Let's survive The Long Dark

[Burning Bridges]

With all my tasks of collecting wood, hunting, cooking, water aqnd repair done for days in advance, for the first time I have something unheard of: spare time
I think if the weather cooperates I will take a walk, perhaps visit the Forestry Lookout and have a look at my clothing in Alex depot.

Though, if I think about the Forestry Lookout, whot do I expect of finding there? There was nothing left except cans of food and a can opener. It's probably better to not waste any more time up there.

+11C clothing bonus, for the first time.

 

[Burning Bridges]

I also did new calculations based on clothing.

I believe in the long run I will do better if I do not get emotionally attached the "best" pieces of clothing that give the highest protection against cold,
but rather those that require the least amount of cloth to repair!

After all the difference between wearing my best set (basic winter coat, insulated boots and mittens) and my second best (ski jacket, basic boots and basic gloves) would be not more than perhaps 2C or 3C.
But the difference in cloth is gigantic , and besides, it would save 3-4 kilo of weight.

Calculations (spoiler)

Spoiler

basic winter coat => 12 (6+6) pieces for a month
-- 2 pieces of cloth each repair
- weight 3.0 kg
-- estimated cost for a month: 6 cloth
-- current condition ~30%, another 6 cloth this month to get to 80%
++very warm

ski jacket => 3 cloth a month, lighter
+ 1 pieces of cloth each repair
++ weight 0.5 kg
+ estimated cost for a month: 3 cloth
+ current condition 87%, nor further repairs this month
- acceptable warmth

Boots
The same applies to footwear.
Insulated boots give much better protection, but the basic boots require only 1 leather to repair (which is abundant) whereas the insulated boots also require cloth.

Hands
I also have stored a set of warm mittens that was almost ruined (12%).
I must see if it requires 1 or 2 per repair, and how much it costs to repair, but I might make use it to balance the effects of wearing the basic set

To sum up, I have convinced myself, and will not have to do any more complicated calculations.
It's pretty simple: if I do ca 2 repairs per piece/month, the basic set needs roughly 14 a month, and the "best" set needs 28
Presuming I have ca 30-40 cloth on the map, that makes a whole lot of difference!

 

[Burning Bridges]

31 days 11 hours

I passed the one month mark, and I am filled with pride that I am in better shape than ever, and putting on some weight, though I have been living on not much else but maggots and deer penis.

Every day it is becoming clearer that cloth will become the most important resource in the future.

Since I discovered the backpack depot, I have 40kg storage space around the base, and no longer need the far away depot.
So I marched to the Lone Cabin (Alex depot), and moved ca 10kg spare clothing back to my base, to make an assessment.

Came up with some tricks to get the most out of my clothing and sewing kits. One is to wear out sweaters one after the other, instead of repairing them. There is also a down vest in good condition that I might wear out, instead of harvesting it.

That way I would run a lot colder, but also much, much longer. Considering that a sweater or a down vest at 70% could probably be worn for a whole month, and afterwards shredded to cloth. With 0 repairs, 0 uses of the sewing kit, and 0 cloth, for a whole month. The downside is of course, that I could not do much outside half of the time, when it is very cold, and that being caught by blizzards would become more dangerous.

This is my current situation with material. Lots of scrap metal, sufficient fir wood and leather.
No cloth except one sanitary towel I found on the shelf.

Everything else, tinder, wood, matches, medicine, ammunition, food, water is plentiful.

Since I still have 21 cartridges, I have no problem to provide myself with food. But still it might be possible to get free deer carcasses by stalking the wolves. Perhaps I might move my base of operation temporarily to the Camp Office and study their behaviour, before I make rash decisions. If it comes to nothing, I could harvest a lot of reclaimed wood in the Ofiice and bring it back to my base. If it works, I could come up with strategies to get my share of the wolves prey, and save ammo.

Here you can see what I mean. If I am able to drive away the wolf when he made a prey, I could get the meat.

Or I could kill the wolf with the rifle and get twice as much meat per shot, provided that I am able to conserve all of it. That does not sound easy, but it may be possible. It would also have the advantage that I could depopulate the wolves a little bit.

 

[Burning Bridges]

32 days 4 hours

I could afford to spend a whole day just running between the depots and organizing stuff.

