A Pilgrim tries to be an Interloper: how long can he last?


Morrick

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I'm really enjoying reading about your adventures and I'm learning a lot from your pain (my apologies for that).  I started my 2nd ever interloper run today.  Got a Desolation Point start at Katie's Secluded Corner.  I should have done more investigating around there, but made a beeline for Hibernia instead.  I'm there now with no loss of condition, have matches, a couple cans of soda and a couple cans of other food... no can opener, of course.  According to the loot tables, my bedroll should be in Scruffy's cave.  I went outside though and walked straight into Mr. Bear literally face to face.  It startled me so bad, I backed up into some debris in the yard.  I don't know why, but the bear turned away at that point and fled... so I'm back inside Hibernia Processing trying to figure out what to do next.

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6 hours ago, Morrick said:

but I also didn't expect to find… nothing.

This should be a given on Interloper, finding something is a surprise. Any spawn in PV with good weather should be towards the center of the map, either Barn of Farmhouse. From your spawn point I usually loot Skeeters, then down to Dodger's, then one of the central building depending on the winds direction.

6 hours ago, Morrick said:

Let's see if this time I can finally leave this region...

You're gonna have a hard time without a bedroll (Check the Church and Fluffy's if you can), the next indoor sleep place that is guaranteed is Misanthrope in Coastal, you'd better go out in a very nice weather, and prepare a warmup pause at Crumbling Highway (there's a nice rock-shelter). Also, the safe sometimes have good stuff like Thin Wool Sweater.

21 hours ago, Morrick said:

but again that wolf is patrolling that spot exactly, so I have to improvise a long-winded manoeuvre to avoid being detected

This is when stones can save your life. Always pick at least two asap. Good luck!

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6 hours ago, Serenity said:

Research books are nice during blizzards for example.

Another valuable piece of advice. I can't thank you enough. And thanks for your patience with this very amateur Interloper that is yours truly. :)

2 hours ago, UpUpAway95 said:

I'm really enjoying reading about your adventures and I'm learning a lot from your pain (my apologies for that).

No apologies necessary. I'm happy to share. It's a bit like telling stories around a campfire...

2 hours ago, UpUpAway95 said:

According to the loot tables, my bedroll should be in Scruffy's cave.

Hmm.

1 hour ago, BareSkin said:

You're gonna have a hard time without a bedroll (Check the Church and Fluffy's if you can)

Hmmm. Just to avoid misunderstandings, this Scruffy/Fluffy's cave you guys are mentioning is the cave near the waterfall in the Broken Bridge area, right?

Again, thank you all for reading and giving me useful tips. It's truly appreciated! :)

 

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My Attempt N. 32 slot is still saved, and I'm still alive after 2 days. But I craved something different, and I actually got what I wanted. 

I started Attempt N. 33 as a female survivor because honestly after 32 attempts I was tired to hear Mackenzie whine in his rather monotone way. I think the actress voicing the Astrid character did a better job with her complaining phrases, sometimes adding a touch of sarcasm which I was sorely missing from the male character. 

I spawn in Hushed River Valley, but! As I start to bang my head against the desk, I realise I have spawned in an area I never spawned in my previous Hushed River Valley runs — as the "New location discovered" message appearing onscreen informs me, I'm at Offset Falls. Right at the edge of the only area in this region I know better, i.e. the area near the entrance to the valley!

So I keep going south… Cloudtop Falls… yes! There should be a snow shelter nearby. Ah no, there isn't, since I'm on Interloper. Well, let's go east then… a slope… a familiar tree layout, let's turn right here… Yes! The cave to Mountain Town! As I give the finger to Hushed River Valley upon entering the cave, when exiting the cave and enjoying a cold stroll in Mountain Town, I remember that going to Milton means more houses and less cold, but also more wolves. But one thing at a time. The path to the trailer is clear. My condition isn't stellar, though it isn't lousy either. Hypothermia and Frostbite warnings are, as usual, plentiful, but the game feels it should also add a sprained wrist for no reason. I enter the Trailer, expecting no loot (trailers at Hibernia have trained me well), and finding a cotton scarf. Is this the game trying to make up for the totally random sprained wrist? I have little time to wonder about this: temperatures inside the trailer are sadly not above zero. I have to march on.

