Please STOP CRAFTING

[Boston123]

As you say, hard to unscramble-- but re balancing it to resemble an actual survival bow would be simpler (and would make a lot of sense if there were to be a bow to be found in a cabin). If it says it's for small game, then bear hunting is a bit of a stretch.

It's really odd: For me, bears are in fact way easier to hunt with the current bow than rabbits - simply because they're bigger and thus harder to miss. Not sure if it's just me being completely inept to aim decently with that thing, but I'm totally unable to hit anything as small as a (moving) rabbit 20m away from me. Even though I try to consider gravity, wind direction, the bow's left twist, etc.

I guess that's somehow realistic in a way, but it certainly doesn't fit the description about small game hunting. Might be that I need more practice to get used to it, but at least atm I'm only able to use the bow like I usually use the rifle - for close proximity (<10m) headshots. And I somehow really doubt that this is the "intended" way to use it.^^

The bow is REALLY difficult to use on animals like rabbit and deer for basically one reason: they do not act like they do in real life. In real life, both rabbit and deer have a "reflex" where as soon as they become aware of predators, they immediately stand stock-still. This is due to most predators eyes being geared towards tracking movement: if you aren't moving, you become much harder to see.

Then, when the predators get closer, an "OHCRAP" reflex gets triggered, and the rabbit/deer bolts away.

This is where we get both the expression "deer in the headlights", and how deer get so easily killed by moving cars. They realize the car is there, stop due to the reflex, but the "OHCRAP" reflex gets triggered too late, as cars move FAR faster than most predators.

So, if deer and rabbit actually behaved like they did "in real life", instead of instantly bolting away as soon as you got within a certain radius, they would be much easier to hunt.

Of course, it probably don't help that the both the arrowhead and the arrowshaft is OUTRAGEOUSLY thick. In the below video, the arrowshaft is basically as thick as the bowstave, which is NOT how you make arrows.

That fact, along with the fact that you don't actually Look down the arrow shaft when drawing it back ( seriously, the shaft is off on some weird angle [ to me, it looks like you draw it back to the side of your forehead] to where your eye is, while it should be drawn back to basically right beneath the eye if you draw to the jawbone....) Based on the angle of the shaft when drawn back, the arrow should be zooming off to the left somewhere when released.

When you use a bow, you (depending on draw length and style. I draw to the jawbone and "tuck" my thumb under it to, to anchor the draw) sight down the shaft to the arrowpoint, then focus on a target behind the arrowpoint Basically, similar to a rifle "sight picture", where you align the rear and front sight. If those are misaligned, the shot goes off in the direction of the misalignment. With arrows, you sight down the shaft (the "rear sight"), to the arrow-point (the "front sight"), to the target.

UGH

[toebar]

The bow is REALLY difficult to use on animals like rabbit and deer for basically one reason: they do not act like they do in real life. In real life, both rabbit and deer have a "reflex" where as soon as they become aware of predators, they immediately stand stock-still. This is due to most predators eyes being geared towards tracking movement: if you aren't moving, you become much harder to see.

That is a really good point. I wonder how easy it would be to implement something like this, though, while making it realistic and challenging. I suppose they could add a state where they animal becomes aware of you but does not flee (x% of the time), if you approach closer (or fire an arrow and miss), then they would flee (or charge you, if it's a buck! ).

AND/OR, they could add feeding animations, where the animal stands in place to browse shrubs or herbs for a short period. This would really add to the realism imo.

somewhat off-topic but related to the above note- I'd really like it if the deer and rabbits could sometimes outrun the wolves.. would be good for gameplay as well to not have guaranteed kills this way..

Hopefully tonight I will build a bow to test out for myself.

