Hotzn

What makes you think so? I would place a bet it isn't.

Revolver Firearm and Gunsmithing might turn out to be problematic when trying to raise all skills to level 5 in this run (to get the according achievement). I still have a lot of locations to cover where books could be waiting, and fortunately these books do not decay. I am considering using the revolver more on bears than wolves, because bears do not zig-zag and are therefore much easier to hit. Anyway, I am expecting Gunsmithing to give me the most trouble - I have never been to any gunsmithing facility, there have been rumours that there is only one such thing in the game world, and that it is guarded by a new pack-hunting kind of wolf. Being unfamiliar with maps and potentially deadly new animals is kind of a disadvantage in this game. But we'll see. On a side point, I am kind of sorry that the bear ran off with all my arrows sticking in it. I really hoped to drop it close to the farmstead. Maybe I should have waited with bear-hunting. I was a little trigger-happy though. Who doesn't want free meat at the doorstep? But as so often the old rule is confirmed: There is no free lunch.

When I'm ready to go, I hesitate... which route should I take? I could go back the way I came, but that would be boring, would it not? If I take another route, I might rediscover Draft Dodger's. It still exists, does it not? Further, I might get lost and into trouble, which could be interesting. So another route it is. Naturally, I don't find Draft Dodger's, it starts snowing heavily, and I seem to walk in a circle. At long last I end up at the half-open barn with the deer carcass that I did not want to touch on the way to Three Strikes. From there, I take the known route back to the Farmstead, as my fatigue bar is quite low already. Having arrived safely, I do some unpacking (all the saplings - on the floor!) and re-packing, then head out again to the little barn at the road where I left my first snare (and where I found a revolver). The rabbit which was presumably caught here seems to have decayed away, so I reset the snare and add the second snare from the bunker. Then I settle down at the little barn to make some water and stay there overnight. Fair enough, the next morning both snares have caught a rabbit each. I take these inside the barn to harvest and drop their hides and guts on the floor there to cure. Resetting the traps, I stone the two rabbits roaming the area. In the process, I realize that it is really tricky to pick them up after scoring a hit. The reason is some kind of bug: I cannot correctly point the cursor on the rabbit carcass. Instead I have to point at a specific region to one side of the rabbit. On the screenshots below, I have to point it above the rabbit: It didn't use to be like that, when was that bug introduced? Anyway, there is currently nothing to do here for me but to wait for the snares, and since they won't trigger again before tomorrow morning, I venture along the street and over to the Outbuildings, mapping them in the process. Not much of interest there except quality tools and two arrows - one of them broken - at the target behind the red barn. I test whether shooting arrows at the target raises my archery skill, but apparently it doesn't. I pass the night inside the pickup truck in the red barn (although I didn't have to - my bedroll is with me). The next morning sees crisp but clear weather, and further pursuing my mapping endeavors, I walk over to the Lonely Homestead. Doing so carefully, I might add, since my first-ever bear encounter (many years ago) took place there and ended deadly. The terrain is difficult to overlook, I am a bit nervous. Suddenly, I hear a weird bellowing, I almost panic - is it the bear again? No telling where it comes from. I try to duck under a fallen tree, hardly successful, when a moose appears ahead, galloping towards me. Still trying to crawl under the tree, I apparently manage to break its pathing, and it runs off into the woods. Phew. No screenshots unfortunately, as I was too nervous to think of it. Nevertheless managing to map Lonely Homestead, I make it safely back to the red barn to warm up. Then return to the road and to the little barn where I left the two snares. Strangely enough, they have not caught anything this time. Hmmm... is this because I stoned the two rabbits which ran around here? I always thought hunting the visible rabbits had no influence on the rabbit pool you can catch with snares. Maybe it's just a coincidence and I was unlucky. On the way back to the Farmstead, I see the bear approaching it and cannot resist. From the closed porch, I sink all my 4 (or 5?) arrows into it. But it does not drop. I don't want it to run off with all my arrows, so play hide and seek around the house with it for around an hour. Then I become impatient and start using the revolver. The second hit sends the bear running off into the distance. Good-bye arrows for now. At least I learn that revolver hits on bears also raise the revolver skill: Still, I need to do a lot of mad firing if I want to raise the revolver skill to 5...