Going to St. Christopher's Church is out of the question: after a cautious recon, I spot two wolves off-road and one near the car parked in front of the church. I retreat and decide to cut through the Wood Lot by staying as close to the rocky formation on my left as possible. I find this is a good shortcut that leaves me near the bridge at the entrance of the town. But of course I don't take the bridge, I climb down and cross the frozen river below, get some cat tails, and finally emerge just behind Grey Mother's house. I made it! My triumph is dampened by the development of Frostbite exactly three seconds before opening the house door. Grrr! I blame this on the cat tails... I should have ignored them.

But hey, I'm inside the house. Hypothermia hasn't developed yet (92% risk), Grey Mother's house is warm enough I don't need a fire right away, and I find a surprisingly good loot, all things considered: 2 boxes of matches, a storm lantern, some lantern fuel, a dress shirt, another pair of jeans, wool socks and a sport vest. And in the store room upstairs I even find a cup of coffee behind the cloth on the shelf. It's night now, and I go to sleep. The morning after I'm at 53% condition, and apart from the permanent frostbite, I have no other afflictions and have enough food and water for at least half a day. And still a town to explore. Maybe 33th time is the charm? ;)

Oh, I almost forgot: before going to bed I notice an aurora has come up, but I'm too cold and tired to take advantage of it to check more buildings. Auroras do look better after the Redux update, though!

 

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I'm relieved you folks are liking my Tales of a Rookie Interloper! 

Attempt N. 33 keeps looking good. Condition is about 50%, and food is scarce. I'm having more luck with clothing, though. The two highlights are a Mackinaw Jacket and Combat Boots. Maybe I'll manage to keep a bit of cold away by accumulating layers of crappy clothes, har har. Another couple of good finds are in the attached pictures (though stupidly I forgot to include the UI in the screenshots, sorry about that). The meat is at 77% condition and delivers an 800-calorie snack. The Jerry Can holds 2.72L of fuel for my lantern, so yay! Oh, and also two packages of herbal tea! Can't wait for improved rest.

Houses are warm and have plenty of water through their toilets, so keeping warm and slaked isn't a concern. What I'm sorely missing are a sewing kit and a can opener. I have scrap metal, so I could make a hook at a workbench. That means venturing toward Paradise Meadows "Wolfgang" Farm, which I'll do in the next instalment after a herbally-infused good night's sleep. ;)

 

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Well done @Morrick! Really enjoying your runs. Thank you for sharing. I am not an Interloper yet but it seems like having a stone at the ready for a possible bun bun might help as a decoy and, who knows, you might just get to eat it!  Keep moving, keep warm, and keep posting your progress. Loving it!

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My Attempt-32 survivor died, but she was a fighter, and the longest surviving on Interloper so far: 4 days and 11 hours. She was ambushed by a wolf in the vicinity of Orca Gas Station, survived the attack, but alas not the second wolf that got to her before she could enter the gas station's back door. 

Attempt 33 is still on, though! I managed to reach Paradise Meadows Farm unscathed, only to freak out because I couldn't find the farm key! No corpse behind the house, nothing in the tractor near the barn, nothing in the pickup truck parked nearby… I heard barking and I couldn't see where the wolf was, so I tried hiding inside the barn… I was like "Oh shit, oh shit, I'm done", when I stumbled on a corpse I hadn't seen before because it was lying in a dark spot. Checked the corpse… Yes! The key to the farm! Barking again, close by. It's now or never. I ran ran ran ran to the front door, almost trampling a rabbit which surely looked at me with a WTF face… I reached the porch… "Unlocking door…" The wolf was basically behind me. "Opening door…"

Made it inside. B|

Attempts 34 to 37 have been short and unremarkable. I tried the male character again, but he seems to be less lucky than the female character. On Attempt N. 38 the funniest thing happened. I was trying to reach Old Spence Family Homestead, but a wolf was blocking my way so I retreated in the cave in the mountain behind the homestead (I always find some coal there). I needed a diversion for that patrolling wolf, so that I could reach the homestead and warm up. I saw some stones at the cave's entrance, so I picked up a couple. I aimed high, trying to make the wolf that was coming from the right continue far away to the left. But — wait for it — it appears I hit a second wolf that was behind a hill on the left. Either that, or my stone landing near him made him aware of my presence. Woof woof woof! And that's how Attempt 38 ended… :D

[The irony? Since starting playing The Long Dark I have never managed to hit a rabbit with a stone — my aim is that terrible, haha!]

Thank you everybody for the kind words of encouragement and for continuing to bear with me!

 

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As someone who went from - "Interloper looks impossible, I'll never be brave enough to do it" to now being half decent at it I'll add my take.

Interloper isn't particularly hard once you have a few tactics to get you through the first 10-15 days. You do however need to have a few mindsets.

