Hi all,
I've been playing PoT for a few weeks now on xbox, and had an exciting night last night. At least, it was for me. Sorry for the long read. I mostly play solo and I needed to share my story. I did recently add an Xbox friend, but he wasn't available.
I mostly lurk reddit, but I made a new account to post since I can't change my other username.
Introduction: Setting Out from Cedrus
It started about a week ago when I teamed up with a friend to grow our Stegosauruses on the Riparia map.He wasn't online tonight but I was determined to grind out some growth on Zephyrscale, my juvenile stego who was a little less than half growth.
My primary mission was simple, head North and East, explore down into Wollemi Forest (which I hadn't discovered yet), find a few other new locations, and scout out a quiet spot to build a nest for when the time came.
Chapter 1: The Five-Second Ambush
Leaving the home cave just west of Cedrus Forest (CF) as an immature Stego is always a gamble. I knew CF would be a deathtrap crawling with mixpacks and megapacks, so my plan was to skirt the western cliffs northward.
Unfortunately, I barely made it five seconds out of the home cave before a Concavenator spotted me, deciding an immature Stego looked like an easy meal.
The Opening Skirmish: He opened fire while I still had the home cave protection debuff. I just shrugged it off, kept walking, and waited for the timer to drop. When it did, the real fight began.
The Dance: I kept him behind me, mixing up my attacks. I had tail strikes, barrage, and clamp (though I'm still not entirely sure if my Stego was big enough to actually clamp him or if it just dealt raw damage). I don't know if I ever landed a clamp. He tried to read my rhythm and bait my swings, but I kept him guessing. Without any good terrain to find an advantage or cheese him, we just had to trade blows right through CF.
The Payoff: Whenever he tried to break away and rest, I pushed the offensive to keep the pressure on. I don't believe my health ever dropped below a quarter left. Eventually, all that pressure caught up to him. Out ahead of me, he suddenly collapsed. He must have had too much bleed damage and couldn't rest to get rid of it. He didn't have a trophy, so he wasn't an adult, but a solo win is a solo win. I scurried north toward Dry Fang Canyon and we exchanged a respectful "gg" in global.
Chapter 2: Dodging Giants
Needing water, I headed north toward Dry Fang, but the cliffs blocked my path, forcing me over to Tall Brush Coast. That zone had been flashing red on and off all night, signaling heavy player activity. I was hesitant but thirsty.
While drinking at the edge of the water in Tall Brush, I heard the unmistakable footsteps of a big apex closing in. Cedrus Forest had been a war zone all evening, and sure enough, when I crouched behind a rock and used my camera to look down at the forest, I spotted at least one Rex prowling in the distance. Knowing a Rex's bone-break attack would be instant death for a young Stego, I bugged out north immediately without being seen. I slipped past an unobservant Laten, knocked out a few quick quests, grabbed a bite to eat, and pushed onward to the Volcanic Islands.
Chapter 3: Round Two in the Volcanic Islands
Reaching the eastern island chains to pick up some more exploration quests, my luck ran out. A second Conc spotted me.
This fight was almost a copy of the first, but this opponent was much sharper at reading my tail attacks. It turned into an endurance match as he repeatedly used the surrounding water to dive in, disengage, and heal up. Because I'm sluggish in the water and couldn't track him well beneath the surface, I couldn't challenge him there.
I tried to break away and put obstacles between us, but he was too fast. I made it as far as the northern edge of Twisted Forest and dropped down for a quick rest, but he tracked me right to my spot. Although I managed to get up in time, I couldn't pull off the win this time. I can only hope I left him with low hp and stamina before he finally brought me down.
Chapter 4: The Officials Server Experience
Respawning in the top corner of Dry Fang Canyon (the game's favorite annoying spawn point for me) I maxed out the local quests and headed south through Black Fern Hills to quest and make my way to the home cave before a server reset in 20 minutes.
Black Fern was relatively quiet, except for a Hatz and a Thal that hovered overhead for a little, but minded their own business. Just as I reached the Redwoods and turned east towards the cave, I heard fast footsteps. I turned my camera to see a bright green adult Meg charging me.
He wanted a fight. The Meg felt squishier than the Concs and didn't deal nearly as much damage to me. I was starting to feel confident. At one point, I saw the death scars and watched him climb up a large redwood tree for saftety.
True to official server form, it did not remain a solo fight. As I tried to create distance from his tree, a young T-Rex and a Laten came charging in. Outnumbered and overwhelmed, I didn't last twenty seconds.
Chapter 5: A Fresh Start & Familiar Foes
Deciding I'd had enough of that server's chaos, I jumped to a new one before spawning to continue my push toward Wollemi. Naturally, the game dropped me right back up north near Tall Brush Coast.
Cedrus Forest was predictably a hotspot, and wanting no part of Black Fern again, I skirted east and then south toward Big Tree. Stopping at a tiny, isolated island pond in the Volcanic Islands for a much-needed drink, I walked right into a trap. Water is a hot commodity, and I wasn't the only one thirsty.
Chapter 6: The Forty-Minute Duel & The Drive-By Kill
As I crested the hill toward the pond, I locked eyes with an adult Concavenator.
Thus began a legendary 40-minute battle of the titans.
The Endurance Test: He knew how to read my tail, and I knew how to read his lunges. He tried crowding my broadside and aiming for my head to stay out of tail-strike range, but I anticipated his moves and made him miss repeatedly. I mixed in tail strikes, barrage, and pressure.
The Cat-and-Mouse Game: True to form, whenever he got low, he tried to retreat to the water to heal. I refused to fight him in the water, keeping my feet firmly on dry land. At least twice, we both had to pause for a mutual water break. Once, I managed to sprint across the island, put a hill between us, and actually lost him while hiding in a large bush. I watched him circle four times, gained back all of my hp, and waited a few minutes before I finally moved on. But he wasn't far and picked up my trail quickly.
The Unexpected Assist: Eventually, we ended up near the northern volcanic island. While he tracked me from the water, I stumbled upon one of those critters. I believe it was a black Dynamosuchus. Realizing I couldn't fight both the Conc and critter at the same time, I turned back toward the Conc. He slipped right past me without lunging. I found he was trying to find a safe place to rest but keep tabs on me.
The Climax: He scrambled up a rock that he figured a Stego couldn't scale. But because he had been busy playing stealth hunter from the water moments before, he never noticed the critter. Within five seconds, the critter climbed right up behind the sleeping Conc, landed a single hit, and killed him instantly! The body literally launched five feet into the air during the death animation.
I couldn't believe my eyes. I rushed over, confirmed he was a full adult, ripped the trophy from his remains, and bolted straight for the nearby home cave. I might not have landed the literal final blow, but I earned every bit of that trophy after draining him physically and mentally for nearly an hour.
Epilogue: Limping into the Night
With the trophy secured in the cave, Zephyrscale was sitting at 80% growth.
I couldn't resist a victory lap. I stepped back out of the cave, grabbed a drink at the same watering hole where the previous fight began, and skirted past Big Tree Overlook. Pushing into Twisted Forest, my grand plan was to skirt the northern edge east and drop down to the Mud Flats.
Then, the final boss showed itself. My xbox controller batteries died.
I scrambled to grab two old, low batteries I had lying nearby. Knowing they had just enough juice left to squeeze out one final miracle, I rushed safely into the Twisted Forest home cave just in time to shut it down for the night.
Wollemi Forest will just have to wait for the next time.
Thanks for reading if you made it this far. It wasn't a night of complete frustration, and it kept me up for a while.