Noisemaker

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Improvised explosives have been a notorious problem for officers and staff at Blackrock. Some of the more enterprising inmates have used the devices as a kind of currency.

Load Screen Description

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Noisemakers (also nicknamed Pipebombs), are a tool in The Long Dark. They are primarily used for frightening Wildlife, but can be used to offensively kill animals.

Overview

Noisemakers are handheld improvised explosive devices composed of wire sealed Tin Cans packed with Gunpowder and a cloth wick to ignite the powder. They are very effective at frightening nearby wildlife, and can stop a charging Bear or Moose if directly hit. They are moderately effective at lowering Timberwolf morale.

Despite a very low damage output of 50, Noisemakers are capable of hurting all types of wildlife, and will easily one-shot kill rabbits and ptarmigan within a medium-sized area of effect. They will chip away at wildlife health if detonated nearby, and eventually kill once enough damage is inflicted.

Crafting

In Survival Mode, the blueprint to create them is locked until the player picks up at least one Noisemaker. Unlike in Episode 4, they are crafted at any Ammunition Work Bench.

The locations of Noisemakers are only found:

In the mine at Last Prospect in the northernmost area of Blackrock. The mine is at the top of two rope climbs from the bottom of the Fool's Corner ravine. The ropes can be reached by from two directions:
- traveling to the northern-most part of the map and turning left right before Mule Bridge, reaching a rope at Fool's Corner and going down to the ravine, at which point the player can climb back on the other side and reach Last Prospect.
- Or going down to the ravine via Cliff Cave or near the bridge to Cook's Farm and traveling up the river until the northern end of the ravine and the ropes can be accessed. Once the Noisemakers have been picked up, the player can craft them at either Ammunition Workbench.
With the Tales From The Far Territory update, Noisemakers can rarely spawn in the Main Hangar in the Forsaken Airfield region.
They can also be found inside two specific Memento Caches (one in Blackrock, on the exterior of the Prison wall and another in Bleak Inlet near the Coastal Highway Terminus Hunter's Blind).

Recipe

Crafting Noisemakers does not level up the Gunsmithing skill (but crafting Can of Gunpowder to produce them does).

Usage

Most Wildlife will flee from the sound of an exploding Noisemaker, similar to the report of gunshots. Below are the interactions each type of wildlife has with noisemakers.

Direct Noisemaker Hits Required to Kill

Animal	Rabbit	Ptarmagin	Deer	Wolf/Poison Variant	Aurora Wolf	Timber Wolf	Aurora Timber Wolf	Moose	Bear	Aurora Bear	Cougar/Aurora Variant
Hits	1	1	2	2	3	3	5	8	10	15	6

Wolves

Both normal and Posioned Wolves will flee upon hearing or being damaged by a nearby Noisemaker detonation even if the player has already been detected, this even applies to their aurora variants.
Timberwolves and aurora Timberwolves will flee if a undetected player detonates a Noisemaker nearby. Timberwolves morale meter will decrease moderately if one detonates near, and significantly if it lands a hit directly.

Bears

Noisemaker detonations will attract bears instead of scare them, unless they inflict damage, then normal bears will flee and aurora bears will charge.
Bears will flee mid-charge if a Noisemaker hits them directly, this will not work on aurora bears.

Cougars

Cougars will ignore direct or nearby Noisemaker detonations regardless of whether or not the player has been detected.
While Noisemakers deal damage to cougars, they will not dissuade them from charging the player.
Noisemaker damage will not prevent cougars from engaging in a Struggle, they must first be shot at by a firearm or bow before Noisemaker use to receive a glancing blow instead.
Noisemakers completely ignore the aurora cougars innate 25% damage resistance, and will still take 6 hits to kill.

Moose

Moose are scared of nearby Noisemaker detonations and will flee, unless the moose has detected the player or is actively charging, then only direct hits will cause them to flee.

Prey Animals

Deer will flee upon hearing Noisemaker detonations.
Rabbits will die instantly to nearby Noisemaker detonations, nearby unharmed rabbits will flee.
Ptarmigan will die instantly to nearby Noisemaker detonations, nearby unharmed ptarmigan will flee.

Tips

Noisemakers may be selected from the Radial Menu, the Weapons hotkey, or directly from the inventory.
Press the fire button to Ignite the Noisemaker while holding it. (This does not require a firestarter (e.g. consuming matches) unlike torches). Then press the fire button again to throw the Noisemaker and it will either explode on impact or once the fuse runs out.
If an ignited Noisemaker is not thrown within 3 seconds, it will explode in the survivor's hand, causing 15% Condition loss and a Burns affliction.
If a Struggle ensues between the player character and an animal, and the player has a lit Noisemaker in hand, the explosive will fall at their feet and injure both them and the attacking animal. This can end the struggle (if it's against a Wolf or Timberwolf) or even kill the attacker (very rarely, but more likely if it has been injured beforehand).
Since they instantly kill Rabbits or Ptarmigan in a wide area- about the radius of three dropped rifles lined tip to stock, they can wipe out an entire group at once as long as they are close together, which makes it a decent small game hunting alternative for those inaccurate with stones, firearms, or the bow.
Using Noisemakers for Hunting medium and large game is generally not recommended due to their high crafting cost, as well as difficulty of use. Most wildlife will flee when hit and will need to be chased down repeatedly to secure a kill.

Wintermute Mode

In Wintermute, Episode 4: Fury, Then Silence, a Noisemaker may be obtained inside the Weapon Locker just before leaving Blackrock Penitentiary. They can be crafted at Work Benches (instead of an ammo work bench) with the same recipe, and materials are quite plentiful to create them. They are mostly used as a defense tool to frighten Timberwolves away.

Known Issues

Killing moose with a Noisemaker will cause it's death animation to bug out, and the moose will appear to be standing upright and continue to let out stunned noises. Despite this, the carcass may be harvested as normal.

Update history

UPDATE 7 Dec 2021 (Update):

Added to Survival Mode.

UPDATE 6 Oct 2021 (Update):

Added to game.