I managed to further reduce my weight and clothes, to almost the bare minimum. Unless I need extra protection, I wear only the most basic clothing and put my warm clothes into the rucksack. A bright yellow Marthy McFly Ski vest came in handy, it weighs only slight more than 2 chocolate bars (250 gram). The load I carry at base is down to less than 5 kilogram - at the start of my run this was 15 kg or so. This saves a lot of energy and wear.

Now that I see how much cloth I could save by this new strategy, I am hopeful that my cloth will last for at least 2 more months, and I know there will is till a lot more cloth on the map.

Something of a dissapointment. I rechecked my stocks and had to realize that I previously counted one box of ammo twice.
I have only 15 cartridges, not 20.

I also begin to think that the first aid kit on the wall seems to have the same magic properties as the frozen containers - stuff does not seem to degrade inside. It does only hold 1 kilogram, so it cannot store heavy items. But I put my matches inside, just carry 3-4 with me that I might need for a fire.

I consumed the last of my venison which was still over 90%, and calculated that the meat from the last deer lasted 3 days, 18 hours or 90 hours. If this is correct, my remaining ammo will carry me for a maximum of 64 more days (ca 4 days per round), unless I find a way to get more meat without spending ammo.

 

[Burning Bridges]

34 Days, 4 hours

Yesterday I almost died.

First I'd shot another deer, and filled up food supply with 9kg meat. Then I headed for the Camp Office, to begin my study how wolves do it.

A rare opportunity opened when a stag was driven directly to a wolf, who quickly made the kill, right in front of me. Seeing the opportunity to get a few free meals, I lit a flare and ineptly tried to throw it at him. It patheticly landed halfway between us.
I tried to pick it up which cost me precious time. Instead of making him flee, I had angered the wolf, and Fluffy Jr was all over me in 2 seconds.

A terribly drawn out struggle followed, in which I was nearly killed, before I could somehow get him off. Blood and wolf feces was all over the place, my condition had dropped to 19%, I was seriously hurt and I had been infected.

I poured a bottle of antiseptic over my wounds, and wrapped them with a bandage. Then, grinding my teeth with pain, I cut as much as I could from the deer, because I did not want to come empty handed from this fight.

I spent the night in the Office, prepared most of the meat, and found another 1,5 liters of kerosine.

When I left the next morning, the wolf was still outside. He followed me for a long time, but I had become stronger during the night and could outrun him. It both kind of makes sense, because I guess he was still very hungry, and hurt as well. I lost him halfway between Camp Office and Trappers Homestead.

When I returned to the base I was cursing my carelessness. What a damn risky venture that nearly killed me.
But it had been a success, and I had gotten away alive. Though I did not kill the wolf, I got his whole deer for free, and saved one bullet. And never before have I gathered so much food. Together with my previous supply, I now have 9.5 kilogram cooked, and 4,5 kg uncooked venison. This should last for almost a week.

But I shall never try this again. Next time I will shoot the wolf and eat it.
I should also have practiced throwing flares. It somehow never occured to me that I could miss.

 

[Burning Bridges]

37 days, 16 hours

There are periods when I am entering a hibernation mode, with nothing much to do but eat, sleep, and wait for the next warm spell.

My body can handle cold, so when I am at home I take off all my clothes and run naked through the cold.
This is my newest trick in order to create the least possible wear on my clothes.
One day I could be naked anyways, if I don't find a way to produce more cloth, so I might start getting used to it now.

When the weather was fine, I had nothing to do so I headed to the Preppers Cache where still left a lot stuff.

It was mostly a dissapointment. Some newspaper and 12 matches, as well as the 8th or 9th prybar.

I use it to open the last of the locked containers, and .. nothing. Not even a candy bar. This sucks.

Left food in cans and snacks, I don't even need that stuff. Apart from that, Preppers Cache is completely looted

I could not help but feel a bit sentimental, for it saved my life in the verly early stage, when I never had enough wood.

I ventured north of the Cache and the Clearcut, and realized that the terrain becomes inaccessible.
Perhaps I could venture behind those mountains in spring, if there is another spring coming.

On the way back I find a carcass in perfect condition, 8 kilogram of meat. The wolf must have run from me.

The snag is, I have no tool and harvesting with my bare hands would take 3h30 in this cold, that could kill me.

