Sick forever? Why ruin a good game?

[Revontulet]

OK, I really want to like this game. Its beautiful, interesting and exactly what my wife wants; an open world base building and hunting opportunity.

But it's being RUINED by the devs for absolutely no reason. How? Let me explain.

My wife and I couldn't at all handle "normal." Now, please understand. I am 57 and have played computer games since computers were invented and have often played 10 hours a day throughout my life. I am a smart fellow, a Harvard grad and a fantastic gamer. A Harvard grad is supposed to tell you that they are a Harvard grad in the first paragraph of any communication and I am following that rule.

The game has fun destroying errors.

After changing to "easy" I finally built a base so she could finally join me. No seeing your friends in this game without a base in this game. No biggie.

On the way to my base she put water in her canteen and accidentally hit "3" where it was instead of "2" where her little glowing blue thing was. Now she is poisoned FOREVER.

She died from the poison when she got to the base spawned 1840 meters away and is dying from poison all the way back. She quit the game, changed the sex of her character and came back. STILL POISONED?! WTF. What do you think this is adding to your game, developers, other than misery.

So, now, we need to start over the map entirely or find liver and fish oil to make an antidote because after the death of multiple characters of a different sex was permanently poisoned by one accidental sip of water.

Another question: Can you kill a mountain lion with a 9mm? I made a pistol, snuck up to the mountain lion near our base. It turned right at me crouched and I fired the gun perfectly in its face. It ignored that head shot and rushed at me. POP POP POP! --three rounds all right into its face, which it ignored and killed me. Now there is an immortal mountain lion close to our base. How can I kill it? Anyone have a suggestion?

Finally. Why is starting a campfire so hard? Crates of bullets and gun powder, nails and...blueberries? No matches? I need a medicinal herb to light a campfire? I have found 1 in 10 hours, and I'm looking for them. My wife found one or two and started a fire. It lasted 3 minutes?! Now, I suppose it would have lasted longer with more fuel in there. My bad! But I'm not finding enough medicinal herbs to get another one going. Medicinal Herbs? Really? No flint and steel? No fire starter bow? I can easily craft an actual bow and arrows but cant make a fire bow to save my cold life?

It doesn't really matter. With the unkillable mountain lion (with 4 shots to the head!) at our base and my wife PERMANENTLY POISED from one sip of water 6 lives ago there is little hope anyway.

If there is any advise other than LTP I would be welcome. I do not understand what to do.

[Keyser Soze]

all you need to cure poison is an antidote, it can be crafted with a liver, 5 kelp, and 3 of those fancy green vials.

the reason the infection stays after you die, is because people would just get poisoned, stash everything in a box, then jump off a cliff to get rid of it.

if you want to cure the poison, just drink the antidote like the game tells you to do

[Revontulet]

Thank you for your attempt at kindness.

How do I get a liver?

Can you kill a mountain lion?

Any advice on starting a fire?

[cougar206]

There is no reason for the canteen to be on the toolbelt, particularly with dirty water in it, that is just asking for a miss click.

This game can be tough for beginners and one of the frequent issues is not seeing things like fiber or medicinal herb, or whatever else. There is plenty of medicinal herb in the world, it is just a matter of learning to spot it. So don't wait till you need it, start collecting it as soon as you get in the game.

An infection will never kill you, it just limits max health and stamina, so don't panic. As Keyser says you just need an antidote. Start with getting the fish oil to make the tonic for the antidote, then find the liver, and last the kelp. The oil sometimes takes a while to collect so liver or kelp can go bad while your fishing for the oil, so that's why I say oil is first thing.

The 9mm is more like a BB gun in this game. It does 18 HP of damage unless upgraded, and then not much better. I call it a toy, not a gun. Google "Subsistence weapon damage chart" and find the chart on the wiki. That will help you understand the weapons.

In general I would suggest avoiding cougars, moose and bears till you have decent gear and weapons and some game experience. Wolves are best to avoid too at least until you have a shotgun or some game experience. Rabbits and chickens with the bow, and fishing are the early game protein sources.

One last thing that many first time players don't naturally understand is how the protein, veg and thirst meters affect you. In some games as long as the meters aren't empty everything is fine. That is not how this game works. If all three meter are full or close to full you have practically unlimited stamina, you can run forever and can outrun any animal. The lower any of the meters starts to go your stamina starts to drain faster and faster. If your meters get to low there is not much you will outrun because stamina drains so fast.

[cougar206]

Liver can be found (but not guaranteed) in wolves, bears, dear, moose or cougar. At this point wolves are the best bet with a shotgun. Use the shotgun at point blank range, and that means in the face, not just close. They won't all have a liver though, so you may need to kill 2 or 3.

Cougars are best left alone till you have at least a shotgun and a rifle. And even then stick with lvl1 till you learn the game a bit more.

For fire starting you need to find either a match or 4 medicinals. They are out there, trust me. Once you start a fire keep it burning at least until you have a couple of extra fire starters. It is much more economical to put your fire out when you won't need it for a while, but you have to be confident that you have or can make the fire starters you will need.

