Hi,
Tried this challenge a couple times, always ended up a frozen statue. My strategy was to be always on the move until finding a village. Never happened before death!
This time I tried something different. Spawned near a big lake, so just stayed there. The idea was to get prepared as much as possible before going on the walk to find civilization.
Sequence of activities was:
1. Make stone knife, javelin. (for general work, fishing)
2. Build first shelter (2 days) by the shore.
3. Spawn light lever traps (over 20 or so) all around the big lake. Bait them with whatever berry is around, don't eat them. Sacrifice berries to the gods, they like it.
4. Alternate days between mainly fishing, and, if food surplus, mainly exploring/collecting wood for heating.
Your main enemy is the cold, much more than hunger. Therefore you always need wood, and with just a knife that means cutting down young pines. Lots of them. Also, collect branches and pine needles as kindling. Think ahead: build up caches of small tree trunks in strategic locations around the lake, plus shelters next to each one. The shelters give you some protection against the cold, and serve as secure bases to retreat if it gets too cold.
When traveling around the lake, always carry some kindling with you , and OBSERVE YOUR TEMPERATURE. If it falls to "cold", you should be near one of your wood caches, or have enogh time to cut down a young spruce and fire it before getting too cold. Again, thinking ahead is essential. Interrupt ANY activity if you temperature gets too low: fishing, building, hunting, whatever: cold kills, always, and another opportunity will arise sooner or later.
Be persistent and organized, and always be doing something. In my run it took me 25 traps and 24 days to kill enough birds to manufacture a leather cord (15 ft), and therefore a stone axe. Starvation only lasted the first 6 days because, between fishing and birds, I was always pretty well fed, even had some leftover food in particularly good days. The weather varied quite a lot: some days were almost like autumn and I used them to the max, other were so brutally cold I could do nothing but stand near a fire, and I got frostbite a few times. But all in all it was survivable. Watch your sleep: being awake in daylight is important.
Soon afterwards, a stroke of good luck: got a badger! Badgers are great animals because any human can just run them down. From its fur I made enough cords to build a primitive bow plus some arrows.
By the day 43 I had another badger and more birds, plus a reliable 2-3 pikes in reserve. From the birds' leather I made a leather cap and shoes, and from the new badger, a fur hood.
So there I was in the winter month, fully armed with stone knife and axe and bow plus arrows, and my old javelin. With shoes and a hood to have a little warmth. Apart from that, buck naked, but hey, I was alone. And with a full belly, surprisingly.
At this point i realized I could live indefinitely by the big lake, if I wasn't careless with the heating. I had two options:
1. Stay there until spring. Nothing new to do: fishing, birding, cutting down young trees, hunting the occasional animal. Pros: Quite safe, and it wasn't impossible that a big hervibore wandered about, offering the chance of getting some proper clothing and a change in diet. Cons: I'll have to live like that for months. Boring.
2. Look for other people. Pros: My new gear gave me a better chance of completing the challenge than before, and I could actually stumble into an elk or similar. Cons: simply dangerous: already in winter month and getting colder, so mobility was compromised. I could well be practically disabled by hunger before hunting anything. Or just freeze, again. Or die of thirst.
Of course, being an irresponsible jerk, I choose 2.
Picked everything useful and went south. South is the best direction to go: from a random location, cultures tend to be closer in the north-south axis than in the east-west axis, and if you miss them, sooner or later you'll hit either another big lake or the sea. And that was what happened to me: after some days got to the ocean. Began walking west along the coast hoping to hit driik or some river mouth (to go upriver and explore). I used the cliffs as mountains (they have the same picture as mountains so I guess they are ok for the challenge?) A few days later, an elk! Got him (almost freezing myself in the chase) and well, paradise: overcoat, mittens, fur boots, some 50 cuts. Yeah, the challenge was done. Only a matter of time, right?
I consider it done. I forgot some bad dream that had my happy self, just 3 days after the big kill, accidentely freezing to death with all my damn new clothes on, trying to fire some stupid small trunk or something that refused to light up for a bit too long. But it was just a bad dream, a nightmire. I finished The Challenge!
Right? Right???
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"The Challenge"
Topic: "The Challenge" (Read 64519 times)