[Shanti]

+1 for found bows

+1 for realistic game animal reactions

+1 for animal feeding animations

+1 for bucks charging (and hurting if they connect / trample you)

+1 for a bundle bow (easier & faster to craft, degrades quickly, repairable)

+1 for realistic bow sighting, and removal of the central pip when shooting a bow

+1 for more wolf and game interaction possibilities

[AmericanSteel]

I have not had the pleasure of crafting the bow, as I am hopelessly mired the Witcher 3, but I was disappointed at it's appearance. I agree that if we found a bow, that would be cool. I also agree that if I found a bow, I would be more apt to make arrows. However, the devs are falling behind on the key tools we have used as a culture:

1. Sticks and Stones - Simple bashing tools

2. Sharpened Sticks and Stones - Thrusting and cutting just became the new cool thing

3. Fire hardeneding Sticks - Improved thrusting tool

4. Combining Sticks and Stones - We now have tools from hammers, axes and knives

5. Propelling Sticks and Stones - atlatl, sling and bow

I would rather invest the time in making a few barbed javelins and a thrusting spear over a bow every day of the week. I would also like the option of making a sling (hello, leather and a rock!). As a youth I could knock a squirrel out of a tree with sling, though it did take about half of a summer to master the art. I used the pocket from a sock and shoe string for my weapon. I later cannibalized an old baseball glove to make my sling as my sock sling was prone to tearing in the woods.

Having a staff we could turn into a throwing spear or thrusting spear would be a start. Then player could then fire harden the tip or attached a point (stone, bone, glass, etc). I would even like the option to make a Native American style club (out of wood, bone or wood/bone + stone). A club would not do any good vs a bear, but a well placed hit would hurt a wolf as well has hitting any man: crushing ribs, cracking the skull, breaking limbs and/or causing internal hemorrhaging. Also being able to craft knives and hooks also need to be addressed. We just need to start with the basics and work our way the weapon chain.

[elloco999]

I'm with AmericanSteel on this. I don't know how feasible it is for a laymen to craft a bow that is capable of taking down a wolf/ deer or even bear (and a bow that can only take down rabbits doesn't seem very useful to me, way too little return on my investment). Finding one would make more sense. Making good arrows is also hard but less so and seems more feasible to me.

But the first weapon I would try to make would indeed be a trusting spear. I'd craft the point out of metal and use a strong shaft so it can take the impact of a wolf running into it. It would initially be a defensive weapon (you can't get close enough to a prey animal to use it without some way to stop the animal, but a wolf will come to you).

After that I would either try making a bola (to stop a prey animal, so I can finish it off with my spear) or try my hand at throwing spears. I think a bola would be easier to use and also to make. If I made throwing spears I would possibly try an atlatl to increase the range and power. That would of course also require a good deal of practice to use.

I would probably give crafting a bow a shot eventually, but only after I had made my thrusting spear + bola/ throwing spears and had gotten the hang of using them. I would expect that spears and bolas are easier to make and learn how to use effectively than a bow and arrows, but a bow and arrows might be a better choice once you've managed to craft a good bow and learned how to use it. So long term I would at least try crafting a bow (if I didn't just find one) and arrows but short to medium term, I would stick to weapons that seem easier to create like a bola and thrusting spear.

[Niafer]

In my opinion, it would be a natural reaction to craft when thrown into a survival situation -- once the priorities have been taken care of of course. One of my first thoughts on my first attempt was that I wanted to build a smoke house to preserve some of the excess meat I had. But I agree that there should be a practical limit to what you can craft.

[ElvisHunter]

If I was in a "survival situation" IRL I wouldn't make a bow. I also wouldn't search for hidden bunkers in the woods. In a typical "survival" situation, like we see on TV(heh), keeping hydrated and maintaining a calories in to calories burned ratio all while marching off to rescue is the logical way to make it out.

I feel like TLD(sandbox mode) is not the above situation. There is no "out." My only goal isn't just surviving for the next few hours it's long term survival. Confined to a geographical area I would seek to craft all sorts of improvements to my living area and toolset.

