Question Thread :: Milton Mailbag

[Morrick]

Hello everyone, hello Raphael.

I've been playing The Long Dark for about three months now, and I'm really enjoying it in its current form. I really love the game world, but there's something I've always wondered with regard to the animal population: the lack of horses. Given the rural setting and the amount of farmhouses and farmsteads the player encounters, the absence of horses feels strange to me. Is it a planned addition? I certainly hope so. While I'm sure some would immediately want the ability to tame them and ride them for a faster travel across regions (and I'm sure this would be a nightmare to implement), I simply feel that their addition would add a nice touch to the game world, not to mention an additional source of meat when things get dire. (Horses wouldn't have to be everywhere, of course, maybe just a few hanging around farmsteads.)

I apologise if this was already discussed. I checked the Mailbag Index before posting, and didn't find any mention of the subject. I also apologise if the reason for the absence of horses is mentioned in Story Mode — so far I have only played Survivor sandboxes and the occasional challenge...

Thank you in advance for your time, and keep up the stellar work.

–Rick

[Cr41g]

quick search....   horses

 

 

[Morrick]

4 minutes ago, Cr41g said:

quick search....   horses

 

 

Ah, thank you. No, I don't like the idea of horses as 'tools' or companions or another thing you have to manage, either. My question/suggestion was more along the lines of having them as a sort of 'passive' addition to the fauna, an animal that makes sense to see in the world, but as far as interaction goes, it would be something similar to the moose, so to speak.

[Admin]

Please keep all responses in this thread direct questions to @Raphael van Lierop to make it easier to pick out what needs answering. 

Thank you.

[Morrick]

1 hour ago, admin said:

Please keep all responses in this thread direct questions to @Raphael van Lierop to make it easier to pick out what needs answering. 

Thank you.

My apologies. The direct question was: Are horses going to appear in the game in the future?

If I was verbose, it was just to provide a bit of context. Sorry if that ended up burying the question!

–Rick

[Admin]

13 minutes ago, Morrick said:

If I was verbose, it was just to provide a bit of context. Sorry if that ended up burying the question!

–Rick

 

It wasn't in response to you - through the more direct the question the better.  People have a tendency to answer other people's questions, which isn't the point of this thread.

If you know that Raph has already addressed a question in a Milton Mailbag feel free to link to that Dispatch. Otherwise, let him answer (or not) as he chooses. 

[Smellyfries]

Will we ever be able to mix fuel sources? Such as taking a lot of small lantern fuel containers and pouring them all into a jerry can? Or the opposite?

Edited October 23, 2018 by Smellyfries
Added something

[Illuminatist]

Are you guys planning to expand the Broken Railroad region?

I am not a big fan of this region it has very little in it and it is also one of the smallest map, even worse this map is a deadend. There are only 2 buildings to loot in this entire map, which is pretty lacking. I feel like this region was rushed for episode 2. 

A few nice examples of expanding the BR map would be by making the BR ravine lead to somewhere useful, instead of fixing the broken bridge maybe make traveling through the ravine the only way to make it to the other side of the broken bridge? This region could easily be expanded to double the size then, and the map would not lose it's "broken down feel". Before Vigilant flame update if i remember right there was an gate somewhere which could not be opened, this was closed with a rock. Just wondering if it was intended for a new region or another hideout for those terrorists. 

As of now BR feels like a really lacking region, it fills it's role in episode 2 but for survival you need to go through FM and so many wolves... So much condition lost and maybe even your whole save... For what? Maybe a new hacksaw or if i'm lucky a firestriker? This region really needs something that gives it a bigger purpose for survival right now it's not worth the risk to travel there most of the time. 

 

[JohnnyTheHun]

Hi Raph,

 I recall you said multiple times that the pressure in giving all five episodes for free is bigger than anticipated. I think I am not alone when I say I very much like your game and the episodes from the day they were released. There might be quite a good few people who would be willing to donate a couple of dollars if they felt giving all episodes away for free is too big a pressure on your company.  Have you been thinking about adding a 5-10-15-20 $ donation option whenever a new episode or this Halloween special comes out? 