I decide to take only 2 kg and eat it in the Forestry Lookout.

it's been a long time since I've been up here and the place is still quite scenic and bitter cold.
I make a fire, cook and eat and shiver through the night at the Lookout's -5 ambient temperature

The next morning I eat the remaining venison and head home, where I can warm up.

I also realized that I can reduce the number of fires if I make more water and food in advance.
That means I must make fires less often, but longer.

I wait until I am fully rested, and fed, then start a huge monster fire and only stop when I am completely exhausted.

Fire lasted 14 hours, from 22pm to early afternoon the next day.

At the end of this monster fire I made 15 liter of potable water and another 10 of unsafe water.
The potable water will last for a long time, and the unsafe can be boiled if I have some fire time left.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Here my latest calculations how much longer I could last.

ammo: at least 60 days ( 15 * 4 days/round )
matches: ~ 50 + 2 firestrikers, at least 6 months if the matches can be stored that long
tinder, wood: unlimited
cloth: hard to calculate but at least 2 more months
medicine: over 2 months, more if I learn to cure myself without pills
rifle/tools: there is plenty of scrap metal, so I can probably keep them maintained for up to 1 year

The biggest limiting factors are: clothing and matches. Ammo won't last forever either.
Right now I expect that my survival is pretty secure for up to two months, then problems will have mounted.

However I have still kept the Mystery Lake region as a sort of sanctuary. There are still 6 buildings, plus some corpses and ice fishing huts that contain fresh loot.

 

[Burning Bridges]

OK, I reached the point where the alpha is getting repetitive. I think I will make a lot less updates to this thread.

I hope I did my best to make you interested in this fantastic new game, and hope that some of you guys will be playing it too.

I think I will continue making updates how the run continues. It is an interesting challenge to extrapolate how much more can be achieved with very limited resources.
From what I learned in these two weeks, I would not be surprised if there are people out there who already hit the 1 year mark!

Good luck with your survivial stories, and see you soon, hopefully soon, on the next map!

 

[Ninja Destroyer]

I rarely visit LP section because either I've played already the game or I want to play that specific title. Long dark seems interesting for me, as it's not another sandbox with multiple side activities and main quest. Robinson Requiem was an old game with many survival mechanics, but in the end they were keeping down too much the "fun" factor and the player was forced to feed himself with antibiotics, watch to not broke a leg, and many other things. From what I've seen LD at least tries to keep the player not totally frustrated, although reading about the meat and bacteria made me worried. All things considered, the game is in early stage so there is a lot of room for improvements. I would really like the story mode to not be very forced and scripted. For example, the player must reach the specific point of the map, but if he don't do it, because of the lack of the food or other factors, he will remain in the usual spots. Of course there should me some time limit for those events, but if you aren't good enough, well, better luck next time! only the true explorer and survivalist of that snowy sandbox would see ending credits. I hope the sound desing will be good, varied weather effects, animal wildlife. Graphics are on satisfiying level and UI looks clean. So it's a long wait time for me. I'll buy State of Decay in the meantime, I've been hearing good things about it.

 

[Burning Bridges]

No reason to be "worried". You can reload the game every time you get bacteria if you want, because the mechanism is unrealistic right now. It needs fixing or every game will end with the player dying in his bed, often from eating fresh cooked meat.

The sound in this game is already fantastic.

As I wrote before, this is a very rare game that is made for an adult audience. 0 WTF moments

You can wait until they reach release, or play it now, up to you. Just make sure you get it later or you'll miss out on something.

So it's a long wait time for me. I'll bought State of Decay in the meantime, I've been hearing good things about it.

Very good choice. Make sure you get the Breakdown DLC, it adds a fantastic sandbox mode of its own.

Many things I said about TLD apply to Dead State too, it is very mature, notwithstanding it's console origin. Undead Labs have anounced a HD version, which should improve on the graphics and gameplay.

 

[Burning Bridges]

40 days, 9 hours

I was able resupply with 20 pounds of meat from a hunting trip the Camp Office.

I had previously worked out how I could wait for a wolf to male a kill, then shoot him with the rifle, and it worked well.

In order to do this I had to march to the area around the Camp Office, where game is plentiful, and where I had previously encountered at least two wolves.

I took about half a day until I could find a wolf making his kill.

