Sooner or later a blizzard's gonna getcha


gwwagner48

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Having survived 156 days +, I was taken down by a blizzard that came out of nowhere and lasted for hours. I died only yards from a shelter that I could not see. I had done everything and had everything and survived wolf attacks and a bear attack (barely). I felt there was nothing left to do of interest and was waiting for the next revision. I had enough food and supplies stored for months, and I could have lasted a year if I just wanted to stay in the farm house and wait out the days, but what fun is that. So I venture out and battle mother nature, but the blizzards are unrealistic and they appear with no real warning. You could be scouting a 100 yards from your shelter and all of a sudden get blinded and disoriented by a blizzard. Unless you happen know which direction to head back, you are lost and no amount of preparation (wood or clothing or anything else) is going to save you. If you are going to have such deadly and unpredictable blizzards, then you need to provide a reasonable way to survive it. You need a way to get to a shelter while blinded by a blizzard (the fogs are almost as bad, but you aren't guaranteed to freeze). The only realistic thing I can think of that gives a fighting chance is a compass. I have read the arguments for and against a compass, but I maintain that it is a reasonable thing to have in this game and it will work in a geomagnetic storm (this has been proven in real life). With a compass and some study, one should always know how to get back to a shelter in a blinding storm. Give us a chance, otherwise, it is just a matter of time before you die from a blizzard. What kind of of goal is that? A game that guarantees you will die seems to be missing something.

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The weather indicators have improved, but there is a lot of call for flags or other trail markers for this exact reason. There are also a fair number of responses about memorizing the map in detail, but I don't see how that really helps when you can barely see two trees into the distance.

Right now, dropping items seems to be the best way to mark a trail. (Finally, an alternate use for all of those scarves and toques!) It's time consuming, so there is also some call for a trail marking / item dropping hot-key.

I'd like to see an area where the locals had set up ropes strung between posts to find their way between buildings in fog and storms. Bonus if there are breaks in some of the lines, and double bonus if we can use gut or find rope to repair the lines.

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this is why Pleasant Valley still scares me, I have been caught in blizzards at ML and the CH and i could find my way. Ive started games at night and in a blizzard and was able to find shelter. But in PV its a death trap, even finding the rows of hay stacks or rows of trees at the farm is no guarantee

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I was trapped dozens of times too, but I never died near shelter. I always followed my own footprints back. I started campfire whenever possible to use mag-lens and made the embers in a trail so that I knew which direction I headed. I only died a handful of times because I went out too far. Another way is going straight without ever changing direction until finding some shelter. Walking along the edge of maps can also be helpful.

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I survived several blizzards, a few by just dumb luck. Some blizzards seem to be worse than others in their intensity and length. A bread trail of any kind will fail to get you home in a blizzard that you cannot see more than a few feet in front of you. With even the best clothes and bed roll, you are doomed without sitting next to a fire, and that can only last so long. Blinded, you can't find more wood even if it is around you and you surely can't carry enough to last you for hours. I enjoy a challenge but it is depressing to know that however well you do, eventually you are going to die. The cards are stacked against you and the blizzard is the Ace of death.

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Coastal Highway ice is the only one that scares me. Now I point in the direction I want to end up and never move away in case of blizzard.

I tend to be able to find familiar features in all the others. The slopes, the tree placement, you just ahve to get into the frame of mind.

For instance, on PV, let's say I'm somewhere in the middle of a forest and I'm not sure where. I'll head downhill till I get to the river, or the road. If it's a road, I'll follow the road, looking for landmarks - cars, bridges, curves. That tells me whether I'm closer to the PV Farmstead, the Barn, or the houses by the river.

If I hit the river, that's a bit trickier as you can go a long way before you either hit the bridge near the houses, or any of the other bridges that are closer to the farmstead. But, you should know that if you climb a steep bank and it's flat on the other side, that's the PV farming area. If you're seeing hay bales, or the fruit trees, try to get to the edges of where they are, rather than just following them in one direction.

Also, if you see the snow covered road, stay on it. It'll lead to the main road or one of the houses.

I've only ever died in a blizzard due to running across too many wolves, though I've come reaaaaal close on the ice in Coastal Highway when I walked all the way to the edge with the weak ice, thinking I was gonna hit jackrabbit island.

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Landmarks are a great way to maneuver through PV or any of the others, but when blinded and disoriented, these are useless. I knew where I died because I stumbled upon a road which led to the "Three Strikes Farmstead" (the title popped up). I found a couple of the buildings but not the habitable one... I just now looked at a map and now realize there was no habitable cabin! I guess I was doomed no matter what.

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I almost died in a blizzard in PV as well. Was harvesting a carcass on day 150 near the farmhouse and it hit during the harvest process (I had only moved into PV area about 10 days before and kicked myself for taking it too easy). I was pointed in the right direction, but still I walked right past the house. I knew I was in trouble when the orchard trees gave out and I hit a "road" (more of snow channel, no pavement visible). But I stuck to that road, ended up at a shack and had enough wood and shelter there to survive the night. Just about destroyed all my nicely crafted clothes. Of course, this was BEFORE the new wood foraging method. Not sure I would have survived had I actually had to find wood on the way. But I'd probably carry some now.

After that I counted the orchard trees in every direction from the farm house. Once you get to the end of the orchard, you can just reverse and count in the other end and then you can figure it out. Plus those "roads" are huge hints. You can use one road to track from the mailbox right in to the house and they offer shelter.

Bottom line, landmarks are everything in this game in a blizzard. Have to kind of manufacture them in PV with those trees and snow berms. Still, it was the scariest time in the game for a long time. I was trying to get to day 200 and I thought sure I was dead that time.

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