Why I find Jackrabbit Island to be the best camp in Stalker

[ChillPlayer]

I've spent the last 30 of my 50+ days Stalker run on Jackrabbit Island and I fell in love with this place. On previous Voyageur runs I used to have my base at the office but this is no option in Stalker unless I want to waste a bullet on a wolf every time I step out the door. At first the island might look unspectacular or even useless because there is no fireplace in the house nor a working bench. But the longer I stay there the more obvious it becomes, that it is the best place to camp in a Stalker run in the late game, after you've got all the basic stuff like rifle and knife and have crafted wolf coat and deer boots - here is why:

- No more troubles with wolves - I was not once greeted by a wolf when I stepped out the door in a total of 60 days on the island over several runs. This alone beats every other place I know, even the little hut above the gaz station, where occasionally a wolf may have feasted on a deer. On rare occasions a wolf may come up the hill on the backside in hunt for a rabbit but it never goes up to the hut (at least I've never met one there).

- Rabbits on mass. Once you observed where they hang out you can easily fill 4 out of 6 snares every day.

- Complete overview of the surroundings and where all the wolves are and how they move. Makes planing trips to the mainland much easier

- Lot's of huts that can safely be occupied for several hours to fish without a wolf stepping by (once you learned their pattern ).

- Gated Backdoor. Even if there'd be a wolf outside (which I never saw), he couldn't attack you. Go backinside and out the other door, run or shoot.

- 40KG Fridge and 20 KG Freezer conviniently right beside the Backdoor.

- No Fireplace - well this is not an advantage but thanks to the gated backdoor, it's also not a real disadvantage, it even adds some fun to the game. Just start a fire right outside while still standing on the wood planks, after a blizzard preferably. Add only one or two wood pieces and cook your stuff. Then go back inside, put cooked stuff in the fridge and get raw stuff to cook from the freezer. Rinse, repeat until the fire blows out.

- Guaranty to get the maximum out of your bullets. Yes that's right. There are so many wolves and deers on the frozen water that you will always find a chance to drive a deer towards a wolf and kill the wolf when it's feasting on the deer and thanks to the hightened view it's easy to spot a possible target. This nets you roughly 14KG of meat, enough food for a whole week. If you don't manage to kill a wolf/deer combo on Jackrabbit Island within a week, you are not made for Stalker :twisted:

NOTE: this is only valid for Stalker because - let's be honest - in Voyageur it pretty much doesn't matter where you chose to have your base because wolves are much much less troublesome than in Stalker. At the office I'm greated like once every two weeks by a wolf, where as in Stalker one waits for me when I step outside and another one when I return from my trip, making this an uneasy place to stay.

Any other fans of Jackrabbit Island out there?

[EDIT] posted in the wrong board lol, could an admin please move this post the Alpha General Discussion?

[brostoevsky]

My current base (day 70) is on Jackrabbit island as well. Everything you've said is true, wolves never make it all the way up there and rabbits abound. Building campfires outside doesn't bother me at all (it's kind of fun actually compared to cooking on a wood stove in my super dark house) and if you need a workbench there is one behind the cabins at the Log Sort which is a short walk.

The only real dangerous element to living on Jackrabbit Island is the fact that you have to cross the lake ice to go anywhere, and when a blizzard whips up on the lake and reduces visibility to zero it's very easy to get lost since there are no frames of reference. However I just put a bunch of water and firewood in all the fishing shacks in case I find myself stuck there while a storm passes over.

[Malak]

Wow, maybe it's because you guys are in Stalker mode, but I've been lunged at twice right at the door there and attacked once trying to climb the hill. One came after me trying to descend the hill.

[ChillPlayer]

When you leave the house on the backside, there is an ice cliff you can climb just left, 10m down the hill. That's an excellent vantage point to check the hill for wolves before running down, which btw is something you should always do in Stalker before crossing over a hill, it feels like 9 out of 10 times a wolf will be waiting for you - but for some reason, only if you don't check before, I rarely spot one when I check lol.