Hey there. The game feels both familiar and new. The long development time has kept it fresh for me - I could always come back after a while and there would be something new to discover...

The second deer (behind the bus) does not fit my definition of photobombing. Photobombing - as I understand it - means someone appears on a photo although he/she is not meant to be there. And both deer may be there, I would think, since the prison is likely deserted by now, and on top the access road seems to be still outside of the prison proper. I have searched the picture for a couple of minutes now and am completely mystified. Is it the fuzzy thing on top of the tree to the right? Hard to make out what it is, could be a regular part of the tree. Maybe @Raphael van Lierop can bring light into the dark here?

Approaching the rabbit grove from the bunker and a little up to the right, I come across this interesting feature: Three hollow trees with their openings facing in different directions. Hmmm... something to do with the Three Strikes Farmstead? The cursed number three which brought down the once wealthy Strikes family? Thinking of hollow trees, I thought they had potential when they were introduced long ago - as hiding places for hunting, or to crawl into to hide from a blizzard. But then they never amounted to much, or at least I did not find any use for them. Is anyone actually using these for something? I would be interested to hear about it. Anyway, I live a happy life for a couple of days, going to and fro between the bunker, the rabbit grove (with my single snare) and Three Strikes. I find that a deer occasionally spawns not far behind Three Strikes, so one day I take along my rifle and bring it down on the spot with a single shot (lucky, lucky). The weather turns bad and forces me to retreat to the bunker overnight, but the following morning I set out again into heavy fog with the intention of processing the deer... but before reaching the rabbit grove, I am barked up by a wolf... Hmmm... where did this one come from? I am quite sure I did not attract it by mistake by carrying smelly things around, because there is nothing smelly on me this morning. This sounds a bit off, but you know what I mean. Anyway, I pull out the revolver and aim, and sure enough the wolf starts running zig-zag towards me. I get the shot off shortly before it reaches me and score a hit (blood splatter), but a handfight ensues anyway. I briefly see an option to use the revolver and click it, but apparently this is not for shooting again. Instead, my girl starts hitting the wolf over the head with the handle. Hrrrgnnh... what is she doing? Luckily, the wolf seems impressed and runs off. Having taken some damage, including blood loss, I apply a bandage and think about what to do next when the wolf appears again from the mists, growling. Hm. Shouldn't it be running away? I aim the revolver again and the wolf turns around to run off, whimpering... only to return a couple of seconds later. Growling again, of course. What the...? I aim the revolver as if to make my point, but now the wolf is in attack mode again. And this time I miss my shot, dammit! The handfight follows, and I pick the knife, because I want to finish business. The fight is longer than expected, and both me and my clothing take considerable damage before I really know it. Finally, the wolf runs off, and I apply another bandage, turn on my heel and drag myself back to the bunker as quickly as I can. No screenshots from the incident, as I was too distracted, but this is the aftermath: I apply the necessary treatments, drink a birch bark tea for better healing and sleep for 5 hours. But I am not fatigued enough to sleep more. As always, I get a little cocky after wolf encounters, so I decide to collect the deer carcass now before the wolves potentially take it. But I reach it unhindered and process it on the spot and deep into the night... Ah, the crackling of the campfire, the sizzling of the meat cooking... is there any other game out there which captures this atmosphere of temporary wellbeing? And which also captures frustration and anger at the gods when they turn their smile away... a blizzard swoops in. I want to baby-feed the fire for a while, I have sticks in plenty. But alas, that mechanic has been removed - the game tells me I cannot maintain the fire under these conditions. Returning to the bunker seems dodgy now, so I run over to the Three Strikes ruined building with the fire barrel to make a stand there. Temperatures drop very low, a lot of firewood goes into the barrel, but I finally manage to stay warm. The blizzard rages on until after sunrise, then wears off and is replaced by cold and snowy weather. I ascend the hills behind Three Strikes in search for the wolf (which should be dead by now) and find it. Is this place where it spawns or patrols? How come I never saw it there? Or... does it only spawn once I kill the deer here? That would be an interesting feature. Further approaching the wolf, I get a better view all-around and suddenly understand the wolf's weird bevahiour from before - at least in parts: It was more than one wolf I met. The struggles have damaged my clothes, and even using up some of the cloth I still had for repairs (the other cloth I needed to craft new bandages), my clothing is still only so-so. I have to return to the farmhouse sooner than I wanted for further cloth (and thus repairs). I only take the hides from the wolf carcasses (to delay any potential respawning) and bring them to the bunker for curing, then prepare to leave in one or two days.

