Newly discovered region near Milton

[peteloud]

After playing well over 800 game days of TLD I have just discovered an area in the Mountain Town region.  I have checked maps of Milton region and could not find any that showed this area.

I suspect that many people might have missed this area.  The only named place in this area is 'Rocky Refuge'.  So if you have been there we are talking about the same area.

The area has a pass to Forlorn Muskeg although I haven't tried that yet.

No, I am not going to show my map, it would take the fun out of the discovery.

 

[Guest jeffpeng]

The area is called The Milton Basin. The pass to Forlorn Muskeg leads to an elevated portion of that map from which you can get to the main part by traversing a cave.

I've been living in that basin for in-game weeks on a previous stalker game. There also is a broken down house, the Hermit's Cabin, which is probably your best option for shelter (even has a proper wood stove). I've seen Moose down there repeatedly, but also wolves and a bear. So probably not the safest area to be around.

[peteloud]

That sounds like the place. I used the ruined cabin, not named on my map.  I was playing at Voyager level and saw no moose or bears, although there were signs of moose.

[Guest jeffpeng]

I guess the bear is a pretty rare random occurrence, since I've only seem it once. But I've actually never been down there on Voyageur I think.

[MHDan]

I lived in Milton Basin for a while, was my place of death on my very first stalker attempt, those wolves are relentless! I had made a snow shelter just round from the hermets cabin, underneath an outcrop of the cliff, really wind and snow proof.

[peteloud]

There's a very good cave there too.  It didn't appear on my map when I sketched that part, even tho' I was close to and looking directly at the cave.

At Voyager level Hermit's Cabin, with its stove, takes some beating. The deer stand nearby waiting to be shot and rabbits run around.  It was a very tame area.  I saw no bears, no moose and very few wolves, there were lots of deer and rabbits.  There were loads of rosehips and birch saplings.

[Guest jeffpeng]

I've been in the area again just yesterday. Where is there a cave? That one escaped me completely until now.

Thinking about it I'm actually not entirely sure about the bear. I might actually remembering running into the bear from Forlorn Muskeg after leaving the area. But other than that - yeah the area is quiet. With a cave there I might actually wonder if this wouldn't be a good spot to "settle down" for high days games. As you pointed out the area is abundant with food and firewood, and it has direct access to FM with and actually rather easy path to the forge.

[JErosion]

I think the Milton Basin is more interesting than the rest of Milton.

[Guest]

Astrid!..

Astrid!...

Astrid was hanging out in Milton Basin the entire time.

 

[Guest jeffpeng]

2 hours ago, JErosion said:

I think the Milton Basin is more interesting than the rest of Milton.

Indeed.
 

21 minutes ago, Vonwoah said:

Astrid was hanging out in Milton Basin the entire time.

So I DID see a bear down there....

[Guest jeffpeng]

I guess the best thing about the basin is that while virtually the entire map is "wolves-stacked-on-top-of-wolves", you only get to see the proverbial lonely wolf down there every couple of days. I sometimes really wonder if Milton deserves the "beginners" rating since I actually find it hard to stay in the area for a prolonged period of time. You just get overrun by those beasts, and they are much harder to avoid than on Mystery Lake - plus they actually sneak up on you house-to-house-fighting style.... So many times I've left the Milton Manor, looking around, thinking "ah no wolves, good" only to be jumped by two that pop out of nowhere xD

[peteloud]

10 hours ago, jeffpeng said:

Where is there a cave? That one escaped me completely until now.

Awww, Come on, you don't think I would tell you that.

It is not difficult to find.  It's not hidden away, or anything like that.

[Guest jeffpeng]

29 minutes ago, peteloud said:

Awww, Come on, you don't think I would tell you that.

It is not difficult to find.  It's not hidden away, or anything like that.

Then how the hell did I miss it xD I'll take a loot later. I've got a dude in Milton ready to depart this godforsaken wolf den.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Found it. It's indeed not hard to find, but then again easy to miss - if that makes any sense. It's a standard cave layout, +8°C on day 23, and in my case even containing a 15 kg backpack in the outside section. The wolf roams right past it, so this could be possibly problematic. Still need to confirm on if there can be a bear down there or not, which would make it possibly a bear cave in some games. But other than that it massively upgrades the area. Ah, and you can actually map the cave. If you map standing literally right before it, it will show up as a proper cave on the map.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Alright, actually there seems to be a possibility for two wolves, which makes things a bit harder and less desirable as an endgame hideout.  Plus I find it hard to collect enough firewood to really keep the fire going all day every day even if I had firestarting 5 on this guy. Food situation however is marvelous with rabbits and deer almost begging for me to kill them. And not having to cross ML to make it to the forge as I would have to from the ravine is still a big plus.

[peteloud]

On 7/29/2018 at 11:45 AM, jeffpeng said:

The pass to Forlorn Muskeg leads to an elevated portion of that map from which you can get to the main part by traversing a cave.

I didn't have to traverse a cave.

I returned to the basin to have another go at mapping the cave.  I made at least four charcoal maps and the cave still didn't appear on the map. One viewpoint was a few metres back and a little to the right, another a few metres back to the left, another from the top of a rocky outcrop looking down on it, and one was a step or two inside the cave.

 

[Guest jeffpeng]

4 hours ago, peteloud said:

I didn't have to traverse a cave.

Well you'll end up on the north-west corner of the map, on a plateau. I think there also is a rope leading down, but there definitively is a cave to get you down on the normal level of FM. Of course, you can always goat down there.

[MarrowStone]

I remember discovering Rocky Refuge because the three wolves at the farm above the basin forced me onto the rope and i barely made it to the bottom before becoming exhausted.

 I was looking for shelter and found that unused campfire. After a nap and I then found the cave nearby when the wind blew my campfire out.

[peteloud]

2 hours ago, jeffpeng said:

. . . but there definitively is a cave to get you down on the normal level of FM. Of course, you can always goat down there.

It wasn't like that for me.  I had two short climbs down then walked. There was cave nearby, and I know another not far away, but they were not part of the route out of the basin.