This guide aims to help you getting the achievement ‘Something Wicked’ by surviving 1000 days in a single save as fast as possible. Most people will eventually burn out looking at the ‘pass time’ screen counting down for hours upon hours. We will barely pass time this way. The guide assumes you play on Voyager, but it will be quite easier on Pilgrim. It won't work on higher difficulties because of intestinal parasites, but in that case I'd also recommend a more normal gameplay approach to get the achievement.

Essentially – we will utilize food poison to speed up time. Except when collecting resources, you want to be afflicted with food poison permanently. This way we can constantly burn one day in less than a minute. This is because you can sleep while food poisoned – even if your fatigue is full. You don’t need to wait for the hours to count down – you can simply pass 12 hours quickly by sleeping. Likewise, you don’t need to spend time cooking food either. You actually want it to be as raw and rotten as possible. And finally, because you’re constantly sleeping, you’re burning ~1/3 less calories and water as opposed to being awake and passing time.

Of course, this also comes at a cost. You can’t use ‘hibernation’ to conserve resources. Hibernation is completely viable and essential on higher difficulties, but because wildlife is so abundant on Voyager, this method is faster. Additionally, you need to be careful with needs not reaching 0 when sleeping a full 12-hour session. But this won't really be an issue.

• It’s faster if you play without cabin fever, but most certainly not required. Cabin fever is disabled on Pilgrim or if you use the feat ‘Settled Mind’ (gaining this feat takes several hours – I don’t recommend going for it just to start a new game).
  
  
• Since you want this crazy achievement, I reckon you want the other achievements too. Unless you unnecessarily rush them, it will probably take you 200-300 days on Voyager (believe me you need to enjoy this, or you will burn out). Having completed the other achievements, you’re already about 250 days in with some good gear and skills.
  
  
• On Voyager, the affliction ‘scurvy’ is enabled, but it’s easy to prevent. In late-game, the need for C-vitamin can easily be fulfilled by eating fish once in a while. Simply go on a fishing trip for a couple days, and depending on your catches, you’ll have enough C-vitamin for 50-75 days. When the scurvy risk meter appears, you even have several days to consume fish / C-vitamin.
  
  
• It’s imperative that you don’t lose condition due to freezing. Unless you’re naked, this will never happen inside. However, due to cabin fever, we need to spend time outside. There are several ways to combat cabin fever, but I prefer to just live in an outdoor cave. The temperature at the back of the cave is enough to always stay warm with end-game cloth, and as such you never have to think about managing cabin fever.
  
  
• You can use this guide wherever you want. Personally, I prefer Pleasant Valley for several reasons. 1, there are many bear and moose spawns. 2, the farmland terrain is flat – it’s easy to spot wildlife and it’s easy to manoeuvre the travois. 3, there are two locations with a stove (6 cooking slots for the same fuel cost).

• Find a suitable spot to spend your next 2-3 years. Unless cabin fever is disabled, I recommend the outdoor cave directly east in Pleasant Valley next to the river below ‘Derelict Cabins’. It has a bed that never deteriorate, so you don’t need to think about repairing a sleeping bag either.
  
  
• Make sure you’re not too far from a fishing location. You don’t need many fish, but you do need some. You can make a fishing hole on the river close to the cave I suggested.
  
  
• Depending on feats, and assuming you’re already 250 days in, you’ll need 1 – 1,2 million calories. Don’t let this demotivate you – the fun part of this achievement is actually hunting. You don’t need to store so many calories right away (though it’s possible). Optimally, you should go hunting every 75-100th day. This ensures new spawns across the map.
  
  
• Near my suggested cave are two moose spawns and two bear spawns. Alternatively, if you don’t like hunting, it’s perfectly viable to just fish.
  
  
• Get the travois – it’s absolutely essential. You can haul a lot of meat without too much hassle. Make sure to skin a few deer so you can periodically repair it too.
  
  
• You need about 1000 litres of water (assuming you’re 250 days in). With the 6 cooking slot stove, this can be done relatively fast and cheap. Just make sure to find 6 pots first. I use the travois to haul water from the ‘community hall’ southeast from my cave. Except for some cooked back-up food, making water is also the only thing you ever need fuel for.

• When you’re stock up and ready, eat raw food to get food poison. Max your thirst meter and sleep for 11-12 hours (make sure you have enough calories for the sleep too).
  
  
• You will notice that you immediately lose condition, but it will stop decreasing at 15%. Food poison can’t kill you, but other sources can (i.e. your needs, so make sure they’re always adequate).
  
  
• Sleeping 11 hours is completely safe. 12 hours is safe too, but your thirst will be completely drained from 100-0%. This means you lose ~0,1% condition below 15% per sleep cycle. I always slept 12 hours – it was never an issue.
  
  
• When you wake up, eat again and make sure to get food poison so the affliction is reset. Max your thirst and sleep for another 12 hours.
  
  
• Repeat the step above as long as you have resources. You’re now burning away hours and days much faster than looking at the ‘pass time’ screen.

• If you need to recover condition, either eat cooked food or fill your hunger completely and outsleep food poison. You will still have a lot of calories left to heal up a bit. Effectively, this shouldn’t be done often.
  
  
• If you put food / raw meat on the floor, it will eventually ruin, but it won’t disappear unless you put it in a container. It won’t lose its calories either. We can store it indefinitely this way.
  
  
• Sometimes you don’t get food poisoning even when eating raw and ruined food. The chance to get food poison is calculated each session you eat. Therefore, you can eat and quickly cancel for another chance to trigger food poison.
  
  
• It’s not always optimal to only go for the big wildlife. You can relatively fast fill up your travois with wolf and deer meat - especially from the farming fields in Pleasant Valley.
  
  
• For many, this is looked down upon, but if you don’t care, you can periodically back up your save game in case you die for whatever reason. Likewise, if you end in a situation where you know you will die, you can quickly hit ALT+F4 before the game saves. If you don't play recklessly though, this won't be an issue - but here it is.

This will still take a lot of time – it is after all the whole point of the achievement. I began around day 320, and it took me about 20 hours to get to day 1000. On average that is ~1,75 minute / day. To reduce the boredom, you could listen to a podcast. If you need some inspiration, I recommend Philosophize This! - it's really good if you're into philosophy and fundamental questions about our world and ourselves.

Good luck and have fun with it!