1000 Days in the Dam: An exercise in inventory control

[Drifter Man]

Day 445 (415th day in the Dam)

An idiot of gargantuan proportions is what I am... right after I explain in this forum how not to lose an arrow while hunting deer, I lose an arrow while hunting deer.

It wasn’t an accident, it was bound to happen, I knew it, and I still sent the arrow on its way. There was strong crosswind, and I know already that in these conditions it is difficult to hit. The deer was, from my perspective, on the crest of a hill, and I know already that if I miss in these conditions, I will not see the arrow land on the other side and may not be able to find it. I was aware of all this. Still, out of overconfidence and recklessness, I fired.

I had enough sense in me not to launch a second arrow, although the temptation was there for a fraction of a second. Had I been this stupid, I’d have gone straight back to the Dam and committed a painful suicide with a fishing hook.

I spent the rest of the day searching the places where the arrow could have landed, to no avail.

At the end of the next 10-day cycle, I’ll have to go out and get some matches. I decided to extend this trip a little to yield some new arrowheads as well. Let’s see what Katie has in store for me in her corner.

• Cloth equivalent (incl. bedroll and clothing): 133.88 pcs / 345 days
• Bow (incl. maple saplings): 9.14 pcs / 1125 days
• Arrow shaft (incl. birch saplings): 33.00 pcs / 374 days
• Knife (incl. whetstone): 5.59 pcs / 903 days
• Match: 37 pcs / 25 days
• Rifle ammunition: 7 pcs
• Arrowheads: 2 pcs
• Flare: 5 pcs
• Hatchet: 5.49 pcs
• Lantern fuel: 8.65 liters

Anyway, this thread has been too dull far too long. Text, formulas, lists, spreadsheets. You deserve some pictures! Ravine in the morning sun. The country that keeps me alive. A paradise that no wolf is allowed to enter. A land littered with lost arrows. The game offers some breathtaking sceneries if you pause and look.

[Drifter Man]

Day 450 (420th day in the Dam)

My last matches are down to 8%, the last pack I brought from Coastal Highway almost exactly 200 days ago. I'm moving out tomorrow, weather permitting. The plan: Day 1 - reach Waterfront Cottages; Day 2 - reach Desolation Point, pick any arrows I can find and take anything of use from the mine connector and Crumbling Highway on the return trip, if there is time; Day 3 - drop in the Quonset Gas Station to get a firestriker, hacksaw and anything else that I can still carry.

• Cloth equivalent (incl. bedroll and clothing): 131.88 pcs / 339 days
• Bow (incl. maple saplings): 9.06 pcs / 1113 days
• Arrow shaft (incl. birch saplings): 32.00 pcs / 363 days
• Knife (incl. whetstone): 5.56 pcs / 898 days
• Match: 20 pcs / 20 days
• Rifle ammunition: 7 pcs
• Arrowheads: 2 pcs
• Flare: 5 pcs
• Hatchet: 5.49 pcs
• Lantern fuel: 8.54 liters

[hauteecolerider]

Good luck on this latest expedition!

Yes, those morning pictures are beautiful! I can't not stop and look around in awe when the sun is coming up over the mountains and the sky is clear!

[Drifter Man]

On 3/31/2016 at 9:45 PM, hauteecolerider said:

Good luck on this latest expedition!

Yes, those morning pictures are beautiful! I can't not stop and look around in awe when the sun is coming up over the mountains and the sky is clear!

It probably worked. I'm not out of luck yet!

What amazes me is the vastness of space and the depth I perceive there when looking into the ravines and deep river valleys on this map. Perhaps it is precisely the simplistic, cartoon-like graphics that makes this possible. And also the feel that if you fall, you die. At 400+ days, death already matters. I'm always very careful when crossing the fallen tree over the river, the broken rail bridge at the Raven Falls, or the ledge on the Dam above the Winding River.

[Drifter Man]

Day 453

The reality:

Day 1 – weather didn't permit much. A clear but windy morning turned into a full-blown blizzard as soon as I reached Coastal Highway. I found shelter in the trailer at Train Unloading and rested for most of the day as the blizzard wouldn’t go away. When it finally did, only two hours were left of daylight and winds remained strong, so I stayed there overnight.

Day 2 – light fog. My favorite weather, which doesn't turn into a blizzard quickly, offers decent visibility and still winds. I proceeded to the Fishing Cabins, resupplying from my caches on the way. The fog still hadn't lifted when I reached Waterfront Cottages. The only wolf I encountered ran away.

