Snowballs in Hell

[Drifter Man]

10 hours ago, Pillock said:

And fishing: fishing is good. Not only is it good calories, but the oil allows you to make torches, which allow you to guarantee 1-match firestarting every time (one torch will last at least 6 failures, probably more). I guess you need the hammer to fish (unless icesmasherbars spawn anywhere ever in TWM?), but if you can get the fishing hole open, using a low-condition set of tackle to catch a few fish seems to me like much better last use of it than ruining on a clothing repair. I don't think tackle-condition counts for anything when fishing, but I could be wrong. In any case, if you do decide to fish, it is probably best left until after you have your new boots and panties, so you can maximize warmth and minimise fire useage inside the hut.

I'm thinking along the same lines for fishing now. And thanks for the one-match-fire trick. Didn't think about the torch that way. I still have one at 50%.

[Drifter Man]

4 hours ago, mystifeid said:

Had a look at a day 200 save and the air temp bonus was still 8C.

You just spared me a dangerous trip and at least 1 match spent on the way  Thanks! I've abandoned the snow shelter idea already and I'll invest my cloth into clothes.

[Drifter Man]

10 hours ago, Pillock said:

the oil allows you to make torches

Hmm... where does the oil from fishing go when I have no cans?

[Ohbal]

7 minutes ago, Drifter Man said:

Hmm... where does the oil from fishing go when I have no cans?

it works the same as the magic water bottles. A small oil can will appear in your inventory after you cook any fish. 

[Ruruwawa]

2 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

Is the fire reliably protected from all directions there?

Yep.  What's better, you can start a fire in the fishing hut stove with a mag lens.   (I realize your current snowball doesn't have a magnifier, but a future one might.)  When the sun comes out on my ML interloper game I beeline for the fish hut to make fire, food and water. 

[Hotzn]

This is the most instructive thread EVER!

 

[Drifter Man]

Well, I managed to kill Snowball 34 after 28 days in a very stupid way. I hit "sleep" instead of "pass time" button during a blizzard in the morning and froze to death in my bed. I have no excuses.

Before that happened, I tested the firestarting training by @Troxism (combined with the torch 1-match firestarting trick) and got my character from level 2 to level 4 in 24 in-game hours. During that time I found out that cabin fever risk doesn't reduce while you are crouched, even if you happen to be outside. At least that's the only explanation I could find for what I observed.

In addition, I confirmed for myself - others here probably know - that this fireplace at the Mountaineer's Hut isn't completely safe from wind:

There will be no more snowballs, at least not for some time. After what could be called a gaming marathon, the real Drifter Man finally has something useful to do

[Jolan]

 

13 minutes ago, Drifter Man said:

Well, I managed to kill Snowball 34 after 28 days in a very stupid way. I hit "sleep" instead of "pass time" button during a blizzard in the morning and froze to death in my bed. I have no excuses.

Before that happened, I tested the firestarting training by @Troxism (combined with the torch 1-match firestarting trick) and got my character from level 2 to level 4 in 24 in-game hours. During that time I found out that cabin fever risk doesn't reduce while you are crouched, even if you happen to be outside. At least that's the only explanation I could find for what I observed.

In addition, I confirmed for myself - others here probably know - that this fireplace at the Mountaineer's Hut isn't completely safe from wind:

There will be no more snowballs, at least not for some time. After what could be called a gaming marathon, the real Drifter Man finally has something useful to do

Good luck with your useful thing! Its been a blast reading your posts.  And they've been super duper helpful too.

 

[Troxism]

I think what you ran into was that cabin fever risk only seems to 'update' periodically, usually only after a loading screen (but I'm not sure of the details, it does seem to update normally sometimes but not others). I'm always crouched when I boil water and it prevents/clears risk just fine.

Also you can relight the same fire to keep levelling up after it burns out (looks like you were stacking them but maybe I'm just seeing it wrong in the screenshot). Reduces clutter/issues trying to click on the fires. Not that it matters now since you said you probably are done for now.

[Ohbal]

1 hour ago, Drifter Man said:

There will be no more snowballs, at least not for some time. After what could be called a gaming marathon, the real Drifter Man finally has something useful to do

Once again you managed to start a "snowball" effect that led to a massive game knowledge thread. Any player that wants to get proficient in this game just have to read through this 8 pages to know most of the survival tricks there are to be found in TLD

Charge your batteries mate, the next wave may get bigger  

[mystifeid]

5 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

After what could be called a gaming marathon, the real Drifter Man finally has something useful to do

It has been very entertaining and interesting. I will miss reading about your progress. Good luck in your endeavours.

[cekivi]

And so another knowledge filled post comes to an end.

