LONGterm survival tips?

[Malak]

Ok, so far what I've learned about going 50+ days: (please add your tips)

Disclaimer: These notes are referencing v 0.183 so these issues could change.

1) You don't NEED the hatchet to forage wood. Keep it for when you must do so quickly, and as a last

resort you can harvest it to repair the hunting knife.

2) There is much debate about permafires etc, but once your matches/magnifying glass run-out... it will be your only

option. In any case, remember that every time you start a fire, you use a limited resource of a match.

3) Fishing can add days, but too unpredictable compared to rabbits.

4) Store really important items in a container, if possible. Matches degrade. so only keep one pack on you. If possible,

don't even pick-up the matches and just remember where they were because they start degrading right away.

5) Make the all the animal clothing, but use it as a time filler during storms. They take a lot of energy to make i.e. calories so don't sacrifice staying alive another week just to get your wolfcoat.

6) Use your bullets to get your 4 wolf pelts from wolves that are eating a fresh deer kill. This gets you double the

gut and meat. Save at least two bullets for entering the dam. The only other time to use bullets is when desperate

at the start of the game or if you just cannot find more gut for rabbit snares.

7) Gather all metal objects as you come across them because you will NEED the scrap metal for the hunting knife.

8) Initially harvest all the cloth you can. cloth weighs less than carrying an extra pair of jeans and you will need

the cloth to repair your one set of jeans.

9) Somewhat of a personal preference, but Trapper's is the best location for longterm. Only has one door, but rabbit grounds nearby and the wolves are never more than two at a time on normal mode. The large open area makes checking for wolves much easier.

10) Don't carry more than what you need during daily trips to the snares, as this leaves more room for meat. For example,

you don't need your bedroll if going 5 min away. I even leave my gun, as the wolves are easily avoidable.

11) Always carry 3 bandages, 0.4 minimum antiseptic, and antibiotics.

12) Soon as any item hit's 70% condition repair it, especially clothing as this keeps you warmer.

13) Do not travel at all in "feels like" temps below -10 or windy, unless absolutely needed. Yes, it may happen while you are out, but if it's that way on exiting, then turn around. I do sometimes travel in wind if it's very warm.

14) Don't walk/run straight up hills. Just like in real life, it is less effort to zigzag.

15) It's a dangerous game, but towards the end you can lure a wolf away from a fresh kill and it will not return to the

kill right away, allowing you to get some meat.

16) Try to chase deer towards a wolf. even if the wolf eats all the meat, you can get the gut afterwards and it distracts

the wolf from going after you.

17) If you suspect a wolf is outside... soon as you exit spin around to the door, and if you hear a wolf react, trigger the

door and sleep or otherwise kill time for an hour and try again.

I'm sure there's more not coming to me at the moment and will append later.

18) As someone mentioned... never eat food without cooking unless you can no longer start a fire.

[ezvc]

I kill wolves with my knife naked because your clothing degrades a lot in wolf battles. I save my bullets for emergencies only. I've killed so many wolves I run out of antiseptic and have to use antibiotics. never eat food without cooking so you don't waste antibiotics.

[ChillPlayer]

If you are after rabbits, best place in my opinion for your retirement is Jackrabbit Island, for reasons I stated in this thread

Also, what do you understand by longterm? 50+ days plus is by no means long term, that's more like the beginning of the game after seeing a log post of 1000+ days in stalker lol. Don't get me wrong your tips are all valid for when you plan to survive several hundred days. But other than that, a rifle and 40 bullets can keep you going for 40 weeks on Jackrabbit Island, on stalker you'd be under the top 10 on steam with this

Everyone is talking about matches and them being the limiting factor. Again, this might be true if your aim is to survive several hundred days. I have hundred of matches, given that I only make a fire once or twice a week I could spend years without running out of matches.

It's all about a fixed routine, dedicate one or two days to hunting, a day for cooking, repairing and crafting, sleep/eat until your out of food, repeat. Having a fridge and freezer helps to keep the food fresh and eliminates to need to cook it immediatelly, another reason why the Island is superiour to Trapper's.

