It is currently Fri Mar 29, 2024 7:34 am


Surviving a Lone Marko

Surviving a Lone Marko

Postby skidmarx » Fri Dec 26, 2014 5:00 pm

I've just finished my sixth playthrough - I picked the Lone Marko, from the 1.2 patch.

He comfortably survived to the war end on day 32, only to never find his missing family. I could cry.

He was alone, because no other survivors came to join him. He spent 32 days completely on his own. Franko visited. Friendly neighbours gave him vegetables on the day he was hungry. He was deeply troubled that he couldn't return their favour to reinforce their shelter, or help dig out the people buried in rubble. But no-one else sought sanctuary in the huge mansion that is the new house in the 1.2 patch.

He became sad for about 7 days because he had to twice turn away those neighbours looking for help. No cigarettes or coffee in the house, no books, and no guitar, either. He had a radio, but music didn't seem to help. His mood only lifted when he was able to give the two kids some meds for their sick Mother.

But he was thriving by the end. Fully upgraded workshop, mid-level metalshop, two rat traps, two water purifiers, a vegetable garden and a herb garden, two herb tables, a moonshine still, two upgraded heaters, one upgraded stove for cooking food, and one basic stove for melting snow and storing wood. And a radio.

He was not sick or wounded once. Not even slightly. There was a close call when he took out the soldier molesting the girl at the supermarket - I thought he got slightly wounded, but he was fine when he got home. I had a bandage ready for him if he needed it. I didn't take on that risk, until he had the means to recover from it.

The house was always warm, mostly above 20 degrees, even through the 8 days of snow that started around day 16. Two heaters is essential - I had three on a previous playthrough, but two upgraded heaters burning 4 wood each is ample.

There were 12 bowls of cooked food left uneaten on the stove, because once I realised that he only needed to eat every second day, a single cooking session using the 8 veg from the garden, plus the four meat left in the two rat-traps, plus the four meat, eight firewood, two filters (for 8 water) and the other 24 water he all carried back from the previous evening, made 16 meals on the cooker in the late afternoon (after the two purifiers had filtered the 8 water). 16 meals is good for 32 days of solo eating.

There were 13x4 cigarettes waiting to be made on one herb table, and 42x4 crappy rolls up waiting on the other. Two lots of 20 herbs from the herb garden goes a long way!

He had a comfy chair, that he didn't get to sit in once. And a second bed ready to be constructed, but no-one else came to join him.

He still had firewood to spare, lying about the house in the furniture he had chopped up. But the caches of scavenged materials he had left at the "safe" offsite locations were pretty much consumed, except for lots of wood. But with all that food available, and all those cigarettes to finish for trade goods, and most furniture built, he was in great shape. He was about to tackle the snipers at the construction site to open up another rich cache of materials, but the war ended that very day. Drat!



It was a tough game, requiring a lot of thought and planning, because he went scavenging on all but one night. Nothing was left in the house inventory overnight, so there was nothing for the raiders to take (hence, no books...).

Because, the key to storing stuff when you cannot guard the house, is to start production, then leave it immediately. The resources are tied up, and cannot be stolen. Likewise, leave the cooked food on the stove, moonshine at the still (until you need it for trading), vegetables and herbs on their production gardens, meat in the rat-traps, cigarettes on the tables, etc.

Scavenged/traded/gifted materials could be "stored" by starting construction (a Water Purifier or a Still were best for Parts, sawblades for gun parts, radios for electrical parts, filters or firewood conversion for left-over Components, and Firewood conversion using the second basic stove for leftover wood.)
There was a time when I had four radios and two stills awaiting construction, while saving materials for the vegetable table upgrade (everything was there, except for a wood shortage!).

To get those materials back, resume construction, and cancel as soon as the survivor gets building.
This is almost certainly an exploit, but the game would be impossibly tough for a lone survivor if not available.

But it also meant that canned food, meds, cigarettes, sugar, water, etc all had to be taken offsite at night, and stored at a "safe" drop until they were needed at the shelter. Ideally, this is at a location you would scavenge frequently. I had Marko use the Church as the main collection base, because Father Oleg seemed to have a reasonable stock of things to trade - more than his usual plethora of books, at least. The Market (Central Square) only appeared on Day 30. The Garage did not show up at all. And the Military Base only gets visited once per game, for gun parts.

