Survival Log Exploration Sites

Two landmark exploration sites dominate early Survival Log scouting talk: the Ruined Supermarket and the Abandoned School. This page covers their scale, darkness and flashlight needs, retreat discipline, and the progress-bar risk framing that turns greed into a dusk problem. Use it with How to Explore, City Locations, and Exploration Risk. Midnight Workshop and Lilith Games offer a live Steam demo now, with full release targeted for August 12, 2026. Planning Points still decide whether a site run was a thesis or a tourist trap.

Ruined Supermarket — medium, dark, flashlight, retreat

Treat the Ruined Supermarket as a medium site with darkness tax. Bring light discipline. Do not enter on empty stamina. Pre-decide a retreat trigger: half bag, half stamina, or risk bar past your written line. Supermarkets tempt bulk grabbing that breaks carry sorting — clerk habits from Warehouse Clerk help. Prioritize water, calories, boards, and medical minimums from Priority Checklist and Food and Water.

If Loot Spotter or your planner shows only furniture gaps, this may be the wrong day for a dark medium site (Loot Spotter).

Survival Log demo prep and scouting mindset

Abandoned School — large site patience

The Abandoned School plays large. Large means more hallway decisions and more chances to overstay. Split the school across multiple days when Planning Points and stamina demand it. Mark a wing thesis: “south classrooms for tools,” not “clear the lore.” Pair with power-aware departures from How to Manage Power so you do not return to a dark fridge failure.

School runs can drop materials useful for Fortify Doors and Windows and Traps, but none of that matters if you die in a stairwell for a third backpack of junk.

Progress bar risk

Risk meters and progress-style pressure exist to punish perfectionism. When the bar climbs, retreat is a skill, not cowardice. Re-enter later with a narrower thesis. Snow and cold make the same bar mean more stamina loss — see Weather and Cold.

Loadout and return ritual

Before entry: eat, check coats or light tools, confirm home boards are not already broken. After exit: sort into category zones (Floor Layout), cook if meters demand (Cooking), log the run in Day Planner. Consider drone trade only for leftover duplicates (How to Drone Trade).

Role notes

Workers may overconfidence haul weight. Students may overcomplicate routes. Clerks may under-explore if shelves look tidy but Tier 0 is fake-full. Compare in Roles Comparison.

Demo ladder

1. One supermarket run with a hard retreat rule.
2. One school wing, not the whole building.
3. One weather-aware short loop.
4. Review gaps with Stockpile Planner.

Site mastery is return mastery. The city is a warehouse with teeth; your safehouse is the only scoreboard that counts.

Takeaway for Exploration Sites Survival Log

Before you close this map page (map/exploration-sites), write one Steam-demo action that only this article justifies. Spend Planning Points on that action alone, then score dusk by meters and doors. If Midnight Workshop or Lilith Games patch the related system, re-open this URL first — not a random sibling — so the lesson stays attached to Exploration Sites Survival Log instead of dissolving into generic prep advice.