Punitive island winter challenge

[Buoidda]

After discussing it here: (http://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=5836.0), I thought to repost the island challenge from few years back. The original was about Njerpez camp, but it has way too much supplies should you manage to kill them.

STARTUP:
Driik (this culture having worst stats), no rerolling attributes (unless to get them worse). Randomize start for as long as it takes to start on a offshore island*. Might take a good while. Winter. Hurt, helpless and afraid. Survive to mainland village. No game-courses or essential help from mods**. Discard everything on game start.

You can even mod ini_skills.txt to have 0 in all skills. 

Too small an island may be impossible. See above link.

Be warned. This is not easy, possibly not even fun.

ORIGINAL CHALLENGE:
Same as previous, but tiny island (pref 1 tile) required and Islander allowed (easier to get a start needed since you'll die many times quickly) and Njerpez camp.

Be warned. This is fun, but you'll die. Many times.

**EDIT: Of course you can and should play as you want, but in order to qualify for the harshest level of this challenge: Do not benefit from mods. Essentially helpful things include: ability to make boards/paddles without an iron axe, extra ways to keep warm such as clothes and easy wood items, extra tying equipment harvestable in winter, improved food sources etc. Basically anything that makes survival and getting to mainland easier.  Easiest way to convince your fellows is of course not using mods at all.

You are most welcome to report your challenge progress (or horror stories) at the stories section: http://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=5843.0.

*HINT: Use Night's magnificent little software to choose starting location: https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=6072.msg16429#msg16429

A few pointers to any newcomers who wish to try:
- When still naked - obsess over fire.
   - Gather firewood rather than cut it - it is far quicker. Always have enough ready for at least one night, preferably several.
   - Branches and other small wood burn too quickly. Light branch fires to cut slender trunks. Light slender trunks to cut groups of young trees.
   - Always be on a lookout for groups of young trees. Light a slender trunk fire near them to be able to cut three or at least two young trees with one fire.
   - Do not waste big trunks for fires that burn longer than you need them to. The winter will be much colder later. You also need them for traps when you get rope.
   - Learn to use torches.
- Do not waste time on wooden stakes/fences and javelins. Throw rocks unless your club skill is much worse than spear.
- Fish with rocks. With stone tools you get crude javelins which are -10 skill in fights, I don't know but possibly in fishing too.
- From the start, you are in a real hurry to have plenty of food, firewood and fur clothes before the mid winter strikes.
- EDIT: Try to a make wooden shovel and dig the pits you need before the ground is too frozen.
- Reindeer, elk and bear have the warmest fur. Good for hoods, footwear and mittens, areas on which you can't have many layers.
- Mind the spirits. You can sacrifice mushrooms and grasses. Use lingonberries for bait. Low energy meat is also better as bait than one sorry meal.
- Stay the F*** out of the ice! If you must brave to a carcass, drop everything but a wielded knife and crawl. You can test the ice by pushing stuff on it.
- Swimming guide: https://www.unrealworld.fi/wiki/index.php?title=Swimming_(Skill)

[Buoidda]

Like this. Wow I managed to get only light injuries (-21%, cropped off because pic size constraint). I might actually survive this one.

[Buoidda]

oh skills

[paulkorotoon]

@Buoidda, I'm in! Gonna give it a try shortly.

How about starting a separate thread in the Stories section for challengers' journals?

[paulkorotoon]

And what about zooming? I guess it's similar to The Challenge's terms, only use wilderness map when on top of a mountain?

[PALU]

No zooming would make it extremely hard. You start on a small island that might not have a mountain, and that would mean you can only scout by swimming (after training swimming sufficiently to actually be able to get anywhere).
No fun at all...

[Privateer]

A big part of not zooming in the original challenge is amplified by the random start spot. Since you'll have to roll many times to get island landing, it probably matters less.. Unless you make it to a point to get off the island, then the zoom would have been/will be an advantage.

[paulkorotoon]

@PALU, @Privateer, that makes sense. Well, I'm gonna try it nevertheless. I believe, not using the map will make gameplay feel really differently.

Re-randomizing start location can be a separate challenge, hehehe. I've rerolled 264 times...

[Privateer]

 I have this roll, on an island, hurt start, no gear, Though I did start in summer so there wouldn't be any ice bridges.
I did make a zip of the start, before taking a step, but to big to attach.

[paulkorotoon]

@Privateer, wow, how is it even possible to have the most of skills at zero? Never rolled anything like this.

[Privateer]

wow, how is it even possible to have the most of skills at zero? Never rolled anything like this.

 @paulkorotoon Well it's not a true roll, I set the skills to 0 in the skills.ini file for the tribe I was creating. You do still have 5 points to assign so I used them in ski,sneak,climb,swim and unarmed.

[Buoidda]

  be sure to report your progress at the stories section. 

[PALU]

You usually don't have much in the way of ice bridges in the archipelago, so I would still consider a winter start to be a lot harder (and if your island is connected to the mainland/a large island through an ice bridge I'd just restart).

@paulkorotoon : No usage of the map will definitely change things. Unless you somehow manage to wipe your memory you'd still benefit from knowing your starting location in relation to the mainland (as well as the general knowledge of what UrW maps look like, which means going to the NE should be in the right direction).
I guess once swim training has reached the point where you're confident to swim one tile out and then back you would start heading out in different directions and turn back at your halfway point (with some safety margin, as drowning would be rather anticlimactic).
I'd find it extremely tedious, and once getting somewhere, keeping the locations of everything in memory makes it even worse. However, if you'd enjoy it, sure, go for it.

[Privateer]

You usually don't have much in the way of ice bridges in the archipelago, so I would still consider a winter start to be a lot harder (and if your island is connected to the mainland/a large island through an ice bridge I'd just restart).

 Taking your advice and rerolled in winter

[paulkorotoon]

This is hardcore challenge, yet it's really fun. My first characted just had frozen to death on the seventh day.