SURVIVORMAN - Forlorn Muskeg

[Dan_]

Hello there fellows of Great Bear! Taking "inspiration" from Geltaz's surviving FM challenge and TurkeySteam amazing crack at it, I figure I'd try to survive as long as possible on FM alone, Interloper difficulty as always, no feats allowed. 

Chapter 1

Our survivor open his eyes and is greeted by big boulders framing a frozen creek, it feeds a little delta which in turn disappear into the vast marshland ahead. Behind him the roar of a waterfall eclipses the wind cutting through the cliffs, this is Forlorn Muskeg's easy mode spawn, the Hat Creek. 

I take a brief moment to observe the vastness of the land and the sharp clear skies, looking at the sun position I conclude it is still early morning and there's time to explore the land in search of resources to build my own shelter and thrive, so I'm off to the radio tower that is just left of my current location. 

Interlopists familiar with this place know this is an inviting looting spot with one or two wolves that may patrol the area. No deer in sight makes me a tad nervous but there's no hungry beasts to fear today, there's three possible body spawns one of which can produce a firestriker, worth it's weight in gold if surviving here long term is intended. There was no body in the usual firestriker spot but no reason to drain my morale, the first metal container produces a major score and our survivor walks out from the tower sporting a canadian style wool toque, a chocolate bar to snack on later and my new favourite tool: the can opener. In a challenge where fire time will be limited we need to maximize every opportunity to cook food and make water, having multiple cans is a major victory. 

USEFUL TIDBIT: From my experience dealing with FM, if there is a body on the front of the tower or under the fallen tree that leans onto the rock base that suports the tower, the green backpack next to the body WILL contain a can opener, you can count on it I promise. If there is no body in sight, you better check behind poacher's camp because that's the only other place I've ever found a can opener in FM, although it was probably a random spawn so take it with a barrel of salt. Anyway, back to the main story. 

Having acquired the can opener and the best possible headgear I head down the rocky slopes towards the cave north of poacher's camp, there is a possible Hacksaw spawn and that's a luxury I need in my life. I circle right, strolling through the edge of a wolf patrol route and climb up a boulder to survey the area, no wolf in sight so I make a straight line for the cave. No tool for this guy here but I nab four pieces of coal and skirt back the edge of the ice towards the derailed train. I'm quickly freezing and my condition suffers greatly, the morning offers great visibility but the wind is just relentless and I'm already facing the risk of losing some fingers. I again take wide angles to ensure I'll have at least time to put some distance between me and an eventual attacker and contemplate for a second if I'm being too cautious, but I quickly obtain validation to my slow travelling as the bear sniffs around the hill to my left. I approach the red railcar and find some coal and scrap metal, a can of tomato soup and a piece of cedar. As soon as I turn around to circle back to the other side of the wagons, a wolf states his intentions and engage in pursuit. 

I can't afford to skip looting poacher's so I make my way around the logs and climb up the half sunken railcar, quickly falling towards the ground and making the wolf lose interest, a bit cheaty but that's TLD AI pathfinding for ya. I grab my flare, few pieces of coal and  a sweatshirt in decent condition, this renders my tattered hoodie expendable and grants me one more piece of cloth. Frostbite risk inches towards the 50% mark, I better get a move on. 

Chapter 2(with colored pictures) to follow...

[Dan_]

Chapter 2

I really like having all my fingers so I swiftly depart the railcars towards the high blind, the second hacksaw spawn spot of the map and next on my route. Even though frostbite was on my mind, I made a point to stop and pick cattails, heads and all, for tinder and food. From a distance I can see two pieces of firewood under the lightly colored structure and as I climb up the little mound and set foot on the steps, the hacksaw presents itself. A cooking book and a bottle of acelerant complete the prize haul for this spot, even though I don't get matches here I'm still satisfied, I pick up the two pieces of cedar under the blind on the way out and set foot towards the famed Peanut Butter Rock, only to be greeted by an empty backpack there. 