[Smellyfries]

Are there any music ques? I realize that there are a few, but any specific ones? (maybe even rare ones?)

Second: Will there be more birds we can see in the game? Maybe even hunt them for feathers?

Edited October 24, 2018 by Smellyfries
Is this a reason?

[JohnWalks]

Hi everyone, 

With regions such as Hushed River Valley with no man made structures, will there be any scope to increase the more bushcraft side of things, such as making semi pernimant camps like lean to shelters etc and more things out of the wood we find rather than just snow dug outs? 

To allow us to live there rather than just survive in true wilderness maps etc. 

Maybe have a bushcraft skill set that each level you gain allows you to build a different structure or item made from the materials we find, that would be awesome, or even learn new bits from survival books that we find? 

This game is the closest thing to Alone Esq survival TV scenario and I feel bushcraft and survival guys and gals like myself would really dig this kind of edge. 

Also can we please be able to break down ruined shelters and old fire pits, we're all about the 'Leave No Trace' ethos 

Thank you for all your hard work, there is genuinely no greater game with such value for time spent and price paid than this. 

Kind regards 

John 

Edited October 25, 2018 by JohnWalks

[Admin]

If you'd like to talk about someone's question, feel free to start a new thread on it and tag them into it. This isn't the right spot for debates.

[Smellyfries]

Are you going to do a Christmas event? 

[NardoLoopa]

How is it that the Wind Direction algorithm TLD uses always anticipates which direction I need to travel in?  Is this some advanced deep data analytic IA that reaches out to Google's hivemind servers?

[yarimari]

Do you want to implement more challenges into the game? With the upcoming 4dof event I can't help but think it would be a great challenge to have permanently in the game (though I understand if you just want to keep it as a yearly thing, that's fine too). My favourite challenge so far is the nomad challenge and would love to see more similar challenges but with varying difficulty.

Thank you for your hard work on this amazing game and for being so kind to your fans. I truly appreciate how involved you are in the community

[White_SnowTree]

With HRV being a region totally devoid of human shelter, have you thought of taking this 1 step further and implementing more survival tools that would make the player rely less on human-made buildings (perhaps tents)? In regions such as Pleasant Valley for example, the Barn and Farmhouse are both very centralized on the map, and so it is kinda useless to build a snow shelter when you could easily just walk back to the farm after you hunt and score a kill 

 

The problem with snow shelters is that they are built with sticks and cloth- making shelters out of any other kind of resource is impossible 

[melcantspell]

Do you plan to include more ways to use tinder or change gameplay so that tinder is no longer useless after you perfected your firemaking skills?

For example, I would assume that using tinder shortens the time it takes to make the fire (yeah, it's not like you could even start a fire without tinder in real life, can you?) Times might also vary depending on the type of tinder you use. 

[okapi]

I love your beard.

[jediclone6]

Hi Ralph, 

I've been asking for this since the preview release on Xbox. You replied to me saying you'll eventually add it. But you've been working on this game for like half a century.
"When are you going to add the different gloves/mittens textures to the first person hands??

[jerry486]

Thank you for answering my cockpit question in the last MM, I am looking forward to finding it one day. I have some more: 1) What difficulty do you play this game on / find itmost enjoyable? 2) IMO the Ravine is a great region but has lots of potential to become more than just a transition zone. It' s so iconic with its train bridge. Would you consider expanding this region? Perhaps adding some rope spots / cave systems? I would love to sip coffee under that bridge without having to cheat my way down there  

[Tri13]

Is there a plan for a Christmas version of The Long Dark sort of like 4 Days Of Night.

[BESt]

When you are exiting Milton, you can see in your left, right before you enter the Mistery Lake transitional cave, a train. In which map can it be found?

[MueckE]

Why wasn't there an annoucement in the Forum about the 4 Days Event? I really wanted to play it this year

[Sipriano]

You are preparing someting for chrismas?

A event or just a little present?

by the way sorry if I have bad english, I from Mexico

[FireCraft78]

Hey, I have some questions :

How long (in days) was your longest sandbox game ?

Have you ever put yourself a number of days as a goal in a sandbox game ?

Have you ever had any goal in a sandbox game apart from surviving as long as possible ?