I don't get all the "BOW?! Who do you think you are? Bob-freaking-Vila?!" posts (not just in this thread). I might not have landed in the woods with the knowledge to make a bow- but i didn't come with a turnip for a brain either. I would expect that someone with enough time could learn to make just about anything from scratch without instructions. Perhaps you wouldn't expect to find 'Bear hide hot air balloon' on the crafting table - but bow seems reasonable to me at least!

[AmericanSteel]

You have two options in a survival situation: move out or stay put. In Sandbox, the move out option has been taken. The first rule of staying put it constantly improve your situation. Shelter building, laying in materials, shelter improvement, laying in more supplies, shelter improvement.... While we have been given a ton of natural shelters improving our lot is not much more than stocking up on wood and water, get meat when you can, repair/maintain your gear and search for new resources when you are established (or desperate). I am not complaining about what has been done so far. The devs have done a good job. But I think the devs really need to address shelter improvements or more precisely, improving your lot at your shelter.

I was really hoping we could dry/smoke meat but the current situation with bears would make they game WAY to easy, even on Stalker. All I have to do is make it to the Farmstead in PV. Kill a bear and wait 4 days for it to respawn. Smoke the meat. Trap rabbits in your spare time. If you are froggy you could head to the barn and kill that bear too. After a month of easy kills we would have a year or more worth of preserved meat. No fun. Something as simple as a smoker just unbalanced the whole game. Adding in a bow, not so much.

I would like the devs to put in a smoke house. Or at the very least let me smoke meat over a pit or dry it out on a rack... something. I would also like the devs to let us make an old fashioned ice box. We could just fill half the box with ice and fill the remainder with meat. In so doing, we freeze the meat extending the average shelf life to a year easily. Hell, they found woolly mammoth in the Asian tundra and ate it before the scientists could get there. We have this HUGE icebox right outside and we can't use it to our benefit. I could easily see the player killing dear and hanging their carcases up in the barn/basement stowing them in trunks of cars or simply hanging them up in a tree. They would freeze solid and be out of reach of predators.

If the devs gave us the ability to store meat for much longer periods of time the game would change. If the devs then upped the calorie load of a critter of what it actually is (like a dear) then it would turn the game up on its head. It would break the survival mode. To balance it they would have to drop the amount of prey and/or make hunting actually hunting. Don't even get me started on actually harvesting game and cooking.

[Boston123]

^ This, pretty much.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why our caloric intake has been "locked" to 2500 calories. In a situation like this, I would be attempting to eat 5000-8000 calories per day. Not just to survive, but actually build up a reserve of fat and energy.

I saw a quote from one of the devs once, on this forum (forget who and when), that said : "you aren't supposed to be keeping yourself at 100%". I disagree. Real-life survival is just that. If I have food, and I can eat it, I will. Homeostasis and all that.

For your points about it being "no fun" to actually succeed (with regards to actually have a decent amount of food), I counter with this: Make it more difficult to gather a large amount of meat to begin with. Right now, hunting is basically a joke. There are a solid 500% more deer in these woods than I have seen in real life (and I life in a part of the US where there is a White-tailed Deer EPIDEMIC), to the point where I have seen 7 deer on the screen at the same time. I know a guy where it took him MONTHS to get a shot on a deer. Make the deer less common (not rare, just not absolutely-everywhere), have them behave like they do in real life. Have trapping actually work like it does in real life (AKA extremely high failure rate). I've set up traps before in 3 lines, 7 traps on a line, on 3 different rabbit runs.After a day, I trapped one rabbit. And I was using more "effective" traps than the ones in-game. ( as in, they actually killed the rabbit and lifted it up away from predators, not just held it in place)

As for bears, make it so they can't really be effectively hunted with the bow? Make the arrows too light to be able to effectively penetrate the fur, hide, and fat of the bear, so you have to use a LOT of arrows to kill it, all the while you are pissing it off?