Shooting the wolf while he's feeding is not difficult at all, and somewhat cowardly. But I don't care too much for sportsmanship since I am in this fucked up valley.

I harvest 6.5 kilo wolf meat, which turns out to be 25% more nutrious than deer.

and 7.5 kilo deer

At the end of my hunting adventure, which was a total success, I eventually have filled my store with 20 pounds of cooked meat, totalling 22.000 calories. From experience that's ca 5 days worth, which can be spent getting wood and doing other things.

To describe the steps I make to prepare such amounts meat would be tedious. I would however strongly recommend to store raw meat in frozen containers for as long as possible, and carry it in inventory for as little as possible. Also make sure to get enough wood, food and water for the time it takes to cook, and to be well rested.

I found that leaving raw meat in a container for a night isn't that much of a problem, so I do not really have to act under so much time pressure as I used to think. I had to leave the wolf meat stored outside for two nights, before I could cook it, and in the end it was no problem and the cooked wolf meat is still 100%. There is a penalty when cooking older meat but it is not decisive. I just make sure that it's in outside containers as soon as possible, and that I don't carry 15 kilo meat with me for half a day, for it would rot. Instead leave the fire running, go out from my hut to the container and fetch the next 3 kilo raw meat or so, while storing all cooked venison. And so on until I am finished with cooking all.

I also found that eating cooked meat at >90% hardly gives me food poisoning now. So it is something in relation to raw meat only.

A look at the Mystery Lake region from one of the vantage points I am using. I wonder if there is cloth inside those huts.

 

[Burning Bridges]

43 days 4 hours

I am seeing the end of the line of this run, with respect to clothing.

Some of my garments are falling apart and I cannot repair them unless I sacrifice entirely usable things, and then it's. So I will probably stop make repairs and instead wear everything I got until it falls apart.

I also think I will sooner or later loot the remaining cabins because other than that there is no hope of any cloth coming along.

at some places the area around my base turns into a battlefield, with empty cans and metal pieces lying about

got food poisoning from peanut butter.
this particular jar had been sitting in my food depot for 40 days
I don't think it's safe when it says 12%

that's the corpus delicti

with food stacked up way in advance, I had a lot of time to harvested wood

I stopped arranging it neatly, and just dump everything in front of the hut

used my last piece of cloth. I knew I would need cloth, but didnt think it would come so soon

What now? Shred some of the remaining spares though they are still usable?

43 days, and monotony set in.

I might have to head out and find more cloth, somewhere, somehow. I have 2-3 days food left, and could combine it with an extended hunting trip. I must do something, sitting in base and basically doing nothing is very bad for my morale.

If I find nothing at the Mystery Lake, what then? Is there any square inch that I haven't searched yet? Somewhere in the mountains perhaps?

 

[Burning Bridges]

46 days 7 hours

Meat from last hunt lasted for ca 6 days, roughly as predicted.

Work has slackened considerably. I am losing my edge.

There is still plenty of game, everwhere.
All would be so easy if I could catch a deer by the antlers and bite his throat like a wolf, but it eludes me

I also dont manage the trick of throwing flares to scare wolves. I waste two flares which the wolf just examines, and then he approaches me.

So I just shoot the bastard.

Made fire through the whole night and a day.
Got another food poisoning from cooked wolf meat (80%)
Almost worked myself to death

Result: 18 liters of water and another 6 days worth of food.

My dreams are about nothing else but having become a wolf and chasing deer.

How much longer before I lose my mind?

 

[Burning Bridges]

47 days 6 hours

Since I have food in advance for many days I can go on exploration tours more often.

I don't think I have searched all of the valley yet, and try to look in every corner.

During the last expedition I opened the ice fishing huts on Mystery Lake, and three corpses.

Trips to the Lake are made dangerous by the constant presence of at least two wolves.

The trip brought a windfall of fresh loot. Mostly useless crap, but in one of them I found boots, trouser, sweater and gloves in very good condition.

Almost a half set of clothing in new condition, this will help me immensely.

There was also a pair of Jeans at 98% and two more that I could turn into cloth.

I also visited Alan's Cave, but there was absolutely nothing in it. All the time I heard wolves howling.

From now on I will open one of the six remaining cabins every week. So I still have a good chance of finding something very valuable. For six weeks, I will be able to extend my clothes, food and hope.

