Nomad "Challenge"

[Pillock]

So I've taken a wee break from the constant punishment of Interloper mode, and decided to try out some of the Chellenge mode options, which I've barely (if not bearly) touched up til now. Thought I'd start with the easiest-looking one, which is Nomad, and My God, is it easy! In fact, it's so easy that categorising it under "Challenges" is something of a misuse of the English language.

The description says "Survive 3 days in each of the locations". That isn't an accurate description, I'm afraid. You don't survive, you just pass time and sleep, sipping the odd soda and nibbling the odd chocolate bar in between, until you've completed the time requirement. Then you move to the next location and repeat. Is it supposed to be like that?

The way the game is balanced, if you have enough food and water, there is no reason at all to ever go outside. In the Nomad game, there is about three times as much food and drink loot as you need for your 3-day stint, ready and waiting for you in each of the locations you have to visit. Therefore, you never actually have to do anything resembling "survival".

The only difficulty comes when moving between locations. I suppose that if you're new to the game and don't know where the places are, then this does present some challenges - but you will be so well stocked, even from just looting the initial starting point (PV Farmhouse in my case - I don't know if this varies game-to-game), that I can't imagine anyone having much trouble there.

And anyway, I was expecting to have to spend the time at each of the 15 designated stopping points 'living' in that area, experiencing the local environment, making use of local resources and avoiding local hazards. You don't do this in Nomad; you arrive, you spend 3 days indoors passing time, then you leave. That really is all there is to it.

Instead of giving it 'three hatchets' of difficulty rating on the menu screen, give it 'no hatchets'. Or: change the weather, health-bar depletion and loot variables to make it more interesting, better still. Please!

[Excorpion]

Its easy when youre an experienced player...

[Pillock]

Originally posted by ExCoRpIoN:

Its easy when youre an experienced player...

I don't accept that. Have you tried it?

The problem with it, as I said, is that when you reach each location there is already enough food and drink there waiting for you not to have to do anything for the 3 days you need to stay. Even a total beginner will figure this out very quickly.

In fact, a total beginner is less likely to know about the passing time mechanic, and might just get bored with waiting around doing nothing, and just give up.

[Excorpion]

Originally posted by Pillock:

I don't accept that. Have you tried it?

The problem with it, as I said, is that when you reach each location there is already enough food and drink there waiting for you not to have to do anything for the 3 days you need to stay. Even a total beginner will figure this out very quickly.

In fact, a total beginner is less likely to know about the passing time mechanic, and might just get bored with waiting around doing nothing, and just give up.

Thts true, but a beginner cant make it without a map or something like that... the idea of nomad is the exploration, not the survival.

[EN16M471C]

I too was pretty disappointed when I found out what are the locations. I was expecting to see locations like, for example: Unnamed Pond, Deadfall area, Derelict Cabins - to put it more simple - areas that are outdoors and require a bedroll or a snow shelter. Or at least mix of indoor and outdoor areas/locations.

[IFIYGD]

Originally posted by ExCoRpIoN:

Its easy when youre an experienced player...

Agreed.
For a new player, who does not have the maps memorized to path from place to place effectively- it is a challenge.
For a player with any amount of IRL playtime hours, who plays the gentler Pilgrim Mode only, and is not accostomed to needing to avoid or fight wildlife and dal with harsher weather- it is a challenge.

0 htachets for difficulty would be misleading to many players. If the Challenges were all set to Pilgrim difficulty, I would agree that they were "LULZ! Too EZ!".You are playing at the highest difficulty level, so of course it seems easy. I don't play Interloper unless I want to die in under 2 days. I play Stalker and live for a week or slightly more. Nomad was a challenge for me to complete, after multiple tries, Completing it was quite satisfying to me. Getting no buffs, and only a badge for completing was a bit disappointing though. If the difficulty were to be ramped up, there should be some tangible reward given for completion, similar to Feats.

Because it's a single player game I play for my own enjoyment, in ,y way. I play for fun, not to be able to come on the forums and brag that I am "better than all you noobs" type of thing. I get that bragging rights are integral to some gamers. But not to all of us.

You get no buffs from the Challenges. So, play the Challenge again, but in Stalker or Interloper mode. You'll have to track your own progress and keep track of time yourself. But... that may add to the challenge or difficulty level you are looking for?

