How Not to Speedrun the "Hopeless Rescue" Challenge


cekivi

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April 25, 2016

So, I finally got to try the hopeless rescue challenge this weekend. I thought I knew what I was doing. It turns out that was not the case! :D

I have completed the challenge but I'll be updating this post as I upload the videos of my exploits. If anyone would like a "how to not" guide then by all means read on! :)

The First Days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEc3y_F5Zak

So, I start the challenge in the Trapper's Cabin. I know I need to be quick but it's hard to break the habit of "loot everything! You'll need it later!" that's so ingrained into me by now. So... I loot the entire cabin. Then I go to the Camp Office... and loot it as well. Then I loot the Derailment and finally found a knife! Which was what I was looking for with all of my previous looting since my next stop is the Dam. This whole time I was thinking food would be the real issue and the limiting factor of whether I could complete the challenge. This was not correct! But, in this mistaken assumption I came up with the brilliant idea of deliberately aggravating Fluffy so I could munch on some nice wolf steaks! Yum! So, I go to the dam, light a fire and... Fluffy just keeps running away. Running so fast I might add that I cannot shoot the darn wolf with the gun I found. I started chasing the wolf through the dam... and it still wouldn't attack! At this point I just went to bed in order to get attacked in my sleep. That worked! Then I got attacked again! (plans, sigh, this was not a good one!) and I was able to finally stab fluffy enough to get my wolf steaks.

This is where the new update really bit me. I was already struggling with the new radial menu (please make this a toggle!) but instead of the 5-7 kg of wolf meat I only got three. After looting the dam, harvesting the wolf, eating and healing I was now well into my second day and I was still on Mystery Lake. No matter I thought! I know Pleasant Valley really well! I'll be able to make up lost time.

Yeah, about that... :silly:

May 13, 2016

So, I've now completed the challenge twice. The remaining two videos for my "how not to speedrun" have been uploaded. I should be able to upload my actual speedier run video this weekend along with a forum post update ^_^

Edited by cekivi
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1 hour ago, Vhalkyrie said:

Well I didn't watch this because I haven't done this challenge myself yet and I don't want spoilers. ;)  But I'm sure I'll have my own "What not to do experience" to compare with yours once I do! :D 

We'll compare notes! :big_smile:

I actually have a lot of ideas on how to do the challenge better. Problem is the only time I have to game is on the weekend so they'll have to wait.

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I had to stop myself from looting everything, too. I got lucky on my first successful run that I stumbled onto the prepper's food cache between the trapper's cabin and the unnamed pond (which was the route I used to get to the cabin office). I would probably try to go right to the dam instead of taking that route.

Fluffy didn't run away from me at all. I got attacked badly the first (unsuccessful) time I tried the challenge. I didn't have a knife. The second time I had one, and I think you really need that if you're going to get into close-quarters combat with the animal. I tried to shoot it, but it came up on me too quickly in the darkness. I haven't figured out how to switch effectively between the lantern or a flare and the gun, so I had to rely on the knife when I missed Fluffy with the gun.

Pleasant Valley posed no problem for me. It was Timberwolf Mountain that was the kicker. I kept freezing and didn't have an axe (until I summited), so that was a thing. :/ I also got caught in several blizzards and had to hunker down and wait for visibility.

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On 4/26/2016 at 10:02 PM, cekivi said:

So, I finally got to try the hopeless rescue challenge this weekend. I thought I knew what I was doing. It turns out that was not the case! :D

I have completed the challenge but I'll be updating this post as I upload the videos of my exploits. If anyone would like a "how to not" guide then by all means read on! :)