[Cole Proto]

I would agree on what others said to avoid that cougar at this point.
I have a similar situation - a couple of unsuccessful hunting attempts left a LVL 9 cougar. Now this beast has more than 300 HP and can't be killed so easily. What I'm doing is building a small cabin near where I can hide inside after a few rifle shots from a distance. Then finish it off with shotgun when it drops to ~100 after a few attempts. This strategy has helped me in my previous worlds. But beware that cougars can destroy structures pretty fast and a lot of ammo is needed to pull this off successfully. It will also run away if it has no chance of getting to you and recover HP over time.

[Jaunitta 🌸]

Adding the medical plant doesnt degrade or reduce it stays good in a chest.
Liver best bet is the deer or wolf. For wolf use a combination 1 shot with bow or rifle and then the shotgun. Kneel down and get him in the face.

[itsGangnir]

You can kill bears and wolves just by climbing any rock you found, just make sure that its high enough and that you're on a side they can't climb and rain arrows on them. For fish, just cut the biggest trees to the end, they will give a worm to use as bait. Fish with the rod or use a trap (I prefer the second).

[LMS fred]

guys, the easiest way to kill cougars is to build a small platform. place it off the ground high enough that you can get on it but the cougar cant. then shoot the cougar, it will run to the platform and you can shoot it 2-3 more times.(and you dont take any damage),

Cougar206 has the right ideas on how to play it. Just remember in this game that you have to crawl before you walk before you run. It is a slow process to build things up. Also, the game definitely makes you set your priorities.

[HALO_run]

4 tips on how to play

1 finding food wood and fuel to make fire on day one is a must, and if you're lucky make a bow as well, as you need a bow to kill the small things, as guns only ruin the bodys

2 by day two you could have the nails needed to make a floor roof and wall, cus when it starts to rain you'll die more without some cover.

3 build on high tall rocks even a mounten works anything tall and flat so nothing can run up it makes killing ai far far easy'er

4th turn off hunters till you know how to play the game and build a base well and fast as luck would have it

[Zuleica]

To add a bit to what people have said;

Many years ago when poisoning was first introduced players were simply 'curing' it by dumping all their stuff in a crate and killing themselves. So CG made poisoning last through death to get rid of the exploit.

I live where there are cougars and I don't think I'd try to sneak up on one and try and kill it as it charged. Maybe it's possible but seems about like trying to dash across an LA freeway and hope you survive.

In general though games like this aren't made to be realistic, they'd be insanely boring. Like the amount of stuff you can carry in your pockets is equivalent to a freight train, there is no such thing as a LASER refinery, drills can't drill any ore, and water, from any location. You can't make solar panels and such from scrap you found in the woods.

And then there are the firearms. Make a 9mm pistol and ammo from scrap and ore you find in the woods and, even if you could, tell me how accurate and powerful it would be.

I started playing Subsistence in November 2016. I died so many times in my original profile I was on the verge of quitting. However, like most things, you figure out how to avoid the dangers, reduce your risk, and succeed. Since then I've started profiles even on hardcore where I have not died once. And, I'm 70.

The other advice given in this thread is good. I'd add that you should never run up over hills and 'skyline' yourself, and always crouch after scanning 360 deg when you stop to eat, drink, access inventory, chop a tree, harvest a kill, or harvest ore. Don't risk being attacked to get a chest or crate as there are always more that don't have a predator sitting next to them. Basically learn to manage your risks.

[Rick Sanchez]

OP; this game isn't a cakewalk survival sim. It's hard, it's meant to be difficult. It's nothing new for the genre, but it is meant to keep you on your toes. Saying that it's a "fun destroying game" is a bit overzealous, dont you think? Understandably you're upset that you can't one shot creatures in this game, or that your wife got poisoned for a silly mistake.. but the game is about learning from your mistakes. Antidotes aren't hard to come by, you just need proper planning and execution, liver is probably one of the easier things to acquire since all you really need to do is hunt deer. Sure they run away, but you're more likely to hunt a bunch of those, as opposed to getting a cougar, or a bear. Especially if you're running around with a 9mm. That weapon isn't meant to be your end game weapon, it's a last form of self defence most notably against a wolf at best. The other predatory animals are far too tanky in terms of HP for your measly pistol to handle early on, even the beginner bow is a bit of a stretch. There are cheese methods, naturally, but the guaranteed one was mentioned by LMS Fred which is the platform method. You can effectively take down all manner of predator using that platform, given it's high enough to prevent direct damage to your character. The game isn't terribly difficult, you just have to pause, take a break and come back with a fresh mindset about what you're getting yourself into. My advice? Watch some youtube videos about how to play, or how to approach the game. If you keep at it the way it sounds like you're doing, you'll find yourself quitting early and feeling "ripped off".

[Zuleica]

I'd add that in the beginning when there were only a pistol, the early shotgun, and the early rifle it was still possible to kill level 4 predators without dying. It took some care but what I'd typically do was to shoot them at range with the rifle, switch to the shotgun while they were charging, crouch, and move backwards while firing at point blank range. With the newer weapons it is much easier. A fully upgraded double barrel shotgun with slug ammo will take down any predator with two shots...just don't miss because the reload time will kill you :)

Generally speaking though take one or two long range shots then switch quickly to a shotgun or pistol for the close shots. I even recall taking down level 3 brown bears with a 9mm though it took the entire magazine and nerves of steel.

[Revontulet]

I was a bit overzealous. It is a great game and everyone here helped. I also dived into the You Tube. Lots of great suggestions everywhere. This is a keeper after all.

Thanks!

[cougar206]

Glad to hear it and glad we could help.