Heading towards Old Spence, I stop by the shed and pick up more cedar and some scrap metal, I check the ruined house and again get coal for christmas, not even a crappy tee to show for the effort. There's two possible wolf approach angles when you arrive at the derelict farmstead, they might be patrolling towards the shed on the western portion of the farm or approach from the left coming in, often chasing deer and making their presence obvious. As I go over the crest and cross the broken fences there is no hostile locals to greet me. Frostbite risk is at 89% so I head straight for the forge and scramble not able to light a fire, who would've thought you gotta have matches first eh? I grab them and light that forge using that glorious lantern fuel, not wasting any matches is step one towards ensuring decent survival time here. 

As the firebrands start to crack I lay my lonely can onto the forge top and start melting water, I prepare a few mushrooms and rosehips and stoke the fire with some coal. I lay out the can for another half liter and glance over the ruined barn, looting time. Above the huge tool drawers I get a sky jacket, this is an absolute cracking find as there's good possibility the coat you may get at spence's is a down vest, I'm liking the RNG so far. Under the workbench there's my absolute favourite, a pair of work boots, my excitement quickly dies down as the boots are at 22% condition and there's no sewing kit in sight... 

Oh man, I need a prybar for the locker and there is no way of fixing my boots. I break down the crates and feed the fire, there's cash on the safe which is sadly not terribly useful in the current state of affairs and I get to the acelerant and dog food and that's pretty much it for my loot haul here. I store all the scrap metal and five pieces of reclaimed wood on the workbench drawer, hopefully they'll become a fishing tackle for repairs and crafting and a bunch of snares for later. 

It's still mid afternoon and there is not much to be done here other than sleeping, the skies are clear and there are no critters around so I grab a few torches, drink a hot tea and feed the fire to 6 hours. Time to torch walk towards Muskeg Overlook, so I hug the edge of the map and perch up on the rocks to look over the bunkhouses, no wolves in sight as I wonder if they got the day off. I grab the Storm Lantern that's sitting above the ruined barrel and scan for cloth near the pallets, none to be found. Lit torch in hand as I make my progress towards the first cave and there's my first wolf dodging drill. As I walk towards the cave keeping my distance I've suddenly sprain my wrist, go figure. The wolf head towards the cave side so I choose to skirt the ice and come back to the edge of the map as I judge the wolf to be sufficiently far, I spot the moose walking slowly near the edge of the ice. The next cave hands me five pieces of coal so I elect to make a small fire here to fill up my warmth bar again and down another hot tea, as soon as I leave the cave I realize daylight is already scarce, I have 57% condition and my fatigue bar is nearly drained, a wolf struggle here and I'm dead. 

As I walk over the crest overlooking the valley I see a familiar sight at the distance, the abandoned camp has spawned here! I scan for the lone wolf that patrols the valley and he's right next to the entrance to the overlook. I grab the prybar that always spawn with the camp, two cans of tomato soup on the campfire and a pack of crackers on the backpack. I enter the snow shelter and weigh in my options, I could take my time to dodge that wolf and climb up to the overlook, but that would entail moving him away with rocks and that would make me risk losing daylight or even a blizzard, or I can just dismantle the snow shelter and go home.

USEFUL TIP: The overlook has that awesome hollow tree, two pieces of firewood and a deer carcass, making it a killer camping spot. What it also holds is a wonderful green backpack containing a sports vest and crackers, this appears to be a guaranteed spawn. ( part of the game map ) I could surely use the extra piece of cloth and crackers but I felt this was not a risk worth taking, the abandoned camp is a rare spawn and makes your game here much easier so I could afford to skip the overlook. 

I go for the latter and dismantle to shelter, even though my torch burns out in the process the fire by the coal cave is still rocking and I grab two more torches and make my way home to Spence's. I take extra precaution but there's nothing to report on the trip back, the weather holds and I make it back to the firebrands crackling at the ruined barn, very inviting sounds. 

By this point, I also realize I have not been taking screenshots... So have a screengrab of my journal to make up for it, I promise there's more screenies from here onward.