When you're out of bullets, switch to left overs from wolves, rabbits AND fish. With 450cal per bunny you need to catch 4 every day at least, some fish will net you the double when eaten raw. When you run out of guts and scrap metal it's time to switch to all the conserved food you've found through out your scavenging runs. Hopefully you didn't eat them when you found them because they were an easy food source. If so, bummer, you could've lasted a month longer :mrgreen:

Unfortunately, all this I figured out way too late in this run. I'm on stalker day 70ish right now and am nearing the end of my ressources, mainly bullets of which I have only 9 left. I wasted so many on scaring off wolves that part of me wants to harakiri this run and start over - the other part wants to see how long I can prolong this less than ideal run, too curious to see what I will be willing to do to survive

[Malak]

The issue I have with Jackrabbit is that the wolf is right outside the door too often, plus you expend a lot of energy climbing that hill. Not to mention the plethora of wolves everywhere in general.

You have "hundreds" of matches? I've managed to find maybe 50 plus a striker or magnifying glass.

[ChillPlayer]

Go out by the gated backside as I wrote in my thread, should a wolf be outside, go back inside. But don't go straight down the hill on the backside because this is where the wolves go up. Instead go right where you have clear sight down the slope. Energy is certainly not a problem, given on how much you save by having wolves hunting deers right at the base of the island.

"Hundreds" was a bit overestimated for Stalker, for Voyageur it is true. In Stalker right now on day 72 I have 60 cardboard and 39 wood matches, which results in 99 and makes me a liar lol . Still plenty enough, should get me at least 50 weeks going and I didn't even scavenge all I've found. No mag glass though, but I'm pretty sure I'm getting eaten by a wolf before I'd need it. I recently just fired a shot without aiming out of panic because I was jumped by a wolf, so my nerves are doing me no good lol. I just hope I'll make it to 100

[elloco999]

1) You don't NEED the hatchet to forage wood. Keep it for when you must do so quickly, and as a last

resort you can harvest it to repair the hunting knife.

3) Fishing can add days, but too unpredictable compared to rabbits.

8) Initially harvest all the cloth you can. cloth weighs less than carrying an extra pair of jeans and you will need

the cloth to repair your one set of jeans.

9) Somewhat of a personal preference, but Trapper's is the best location for longterm. Only has one door, but rabbit grounds nearby and the wolves are never more than two at a time on normal mode. The large open area makes checking for wolves much easier.

12) Soon as any item hit's 70% condition repair it, especially clothing as this keeps you warmer.

15) It's a dangerous game, but towards the end you can lure a wolf away from a fresh kill and it will not return to the

kill right away, allowing you to get some meat.

18) As someone mentioned... never eat food without cooking unless you can no longer start a fire.

Lot's of good tips here. I removed those I'm not going to reply to from the quote.

1) You can also use the hatchet for harvesting carcasses. I never use it for foraging, only for harvesting. And when it is ruined, then I will harvest the hatchet and use the scrap metal to repair my knife. Harvesting with a hatchet does take longer though!

3) I only fish if I find the hooks and or tackle. I'm not wasting scrap metal on fishing hooks.

8) I always wear down the clothes I find, even poor clothes like cotton socks and fleece sweaters are useful when you stay inside for long periods of time. Only when they are degraded enough will I harvest them. And like matches, I leave clothes I find but don't need.

9) Trappers is a good place, it has the benefits of a stove, a work bench and lot's of places to set up traps. And the odd chance of a wolf taking down a deer (or you could help a little of course). But if you really don't want to be bothered by wolves, the Lone Cabin is a great alternative for trapping rabbits. I've never seen a wolf near it and there are plenty of rabbits very close by. But it doesn't have a stove, that's the main downside.

