The Long Dark

I've just made the plunge myself, and so far, it's been going well (got matches, crowbar & maglens, am no longer freezing to death, on my way to the Mysterious Signal Fire right now).

Here's what helped me

• Seconding @[email protected] 's advice, Zak's videos are a godsend to get a grip on the Loper mindset (and general efficiency in TLD).
• You need to be able to handle wolves without fighting - Walk the Dog and the Torch+Aim-Scare being most crucial here. Zak has a great video on the latter, I've written about the former here
• Personally, I avoid looking up loot tables, but I did read up where the guaranteed match spawns are. To my mind, there is little point (nor fun) in repeatedly freezing to death until you've stumbled on your first pack, so I decided to skip that part.
• Depending on where you start, formulate a plan quickly. What do you want to do first, where do you need to go? Be ready to adapt that plan if circumstances change, though - if you're on your way to a known bedroll & hammer spawn, but find the hammer on the way, it might be worth it to just skip straight to smithing and then go bear hunting.
• Map knowledge is key - it might be a tad frustrating if you're not there yet, but having explored all non-timberwolf maps on lower difficulties made a ton of difference in both formulating and executing said plan for me. Hushed River Valley was the worst pain to explore (I did it on Voyageur, decked myself out in satchel + backpack + full fur clothing for easier repairing and then spent quite a lot of time there before getting a grip on the map), but it was well worth it.

Here's my "general" game plan for Interloper:

Things to keep in mind "on the way":

• You don't want to start by thoroughly cleaning out map by map - at the beginning of interloper, you're pressed for time and want to focus on high-return-of-invest activities until you're sufficiently kitted out. It's absolutely worth it to make a quick detour for a loot hot spot, but leave the small stuff for later and keep moving.
• As long as you don't have a bedroll (or are en route to a guaranteed spawn), plan your routes around known beds. Theoretically, you can sleep in cars / snow shelters if you can keep a fire going, but wind is always a fickle mistress.
• Grab some cloth and craft some bandages early for emergencies.
• If you're not insanely lucky and find gloves & hat early, grab some more cloth to craft improvised wraps if your frostbite risk goes too high (and you've found a suitable tool)
• If you don't have enough food, it's usually worth it to make a quick detour to a cat tail field
• Getting some rabbit hide & guts curing early will speed up crafting later - the same goes for deer hides from carcasses (although those usually require a fire), and saplings (as soon as you find a hacksaw)

Ordered ToDo list:

• head to the nearest match spawn
• go hunting for a hammer ^1^
• go smithing & craft two bows + sufficient arrows, hatchet & knife
• get enough guts & hides curing for a crafting binge later (don't spend too long looking for a moose, you'll stumble upon one naturally eventually)
• head to Ash Canyon for the Technical Backpack and maybe swing by the Summit, although the latter doesn't have that much great loper loot
• crafting binge
• go hunting for a maglens and a moose if you haven't found them yet

^1^ There's a guaranteed hammer and bedroll in: