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  1. I wonder why these wilderness survival games can never happen in an area that isn't extremely cold. Most of the planet is somewhat temperate.

    Monday, 23-Jan-17 15:26:33 UTC from web
    1. @nerthos Its in the extremes, usually.  The Forest is in it's namesake though.

      Monday, 23-Jan-17 15:46:23 UTC from community.highlandarrow.com
      1. @maiyannah I'll have to try that one. I downloaded The Long Dark and it seems ok, but it's all ice. I'd like one where temperatures aren't sub zero literally all the time so the focus isn't exclusively on not freezing but rather in moving from scrapping by to holding a proper shelter, trapping, and all that..

        Monday, 23-Jan-17 15:46:50 UTC from web
        1. @nerthos You'd probably actually enjoy the Forest then, though you might prefer the mode without the natives.

          Monday, 23-Jan-17 15:50:19 UTC from community.highlandarrow.com
          1. @maiyannah What do the natives do

            Monday, 23-Jan-17 15:50:11 UTC from web
            1. @nerthos Murder you.  Usually very quickly.  They probably need balanced better - most people get utterly blind-sided by them the first few times they have to deal with them and don't have any chance of repelling them.

              Monday, 23-Jan-17 15:52:55 UTC from community.highlandarrow.com
              1. @nerthos The thing is once you know how and when they attack, they're actually quite trivial to deal with even early on, let alone once you've established yourself.  That surprise is the only thing they really have.

                Monday, 23-Jan-17 15:53:49 UTC from community.highlandarrow.com
                1. @maiyannah Then it sounds like it'd be fun to have them around, speially if you can set traps so they die on their own and can be looted.

                  Monday, 23-Jan-17 15:54:49 UTC from web
                  1. @nerthos I kind of wish you had a chance to orient yourself at all, but because the attacks are pretty much completely random chance just in certain circumstances, you can literally get offed literally within minutes of starting.

                    Monday, 23-Jan-17 15:59:05 UTC from community.highlandarrow.com
          2. @nerthos Personally I like the Long Dark because the focus never leaves survival.  In the other games there always becomes a point with the progression where there no longer is that pressure to survive because you have such an advanced setup.

            Monday, 23-Jan-17 15:52:03 UTC from community.highlandarrow.com
            1. @maiyannah What I dislike of the long dark so far is that tools seem to wear out incredibly fast and work doesn't seem to have an impact on body temperature. A decent hatchet is basically eternal and unless it's -20º outside chopping down wood keeps you warm, I'd do it at night when I'd go fishing. Otherwise it seems fine.

              Monday, 23-Jan-17 15:57:12 UTC from web
              1. @nerthos Well all tools degrade over time, but not at anywhere near the rate the Long Dark suggests.  One big area of opprotunity I feel would be letting players attempt to improvise or use suboptimal means for things.  A person isn't going to refuse to try to break down a big tree branch because they don't have a hatchet if it means life and death.  They're going to try to improvise a way to break it.  The Long Dark doesn't let you.

                Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:00:35 UTC from community.highlandarrow.com
                1. @maiyannah They do, but a steel axe lasts generations unless you use it all the time and without skill. I still use my grandfather's axe and the thing's likely from the 50s, probably older. It doesn't get too worn unless I try to chop quebracho or something like that. It also doesn't let you haul even light branches to a better place to work on them. I wouldn't stop in the middle of a snowstorm to spend 45 minutes breaking down wood, I'd instead grab a bunch of branches and drag them to shelter. It's not hard on grass, much less on snow.

                  Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:03:00 UTC from web
                  1. @nerthos Moreover, as I alluded to, if its a matter of life or death, you'll find a way.

                    The sharpness being the mechanic for an axe or hunting knife makes sense, but something going dull doesn't render it unusable, just much less efficient.

                    You CAN break a tool made of poor steel though.  Skallagrim's done it more than once with recreation swords and one axe.

                    Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:24:54 UTC from community.highlandarrow.com
                    1. @nerthos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWZ1T5ur_EA

                      Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:28:27 UTC from community.highlandarrow.com
                      1. @nerthos That isn't even an off-brand, that's Smith & Wesson.  I might expect it of some el cheapo China special, but this kind of quality is pretty standard of something you'd find on store shelves at Canadian Tire or something here.

                        Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:29:54 UTC from community.highlandarrow.com
                        1. @maiyannah I expect folding knives to snap if you apply strenght like that as they're not made to be used as crowbars. The loosening on the fixed blade knife was pretty bad though.

                          Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:32:59 UTC from web
                          1. @nerthos Same company on both, Smith & Wesson.   There's a lot of really bad "hunting knives" out there by "reputable" makers.

                            So I don't have any trouble believing a hunting knife would straight up break to be honest, especially under survival use.

                            An axe though?  If it breaks under chopping/felling use then it was never going to be fit for purpose.

