Wrapped in Furs run

[Hotzn]

It's Easter Holiday, which means playtime! I blew my last run on day 93 trying to hunt my first bear. I will start a new run here with the main object to obtain the Wrapped in Furs achievement. Unlike my other runs, I will start in PV for a change. I also want to observe changes which have occurred since v200. Needless to say, the difficulty level is Stalker. Hope you enjoy...

[Hotzn]

I start at... erm... "less than one hour of darkness left" (I presume that means shortly before dawn) in pitch darkness somewhere next to some large boulders in the woods. It's snowing, I have no idea where I'm at. Felt temperature is -32°C (when referring to temperature, I always mean felt temperature unless otherwise stated), so yeah... time to move.

I start running ahead and soon see the black outlines of a ruined hut against the night sky - o strange twist of fate, I suddenly realize I spawned at the exact spot where I was mauled by a bear at the end of my last run (of 93 days, damn!). Luckily, there is neither fog nor a blizzard going on, so I find the right direction to the Outbuildings and make it to the red barn even before freezing starts. I'm safe!

Or not? It's cold inside the barn - a felt temperature of -4°C. A quick search of the place yields the storm lantern, simple tools and crow bar among smaller goodies. Outside a blizzard has picked up, and I start freezing in the barn. Place down the bedroll and check - it indicates a +4.1°C temperature bonus. Frozen down to 90% already, I presume this gives me a positive overall of +0.1°C, so I rest for one hour. Mistake - I wake up at 77%. Apparently, +0.1 is rounded to 0 and makes me suffer a temperature drop even in the bedroll. Grrr... OK - there is a fire barrel in here!

I take no chances and use a book and accelerant to start the fire. Then spend some time just harvesting reclaimed wood with my bare hands and feeding the fire. It's eating the fuel almost as fast as I collect it. Then suddenly I see that 10 hours of daytime are left, so I know the blizzard is subsiding. Off to the Farmstead!

Hell... still -32°C outside! I run over, avoiding some wolves prowling around the haystacks. Make it to Farmstead without starting to freeze again. Inside, it is warmer than in the barn (nice move, devs), so at least I won't die from freezing today.

In the basement, I find a rifle and ammunition in the File Cabinet. No, just kidding, of course I find nothing in the File Cabinet. Upstairs there is a magnifying lens, a can opener, a sewing kit and a - tadaaa - a premium winter coat! In the cupboard in the office room - gotta love that the placing of loot makes more and more sense, which is great. I kind of miss the cup of cold coffee on the desk, that should definitely see a return. I also encounter a box of 24 wood matches - thought they only came in 12 apiece. Did I mention I love the new stove? I love it.

Spend some time arranging my loot in the fridge, kitchen cupboards and on the floor (non-degradables), optimise my clothes (do some repairs) and take a look outside. 4 daylight hours remain, but I am not well-equipped to spend the night outdoors. So I spend the rest of the day foraging for wood and boiling water. Exhausted, I fall asleep...

[Hotzn]

Day 2: Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and... stay at home. Because a blizzard is blowing outside. Back to bed for another hour. After that it says 12 hours of daylight left, so the blizzard must be dying down. Stepping outside, I feel a -23°C. Want to travel up to the radar station, and with my current clothes won't make it with this kind of weather. Back to bed for another hour. Now it's -16°C and rising. Time to move.

I run to the road and turn right, then climb up the hill and make it to the top without incidents. Ah, Radio Conrol Hut has been redone, nice. Er... what? A fence? How do I... ah, phew... fence is broken at the back. Already freezing, I slip inside. Ha! Work Boots! Ha! 12 rifle rounds! Ha-haaa! A rifle! Food! Water! A workbench! A bed! And on the bed... cargo pants!!! First time ever these!! This is a base camp!

Hmmm... on second thoughts... I hardly see anything in here. And I don't want to waste valuable kerosene every time I step back in (might need that later for crossing over to CH through the Abandoned Mine. Maybe the Farmstead is a better base, after all? Anyway, I have more stuff than I can carry, so I put on the best clothes, leave some of the material (wood) outside in front of the door (to better find it again), grab the rest and return to the Farmstead via the same route I came.