 

[Drifter Man]

This is great! Full of fantastic FM tips from a seasoned Interlopist. Looking forward for more!

Ah, the screenshots... extreme interloping is usually too intense to think about taking pictures.

[Hotzn]

In the footsteps of the intrepid @Drifter Man, there is still some immortality to be gained by conquering FM on Interloper. Can you hit the magical mark of 100 days here? Let‘s find out...

[Dan_]

3 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

This is great! Full of fantastic FM tips from a seasoned Interlopist. Looking forward for more!

Ah, the screenshots... extreme interloping is usually too intense to think about taking pictures.

I know, right? I even got very close to that moose but my first instinct was to put some distance from him and look for the wolf, hitting the screenshot button is never my first thought. Perhaps I should spam the screenie button everytime something interesting is bound to happen. Thanks for following my adventure, hopefully it is up to your gameplay and writing standards good sir!

28 minutes ago, Hotzn said:

In the footsteps of the intrepid @Drifter Man, there is still some immortality to be gained by conquering FM on Interloper. Can you hit the magical mark of 100 days here? Let‘s find out...

Aw man, that is a quite tall order. I'll push for as much time as I can, though there's no fishing in FM and I only got eleven matches from all the possible spawns, so food and fire will be major concerns. I have a good plan for both so after I set myself up at base camp we can better evaluate our long term chances. Thanks for stopping by!

[Cr41g]

a seasoned interlopist I am not... but this makes for great reading and contains fantastic info... I would not expect to live long but I would love to give this a go....

[Drifter Man]

51 minutes ago, Hotzn said:

In the footsteps of the intrepid @Drifter Man, there is still some immortality to be gained by conquering FM on Interloper. Can you hit the magical mark of 100 days here? Let‘s find out...

The "intrepid" Drifter Man gave up FM after 5 days  Although it was in part the realization that FM is about "run out of matches, then die". I'll be happy to be proven wrong about this!

What is the record by the way? I remember watching the series by GelTAZ long ago, which came close to 7 days. Has this been officially surpassed by anyone?

[Drifter Man]

19 minutes ago, Dan_ said:

Perhaps I should spam the screenie button everytime something interesting is bound to happen.

I wrote a script once that would push the button for me every 5 seconds. But the chaos on the desktop after the game was just unmanageable.

[Dan_]

1 hour ago, Cr41g said:

a seasoned interlopist I am not... but this makes for great reading and contains fantastic info... I would not expect to live long but I would love to give this a go....

You absolutely can, Forlorn is tiny and if you manage to avoid bad company you can totally make it in here. Just a hint, get out of Spence's as soon as you can, that place is a deathtrap. 

49 minutes ago, Drifter Man said:

The "intrepid" Drifter Man gave up FM after 5 days  Although it was in part the realization that FM is about "run out of matches, then die". I'll be happy to be proven wrong about this!

What is the record by the way? I remember watching the series by GelTAZ long ago, which came close to 7 days. Has this been officially surpassed by anyone?

It's 14 days, by TurkeySteam. He also got only one pack of matches and run out unfortunately. There's more random match spawns but unfortunately I haven't got none on this specific adventure. GelTaz made it into 5 days, but he barely knew the map when he did it. I'm sure he could survive long term here if he wanted now.

Chapter 3

Back at the open concept barn, our survivor warms himself up and feeds more coal into the fire preparing himself for a full night of healing sleep. This is still our first fire and this is the one I intend to use for the next day, travelling in strong winds is not really an option and this is where Forlorn can be bad. Apart from clear skies and blizzards, there's two weather patterns which are common around this place, it's either foggy or windy. Windy conditions will destroy your warmth bar, wipe out your fires and pummel your condition into submission, fog is the way to go here. I got lucky with the canned foods here as they all have over 50% condition so I down some dog food through my neck, that chocolate bar to soften any bad aftertaste and hit the sheets. 