I had three safe drop locations that had a lot of "partial" scavenged materials, and it took patience to move things from one to the other, to see if there was enough to build things at home base. At one point, the routine upon arriving home was to build two filters, set the purifiers going, sleep off the tiredness while the water was filtering, then spend the last few hours tinkering, chopping furniture, setting up the storage for that night, fuelling the heaters, or, making some of those cigarettes for trading. Because, putting together the 20 water for the veg garden, or 32 to set the herb garden going, took effort! (Because the production time does not vary with production quantity, I always try to set maximum production.) It was also necessary to get the fertiliser to the same place as the stored water, because Marko had to carry all of it back on the day it was needed, to set the garden growing.

All of those cigarettes mentioned earlier, meant there were 55 Components available by cancelling that production, if needed. But I never did that, since then the herbs/tobacco leaves would have to be taken offsite.

Mostly, I stored spare wood as a firewood conversion on the basic stove (that's why I needed the second cooker!), while storing Components as filters or firewood conversion at the workbench (requiring multiples of 3 or 4). After I chopped the furniture in the house, I scavenged the wood, but left the firewood, as it cannot be stolen until it is added to the house inventory. I had used up about 2/3 of the shelter firewood when the cold days passed.

I never made a knife. He had a crowbar, but the shovel proved to be an adequate weapon, and there was no-one left at the shelter needed weapons for defence. Since he had to carry the two implements everywhere, a knife would just be another thing to carry, and reduce his scavenging haul.

I made axes (four in all), and chopped up furniture everywhere else, then carrying back only the firewood I needed for the next day's heating, distilling, and cooking. I made notes to keep track of what I had stored where. Sometimes I left the implements offside, to carry back more, if I knew that I would be going back there again before needing the tool at another location.

The second stove also came in handy for melting snow, when the main cooker was tied up storing that cooked food. Just cancel the firewood conversion from the day before (you can do that by clicking the X at the workbench - the survivor does not need to go to it) melt the snow, then store the wood again.

And yes, sometimes I carried single items back, knowing that I would be carrying it out again the next night to a different place. It was a logistics nightmare, but I didn't lose a single thing to looters, even though the shelter was being raided every night. Poor Marko was fearing he might not survive the next raid, for weeks! lol.

Time planning was as important as resource management. Marko had to sleep 5 hours every day, to avoid becoming Very Tired. I missed once, only getting about 4.5 hours. I hoped to sleep for ten hours the next day, but there was “too much to do”. It proved easier to stay home to catch up on sleep two nights later, for just the one night. The door was reinforced and alarmed, so he fought off the raiders without loss.

To have done all that, only for him to get the ending where he doesn't find his family, was quite... distressing. What was the point of surviving? But that's the trouble. Until he didn't find them, he had to hope he would.

I am hooked on this game. The lone survivor challenge was so different to the usual group dynamics, it was extraordinary. I suspect that trying to do it with a survivor that doesn't have Marko's carrying capacity, will be vastly more difficult again.
skidmarx
 
Posts: 20
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2014 8:29 pm

Re: Surviving a Lone Marko

Postby sarke04 » Fri Dec 26, 2014 11:49 pm

I´ve been there mate. ^^
Know how u feel. I think is completly imposible to do that with any other char than marco. Maybe with boris but u know how slow is him... 2 much for some maps probably...
Gj and congrats anyway. I think u completed the hardest dificulty this game have at the moment.
sarke04
 
Posts: 62
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2014 7:10 am

Re: Surviving a Lone Marko

Postby Mr_Daddy_Pants » Sat Dec 27, 2014 10:23 am

I wonder if it's intended that no one joins or a bug. I also wonder if it's possible to survive without an exploit. And i'm thinking it's actually probably extremely easy.

You only need to make a bed and a heater. Probably hatchet is too expensive to make, maybe if you trade for it. You just have to obtain 15 canned food [for 30 day war] (or eat raw things if necessary). Just make a bed on first day, and scavenge every night, keep all the food and meds with you, and sleep through the day. When trader comes buy only food. In winter you'll need some wood/fuel. It probably can be done with 8 inventory slots.
Mr_Daddy_Pants
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2014 6:04 pm

Re: Surviving a Lone Marko

Postby Mr_Daddy_Pants » Sat Dec 27, 2014 3:42 pm

So i tested it out. It's completely intentional that no one joins your shelter.