On the way down, I notice a hollow tree, a new feature (or one I heve overlooked so far). I inspect it, hmmm... you can enter and stand in it, looking outside. This seems to reduce any windchill to 0 and might serve as a temporary measure against excessive wind. Maybe one could even light a fire in front of it and survive a blizzard here. Any other use? Hmmm... maybe hide inside, cock the rifle and wait for a deer to pass by? Well, maybe later. Onwards I go to the Farmstead and drop all loot.

What now? I still desperately need a knife and a hatchet. Don't have too much food, either. With 5 hours of daylight left and fatigue quite high, I decide to explore just a little bit in all directions, but not venture too far away from the Farmstead. It's -3°C, which is not too bad, but a strong wind is blowing from the back country towards the road, and marching upwind is slow and tiresome. Still, I do it and discover a little barn further back. I see a deer carcass there, but it's heavily patrolled by wolves and likely frozen. Without knife/hatchet, it will be difficult to harvest, so I return to base, forage for some wood which I keep for later, and as darkness falls I am off to bed. Looks like I made it through another day...

[Scyzara]

Good look for your run!

If I may give you a tiny advise: Unless you want to shoot the bears from rocks/cliffs, you might want to clear the area between the bears and the next inhabitable structure of wolves. Just in case you get mauled. I'm sure it's no fun at all to see a wolf charging zigzag towards you at 7% health.^^

[Hotzn]

Good look for your run!

If I may give you a tiny advise: Unless you want to shoot the bears from rocks/cliffs, you might want to clear the area between the bears and the next inhabitable structure of wolves. Just in case you get mauled. I'm sure it's no fun at all to see a wolf charging zigzag towards you at 7% health.^^

Good hint, thanks a lot!

[Hotzn]

Kudos to the devs for introducing the Abandoned Mine. I am now much more aware of my lantern fuel supplies, since I will need them to explore and cross the mine. Not wanting to waste lantern fuel for navigating the house at night, my waking and sleeping will most likely follow the natural day-and-night cycle from now on...

[Hotzn]

Day 3: I get up at dawn, 14 hours of daylight left. Outside, the sun is rising beautifully. A mere -11°C, but rising. Time to move.

Food is running low, and I must find a knife and a hatchet to be able to harvest frozen carcasses. I decide to go for the road and off to the left. Crossing Heartbreak Bridge, I see a barn in the woods off to the right. Inside, there is a dead body with a box of rifle rounds - nice, but not what I am looking for just now. Crossing Contemplation Bridge and picking up some plants here and there, I reach Rural Crossroads, already freezing.

Four houses remain here, the rest is burnt down. A quick loot yields a couple of smaller things, but neither knife nor hatchet. I want to continue on the road, but suddenly hear a wolf bark. I veer around, but cannot spot it, so I run back towards the bridge, presuming it does not come from there. A growl right behind me - I drop a decoy, but the wolf doesn't care and jumps me! Fighting it with the pry bar, I manage to drive it off and flee into the next house. My clothes have taken serious damage, and when I have patched myself up, condition is down to 29%. Dang! Moving on like this would invite disaster, so I must waste the day and good weather (8 hours remaining) and the following night to rest and heal in this house, which at least has a bed... survived another day, but only barely...

[Hotzn]

Day 4: Around what I assume to be the next morning, a blizzard is howling outside. I rest hour-wise until it dies down. 9 hours of daylight left from here on. I patch up my clothes a little and stick my nose outside... -5°C... back inside, a little breakfast and off I go... back on the road and further onwards, carefully checking for that wolf from yesterday. The decoy I dropped yesterday has disappeared - I wanted to check what it was. Probably something the wolf wasn't interested in. I think I had no beef jerkies with me at the time.

At the end of the road, there is a body with something lying next to him... a knife? No... an energy bar. No wonder this guy didn't make it! Turning back, I then turn right at the first abandoned car. I think I never went this way before...

Derelict Cabins, aha! Nothing really useful here... I press on, ever onwards, where is this taking me? At one point, there is a little wooden bridge with an uprooted tree to my left (this seems to be new as well, at least I never saw it before). I turn right, go across a little ridge and into some kind of small valley. It starts snowing, I have no idea where I am. Then I stumble upon Hunter's Blind. Some people now may know where I am, but I don't. Running further, I keep the moutain range on my right shoulder. For a long stretch, I find nothing but a dead body (maybe the unlucky hunter from the blind), a deer and some rabbits. Then there is a cave opening to my right...