Or, finally, the devs could include a "boredom" mechanic, like in Project Zomboid, where if you eat the same food over and over again, or eat food that is particularly bland, your character starts to get ..... bored? I dunno the exact term for it, you take negative effects from it in-game, which is a good way to make the players want to eat a varied diet and make some nice meals. Same thing could happen in TLD, and actually, basically the same thing happens in real life. If you eat the same thing over and over again, eventually your body will start to reject it. Once, when I was hiking the AT, I ate Mac'n'cheese for a week. At the end of the week, I couldn't choke it down any more, and was pretty depressed that was all I had to eat. If all I had to eat for months was roasted lean meat and canned food, I would get depressed pretty quickly

[Boston123]

If I was in a "survival situation" IRL I wouldn't make a bow. I also wouldn't search for hidden bunkers in the woods. In a typical "survival" situation, like we see on TV(heh), keeping hydrated and maintaining a calories in to calories burned ratio all while marching off to rescue is the logical way to make it out.

I feel like TLD(sandbox mode) is not the above situation. There is no "out." My only goal isn't just surviving for the next few hours it's long term survival. Confined to a geographical area I would seek to craft all sorts of improvements to my living area and toolset.

I don't get all the "BOW?! Who do you think you are? Bob-freaking-Vila?!" posts (not just in this thread). I might not have landed in the woods with the knowledge to make a bow- but i didn't come with a turnip for a brain either. I would expect that someone with enough time could learn to make just about anything from scratch without instructions. Perhaps you wouldn't expect to find 'Bear hide hot air balloon' on the crafting table - but bow seems reasonable to me at least!

In real life, the type of bow we can make in game, called a selfbow (carved from one piece of wood) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self_bow) or a flatbow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatbow), is the easiest form of bow to craft, and the "best" one you could feasibly craft in the bush.

But that doesn't mean it is easy I've made several flatbows (working on one now, as a matter of fact), and it is rather complicated

Do one thing wrong with it, and you just wasted several hours, if not days, of work. A knot in the limb you don't see? Limb breaks. Take off 1mm too much wood when tillering? Limb explodes. Make the draw too short? Can't use it. Yadda yadda yadda. You basically have to know what you are doing before you start.

As I have said before in the thread, while a selfbow would be effective, it really takes too much time, with too much prior knowledge and experience required, to be effective to craft in the middle of a survival situation. Much less be able to use effectively.

Meanwhile, a spear, a bola, or a sling takes minutes to make, and anyone can use one. "economy of scale", in a sense.

Or, for a much-more-reasonable "type" of bow to make in a survival situation, why not a Bundle Bow? Granted, you won't be hunting any deer or bear with it, but it is something I would make.

[AmericanSteel]

I have a problem with getting bored with food. I had the same problem on Project: Zomboid. Being bored with food is a problem for people who have WAY to much food and/or don't have to worry about where the next meal is going to come from. As I said in another thread, I have never seen starving people in America, Bosnia, Haiti or Kuwait complain about food... ever. They got to eat and they were happy. Again full stomach = happy camper.

On a personal note to shine some light on this, I have cut out all processed foods from my diet along with grains. When I get back down to a healthy body fat percentage, I will probably go back into some grains. I have been doing it for two weeks, dropped about 10 lbs and 12 points off my Blood Pressure. One day a week I fast, from evening to the next evening. Because I don't have a huge budget, I eat a lot of the same foods. To be honest, I do get more than a bit bored with it. I really want something sweet and I am seriously craving wheat Anyway, on my fast days I don't care what I get to eat. I am happy I have eaten. I kind of forgot what that was like. When I was on half rations in Bosnia, we skipped meals for a few days here and there. When we finally did get to eat that same ole Ham Slice w/ Natural Juices MRE (which I hate with a passion) I did not care. When I went so SERE school and did not eat food for about a week, I did not care what I got to eat. Watery rice gruel with maggots, thank you sir may I have another. I was not bored or disgusted. I got to eat! Again, the whole idea of being bored with food is a complete fiction when it comes to survival. You never heard a starving man say, "Oh damn, steak again!"