The First Days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEc3y_F5Zak

So, I start the challenge in the Trapper's Cabin. I know I need to be quick but it's hard to break the habit of "loot everything! You'll need it later!" that's so ingrained into me by now. So... I loot the entire cabin. Then I go to the Camp Office... and loot it as well. Then I loot the Derailment and finally found a knife! Which was what I was looking for with all of my previous looting since my next stop is the Dam. This whole time I was thinking food would be the real issue and the limiting factor of whether I could complete the challenge. This was not correct! But, in this mistaken assumption I came up with the brilliant idea of deliberately aggravating Fluffy so I could munch on some nice wolf steaks! Yum! So, I go to the dam, light a fire and... Fluffy just keeps running away. Running so fast I might add that I cannot shoot the darn wolf with the gun I found. I started chasing the wolf through the dam... and it still wouldn't attack! At this point I just went to bed in order to get attacked in my sleep. That worked! Then I got attacked again! (plans, sigh, this was not a good one!) and I was able to finally stab fluffy enough to get my wolf steaks.

This is where the new update really bit me. I was already struggling with the new radial menu (please make this a toggle!) but instead of the 5-7 kg of wolf meat I only got three. After looting the dam, harvesting the wolf, eating and healing I was now well into my second day and I was still on Mystery Lake. No matter I thought! I know Pleasant Valley really well! I'll be able to make up lost time.

Yeah, about that... :silly:

fluffy seems a wee bit tougher than previously. :D I was attacked 3 times by her.  or perhaps it was 3 different wolves.

 

 

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22 hours ago, Jolan said:

fluffy seems a wee bit tougher than previously. :D I was attacked 3 times by her.  or perhaps it was 3 different wolves.

 

 

Probably the same one :)

My biggest problem (which will be apparent once the other videos are posted) was I was always exhausted. Consequently I was frequently having to stop and wait before I could keep climbing ropes to the summit. That's when the weather (and the wildlife) would get me...

 

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I attempted this last night.  I got to the summit, but didn't have enough time to get back to DP.  I know now how to shave off some extra time.  Basically, I spent one extra day that I didn't need to in ML, or else I would have made it.

I went the Ravine route instead of through the Dam.  I didn't have a weapon or a knife, so I wasn't going to risk Fluffy with clothes that I was already barely staying warm in.  I took a short nap in the Ravine, then made the Ravine Crossing at night. :o Reckless move I would never do in my Sandbox game, so this was a nice change of pace.  The sense of urgency had returned.

Even though I didn't complete it, I had fun.  Will try again soon. :) 

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  • 2 weeks later...

More coffee can be found in CH gazstation and of course on the way up to the summit you get all the coffee you need to never sleep again until you get to the lighthouse. Also always check desk- and file cabinet drawers you encounter.

Another thing though: I tried to speedrun the challenge again yesterday and after getting to camp office I got lucky and had a blizzard going on outside in the night. Following the tracks I've picked up the Rifle in wolf free Derailment and then went straight to the dam, put my lamp down and waited for fluffy to appear to make my shot. But it didn't come, so I went down the stairs already freaking out in fear of getting jumped around the corner, still no fluffy. I was certain that it must be somewhere but thanks to complete darkness and the need to sleep for 2h I was so freaked out that I stopped the run lol.

I always thought that fluffy is a guaranteed spawn, is this not the case or was this due to the blizzard going on? Something clicks in my mind that way way back around v150 I encountered an empty dam once but I am not sure. Anyone else encountered a fluffy free dam?

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on the run I'm on now, I'm attempting a "haul ass" approach. i skipped most of the loot in ML (save the trappers cabin, just to have some start supplies) and traveled straight to CH as fast as humanly possible. and i skipped most of the loot there, aswell, but looted every house in the townsite (skipping the gas station) just to get a good supply of coffee, condensed milk, peanut butter and warm clothes. i was lucky in this regard, i didnt expect to get so much great loot from these houses. then from there i went up the path by the town, went through the mine to PV and then completely skipped that map, too, taking the path straight to TWM.

lots of coffee later, i'm stuck on the summit.
literally stuck.
spotted a body in the lower section of the tail of the plane. so naturally, i dropped down to loot the poor sod. i got a premium winter coat, MRE, and emergency stim... but promptly realized that there is no way back up. its either find some way to scale down the side of the mountain and risk falling to my death, or freeze to death up there (which is probably what happened to that poor fella i looted...) 