Hmmm... nothing inside, and I need neither shelter nor rest. Moving on and after what feels like an eternity, something feels familiar, and I arrive at Three Strikes Farmstead. A wolf patrols there, so I am careful. I loot another bedroll and some food. Still no knife or hatchet. I am encumbered due to high fatigue, but with 5 hours of daylight left I do not want to spend the night here. So I light a fire and drink a cup of coffee. Moving on straight ahead, I find the green barn and from there cut back to Farmstead. Home, sweet home. I drop my loot, eat dinner and go to sleep as the sun sets...

[Hotzn]

Day 5: During the night, I have terrible nightmares of knives and hatchets pursuing me through the forest. They jeer at me, shouting things like, "Fool! You overlooked us! We were everywhere! Denyo or Scyzara would have spotted us right away!" - I wake up in cold sweat, breathing heavily. It is dawn. Where are knife and hatchet hiding from me? I grab my stuff and peek outside... -20°C. Back to bed for another hour. Then it's -15°C with 11 hours of daylight left. Time to move.

Going to the road, I turn right and follow it to Long Curve, finding more rifle rounds in the car there and a heavy wool sweater on a dead body. I jump onto the ice and follow it away from the road - see a bear to my left. Around that moment, I start freezing, and I turn right towards the Farmstead. However, the weather suddenly changes into a blizzard. I run in the general direction of where I presume the Farmstead to be, but somehow end up at Three Strikes Farmstead. I start a fire in the only remaining structure there, but are down to 71% when freezing finally stops. I now spend hours foraging for wood, eating, drinking and keeping the fire going.

When the blizzard ceases, I make my way towards the Farmstead. Attracting the attention of a wolf, I light a flare. Interestingly, the wolf now stops at some distance, watching me and my burning flare, then decides it wants to approach further. I throw the flare and the wolf runs off, whimpering. Now another blizzard starts. I make it safely back to the Farmstead, but the day feels wasted.

[Ryan CM]

quite the adventure!

[Scyzara]

They jeer at me, shouting things like, "Fool! You overlooked us! We were everywhere! Denyo or Scyzara would have spotted us right away!"

Lol Hotzn, I really had to guffaw when I read this!

I'm still finding new stuff (be it a bagpack, a candybar or somthing alike) every once in a while after almost 365 days, guess I'm not half as eagle-eyed as you believe. :lol:

Anyway, good read. Looking forward to read about your first bear kill.

[Hotzn]

Day 6: Outside it's -14°C, with 13 daylight hours left. I am running out of food and still have neither knife nor hatchet. I must either hunt or search the area beyond the road to the left of the radar station. I decide for the latter.

Climbing into the hills, I collect some plants and come upon Pensive Pond. Collecting more plants around the edges, I am spotted by a wolf and have to light a torch to drive it off. Right at this moment, a blizzard starts, and before I know it, I am freezing (and starving). Taking shelter in the fishing hut (no knife, no hatchet), I eat something and then fail twice at lighting a fire in the stove. When I finally get it going, condition is down to 70%. Now it's foraging and feeding the fire again - without a hatchet it takes ages to procure firewood, and it's eating through my precious calories like nothing good. Fatigue is becoming an issue as well, so I make a cup of coffee against that. I notice Cat's Tail stalks have been reduced in caloric value. Nice fine tuning, I thought had just a tad too much at 200 apiece. Now they're 150 each.

With some 7 hours of daylight left, the blizzard stops as suddenly as it started. I move on and find Picnic Spot. A dead body there has dog food on him. Under the given circumstances, this is most welcome. Beyond Picnic Spot is some kind of path running along the cliff. I turn to the left and find it circling back towards the road. Leaving the path uphill towards the right, I find a ravaged deer carcass in a secluded spot. Despaired, I light a fire right on top, thaw and harvest it. Starving again, I cook and eat 1 kg of venison - that's all I get - together with my wonderful dog food. This is no life! When I look up from my work, I realize it has taken too long - there is less than one hour of daylight left, temperatures have dropped sharply, and a cold wind is blowing.