12) Personally I tend to wait until I see that repairing an item will not get it to 100% so I can maximize the use of the required resource. The knife for instance can be repaired 35% per scrap metal. Repairing it at 70% is wasting 5% you could have gotten from that scrap metal. I only repair clothing that can be repaired for more than 50% per cloth (scarf, mittens, socks etc) before it has dropped enough to maximize the cloth.

15) The first time I did this was near the dam. I was just trying to see how close I could get to an eating wolf. When it came after me I ran and accidentally jumped of a rock and the wolf didn't follow me. I ran to the dam and slept for an hour before going back and harvesting the deer.

I've tried to do it on purpose a few times, but was never able to get away from the wolf in time and always got attacked. How do you lure a wolf away from it's kill without getting attacked?

Also, if a wolf stops eating, it will never finish eating the deer so you can just wait for it to be gone and the meat will still be there. Of course, the longer you wait the more the carcass freezes and that wears down your knife faster.

18) Fish seems to have a very low chance of giving you food poisoning when eaten raw especially when it has a high condition. When in the situation that you have to eat something raw, this is the food I'd use if I could.

Some more tips:

- You can harvest a carcass without any tools if it's not frozen. This could be from a fresh kill, but you can also make a fire next to a frozen carcass to thaw it. Also a good way to keep yourself from freezing while harvesting. This method is especially effective when you have a magnifying glass, it save a lot of matches.

- Don't forget to wear at least some clothes when sleeping as beds don't provide warmth. You can freeze to death in a bed if your clothes don't provide at least +1C.

- When you need to heal yourself, make sure all of your stat bars are not (almost) at their max. If you are almost freezing, it will take more calories to heal you the same amount as when you are not cold at all. I haven't really tested this, but I "feel" like when a stat has a read bar they will limit the amount you heal. So warm up/ rest and drink before eating and sleeping to heal.

...Everyone is talking about matches and them being the limiting factor. Again, this might be true if your aim is to survive several hundred days. I have hundred of matches, given that I only make a fire once or twice a week I could spend years without running out of matches...

...I have 60 cardboard and 39 wood matches, which results in 99 and makes me a liar lol . Still plenty enough, should get me at least 50 weeks going...

Matches degrade, even when they are in a container. I very much doubt you'll have any matches left after 50 weeks. The matches I found approximately 150 days ago have degraded about 43% while stored in a med kit (used to be the best container for matches, but with the recent updates it doesn't matter anymore) so I'd say matches fully degrade in about 1 year.

I usually get enough meat to last me 2 weeks or so, cook it in 1 go and boil enough water while I'm at it. This way I only need to make 1 fire every 2 weeks. This is why I never pick up matches when I find them but note where they are. When I start running out I go out and pick up a new box/ book.

[ChillPlayer]

I didn't notice nor realize that matches wear down too and with the next run I will definitely leave them where I've found them as you do. Althogh I thought I've learned enough from my mistakes, I made a lot of errors in my current run, like picking up the matches so I can gather them in one place. I'm at day 82 Stalker and want to survive at least until 100, which is becoming more difficult day by day (only 1 bullet left). The next try will be more perfect

However I'm still pretty sure that I will die before I run out of matches. As I wrote I too make only once a week a fire (every 2 weeks would be even better) and soon I will only need matches mostly for water, which I can pre-cook for a month.

But remember, this is talking about Stalker - in Voyageur there literally are hundreds of matches. Don't know what you have to do to burn through them

[Malak]

Thanks Elloco for sharing your tips. I do prefer the Lone Cabin for fishing. Where are the rabbits there?

I tried fishing again yesterday and you are darn lucky yo get enough to stay alive each day. If I could

add some rabbits it might work there!

On my current run, I had a huge period of finding no gut, causing me to go on risky scouting missions.

Finally I had some luck this morning and killed a wolf eating a deer, 4 gut and 2X meat. But only two

bullets left for the Dam when I am forced to go there. 53 Days and no Dam visit yet! ;-)

[elloco999]

Fishing at the lone cabin? You must mean the lake cabin that is on the far left by it self. But that's not the Lone Cabin. Lone Cabin is an area between Trappers and Clear Cut. It just over the hill from the Unnamed Pond. There is a single cabin there and just beyond the cabin is a very small hill (about 1 meter or so) with plenty of rabbits running around. The coordinates are 70, 945. But there's no fishing there.