- Don't be afraid / panic - of wolves, of bears, of the cold, of starving, of being exhausted..... however....

- Be very aware of all the above. Cold is the number one enemy, But I will trade some temporary cold damage to sneak past wolves or get to a known good location. Bears are pretty chill really. You can get kinda close and just run past them, starving isn't a big deal really. Dehydration is.

- You need to be willing to trade any of your condition bars including a lot of your health to better your situation. Calculated risk vs reward. I will drive my character to around 30% quite happily if I know where I'm going and that it's worth it. A wolf attack now though will really end you.

- Don't squander resources, always be doing something productive. Use every fire as much as you can. Boil more water, make more teas, warm up by the fire and while water is boiling use your warmth and trade it for more sticks. The more you can layer your actions pro-actively the easier it will be. Manage your time well, think about each action and its consequences. e.g. I could smash this crate but it will use all my colories up and waste an hour of good travel weather.

- Be brave but not stupid brave. I used to play very carefully and end up dying somewhere only to realise that if I took more calculated risks early on I'd be fine.

- Matches or water source is priority one on your first day. You can live an extra day or two with toilet water (if the house is warm enough) without matches.

- Figure out your best path to acquire tools (knife, bow, arrows, hatchet) as soon as possible. This means hatchet, guts, birch and maple are early priorities to have found and curing - The Ravine is a great early stop, many deer carcasses, rabbits, cattails, flare gun, stim. It will try to kill you with blizzards though. I like Forlorn Muskeg for forging. There are pretty safe back routes across the ice with a lot of cattails. plan for having a long duration fire to not freeze to death. Get in and out quick or it will try to kill you.

- The Flare gun is a great asset early on. It's great defensively but helps make you brave, being brave helps you move quickly.

- wolves are much easier to avoid and or get away from than I used to think. Even if they are following you you can often shake them. I tend to back away a bit keeping them in sight and sprint a bit trying to lose them behind obstacles. They can follow you for ages though. You can crouch sneak past them quite easily too. Having the flare gun helps you feel safe and confident while trying all this though. That and getting good at lighting defensive fires quick

Hopefully some of these ideas or useful. Good luck. Once you crack interloper I'm sure you'll love it. I prefer it as I like the lower resources and more edge of your seat survival over the other modes.

 

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On 2/4/2019 at 6:42 AM, DaveMcD said:

- Be brave but not stupid brave. I used to play very carefully and end up dying somewhere only to realise that if I took more calculated risks early on I'd be fine.

Dave, thank you so much for your thoughtful mini-guide! I've nodded in agreement from first word to last (and you got my upvote). This little bit I quoted above is really the moral of the story of so many attempts of mine. I've actually a good example to illustrate your point by comparing two bits of gameplay taken from two separate attempts that originated in the same spawn point: the area near the waterfall at the top of Hat Creek in Forlorn Muskeg.

In Attempt 40, I went from the waterfall to check the Shortwave Tower for loot, and finding very little. Then I went back to the cave near the waterfall, exited in Marsh Ridge, explored a bit more, then left Forlorn Muskeg to enter Mountain Town from Milton Basin. I went to the Hermit's Cabin, then proceeded towards the waterfalls to check the crashed pickup truck, and then finally started the long climb up to eventually reach Paradise Meadows Farm. I did all this rather slowly, always worried about condition, and passing through certain areas crouched for fear of being spotted by wolves. The result: I ran out of energies before completing the climb, and died of exhaustion and hypothermia on a ledge right there.

In Attempt 42, I went straight to the cave. Then, when in Marsh Ridge, I exited the region immediately. Then I walked resolutely to the Hermit's Cabin (the only place where I found some loot). Then I went straight for the rope climb. I was able to complete the climb with a bit of energy left (the fatigue indicator went from Drained to Exhausted just as I was checking it after the climb), and to reach Paradise Meadows Farm and recover without getting hypothermia or permanent frostbite. 

