Getting around in winter
Snow underfoot, packed trails and shovelling, toboggans and horse sleds, and the wild in winter.
Snow changes how you get about. Off the paths it slows you down, wheels bog down in it, and it shows up every track. But it's also the best time of year for hauling, because anything on runners glides over it.
Trails and shovelling#
Where people walk often in the snow, it packs down. After about 8 passes over the same ground it's a trail, and a trail walks like a path for everyone, wheels included. The trails go with the thaw.
With a spade or a shovel you can clear a patch of snow at once: tap the snow and choose Shovel the snow. Shovelling a path at a neighbour's place is the kind of thing that gets noticed. They're told about it, and it counts on your record as helping someone through the cold. That's once for each neighbour each day, so there's no point shovelling the same path over and over.
Toboggans and sleds#
| Holds | Pulled by | Costs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toboggan | 250 kg | you | 6 logs, 1 hide |
| Horse sled | 1200 kg | a horse | 15 logs, 2 iron fittings |
Both are built from the Works list, the same as a handcart or a wagon, and they're loaded and unloaded the same way. On snow they go up to 125% of the pace of the same load on wheels on bare ground, and on ice better still. On bare ground they drag badly, down to about 55%, so they're a winter thing. Wheels go the other way: in deep snow off a path or a trail a cart slows to about 55%.
That's why winter is the time for cutting timber. Fell your logs in the cold months, and a horse sled will bring them home quicker than any wagon could in summer.
Tracks#
In fresh snow everyone and everything leaves tracks: you, other settlers, deer, wolves. They fade after a while, and quicker while it's snowing. Following a line of hoofprints is the easiest way there is to find game.
The wild in winter#
Bears den up once the snow is lying and sleep until spring, so they won't trouble you, but there's no sense waking one. Wolves are still about. They won't go for anyone who's numb with cold, and they leave alone anyone in their first couple of hours who's within 80 m of the camp. Furs are at their thickest in winter: a pelt taken while the snow is lying sometimes comes with a second one.