Oh, and of course: BAM not only like the fish being dropped, but also the expression of the wolves on Crystal Lake seeing @Drifter Man emerge from the fishing hut pantless (according to @Ruruwawa et al. etc.). Yes, old Hotzn remembers. To tell future generations...

The next morning, I have to get moving early, since my fire runs out. Still, I managed to make it to sunrise with the warped-time meschanics that magically prolong fires. Beyond the rabbit grove (in olden times there was often a wolf there) I see a fallen tree pointing further on like a giant finger. Is fate trying to tell me something? I follow the pointing. And then... can it be true? Can you see it? Off in the distance, between the trees? It's the bunker! I am not a bunker-expert and cannot distinguish properly between type A, B, C or whatever. But maybe the discreet reader can? Another surprise: There is actually something in the grate. Never had that before: When I place the rifle down, I see this little detail on the handle. Nice. I decide to spend some time here between Three Strikes and the bunker, since - hey - I can cure stuff on the floor here (only after passing it several times do I realize that there is also a cave vey close by). Oh... did I mention there is a snare in the bunker? I set it up in the rabbit grove, and the next morning I have caught a rabbit.

In the early morning, I set out towards the road, collecting sticks along the river until I hit the road and the small new barn. There are rabbits about, and I set up the snare. While walking back to the Farmhouse, I deliberate whether the bear (food at your doorstep) might still be coming for visits. And... there it is. Change of plan? Hrgnhh... changing plans on the way often results in problems... but my fingers are itching to learn about potential new bear behaviour. I approach and Mr. bear turns around as expected. I try to lure it back to the car (somewhere to the left from the screenshot above). Pulling out the bow (but not drawing it), I wait on the other side of the car, expecting the bear to rear up before attacking... But it doesn't. Instead, it suddenly starts running towards me. Shocked, I dash into the car, soon to discover that the car is situated badly for bear-hunting - I cannot turn around to see where the bear is actually going. I wait a while, and when I finally slip out, the bear has returned to its business somewhere. I also return to my original plan and head for Three Strikes Farmstead. On the way, I come across this half-barn with a ravaged deer carcass. Bad memories rise up (I got into trouble on an interloper (or stalker-before- interloper) here when trying to harvest that deer and getting into a blizzard). I don't stop. I make it to Three Strikes Farmstead without incidents. There is a rifle here at 97% condition, plus some rifle rounds, a bedroll, food, firewood, books (one on gunsmithing, first time I see that for sure). And the deer carcass, a mainstay since olden times. I collect more sticks into the night and until quite fatigued, as I feel I do not have enough firewood for the whole night. Again, bad memories - I had a brush with death here in another run ages ago when I ran out of firewood in a blizzard. On another occasion, I had a spooky wolf encounter - I woke up to see a wolf run away. Its pawprints were around my bedroll, although I was sleeping in the enclosement shown above, with the fire barrel burning! To this day I do not know whether that was a bug or some mechanic, but it sure stuck in my mind... I try to discard these thoughts... but then I start hearing footsteps in the darkness outside. I feel stupid doing this, but I cock the revolver and hide behind the fire barrel, half expecting some eldritch horror to emerge from the dark and step into the circle of light emanating from my fire. Of course nothing happens.

What would be a Hotzn AAR without the benevolently watching eye of the one and only @Drifter Man? I actually alrady knew the rabbit stoning & neckbreaking mechanic, that is definitely much older than maple syrup or moss beds. I also have had the 'Stone-age Sniper' achievement for a long time...

