1000 Days in the Dam: An exercise in inventory control

[Berniyh]

Doing a single trip overloaded will always be more efficient, because you would need a factor of 2.5-3 in calories increase for it to be worth.

Only when you are too overloaded (I think in the range of 50kg) and you get very slow, then you really should drop stuff. Otherwise if it's just about getting things from A to B, pack as much as you can.

[Drifter Man]

1 hour ago, terryt3535 said:

Assuming empty is 15 kg, have you looked at how efficient it is to make one trip at 45 kg versus two trips at 30 kg (adding in the calories for the return trip)?

One return trip at 45 kg (returning empty) costs 2.26 hours and 592 Cal per kilometer.

Two return trips at 30 kg (returning empty) cost 3.54 hours and 831 Cal per kilometer.

I.e. @Berniyh is right.

[Berniyh]

And don't forget that you have 3 times the risk for a wolf encounter.

Ok, maybe not quite 3 times since you are faster when not being overloaded. But depending on the route that could still be a severe drawback.

[Drifter Man]

I have less time for playing now, but there is another persistent problem that keeps me from advancing. The game becomes intermittently unresponsive to mouse and keyboard inputs. For instance, I'm moving my mouse but the pointer or the character's view does not move around. Or the character stops walking and reacts to no keys at all. Or vice versa, I stop pushing the W key but the character keeps going for a few more meters. Naturally, it is very risky to move around in this mode in some places.

On some days, everything is OK, but at other times it is bad. And I don't want to risk the problem to appear in a critical situation such as crossing the fallen tree over the ravine, or in a wolf encounter.

I tried reducing display resolution to ease the stress on my PC (not a very powerful one) and playing with mouse sensitivity, but it didn't help. Has anyone else seen this problem?

[Ruruwawa]

@Drifter Man  No worries about real life vs. gaming time.  I think it's something we all wrestle with from time to time.

Regarding your mouse/keyboard issue -- nope, I haven't experienced that.  If it were happening to me the first two things I'd check would be malware, and dust in the PC (=overheating).  I hope you get it sorted!

[Drifter Man]

Thanks - virus scans check out ok (which doesn't necessarily mean it's all clean, I know), and I'm afraid I can't do much about the dust - it's a compact all-in-one PC with only a small slit for air intake/exhaust and I'm not confident to take the thing apart. But there seem to be many reports of this happening in games around the Internet, so I will do my research.

It is interesting that the problem also occurs while in the main menu, but nowhere outside the game.

[Seshins]

Are they wireless or wired?

 

If wireless i tend to have the same issue when the connection to the USB dongle is interrupted, or more commonly when the batteries are running low.

 

If wired, you could attempt to delete the drivers and reinstall. Failing that - pass sorry.

[Pillock]

6 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

Thanks - virus scans check out ok (which doesn't necessarily mean it's all clean, I know), and I'm afraid I can't do much about the dust - it's a compact all-in-one PC with only a small slit for air intake/exhaust and I'm not confident to take the thing apart. But there seem to be many reports of this happening in games around the Internet, so I will do my research.

It is interesting that the problem also occurs while in the main menu, but nowhere outside the game.

Given how important this thread is, I think Hinterland probably ought to send a technician round to your home and personally make sure you can get the game working properly again, and that the save is protected.

When The Long Dark eventually becomes recognised as an official world religion, this thread is going to be the effing bible!

[Drifter Man]

19 hours ago, Seshins said:

Are they wireless or wired?

 

If wireless i tend to have the same issue when the connection to the USB dongle is interrupted, or more commonly when the batteries are running low.

 

If wired, you could attempt to delete the drivers and reinstall. Failing that - pass sorry.

I replaced the keyboard battery (mouse is fresh) to see if there is any effect. Yesterday the game was smooth, no problems. Hopefully it stays that way. Thanks!

[Drifter Man]

15 hours ago, Pillock said:

Given how important this thread is, I think Hinterland probably ought to send a technician round to your home and personally make sure you can get the game working properly again, and that the save is protected.

When The Long Dark eventually becomes recognised as an official world religion, this thread is going to be the effing bible!

[Drifter Man]

Day 865 (767th day in the Dam)

I spent 20 more days in my survival routine, which has become very easy by now. I keep track of the amount of calories I have in storage at the door. When it hits about 30,000 Cal, I stop snaring rabbits and wait for a few days until it drops to 20,000 Cal. Then I resume again. I use all three rabbit zones in the Ravine (except the fourth one in the basin), catching about 16 rabbits every 2 days when I come to collect. As before, only 1-kg pieces of rabbit meat are harvested. Given the abundance of rabbits, taking the smaller scraps would be a waste of firewood. I only take them when I need some wolf bait.