This would be around 88 days. 100 days is the limit I set for my endurance. If I should be still alive then, I will decide what is better, to shoot myself or to continue the fight.

 

[Burning Bridges]

The problem I have right now is that from here on the game requires micromanagement of clothing.
That means changing to something less useful while I am in or around the camp, and keeping my good clothes in an outside container, reserved for when I go hunting or exploring.

I have calculated that I can get 22 cloth from harvesting all surplus clothes, and I also can go a long mile wearing them out. A piece is worn out when the condition goes under the "repair threshold" (that is the amount you get from 1 repair requiring cloth). At that point I gain more from making a repair to another good piece of clothing, so I can harvest for 1 cloth and make the repair.

With 22 repairs (the absolute limit of my sewing kits is 36) clothing would last for a long time.
I would have gotten more had I used the containers from the start, instead of throwing them on the floor as I did, creating extra wear.
But it was prudent that I did not become greedy and harvested the spare clothing, because now I understood that a piece at 60-80% is actually still useful for some time, until it falls under the threshold (30-50%)

My remaining ammunition (13) could actually run out before that, because currently I use 1 cartridge every 6 days, and the flare method does not work for me.
I don't think I can risk hand to hand fighting the wolves anymore because I only have 2 antiseptics left.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Found another little surprise in the snow.

Spoiler

I just discovered another metal container camouflaged in the snow.

It contained only a firestriker and a toque in less than average condition, but it shows that there could be still more stuff out there hidden in the snow.

 

[Burning Bridges]

53 days

During the last week it was hard to find prey, there are deer and wolves on the map but they seem to congregate in one place.

I now begin to know the areas of individual wolves, most of them roam around the Camp Office. I was followed by up to three one time, and had to outrun them. Throwing flares at them never seems to work.

I have now begun harvesting some of my clothes. Soon I will sacrifice my best piece, this winter coat, because it will take too much cloth to repair it.

But the good news is that my clothing situation has improved, since I found some new items in very good condition, and learned how to switch clothing at the base without much micromanagement.

I roamed the map 2 times until I managed to get a deer hunting wolf without interference by more wolves.
During this time I had to consume much of my stored food, because it was getting worse.

I was also shocked how much the condition of much of my goods has deteriorated in my long term depot. After 30 days in the depot even my best can opener has degraded to 16%, and I will have to make repairs so I can make use of the remaining cans.

Everything has turned into a routine of work and consuming food, occasionally interrupted by hunting trips and some exploration of the remaining areas. Animals seem to be somewhat depopulated, but I am still able to provide myself with food.

 

[Burning Bridges]

58 days 18h

I have survived for almost 60 days, and have learned how to oppose nature. While my knowledge has grown and my supplies could last for a long time, I have realized that I cannot wait in this valley forever.

Tomorrow I will start collecting supplies and weapons and look for a way over the mountains, there must be some way to escape ..

There must be some way to escape!

 

[Absalom]

Nice! Hopefully you can find a way out.

Game looks pretty good so far, but the "items degrade alot faster in corpses" thing puts me off. I'd rather have items degrade alot faster when you actually use them, than to have, say, the can opener disintegrate in a mouth without use regardless. Except for food, of course, which is fine-ish as it is.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Did you register on the official forum yesterday? I think I saw your name.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Day 60

The world may have witnessed another Magnetic Storm. Yesterday everything was upside down. The condition of several of my items had suddenly deteriorated, and wolves began to appear everywhere. I got attacked just walking 150m to my depot.

It was probably just a bad dream.

Several new, more aggressive wolves have started intruding my camp. When one was killing a deer directly in my front parlor I realized now was the time to march.

I will set out and follow the railway tracks. I will see if something lies behind and if I can find more of my most needed supplies: rifle ammo, medicine and clothes.

Perhaps this will be the end of me, but at least I will not have died without hope!

Luckily I have lots of provisions. I will take the most important items: a knife, can opener and food for 2 days with me. I could even afford to leave 8 venison and 10 litres of water at my house.

In the end my load was almost 25kg, much more than I wanted but I cannot head out unprepared.
I had to decide what could be spared, and eventually decided to leave the rifle and lamp behind.
I rather stacked up with some flares and my remaining painkillers.

