1000 Days in the Dam: An exercise in inventory control


Drifter Man

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Day 929: First Day of Night

The sun did not rise today. The moon has stopped in the sky. And high-calorie snacks spawned all over the world, for Drifter Man to take :)

Air temperature is stuck at -26°C in my world. Fortunately, my repaired clothes give me a 24°C bonus, and felt -2°C is not too bad. I decided to play only four days (96 hours) in this event, one day per day. I would sleep frequently in order to stay rested and prepared to face the demon wolves in a fight for delicious pumpkin pies*

First I ventured out into the Winding River, which was deserted save a few demon rabbits. Nothing to find here. A blizzard started as I was returning to the Dam; I slept through it inside. Then I headed for Mystery Lake. As expected, I ran into a demon wolf at the bottleneck access to the Lake, and ended up at 74% with torn clothes: the felt temperature dropped to -6°C. At least the demon wolves apparently are just normal wolves with glowing eyes.

I searched the huts, cabins and the Camp office to find two pumpkin pies and six candy bars. Pumpkin pies pack 4000 Cal per kg and the candy 25000 Cal - both would be excellent food to take with to long-distance exploration trips. I wonder how long they last, and if they outlast Halloween... if not, there really would be no point for me to take risks in this darkness. Interestingly, those pumpkin pies are still marked as "hot" after ca 6 hours in my backpack.

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*I've never eaten, or even seen one in my life. But I will assume it is delicious.

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Update... it seems that the chocolate bar simply got a tenfold boost, rather than there being a new "Halloween chocolate bar" item. Just for now it's 2500-Calorie candy, but after the event I will be left with a bunch of good old 250-Calorie snacks. I suppose the pumpkin pies will disappear, too. Only my bruises and torn clothes will remain. Oh well...

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19 minutes ago, Drifter Man said:

That did not help much, but at least I know I should add eating nutmeg and pumpkin pie to the list of things to do before I die :)

Nutmeg is a rather fragrant spice. I personally really like pumpkin pie but it is quite dense and not everyone cares for it. If memory serves, the main ingredients are pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar.

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20 hours ago, cekivi said:

Nutmeg is a rather fragrant spice. I personally really like pumpkin pie but it is quite dense and not everyone cares for it. If memory serves, the main ingredients are pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar.

In this case, I guess one bite is worth a thousand words :)

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Day 929: Second Day of Night

My plan for the second day was to proceed via Deadfall to Trapper's, then via Unnamed Pond and the Clearcut to the Dam. Demon wolves respectfully disagreed.

After a brief detour to Dave's Silent Clearing, which yielded nothing, I was approached by a wolf as I crossed the tracks towards Deadfall. I managed to shake it off with a decoy but ran into another wolf after a few meters. This one somehow ignored my decoy and attacked: I ended up at 75% and with all clothes badly damaged. At felt -16°C, I returned to the Camp Office to sleep off my injuries and fatigue, and then backtracked to the Dam.

I spent several hours repairing my damaged clothes until my bonus was back at +23°C. Then I took a nap to be fit for the third day.

Notes:

  • An old chocolate bar I keep in the Dam (for decay rate testing) had 250 Cal. Maybe the Halloween chocolate bars will also retain their value after the event, after all?
  • Repairs are now possible in the dark once again, probably for the duration of the event
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19 minutes ago, Drifter Man said:

Repairs are now possible in the dark once again, probably for the duration of the event

Actually they're not. If you notice, all interiors are set to "daytime" to allow for crafting and repairs indoors. I quite like it as a nice little work around for the perpetual darkness outside :winky:

Also, I forgot one pumpkin pie ingredient: condensed milk ^_^

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15 hours ago, cekivi said:

Actually they're not. If you notice, all interiors are set to "daytime" to allow for crafting and repairs indoors. I quite like it as a nice little work around for the perpetual darkness outside :winky:

I didn't notice that. That's clever. When I was going to mend stuff, I expected I would have to light a torch or lantern. It would probably be more appropriate to have the player get a source of light for this type of work. But anyway, it's Halloween and everything is upside down.