i screwed myself good this time.. xD
 

Edited by Tbone555
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4 minutes ago, Tbone555 said:

on the run I'm on now, I'm attempting a "haul ass" approach. i skipped most of the loot in ML (save the trappers cabin, just to have some start supplies) and traveled straight to CH as fast as humanly possible. and i skipped most of the loot there, aswell, but looted every house in the townsite (skipping the gas station) just to get a good supply of coffee, condensed milk, peanut butter and warm clothes. i was lucky in this regard, i didnt expect to get so much great loot from these houses. then from there i went up the path by the town, went through the mine to PV and then completely skipped that map, too, taking the path straight to TWM.

lots of coffee later, i'm stuck on the summit.
literally stuck.
spotted a body in the lower section of the tail of the plane. so naturally, i dropped down to loot the poor sod. i got a premium winter coat, MRE, and emergency stim... but promptly realized that there is no way back up. its either find some way to scale down the side of the mountain and risk falling to my death, or freeze to death up there (which is probably what happened to that poor fella i looted...) 

i screwed myself good this time.. xD
 

You're actually not as stuck as you think you are. There is a way out :)

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Just now, cekivi said:

You're actually not as stuck as you think you are. There is a way out :)

i'll look around a bit, but its absolutely pitch black xD
thanks for the heads up though, i was literally just about to try to climb down the mountain :P

i've made a lot of mistakes on this run. buuuut, at least I'm learning from them!

 

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50 minutes ago, cekivi said:

Well, sometimes the only way out is down...

Wouldn't recommend trying anything in the dark though. :winky:

just did it.

i didnt have any firewood, so i HAD to try it in the dark, or freeze to death waiting for daylight :P
lord, it was scary scaling down that mountain. with my flare. i couldn't find any other way out of that situation, other than climbing down
if you could accidentally overdose on painkillers on this game, i would have! xD

Edited by Tbone555
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15 minutes ago, cekivi said:

It is the fastest one I've found and the fastest I've seen mentioned on the forums. If you do it right you come out on Crystal Lake. The total descent is something like 2 in game hours ^_^

i'll keep that in mind! when i scaled down, i came out in echo ravine over by the engine.
on my first climb, i found the waterfall and followed the river down, climbed down the rocks and got down pretty quickly. i didnt keep track of the exact time it took though

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  • 2 weeks later...

I finally made it to DP after about 10 tries. The key for me was drinking a lot of coffee, packing super light (despite condition from playing sandbox to hold on to everything) and knowing the best route to get from one indoor location to another (as well as caves) through trial and error.

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  • 2 months later...

So, what's the best time anyone has for Hopeless Rescue?  I just tackled it as my first challenge - a little over 5 days.  I went the ML-PV-TWM route and spent too much time in the dam needlessly looting and in PV repairing the clothes I found at Signal Hill; then got lost in a blizzard and had to walk into the wind to get to the TWM exit - probably wasted at least a day in PV (I see some have gone ML-CH-PV, which seemed odd at first, but considering my experience, maybe that's the way to go).  In retrospect, I think I could have shaved more than 2 days off for sure.  I did manage to get from the summit to the lighthouse in one walk. 

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  • 1 month later...
On 12/05/2016 at 8:46 AM, cekivi said:

It is the fastest one I've found and the fastest I've seen mentioned on the forums. If you do it right you come out on Crystal Lake. The total descent is something like 2 in game hours ^_^

Wow. No way. When I did this, I was stressing about time the whole trip. I budgeted 2 days to ascend and a day to descend. My accent took maybe half a day? The decent tho? I left the summit at sunrise, and was at the cabin before it finished. I think it took about 45 minutes in game - it was nothing. It actually inspired me to make a post about a 'hard' mountain.

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