discussion General ML Survival

[RuggedlySurviving]

When you load up a sandbox save in ML, where do you find yourself gravitating towards and why?  How long do you typically stay in ML? Where do you personally think is the best place for loot?

This is just a follow up article. All of these questions relate to a typical Voyager save or a custom save with similar aspects. 

Feel free to answer some if not all of these questions, I just want to get peoples’ opinions on these matters. Thanks for your time and reading. 

[scuttlebum]

Personally, I'm always drawn to the Trapper's Homestead. I love it because it's homey on the inside, especially after I've set up camp and put some pelts down to cure. Rarely do I break down the furniture inside to keep that homey feeling. Aesthetics aside, I find the high vantage point and large clearing in front of the homestead a bonus. It gives me a good line of sight and I can keep an eye out for predators before setting off.

There's the abundance of wildlife all around. I have no issues getting a steady supply of rabbit using traps and stones. Deer are easy to hunt and the occasional moose has given me way more meat than I can consume (as well as the biggest pelt I've ever harvested in TLD!). There's a bear cave nearby but not too close for comfort. Wolves don't tend to roam too close to the Homestead. From my high vantage point, I can shoot a bear or moose with my rifle or bow and make a quick break to safety indoors.

Sticks and firewood can be gathered easily from the surrounding woods. Hugging the mountain edge I can take a pretty safe route to the tunnel leading to to the Forlorn Muskeg, evading wolves. In clear weather, it's a quick walk to the Camp Office and to the lake.

I can camp outdoors in the open barn in front of the Trapper's Homestead to prevent Cabin Fever. Often I make trips to the lake with a stack of firewood and my bedroll for overnight fishing trips. Sometimes I trek up to the Forestry Lookout for a vacation with a view.

I don't tend to set up in the Camp Office because it just feels a little too big for one person. I'm not a fan or running up and down the stairs either.

Carter Hydro Dam is the best place for loot, but I've never made it home. It's too creepy! And a bit depressing. The ghost of Fluffy still haunts me lol.

If I start off at Mystery Lake, I often stay about 30 days. Sometimes 40. A long time, but I like taking the time to fully explore the area, making sure I'm well set up before I leave. By the time I transition to the next area, I usually have a couple of crafted fur clothing items, a good supply of cat tails and a brand new bow with a few arrows (arrowheads typically scavanged from the Dam and Unnamed Pond).

Hope this helps!

 

[Mixxut]

Personally I have always liked camp office more as it's closer to the fishing huts. I use it as my main base. I have most of my items there

I also have a base at trappers cabin where I have my meat storage. I have my snares and my hunting equipment there. (Snares are behind the trappers cabin and I hunt deers at unnamed pond)

ML is a perfect map to play in. You can stay there forever and if you need more arrows there is a forge near

 

[Cr41g]

had to vote other for best base... because Lake Overlook cave... and I am going to sound like a broken record but I think it is the best place to set up..

It is the most central location on the map close to the Lake hunting ground for deer, close to fishing, wood and rabbits right on your doorstep, no chance for cabin fever... camp office workbench just down the hill... it's win win

[RuggedlySurviving]

8 minutes ago, Cr41g said:

had to vote other for best base... because Lake Overlook cave... and I am going to sound like a broken record but I think it is the best place to set up..

It is the most central location on the map close to the Lake hunting ground for deer, close to fishing, wood and rabbits right on your doorstep, no chance for cabin fever... camp office workbench just down the hill... it's win win

I don’t know why, but I’ve never been drawn to that cave. It’s never really occurred to me to set up there. Avoiding cabin fever for me is typically the shelter near Trapper’s or an elongated stay at the fishing hut with a door.  However from what you’ve said, I think I’ll give that cave a try next time I do a run in ML. 

[Dan_]

ML has the luxury of three great base spots: Trapper's, Dam and Camp Office. 

To me personally, the camp office wins because of that awesome warm cave which you can easily find even in a raging blizzard. You can pretty much craft anything during the day and sleep at the cave, you won't get cabin fever ever during the crafting process. 

A lot of fir limbs also spawn up there so you can hacksaw them in warm days without losing condition, there's fishing, there's crafting, there's early game food in the form of cattails and more sticks on the surrounding area than either Trapper's or the Dam. From the derailment to the edge of the rails near the deadfall area and circling back to the camp office, you can easily find nearly 70 sticks. 

I voted for the camp office, but I usually keep all three bases supplied with water, meat and firewood. 

[Khan_Drichthyes]

I alternated between Camp office and Trapper's.

I chose Trapper's for Moose hunting because it's the only place I've seen the moose in ML.

As for food, I'll take anything and everything I can get.

[Sito]

Trappers is my main base for the whole island, but I have additional bases in each region as I travel around. Best place to shoot a moose is from the fence outside trappers if Bullwinkle happens to be down there. I had to run for the door a few times but it is nice to have all that meat close by. I still have 3/4 of him cooked and cooling on the snow

[MrBlack]

I usually set up camp at trappers. Homey and welcoming, beautiful scenery...  Deer close by, an excellent rabbit Grove behind it and the moose hanging about makes a perfect meat supermarket.  Easy access to forlong and the cave to MT right next to it.  The entrance to the cave is an excellent spot for a snow shelter, well protected from the wind, even in a ragging blizzard i can keep a fire going all night.  