My cooking skill has reached Level 5 and is not improving anymore. I save 30% cooking time, meaning that a piece of meat is done in 14 minutes. There is a 25% calorie bonus on each piece, meaning that 1-kg venison steak provides 1000 Cal and 1-kg piece of rabbit provides 562.5 Cal. In addition, I shouldn't get any food poisoning anymore. I wonder if it means that I can eat meat in any condition? My harvesting skill is at Level 4 and will hit 5 sometime soon.

Whenever there is a wolf at the Dam, I lure it to the doorstep and kill it in a fight. It looks reasonably safe, I wasn't seriously hurt in the last two struggles and I recovered the skin and meat from both carcasses. I fight wolves naked to prevent clothing damage. When the wolf is dead, I know I can't run into it unexpectedly on my way to the Ravine or back. The whole thing is really odd - the player should fear wolves, not engage them deliberately, and should not be motivated to fight them naked. Wolves are still something for Hinterland to work on.

[Seshins]

Nice little update there. 

 

Ive also found wolves are more of a chore / easy meal than anything else now. I think if they were to roam in packs they would be far more challenging. 

[Jolan]

On 8/21/2016 at 2:23 PM, Drifter Man said:

Day 865 (767th day in the Dam)

Whenever there is a wolf at the Dam, I lure it to the doorstep and kill it in a fight. It looks reasonably safe, I wasn't seriously hurt in the last two struggles and I recovered the skin and meat from both carcasses. I fight wolves naked to prevent clothing damage. When the wolf is dead, I know I can't run into it unexpectedly on my way to the Ravine or back. The whole thing is really odd - the player should fear wolves, not engage them deliberately, and should not be motivated to fight them naked. Wolves are still something for Hinterland to work on.

I agree it is very weird.  I do something similar with wolves if I'm camped somewhere they frequent, like Coastal Highway or Pleasant Valley. Or if they're making traversing an area difficult.  In areas where they're numerous it can get difficult to avoid them so it makes sense to just take them out.  Gives you a bit of peace.  To the point where I no longer bother repairing wolf coats, I just put on the next one.  Bullets are saved for wolf swarms, bears and the occasional deer if I misjudged the food supply.

[Drifter Man]

Yes, that's my view now as well... it is funny, I had spent 800 days making a point of the avoidance of wolves - in fact, living in the Dam has been largely about that from the start. I experienced many tense and exciting moments while trying to avoid wolves. Now I've turned them into prey and don't see them as a danger unless they attack en masse. The game lost another key feature.

Hinterland team, please make TLD more exciting, challenging, even with a character who has established himself in the wilderness! The Dam feels like a hotel now. I could go on like this for another 4000 days without leaving it.

[Thurman Merman]

Yep, on my current Stalker run, it's day 126 - I've killed 111 wolves.  Like you guys, I just find them an annoyance that needs to be periodically culled.

[Ruruwawa]

On 8/21/2016 at 0:23 PM, Drifter Man said:

I wonder if it means that I can eat meat in any condition?

When I got to cooking 5 I started living off meat that I'd let decay to 0%.  Cooked it, ate it, no problems.  So I tried eating a raw piece of meat (high condition) and still got food poisoning.  I imagine the same is true for looted foods.  If it's meat/fish you cooked, it should be safe to eat even at low condition.

[Drifter Man]

21 hours ago, Ruruwawa said:

When I got to cooking 5 I started living off meat that I'd let decay to 0%.  Cooked it, ate it, no problems.  So I tried eating a raw piece of meat (high condition) and still got food poisoning.  I imagine the same is true for looted foods.  If it's meat/fish you cooked, it should be safe to eat even at low condition.

This means you can make caches of meat that effectively last forever.

[Ruruwawa]

43 minutes ago, Drifter Man said:

This means you can make caches of meat that effectively last forever.

Yep.  An easy fix would be to change ruined meat so that it can no longer be cooked.

[Drifter Man]

Day 885 (787th day in the Dam)

After 105 in-game days since the update that brought the skills system, I achieved level 5 in carcass harvesting. The reduction in harvesting times is important, but the improvement compared to level 4 is problematic in my case. "Can harvest 100% frozen carcasses by hand" is implemented in the way that frozen carcasses do not exist for my character and I can harvest them by hand even if they are more than a day old. However, other tools are also affected, and since I'm using the hacksaw to harvest meat, getting 1 kg of meat actually takes longer, and causes greater tool wear, than at level 4. The harvesting time with hacksaw is 8 minutes at level 5 compared to 7 minutes at level 4.