In the second attempt, I played with a bolder, more pragmatic attitude; not totally carelessly, but at the same time without stopping too frequently to check if maybe there was movement behind that hill or that rock or that mound. And I got farther as a result. :)

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On 2/4/2019 at 6:42 AM, DaveMcD said:

Bears are pretty chill really. You can get kinda close and just run past them […]

Something interesting happened at Spruce Falls Bridge. All the times I've been here before in other survival sandboxes, the resident bear would appear on the bridge, making its way past the abandoned cars. And every time I've played a game where the wildlife is hostile, the bear pretty soon would go into attack mode and come at me. Previously, I always backtracked and ran away. This time apparently was no different. The bear made a sort of AUUGH sound, and started running towards me. Instead of backtracking, I was so close to a car that I just entered it. The bear ran past the car and just… ran away. I was able to calmly search all the vehicles on the bridge, take a stroll in the surrounding area, and simply walk away. No sign of the bear. Since I haven't been here that many times, and I rarely interact with bears, I don't know if it ran past me because I simply disappeared from its sight by hiding in a car, or if I just… scared it? Because the more I think about this, the more it seems as if I scared the bear. On the other hand I find it strange that a bear would behave like this on Interloper. Well, good for me anyway.

The weather was awesome, too. Clear skies, no wind:

 

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I've always played stalker, but from what I've seen it's not uncommon for predators to get scared if they're charging and the target becomes unaccessible, such as entering a vehicle or climbing stairs or a tree. If I want to take an easy shot by attracting a wolf or bear using myself as bait and then getting to a safe spot I always do it while they're still walking, so they'll likely pass by calmly. If they're charging and I get out of reach they sometimes run off, or plunge right under my shelter, which disrupts most chances of aiming...

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@MorrickFirst off, kudos for jumping into Loper! It’s the only way to do it and the fact you went from Pilgrim, shows you got moose oysters!! 

Being very experienced, I play only Loper and while I could ask for more difficulty, I continue to find the mode very well balanced. Success comes with experience and that means lots of fades into the long dark. 

However, when you do figure out a good working strategy, you may find Loper to be extremely rewarding. Keep trying and good luck! There are many great strategies and advice! 

Happy surviving!

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@Morrick good going. It seems wild life and cold are causing much of your grief. Since you seem set on areas, like Milton, that are wolf traps, consider chopping bunnies up small for to make bunny chips that you can feed the wolves. If you harvest meat but cancel the process quickly, you can get 0.1 chucks of meat. Once a wolf is locked in to you, drop this, stand back and Wolfy will take it and leave you. Note, the wolf will then walk off directly away from you so when they take the bait, make sure where your stood in roughly the direction you plan to go next (or that's where the wolf will go.

On the cold front, remember four sticks plus one coal can make 1:30hrs+ of 24 degree fire. Perfect for harvesting a deer you've just chased into a wolf... ?

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On 2/8/2019 at 8:30 PM, Bano said:

First off, kudos for jumping into Loper! It’s the only way to do it and the fact you went from Pilgrim, shows you got moose oysters!! 

Thank you for the kind words and the good wishes. While I still love Pilgrim because it lets me explore undisturbed (though I was able to die a few times by my own stupidity), I'm finding Interloper truly fascinating for its survival challenge. I'll keep throwing myself at it, like spaghetti on the fridge door, until I stick. :D

On 2/9/2019 at 11:39 AM, Stone said:

It seems wild life and cold are causing much of your grief. Since you seem set on areas, like Milton, that are wolf traps, consider chopping bunnies up small for to make bunny chips that you can feed the wolves. If you harvest meat but cancel the process quickly, you can get 0.1 chucks of meat.

Another fine piece of advice! Thank you. I'll keep it in mind even if I'm currently out of Milton. My Attempt-33 survivor is a tough cookie, and she managed to carry out a daring escape out of Milton and reach the Trapper's Cabin in Mystery Lake, where she's currently resting after taking a bit of a condition hit for the small trek under light snow. 

And she has survived a little more than eight days now. This is my best run on Interloper so far.

On the other hand, my Attempt-49 male survivor was killed by… a bug, and I'm not talking about intestinal parasites. At least, I think it was a bug. I saved the game after he'd entered the Radio Control Hut in Pleasant Valley. He was at 40% condition - Freezing - Tired - Slaked - Starving. When I loaded the game, the first thing I did was to go to bed to recover some condition. I just needed him to be warm and a bit more rested. I know that you can't regain much health if you're starving. And I checked the indoor temperature plus the bed's warmth bonus before sleeping, to avoid developing hypothermia instead of curing it. Still, fading into the long dark for sleeping 5 hours in this condition shouldn't have happened. (Maybe the save file got corrupted, maybe I'm just plain wrong about this, who knows.)

