ThePancakeLady

Yeah, the lyrics... TLD all the way. And it feels very Stalker Mode, rushing the Summit, or running Hopeless Rescue... it just strikes a chord. Great list of songs so far, here. Love it.

The lovely thing about this game is... you can play it however you like! There is no "one right way" to play it. I play a fairly sloppy, spontaneous way myself. I know all of "the right ways" to play, but I tend to enjoy living in the moment, and trying to see how many of those "rules" I can break, and still keep my gal alive, and climbing places she probably should not be trying to climb to. As long as you are enjoying yourself, in your own way... it's all good. Many people have long running threads in the Fan Creations section (their own stories, fictional, set in the game world, using some of the game lore, but not a telling of their IRL gameplay), or tellings of their actual gameplay, with embellishments, in the Survival Stories subforum. Many of us love following these threads, that may be dozens, or hundreds, or pages long. If you feel moved to tell your own stories, do so! Not everyone will enjoy it, but those who do will follow, and will benefit from reading it. And maybe learn a few thigs, learn new ways to think about the game, learn new strategies, or be inspired to try new things. Share what you feel comfortable sharing. Follow the general forum rules, but know this place is a "safe place". A great actual community, that embraces different viewpoints. I, for one, hope to see your own personal narrative shared here.

Welcome to the forums. Hoping you find being here in non-lurker mode enjoyable, and will share your stories, and opinions with the rest of us. Pleased to meetcha.

The cowl would be great. Thinking of other things that might be crafted from a Timber Wolf pelt, since they seem to be a bit larger then our regular wolves- a blanket. Been asked for quite a few times on wish List threads, here and on Steam. Would be good for when you have no bedroll. Would maybe be able to be used alone or with a bedroll for added warmth. Used when sleeping in a vehicle, or on a bed. Probably not terribly necessary in Pilgrim or Voyageur, but in Stalker and Interloper, where you have to wait for your fire to overcome ambient air temps before it starts warming you, a blanket you could wrap in while waiting would be amazing. Not getting my hopes up too much for it, but... what do you do with the left-over pelt after cutting the head and neck area off for the cowl?

Says who? Survival Mode has the male and female characters exactly the same, no difference in starting skills between either gender. Both are exactly the same. We haven't yet had the chance to play Astrid in Wintemute, to say if male vs female has any difference in skills or strength between Will and Astrid. Seems to me you are the one with a gender bias, not Hinterland. Will is going to have to deal with them as well, when we play him again in future Wintermute Episodes. Me? I look forward to playing a strong female character in Story Mode, like I get to in Survival Mode.

No clue who "Ralphy" is. Raphael aka/Raph- I know who that is. The gif with the candles... I knew it rang a bell in my head. Went into my Steam Backgrounds from Badges for the game and found this: Hoping this image still holds true, or at least *mostly* true. A "Community Hall", possibly a converted church (?), mining union hall, or theater with a stage (?). Where it looks like multiple survivors took shelter together after TSHTF. And yeah... candles. Hoping we can loot some.

Oh. Heck. Timberwolves. In packs. *Thinks about Stalker Mode when this hits Survival mode...* Oh. Heck. Looking forward to dying in all new, horrific ways, lol! Love the look of Episode 3, and the new flare, town and the new (scary) toothy things.

You are quoting a player-made Wiki. Nothing there is qualified as "official" by Hinterland. Just "facts" posted by players, who may or may not be correct. I would never count on any Wiki as being completely accurate, or official, unless the studio and/or devs have backed it up as such. We have all assumed it was kerosene, even though we can also use fish oil. Which is really not something I would want to put in my Coleman Dual Fuel lanterns. Ever.

I just realized we are all assuming that the lamp oil we are using is kerosene. "Lamp oil", the kind used in glass lanterns with a wick, are usually a form of liquid paraffin oil. Wondering now if there is a wick we just don't have to deal with? Though, it would make sense for Hinterland to create their own hybrid-type lantern, modeled after some real world one, but altered enough to prevent any legal issues with using an identifiable brand name model? Similar to how the rifle is modeled after a Lee-Enfield SMLE, but is not an exact copy, and the Revolver , which is a *mash-up* of 2 different models, that resembles both, but is not an exact copy of any known brand. That "repair" we are doing on out lanterns may involve replacing a wick... it isn't specified exactly what we are doing when we repair a storm lantern. Or we may be repairing a burner like this one... A mash up of an older Coleman style lamp with a flint striker for lighting, a railway lantern and an old burner-type hurricane lantern. That burns traditional paraffin oil lamp fuel, not kerosene. We are playing a game, in a fictional world. Trying to find a real world "exact match" is kind of silly, now that I think about it. Though, if the lantern uses a wick, flat or round, maybe they should make us use cloth during repairs. Or make us craft wicks using cloth.