Not hating here mate. Just voicing my thoughts and opinions on it. No offense meant, and I hope none taken. :)

[Pillock]

Originally posted by ExCoRpIoN:

Thts true, but a beginner cant make it without a map or something like that... the idea of nomad is the exploration, not the survival.

I suppose, but if so I think that could be made clearer in the description - and it could be made harder as well.

And also, if exploration is indeed the main purpose of the chellenge, why force you to spend 3 days in each place? If you're not actually having to 'live' there, surviving the local environment as well as preparing your supplies to be ready for the next stint of your journey, there's just no gameplay involved in that part of the experience.

A player who knows the locations will walk directly between each one on the most logical, efficient route. A player who does not know the gameworld's layout will need to explore and will have to search for them - and they may miss some or do them in the 'wrong' order. But they still won't have to do anything when they get to each one, except pass the time. And even by random walking, it's still pretty difficult not to just stumble across most of them.

The way the health-bar depletion is set in Nomad is very, very forgiving: you can stumble about in blizzards for hours before you start freezing; you can go for a day or more at a time without eating before you start starving.

[Pillock]

Originally posted by I Fart In Your General Direction:

So, play the Challenge again, but in Stalker or Interloper mode. You'll have to track your own progress and keep track of time yourself. But... that may add to the challenge or difficulty level you are looking for?

I didn't know you could change the difficulty setting on the Challenges games?

If you can, then I may well not have any complaint, since my problem with it stems from the amount of loot available and the very slow negative effects of cold, tiredness, hunger and dehydration.

I will investigate the options menu, but I know for sure that I didn't get to select the difficulty mode from inside the Challenges selection menu before I started the game.

[IFIYGD]

No, you can;t change the difficulty level. What I suggested was that you create your own personal challenge, using the same locations, same length of stay. See if you can surivive the same run in Stlaker or Interloper. The game would not track anything for you, you would have to do that yourself. And you would have to be honest enough to track in game time to ensure you met the full 3 days at each. You would get no new badge, but if you want to see what the Challenge would feel like at higher difficulty, setting your own personal challenge would give you the feel you want.

People set their own personal "Challenges" all the time. Look at the threads for naked runs for example.A spreadsheet program could make your tracking less time consuming that doing it with poaper and pencil, and having to do the maths longhand, but there is no reason you can;t run the same course, with the same requirements at the difficulty level of your choosing. If you didn;t write down the list of locations, both Wiki's have the full list of locations in Nomad on their sites.

[sir_lancealittle]

The way I look at the Nomad challenge is, it's a great starter for players who are new to the game:

• you learn how to triage your inventory and "travel light"
  
• you get to see all regions
  
• you get to see the most popular "base camp locations", and also see their upsides and downsides
  
• you get to practice how to set up a temporary camp location in an efficient way. Learn what is needed immediately, and what else may be required mid-term

Granted, the "3 out of 5" difficulty rating may need to be lowered to maybe "1 out of 5".
But come on - give the casual players something to spend their time on, too!

[Pillock]

Originally posted by sir_lancealittle:

The way I look at the Nomad challenge is, it's a great starter for players who are new to the game:

• you learn how to triage your inventory and "travel light"
  
• you get to see all regions
  
• you get to see the most popular "base camp locations", and also see their upsides and downsides
  
• you get to practice how to set up a temporary camp location in an efficient way. Learn what is needed immediately, and what else may be required mid-term

Granted, the "3 out of 5" difficulty rating may need to be lowered to maybe "1 out of 5".
But come on - give the casual players something to spend their time on, too!

I've got no argument with that! But, yeah, I think the description should be changed.

I do think it is a bit of a shame, though, that this challenge has absolutely no appeal for anyone with a bit of experience playing already. Perhaps the addition of difficulty settings for Challenges mode would be good? It would give them more longevity, certainly.

[Ent no way I'll be playing spreadsheet-TLD, by the way! It would utterly wreck the fun of the game for me. But thanks for the suggestion, I Fart In Your General Direction, I appreciate the idea.]