Marko using only 8 inventory slots, easiest and quickest playthrough.

On day 4 I had a bed and upgraded heater. (but you probably don't need heater at all). Btw there is probably increased chance for mechanical and electric parts for solo Marko.

Had a crowbar and later bought a hatchet from garage. On day 16 or so I gave up on carrying crowbar, there was no point.

Most of the game i carried 2 bandages 2+2 Pills, crowbar, hatchet, 4+4 canned food, and something for last slot. Sometimes other food, sometimes diamond etc.

I built a radio and armchair (i bought materials for that, cause everything else was stolen...)

Neighbours often came offering free stuff. I took only 3 canned food (so i could give it to starving homeless). I sent away gifts of wood and more food (Marko don't need no charity, and it would have been stolen anyway). Later came guy who gave me meds, cause there in the house used to live a girl named Anna, who was sickly, and he asked me to keep the meds for her. But no one showed up for them. Except kids with sick mother so i gave meds to them.

I was asked 4 times for help (carry wounded brother, bury husband, reinforce cellar, and help pull out ppl out of collapsed building). Game won't allow you to help, cause there is no one to guard the shelter, so Marko was sad. Then he became depressed quickly, cause of the raiders, i tried to give more meds to hospital to cheer him up, but it didn't help. So he was depressed/sad most of the game.

Saved girl from soldier, and actually didn't kill the soldier... Stole form no one, and killed no one, scavenging every night, but bringing mostly nothing or only firewood. I didn't even fully clear out the shelter (why bother?). Used no exploit, no dropping or hiding items elsewhere. Marko was never sick, or wounded, or "very hungry" and i always kept it warm.
Mr_Daddy_Pants
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2014 6:04 pm

Re: Surviving a Lone Marko

Postby skidmarx » Sat Dec 27, 2014 9:51 pm

I hadn't considered the difference between "surviving" and "thriving". Just carrying enough food and health items to make sure he'll live, ensures survival. And, maybe, not taking risks with fighting people. Merely "staying alive" is a very different challenge from "being comfortable" and "making a living", and that is something I haven't seen so clearly. Until now!
Well spotted. And yes, that does sound like an easy game, provided you can scavenge / trade enough food.

I had in mind that I should be trying to improve and build, because the war length was always an unknown. And, I was always expecting others might join him, so having an advanced shelter seemed sensible. But "getting by" on a minimum level achieves the survival goal quite nicely.
Nice job proving an "8" carryweight can survive easily enough. In many ways, not having to improve and protect the shelter, makes a lone survivor a trivial challenge after all.

I like the Garage - for me, it's the easiest trading venue for building materials, so it was tougher to go the distance with neither that nor the market providing goods. (The market only appeared on Day 30, the Garage never did. Father Oleg was the best trader available, until Day 30. Unless you count rip-off merchant Franko...)
Hence, I had to build all my tools, and scavenge/trade for food. But I could get gun parts from the Military base, so long as I had stuff to trade, so the game always seems to give you a way to succeed - you might just have to change tactics to suit the prevailing conditions.


I played the "lone Marko" twice, actually. The first time I left stuff in the shelter, and he lost a lot to raiders over the first week or so. But they took food, coffee, cigarettes, and left the building materials, so he got a lot further ahead building things, a lot quicker. But in that playthrough, he was joined by Boris around day 16. So, it seems that the scenario is not locked into him remaining solo for the duration.

However, I think I stupidly had him tackle the bandit ambush at the construction site. He was slightly wounded. The next night, that worsened (wounded). And it worsened again the following night (severely wounded and slightly sick). And then Boris showed up. So, it seems as if other survivors coming to join, is a sign that the shelter is "struggling" and needs help.