[Malak]

Man, I got lucky this morning... ran into a wolf two hours prior to setting a new record. Luckily, it was as the base of the hill and me at the top, so I ran down the other side. Whew.

[TLDFAN]

My current base (day 70) is on Jackrabbit island as well. Everything you've said is true, wolves never make it all the way up there and rabbits abound. Building campfires outside doesn't bother me at all (it's kind of fun actually compared to cooking on a wood stove in my super dark house) and if you need a workbench there is one behind the cabins at the Log Sort which is a short walk.

The only real dangerous element to living on Jackrabbit Island is the fact that you have to cross the lake ice to go anywhere, and when a blizzard whips up on the lake and reduces visibility to zero it's very easy to get lost since there are no frames of reference. However I just put a bunch of water and firewood in all the fishing shacks in case I find myself stuck there while a storm passes over.

PRO TIP:

Make a few gallons of water and then drop .2liter of water ever 25 feet or so if you get caught in a storm you have a easy to spot marker guide that literally takes 6 minutes to craft when done in bulk. In a pinch you can drink the water too and just replace later. or just walk in a straight line.

Until the devs get serious about realism and realize how important it is to the target audience and make water bottles freeze when left out over night there is absolutely no reason to store water as a liquid anyplace where it would become solid in an hour or two due to temperature because external temperature doesn't affect it like real world.

[ChillPlayer]

That's actually a cool idea I prefere the align and go in straightline method in blizzards, but to mark certain spots in woods as visited, this can become handy.

Though here's another PRO TIP:

Embrace the blizzard when you are in an ice fishing hut - wolf free fishing for hours if your lucky, yeha. This is literally translated from the saying: when life gives you lemons, make lemonade

[TLDFAN]

I've spent the last 30 of my 50+ days Stalker run on Jackrabbit Island and I fell in love with this place. On previous Voyageur runs I used to have my base at the office but this is no option in Stalker unless I want to waste a bullet on a wolf every time I step out the door. At first the island might look unspectacular or even useless because there is no fireplace in the house nor a working bench. But the longer I stay there the more obvious it becomes, that it is the best place to camp in a Stalker run in the late game, after you've got all the basic stuff like rifle and knife and have crafted wolf coat and deer boots - here is why:

- No more troubles with wolves - I was not once greeted by a wolf when I stepped out the door in a total of 60 days on the island over several runs. This alone beats every other place I know, even the little hut above the gaz station, where occasionally a wolf may have feasted on a deer. On rare occasions a wolf may come up the hill on the backside in hunt for a rabbit but it never goes up to the hut (at least I've never met one there).

- Rabbits on mass. Once you observed where they hang out you can easily fill 4 out of 6 snares every day.

- Complete overview of the surroundings and where all the wolves are and how they move. Makes planing trips to the mainland much easier

- Lot's of huts that can safely be occupied for several hours to fish without a wolf stepping by (once you learned their pattern ).

- Gated Backdoor. Even if there'd be a wolf outside (which I never saw), he couldn't attack you. Go backinside and out the other door, run or shoot.

- 40KG Fridge and 20 KG Freezer conviniently right beside the Backdoor.

- No Fireplace - well this is not an advantage but thanks to the gated backdoor, it's also not a real disadvantage, it even adds some fun to the game. Just start a fire right outside while still standing on the wood planks, after a blizzard preferably. Add only one or two wood pieces and cook your stuff. Then go back inside, put cooked stuff in the fridge and get raw stuff to cook from the freezer. Rinse, repeat until the fire blows out.