[Malak]

Yes, the one to the furthest left on the lake is called "Lone" - check it. ;-)

I think I stumbled on the one you are talking about, but don't know my way there. I only saw it during desperate moments after restarting. LOL

I have yet to find this mysterious bunker also.

There is never a shortage of rabbits at Trappers for me so far. The shortage is gut! If worse comes to worse I may have to make the trip to Coastal again to stock up.

[elloco999]

If you exit Trappers and go to the backpack that is laying on the top of the ridge, follow the rock in that direction and you should find the lone cabin. This is the surest way to find it.

The route I usually take is to exit Trappers, go up the path to the left of the broken shed, cross that hill and follow it that direction until you get to the Unnamed Pond. From there, hang a left and you're almost there.

[Malak]

Yeah, I was looking at some maps. I see if you keep going the bunker may be there also. I may

spend a night at the lone cabin with my snares to find out! ;-)

[ChillPlayer]

Lone Cabin is (according to TOPO map) indeed the one furthest on the right side of the river. The other one you talk about is what I call the Private Cabin for it's neat toilet Lone Cabin is okay wolf wise, you might still be unfortunate enough to get greeted by a wolf when you leave the cabin.

But Private Cabin is a place that I only go once to loot and then only if I absolutely have to because of a blizzard. At least in Stalker this area is too wolf infested, with 3 wolves always at the pond and 1-2 stalking through the forrest, this place is rather a stay for adrenalin junkies

[Lux]

2) what about the magnesium fire striker? Is it repairable? I don't know how long it lasts. I doubt you can repair it.

Also... how exactly does a magnifying glass "wear out"? It doesn't.

[Bill Tarling]

Also... how exactly does a magnifying glass "wear out"? It doesn't.

Glas scratches, discolors, abrasion, smeared coatings, cracking...

[elloco999]

Hm, the cabin at the lake is called "Lone Lake Cabin", that's true. But the cabin I was talking about, the one with the outhouse doesn't have a name anymore. I'm 99.9% sure that it used to be called Lone Cabin. That's the name I wrote down the first time I found it, the coordinates match and it's right next to my entry on the Unnamed Pond. I'm sure I didn't name it that myself, as I always use the building name (what you see in debug when you enter it) if the area doesn't have a name.

Anyway, I'm talking about the cabin with the outhouse, near Unnamed Pond. Or Private Cabin as ChillPlayer calls it

About the magnifying glass, if you take proper care of a magnifying glass it should never "wear out". I keep mine wrapped in cotton in my charring tin. No way that glass gets damaged or so dirty I can't simply clean it.

This could have been changed but the magnifying glass didn't use to degrade at all.

[tsotha]

3) I only fish if I find the hooks and or tackle. I'm not wasting scrap metal on fishing hooks.

Is there some trick to fishing I'm not seeing? Even on voyager I'm expending more calories fishing than I'm taking in from the fish. That's even before wolf dangers, water loss, and the crafting losses if not using found items.

[tsotha]

The magnifying glass should not degrade. Maybe there should be a tiny chance it will crack in a fall or wolf attack, but you never actually have to touch anything but your own hands to use a glass. Gameplay-wise it's fine, too, since it means you have to find the glass before your other options degrade.

[miandelam]

Lone Cabin is (according to TOPO map) indeed the one furthest on the right side of the river. The other one you talk about is what I call the Private Cabin for it's neat toilet Lone Cabin is okay wolf wise, you might still be unfortunate enough to get greeted by a wolf when you leave the cabin.