[Boston123]

I have a problem with getting bored with food. I had the same problem on Project: Zomboid. Being bored with food is a problem for people who have WAY to much food and/or don't have to worry about where the next meal is going to come from. As I said in another thread, I have never seen starving people in America, Bosnia, Haiti or Kuwait complain about food... ever. They got to eat and they were happy. Again full stomach = happy camper.

On a personal note to shine some light on this, I have cut out all processed foods from my diet along with grains. When I get back down to a healthy body fat percentage, I will probably go back into some grains. I have been doing it for two weeks, dropped about 10 lbs and 12 points off my Blood Pressure. One day a week I fast, from evening to the next evening. Because I don't have a huge budget, I eat a lot of the same foods. To be honest, I do get more than a bit bored with it. I really want something sweet and I am seriously craving wheat Anyway, on my fast days I don't care what I get to eat. I am happy I have eaten. I kind of forgot what that was like. When I was on half rations in Bosnia, we skipped meals for a few days here and there. When we finally did get to eat that same ole Ham Slice w/ Natural Juices MRE (which I hate with a passion) I did not care. When I went so SERE school and did not eat food for about a week, I did not care what I got to eat. Watery rice gruel with maggots, thank you sir may I have another. I was not bored or disgusted. I got to eat! Again, the whole idea of being bored with food is a complete fiction when it comes to survival. You never heard a starving man say, "Oh damn, steak again!"

And in my experience, it is the exact opposite. 1) It is rather difficult to starve to death in Project Zomboid, just like it is rather difficult to starve to death in TLD. In fact, I have never starved to death in this game. Ever. 2) It isn't about being hungry, it is eating the same food over and over again. Maybe the body reacts negatively to eating literally the same dish over and over again in order to vary the diet and prevent nutritional deficiencies?

Like I said, when I climbed the AT, we had mac'n'cheese for dinner every night. At first, it was good, but at the end of the week, I started to dread it. I could barely keep it down. Suffered from stomach cramps every night, and it wasn't anything else I ate, nor the water. Your body and mind just has issues with eating the same thing, over and over again. When we stopped at a town, resupplied, made it in a different fashion (specifically, we made soup with the noodles and cheese sauce, with some dehydrated meat and assorted other things), I could eat it with no problem. As soon as we varied it up, my body could eat it again.

Or, you know, the devs could add nutritional deficiencies in-game as well, as a means to force the players to eat a varied diet. Eating nothing but lean meat will not give you the fats you need. You want to eat the marrow, eat the fats, eat the organ meats, in order to get all the vitamins and minerals you need. Right now, all we are eating is lean steaks, roasted on a fire/in a pan. Burning away all that delicious, delicious fat.

But, uh, I think we are getting a little off topic, here.

[AmericanSteel]

Well, it still relates to "crafting" in the fact that we do need to be able to harvest more of the animal (the other more Off Topic) Not just the lean meat: fat, organ meat, brain, lean meats and bones all have different nutrient loads. Right now the devs are just trying to balance basic caloric groups with only the meat from four different kill animals. We don't even get the option to High-Grade our own kills. If American Natives did not have time to take a whole kill back, then they would just take the organs. They have the highest density load of calories and nutrients. You can find this in the wild too.

If you see bears only eating the skin, brains, and eggs of a salmon, they are practicing good energy economics. At these times, a bear’s profit margin in calories is so high that it can ignore some excess fish. As a bear fills up on salmon, it can “afford” to not eat certain parts of the fish. This behavior has been nicknamed “high-grading.” Like miners looking for high-grade ore, bears try to consume high grade fat.

Salmon are a high calorie meal for a bear. A sockeye salmon contains about 4500 calories, but the fattiest parts of the fish contain the most calories proportionally. Bears know this and prefer to eat the skin, brain, and eggs—the fattiest parts of a salmon—when fish are in abundance. This is an ephemeral behavior, however. When salmon are not abundant or hard to catch then bears will not be as selective and will most often eat the whole fish.