Not that it matters. For all intents and purposes I'm immortal anyway.

[Drifter Man]

On 9/11/2016 at 8:10 PM, Drifter Man said:

Not that it matters. For all intents and purposes I'm immortal anyway.

I haven't advanced by a single day since my last post. There simply wasn't anything new to do... But I wonder now, how does the new "Decay" system affect my survival outlook? For how long can the Ravine feed me before it gets depleted? And once it does, what else can feed me then? I'm itching to find out

[Drifter Man]

Day 891 (793rd day in the Dam)

Of all the changes in v.364, the one that interests me the most is the world decay system. According to the changelist, the world now gradually becomes more hostile in all difficulty modes, even in Pilgrim and Voyageur. Temperatures should get gradually lower, blizzards more frequent, wildlife and firewood more scarce. Two questions need to be answered: 1) how fast does it happen on Voyageur and 2) is there a bottom to this - a level at which the world does not become any more hostile?

For question 1) I guess that things will get very tough within 200-500 days. For question 2) I assume the answer is "no". Eventually there will be a continuous blizzard at -60°C and I will die - most likely being forced out by cabin fever and then killed by the elements. I'll be grateful if anyone can give me a hint about the future, maybe from the experience of the higher difficulty levels.

I remember that when this idea of continuous deterioration of conditions was discussed in this forum many months ago, I was opposed to it. I didn't like the thought that the world should eventually kill me regardless of my skill, planning and foresight. The idea had supporters among veteran players, who had already played their 700+ day games, while I was new to TLD. Now, 700 days later, I admit I am quite intrigued by the concept - to the extent that it brought me back to the game.

Based on my first 6 days after the update, I'd say the game difficulty did not rise dramatically, at least not for now. I don't think "decay" has been applied retroactively to my old sandbox. Blizzards seem to be more frequent (about once a day) and I logged morning temperatures lower than 30°C, something I had not experienced before outside blizzard conditions. I decided to keep track of daily minimum and maximum temperatures and I'll try logging blizzards as well.

A short trip to Mystery Lake cabins and Camp Office did not bring up any new books on mending and archery. The map seems to have "reloaded" again and medicinal plants, cattails and books have reappeared where they had been collected before. I leave these respawned items in their places. Since I'm not in the mood to make any long trips with uncertain results, I decided to learn archery "the hard way". The first deer I killed was no more difficult than before v.364.

To prepare for the eventual shortage of firewood that I anticipate, I started collecting sticks again. My current inventory list shows 1201 sticks stored in the Dam...

[ElvisHunter]

3 minutes ago, Drifter Man said:

2) is there a bottom to this - a level at which the world does not become any more hostile?

In the newest video Raph says the temp will fall off until it hits a minimum (assumably a different minimum for the different modes). Good luck man- I'm really rooting for you to hit 1,000 days. 

[Drifter Man]

1 hour ago, ElvisHunter said:

In the newest video Raph says the temp will fall off until it hits a minimum (assumably a different minimum for the different modes). Good luck man- I'm really rooting for you to hit 1,000 days. 

Thanks - for the info and for the wish.

[Drifter Man]

Day 895 (797th day in the Dam)

The rate of my advance in archery and mending skills is very slow. It looks it may take 100 days or more just to get to level 2. Poor archery doesn't seem to be a serious problem, but I will be wasting material on botched repair jobs. To reduce the loss, I decided to search for books after all.

Equipped with food and water for two days, I set out along the logging path towards the Clearcut. I avoided the Logging Camp, which was guarded by a wolf - I will visit it on my way back. Then I climbed up to the Forestry Lookout. The scenery of TLD do not cease to amaze me with its beauty.

The lookout offered a book on firestarting (useless for me, but I'm taking it for its value as a personal collectible), a whetstone, a rifle cleaning kit and a mountaineering rope. The book, the whetstone and the rope were double spawns - two (multiple?) items placed one over another, presumably as a result of those multiple updates. I only took one of each item.

On the way up I suffered two sprains, in addition to getting a bit tired, so I decided to park for a while and sleep it all off inside the Lookout. I woke up in the afternoon to the rattling sounds of a blizzard. I will have to spend a night here. Air temperature looks stable at -5°C.

[sarudak]

AFAIK there are currently no books for archery or mending.