I still had about 8 hours left till nightfall, but I wanted to have a full day at Desolation Point, so I searched the larger cottage and found mainly clothes, some matches and food. I harvested all curtains and went to bed in the evening.

Day 3 – Desolation Point. I reached it quickly, not wasting much time on the way, although I did search the mine connector on the way in rather than on the way out. I was happy to find a lantern there, which I could immediately use (and left it at the entrance; it is good keep a lantern at the mine entrance as you leave, to be picked up again on the return journey). I also collected large quantities of old man’s beard lichen along the way.

As I approached Katie’s Corner, things went wrong. I heard a wolf kill a deer but couldn’t see it anywhere, although the sounds of the wolf feasting suggested it was close. I hesitated a bit, torch constantly in my hand, ready to light it if I hear the wolf bark at me. Then I went on.

The wolf charged from nowhere, without warning. The struggle that followed was the worst one I've ever had: I overpowered the wolf eventually, but by that moment I had been down to 51% condition, with a sprained ankle and with my clothes badly damaged. One hell of a wolf. Having applied first aid, I decided to grab quickly what I mainly came for – two arrows and other stuff left behind by Katie – and without further delays returned to Waterfront Cottages. I kept a torch burning whenever I was in any place potentially patrolled by wolves, because another encounter might have been disastrous.

Now I’m back to relative safety of the Waterfront Cottages. I used the rest of the day to search the other cottage (which looks smaller on the outside, but is surprisingly expansive inside) and found lots of food, among other things. I repaired some of my torn clothes using a sewing kit and cloth I found, although the crafted ones will have to wait for the Dam.

[Vhalkyrie]

3 hours ago, Drifter Man said:

The wolf charged from nowhere, without warning. The struggle that followed was the worst one I've ever had: I overpowered the wolf eventually, but by that moment I had been down to 51% condition, with a sprained ankle and with my clothes badly damaged. One hell of a wolf.

Ouch!  Glad you made it.  I had relatively easy time in DP - the wolves were out on the ice most of the time.

Bummer about the torn clothes - fortunately the weather in DP is relatively warm, so hopefully you won't have too much issue with the cold during the day.

Comparing your strategy with my own is fascinating.  You seem to use a lot of different places for supply caches, whereas I have a centralized hub (although I know the Dam is also your hub).  I take all supplies to my hub (currently the PV Farmhouse), then when I travel to other places, I take only minimal supplies and live off what I can find there.  I don't tend to keep many things at other locations because I tend to lose track of them, or I end up never needing them at the places where they're stored and they're wasted.  I do have stop off points, but I only leave firewood and water so that when I get there, I don't have to do anything except drop a bedroll and light a fire for cooking.

Very different styles - enjoying reading about your take.

[Vhalkyrie]

On 3/28/2016 at 11:00 AM, hauteecolerider said:

Yes, it would be more cost effective to make up the teas right away and get rid of the excess weight. But I role play that it's easier to store the ingredients than it is to store the teas. I do carry one or two of each tea and two of the lichen bandages on my forays out of my shelter/base.

From a backpacker/camper's perspective, it doesn't make sense that the tea weighs less than the packets.  The prepared tea contains water, and water adds weight, and the container adds weight.  For long distance backpackers, every ounce (yes ounce!) counts.  That's why backpackers obsess over those lightweight packs at REI, and whether they should splurge the extra $50 on a pack that weighs 4 ounces less than another.  Once you're on the trail, extra weight hurts!  There was once a town hall with a guy who climbed all of the 25,000ft+ peaks and he discovered he had accidentally left a dime at the bottom of his pack.  He ran the calculations, and it ran into thousands and thousands of wasted extra calories from that little unnecessary weight climbing all those peaks!

So, from my perspective, I carry the prepared tea because it weighs less - but it doesn't make sense to me that it should.

[Scyzara]

On 28.3.2016 at 11:37 AM, Drifter Man said:

Thanks! I haven't died in TLD yet and generally stay out of harm's way, so I have little experience with treatment of afflictions. May I ask a few more questions?

• Lichen bandage is equivalent to normal bandage + antiseptic, I can confirm that. How long does it take for an infection to develop? If it is not a matter of one or two hours, I could set up caches like you do.
• If an infection does develop, can it be treated and how?

If you don't treat a wound with antiseptic (or lichen bandages), it takes about 16 hours for the infection to actually break out if I recall correctly.

Understanding the infection process isn't really intuitive as you don't get a timer for it after the fight but only an ailment called "risk of infection" that starts at 25% and increases over time until it reaches 95% after 12h or so. At some point (as said, I believe it's 16h) a roll is made whether the infection actually breaks out (95% probability) or disappears (5% probability). Needless to say you'll get it almost every time, so better be prepared.

