i wanted to save people a lot of wasted time by letting you know that this achievement is
NOT obtainable on Wintermute(story) mode. I wasted a lot of time and resources and wanted to prevent others.
Game difficulty does not thankfully affect this achievement. Start a game on
Survival Mode,. i recommend easy if you are just going for the achievement.
This achievement can also be combined with these following achievments:
The Silent Hunter achievement in The Long Dark worth 300 pointsSurvive the first 50 days without firing any firearms (single game).
The Living Off the Land achievement in The Long Dark worth 316 pointsSurvive 25 consecutive full days only consuming calories harvested from wild plants and animals.
The Pacifist achievement in The Long Dark worth 282 pointsSurvive the first 25 days without killing anything (single game).I recommend starting in Mystery Lake, the area is much smaller and main locations far easier to reach and travel between. If you played the story you should also be very familiar with the area.
If you are working towards the other achievements then this will limit your options. You' ll rely on finding carcasses and looting/surveying areas killing anything will void pacifisct achievement and firing a gun will void silent hunter. My tactic was to head from Jeremiahs Cabin straight to Unnamed Pond, harvest the Cat-Tail plants around the perimeter of the pond, then follow the Frozen creek which will lead you across to Mystery lake, harvest the plants these all grow on the riverbanks so follow the rivers edge around in a lap. Then head up from the Lake following the frozen water towards Alan's cave. Following this route should give you about 60 Cat Tail plants each providing 150 calories and this quantity alone should easily get you through 4 -5 days.
This gives ample time to stumble upon carcasses. Listen out for the crows, the area I mentioned are also deer locations. If you are not going for the other achievements then you can eat any food you find/kill. Shooting 1 deer will give 8-9 kilo of meat, that alone will get you through 10 days, however it will void some of the other achievments .
Remember to cook the meat as quickly as possible this will massively slow down the decaying process and give more calories per kilo. Quarter instead of harvest if inventory space is an issue.
Remember to extract charcoal from burned out fires . Use the charcoal to survey the area which will not only show you your exact position but it aslso show resources which can be harvested, this is handy if you hear the crows but cant see anything.
Finally whenever you sleep/pass time, check your calories stored and make sure sleeping doesn't burn up all your calories. Passing time uses much more calories up than sleeping and doesnt benefit you anyway. I would just melt/snow, boil water, repair clothes/equipment. Make use of every available hour this will help you earn skilled survivor and also help earn some of the games badges which have excellent perks.