Faithful Cartographer Interloper run II


Hotzn

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Day 9:

I wake up shortly before dawn, back at 82% condition. Now where was the way down to the fishing camp? Unfortunately, I decide to walk straight ahead when leaving the trailer. That soon turns out to be wrong, after a while I see the fishing camp down a slope to my right. Hm. Make a shortcut down there and arrive at... Log Sort. Damn, this was not the fishing camp after all... the fishing camp was further down to the right. And so probably was my deer carcass. I'm already freezing (it's early morning), so I slip into the trailer to warm up. Too dark in there. Did I say before that indoor lighting is too dark again? I think I did.

After resting a little in one of the beds to warm up faster, I step back outside. A strong wind has sprung up, blowing from inland out to Jackrabbit. Without thinking much, I head for the island, of course reaching it pretty quickly. The cabin there is practically empty - one pair of ragged sports socks is all I find, thank you very much.

Now things start to get interesting, as I am running out of food. I decide to set up base here anyway and drop off some of my stuff, especially the heavy duty (combat boots, hammer, coal from the mine). In doing so I realize that I am missing my Maple sapling. Great - I forgot that in the trailer near the entrance to the mine where I had dropped it for some overnight curing. Well, it can cure there and I'll pick it up later.

Now it is noon. Having warmed up again, I could try and make it back to the mainland. In search for food. Or... try to stone a rabbit here on the island. Hmmm... actually, I am interested in the stoning mechanic, so I'll try it now. Rabbits, beware!

Hmpf. My stones don't score anything. It seems that the noise of the stone hitting the ground makes the rabbits aware of it and panic. That's neat, it would be weird if they ignored a stone which doesn't hit them straight. It also means that a miss will drive the rabbit targeted away, requiring a new approach. Can only do that so many times before freezing sets in. So I am back inside the cabin, warming up.

OK, warm again, another try... luckily, the afternoon is quite warm now. I get +11°C from my clothes and can stay outside for the time being. After much sneaking, throwing and cursing, I finally get my first rabbit (two escape because I can't grab them fest enough after hitting them). Interestingly, I catch the third after it had first escaped - but I threw another stone after it in frustration, and that resulted in a freak hit while the rabbit was running away at full speed. So I picked it up and immediately killed it in fear this might also be time-critical. Didn't feel bad at all about it after so much chasing.

Back inside the cabin (for fear of wolves smelling my rabbit I immediately retreated into the cabin) I take a closer look at my prey... aha, I can harvest it here now. So I take the meat and drop it outside for better conservation, then harvest the guts and hide and drop them on the floor for curing. Venturing back outside for more stoning practice, I am soon faced with a blizzard and retreat again.

The remaining daylight goes into repairing the combat boots.

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So what about the new rabbit mechanics? I kind of like that we can now pick up a rabbit and carry it away to harvest it in some other place. I also like that apparently - I have not yet actually seen in the game - the offset is that wolves now smell a carried rabbit from further away and pursue the smell. Concerning the stoning, I am not so sure. I have never heard about people successfully hunting rabbits with stones, and I find it a little hard to believe that this should be possible in real life. But maybe I'm wrong here. On the other hand, I like that after catching a rabbit we have the choice to release or kill it. Now this really is an interesting choice, and if I hadn't been so worked up over missing so many stone throws, I might have felt bad about killing a rabbit with my hands. This is an interesting choice, and although most players will need to harvest the rabbit to survive, the choice is always there.

I have read in some places (couldn't resist reading other peoples' experiences since I don't have so much time for playing these days) that stone throwing has other repercussions and that you can drive deer away from and attract wolves to the noise of a stone hitting the ground. Now that should really allow for interesting new tactics, and if this truly works the way I think then I might have underestimated the Faithful Cartographer update a bit.

Anyway, the weekend is practically over and I have some social activities to attend to. So this is my last playing & reporting until 1 August hits us. Stay safe out there, and I'm sure we will be talking on these forums on 2 August at the latest!

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9 hours ago, Hotzn said:

Experimenting with my clothing, I notice something strange - the inner layer of my outer layers does not grant me its protection bonus against attacks.

It's the same with wind protection.. outer layer only.

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Oh, those exciting first days of an Interloper run :) Thanks for continuing to share your story.

12 hours ago, Hotzn said:

I brought 14 lumps of coal from the mine with me, but I would need to spend 20 minutes at the fire before I can put that on, and might sustain freezing damage during that time. Or... I could light a fire, move on to the fishing camp, return after 20 minutes, boost the fire with coal and then harvest. Yes, that seems like a sensible thing to do.

It's 30 minutes now. I think it used to be 20.

12 hours ago, Hotzn said:

With these thoughts, I eat 5 cattail stalks, drink and go to sleep for 9 hours...

In my experience, you can sleep safely for 10 hours before dehydration stops the healing. It makes a huge difference - the 10th hour adds 4% to your recovery.

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10 hours ago, Hotzn said:

After much sneaking, throwing and cursing, I finally get my first rabbit (two escape because I can't grab them fest enough after hitting them).

You learn quickly. I read a tip somewhere on this forum that dramatically improved my success rate, to the point that I completely stopped using snares.

Aim the throw and wait until the rabbit is on the line between the thumb and index finger of your left hand

9 hours ago, Hotzn said:

On the other hand, I like that after catching a rabbit we have the choice to release or kill it. Now this really is an interesting choice, and if I hadn't been so worked up over missing so many stone throws, I might have felt bad about killing a rabbit with my hands. This is an interesting choice, and although most players will need to harvest the rabbit to survive, the choice is always there.

It's an interesting feature and I like it, but in my opinion, there's no choice at all. If you don't need the rabbit, there's no point in trying to catch it in the first place. You always kill. I only released it once to see what it looks like.

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