SimonTemplar

I appear to be in the minority but I really appreciated the 30% off a new Norfolk Roadster. Had scrimped to buy one, was going to last night, then the discount dropped so I effectively got a free saddle to go with her. So I'm a happy customer. Also had some fun PvP stuff around Valentine, a bunch of new players having a shootout which went on a while, was great. The game was also stable for me last night (perhaps because I didn't do any moonshining?), but either way I'm loving my new horse and feeling positive about the game. I'd love it to be all free aim, too, but we won't get that and as it stands it's still my favourite game in 30-something years of gaming.

Sorry yes you're quite right, had forgotten that. Yes I enjoy the Trade Route events. I find that with moonshine, collecting (also do the Salvage events), a spot of bounty hunting and general mooching around (bought the top Norfolk Roadster horse last night, enjoying that so far) then I'm virtually keeping Cripps full just from Trade Route. So now I just bag a deer and a couple of rabbits whenever I'm heading to Camp anyway and that gets me regular deliveries. Easy peasy! But good point, how quickly we forget the details!

It might just be of no interest to you, but you can do this without even hunting. Keep saying yes to the Trade Route events, you then defend a train with a number of other players. Get to the end (sub-15 minutes) and you gain 18 materials for Cripps. That will eventually fill you up to a full load, with the large wagon that's 100, and you can do a local delivery run for $500. I barely hunt, these days, but run in one of those every week. It's good money.

Yes, sadly I am the same. I love RDR, really love it, and if it were glitch-free I'd be sticking with it. I have always loved the Western genre (film geek alert!), and gaming, and my kids got me RDR for Christmas 2018 (with some help from Mrs Templar!), so it has a really special place in my heart. But as it is, I just look in on it to see if it is still broken, and if it is then I go to Elite once I have ticked the daily challenge box. Have similar nostalgia for Elite - I played in the 1980s (I'm, gulp, 45), so in this incarnation I am trying to own all the ships which were present in the original game. Hence my new Anaconda. Have done Adder, Asp (both), Cobra, but yet to do Python and Mamba. Great game but as you say it moves so fast that basic flying is difficult when you take some time out. It's my #2 game of all time. RDR is #1 but glitches are enably ED to turn my head. I feel like I'm having an affair.

Yes agreed - we had family to stay from 24th-27th so I wasn't online at all. I like that the snow has persisted as I can't play that much at this time of year (young family, school holidays!).

Yes, it's a shame and I love this game but I have only logged in on the past five days to get my daily challenges streak back up in case they fix it. I was at 70-odd days, level 142, and have all four professions to level 20, but now it is suddenly really glitchy. My moonshine shack gives no end of issues, and now collector's maps have not been working - the yellow search zone shows up, but there's nothing to find. Also, even Trade Route has started bugging - gives us six goods, then there are no bandits and no increase in goods. So it's just a sucky train ride for six goods, so not worth it. Has never done that to me before and I have done a lot of those. So I just do a couple of easy challenges (change a buckle, jump to a horse, eat a stew etc) and then log back out and go play Elite (on the plus side, my Anaconda now has a larger power plant given my sudden free time). RDR is my true gaming love but I just use the moonshine shack to check bugginess. If it isn't working then I just do a challenge and go play something else. I will check every day, though, as surely they will fix it soon.

Absolutely agree. And I chuckle when so many of the revenue agents carry collectible liquor, that can't be a coincidence! And on the last part - it's the drugs, man (reaches for ignore button).

Every time I see this thread title, I have the urge to come in here and post 'like a boss'.

Have to say that I have been loving the snow, and my festive goody bag. Love the Krampus shotgun as anything different but still looking broadly period floats my boat. On Christmas Eve there was howling strong wind and driving snow and it really gave the game a different feel. I had a few issues yesterday with spawning my camp, first in a while, but my moonshine shack was working (hit level 19, yay!) and there were more animals around. I did the six perfect pelts and the six big carcasses for Cripps dailies which I would have struggled with before Christmas. If it ever gets bad for too long I hop over to Elite: Dangerous but have only played that once in the past two weeks, which gives me an indicator that the game has been stable for me through that period. Given that it was Christmas and they added in lots of Christmas goodies that seems pretty good to me. Basically, I'm loving the game and loved the Christmas feel!

I like the idea behind that, but I have found increasingly that players simply sit outside known delivery points and wait to attack any incoming player. I ran in some moonshine over Christmas and there were two players waiting at the shack. Opened fire as soon as I came into view. Had I not had Never Without One I'd have lost the lot. As it was I was able to lose my hat, race the wagon into the delivery zone (fluke that the final bend in my approach was so close that they only got off the one shot), then leap from the wagon with twin navies firing and had the inevitable gun battle (which I won, yay!), with my money banked and only honour on the line. But if they're simply staking out the delivery location then they will always catch someone regardless of where we spawn. And it's basically penalty free.

