Wilderness Survival: A Logical Framework

This is simply a logical guide to survival in The Long Dark. There are no secrets spoiled. This is simply what you should be thinking as you try to survive. They're all in short, proverb form so you can remember them as you play, and let these small sayings guide your actions. All are taken from my personal training and experiences from both the real world and in game.

What This Guide Is

These are more like guidelines in simple proverb form that can easily be remembered and applied as you play. In a real situation these small sayings may save your life, but in The Long Dark they WILL save your life. Ideally you wouldn't have to flip back to this as you play. When you don't know what to do maybe one of these will pop in your head and you'll lead yourself to safety.

This game is truly one that best lept into. Go in cold (maybe a little pun intended) and you won't regret it..or maybe you'll end up a popsicle in the middle of nowhere that wolves like to piss on.

What This Guide Isn't

This guide wont tell you where to find tools, where spawns are, it's not going to hold your hand and wipe your ass for you. This isn't going to tell you how to hack the game or whatever. Why would you spoil the fun of a survival game if you know where to get everything within half an hour?

Always, Sometimes, Never

This deals with inventory management and is a system I picked up when I started playing Fallout 3 (Still my favorite so sue me). It may sound obvious and you're probably using this system already in some form or another, but seeing it written out may cause it to stick out more in your mind. It works by making a mental separation into three discrete groups of every object you can pick up. This isn't a pen and paper type of list, its more of a loose mental outline. How you fill these lists is up to you.

ALWAYS
Things you always pickup everytime you see them, no matter what. If you have no space you make space for things like this. These would be things that are always useful and you would use in both emergency and non-emergency situations. Ideally these items would be lightweight or no weight and in medium-well to well part of the rarity spectrum. A core set of things you always have on you and are always on the lookout for more.

SOMETIMES
These are items that you pickup if you can, but wouldn't think twice about leaving behind. You wouldn't backtrack to get them. These would be things that maybe you only want a set number of, or weigh too much to put in the always list. Things you see and say to yourself "Yeah it'd be nice to take but I can't, oh well."

NEVER
This is a bit of a misnomer but these are the items you wouldn't really ever carry with you for some reason or another. These are things you would use locally so you dont have to dip into your travelling supply. Think local use, drop it when I leave types of items.

Idle Time is Wasted Time

You'll find that survival is more of a mental game than a physical one. Accept that you won't always have control of the circumstances around you. You may even find yourself in a somewhat safer and stable situation and wondering what to do next. Perhaps you've trekked a long way, found a good shelter, and don't have enough daylight remaining to make progress on the next day's hike.

It's these situations where you need to be proactive to ensure your best chance of survival in the days ahead.

• Find expendable supplies in the local area (Always-Sometimes-Never) to subsist on in order to avoid dipping into your own stock. Top-off on anything you might need.
  
  
• Maintain your gear and clothing, a coat with a hole does no good when you need it most.
  
  
• Check your physical condition: Blisters, cuts, bites, etc. Change any dressings you have, check wounds for infection, if you were in a rush take this time to re-apply more permanent bandages.
  
  
• Mental stimulation is important as well, reflect on your past few days and focus on the things you've done right and consider what you can do better.
  
  
• If you have any books now would be the time to read them
  
  
• Make a rough outline mentally of what you want to accomplish and what will need to be done in the next few days.
  
  
• Get plenty of restful sleep

Get Ahead, Stay Ahead

The worst thing in a survival scenario is trying to do what you need to get done but not having the strength to do it.

Think about when people put gas in their cars. They dont refuel after they run out, they refuel before they have an emergency need for it.

So too should you when outfitting for exploration. You should be able to eat before you're ravenous, drink before you're dry, and make a fire before you freeze.

Anticipate your own needs in the next few hours. If the sun is setting, gather enough wood for a fire to last the night. Eat enough to remain sensible. It is easier to resupply a small amount than it is to restock your whole pantry.

As Ishmael said of Starbuck "..There to be used, and never foolishly wasted"

Open Space, Frozen Face

This section deals with shelters and fires. While you're playing you may have noticed the sound of wind whipping through the trees or snow being kicked up in a certain direction. The arctic wind is, both in real and game life, one of the biggest deciding factors when considering outside shelter. Take into account the direction of the wind and things that may block it. You'll find the temperature may rise quite a bit without a wind chill.

Obviously your first pick would be some type of pre-existing shelter; be it man-made or natural.

Failing that, a naturally wind blocked area, such as inbetween two boulders. These are areas where a fire can be made safely, without the chance of it being blown out. A temporary shelter would only be beneficial here.

The last resort would be to bunker down in an open area for the night, these situations might not always be the result of negligence. Weather conditions can change quickly, and at times the only resort may be to use what you have on hand, dig into the ground, get a fire, and just try and survive.

You should never try to warm yourself in an area where the wind can just blow it away

A Few Small Concessions

• In your journal theres a place to type in notes, seeing as theres no map or compass this is your only way to mark the location of valuable items or a stash you've made.
  
  
• You'll know when the wind is blocked when there's a small icon in the lower left of the screen of a gust of wind and a shield.

[John Blackstone]

That's cool in a RL way, but in this game the best thing you can do with little time left in the day is to go outside and 1) survey and 2) boil water. I recommend timing the fire with sticks so that it finishes after you walk inside to sleep. You can collect it after resting, and maybe (probably not) get a charcoal. Those are usually from larger fuel sources, so you can get them from a smart use of the kettle in the same way. After the lights go out, in this game, you can process rose hips, mushrooms and whatnot, sharpen tools and clean firearms in the dark. You wouldn't really want to do these things without proper lighting in RL, but the TLD gives us this concession.

As a 7 year veteran of this game, I advise that these are your busy tasks at night when you've gotten enough sleep and don't want to just wait playing solitaire by moonlight.

[cheddar]

Interesting approach. Thanks for sharing.

[finger]

87t

[finger]

21

[Royale with Cheese]

That's exactly what I was going for writing this guide. I'm glad you liked it!

[Taelende]

These rules are useful not only for TLD but actually for if you ever end up in a similar situation. Make note of this sort of stuff, it may come more in handy to you than knowing the exact coordinates of the Hunting Cache in Mystery Lake...

[Royale with Cheese]

Thank you! I'm glad you like it. This is the first guide I've ever written and it's great to have someone comment on it.

[Tr1logy]

Great guide! Very useful tips and a good thing to keep in mind, thanks!