Long term survival tips?

[vimrich]

I'm at just over 30 days in ML on Voyager level. I have great gear and all (wolf coat, dear boots and pants, mittens), found the bunker, got all the loot from all structures over ML. I only shoot sparingly etc. Still, I'm down to FOUR bullets left and my emergncy food is down to one MRE and a box of crackers. I'm still days away from having a bow (took forever to find Maple). I'm going to starve I think! I've tried snares, but they don't seem reliable enough - after a while the bunnies are gone. Should I try fishing? Wolves are constantly patrolling the fishing huts though. If I have to spend one torch a day to fish, I'll be out of fuel pretty quickly.

Also, even if fishing works, eventually won't all my matches run out? How will I get water? Yes I have a firestriker, but the one I found is at 42% and you can't repair it. Eventually I'll be out cloth and line for repairs or bandages too. Even if fishing works, I can see my way to maybe another 40 or 50 days before the inevitable happens.

Should I leave ML? I'm a bit scared to move to a map I don't know well. Took lots of quick deaths to learn ML area. Also, I can only carry so much gear on me and I'm not sure how easy it is to get back once you leave an area.

I don't understand what folks are doing who last hundreds of days.

[Bavarian Raven]

They're hibernating to last hundreds of days.
I got to 150 ( before a bug lost me my game :( ), but each day was a chore. lol. It can be done. Just be very cautious and methodical.

Fishing is useful. But you have to be prepared. Lots of wood to keep you warm, and then you fish for 12 or 14 hours and catch dozen+ fish. Enough for several days. Otherwise it's not worth it.

[Bavarian Raven]

ps - move on. keep the camp office as home base to return to with supplies. ;)

[Kommandant]

If you are not familiar with the other maps, the most forgiving will be PV. If you are lucky you can pick up 20-25 bullets without too much effort on this map. The game is enough to sustain you for a good run, and if you are really short on food, you can also fish on that map.

I never experienced any problems moving between maps. I just completed a 200 day run, and sometimes moved through all 3 maps in one day. There is no problem doing so back and forth.

Best advice I read on the forum, and applied with due dilligence:

Plan. You plan every thing you do in this game if you want to make a long run.

Scout the route to the new map from current base to new base. Decide where you are going to establish your forward stacking points.

Move your stuff in managable batches. Plus/minus 3hrs travel time between stacking points. Doing longer stints with heavy packs is just looking for trouble.

Once established on PV, start doing the same for the CH map - don't wait until things are desperate, that usually ends in a disaster.

Once you have these "forward bases" established and stocked you live well, travel light and always have fresh water, some supplies, wood for a fire and shelter availabe nearby, no matter where you are.

(PS: It could have been a 300+ day run, had I not become complacent. Never become complacent in this game.)

[cfett199]

iNfeksionN has it spot on, he pretty much made the guide I wrote on movement superfluous. Since you have the animal clothing, if you have plenty of cloth for bandages, you can consider going toe to toe with wolves. Herd a deer into a wolf, have the wolf take it down, and sneak up behind it while its feeding, you can literally get right on top of it before it takes note of you, will stand there for 10 seconds, then you have a 30% chance it will be startled away by your wolf coat, or your in for a knife fight. Either way, harvest the deer, and recover the wolf. After your first wolf fight, you'll see they aren't death incarnate, but keep the respect. You do not need to burn a flare/torch everytime you go to the first fishing hut on ML even with the wolf there, it's easily avoidable. I lasted to day 70 before packing up shop on ML and moving to CH and I didnt even find the bunker.

[greasy]

Good points by all. I would add though, pay attention to those wolves. They have set patrol rooutes unless chasing game takes them out of thier route. You have good clothes go outside and watch for a few hours you'll see the wolves can be easily avoidable. As stated too, complacency will get you killed but also be mindful of greed. That will kill you too.

[Facehugger]

1. Don't fish. Use tackle instead for clothing repairs. Calorie payout too low for fishing and lines break too often.

2. Use gun for bears. Use bow and arrows for wolves. Try to only slay wolves that have a deer carcass. Evade the others.

3. Don't pick up mtachbooks. If you have matches, leave the others alone - matches will degrade after picking up, leaving you fireless.

4. Keep magnifying glass handy in your hoard. See 3.

5. Only wear fur clothing. Sacrifce the rest for clothing and bandages.

6. As the others say - travel light. Plan ahead before you leave. Always carry wolfbait.

7. Hoard scrap metal. If you have 6 hatchets, don't worry about repairing until necessary. Use those tools up.

8. Always use your crapiest tools first. Drop highest quality (ex. knife) before crafting.

[Doze_D]

Originally posted by Facehugger:

8. Always use your crapiest tools first. Drop highest quality (ex. knife) before crafting.

In the other hand, you can harvest the worst ones and use those parts to fix up the best one. :) Got myself a 4 hatchets, one was 83, second 81, third 52 and fourth was as low as 34. Harvested the worst three ones and got fixed up that best one + fixed up rifle.

[reggiedunbar]

Not much for me to say that hasn't been said by others.

I only use bullets in self defence, or to kill a bear. In dealing with wolves there are several options that won't cost you a bullet.