Aren't they listed in the Collectibles section of the journal though? Along with the Notes Left Behind? (Survival Mode... I know the Collectibles are different in Wintermute...) I'll have to go into the game and see if if I have a saved game with lots of both, and see if the journal shows a full list of the ones found, but I seem to recall that it does. (not 100% sure though...) (Quick edit, after a quick search on the Web... found this image, which suggests there is a list in the journal, not sure what version of the game the first one is from though...)

Coleman lanterns have had strikers available as an after-part installation for some time. Matter of fact, we always had them on our double mantle dual fuel Colemans for camping when out in the wilds. A few people had lanterns that had no mantles, just used a generator (like most older Coleman stoves used) that fed the gas into the chamber, pump pressurized like the single and double mantle lanterns, and they used a flint striker for starting as well. Not sure if they were Colemans or not, or from another maker, but Coleman Canada may have had different models that we didn't see often here in the States. But kerosene lamps/lanterns, and flint strikers have been around for a long time, would kind of shock me if there were not lanterns meant for use in mines and other more remote locations that used them, and did not require the mantles many of us hated trying to find, and put on, in the dark.

Welcome to the forums! Hoping you enjoy your time here, and enjoy some of the special things like The Milton Mailbag, and the Screenshots threads, half as much as I do! Happy surviving!

But why would there be metal detectors on Great Bear in the first place? They would need to add lore involving a rumor of buried treasure r something to make that even semi-plausible. No sandy tourist beaches or old battlefields on the island, so why would anyone there have one, let alone there being more than one on the island, still in working condition? Metal detectors are a bit too out of character with the current game lore and "plot", IMHO. Flashlights make sense, but I just can't wrap my head around why loggers, miners, and preppers would have metal detectors. And with the Story Mode and the "outsiders" lore, I can't imagine a treasure hunter showing up and digging up random spots would thrill the locals too much... though it could explain some of the bodies we keep finding.

They would need to add a new mechanic/crafting recipe or 2, but it is doable. Animal fat (tallow- rendered) + lye made from hardwood ashes (we'd need to be able to burn birch and maple) soaked in cloth in potable water to make lye-water. Then cook the rendered fat and lye-water in a cooking pot to make the soap. Nevermind that you could never safely use the pot to cook food or make water in again. I mean, it is doable, but would really become a PITA to add to the game, and deal with in-game. So, they would need to add more soap as loot, and we would need to manage usage of it, like so many other things in the game. We find chocolate bars, granola bars and such in drawers, lockers and safes, why not soap? A lonely logger's obsessive hoarding habit? Now, finding Soft Scrub to remove the soap scum would be a bit more of a pain...

I agree with @Doc Feral, @Moll, and @LostRealist. We have soap shown in the game. This idea has been brought up on the Steam forums a few times, and I supported having a "cleanliness" factor then, I still support it now. Especially as part of a larger Mental Health & Wellbeing system. Being able to clean your clothing and your body should raise your spirits, a simple tool to fight the isolation, and help reduce your detection range with predators and prey. Think of wearing unwashed socks for weeks on end. Not only would your feet stink, your clothing would be caked with "residues" that *should* make them decay faster. Something like the Well Fed mechanic, perhaps. If you are in a location that has soap in a soap dish, or if soap was made into an interactable item you could pick up and carry, you can boil a cooking pot of water, and wash. Not totally "realistic" to wash your entire loadout in 2L of water, and yourself, but we have lots of things in the game that are not IRL "realistic". 1 cooking pot full of potable water allows you to choose cleaning your character, or cleaning your clothes. Take the time to do both, get a 24 hour "Clean & Fresh" buff that slows decay on your clothing, and reduces your detection range, maybe? Yes, it would be another "micro-management" thing. You could choose to do it or not, no change from the current game if you choose not to, just a very temporary buff if you do decide to (add it to the Custom settings toolbox to toggle the mechanic on or off, just like Cabin Fever and Sprains can be). You can do it *only* after the snow is melted and the water is boiled, or only done if you "warm" already potable water. Clothing would need to be dried after washing, your character would need to be dried after washing (think wet hair, beard, skin., wet clothes... prone to hypothermia and/or frostbite if you don't get dry and go out into a blizzard...). Making it optional would hopefully save Hinterland from any outcry over *forcing* it on players who do not want to do it. Giving a buff to those who do it would make it feel *worthwhile* to them, perhaps. The same way you can play the game just fine without ever getting the Well Fed buff. It gives players another choice, with a risk/reward attached to it. It takes time, you have additional weight to carry for the soap, and you need a fire. You get to have your clothing last a little longer and have wolves detect you less easily for a day or two. Upvoted the idea. Hoping for a good discussion on how this might work, pro and cons. And honestly, I have been seeing people ask for a mode even tougher than vanilla Loper for some time now, and others who have said the game feels like it is being made "too easy" with the addition of the Revolver and Birch Bark Tea. Wouldn't mind seeing the game become a bit tougher again. It's not supposed to be "easy" to survive the Quiet Apocalypse.