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3 hours ago, Morrick said:

Thank you for the kind words and the good wishes. While I still love Pilgrim because it lets me explore undisturbed (though I was able to die a few times by my own stupidity), I'm finding Interloper truly fascinating for its survival challenge. I'll keep throwing myself at it, like spaghetti on the fridge door, until I stick. :D

Another fine piece of advice! Thank you. I'll keep it in mind even if I'm currently out of Milton. My Attempt-33 survivor is a tough cookie, and she managed to carry out a daring escape out of Milton and reach the Trapper's Cabin in Mystery Lake, where she's currently resting after taking a bit of a condition hit for the small trek under light snow. 

And she has survived a little more than eight days now. This is my best run on Interloper so far.

On the other hand, my Attempt-49 male survivor was killed by… a bug, and I'm not talking about intestinal parasites. At least, I think it was a bug. I saved the game after he'd entered the Radio Control Hut in Pleasant Valley. He was at 40% condition - Freezing - Tired - Slaked - Starving. When I loaded the game, the first thing I did was to go to bed to recover some condition. I just needed him to be warm and a bit more rested. I know that you can't regain much health if you're starving. And I checked the indoor temperature plus the bed's warmth bonus before sleeping, to avoid developing hypothermia instead of curing it. Still, fading into the long dark for sleeping 5 hours in this condition shouldn't have happened. (Maybe the save file got corrupted, maybe I'm just plain wrong about this, who knows.)

Is it possible that the outside temperature fell enough during the 5 hours you were sleeping that it caused the warmth bonus of the bed to be inadequate to keep you above 0?  On lower difficulties the game will wake you, but it doesn't do that on Loper.

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17 hours ago, UpUpAway95 said:

Is it possible that the outside temperature fell enough during the 5 hours you were sleeping that it caused the warmth bonus of the bed to be inadequate to keep you above 0?  On lower difficulties the game will wake you, but it doesn't do that on Loper.

This is possible, and actually happened to me in one previous attempt when I was staying at the Mountaineer's Hut in Timberwolf Mountain. But I've never seen the indoor temperature in the Radio Control Hut drop so severely as to neutralise the warmth bonus of my clothes + the bed's. (Though admittedly I could be remembering incorrectly, or remembering past Pilgrim adventures…). The next time I spawn in Pleasant Valley, I'll see if I can return to the Hut and stay awhile to better record temperature fluctuations. (Which is a nice roleplay idea: I'm a meteorologist that was sent to the Canadian wilderness to study the latest bizarre weather conditions, but my plane crashed… etc.) :)

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On 2/11/2019 at 10:59 AM, Morrick said:

Still, fading into the long dark for sleeping 5 hours in this condition shouldn't have happened.

Blizzards will drop the temperatures quite a severe manner. If you go sleep with barely positive Feels Like, be careful and sleep only in 1h chunks. Interloper does not wake you up if you freezing. Never. You just die.

On 2/11/2019 at 10:59 AM, Morrick said:

I know that you can't regain much health if you're starving

It's actually zero. Any hour spent with a missing need will make your health drop (-1% for starvation and exhaustion, -2% for thrist, -20% freezing). See where I go? 2h spent sleeping while freezing, it's -40% health, dead :D !

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At first, Interloper was quite challenging, but then Hinterland added rabbits and added more spawns for matches and hammer/hacksaw. Now Inteloper is easy like pilgrim - just more redundant :)

Therre are things you have to know about TlD that makes it so easy. The main tool to survive is fire. With fire, you can survive forever. In Interloper, you will find matches at the main spots (whale facility, Farmhouse, Lake cabin). This means after you've spawned, go to one of these places and you have fire and shelter. There are always cattails, carcasses and rabbits near by.

If you have played the challenges, you will know that you can go from any spawn to any place within 10 ingame hours - to the next shelter or spawnpoint for matches within 1h ingame. This means with the worst possible start (blizzard, TWM, night) you will lose less then 30% condition till you reached the lake cabin (far less if in DP).

So you know how to get matches - reach shelter - water right after the spawn and have plenty of condition left. The next step is to get food. You can either start a fire next to a carcass and harvest it by hand or just kill rabbits. Now you also have food without any danger. Depending on where you are, you also can just eat cattails and you are good for many days. At the same time, you search the main spots in your map (Famhouse, Radiotower, Barn - Carter Dam, Camp Office .......... ) and you will quickly find hammer and hacksaw. Normally you should have both within the first 24h.

So after the first day, you have food, water, shelter, matches, hammer, hacksaw. And again, that's basicly guaranteed because spawns for matches, cattails, rabbits are not random (at the main spots). Then either establish a small base and live like that or start going for the forge. You could go to CH/DP on the first day or to ML - depending on you prefences or your spawn.

So yes, actually pretty easy.

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