I run downhill in hopes of finding Rural Crossroads or some other shelter. It is getting dark so fast now... run, run... is that a wolf there? No, just a rock it seems... ah, the road. I arrive at Rural crossroads in the darkness, hungry like a wolf and utterly exhausted. Enter the little shop, place the bedroll on the floor, drink water and go to sleep...

[Hotzn]

Day 7: The next morning, a blizzard is howling outside, and I try to assess the situation: I have a packet of beef jerkies and 3 Cat's Tail stalks left and am already going hungry. There is no food left at home base, all that could give me calories from now on is cooking Rose Hips and mushrooms. But without a hatchet, even procuring the firewood would probably cost me any calories I would gain from what I cook this way. I am up a certain without a paddle. If I want to survive this, I must traverse the mine and find a knife and hatchet beyond. Unfortunately, I left the rifle at the Farmstead. It will have to remain there for now, together with all other goodies. Well - the mine it is! Good thing I refueled the lantern when I left my base...

The blizzard stops for a minute, but it's -30°C outside, so I slip back in and rest for another hour. Then it's -14°C and I'm good to go. 11 hours of the day remain...

On the way to the Abandoned Mine, I come across some wolves and have to use another flare. Damn, this is such a waste! Running through the mine and grabbing some loot, I am greeted by a blizzard on the other side in CH. I run down to the right and take cover in a trailer. I am starving again, but luckily find 1 MRE under one of the beds, which I gobble up at once. Rest for one hour until the blizzard is over, 7 hours of the day remain.

Hmmm... why not transfer to ML right away? Sure to find a knife and hatchet over there... yes, let's do that! I somehow manage to climb up to Train Unloading without wolf interference and run into the tunnel to Ravine...

Ravine is covered in fog. I haven't seen it since v200, so do not know what to expect really. Oh, the rails have been wrecked! OK, the fog clears and I see how to get across. Wow, this has been expanded! I find a cave with a ravaged deer carcass in front of it (bear?) and - somewhere else - a burnt out campfire. Interesting, interesting... anyway, I don't explore things fully as not much daylight remains and I am encumbered already. And, as I enter ML, also exhausted. I have become really slow - Fluffy would be too much, so I crawl over to Alan's Cave... and spend a terrible night there tending the fire and producing water while a blizzard is blowing "outside"...

[Hotzn]

Day 8: Still quite tired and very hungry, I pack my things together with 12 hours of the day remaining. Outside of the cave, a wolf is hanging around the hunter's blind. Although quite far away, it somehow spots me, and I need to waste another flare. I then run onto the lake, grab some food from a cabin and two fishing huts, find a hatchet outside the lake cabins and make it safely to Camp Office. I am a walking wreck, and I spend the whole day resting, getting my equipment back into shape and boiling 10 litres of water. Also craft 2 fishing tackles, as I am running low on food again. Tomorrow, I want to go fishing!

[Scyzara]

There's sometimes a hatchet lying in the snow near the lake cabins. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

[Hotzn]

Day 9: I wake up starving, but before having breakfast I tenderly kiss my new hatchet. After breakfast I peek outside. It's -18°C, a blizzard seems to be just starting up. Back to bed for another hour. Then It's calm and warming up. I check for wolves and then run onto the lake. Woof, woof! A wolf had been hiding behind the first rock to the right and is now going after me. I try to outrun it and make a curious observation - it seems the wolf pursuing me slows down when I face him and catches up if I face away from him. This would be cool feature, as naturally a wolf would know it has to be more careful when the "prey" is facing it. Then I stop, facing the wolf, and it starts to run towards me in this kind of semi-circle again. I chase it off with a flare. Then I run towards the lakeside cabins with my flare in hand, as I saw another wolf pursue a deer over there when I was trying to evade the wolf pursuing me. Where did the two go? Aha - behind the cabins, the wolf is munching away on the deer. I take off all my clothes (you, Sir wolf, are not going to destroy my precious cargo pants!), chase it off with the same flare and start harvesting the deer. I also start freezing like hell, since I forgot to put my clothes back on! Before I can react, I am down to some 70%, but I have the meat! I get dressed, take a nap in one of the cabins to warm up again, come back and harvest the rest of the deer. Would really like to harvest the wolf as well, which must have bled out in the meantime, but a thick fog falls over the land. Dang!