I also took two rabbit snares with me that I will position along the way, as a further preparation for my return.

The wolf at my house was distracted, but I saw several others. They seem to have multiplied with the storm.
I took the shortcut along the river to the North.

When I passed the Hydro dam, a wolf attacked me but luckily I could drive him off by throwing a flare.

I picked the flare back up and ran along the railway tracks, into the nomansland.

The weather is generous to me, and the tracks lead to a ravine and a railway bridge.

It is a bridge across the ravine about 400 feet long and nearly 1000 feet high, over which loaded trains must have been running every hour, and, upon my word, gentlemen, there is nothing in it but beanpoles and cornstalks.

Getting to the other side is arduous and incredibly dangerous, but if I ever want to leave this place, I have no other choice. There is no time for the beautiful sights and even waterfalls along the way. The railway bridge is almost destroyed in several places that must be climbed.

Finally across, and after another tunnel I reach the first signs of human habitation. I begin to look for a place to establish a new camp so that I can start to collect some provisions.

The cabin does not invite me to much more than a short break. I turn back and look for a shortcut through the mountains.
The landscape seems indeed to clear up and I have seen something like a huge lake in the distance.

I reach a place called Rabbits Cove, and what would be more fitting than to set up my last remaining rabbit snare? I am pretty sure I can catch something here. I have more than enough food and will find a place to spend the night.
Then I will walk down the slope, to see what's on the lake.

 

[Weirdstuffinspace]

Very nice lp. I like the utter lonelyness and hopelessness the game conveys. With no bullshit achievements or "goals" the mental aspect of surviving "What the hell am I doing this for anyway" becomes an issue and one moment of boredom or weakness might do you in.

Keep it up, curious as to how it will end.

 

[laclongquan]

Start rolling that SAN dice~

 

[Burning Bridges]

60 days, 8 hours

60 days passed.

The night was spent in the cabin at Rabbit Cove, and I could completely recover.
I had some hours left and collected wood. I will need that because I do not have a lot of water (heavy)

Food has become the least of my concerns. What I took with me should still last for a long time.
I seem find enough new food, and leave a lot of stuff behind that is in good condition.

I only carry things that I really need, like cloth, matches, medicine and food that is under 50%.
So far I found a lot of matches, newspapers and a toolkit, as well as two flares.

Next morning I follow a frozen creek that leads to the lake.

The view opens and I see the lake. It is huge, and there seems to be a house on those islands.

I can see several wolves from afar and make my way between them.

I discover a house and a place called Jackrabbit island.

In the house there is a bit of everything, and a lot of food and newspapers.
I leave a small stash of 2 bottles of antiseptic and matches, because what should I do with 60 matches.

This could be a good place for snares, because rabbits seem to abound here.
But there is no workbench to make snares, and no stove to cook, so I cannot make this a permanent base.

The new area is a huge lake with the coastal highway going around it, and unexplored territory behind it.

There is another house on a second island, and several clumps of buildings along the highway.
It should be easier to get around here than in Mystery Lake.

I often take time to think what I should do next. I don't need food, there is enough that I left behind, and I could hunt rabbits.
I don't need anything that I don't have at Trappers Homestead, and the only reason I have come here is curiosity and the need for action. I hoped to find ammo and painkillers, but so far found nothing.

I set out to reach the other island, but it was blocked by two wolves, and far too dangerous. So I had to march to the mainland instead, and another wolf ran towards me, so I quickly had to seek refuge in one of the buildings on the main highway.

I have a feeling that the wolf will now beleager me. It may be that I have to take the fight to him before I can leave, and will need to build up my strength. For the first time I feel uneasy that I didn't take the rifle with me, because it would make everything so easy. I could shoot the wolf and cook the meat. But now I am besieged at the end of the highway, 2 days from Trappers Homestead and will have to find a way to establish another base.

Fortunately I am at a place where I can stay, and it has a place to cook. I have enough provisions and fuel to stay here for a day or more, and there will be much more inside the buildings.

What shall I do tomorrow? I have time to think, before I come face to face with the wolf.

 

[ghostdog]

Very nice LP of a very interesting game.

Kill the wolf go back for your rifle, pack up as much as you can and go out to find a new base. Don't come back until you find one !