Going back the same way I came, I return to the road and am barked up by a wolf there. I pull the revolver (which I have never used so far), as legend has it that it was introduced as a means to fend off wild animals. But first I try to shake the wolf off. Hmmm... I break line of sight several times and try to get some distance betwenn the two of us, but it sticks to my tail. Not sure whether anything has been changed here, but in my memory there was a time when it was easier to shake off a wolf (and then again, much longer ago, shaking off a wolf was completely impossible other than by entering a building or transition zone). I walk backwards along the road until I reach the entrance to the Farmhouse's driveway and the little barn there (where I found the revolver in the first place). Here I shall make a stand. Upon seeing the revolver being raised, the wolf starts zig-zagging towards me, and shortly before it reaches me, I pull the trigger. BAM! The bullet strikes home, and the wolf runs off. Bloodstains mark the spot. Checking the journal, I see that the shot has raised my revolver skill. Hm... that's maybe 10% or so? The sun is sinking, and I do not want to give pursuit today, lest I get caught by nightfall, blizzards, wolves and whatever. So back to the farmhouse to cure some birch saplings I found, and to make water. I have two big cooking pots here. There is some food left, but not much, so I need to stock up. Should I go hunting tomorrow? Unfortunately, there is no rifle here, and although I do have a bow, I only have two arrows, of which one is down to 10% condition. I could go for rabbits, but I only have one snare so far. Hunger might move in if I watch more guts curing without food in the meantime. Shoot more wolves with the revolver? Not ideal either because... parasite risk. Hmmm... I think I should do some more exploration in the direction of Three Strikes Farmstead (if that still exists), gather cattail stalks, map locations and snare rabbits somewhere close to the Farmhouse while I'm at it. Yes, that sounds like a plan...

Commanding style. Keep it going.

While you're practicing your English skills - I would say "deerskin" pants, although one might argue that a deer will hold onto its skin for dear life, and that the skin wrestled from a deer might therefore also be called "dearskin".

After patching and reorganizing my stuff, I decide to loot Signal Hill and - maybe - the Outbuildings. I'm not expecting to find much of further use except perhaps a second pair of combat pants to slightly improve my legwear. On my way from the Farmstead to the road I check the barn building (which I only ever visited once in my life - it was introduced not too long ago, and before there was no building in its place). At first sight there is nothing interesting there. But on second sight: Can you see it? In the haystacks to the left of the tyres. Closeup: So there's that. One of the achievements still eluding me is the one requiring all skills to be at level 5. The revolver has its own skill, and I don't know how to raise it other than to fire the revolver. At least cleaning the revolver does not do the job, as I find out. Another thing I am asking myself is whether there is any point in climbing up into those rafters: It's possible, and I can crawl around on the planks up there. But I cannot manage to find anything. Anyway, the weather is nice and I am on my way again, turn right on the road and make my way around the hill of signals. And upwards there, spraining an ankle but still undeterred. The shed on Signal Hill has the combat pants as predicted. I spend two nights there, passing the days reading books and munching away the plentiful food (an MRE among other things found in the shed). Then I take a look at the journal and discover that the Faithful Cartographer achievement (which I also haven't got yet) now has its own department in which I can check which locations I already threw onto the map: Exciting... there is so much to discover after taking a longer hiatus from the game! There is also an option to "force reveal" something. I am not intending to use that unless absolutely despaired.

Haha - I like that. Maybe you can soothe your ethics by firing the flare gun onto the tip of a used (hand) flare! A bit tedious for sure and requires the (hand) flare in the first place, but maybe doable...