Locked for the time being. Let me know if you'd like some more snowball fights in the future @Drifter Man

[cekivi]

And we're live again!

And this time it's the right topic!

[Drifter Man]

Thanks @cekivi !

[Drifter Man]

Five months ago, Snowball 34 lived in TWM for 28 days, the longest I've ever achieved. He could have survived for much longer. Mistakes are not forgiven in Interloper.

Snowballs 35-39 rolled in the Forlorn Muskeg. Their lives were short and their deaths brutal, at the fangs of wolves or by drowning in icy water. They were looking for a hammer there, which would enable them to craft a hatchet, but it never appeared, making their efforts pointless. I deleted Snowball 39 on Day 5. There is no life in the Muskeg.

Snowball 40 returned to TWM. He found hammer in the Mountaineer's hut, rather than hacksaw, but tried to get to the summit anyway. He was terminated by a wolf on the way up.

Snowball 41 also rolled upwards and realized that the recent update changed the playing field quite a bit. Camped in a snow shelter on the plateau below the summit on Day 10, his immediate survival outlook is good, at least in Interloper terms. We will follow his story.

[cekivi]

Abort / retry / fail. It seems you favour retry  

Also, kudos to anyone who can tell me which game that quote (It starts "abort, retry, fail?") is from  

[Drifter Man]

2 hours ago, cekivi said:

Abort / retry / fail

No idea about video games, but I recall old MS DOS prompting me like this when it failed to read a file from a corrupt floppy disk... old times.

[Drifter Man]

Snowball 41 / Day 11

Slowly freezing in a snow shelter just under the summit of the Timberwolf Mountain, Snowball 41 recounts how he got there.

The first parts of the journey were familiar and almost automatic. I spawned on a peak above Echo ravine and proceeded to the Cave of Engines. As usual, I started a fire at the other end of the cave and added enough fuel for it to last for about 3 hours. Then I collected cattails on the river and firewood around Andre's peak, always coming back to the fire to warm up. Then down the rope and to the Mountaineer's Hut. Weather was favorable and I suffered only minor condition loss to 79%. The hacksaw was waiting for me on the table.

I proceeded with Phase 1 and looted the clothes in the container at the Engine. Some were useful enough to wear, the rest was good enough source of cloth. During Phase 1 I also moved the rope I used on the first day, from the waterfall to the other attachment point at the second Engine, paving a quicker way to the Hut. Day 2 weather was less friendly to me and I reached base in 50% condition. I spent the next day on light duty and was ready to set out for the Summit on Day 4, in 86% condition.

Having collected a tin of coffee and a pack of tea from the container at the Wing (perfect! Getting only tea or only coffee is not good), I went on to the Deer Clearing and up to the Secluded Shelf, with two warming stops on the way. Apart from the fire, I kept myself warm with coffee and reishi drink on the way. In the evening I reached the plateau below the summit, built a third fire and erected a snow shelter. I went to sleep in 61% condition after this journey.

After recharging on Day 5, I reached the Summit on Day 6. A few nice surprises awaited me. I collected 12 flare shells instead of the usual 8 (bug reported but I'll keep the extra shells ), and the firestriker was in 90% condition - an equivalent of about 40 matches. There were three boxes of matches and three accelerants rather than two each as before. And, in one of the crates, I found quality tools and a piece of scrap metal, allowing me to repair my precious hacksaw.

Up until then, my strategy was identical to the previous attempts. However, instead of going back to Mountaineer's Hut, I decided to remain in the shelter, trying to live off rabbits and maybe deer at Eric's falls or the bear. I caught two rabbits close to my shelter. The possibility to hunt rabbits with stones and to process them in a warm place enable me to survive here without relying on hunting with the flare pistol. Still, one rabbit zone was not enough. I climbed to the Summit again on Day 9, looking for more rabbits, but found none there. Instead, I bagged three at Eric's falls on Day 10.

I still may have to get a deer with the help of a wolf and my flare pistol. But most importantly, I manage to keep my condition above 65-75%, which allows me to recover with a relatively shorter sleep of 7-9 hours. I can go to bed before nightfall, wake up in the early morning hours, and sleep or pass time in 1-hour increments while monitoring temperature. If it gets too cold, or a blizzard breaks out, I hide in the warm cave. This way I avoid starting a fire every day, saving matches and firewood. Less firewood means less firewood gathering and lower condition loss, meaning shorter continuous sleep sessions again, etc.

[Drifter Man]

So, this is my situation in the early morning hours of Day 11.