I agree that the scavenge quantities do seem to change, depending on how "tough" the scenario is. Which just adds to the replayability.
skidmarx
 
Posts: 20
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2014 8:29 pm

Re: Surviving a Lone Marko

Postby wimspree » Mon Jun 13, 2022 12:54 pm

wimspree
 
Posts: 108747
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2022 7:20 am

Re: Surviving a Lone Marko

Postby seoexpert » Sat Sep 10, 2022 6:10 pm

I need to to thank you for ones time for this particularly fantastic read!! I definitely really liked every part of it and i also have you saved to fav to look at new information in your site. Survey
seoexpert
 
Posts: 957
Joined: Sat Jan 22, 2022 5:13 pm

Re: Surviving a Lone Marko

Postby Brendan87 » Tue Sep 20, 2022 7:53 pm

skidmarx wrote:I've just finished my sixth playthrough - I picked the Lone Marko, from the 1.2 patch.

He comfortably survived to the war end on day 32, only to never find his missing family. I could cry.

He was alone, because no other survivors came to join him. He spent 32 days completely on his own. Franko visited. Friendly neighbours gave him vegetables on the day he was hungry. He was deeply troubled that he couldn't return their favour to reinforce their shelter, or help dig out the people buried in rubble. But no-one else sought sanctuary in the huge mansion that is the new house in the 1.2 patch.

He became sad for about 7 days because he had to twice turn away those neighbours looking for help. No cigarettes or coffee in the house, no books, and no guitar, either. He had a radio, but music didn't seem to help. His mood only lifted when he was able to give the two kids some meds for their sick Mother.

But he was thriving by the end. Fully upgraded workshop, mid-level metalshop, two rat traps, two water purifiers, a vegetable garden and a herb garden, two herb tables, a moonshine still, two upgraded heaters, one upgraded stove for cooking food, and one basic stove for melting snow and storing wood. And a radio.

He was not sick or wounded once. Not even slightly. There was a close call when he took out the soldier molesting the girl at the supermarket - I thought he got slightly wounded, but he was fine when he got home. I had a bandage ready for him if he needed it. I didn't take on that risk, until he had the means to recover from it.

The house was always warm, mostly above 20 degrees, even through the 8 days of snow that started around day 16. Two heaters is essential - I had three on a previous playthrough, but two upgraded heaters burning 4 wood each is ample.

There were 12 bowls of cooked food left uneaten on the stove, because once I realised that he only needed to eat every second day, a single cooking session using the 8 veg from the garden, plus the four meat left in the two rat-traps, plus the four meat, eight firewood, two filters (for 8 water) and the other 24 water he all carried back from the previous evening, made 16 meals on the cooker in the late afternoon (after the two purifiers had filtered the 8 water). 16 meals is good for 32 days of solo eating.

There were 13x4 cigarettes waiting to be made on one herb table, and 42x4 crappy rolls up waiting on the other. Two lots of 20 herbs from the herb garden goes a long way!

He had a comfy chair, that he didn't get to sit in once. And a second bed ready to be constructed, but no-one else came to join him.

He still had firewood to spare, lying about the house in the furniture he had chopped up. But the caches of scavenged materials he had left at the "safe" offsite locations were pretty much consumed, except for lots of wood. But with all that food available, and all those cigarettes to finish for trade goods, and most furniture built, he was in great shape. He was about to tackle the snipers at the construction site to open up another rich cache of materials, but the war ended that very day. Drat!



It was a tough game, requiring a lot of thought and planning, because he went scavenging on all but one night. Nothing was left in the house inventory overnight, so there was nothing for the raiders to take (hence, no books...).

Because, the key to storing stuff when you cannot guard the house, is to start production, then leave it immediately. The resources are tied up, and cannot be stolen. Likewise, leave the cooked food on the stove, moonshine at the still (until you need it for trading), vegetables and herbs on their production gardens, meat in the rat-traps, cigarettes on the tables, etc.

Scavenged/traded/gifted materials could be "stored" by starting construction (a Water Purifier or a Still were best for Parts, sawblades for gun parts, radios for electrical parts, filters or firewood conversion for left-over Components, and Firewood conversion using the second basic stove for leftover wood.)
There was a time when I had four radios and two stills awaiting construction, while saving materials for the vegetable table upgrade (everything was there, except for a wood shortage!).

To get those materials back, resume construction, and cancel as soon as the survivor gets building.
This is almost certainly an exploit, but the game would be impossibly tough for a lone survivor if not available.