I don't know whether you skipped them deliberately in your list above, but there are other means of obtaining light (and - see below - to search dark places) than mere matches. Most notable, since they can also light fires (for torches and further matches): flares (also the new blue marine flares or whatever they are called). Then the storm lantern (which you indeed mentioned for ML). More exotic: The flashlight. Not sure where to find those currently, as I have not been playing much for a long time. But I presume you will know. Something I never checked: Can you light a fire with a flare gun? Like... firing onto the ground and then make a fire out of the burning flare? Or stick a torch to the burning flare to light it? Or can you fire a flare onto an item and then move that item about, bringing light into dark places? By 'almost placing' and then actually placing it, for example? I have the impression that the flare gun has not yet been explored to its full potential. If something is to be gotten there, then the flare gun in the ravine next to ML might provide means to explore the dam. Hm... if you can lay your hands on a rope, that is... Aaaand - in olden times you could explore dark places (also cross mines if need be) by pretending to place an object, for example your bedroll (because of its size) or a campfire (because of its free availability). Not sure whether that still works though, and currently I can't remember whether this kind of placing around the bedroll in the dark will make other items (located 'beneath' it) visible. TLD scientists forward, please. Just remember to push the correct button at the end of the process (or when interrupting to pick something up) in order to not teleport your bedroll back to the other end of the world. So much for now. Keep it going.

Famed in olden times, if at all. Now almost forgotten. But thanks for the flowers! 😉

Following this. I'm not sure whether I would enjoy a run in endless night. When playing TLD the coming dawn, the sunlight often raise my spirits - not only in the game, but in general, if one can say so. I would probably rather crank up the difficulty in some other aspect, but keep the daylight. But it seems interesting for sure.

And so it happens. I watch the fire dwindle away, put the last two sticks on it, watch again... Using the last minutes to make two hot coffees, I gulp them down, light the lantern for some additional warmth and set off into the fray. I stumble mindlessly through the raging snow, losing warmth at an alarming rate. At some point, I come across a ravaged deer carcass, and right behind it there is a cave. Half expecting a bear to greet me, I carefully sneak inside, seeing this: A moss bed on the floor... will that keep me warm? I test-sleep for an hour. No. I am still losing warmth. Also I notice that the temperature in the cave keeps dropping. It seems the blizzard has not yet reached its maximum. What to do? Then it strikes me that there is a cedar log lying around - how did I not immediately realize that this gives me the possibility of a new fire? I frantically start a fire, heat some coffee, birch bark tea, drink everything, just so manage to halt the temperature drop. At some point the blizzard stops. Am I saved? No. It is now just before sunrise, the coldest part of the day, and still the temperature drops further. I grab a torch from the fire and hurry out. Where to go? To the right, along a small pathway. Then the way leads across a log... I have never seen this place. It must have been added since I last explored Pleasant Valley: Eventually, I arrive at some ruined building on a riverfront... another place utterly unknown to me: There is some reclaimed wood here, and I can light a new fire and - finally - warm up again. Grabbing some cattail stalks, I then turn right on the frozen river and soon see a structure which seems vaguely familiar: Going up to my left, I manage to find my way to the Farmstead... Hooray. Oh, some benches outside! The place has been revamped since my last visit. The same thing inside. And hey - what is this? New item. At long last - infinite fire: Nice details have been added, which I really appreciate: So... I am safe for now and will take a little RL break here. The Farmstead holds plenty of loot, and I will patch myself up again and refurbish my equipment.

Checking my stuff again, I adjust the plan: I craft the rabbitskin hat, as I have the materials for it. Then to proceed. Part of the plan goes well. I take it slowly, picking up loads of sticks on my way back to Pleasant Valley, then making a stop overnight at the transition bunker. The next morning has windy weather and is very cold, so I wait until around noon until I hit the road. Heading into the direction in which I presume Draft Dodger's to be, I stumble across another plane crash site. I had read about this 'second plane', but had not yet seen it so far. And then the plan starts going bad, as I get pinned down by a blizzard. Not knowing where to go, I huddle down next to a boulder and light a fire, protected from the wind. My fatigue is way down, which does not bode well, and I undertake to lay down my bedroll and dare 1 hour of sleep. It works, but I wake up just as the wind changes direction and blows out my trusted fire. I shuffle some meters to the side, finding myself off-wind again, and light another fire, snagging another hour of sleep. Then I start getting restless... 25 minutes of fire left, only 2 sticks left for prolonging it for some measly minutes. At least I managed to lower fatigue a little. But it would be unfortunate if I had to get moving in the nightly blizzard, without any orientation whatsoever...