- Guaranty to get the maximum out of your bullets. Yes that's right. There are so many wolves and deers on the frozen water that you will always find a chance to drive a deer towards a wolf and kill the wolf when it's feasting on the deer and thanks to the hightened view it's easy to spot a possible target. This nets you roughly 14KG of meat, enough food for a whole week. If you don't manage to kill a wolf/deer combo on Jackrabbit Island within a week, you are not made for Stalker :twisted:

NOTE: this is only valid for Stalker because - let's be honest - in Voyageur it pretty much doesn't matter where you chose to have your base because wolves are much much less troublesome than in Stalker. At the office I'm greated like once every two weeks by a wolf, where as in Stalker one waits for me when I step outside and another one when I return from my trip, making this an uneasy place to stay.

Any other fans of Jackrabbit Island out there?

[EDIT] posted in the wrong board lol, could an admin please move this post the Alpha General Discussion?

If not the top spot this is definitely top 3. I do prefer an indoor fire burning at all times. That I keep stocked. This saves on matches, allows me to pass the time making water, allows for fast warm ups. I think this is one of the best ways to go out and forage too for wood, take 40 min outside, then come in and warm up and make water for an hour, rinse and repeat a few times and you have all the wood you need to keep the fire going for 12 hours. If you are wise you will plan to return in 8-10 hours if you do set out. Which gives you enough time to restock the fire, sleep and then forage to replace the wood. You really can't do this too early on because you need to get food built up first, but once you get the rifle for safe wolf hunting, the knife for fast wolf meat harvesting and a hatchet for fast wood foraging you are in really good shape for stockpiling.

While this is a great place to bunker down I think my favorite is the came office in Mystery Lake. It is centrally located about 4-6 hours from any place on that map, it has a fire stove (two in fact) and a crafting table indoors. I think it is really good to do a lot of crafting here while warming up then foraging for food, then crafting some more.

Overtime you can make loads of rabbit snares. If you go out every other day when the weather is favorable you can look for downed deer and just take them guts from those animals to make snares. I think you will run out of placed to put a snare on Mystery lake but if you want to make the trip from the Camp Office to Jack Rabbit Island I think you can make that run in about 8-9 hours.

I intend to try using both locations as a rotating base came. As I get sufficient meat from rabbits. I'll tramp back to the camp office for a week and cook up all the meat and make more snares. With the improved clothing you can make from hides and wolf pelts it should be possible to live almost indefinitely. With the fire starting magnifying glass, I think you could make a go on jackrabbit island indefinitely. Starting a fire outdoors when day, and favorable and cooking the meat only during those times, plenty of water already stored means you could ride good days and bad from your existing supply. If you followed my PROTIP about using water bottles as markers you could snatch those up as needed if you ever ran low.

There is another set of cabins that is within a few hours walk where you could keep a fire going inside up to 12 hours and overnight at JackRabbit, to harvest the rabbits. Doing that and leveraging your time savings by planning and learning "the way" would make life good indefinitely.

[ChillPlayer]

I like the Camp Office too for all the reasons you have stated - in Voyageur that is In Stalker, staying at the Office is a ressource burner, you loose either bullets or first aid stuff because too many wolves attack. Don't get me wrong, when I'm in ML the Office is my favorite place to stay too. It's a bit tricky but the wolves can be managed if proper rules are followed. Like climbing first the slope nearby to peak over to rail and see if a wolf is waiting for you. But I cannot stress enough how important a freezer is for huge stockpiling. On the island I had days wit 35kg of cooked and 20kg of raw meat, all well in fridge and freezer - this helps alot

[TLDFAN]

How long does the meat keep in the freezer?

[ChillPlayer]

I could keep 40kg cooked meat in the fridge, that's roughly 10 days of food during which I had meat in the freezer - without loosing a cal (at least on 1KG pieces, not sure about the 0.4kg and so on because I didn't write down their cals). My guess is though: forever. For one because I found a raw venison once in a fridge, which I see as a sign the devs left us. I'll test it on a rabbit, I'm out of bullets so no more yummi wolf meat for me

[elloco999]

All containers have the same effect on the degradation right now (v.183). Cooked meat degrades at about 13% per week. Meat doesn't loose calories when it degrades, only condition. Condition only effects the chance of the meat giving you food poisoning.