Once you got the infection, your health will start to decrease over time, it's working pretty much like a food poisoning. The good news is, you can can heal infections with antibiotics + 8 hours of sleep. In other words: Running out of antiseptic or lichen bandages is no death sentence as long as you have some antibiotics/reishi tea left.

Setting up caches with medicine and only going there in case you need some antiseptic/antibiotics is thus absolutely feasible in theory. Not sure if it's worth the trouble, though - medicine really isn't very heavy. But that's just my personal opinion. 

[Drifter Man]

3 hours ago, Vhalkyrie said:

Ouch!  Glad you made it.  I had relatively easy time in DP - the wolves were out on the ice most of the time.

Bummer about the torn clothes - fortunately the weather in DP is relatively warm, so hopefully you won't have too much issue with the cold during the day.

Comparing your strategy with my own is fascinating.  You seem to use a lot of different places for supply caches, whereas I have a centralized hub (although I know the Dam is also your hub).  I take all supplies to my hub (currently the PV Farmhouse), then when I travel to other places, I take only minimal supplies and live off what I can find there.  I don't tend to keep many things at other locations because I tend to lose track of them, or I end up never needing them at the places where they're stored and they're wasted.  I do have stop off points, but I only leave firewood and water so that when I get there, I don't have to do anything except drop a bedroll and light a fire for cooking.

Very different styles - enjoying reading about your take.

I only spent about 3-4 hours in Desolation Point

When in comes to food, I learned that small supply caches are useful in an emergency, but one usually doesn't have much food that doesn't spoil - especially if you don't use starvation to extend your food supplies, which means about 3000 Cal spent per day in Voyageur (up to 3300 if you hunt, up to 4000 if you are busy breaking down furniture).

Beef jerky, crackers, soda, granola bars, cattail stalks seem to last forever when kept in a container, at least that's my experience. It is also useful to have water and some tools and other items (torches, flares, can openers, hatchets) ready in advance in places to which you plan to return. It saves weight and time at the destination - that's important to me, because I seek to reduce my exposure to random events. When I left the Dam on this trip, I carried 12 kg of venison and 4 liters of water, and still wasn't overweight. I picked an energy bar and 1 l of water at Train Unloading, another three liters, a can opener and a torch at Bear Creek, a flare at the Fishing Cabins. And the caches just saved me from trouble on the return trip (more in my next entry).

When staying in one place away from home for more than 10 days, it is understandable that you set up a local base and make a living from there. I will do that later when I get to exploring PV, based on your advice.

[Drifter Man]

1 hour ago, Scyzara said:

If you don't treat a wound with antiseptic (or lichen bandages), it takes about 16 hours for the infection to actually break out if I recall correctly.

Understanding the infection process isn't really intuitive as you don't get a timer for it after the fight but only an ailment called "risk of infection" that starts at 25% and increases over time until it reaches 95% after 12h or so. At some point (as said, I believe it's 16h) a roll is made whether the infection actually breaks out (95% probability) or disappears (5% probability). Needless to say you'll get it almost every time, so better be prepared.

Once you got the infection, your health will start to decrease over time, it's working pretty much like a food poisoning. The good news is, you can can heal infections with antibiotics + 8 hours of sleep. In other words: Running out of antiseptic or lichen bandages is no death sentence as long as you have some antibiotics/reishi tea left.

Setting up caches with medicine and only going there in case you need some antiseptic/antibiotics is thus absolutely feasible in theory. Not sure if it's worth the trouble, though - medicine really isn't very heavy. But that's just my personal opinion. 

Great - thanks for the info, which you probably learned the hard way. I started to add some medical supplies to my caches, although I agree that it is easy to carry all you need in the backpack. Antiseptic in bottles was my only problem, but now I know that it is not required.

[Vhalkyrie]

6 minutes ago, Drifter Man said:

When staying in one place away from home for more than 10 days, it is understandable that you set up a local base and make a living from there. I will do that later when I get to exploring PV, based on your advice.

Yes, exactly. That's what I find so interesting. Your methodology has been to jump in and out of maps, and mine is to move there and live for 20-30 days.  I'm just about to move to Timberwolf, which I'm expecting to be a longer term stay than usual.  I'll mostly be living in Timberwolf, but I'll be making periodic supply runs to the Farmhouse every 20-30 days (estimated - we'll see how this actually turns out).  My goal is to see how feasible it is to live there long term.  There's a lot of things I liked about it when I explored it on Pilgrim, but I don't know how hospitable it will be in Voyager.  We shall see.  

