hotzn, it’s early morning, and you’re in the Lighthouse. What’s next? The „Desolation Point“ achievement is beckoning – the Riken is near, and if I’m not mistaken all I have to do is collect some coal from the mines, some scrap metal from Hibernia and craft an improvised knife & hatchet. Or is there another improvised tool I am not aware of? But doing that might mean letting that meat I stored on Jackrabbit Island go to waste. I dislike letting meat go to waste. Animals died for it, and I should therefore use it for my sustenance. So I’ll rather return to Jackrabbit and go for the „Don’t starve“ achievement next. I think I have already gone some days into it – I found a lot of prefabricated food in DP and am keeping myself well fed currently.

So… back to Jackrabbit. Wind is mainly blowing into my back, so I am travelling fast. Arriving after only about half a day, I still have time to collect plenty of wood around Jackrabbit Island. Then it’s off to bed.

[Hotzn]

Day 39:

So… there’s plenty of cooked meat left on the veranda. Also enough water from my first big water-making shift. Now I want to diversify my diet by starting to snare rabbits (also to get more guts and rabbit skins). I have one cured gut here, while another four are still curing on the floor. I shall take that gut and head over to the Fishing Camp to craft a snare. Thinking about snares… I used to have one from… where did I pick that up? Trapper’s? Mountaineer’s Hut? But I left that somewhere… can’t remember where… doesn’t matter. I’ll make a new one. I can collect more sticks on the way. And when I’m back, I can do some fishing. So let’s go…

I do some mapping on the way, check out another fishing hut I have not yet visited and do some beach combing (reclaimed wood, cattail stalk and a ruined fish). When I reach Fishing Camp, I realize I have forgotten to bring the cured gut. It’s still in the cabin on Jackrabbit Island, on the floor. Nice, this game is starting to become like real life for me. Frustrated, I dismantle some curtains in the Fishing Camp cabins, craft arrow shafts at the workbench, go to the ice-fishing hut and do some fishing (I’m lucky, catch three fish in 2 hours). I light a fire next to the workbench, cook my fish, make 5 litres of water and sleep in the cabin at the workbench.