On day 90 and still haven't figured out toolboxes


Wasteland Watcher

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12 minutes ago, Bethany Williams said:

Tools are used to repair certain items, like the storm lantern. When you go to repair these items, you'll be notified that tools are necessary to complete the task if you don't  already have them in your inventory. 

Thanks very much for the guidance. I imagine tools would also be good for repairing a knife that's "broken?"

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31 minutes ago, Wasteland Watcher said:

Thanks very much for the guidance. I imagine tools would also be good for repairing a knife that's "broken?"

I think toolboxes can only be used to repair rifles, lanterns, hacksaws, hammers and can openers.

Whetstones repair knives and hatchets, once they break beyond sharpening can only harvest for scrap metal, hence the need to use the forge for improvised tools once supplies of whetstones have been exhausted.

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56 minutes ago, Wasteland Watcher said:

Thanks very much for the guidance. I imagine tools would also be good for repairing a knife that's "broken?"

Unless the mechanic has changed once an item is "broken" all it is good for is scrap. So you cannot repair your broken knife but you can harvest it.

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2 minutes ago, cekivi said:

Tool boxes are not required to repair rifles. You need a rifle cleaning kit or that task :)

Ahh my bad, I thought I read somewhere you could use a toolbox and some fir wood to repair a broken rifle, perhaps that info was from a previous alpha release.

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4 hours ago, illanthropist said:

I think toolboxes can only be used to repair rifles, lanterns, hacksaws, hammers and can openers.

Whetstones repair knives and hatchets, once they break beyond sharpening can only harvest for scrap metal, hence the need to use the forge for improvised tools once supplies of whetstones have been exhausted.

Thanks for the list :)
I don't see how a lantern could get "worn out." That doesn't make any sense:P

3 hours ago, cekivi said:

Unless the mechanic has changed once an item is "broken" all it is good for is scrap. So you cannot repair your broken knife but you can harvest it.

I guess I could get scrap metal and then use that to make another knife at "the forge" (I've never been there, just read about it in forums here). 

I hope those forged knives last as long as a regular hunting knife -- I've only found 5 hunting knives so far and three hatchets. Carry one knife at 100% and never use and the other is maybe 78% and I use that for meat cutting work.
I'm only on day 90 and have sharpened away one sharpening stone already and only three left so far.

 

BTW ...I wonder if wolves "detect" your best weapon and react to it (more apt to run away for example)?

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13 minutes ago, Wasteland Watcher said:

I don't see how a lantern could get "worn out." That doesn't make any sense:P

Well, the mantles/wicks O rings don't last forever IRL but makes sense to exaggerate durability of some stuff just to limit supply, though I guess I'd probably run out of fuel before any lantern failed, perhaps giving it a lifespan like a match and removing any repair only harvest would be more fitting.

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32 minutes ago, Wasteland Watcher said:

I hope those forged knives last as long as a regular hunting knife

I think they do they are just less efficient.

As far as whetstones go, I keep one handy now to keep a tool from breaking point if I am far from a stashed replacement instead of maxing one carry to 100%

37 minutes ago, Wasteland Watcher said:

BTW ...I wonder if wolves "detect" your best weapon and react to it (more apt to run away for example)?

Again only as far as I know but the only partial deterrent is the crafted wolfskin coat, tools just give you a defensive bonus.

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  • Hinterland
1 hour ago, Wasteland Watcher said:


I don't see how a lantern could get "worn out." That doesn't make any sense:P

 

As you traipse around the hostile wilderness, banging around between rocks and trees, putting it own along the way, banging it on the ground as you fall, running from wolves with it in your hands or attached to your pack where god knows what it might get exposed to along the way. 

Yeah, I just can't imagine how a lantern might get worn out in such a situation! :)

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5 hours ago, cekivi said:

Interesting. I do the opposite: I always try to keep my on hand tools at 100% with the belief that better maintained tools can accomplish tasks faster so I'm less likely to have weather or animals sneak up on me.

I started off doing that at first but later down the line RNG gave out twice as many knives as axes.  Changed my approach on my newest play through, figured I'd start storing tools once condition is in the red zone so further down the line I can balance whetstone use on what I have the least of in my inventory.

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17 hours ago, Raphael van Lierop said:

As you traipse around the hostile wilderness, banging around between rocks and trees, putting it own along the way, banging it on the ground as you fall, running from wolves with it in your hands or attached to your pack where god knows what it might get exposed to along the way. 

Yeah, I just can't imagine how a lantern might get worn out in such a situation! :)

Okay that makes sense. I sit corrected ;) 

17 hours ago, cekivi said:

Interesting. I do the opposite: I always try to keep my on hand tools at 100% with the belief that better maintained tools can accomplish tasks faster so I'm less likely to have weather or animals sneak up on me.

If tool efficiency becomes reliant on condition I'll keep mine at 100%. Until then I'll keep one knife at 100% for fighting wolves, and others for 'work' at whatever condition they are when found (generally 70~80%).
I really wish knives & hatchets would 'deteriorate' at a more realistic (much slower) rate.

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8 minutes ago, Wasteland Watcher said:

I really wish knives & hatchets would 'deteriorate' and a more realistic (much slower) rate.