[Jolan]

On 1/18/2016 at 5:55 PM, Drifter Man said:

I quickly recognized some patterns: there are two deer in the Ravine, which can be distinguished by the paths they take while walking and especially running. I call them Anton and Bruno. These poor fellas only exist in the world to be my food, and they must feel lonely: when one spawns, the other is already cut up and resting in my locker. But most importantly, each shows up 4 days after their previous instance has been killed and completely harvested, meaning I can catch 1 deer every 2 days and few hours. I built a 5-day cycle around this mechanic:

Day 1: get Anton, harvest everything

Day 2: do nothing

Day 3: get Bruno, harvest everything

Day 4: cook Anton & Bruno + about 9 liters of water in a 10-hour cooking session

Day 5: do nothing

But just think - you're giving Anton and Bruno purpose and meaning - how could they be lonely they have you.  (I probably found this post funnier than I should have)

[Drifter Man]

Day 460 (422nd day in the Dam)

I found a lot of food at the Waterfront Cottages, but most of it was of the perishable kind that would spoil by the time I return again. Taking it back to the Dam did not make much sense, either: It would only encumber me and there was no shortage of food at home. For the best utilization of the calories, I spent three more days at the cottages and harvested all the chairs and benches to get cloth. I burned some of the resulting reclaimed wood to cook two venison steaks I found at the cottages, to boil water for storage and to make torches.

 

On day 457 the time came to return to the Dam. At the cottages I left a nice stash of supplies that will help me next time: 4000 Cal in non-degrading food, 10 liters of water (plus 1.75 liters of soda), two torches, four flares, medical supplies and tools. An untouched box of matches will also await me on a cupboard.

 

The weather was agreeable in the morning. My torn clothes didn’t offer the kind of protection I was used to (+13°C/+10°C bonus) but a burning torch in my hand helped against the chill I felt. A wolf soon approached me as I was passing Misanthrope’s Island. Wind was picking up strength and I became worried it might blow out the torch, so I took shelter in a fishing hut.

 

The hut turned out to be a potential trap with the weather getting worse, temperature at felt -8°C and wolves prowling around. I had to move on with a flare, which lasted just long enough to get me safely to Log Sort. A blizzard broke out soon after I shut the trailer door behind me.

 

 

200 days ago, I left the trailer well supplied and now it paid in dividends: I did not suffer from hunger or thirst, although the blizzard forced me to spend all day and all night inside. I carried on in the morning and reached the cabin near Bear Creek Campground just in time to take shelter from another blizzard, which continued to blast for a whole another day and made me spend one more night in Coastal Highway. Although I wasn’t happy that I had to draw so much from my durable food supplies – which I had no way of replenishing – it was satisfying to know that my caution had saved me from dehydration and starvation.

 

I reached the Dam on the next day, ravenous and freezing but unharmed, and spent a full day repairing my crafted clothes. They are back to 100% again and I no longer have to fear cold weather. Bumps and bruises aside, I brought back two arrowheads, a bow, six boxes of matches, one flare, two whetstones, two maple saplings (no birch saplings, again!), plants for medical purposes etc. I should have no worries for another 200 days when the matches expire again.

• Cloth equivalent (incl. bedroll and clothing): 221.99 pcs / 571 days
• Bow (incl. maple saplings): 11.84 pcs / 1456 days
• Arrow shaft (incl. birch saplings): 33.78 pcs / 383 days
• Knife (incl. whetstone): 7.56 pcs / 1243 days
• Match: 114 pcs / 215 days
• Rifle ammunition: 7 pcs
• Arrowheads: 4 pcs
• Flare: 6 pcs
• Hatchet: 5.50 pcs
• Lantern fuel: 8.43 liters

[Drifter Man]

6 minutes ago, Jolan said:

But just think - you're giving Anton and Bruno purpose and meaning - how could they be lonely they have you.  (I probably found this post funnier than I should have)

Oh, and by the way, I stopped calling them Anton and Bruno long ago, it sounded too silly  And I'm no longer sure that they are distinguishable, their patterns are more erratic than I thought at that time. But since I hunt less these days, they get a chance to meet (at the expense of local rabbit populations).

[Drifter Man]

16 minutes ago, Vhalkyrie said:

Yes, exactly. That's what I find so interesting. Your methodology has been to jump in and out of maps, and mine is to move there and live for 20-30 days.  I'm just about to move to Timberwolf, which I'm expecting to be a longer term stay than usual.  I'll mostly be living in Timberwolf, but I'll be making periodic supply runs to the Farmhouse every 20-30 days (estimated - we'll see how this actually turns out).  My goal is to see how feasible it is to live there long term.  There's a lot of things I liked about it when I explored it on Pilgrim, but I don't know how hospitable it will be in Voyager.  We shall see.  