Spin my chair around to see if I can rotate before a wolf eats my face off. Sucks when my knees hit the side of the desk sometimes... but I still do it. Because if my character is going to get hurt I will too, for #immersion.

In real life, crows (and ravens) are quite intelligent, and curious. Bright shiny objects... like pieces of jewelry, glass marbles, keys, car remotes with flashing lights( to help find them)... all found inside crow's nests over the years on our old property (our old farm). We learned quickly that if something "sparkly" was dropped outside, check the crows' nests we knew about the next day, if we did not find it quickly after we lost it. Keys in particular, they seemed to have a fondness for picking up and flying off with. It's possible the metal arrowhead(s) might attract their attention, and draw them in for a closer look. No scientific evidence for it, that I know of, just years of living on a farm, surrounded by woods, with lots of crows living around us. And many lost keys, lol. It's an interesting idea, but I can also see it becoming a confusing thing, to see crows or hear crows, and expect to find a carcass or corpse, and find only a broken arrow. And I would likely stop bothering to search for lost arrows, if I thought I could just wait for the crows to show me where it was. Neutral opinion on this, half " this is good", half "eh, not sure this is good". If Hinterland would make crows land to feed off of the carcasses they now only circle, I could see it. But adding the mechanic and animations just to help find lost arrows seems like a bit too much.

Yes, in real life I do get that it works that way, sort of, though 1 dose may not treat my migraine and my arthritis very well. I often need more than a single dose to get relief IRL if I have more than one type of pain or illness, and my pain or illness is more severe. The comment about "all of of your toes hurt" feels a bit over-dramatic to me. We are playing a game though, one that emphasizes making purposeful and conscious choices. If they change the mechanic for painkillers only, then there will be people who will want to know why it does not work the same way for all medical treatments. Thus, I brought up bandages, which are needed for multiple types of injuries and afflictions, and the same is true for antiseptic, antibiotics, OMLB , reishi tea and rose hip tea. They all treat multiple injuries and afflictions. The game is more "true to life" than many other survival genre games, but it is far from being 100% "realistic". If we have a system put in place, where what type and number of injuries or afflictions we have does not matter, and 1 thing heals them all at once, let's just go back to magical med packs, or HP and Energy pots, that treat everything at once. With floating numbers, health bars and energy bars, like an aRPG has. With no need to worry about avoiding injuries and afflictions, since we can magically heal all with one red potion, and relieve loss of energy (or mana), never needing to sleep, with one blue potion. It's a matter of gameplay choices and consequences that matter to me, and the need to weigh out and prioritize my actions in any given situation. I am fine with they mechanics the way they are, I prefer having to think about what I doing, and what I am treating, and why I am treating it, even if it does feel a bit too "micro-managy" or frustrating at times. You don't have to agree. It's just my opinion on it. You are free to have yours as well. The devs need to see both, or all, opinions on the mechanics and systems in the game. And they cannot please us all, no matter what they decide to do or not do, to create the experience they envision for their game.

Hibernia Processing in Desolation Point. Hands down.

With official support and security updates being stopped by Microsoft for Windows 7 coming in 6 months... I am curious if there is any talk in the industry about whether to continue making new games that support the OS or not. And if Hinterland has plans to support the OS in any new games you may have on the table? I like Windows 7. I don't want to upgrade to Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, until I absolutely MUST (all of my software stops working with Windows 7, for example). That being said, if the next game from Hinterland does not support Windows 7, that may be a MUST upgrade for me. (Yes, I do really mean that...). I know what the talk is currently in the more mundane SW dev community I am still a part of, but since I am not a game dev, I am honestly curious if there are concerns in the games industry, since so many games are played online through a browser or online client, where security is a greater concern than it is for offline applications. Yes, yes. I will have to get or buy a new rig, someday. Just trying to decide when that "someday" will be. And what OS I may switch to, to avoid the Bloat Monster that Windows 10 is.