I wait for the fog to pass, then search around a bit for the wolf, but cannot find it. I loot more cabins and collect Cat's Tail plants, then return to Camp Office via Lake Trail. At Dave's Quiet Clearing, I pick up a knife. At last! It is now too late to start fishing, so I cook the venison from today's haul and some Rose Hips/Reishi mushrooms. Looks like I survived another day!

[Hotzn]

Time for a little feedback on the update.

I always like to see new content in this game, whatever it is, it's exciting. I checked out the tractors, the truck in the red barn, the new hay trailers or whatever they are called, the birch trees, the hollow and uprooted trees, the new oven in the Farmstead and so on. I walk around it, look into each and every corner, try to interact with items and find out whether they are pure decoration or part of a new game mechanic. Just to give the people who make all these little details an idea that they do not go by unnoticed. Good stuff.

Transition zones: I find these very good, and I like the game design decision to make a transition more meaningful even more. It now becomes even more of a strategic decision when and how often to travel from one map to another.

Wolves: I have not yet dealt with wolves enough to pinpoint all the changes, but there definitely have been some. Wolf behaviour seems much more diverse now - I especially like the thought that wolves apparently behave differently depending on whether the player is facing them or not. The new "zigzag" approach is also excellent, since it makes wolves a lot harder to shoot. I shall explore this further as I start gathering wolf pelts.

Ambient sounds and music. When I first heard birdsong, I did not know whether I liked it or not. But I have found you hear it only very occasionally, and that is good. Otherwise I would have a sensation of Spring approaching, which would not go well with the game's atmosphere IMO. I have heard some other sound as if from a rabbit being in distress, but cannot say what it was for sure. Anyway, it sounded unsettling and was good in terms of atmosphere. The new ambient music is wonderful and - as usual - only used sparsely, which is good.

New UI: This is all good, almost everything feels like an improvement after getting used to it.

Using snares and fishing: I noticed that using snares has become a lot trickier. Snares are set off much more often without a rabbit actually being caught, and I am catching less rabbits now, even before an area can be exhausted from excessive hunting/snaring. This seems good, since snares were a little overpowered before. The opposite goes for fishing - in the past, fishing lines snapped far too often, and cooking fish was pointless, since it lost too many calories. Now fishing seems to have become an option. Generally, hunting, snaring and fishing seem to be balanced out better than before.

Those were the first changes to catch my attention. May add other points as I notice tem. I like the update very much.

[Hotzn]

There's sometimes a hatchet lying in the snow near the lake cabins. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

Ha, I found it right there, somehow forgot to mention it (how could I forget?). I edited the day before your comment accordingly.

[Hotzn]

Day 10: A blizzard is blowing through the morning hours. I step out with 9 daylight hours remaining, but it's -17°C, so I jump right back into bed for another hour. After that, It's warm and sunny, so off I go.

On stepping out, I see a wolf disappear beyond the rails. Presuming it was chasing a deer, I go yonder and check. My assumption proves to be correct - the wolf is feeding on the deer just on the other side of the rails. I light a torch and approach the scene. Mr. wolf jumps up and runs towards me. Running backwards, I try to distract it with a wonderful decoy - 1 kg of juicy cooked venison. The wolf pays no attention, runs right over the good meal in hopes of an even better and bigger one. Stops in front of the torch, however. I wave it, and the wolf runs off. I collect my venison again and harvest the complete deer carcass, which is now lying in a fairly safe location. It has become foggy, but I make it back to Camp Office without incidents. I drop the meat and go back outside to forage for wood. I will cuddle up in my base now to cook venison, make more water and craft some new boots!

[Hotzn]

Day 11: Cooking, melting, boiling, crafting...

[Hotzn]

Day 12: My new deerskin boots are finished. I walk up and down the counter, acting cool and saying things like, "Well, Mr. Wolf? What say you now? These boots are made for stalking! And stalking's what they'll do!" - And to present them to the great outdoors, I step outside, with 10 daylight hours left. But there is nobody to hail me, so I forage a lot of hardwood, go back inside and produce ample supply of water.

[Hotzn]

Day 13: After all these distractions, back to the original plan: fishing. 11 daylight hours remain, but outside it's -23°C. No way, back to bed for another hour. Now it's -9°C, good to go. Now the question is which fishing hut should I choose? The furthest one has no wolves near it, but I would have to carry any fish over a greater distance. Hmmm... I go for the furthest hut nevertheless. A wolf spots me and chases me back inside. An hour later it has gone, and I set out for the lake.