And once you have a band, you also have to tell them to play before you can then dance. Every time I turn up at my bar, it's chock-full of customers, lots of chat, and the band are just sitting on their stools holding their instruments, the lazy blighters. Once I tell them to play they're up and at it. They're a bit like Cripps - stealing a living.

Maggie's missions are among my favourites in the game, though, at least. The one on the boat was epic, loved it and will have replay value. Agree on the returns, but I think (as with any business!) it pays much better as we gain in experience and equipment. I had my first $90 delivery just now and I'm only lvl 6. Once they hit $200 it'll pay as well as trader as things happen more quickly with moonshining. SO I get what you're saying, but I think we stick with it. It's a fun process, getting it right, and I accepted an invitation to another player's bar yesterday. We had a dance off. Was fun.

I have the refined, but as I don't have a band, yet, my bar has the ambience of a horror film before it all kicks off. It's a sinister, albeit well-heeled establishment. I was invited to a dance at another player's bar yesterday and it is amazing the difference the band makes!! So I'll leave my misery shack as it is for now (I drink alone, pondering what might have been), but then go for the floral revamp when we have stopped buying stills and are in the market for musicians. I do like the refined look, but the mood in my bar needs a serious lift.

Lol yes lovely, just saw the tree & festive deliveries locker in my Camp!! Hilarious!! Hadn't realised that they would give me similar in my shack, must head over later and check it out. A very nice touch.

I agree with you (sorry, in a hurry for Christmas stuff so not posting examples) but I have strategic faith that they will keep adding in the sort of content you're talking about.

No problem - yes the only two I do are salvage (agree, it's awesome and the xp reward is amazing) and trade route (18 goods per run, and a lot of fun). I say yes to those every time they pop up. As I'm splitting my time across the four roles, I think that trade route probably covers half the goods I need to keep Cripps happy. So it makes a big difference and keeps the pressure off my hunting. Now I just do a bit of hunting when I'm in the mood, but don't ever feel that I have to.

Really sharp, like it a lot. I'm similar, albeit with a blue frock coat over (I think) the same vest but in light grey/silver. Also twin-pearl-handled navies. Might as well look on point while going about your business! But seriously, really like your look. Hope to see you out on the range. I'll tip my hat.

Agree with the above - early on, the money is awful (like, break a couple of bottles on your delivery run and you might not even be in profit if you're using fast travel to get to your shack! - but ultimately it is similar money to trading but less work and easier to access. Basically we'll all be rich once we get through the grindy bit at the beginning. Collector make me the most coin but is the least fun (for me), I just tend to do it in the margins of the other roles rather than actually focussing on it.

Yes I'm with you. I keep hoping that if we all upgrade our bars then at some point they will add content which brings an income or something. I do like the new guns, I now wield twin navies when moonshining, they feel quicker than my LeMats. Got my first glitches last night, though - I twice lost 20 bottle deliveries as when I started the mission it just left me hanging on a black screen with an egg timer so I had to crash out. Thing is, the rewards are so poor anyway that it didn't hurt that much. I'm only lvl 3 (lvl 20 for the other professions, 130 overall), so my run would only be worth $72.50. I spent $60 on mash and some fast travel getting there, so really it's just a rank grind. I forget how much xp I got for delivering a load successfully, but I got 130xp just for mixing it so I figure I'm not in it for the money at this point. Glitches are frustrating, though. And the Lem mission was brilliant fun. So I'm with you on the 3/5 but with a dose of optimism for the future on top.

I find that there are a fair few deer around Hennigan's Stead, not far from Bonnie's place. I tend to hunt out there. Or down outside Armadillo. Heartlands has been poor for a while. The Trade Route free roam event is also good. I enjoy doing them plus they stock up Cripps. With the large delivery wagon if I run a full load on a local delivery I get 1500xp so it would rank up pretty quickly. Not like moonshining!

What the other chap said, but if you need a start then buying some maps from Madam Nazar can give you a good idea of the sort of place they hide dig sites. I'd also recommend getting the metal detector. Those two in concert made me rich!! (And ranked me up crazy fast)

Yes exactly. I think that there's so much travel to the shack required to get your business going that they felt they had to have fast travel to the shack. However they won't want to give us something they can charge us for, so am sure that various things such as fast travel will be upgrades from the shack at a later date. Only thing is, I think players share shacks so not sure how that would work in practice.

Hyped to get stuck into this later. For those who were asking, it was 7.45Gb on the Xbox One X.

Yes quite agree. I think I have had half a dozen disconnects total and I have been playing since just after last Christmas. Think I probably lost more time to my abortive attempts to make the hunting wagon work for me than I did to the disconnects!! As you say, we all play our own way. Once fast travel was up and running in my camp I just grab the odd extra good carcass while I'm out and about. Once the Collector role basically made cash meaningless (I use notes for kindling to get my campfire going), fast travel in camp became incredibly powerful.

I'm pretty much the same as @The_Liquor - blued steel, silver inlay, pearl grip. Might as well look good while you're laying down some hurt! No pictures, sorry - haven't figured out how to make Xbox and laptop talk to one another.