* If the wolf hasn't seen you first you can try sprinting at it, sometimes it will flee
* If the wolf sees you first you can try simply out-running it
* Drop a flare - these are not harvestable so they have no purpose other than to save you a bullet
* Knife - only if you have high condition and are close to your base

The easiest way to get food is to find a wolf munching on a freshly killed deer. You can make this happen easily by scaring a deer into the patrol path of a wolf. Then try the scare/flare/knife routine, if that doesn't work, one bullet is a fair trade-off for around 10,000 calories of meat. A bear yields about 33,000 calories of meat.

In your current situation I would take this course of action until your bow is ready. You only have about 1-2 days worth of food at the most and you can't eat bullets.

As for matches, do you need to light a fire every day? Can you cut down to one fire every two days?

I can't comment on fishing as I've never tried it, I've never had to. I just retired a 45 day Voyager run as I got bored. I was sitting on about 50-100 kg of meat, so much that I ran out of drawers to store it in and it was just sitting in piles on the floor.

[canis39]

My technique for getting meat was to chase deer into the path of a wolf, then kill the wolf in a knife fight. It worked really well. My only problem was that I overdid it and a lot of my meat spoiled.

[Hotzn]

The best way to get deer meat is: Chase a deer to a wolf so that the wolf will bring it down near a building (works especially well on the lake in ML). Approach the feasting wolf from the building. When it jumps up and comes after you, slip into the building and rest for one hour. Go back out and find 8-9 kg of free deer venison without spending any cloth, disinfectant or bullet.

The second best way to get deer meat has been described by others above.

The best way to get bear meat is: Lure the bear to a structure, then shoot it once and slip into the structure. Structure may be a hunting blind or fishing hut, as bears can't enter there. Rest for one hour and go back out to find some 30 kg of bear meat & 10 guts & bear hide for the price of one bullet. Cook the meat, as it decays quickly, and store it in containers (lasts twice the time).

Rabbit meat: Rabbits will usually be caught in your snares in the early morning. So make sure you harvest them in the morning. Their meat will be above 90% condition, so it's fairly safe to eat it raw. Do this every morning and you will hardly need anything else.

Fishing: I haven't tested this thoroughly, but my impression is that your line is less likely to snap if you are rested. So it might be a good idea not to fish when tired. Fish during the day and return to your base in the afternoon, so you don't have to spend the night in the fishing hut. However, keep some water and firewood stored in the fishing hut at all times in case you have to spend the night there. If you spend the night there, make sure to put all your fish & meat in the cupboards. Having it in your backpack might attract wolves.

[wilemon]

All good ideas above -I would add : Never use the knife or hatchet to chop wood or to harvest animals unless absolutely necessary-when the knife goes so do you. Never waste a fire -always put extra wood on and boil water -cannot have enough water or wood stored away. My current method having played and died enough to learn the maps is to cover all 3 areas quickly and find the rifle and all the ammo available in the game.Then go to ML and PV and find the 2 bunkers then go to each area in turn and build up supplies in each . Then rotate among the 3 trying not to be gone so long from each that meat spoils.Try and do this until the next map is revealed .

[cfett199]

Originally posted by DD-Indeed:

Originally posted by Facehugger:

8. Always use your crapiest tools first. Drop highest quality (ex. knife) before crafting.

In the other hand, you can harvest the worst ones and use those parts to fix up the best one. :) Got myself a 4 hatchets, one was 83, second 81, third 52 and fourth was as low as 34. Harvested the worst three ones and got fixed up that best one + fixed up rifle.

You lost out on countless uses though. 99% or 0%, you will still get the same from harvesting, use the worst to 0%, then harvest for repairs or crafting arrowheads.

[Doze_D]

^--- Didn't know, that you can harvest them, when they reach 0 %. I always thought, that items will disappear on that point. So, my mistake. :)

[vimrich]

Thanks all. I definetly chase deer into Wolves whenever I can. I almost starved but between bunnies some catails one emergency fish and my "last resort" saved MRE I got my bow done. BTW, I used to like hunting on the lake due to flat open sight lines, but now the wolves on ML tend to run up into the rocks when wounded. I lost TWO that way - used up bandages and antiseptic in hand-to-hand combat for nothing - ugh. Still now I got my bow and arrows

Wow is that bow hard to airm! I finally got a bow kill by going point blank at a wolf from behind that was eating a deer. Very satisfying. First kill and a full deer as well. I got a few more days of food now so we'll see.

I'm at day 40. Sort of trapped in ML, as I can't build up enough extra food to make a move to CH yet. Don't want to leave my stash of cloth, metal and kerosene behind but it's just too heavy without making lots of trips. Maybe if I can move it and hunt at the same time.

For now, I've sort of been shifting between Trapper and Camp Office, hunting on the way between. Deer seem to be more plentiful when you've been away from an area. One or two nights in one trying to get wolves to kill deer, then move to the other and hunt on the way seems to work well enough. Plus snares here and there for the odd bunny or two seems worth it.

[greasy]

No need to take extra food to CH or PV for that matter. The transition from ML to CH has 2 deer carcasses, always some canned goods at the one cave, sometimes food in the containers or bodies, and a few cattails. Also deer and rabbits. And all that before you even get to CH.

Transition between ML and PV has 2 deer carcasses, some food to be found, rabbits, cattails and of course Fluffy's not so bright brother. I say he's not so bright cause he couldn't find his way into the dam, but he is a bunny killing machine. Be brave and venture forth. Whats to lose? another death? Perhaps but thats how we learn.