So, I have just been playing around until now, trying to get a feel for the game again. And it seems I can still survive OK-ish. Time to assess the situation. I have survived for about 30 days now. Please disregard the other stats, I've had longer runs. Don't know where the corresponding stats went, maybe I reset them accidentally or something. This is what my current clothing looks like: I know, the mask looks weird. Shame that I lost the earmuff and Canadian toque to wolf attacks. At least the combat pants and expedition parka are still with me. And here's my skillset: Hotzn! Time to make a plan... I have a number of deer & wolf skins as well as guts curing in the Mountaineer's Hut, and I could try to make deerskin boots, maybe a wolf jacket. But... I am also running low on cloth, and more unexpected wolf encounters might ruin the expedition parka and combat pants. I don't want to lose them at this point. So I'll leave the skins, guts, rifle and ammo as well as some water and cattail stalks here to return at some later point. I want to return to Pleasant Valley to repair all my clothes and bring more cloth to TWM. I might also try to find another Canadian toque somewhere before I return. It's late morning, but heavy fog has just fallen. I will wait until it has cleared to avoid running into any Moose on my way out of TWM...

I totally second that. On a side note, watching the video I knew that I was going to get half a heart attack when it actually happens... and still I did, even knowing it. Haha.

Nice. Keep it coming.

Caught up on this. Nice. One question: You talked about storing meat in rock piles. What's the benefit?

So... life has gone mysterious ways in 2020, and in 2021 I was finally able to return to TLD a little bit. I am still missing a couple of achievements, so started a new Stalker run to hunt them down. My first goal, however, was to get back into the game. I already forgot where I spawned, I think it was either in CH or DP. Anyway, I collected the bow in Katie's Corner and some other stuff, stayed a couple of days in the hut on Jackrabbit Island (still my favourite hangout), then moved through PV to TWM. I had forgotten how to reach the summit (again), and after trying to find my way to Deer Clearing (was that the name?) in the night and being harrassed by wolves, I accidentally discovered a new region, I think Ash Canyon. Went back to TWN right away though, since I wanted to get to the summit to get the expedition parka, which I finally managed to do. Returned to the Mountaineer's Hut loaded with goodies and decided to spend some more time there. However, it seems wolf behaviour patterns have changed since I last played. At first I was surprised to stumble into wolves behind the hut twice, with the corresponding struggles destroying my earmuffs (dang, I fear I won't get another one in this run). Then I discovered that deer have apparently also changed their routines: I found it difficult to drive the deer grazing on Crystal Lake into the two wolves on the other side (to the left when seen from the Mountaineer's Hut), and it ended up galloping towards me with both wolves in tow. I raised the rifle and shot the deer in the nose, and it turned on its heel and ran off into the mountains. The wolves kind of panicked from the shot and ran here and there, I lost sight of them and shortly later ran into one of them which came over a crest. Then I went looking for the deer (was starving and wanted its meat badly) and ran into another wolf. Oh man. That struggle left me bleeding from two wounds, and wouldn't you know it - I had forgotten to make new bandages after the last struggle. Had to rip apart my Canadian toque to make them on the spot, and almost bled out. Luckily, luckily, no wolf encounter on the way back to the hut. Here is a screenie from a brief visit to the hut between wolf struggles: Note the bloodstains on the floor, which are from me. I have the impression that these stains do not disappear again. But I'll keep watching that phenomenon. Looking at that screenshot again now, it looks strangely 2D and low-res, a lot worse than on my actual monitor. Maybe F9 makes some kind of low-res screenshot? Look at those Maple saplings. Also I noticed that wolf carcasses seem to be off-center. I can't "find" them by placing the cursor over them. I have to place it next to them, and only one point works, sometimes needs a little searching around. Not a huge thing, but somehow off. And - this seems new as well - when I drop wolf meat, it will stick into the ground vertically. Weird, and sometimes close to a carcass difficult to pick up again...