• Firestarting: 45 matches, firestriker at 90%, 3 bottles of accelerant. I also have 0.15 L of lantern fuel, which isn't enough for use as accelerant, and without a lantern, it is useless. Firestarting skill level 2, also thanks to reading a book.
• Medical: 6 pills of antibiotics, 6 painkiller pills, 1 stim, 1 bandage, a bottle of antiseptic, 4 cups of rosehip tea and enough rosehips to make two more. I also have enough reishi mushrooms to make 16 cups of tea - I use it for warming up outside.
• Clothes: I'm wearing thin wool sweater, plaid shirt, down vest and a ski jacket on the torso, thermal underwear and two pairs of jeans on the legs. Also two pairs of wool socks and a pair of trail boots, a pair of fleece mittens, two wool toques and an ear wrap. Many pieces are in bad shape. I repaired some that needed repair the most but in spite of it all, my total temperature bonus is +9°C and +3°C windchill. A pair of leather shoes and a pair of running shoes are also available, but I have no use for them.
• Food: 15 cattail stalks, a can of tomato soup and another with pork and beans, three boxes of salty crackers, 0.57 kg of cooked venison and three fresh rabbits waiting for processing. I also have 8 cups' worth of tea and 8 cups' worth of coffee. Cooking skill is also at level 2. I hope I can get carcass harvesting to level 2, too.
• Tools: Flare pistol with 12 flares, hacksaw (45%), heavy hammer (77%), quality tools, sewing kit (80%).
• Material: 1 cloth, 5 pieces of leather, 3 deer hides, 3 rabbit pelts, 4 guts.

What's the plan? I want to craft two items - deerskin pants and rabbitskin mitts. This should boost my bonus by about 3 degrees - not great but every degree counts here. I'm still 1 rabbit pelt and 2 guts short. It will require 17.5 hours of crafting down there in the Mountaineer's Hut, and my sewing kit is at 80% - not enough. Another gut and a piece of scrap metal will be needed to make fishing tackle. I don't have scrap metal after I used the only piece I had to repair my hacksaw. So while the new pelts and guts are curing, I'll use the hammer to break apart crates on the Summit and then break apart the hammer itself. One piece of scrap will go to make sewing equipment, the other will be used to repair the hacksaw once more.

It will take 5 days for the last guts to cure, then I will be all set to go. That's about Day 17. With the crafted clothes, I will return to the snow shelter via the usual route. I will scrap one pair of jeans and wool mittens to have 3 pieces of cloth to repair the shelter. Unfortunately, at that point I will be out of cloth, unless I find some more in the container on the Deer Clearing - the only one I have not examined yet. Afterwards I'll try living in the shelter for as long as I can.

[Ruruwawa]

It's great to have you back @Drifter Man, I love your writing style.  And your crazy challenges.

Breaking down your hammer to make fishing tackle for sewing... now that is a true survival tradeoff!  Thumbs up!

Definitely try the crate at Deer Crossing -- I've been lucky there with clothes before.  I'm rooting for Snowball 41.

[Jolan]

7 hours ago, cekivi said:

Abort / retry / fail. It seems you favour retry  

Also, kudos to anyone who can tell me which game that quote (It starts "abort, retry, fail?") is from  

but retry always just repeated the question... Last game I played with that in it was Alpha Centuri

[Drifter Man]

1 hour ago, Ruruwawa said:

Definitely try the crate at Deer Crossing -- I've been lucky there with clothes before.  I'm rooting for Snowball 41.

Thanks! You mean the container, right?

[Drifter Man]

Snowball 41 / Day 13

On Day 12 I went to the Summit again and broke up all crates in the Tail Section. I got nothing more - just a pile of reclaimed wood. Next morning, while waiting in the cave for the temperatures outside to rise, I dismantled the hammer.

A blizzard raged throughout most of Day 13. Desperate for food, I roped down to get some rabbits. I found one and approached it with a stone when a wolf appeared, going after the same rabbit. I quickly backed off and replaced the stone with flare pistol. Unfortunately, they did something with the aim - you must now aim high above the target to hit it - and I find it very difficult to score a hit. The flare missed and the wolf just ran away, leaving only the poor rabbit for me.

I said the outlook was good in Interloper terms. Don't get me wrong: weather is going from bad to worse, sticks and rabbits respawn slowly or not at all, and clothes are falling apart rapidly. I don't think I'll survive for very long here. But I'll try.

[cekivi]

3 hours ago, Jolan said:

but retry always just repeated the question... Last game I played with that in it was Alpha Centuri

That's the one!

And it may repeat the question but not necessarily the method used to answer it  

Hence, different outcomes are possible. 

E.g. Q: Can we fly to the moon.

A: No, the rocket explodes.

Retry: can we make a better rocket so that we can fly to the moon?

[Ruruwawa]

12 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

Thanks! You mean the container, right?

Yep, the container not the wooden crates.