Reference: http://www.nps.gov/katm/learn/photosmul ... stions.htm

What do carnivores eat in the wild with bigger game? They go into the body cavity first. One because they can eat the partially digested grass in the gut (which they need) but also to get at the most nutrient load of meat in the animal. This is discarded is the game. Let us harvest the heart, lungs, liver and stomach. We already use the guts. The stomach could be eaten OR used as a water bottle. Bladder could be used as a water bottle too. Maybe do away with this endless supply of plastic bottles and jugs we have access to. You can also eat the meat around the head of the animal but that is a pain to butcher. We just put the whole head in a coal pit and let it roast/steam overnight. It is then like pull apart pork... just the head. The muscles around the back of the skull, cheek and tongue are all fantastic meats. If you want to delve into the skull proper for eyes and brains, then you can get your Omega-3 you are going to missing out in the wild. Western culture is just rediscovering nose to tail eating, while hunters never lost it.

If the devs changed the crafting process of harvesting the animal into a few more generalities, we could do much more. Right now we have skin, meat and gut. Keep it simple, add in organs, bones and fat. Organ meat would spoil quicker and have a higher caloric load. Bones would spoil slower but take longer to cook. Fat could be eaten, turned into lard, tallow, etc. We could also "cure" bones (instead of cooking them) to make tools (bone bow, bone knife, etc). Dear could also have antlers to harvest (for mounting, tools or hunting lures) and wolves have tails to harvest to weave into cordage. Rabbit could be the first animal we could skin, clean and cook whole. This would give us the advantage that we did not have to worry about cleaning the animal in the field or choosing a better location to clean it.

[toebar]

What do carnivores eat in the wild with bigger game? They go into the body cavity first. One because they can eat the partially digested grass in the gut (which they need) but also to get at the most nutrient load of meat in the animal. This is discarded is the game. Let us harvest the heart, lungs, liver and stomach. We already use the guts. The stomach could be eaten OR used as a water bottle. Bladder could be used as a water bottle too. Maybe do away with this endless supply of plastic bottles and jugs we have access to. You can also eat the meat around the head of the animal but that is a pain to butcher. We just put the whole head in a coal pit and let it roast/steam overnight. It is then like pull apart pork... just the head. The muscles around the back of the skull, cheek and tongue are all fantastic meats. If you want to delve into the skull proper for eyes and brains, then you can get your Omega-3 you are going to missing out in the wild. Western culture is just rediscovering nose to tail eating, while hunters never lost it.

This is true for most animals I imagine-- I did some work quantifying rainbow trout spawning populations in small streams. We used hoop nets (like a very large minnow trap with wings spreading across the stream) to trap fish migrating upstream and downstream. After a few days of catching fish, we started finding dead trout in our net with essentially only the brain eaten. A mink had caught onto our routine, and was clever enough to get in and out of the trap net through the cone without tearing it.. The abundance of fish he/she found in there led him to just eat the tastiest/most nutritious bit... either that or it was just sadistic...

[Shanti]

I doubt that TLD is going to get this granular. My guess is that the dev's are trying to tell a story, and that the survival mechanics are background to this - and that the extreme survival, and detailed use of animals / crafting won't make it into the final game. For myself, I feel like this is a shame, as having the most realistic system would add the most immersion and wow factor to the game. However, I understand why they may choose to skim over some of these aspects.

Personally, I feel that learning how to butcher a deer from a survival manual, and actually choosing to remove the animal's head, bring it home, toss it in a fire pit, steam it for 8 hours, and then eat it, adds a lot of "how far would you go to survive?" flavor to the game. Maybe that's just me.

As far as Sandbox mode goes, I feel like adding this level of granularity is almost necessary. In sandbox, there is no story to drive the game, and to sustain my suspension of disbelief. As it currently stands, the character doesn't have enough options, and so the player continuously makes the same 2 or 3 option choices over and over again, which eventually leads to a feeling of boredom. Even more telling, we all go the same distance to survive, because there is no "far" on the scale, just the same decision tree, and a fairly obvious path to success on it.