[Malak]

Camp Office is ok for overnights, but I've had a lot wolf encounters there as soon as I exit. It sucks the way the path exits right at the back door. That has burned me a few times. But the front door often has a wolf walking by also, making me a prisoner there and running out of food. Trappers is MUCH safer. Best thing about the Camp Office is the hidden spot to collect wood behind it. If you stand in the inverted corner, no wolf can see you. And it's sheltered from most wind directions.

[Purpleater]

I completely agree. Jackrabbit Island is my favorite place to live in stalker mode for all the reasons that you listed. I lived there for approximately 950 days of a 1,000+ day survival run. I only had two wolf attacks near the house in that entire time. Making fires outdoors can get frustrating at times (like when your matches are running low and the wind repeatedly blows out your fire), but overall it's an excellent location.

[elloco999]

Camp Office is ok for overnights, but I've had a lot wolf encounters there as soon as I exit. It sucks the way the path exits right at the back door. That has burned me a few times. But the front door often has a wolf walking by also, making me a prisoner there and running out of food. Trappers is MUCH safer. Best thing about the Camp Office is the hidden spot to collect wood behind it. If you stand in the inverted corner, no wolf can see you. And it's sheltered from most wind directions.

I've actually had wolves walking behind the CO. So it's not completely save to use that spot. The downside of foraging in that spot is that you can't see them coming and it's not easy getting away if one does happen to come around the corner.

[RobZombie1357]

I belive I tested the meat condition degradation over time in different containers and I was sure the container type wouldnt make any difference on it. Could anyone confirm please?

EDIT: OH, this was already answered, never mind.

[Malak]

Camp Office is ok for overnights, but I've had a lot wolf encounters there as soon as I exit. It sucks the way the path exits right at the back door. That has burned me a few times. But the front door often has a wolf walking by also, making me a prisoner there and running out of food. Trappers is MUCH safer. Best thing about the Camp Office is the hidden spot to collect wood behind it. If you stand in the inverted corner, no wolf can see you. And it's sheltered from most wind directions.

I've actually had wolves walking behind the CO. So it's not completely save to use that spot. The downside of foraging in that spot is that you can't see them coming and it's not easy getting away if one does happen to come around the corner.

Thanks for ruining the security I felt there, Bro. ;-)

[RobZombie1357]

I'm definitely going to try Jackrabbit as a place to stay in Coastal. So far, I've done mostly Mystery, and only went to Coastal to get some extra matches, and I have to say I was surprised by the large amount of wolves to be found there. I'm on a +300 days run in Stalker, most of those spent inside comfy Camp Office. At least in this run, there's usually just one wolf outside, which is easy to dodge. Exceptionally 2 wolves. And there's always a deer around which makes a good combo for the place. But for me what really makes Camp Office the greatest place until now is how it works near Deadfall Area. In the outdoors stove in Deadfall you can use the magnifying glass, sleep with no clothes by the fire even in blizzards, and at least until now, hardly having to deal with wolves stepping into the broken hut (happened just once). I use deadfall area to harvest several dozens of fir without damaging the clothes, then taking them into Camp Office where you can make a couple hundreds litres of water without being interrupted. Also, deadfall area is a great place to begin hunting expeditions. When food runs low, go to Camp Office to Deadfall Area, start a fire in the stove (usually wait until the magnifying glass can be used), put 11 hours of fire into it and go grab myself a some deer and wolf meat, which I can take back without rushing to Deadfall in more than one trip, as I see fit, avoiding blizzards or other wolves while harvesting. With all the meat cooked, head back to Camp Office which can store 15 kg in one of the containers next to one of the beds and then make the most time out of its calories, sometimes making water, but mostly doing the dull "sleeping the meat" which is done in one big drink-sleep and eat cycle (until the last pieces of meat goes stale), specially suited for movie watching or radio listening.