For the time being, Timberwolf is off limits as too dangerous, but I'll be following your exploits and maybe change my mind

[Jolan]

On 3/12/2016 at 3:12 PM, illanthropist said:

Have you no pry bars?  It's a bit of a trek to fetch a hammer from DP

I leave pry bars in my two favorite fishing huts - find one, pick it up, drop it off on my way by

[Drifter Man]

Day 470

After spending just a few days at the Dam, replenishing my meat locker, I'm moving out again for a bear hunt. A bearskin bedroll could be helpful later on during exploration of the unknown territory of Pleasant Valley, with its reportedly hostile weather.

I moved to the cabin at the Unnamed Pond to set up a temporary base. My plan is to get up in the morning, wait for favorable conditions (good weather, bear present, wolves absent) and get a rifle shot at the bear from the safety of the blind. I will not pursue; instead, I'll wait for the bear to return to the pond to die. Sneaky, I know. If the conditions aren't right, I will spend the day chopping some firewood so that I'm able to cook the bear meat later. If I run out of food, it all ends and I go home, although I can procure some food locally, preferably by stealing from wolves. I don't want to spend more than 3-4 days here.

I moved to the cabin yesterday, avoiding wolves on the way. Load: 3 flares, 2 torches, a lantern to keep me warm at the blind, a rifle with seven rounds of ammunition, a hatchet, a knife, 20 matches, 4 pieces of coal, 6 pieces of tinder, five bandages and some pills. 7 kilos of venison and 3.5 liters of water. I found a cool "collectible" item on the way: a spent flare that I left behind probably hundreds of days ago.

[Vhalkyrie]

Happy Hunting!  Stay safe!

[Vhalkyrie]

How are you doing out there?  Don't die out there!  I am worried.  D=  Give us an update!

[Drifter Man]

Sorry I can't right now... I'm busy cooking 

[hauteecolerider]

Yummy! Can I come over for lunch?

[Drifter Man]

Sure - I'll be serving bear meat with cattail stalks. You know where to find me

[Vhalkyrie]

7 minutes ago, Drifter Man said:

Sure - I'll be serving bear meat with cattail stalks. You know where to find me

I'll bring the soda and water!

Well, I would bring wine, but...

[Drifter Man]

Day 475 (433rd Day in the Dam)

I'm back to the Dam, and the bear is here with me.

I got lucky on the very first day: all conditions were in place. Two deer grazing peacefully on whatever there was to graze at the Unnamed Pond signaled that wolves were gone, and soon afterwards I saw the bear walking down the Frozen Creek. The weather wasn't great initially but cleared out fast. Unfortunately, I handled the bear situation with my usual clumsiness. I couldn't tell for sure if my first round hit, so I fired another as the bear charged towards the hunting blind I occupied - but that second shot was a clear miss. Things took an absurd turn when the bear got stuck in its attack right at the hunting blind, running and growling in place. The third shot I fired couldn't miss, of course, but did not release the poor bear from the game glitch. I had to wait at the blind for about 4 hours until the bear died.

It wasn't until nightfall when I finished the job. A bear hide and 33 kg of meat were my prize. I also harvested some cattails and lichens, abundant at the pond, which I had left alone during my early game because the ground was a little too hot for me. Did you know that bear eyes shine at night even after death?

With so much meat, storage became an issue. I shamelessly used a corpse outside the cabin as a container (the other corpses aren't there in my playthrough) and it took me two days to cook it all in place, then two more days to bring everything to the Dam. I left the rifle, lantern and hatchet behind (for use in the next bear hunt) together 15 liters of water and some tinder and firewood.

Interestingly, as I avoided the wolf-infested road between Train Loading Area and the Clearcut, I found a maple sapling on the slopes, a reminder that I haven't combed the map as thoroughly as I thought. I had no hatchet with me and I'm not coming back for it - arrows are the problem, not the bows - but I took a note of its location.

Now I have about 28000 Cal in storage at the Dam, enough for 10 days. I will reduce it to about 20000 before returning to my hunting/snaring routine, to avoid spoilage and food poisoning problems. I can spend the next three days crafting bows, repairing bedroll and sharpening knives. I guess I could really use some company these days.

[Drifter Man]

26 minutes ago, Vhalkyrie said:

Well, I would bring wine, but...

In the next release, perhaps... I wonder if they implement the effect of wine on the steadiness of one's walk or aim!