[Scyzara]

I was really hoping we could dry/smoke meat but the current situation with bears would make they game WAY to easy, even on Stalker. All I have to do is make it to the Farmstead in PV. Kill a bear and wait 4 days for it to respawn. Smoke the meat. Trap rabbits in your spare time. If you are froggy you could head to the barn and kill that bear too. After a month of easy kills we would have a year or more worth of preserved meat. No fun.

In my opinion, the whole bear-based diet problem already exists even without smokers. The thing is, whenever you kill a bear, it respawns way before you have eaten up the meat of the previous bear. And as bears can be hunted without any risk at various locations (the farmstead is just one example), they basically make it completely unnecessary to worry about your food supply as long as you have either bullets or arrows. In other words, for at least 2000 days without hibernation (and this is already a VERY conservative guess). I doubt many people can stand playing that long.^^

I for one don't consider the current bear situation much fun. I'd be much happier if bear-hunting was more risky, respawn timers were MUCH longer or if bear populations could at least be exhausted. It feels totally awkward (and counterintuitive) for me that the - by far - most yielding prey is also the easiest (and even securest!) to kill. :?

[AmericanSteel]

I was really hoping we could dry/smoke meat but the current situation with bears would make they game WAY to easy, even on Stalker. All I have to do is make it to the Farmstead in PV. Kill a bear and wait 4 days for it to respawn. Smoke the meat. Trap rabbits in your spare time. If you are froggy you could head to the barn and kill that bear too. After a month of easy kills we would have a year or more worth of preserved meat. No fun.

In my opinion, the whole bear-based diet problem already exists even without smokers. The thing is, whenever you kill a bear, it respawns way before you have eaten up the meat of the previous bear. And as bears can be hunted without any risk at various locations (the farmstead is just one example), they basically make it completely unnecessary to worry about your food supply as long as you have either bullets or arrows. In other words, for at least 2000 days without hibernation (and this is already a VERY conservative guess). I doubt many people can stand playing that long.^^

I for one don't consider the current bear situation much fun. I'd be much happier if bear-hunting was more risky, respawn timers were MUCH longer or if bear populations could at least be exhausted. It feels totally awkward (and counterintuitive) for me that the - by far - most yielding prey is also the easiest (and even securest!) to kill. :?

There is something to say for bears nosing around your homestead IF you butcher meat there. They are out roaming around looking for food and your camp smell have been carried on the wind. If they have come so far as to check out your camp, then it only makes sense they would try to break in. If the doors swing in, your screwed. You would either need to put up a bear deterrent (like nails sticking out of boards), barricade the windows and/or reinforce the doors. Like you said though, the timers on respawn are out of wack and the risk vs reward is skewed. There is no risk in hunting one and you can have a fresh one three times every two weeks. I don't mind the bears having a large partol area, just make their respawn much longer (maybe 6 months).

While I hate to say this, take off the screened porch. I like being able to see what it like outside without going outside, but the screen porch as it stands now is way to useful. I can open a screen door, take a shot, close the screen door and just watch the bear bleed out. When the bear would really be coming through that screen like a freight train through a sheet of glass. Either that or have the bear bolt as soon as it can't get you. You may have made a kill shot, but make the player have to go after the kill. The last four times I skinned the bear, I did it less than a meter from the screen door. Lastly, on a kill that size something should come sniffing it out. To partially harvest a bear and come back to a pack of wolves chowing down on the carcase would really tick me off. BUT that is what would probably happen.

[octavian]

In other words, for at least 2000 days without hibernation (and this is already a VERY conservative guess). I doubt many people can stand playing that long.