There is just under three hours of firetime as I wake up to very thick fog, this is sort of what I wanted but visibility is null and I just can't travel like this, I need the fog to lift up a bit and at least give me range to see the wolves before they see me. I set on to cook water and prepare teas, I grab torches and feed coal back to the fire as time goes on and the fog doesn't submit. It's nearing the middle of the afternoon when finally I get to see past the fences, I drink my ready made hot tea and grab even more torches. I leave one hour of firetime behind, if a blizzard hits I can make it back and spend another night here, but the weather seems agreeable for now. 

Coming back from the farmstead I usually chose to stick to the east side of the ice bridges and make a left after that to avoid the railcars, I pick cattails and a single rosehip bush that I overlooked on the way in. There's wolves around poachers so I keep west towards the Broken Railroad exit and then aim for the hat creek, my fire is still going and the fog is lifting so I make haste up the frozen creek and climb up the rocks on the left to avoid the cave system for now, I need to be quick if I want to maximize this fire. I arrive at the marsh ridge open cave and loot my stim. The backpack and container produce a can of peaches and a pair of fleece mittens, I'm speechless, no need of rabbit mitts for a long time.

The new fire layout looks much bigger than before but if you have a flat surface you can pretty much place it anywhere, so I stick it as much as  inside the rocks as I can, being mindful of the cooking rocks orientation, of course. I feed the fire and realize I did not tear my clothes while at Spence's, hopefully the weather holds. 

The thought process here is simple, stuff that is useless warmth wise and clothing that decays too quickly will go. I elect to tear down the sports socks, the 33% hoodie and my already ragged thermal underwear, yes, I'm going full commando. I proceed without being bothered by the weather and build my home base without any hiccups, feels cozy doesn't it? 

Here's my clothing loadout for now. I've got the scarf by the abandoned camp but forgot to mention it in my euphoria state, boots and pants are in miserable condition, I elect to keep using the leather shoes. 

It's still late in the afternoon and I already made 5 liters of water, so I feed the fire some more and wander to check that poor fella who died by the ridge. There's nothing of use here but there's also nothing to fear, that moose sighting east of the bunkhouses usually means he's not around here, I've got this place just for myself. Investigating a little further I stumble upon a deer carcass laying near the western edge and there's 2.8Kg of meat, score. I head back for the fire to grab a lit torch and harvest the deer, which I do without hassle. I cook the meat and some water and head back to camp, fire is still going so I make even more water and end up with nearly 10 liters out of the deal. I run quickly to the cave and drop the guts and hide there. 

My firewood is running low so I go for some sleep and let the fire die down, I sleep in chunks and keep checking the temperature regularly as per protocol. It's nearly morning and I recovered little condition but my fatigue bar is nearly full, I've got a home base now, time to think about long term plans and enjoy a bit. 

[Ruruwawa]

@Dan_  Great story!  You've had some good luck for loot, esp. hat and gloves (take that, frostbite!).  And not so good luck in the matches / firestarter department.  

I think I'm starting to see your approach now: sustain an outdoor fire for as long as possible while you sup on cattails, tea and bunnies.  I hope you go far.

[Dan_]

Thanks for following @Ruruwawa! That's pretty much the plan, I'm kinda hoping the snares feed me for a good while, there are other bunny producing regions which I can also set up my snares but these are also wolf territory. I won't be able to play for a few days, but I'll have another go at it by the weekend and have some more succint posts up by then, I presume there will be much more of a routine for the next few days.

[MrBlack]

I follow your thread with great interest!  Thanks for creating it, it's full of valuable information and I must say that your writing skills are incredible...  Keep it up!  Cheers, I hope you make it as long as possible! 

[Dan_]

On 30/07/2018 at 3:32 PM, MrBlack said:

I follow your thread with great interest!  Thanks for creating it, it's full of valuable information and I must say that your writing skills are incredible...  Keep it up!  Cheers, I hope you make it as long as possible! 

Thank your for the nice words! English is not my first language but I do my best to rectify any crass mistakes as I write, hopefully the text is readable without much effort. 

This series is unfortunately halted until I can get my PC fixed, shouldn't take more than two weeks or so. With luck my saves will still be there when I get it running again. 

Cheers!