But it also meant that canned food, meds, cigarettes, sugar, water, etc all had to be taken offsite at night, and stored at a "safe" drop until they were needed at the shelter. Ideally, this is at a location you would scavenge frequently. I had Marko use the Church as the main collection base, because Father Oleg seemed to have a reasonable stock of things to trade - more than his usual plethora of books, at least. The Market (Central Square) only appeared on Day 30. The Garage did not show up at all. And the Military Base only gets visited once per game, for gun parts.

I had three safe drop locations that had a lot of "partial" scavenged materials, and it took patience to move things from one to the other, to see if there was enough to build things at home base. At one point, the routine upon arriving home was to build two filters, set the purifiers going, sleep off the tiredness while the water was filtering, then spend the last few hours tinkering, chopping furniture, setting up the storage for that night, fuelling the heaters, or, making some of those cigarettes for trading. Because, putting together the 20 water for the veg garden, or 32 to set the herb garden going, took effort! (Because the production time does not vary with production quantity, I always try to set maximum production.) It was also necessary to get the fertiliser to the same place as the stored water, because Marko had to carry all of it back on the day it was needed, to set the garden growing.

All of those cigarettes mentioned earlier, meant there were 55 Components available by cancelling that production, if needed. But I never did that, since then the herbs/tobacco leaves would have to be taken offsite.

Mostly, I stored spare wood as a firewood conversion on the basic stove (that's why I needed the second cooker!), while storing Components as filters or firewood conversion at the workbench (requiring multiples of 3 or 4). After I chopped the furniture in the house, I scavenged the wood, but left the firewood, as it cannot be stolen until it is added to the house inventory. I had used up about 2/3 of the shelter firewood when the cold days passed.

I never made a knife. He had a crowbar, but the shovel proved to be an adequate weapon, and there was no-one left at the shelter needed weapons for defence. Since he had to carry the two implements everywhere, a knife would just be another thing to carry, and reduce his scavenging haul.

I made axes (four in all), and chopped up furniture everywhere else, then carrying back only the firewood I needed for the next day's heating, distilling, and cooking. I made notes to keep track of what I had stored where. Sometimes I left the implements offside, to carry back more, if I knew that I would be going back there again before needing the tool at another location.

The second stove also came in handy for melting snow, when the main cooker was tied up storing that cooked food. Just cancel the firewood conversion from the day before (you can do that by clicking the X at the workbench - the survivor does not need to go to it) melt the snow, then store the wood again.

And yes, sometimes I carried single items back, knowing that I would be carrying it out again the next night to a different place. It was a logistics nightmare, but I didn't lose a single thing to looters, even though the shelter was being raided every night. Poor Marko was fearing he might not survive the next raid, for weeks! lol.

Time planning was as important as resource management. Marko had to sleep 5 hours every day, to avoid becoming Very Tired. I missed once, only getting about 4.5 hours. I hoped to sleep for ten hours the next day, but there was “too much to do”. It proved easier to stay home to catch up on sleep two nights later, for just the one night. The door was reinforced and alarmed, so he fought off the raiders without loss.

To have done all that, only for him to get the ending where he doesn't find his family, was quite... distressing. What was the point of surviving? But that's the trouble. Until he didn't find them, he had to hope he would.

I am hooked on this game. The lone survivor challenge was so different to the usual group dynamics, it was extraordinary. I suspect that trying to do it with a survivor that doesn't have Marko's carrying capacity, will be vastly more difficult again.

cool!
Brendan87
 
Posts: 24
Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2022 1:12 pm

Re: Surviving a Lone Marko

Postby wimspree » Sun Oct 09, 2022 1:46 am

сайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайт
сайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайт
сайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайт
сайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайт
сайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайт
сайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайт
сайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайт
сайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайт
сайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайт
сайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтсайтtuchkasсайтсайт
wimspree
 
Posts: 108747
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2022 7:20 am

Re: Surviving a Lone Marko

Postby AlleneBrick » Sun Dec 04, 2022 4:15 pm

MyCenturaHealth patient portal offers benefits, medical records, bill payment, messaging feature, reminders, test, reports. We've given you MyCentura login guide here.
AlleneBrick
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Dec 04, 2022 4:04 pm

Next

Return to Enter this forum and ask all you want to know about the game.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 16 guests