Messages

46

General Discussion / Re: Culture Poll

« on: September 30, 2017, 07:07:54 PM »

Njerps definitely spawn in the Archipelago, sometimes rather frequently.  I think there's something about a limited land mass that actually concentrates animal and njerp spawns...particularly on the larger islands.  Islands that are only a couple zones in size might be safer though.  Of course, the easy access to coast lines makes it easier to kill things safely from range when they do spawn.

47

Gameplay questions / Re: Few questions about trapping and a couple of misc questions

« on: September 29, 2017, 11:01:32 PM »

I find that the game rarely (if at all) just spawns animals in traps.  The single biggest thing you can do to help trapping success is to search for animals, and then place traps in nearby areas; particularly in tiles where you find their tracks.  Small, isolated lakes are a good place to search for animals (but it may easily take a fair few before you find anything worth trapping).  For carnivores you almost always need bait.  I find trap fences to be particularly effective on narrow islands and peninsulas where you can chase your pray into them.  Also something to keep in mind: It doesn't take much investment to make traps.  So make a lot of them in various locations, and stop by to check every so often.  Winter is actually great for hunting - it's quite easy to follow tracks in the snow, even at 0% skill.  Deep snow also tires prey out pretty quickly.  (You do need to be properly outfitted with heavy winter clothing though).

I haven't personally noticed any difference between spoiled and non-spoiled bait, but then I haven't experimented that much with non-spoiled meat.  Just make sure you use uncooked meat.

48

General Discussion / Re: What's Going On In Your Unreal World?

« on: September 26, 2017, 10:18:37 AM »

My latest 1st year Islander had a pretty decent set-up with traps and camps spread over three good-sized Islands.  Despite my very poor dodging skills, I had killed a fair number of Njerpez and brigand invaders by attacking them the Islander way - from a boat.  A pack of wolves came to the island of my main encampment, and I was slowly trying to whittle down their numbers when I discovered that a pair of bears were also wandering about.  I set about five different deadfall traps before managing to get first one and then the other.  To mitigate my poor defenses, I had previously obtained a masterwork round shield.  In an effort to maintain the hide quality, I first shot each bear with a single superior broadhead, then closed in with my mace and tried to bring the beast down while hopefully learning to defend myself a bit better.  My poor defenses failed me once during the first fight, and I took a minor clawing to the side.  The second bear managed to immediately bite my neck during the second encounter, causing instant death.  First time in a long while that I've been instakilled (as opposed to a lucky hit causing unconsciousness and subsequent death).  Ah well, just another opportunity to start over

Note to self:  Despite the heavy encumbrance penalty, I should still have been wearing the armor I'd previously scavenged from Njerpez.  And maybe it would have been better to keep my shield high.

49

General Discussion / Re: Culture Poll

« on: September 24, 2017, 10:03:19 AM »

My personal favorites are:

1) Islanders:  They have pretty mediocre stats/skills and possibly the most worthless villages, but I love starting and scrounging out an existence in the archipelago.  (Ultimately with houses, camps, and traps on half a dozen or more different islands).

2) Kuikka Tribe:  Have the insanely good stats and skills of the northern tribesman, but are a bit stronger and more balanced than either owl or seal tribes.  Also have a decent fishing skill, and form large, wealthy (northerner) settlements.

50

Gameplay questions / Re: How to hunt seals?

« on: September 24, 2017, 09:31:51 AM »

It's not really that hard to hunt seals as long as 1) you use traps, or 2) you've got a good long-range weapon skill.  Despite the fact that they're slow and tire quickly, I've never been able to get close enough to hunt them with melee weapons barring the extremely rare fluke zone-in.  Something to keep in mind:  They can only stay underwater for about 20 minutes, but might pop back up anywhere in the zone.  So if you're trying to hunt them with weapons you attack, wait for it to resurface, attack, wait, etc.  It is barely feasible to hunt them with javelins - at the extreme end of your throwing range with high skill; but this will significantly damage the hide.  Bows / Crossbows work much better, but you'll want high accuracy versions like short/longbows.  (Crossbows are all highly accurate).  It will often still take a few shots and you're likely to lose a couple arrows in the process.

EDIT:  Forgot to add, it's important to wait until they're beached to attack.  I believe they can bleed out underwater, in which case you'll never find the corpse.