15 hours ago, cekivi said:

Also, I forgot one pumpkin pie ingredient: condensed milk ^_^

Then there's no way to make more pumpkin pie. All condensed milk has long since gone bad in my sandbox.

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Day 929 (Third and Fourth Day of the Night)

No, things didn't go well. I barely stepped out of the Dam and was attacked by another wolf, who this time did not go after me - only after my clothes. He did a thorough job and forced me to return home once more for repairs. I planned to spend a few hours getting my clothes back in order, then continue in my exploration.

RNG respectfully disagreed. My repair attempts failed one after another. I wasted perhaps six wolf pelts and twice as many deer hides. I even had to go to the Lower Dam to pick up some cured hides once my "ready" supply in the Upper Dam ran out. I also had to rest, and when I set out again, less than 7 hours were left of my self-imposed 96-hour time limit for the Halloween event.

My journey led me through the Logging Camp (nothing found there), Forestry Lookout (nothing found there) and the cabin at Unnamed Pond (nothing found there) to Trapper's Homestead. There were no more wolves to be seen - anywhere along my path. I arrived at Trapper's 30 minutes after the limit and decided to cheat, taking the three calorie-bomb chocolates from the bowl at the door.

My sandbox will continue from here after the event is over. I will return via Mystery Lake in the hope of recovering the pelts of some of the three wolves I killed in the past four days.

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On 10/28/2016 at 5:43 PM, cekivi said:

Nutmeg is a rather fragrant spice. I personally really like pumpkin pie but it is quite dense and not everyone cares for it. If memory serves, the main ingredients are pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar.

A good pumpkin pie with a wonderful thing.  Unfortunately, most of the pie around isn't very good.  

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On 11/1/2016 at 3:28 PM, Dugby said:

That is extremely bad luck/RNG. What level is your mending skill? I ask because if it's fairly high the chances of that many successive failures must be astronomical.

Just base skill level. The logbook said 50% chance of success, the repair screen said 70%. But I needed to do 2 repairs for each item. I think it was just very bad luck.

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Day 940 (841st day in the Dam)

Halloween left me with a bearskin bedroll I didn't need to use, repaired clothes, two pumpkin pies and nine 2500-Calorie chocolates. The pumpkin pies do not seem to suffer condition loss, so I added them to long-term food reserves along with cattail stalks and salty crackers. But most of the chocolates are in bad condition already and they will deteriorate. There is no point keeping them for later.

So, I now have 22,500 Cal packed in less than one kilogram, a bearskin bedroll and good clothes. Perfect setup for exploration of Pleasant Valley. First I replenished my food supplies - this took a few days since I had to turn to rabbits again. Deer do not respawn fast enough and I depleted their population in the Ravine already. Second, I prepared the path by killing the wolf in the Winding River. A blizzard broke out during the hunt, but the wolf died conveniently close to a rock and I could stay sheltered while working on the carcass. I started a fire nearby to stay warm, and cooked all meat plus some water before the blizzard ended. The wind did not turn around to blow my fire out - if it did, I would have run to the cave to seek shelter.

I'm ready today, moving out in the morning. My first incursion into Pleasant Valley.

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Day 941

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I set out about 6 kg overweight, knowing that the first part of the journey would be safe up to the end of the Cave System. I passed the wolf carcass I skinned yesterday, reached the cave and slept for 2 hours before going on. Then I entered Pleasant Valley. For most of you - familiar territory. For me - terra incognita.

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Leaving some supplies at the cave, I followed a path that could lead somewhere into the map and soon arrived at a new location - Pensive Pond. There was a fishing hut in the middle (flare, chocolate bar, matches) and lots of reishi mushrooms and rosehips to be found around the pond.