Arriving in the fishing hut furthest away from Camp Office, I first forage for wood and place a lot of it next to the stove. Then It's ice fishing for 4 hours. This yields 3 Smallmouth Bass and 2 Lake Whitefish. I eat one of each raw on the spot at 94% and 97% condition respectively. Then I continue fishing and catch some more. I store my catch in the cupboard and drawers, feed some more wood into the stove (blizzard outside), place my bedroll on the floor next to the fire and go to sleep...

[Hotzn]

Day 14: This day is spent fishing, foraging for firewood, making water and cooking fish, all in the fishing hut. It may be interesting to note that everything I caught was Smallmouth Bass and Lake Whitefish. I wonder whether there are any other fish to be had in the lake.

[Hotzn]

Day 15: Heavily laden with cooked fish, I return to Camp Office in the morning. Being tired still, I rest for another two hours, then craft 2 snares (only 2 guts left) and repair my cargo pants before peeking outside with 4 daylight hours left. A chilly wind is just dying down. I cross the rails and pass between two large boulders to my right into the valley beyond. The usual deer and rabbit are tolling about, and I set up my 2 snares. Although there are still more than 3 hours of daylight left, I return to Camp Office and call it a day - my fatigue is high, and I don't want to push my luck...

[Hotzn]

Day 16: I get up at dawn and first do some thinking. I want to craft the rabbitskin mittens and the wolfskin jacket next. I can try and collect more guts (to make more snares) by luring wolves away from deer carcasses, but a rifle would come in handy, as I could try and get the "double kill" of deer and wolf with one bullet. This would give me more guts and wolf pelts at the same time in a much more reliable way than knifing the wolves and hoping to retrieve them later. However, my rifle is in PV. Maybe it would be better to scavenge more ML locations and look for another rifle first. Hmmm... yes, I'll try and get another rifle first.

Outside it's -20°C, so back to bed for another hour. Checking my 2 snares, I find one of them triggered, but no rabbits. I collect the snares and take them with me. I want to return to the rails and follow them to Tunnel Collapse, but get spotted by a wolf. I drop 1 kg worth of fish as decoy and see the wolf going for it. But I lose the calories and have to take another route. I head to Frozen Creek, but the moment I get there, a blizzard starts, subjecting me to some -33°C. Crossing the creek, I run straight ahead without even knowing exactly where this is taking me. My calculations are somewhat correct, and I stumble out onto the path between Forestry Lookout and Logging Camp. I head for the latter, slipping into the first trailer just as I start freezing. This day is not going according to plan!

Now that I am here, I loot the trailers and the ruined hut. Nothing spectacular, and I do not even want to carry everything - leave another storm lantern untouched. Now the blizzard dies down - too soon, too soon - and I quickly leave in hopes of not running into a wolf. But I do. O Logging Camp, thou most hideous wolf-hole! I have to use a flare I just found in one of the trailers.

Now that the flare is lit, I run for the Forestry Lookout, ready to chase away any wolves that should embolden themselves to stand against me. Alas, there are none. I run up to the lookout and find some food and rifle rounds, but no rifle. Hastening back down, I find a nice little detail which has been added with the last update: There is a gap in the fence which you can pass through, and down there you will find a corpse. Now there is a backpack (and a Granola bar) up at the gap, propped against the fence). This somehow suddenly makes the dead guy tell a story: Either he accidentally fell to his death (finding the missing piece of the fence down there with him would support that) or... hmmm... could it have been a suicide?

Anyway, I better take care of myself than spend too much time with this guy... running over to the two tiny huts near Unnamed Pond, I slip inside for an hour's sleep (freezing again), then check the nearby tree stumps for mushrooms. Hmpf... nothing... I thought there were some here in v200. I gain some height and move over to Unnamed Pond, trying to get an overview of what is going on there... hmmm... just one single wolf in the distance... OK, looks like I can check it out more closely... careful, careful... all is quiet. I boldly collect some plants here and there, then I become encumbered and make my way over to Trapper's Homestead. Arrive without incidents, but - no rifle. I collect the other stuff and - since a blizzard has picked up and only 2 daylight hours remain - go to bed.