I see it as a gameplay thing... you need to make purposeful decisions to stay alive. If I have a sprained ankle, a bleeding laceration, and a sprained wrist, I have to make a conscious choice which injuries to treat if I only have 2 bandages on me, or 1 dose of painkillers, ect. So, if the game would "automatically" treat injuries or afflictions, which ones should it prioritize? Would it treat my laceration and my ankle, leaving me unable to equip the only weapon I had on me, if I was carrying the rifle only or the bow and some arrows only? I don't want to feel like I need to start humping around with 10 lbs. of medical supplies, just to go out and gather sticks, or go hunting or fishing, or travel from one base to another in the same region. I like that I have to think about what is most important or beneficial to my character if a situation like I outlined occurs. If the game chose to bandage the wrist and the ankle, I might bleed. I might prefer the ankle just be left, I can sleep it off after I get back to base, and might choose to bandage the laceration and the wrist so i don;t bleed out, and so I can equip a weapon if needed. Or I may decide that the situation needs the laceration bandaged, and the ankle, so I can sprint the heck home to sleep off the wrist sprain. I like that I have to slow down, not have my hands held, and need to think about what I am doing. I may have only 1 cup of Rose hip tea with me. Do I treat a sprain, or a headache, if I have both? I prefer to make that choice, not have the game decide which to treat for me. TL;DR- I prefer that I choose what to treat or not treat, do or not do, rather than the game choosing for me, arbitrarily. Again, I don't want to feel like I need to start humping around with 10 lbs. of medical supplies, just to go out and gather sticks, or go hunting or fishing, or travel from one base to another in the same region, because I don't know what injuries or afflictions I may have happen while I am out.

Ahahahaha! How, and why, have I never tried this?

I do think taking painkillers 4 times, and needing to chose which sprain or pain affliction you take them for is a bit unintuitive. I will agree with @ajb1978 on that, and I do think you should have to up the dosage a bit to treat multiple injuries. A choice of 2 pills or 4 pills, if you have more than one injury that require painkillers to treat. A single injury could present only the option to take 2 pills. And I also feel that you should have to chose which injury to apply different treatments to. You are cold, out of your known element, desperately trying to stay alive in a way that city life never made you learn. Sticking 2 Tylenol on top of a laceration should do nothing. Putting a bandage on your aching head should do nothing as well. Dosage choices for multiple similar injuries does make sense to me. IRL, if my arthritis pain is not too great, 1 Aleve usually makes it lessen enough for me to function. If it's really bad, I may need up to the maximum daily dose (3 pills) to put a dent in it. Same with "regular" headaches vs. migraine headaches for me. In game, I just play it like we are taking Aleve or Tylenol, an OTC pain med, since I have seen no pharmacies around where prescription meds would have come from. Maybe they should change the art to look more like a "typical" aspirin bottle instead of a prescription bottle? But this is a game, not IRL. They wanted, and needed, a way to make your choices and actions mean something, and have some impact on gameplay. Not a general "cheese-it-all" mechanic that might feel shallow and unimportant. And they did give us Custom Settings, to turn off sprains, and camera dampening to turn the limping-gimping animations on or off. And the options for certain less-life-threatening injuries, to just keep going without treating them, letting time/sleep heal them over a really "unrealistically" short amount of time. Heck, we can even sleep off food poisoning over 18 hours, if we have enough condition to survive, with nothing else draining condition at the same time. I am fine with it as it is. It makes me stop and think about what I am doing when I play, something a "thoughtful" game experience should do, IMHO. It isn't overly complicated (it could be much more so for the sake of "reality"). It just requires my attention enough to make me feel it. Just like taking my 12 prescription meds IRL does. If I am not paying attention, and take the wrong one, for the wrong thing, at the wrong time, I do pay for it.

When you get the risk warning, check your clothing, asap. If any is frozen, the risk will not pass until it is unfrozen, and the affliction *may* occur while it remains on your character while frozen. Whether your "feels like" is positive or not. "Your skin is directly exposed to the cold. If it remains exposed for long enough, you'll get Frostbite." Frozen clothing = exposure to cold. If any clothing is frozen, take it off. Lay it next to a fire to thaw it and dry it. It's not giving you any warmth bonus while it is frozen anyway. That said, having the risk for days on end with it never going away definitely sounds like a bug. If your ambient air temp is above freezing, your clothes should go back to "wet" only, and eventually dry, especially if you had fire(s) to warm up near. Did you have any hypothermia warning or affliction during the time you had frostbite risk?