I usually stay about 30 days gathering all possible resources before leaving for another region...  The best loot location I think is the dam..lots of everything... 

[ajb1978]

Camp office as primary, Trappers as secondary.  With the fishing huts, ML can be a great place to rack up your days survived with minimal effort.  Purge the wolf pack from the lake, stock a fishing hut with food and water, then go on a 2-3 day no-sleep fishing marathon, haul your catch back to the camp office (several trips), then sleep off the exhaustion damage.  Bam, you're set for food for a long time.  Especially at fishing level 5, you can get a couple weeks worth of food out of a solid fishing marathon.  A month plus if you ration.  Eat fish while you forage for firewood, restock your fishing hut, then repeat the process.  Hunt deer and moose if you get bored, but in ML, fish is my primary source of food.

Edit: If you have to start a fire to keep warm, set a pot on the stove and boil water while you fish.  Free food, free water, zero risk.  Trap rabbits for extra gut, and make trips to carter to chop up some shelves if you need metal for hooks.

Oh and as for WHY I pick the camp office, #1 is the close proximity to fishing huts.  Also it's central on the map and pretty much equidistant from anything. So if a spontaneous blizzard picks up, I don't have far to go.  And there are three total cook surfaces inside, and while yes it's an inefficient use of fuel, firing up that pot belly stove on the ground floor allows me to cook and boil 50% faster than just the upstairs stove alone.

[Skelegutplays]

Camp office because its so safe and has fishing and deer nearby and is in the center of the map.

[Nogen]

My choice always go to the Trapper's Homestead. It's so cozy. You got everything there; deer, rabbit, wood, sappling, a craft table.... Plus, it is far enough from every hostile wildlife allow you to get out without being caught by surprise.

But for me, the icing on the top is that it's the only building that have light at his windows when it is dark. There's nothing I love more in this game when I finally reach the clearing in front the Homestead as bad weather rise, after a long day of walking, my survivor being exhausted and hungry and see these welcoming windows in the distance.

Before The Long Dark, I wouldn't believe that a video game could make you feel such a strong feeling of homecoming.

[Swales]

I've usually stuck to the Camp Office, but I like that the Trapper's Homestead is easier to navigate in deep darkness. Nothing like crafting into the late evening on the ground floor at the Camp Office, then wasting 20 minutes stumbling around counters and up the stairs just to find the bed! (I know I could use a light source, but it seems like a waste.)

[Hackfleisch]

Camp Office, I always like the easy access to both fish and rabbits, especially since ice fishing is the most relaxing thing in the game, so it quickly becomes my main food source. Once in a while you'll get a deer wandering right outside for easy hunting, it's just the most convenient spot in the game. So convenient in fact, that after a few weeks I start looking for a new place because it gets too easy there.

[Doc Feral]

Trapper's (I usually call it Jeremiah's) cabin. There's a rock on the backyard which can enhance the durability of snares and you can have one or two rabbits every morning. The field on the front is a spawning site for deer and moose, and there's a bear lair right behind the rocky hill near the open hut. If you're lucky enough you can see a bear fall from the sky. You can easily go to Milton. You can quickly reach the Nameless pond which is a good hunting spot too. The hut is a decent shelter if cabin fever starts becoming an issue. And there's a good deal of storage space in many containers (not to mention the abandoned backpack outside for meat). And on top of that, you can jump from the rocks and reach a safe bearproof ledge without risking an injury.
That said, I've been staying in the dam recently. Being a total weirdo I've carried all skins and guts to the fishing camp in CH to use an outdoor workbench and avoid cabin fever. After doing all the legwork I realized I could have kept crafting in the dam and go for a sleepover party in a cave in the Ravine, which happens to be at a ridiculously small distance and with plenty of deer nearby. I felt so embarassed I decided to move to Pleasant Valley.

[amorphea]

I personally adore trapper's cabin. There is enough ways to hunt for food as in rabbits, deer and the occasional moose. It is pretty safe, camp office has too much wolf activity for my taste. There is a ton of wood between the cabin and the unnamed pond. It has easy access to milton and forlorn. So for me it trumps camp office any time the only thing you could possibly miss is the fishing huts but i have more meat then i know what to do with anyway.

[FunkyFuggerson]

The camp office is usually my favorite since it sits snuggly right in the middle of everything. But on interloper and stalker I usually hole up in the trappers, interloper especially since I always seem to find a bear there for easy meat! The dam doesn't do it for me as a base, but heres a tip I picked up from a player called atheenon, The dam is a good place to store loot for trips, as it connects to many, different regions. You have the winding river to PV, the ravine to CH, and if your coming from either to ML you have the dam to shelter in. The whole place connects to a bunch of regions for easy traveling, so if you leave some supplies it will turn out in your favor. 

[hozz1235]

On 7/5/2018 at 5:11 PM, RuggedlySurviving said:

When you load up a sandbox save in ML, where do you find yourself gravitating towards and why?  How long do you typically stay in ML? Where do you personally think is the best place for loot?

I try to get to TWM as quickly as possible to get all that great loot while it's still in good condition.  Scavenge along the way to ensure I'm geared for it.