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It was late afternoon and instead of pushing on I decided to go back and spend the night in the Cave System. There was a bridge and a road close to the pond, but a bear was wandering nearby - I gave it a wide berth and returned to my base and point of entry. With a few hours left, I still explored the surroundings and found the Hilltop Cave (salty crackers, chocolate bar, matches). I took the hide from a ravaged deer carcass, which has been waiting for me for 940 days, and took a worn ski jacket from a dead man nearby (-> cloth). The soda and the granola bar found inside the hunting blind were beyond use.

I wanted to explore a little more, but soon I ran into a wolf. A decoy and a short sprint took care of this danger, but now I was getting tired and finally it was time to return to the cave. I dropped most of my findings there and slept almost for the full night.

 

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Day 945

After leaving the cave, I went towards Pensive Pond and then took a left turn on a road, which curved upwards. After a while I could see a structure that probably was a radio tower. Noticing some lichen nearby, I went to collect it and then circled a group of large rocks to see if I can get a better view of the surrounding countryside. I soon found myself on a steep slope, with no way of getting back. The radio tower was no longer visible and the weather was getting worse, so I went downwards towards something that looked like an orchard - a view that I knew from other survivors' screenshots. Wind was picking up as I walked towards a group of buildings. The Farmstead was in sight.

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I spent several days "processing" the Farmstead and assembled about 30 kg of loot. Then I realized my plan wasn't very clever from the start. The weather is constantly bad, either a blizzard is going on or it is clear that one will start soon. There is a risk of cabin fever and although I could find shelter in the nearby stall, should it break out, I'd still prefer safer places to sleep. I don't know how to get back to the cave - retracing my steps to the radio tower is not an option, the steep hill cannot be scaled, and trying to find a way in bad weather wouldn't be a good idea. And finally, since I have lightweight food (2500-Cal chocolate bars), I've taken a lot of other stuff with me from the Dam and now I've got very little extra carrying capacity to bring the loot back.

I guess I'll have to figure this out somehow. Don't tell me where to go, please - I want to find my own way in this unfamiliar landscape.

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40 minutes ago, Drifter Man said:

I guess I'll have to figure this out somehow. Don't tell me where to go, please - I want to find my own way in this unfamiliar landscape.

No tips but make sure to check the laundry machine "in" the farmhouse for some cloth/clothes.

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20 hours ago, cekivi said:

No tips but make sure to check the laundry machine "in" the farmhouse for some cloth/clothes.

Thanks - I didn't miss it this time, but the first time I found a washing/drying machine in the basement in Crumbling Highway a few hundred days ago, looking inside didn't occur to me. They are easy to overlook.

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Day 948

For two more days I was prisoner at the Farmstead. On Day 946, blizzard started one hour after dawn and ceased two hours before darkness. I passed time in the car to fight cabin fever risk. Occasionally I made a short trip to explore the immediate surroundings, before the next blizzard forced me inside again.

Finally the weather cleared up and it was time to go. I decided that there was no point trying to get back to that radio tower. Instead I walked in the general direction from which I came, letting the hill with the tower pass on my right. I soon found a cave, which could serve as an useful shelter in case of cabin fever. The next landmark were "Lower Falls". I climbed a steep slope above the falls and soon found myself above Pensive Pond. From there, the Cave System was easy to locate. To make maximum use of the favorable weather, I repeated the trip to the Farmstead and back once more that day.

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Day 951

I moved all items I needed from the Farmstead to the Cave System, from which I could transport them easily to the Dam. On each trip to the Farmstead and back, I slightly altered my path to cover and explore a greater area, and found a few more interesting places. When the work was done, I was still left with three 2500-Cal Halloween chocolates of the original nine, and therefore I could explore a little more.

I headed back to the radio tower I saw on the first day in Pleasant Valley. On the way I found another cave, three maple saplings (again, again, no birch saplings; my sandbox offers me a disproportionate number of maple saplings over birch saplings) and some other plants. Signal Hill was full of loot (among other things, 12 rifle cartridges and my first firestriker found in the game) and offered nice views on the valley, but the bear wandering on the access route was a bit troubling. This morning I assembled my gear and am ready to return to the Cave System to leave Pleasant Valley.

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