I think a lot of other players do as well. It seems like the game is slowly going in this direction. By making knives only repairable with whetstones it becomes easier to tweak the number of uses versus amount repaired while still maintaining scarcity. Except now instead of the knives themselves being scarce it is the whetstones.

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56 minutes ago, cekivi said:

I think a lot of other players do as well. It seems like the game is slowly going in this direction. By making knives only repairable with whetstones it becomes easier to tweak the number of uses versus amount repaired while still maintaining scarcity. Except now instead of the knives themselves being scarce it is the whetstones.

Overall I think the system is better than before -- using a whetstone over needing scrap metal & fir wood.
In all honesty the only improvement I could think of is both whetstones and knives (and hatchets) deteriorating at a substantially decreased rate. Other than that ...pretty much perfect.

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Umm, actually, I find the rate of deterioration of knives in the game to be pretty much realistic. 

Of course, I've performed dozens of necropsies on animals and find the necropsy knives pretty much need sharpening every couple of carcasses or so . . .

And these knives are not much different from hunting knives -- the good ones, anyway. It's the hair that dulls the knife so fast.

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2 hours ago, hauteecolerider said:

Umm, actually, I find the rate of deterioration of knives in the game to be pretty much realistic. 

Of course, I've performed dozens of necropsies on animals and find the necropsy knives pretty much need sharpening every couple of carcasses or so . . .

And these knives are not much different from hunting knives -- the good ones, anyway. It's the hair that dulls the knife so fast.

Good info on the rate of blade losing its sharpness -- thanks.

But even though a dull knife takes longer to work with, it would not suddenly break after harvesting say, 100 deer carcasses, right? 
That's according to the posts I've read from people who hunted and stated so. 

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14 minutes ago, Wasteland Watcher said:

Good info on the rate of blade losing its sharpness -- thanks.

But even though a dull knife takes longer to work with, it would not suddenly break after harvesting say, 100 deer carcasses, right? 
That's according to the posts I've read from people who hunted and stated so. 

You can harvest with a dull knife. It is really, really not fun though. With a dull knife everything takes longer and you have a far greater chance of injuring yourself.

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2 hours ago, cekivi said:

You can harvest with a dull knife. It is really, really not fun though. With a dull knife everything takes longer and you have a far greater chance of injuring yourself.

I'm not really a cutlery guy so I ask people with experience for info. You're also a hunter or trapper in real life, right?

Are you of the opinion a steel knife would just suddenly break after harvesting the meat off of 100 deer, and maybe 10 ~ 15 hides?
(I generally get my guts from rabbit because I can pull those out without using a tool)

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Unless it is really crappy quality steel, no, steel won't suddenly break. The handle would come off first. cekivi is right, though, that it takes a lot longer to skin a carcass with a dull knife. Meat and guts are easier, but that skin is really the toughest part of processing a carcass. Except for gristle/tendons, which are quite a bit tougher.

The approach I take with knives is if you're outside in the elements, the less time you spend skinning that carcass and harvesting the meat/guts, the better your chances of survival. You really don't want to be in one place too long with wolves circling about. Being scavengers, they would notice the crows circling overhead waiting for you to clear out and come to investigate.

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If you know how to use the knife properly it wouldn't suddenly break. You may manage to break the tip off though if you're not careful :)

A completely blunt knife will barely cut at all. A dull knife will cut but as @hauteecolerider points out it takes much, much longer. You also need to put more force on the knife to get it to cut so the likelihood of slipping and injuring yourself goes up. When time is of the essence, especially in the setting established in the Long Dark, the less time you spend exposed to the elements and the wildlife the better.

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23 hours ago, hauteecolerider said:

Unless it is really crappy quality steel, no, steel won't suddenly break. The handle would come off first. cekivi is right, though, that it takes a lot longer to skin a carcass with a dull knife. Meat and guts are easier, but that skin is really the toughest part of processing a carcass. Except for gristle/tendons, which are quite a bit tougher.

The approach I take with knives is if you're outside in the elements, the less time you spend skinning that carcass and harvesting the meat/guts, the better your chances of survival. You really don't want to be in one place too long with wolves circling about. Being scavengers, they would notice the crows circling overhead waiting for you to clear out and come to investigate.

That is awesome information -- thank you for sharing it!
The need to sharpen a knife daily is obviously important. I agree.
I strongly think that the "condition percentage" of knives ought not to indicate "when the knife will break" but rather affect the length of time work operations take to complete.

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3 hours ago, cekivi said:

If you know how to use the knife properly it wouldn't suddenly break. You may manage to break the tip off though if you're not careful :)

A completely blunt knife will barely cut at all. A dull knife will cut but as @hauteecolerider points out it takes much, much longer. You also need to put more force on the knife to get it to cut so the likelihood of slipping and injuring yourself goes up. When time is of the essence, especially in the setting established in the Long Dark, the less time you spend exposed to the elements and the wildlife the better.

Agree 100% on not being exposed too long to the elements which is why I prefer to harvest with tools.

But, since in The Long Dark knives and hatchets are limited, valuable resources I find myself more and more often risking the elements to "save my knife" by harvesting an entire fresh carcass by hand. Well, at least the meat.

I wish that knife condition merely affected speed of harvest rather than letting you know that you eventually will be knife-less.

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