How far will you go to survive? :roll:

[Scyzara]

There is something to say for bears nosing around your homestead IF you butcher meat there. They are out roaming around looking for food and your camp smell have been carried on the wind. If they have come so far as to check out your camp, then it only makes sense they would try to break in. If the doors swing in, your screwed. You would either need to put up a bear deterrent (like nails sticking out of boards), barricade the windows and/or reinforce the doors. Like you said though, the timers on respawn are out of wack and the risk vs reward is skewed. There is no risk in hunting one and you can have a fresh one three times every two weeks. I don't mind the bears having a large partol area, just make their respawn much longer (maybe 6 months).

I'm all in for both longer respawn timers and bears ravaging the player's base.

How far will you go to survive? :roll:

I've already found my personal answer to this question.

Not going for any longer runs, at least not atm (I dislike to compete with hibernators, seriously trying that would be futile anyway). Starting all over every 100 days is just way more fun.^^

[TWM]

I've already found my personal answer to this question.

They should add an achievement for 300 days, 500 days, 750 days, 1000 days, 1250 days and 1500 days.

At least then you could wear it like a badge.

[camclone]

-1 for no crafting

+1 for more craftable objects

[elloco999]

I've already found my personal answer to this question.

They should add an achievement for 300 days, 500 days, 750 days, 1000 days, 1250 days and 1500 days.

At least then you could wear it like a badge.

Not until hibernating has been dealt with, or those achievements would be meaningless...

[BigJayA]

What do carnivores eat in the wild with bigger game? They go into the body cavity first. One because they can eat the partially digested grass in the gut (which they need) but also to get at the most nutrient load of meat in the animal. This is discarded is the game. Let us harvest the heart, lungs, liver and stomach. We already use the guts. The stomach could be eaten OR used as a water bottle. Bladder could be used as a water bottle too. Maybe do away with this endless supply of plastic bottles and jugs we have access to. You can also eat the meat around the head of the animal but that is a pain to butcher. We just put the whole head in a coal pit and let it roast/steam overnight. It is then like pull apart pork... just the head. The muscles around the back of the skull, cheek and tongue are all fantastic meats. If you want to delve into the skull proper for eyes and brains, then you can get your Omega-3 you are going to missing out in the wild. Western culture is just rediscovering nose to tail eating, while hunters never lost it.

This is true for most animals I imagine-- I did some work quantifying rainbow trout spawning populations in small streams. We used hoop nets (like a very large minnow trap with wings spreading across the stream) to trap fish migrating upstream and downstream. After a few days of catching fish, we started finding dead trout in our net with essentially only the brain eaten. A mink had caught onto our routine, and was clever enough to get in and out of the trap net through the cone without tearing it.. The abundance of fish he/she found in there led him to just eat the tastiest/most nutritious bit... either that or it was just sadistic...

Over the years i've found many a chicken with only their heads missing. Seems opossums do the same thing when they find themselves spoilt for choice.

[BRAINSTUDIO]

I think your in the minority on this one. For me it adds layers of goals that I can set out to do in a playthrough and also maintain. First I think the crafting system they have is perfect, second when you started playing it was the first build in a game that was and still is in alpha...not much too the game, third, a survival game without crafting????? Sounds boring much like u describe....loot 7 homes and wait to die. Devs your system is working well, please keep it coming.

Yes "a survioval game WITHOUT crafting" was PERFECT!

I was ABSOLUTLY not bored because i had to explore, risk the life in the middle of the storm to find a little house and not be behind the stove CRAFTING and singing " I will be another tomb rider with my bow"

It was particular, different from all others game, now is STILL different but..is going on a way where people like you wanna craft change dress colour..build theyr home..be social ecc ecc

It remain a solid game but please stop now the bow for me is the limit

[BRAINSTUDIO]

As to the OP's suggestion that there is too much crafting, and that's is overdone in games--- I would say that TLD does crafting better, and that's why it's a good component of TLD.

I hope, my post goal was to put the focus on something that will be too "dangerous" for this game.

Someone agree someone not but maybe devs stay allert to introduce something OP or too specialist to be crafted.

Someone say that I can ignore the work banch but if the game is balanced with it..sure i can't , so i adapt myself

and as you say i hope TLD do it better than all the other.