But Private Cabin is a place that I only go once to loot and then only if I absolutely have to because of a blizzard. At least in Stalker this area is too wolf infested, with 3 wolves always at the pond and 1-2 stalking through the forrest, this place is rather a stay for adrenalin junkies

I actually quite like that place( private cabin) since it has rabbits really close to the door( closer than trapper cabin) and I have seen wolves in that little rabbit valley or if you leave the cabin straight ahead of you( towards the corps that fell off the trail to the lookout) but they haven't been anywhere near close to the cabin yet in my experience. The wolves on that tiny lake look a bit weird yes but the do provide me with gut and a bit of meat ( I don't stay to harvest the complete deer there usually because it's too risky)

If you're lucky you get a corpse( or two) outside, one inside and a metal container to put your stuff in.

And Malak the rabbits can be found where the river meets the lake in that general area. Don't know if there's a place closer to it.

Guess I'm an adrenaline junkie

[elloco999]

3) I only fish if I find the hooks and or tackle. I'm not wasting scrap metal on fishing hooks.

Is there some trick to fishing I'm not seeing? Even on voyager I'm expending more calories fishing than I'm taking in from the fish. That's even before wolf dangers, water loss, and the crafting losses if not using found items.

The only way fishing will give you enough calories as it is now is to starve yourself while fishing. Let you're calories drop to 0, make a fire in the stove and fish all day, cook your fish afterwards and eat drink and sleep to heal up. That's why I don't use it much, trapping rabbits is less time intensive and gives better yields.

[Lux]

Also... how exactly does a magnifying glass "wear out"? It doesn't.

Glas scratches, discolors, abrasion, smeared coatings, cracking...

Yes but what are we talking about here.. after 6mo.? a year? A magnifying glass even in a scratched/abrased state will still focus enough sun light to start a fire even after a couple years. Its not really a factor. Maybe if you're using it to read newsprint.

Its limitations are already present. You have to use it outdoors on a very/fairly sunny day. Its wear isn't really a factor unless someone is surviving 500+ days or there is a mechanic in game to show that it has been carelessly dropped and broken. Even then its not likely to break in the thickest part of the lense, which the fragment could still be used to start a fire.

[Malak]

I tried the Lone Cabin yesterday and it is cool, but right away I found more gut and no way to make more snares. I've also checked two known bunker areas. It was also windy the majority of the time, but it could have been bad luck with the timing. I spent the night there.

[Myshaak]

Also... how exactly does a magnifying glass "wear out"? It doesn't.

Glas scratches, discolors, abrasion, smeared coatings, cracking...

Yes but what are we talking about here.. after 6mo.? a year? A magnifying glass even in a scratched/abrased state will still focus enough sun light to start a fire even after a couple years. Its not really a factor. Maybe if you're using it to read newsprint.

Its limitations are already present. You have to use it outdoors on a very/fairly sunny day. Its wear isn't really a factor unless someone is surviving 500+ days or there is a mechanic in game to show that it has been carelessly dropped and broken. Even then its not likely to break in the thickest part of the lense, which the fragment could still be used to start a fire.

For me it would make sense if it got damaged if you failed to start the fire. I think the game should really take into account that some items just don't get damaged if you use them correctly.

[ChillPlayer]

The only way fishing will give you enough calories as it is now is to starve yourself while fishing. Let you're calories drop to 0, make a fire in the stove and fish all day, cook your fish afterwards and eat drink and sleep to heal up. That's why I don't use it much, trapping rabbits is less time intensive and gives better yields.

Since I discovered that a cooked fish looses ~1/3 of it's cals compared to raw, I eat only sushi. It's plenty enough, especially if you happen to catch a brass which yields ~900 cals. I could survive on fish alone if they'd be no wolves, they spoil fishing the most for me. But as I mentioned elsewhere already, that's why I only fish during blizzard times. During the next blizzard while your on frozen water, go into a hut and fish fish fish as long as the blizzard goes on. Don't waste time on making fire or even foraging wood, just fish hour by hour. When the blizzard stops, go back with lots of fish and enjoy a day or two of healthy food

[elloco999]

That's true, fish can be eaten raw without too much of a chance of getting food poisoning.