[Malak]

You get naked to harvest wood? (lol)

[TLDFAN]

That's actually a cool idea I prefere the align and go in straightline method in blizzards, but to mark certain spots in woods as visited, this can become handy.

Though here's another PRO TIP:

Embrace the blizzard when you are in an ice fishing hut - wolf free fishing for hours if your lucky, yeha. This is literally translated from the saying: when life gives you lemons, make lemonade

I was looking for a renewable resource that you could use to help mark your pathways or trails. At this point until the developers have a epiphany of realism on water bottles, you can essentially have an unlimited number of them. I don't want to be too critical but

A. that is unreasonably realistic. B. Easily exploitable.

Why not be resourceful and exploit it, its not like you are going to run out of water or the more to the point, the capacity to carry it anytime soon. I guess the reason I am adamantly opposed to that mechanic is that real world, containers are essentially critically important survival gear. On a shoreline by an ocean side they would be plentiful, in the unfrequented and isolated northern Canadian wilderness they would be much rarer. Goods that are canned also, you would never treat an empty soda pop can as disposable.

It can be used as a reflector to start a fire from sunlight or a container once empty.

[RobZombie1357]

Yes I do, and harvest meat wearing only my rabbit mittens.

You get naked to harvest wood? (lol)

[TLDFAN]

You get naked to harvest wood? (lol)

Has no shame...

[ChillPlayer]

Just survived my 100th day on the island, now the real game begins. Since day 85 I'm getting my meat by fighting off wolves after they've hunted down a deer - without a rifle that is :twisted: I'm getting kinda desperate, when the ammo counter dropped to 0 I thought I have to harakiri myself. So I've got all the courage I could find together and vent after my first wolf/deer combo. First I had to wait until 3 other wolves where far enough away, then I attacked or let's say, ran screaming towards the wolf with knife drawn. Ready for the fight and bandaging later I waited for the wolf to jump me - and he ran away lol.

I did this three more times where I did have to fight them, guess I wasn't screaming loud enough. But they never got me under 55% and man this is very very good for my ego. I'm no longer afraid of this hellish beasts, as long as I only have to fight one at a time. I'd recommend this for everyone as a training and ego buster

So yeah, the island still rocks. I especially enjoy cooking until late in the night, very nice atmosphere. When there's no deer I set traps or go fishing, which is quite lucrative sometimes, once I've pulled enough cals for one day out of the hole within one hour, sushi time.

There's one thing I noticed I'm not sure if this was conincidence or mechanic: When I returned from ML to the island, some wolves came quite high up the hill several days in row. I figured it's because I didn't hunt any bunnies for a long time. I suspect that they only come high up the hill when there are bunnies to hunt (one wolf was actually hunting a bunny not me) so I began to set traps again. Since then in 20 days only one wolf came to visit but ran away when he saw me. Anyone noticed similar behaviour?

And yes I was wrong, tested it myself and the fridge and freezer do not have any superiour effect on foods condition. I only monitored cals and it never crossed my mind to monitor condition too. There's still some added value to use it, other than pure roleplaying: it's right by the door and takes 60kg in two containers.

[wynarator]

I will surely try it in my next playthrough, right now I'm too used to playing trapper's homestead, not because it's the best place (it's inconvinient as hell to live on the outskirts of the map), but because it's so beautiful!

[ChillPlayer]

I just starved and froze myself to death at the bottom of the Ravine after 119d20h - made too many mistakes and didn't want to drag it out. So... next try, this time better The ending was cool though, you can actually crouch to the bottom but there the area is limited. I kinda hoped though that a wolf would come in my sleep, I would've let him eat me once more

I like Trappers too by the way, it's very idyllic with smoke and all. But it has it's caveats as discussed and after this last 30 days on the island without a rifle I am more convinced then ever that it is the best place to stay and will probably be the base for my next playthroughs - at least until a new map will be released.