                            Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:36:11 UTC from community.highlandarrow.com
                            1. @maiyannah Yeah, I was talking about axes when mentioning they were eternal. Knifes can break, even good ones. For heavy duty use I'd rather use one of those knives fashioned out of wrenches as they're relatively sharp but also made out from something meant for torsion.

                              Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:36:53 UTC from web
                              1. @nerthos The best actual knife I've had in terms of durability is actually a Snap-on branded folding knife I use for EDC.  They don't make them anymore but they're made out of the same steel as the Snap-on wrenches, which is why you mentioning that reminded me of it.  As long as you take sensible precautions since it's a folder it's been a beast.  I've even used it to cut thin mild steel before and while I had to resharpen the blade afterwards it was fine.

                                Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:40:23 UTC from community.highlandarrow.com
                                1. @maiyannah oh yeah those are nice, I have one or two in my toolbox from when they used to be on special deals, say when you bought a set of something and our dealer would throw in the knife for free.

                                  Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:40:40 UTC from web
                                  1. @awl I need to get a couple more since they were discontinued, just to have a few extra.  But I haven't worked in the auto industry for a while now.  Maybe if its still the same Snap-on dealer in the area I might be able to get him to swing by though, he was a pretty cool and reasonable guy.

                                    Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:44:15 UTC from community.highlandarrow.com
                                    1. @maiyannah the dealers we had at my shop were slow at coming by but they'd give good deals. Pretty sure that if I needed they'd help me out easily in case of warranties or if I need something else.

                                      Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:45:19 UTC from web
                                      1. @awl Well I bought almost 5000 dollars of tools from him as well as a chest so he had plenty of reason to like me, haha.

                                        Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:47:49 UTC from community.highlandarrow.com
                                        1. @maiyannah ah the days of thousands of bucks on tools, and hoping you wouldn't need one more than once.

                                          Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:47:57 UTC from web
                                          1. @awl I kind of made a point of spending money on tools that I knew I'd get use of in every day life when I needed to get the tool box out, but good tools are still expensive.

                                            Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:51:09 UTC from community.highlandarrow.com
                                            1. @maiyannah the problem I had was the shop I worked didn't see much heavy work and for the things that were model-specific, well, we catered to a lot of different vehicles because of the area but almost no guarantee that we'd see a type of job again for a while.

                                              Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:52:17 UTC from web
                                              1. @awl If I needed a model-specific tool, it got borrowed, haha.  Like hell I was going to buy something new for one specific thing on one job for something I'd never see again.  I was mostly parts counter and "oh mango someone needs a battery changed right now" stuff anyways.

                                                Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:55:24 UTC from community.highlandarrow.com
                                                1. @awl (Or a fan belt, etc, that kind of batcave)

                                                  Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:55:35 UTC from community.highlandarrow.com
                                2. @maiyannah I have one made out of a broken saw blade for cutting through metals. Doesn't get as sharp as carbon steel but it's incredibly hard to make it dull. Also EDC?

                                  Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:40:45 UTC from web
                                  1. @nerthos "every day carry" - as in something I keep around daily for general purpose use

                                    Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:43:18 UTC from community.highlandarrow.com
                                    1. @maiyannah Oh. Makes sense. I'll never get used to the english habit of shortening things.

                                      Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:43:29 UTC from web
                                      1. @nerthos It's been a great knife.  I got it as a free extra with a tool order and it's lasted literally half a decade of being used/abused every day.

                                        Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:47:20 UTC from community.highlandarrow.com
                                        1. @maiyannah I lost my folding knife somewhere in december ;_;

                                          Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:47:07 UTC from web
                                          1. @nerthos I like them because they're not as immediately threatening as a fixed knife so I can carry it around on my belt without people giving me problems.

                                            Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:49:50 UTC from community.highlandarrow.com
                                            1. @maiyannah I used to carry mine all the time but it fell off at some point the week before christmas and I have no idea where. Might still be in the house.

                                              Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:49:44 UTC from web
                                              1. @nerthos If that's the case you'll probably find it under something or in some drawer the day after you buy a new one, that's how it usually works.

                                                Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:52:09 UTC from community.highlandarrow.com
                                                1. @maiyannah Yeah, most likely. Still, my mother asked me what I wanted for christmas and I told her "a new folding knife" so I'm getting a new one for free. I'll have a spare whenever I find the old one.

                                                  Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:51:57 UTC from web
                                        2. @maiyannah @nerthos you lucky dog

                                          Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:49:51 UTC from shitposter.club
                    2. @maiyannah Yeah, you can still use a dull axe to cut pine branches or willow wood. But it just takes a sharpening to be usable again.

                      And yes, poorly made steel can be brittle in parts and shatter, but most commercial tools are made of a decent one nowadays since it's no longer hard to make it like it was centuries ago.

                      Monday, 23-Jan-17 16:27:18 UTC from web