[IFIYGD]

Lol! I like to set up crazy challenges for myself. Like right now, I am doing a Voyageur run, where I am only eating paclaged foods at below 50% condition, and not cooking meats until they fall to 30% or below, then cooking and eating only after they become Mouldy again. No food poising yet, shockingy. Basically just testing to see how long I can tempt Fate. xD

[Panzer Elite]

After failing 100 times in Sandbox, I am actually enjoing not dying. Also it is for new players and it is a 3 difficulty map. Hard to find locations, a lot of wolves than sandbox, and it taught me a lot about the game vs sandbox.

[Pillock]

Originally posted by † SEN TED CRUZ †:

After failing 100 times in Sandbox, I am actually enjoing not dying. Also it is for new players and it is a 3 difficulty map. Hard to find locations, a lot of wolves than sandbox, and it thought me a lot about the game vs sandbox.

I'm glad you got something out of it and enjoyed it.

I'm interested, though: after you'd looted the farmstead and had collected about a week's worth of food and supplies, what did you do? Where did you go next, and what did you do there? Did you spend the three days, as I did in each location, just sleeping and passing time while keeping your hunger and thirst bars up? Or did you go outside and hunt, fish, trap or collect firewood?

Because I've done none of that. I haven't even used my hatchet. I haven't skinned an animal. I haven't crafted anything. I haven't even lit a fire to melt snow, because there's so much water and sodas lying about in the buildings. The only 'survival' tasks I've done are repair clothes and clean the rifle... oh, and I did cook a piece of rabbit I found in one of the freezers once.

I'm genuinely interested in how you dealt with your Nomad game, and whether you found it difficult or challenging at all. The reason for starting this thread was that I thought the Nomad mode was in need of tweaking in order to improve it. But I'm perfectly happy if most people are finding it worthwhile - and I'm glad that you played it while it was still relevant to your game exerience.

But I'll repeat that I do think it's a pity that it is not relevant or really interesting at all for more experienced players, if they've missed playing it, for whatever reason, at an early stage.

[cT917]

I found that my nomad games were as you described them pillock

I wasn't "surviving" as much as I was "journeying and camping" that said I love nomad challenge I've gone and replayed it multiple times and used the play style in sandbox

As for the time spent "camping" in each location: I imagined my survivor "waiting" in these spots perhaps waiting that someone else would show up. It gave me "reason" for wanting to "stay so long" in one spot

[Panzer Elite]

Originally posted by Pillock:

Originally posted by † SEN TED CRUZ †:

After failing 100 times in Sandbox, I am actually enjoing not dying. Also it is for new players and it is a 3 difficulty map. Hard to find locations, a lot of wolves than sandbox, and it thought me a lot about the game vs sandbox.

I'm glad you got something out of it and enjoyed it.

I'm interested, though: after you'd looted the farmstead and had collected about a week's worth of food and supplies, what did you do? Where did you go next, and what did you do there? Did you spend the three days, as I did in each location, just sleeping and passing time while keeping your hunger and thirst bars up? Or did you go outside and hunt, fish, trap or collect firewood?

Because I've done none of that. I haven't even used my hatchet. I haven't skinned an animal. I haven't crafted anything. I haven't even lit a fire to melt snow, because there's so much water and sodas lying about in the buildings. The only 'survival' tasks I've done are repair clothes and clean the rifle... oh, and I did cook a piece of rabbit I found in one of the freezers once.

I'm genuinely interested in how you dealt with your Nomad game, and whether you found it difficult or challenging at all. The reason for starting this thread was that I thought the Nomad mode was in need of tweaking in order to improve it. But I'm perfectly happy if most people are finding it worthwhile - and I'm glad that you played it while it was still relevant to your game exerience.

But I'll repeat that I do think it's a pity that it is not relevant or really interesting at all for more experienced players, if they've missed playing it, for whatever reason, at an early stage.

I spend most of the time exploring in the morning. And go back to the 0/3 locations at night to sleep. I have been attacked by 4 wolves already just yesterday. Just yesterday I was looking for a new location and got lost in the fog. I had to sleep to clear the fog, and had 2 hours left. I majically found Skeeter's Ridge (basement). Other then that i have been hording items, I enjoy hording items. I have gone out to skin animals and hunted a dear and a wolf for their skins. I have melted snow a lot, and now my toilets have disapeared so it got a bit challeging. I ams till having problems finding new locations.