[Pos. Spoilers] Big Cat at the Pond in the heart of the forest + bonus bug

[CaffeineQueen]

Has anyone been able to survive through this random-ish encounter without immediately fleeing? I feel like I've tried all of the options and they all result in death. Tried doing the whole non-threatening cat body language options (let yourself be known, look around as if you're not a threat, etc = death), the surprise / stand tall / be threatening option = death, the sneak, crouch and make eye contact, etc = death.

Or is the only non-death option immediately fleeing and waiting it out? I've got the improved armor, full stats, shiny new axe, punchy mcpuncher stonefist, and a "Worryingly High" combat experience.

PS - Unrelated, but I noticed what might be a glitch just now with the Spared Animals attribute. I've spared literally every animal where that's been an option (Stoat, foxes, various goblins that were just monching dinner, baby spiders, the bird that you trap, the bird that comes flys by you on your way through the forest, even helped a bunch of lil runner birds fight against a dragon so they wouldn't be dinner) and the spared animals attribute. After the last encounter with the stoat in the forest it went from "Quite a few" to "Hardly Any" ):

Thanks!

[Rithrin]

Hmmm. I've hit that encounter a few times without much combat experience. I don't remember the exact options, but there seems to be a specific order you need to perform actions in.

For example, taking out the bird first is pretty important, otherwise you're getting double teamed. It's possible to kill the bird before the cat gets to you. Then when facing the cat, there's several options to prepare yourself against its moves in combat. The first one I choose, if I recall, is to watch for a specific attack, which allows you to land a deep cut in its shoulder. That option will not work in further rounds of combat, but you can play defensively and avoid most damage for a few rounds until you earn the cat's respect for still standing and it leaves.

I haven't managed to slay it yet, but I typically face that encounter early before having a lot of combat experience/tools available, but I assume it's possible to do so.

[CaffeineQueen]

Originally posted by Rithrin:

Hmmm. I've hit that encounter a few times without much combat experience. I don't remember the exact options, but there seems to be a specific order you need to perform actions in.

For example, taking out the bird first is pretty important, otherwise you're getting double teamed. It's possible to kill the bird before the cat gets to you. Then when facing the cat, there's several options to prepare yourself against its moves in combat. The first one I choose, if I recall, is to watch for a specific attack, which allows you to land a deep cut in its shoulder. That option will not work in further rounds of combat, but you can play defensively and avoid most damage for a few rounds until you earn the cat's respect for still standing and it leaves.

I haven't managed to slay it yet, but I typically face that encounter early before having a lot of combat experience/tools available, but I assume it's possible to do so.

Hey! Thanks for your comment - this is actually a wholly different cat encounter - sorry I probably should have specified which one.

The Cat encounter i'm referring to is the one where see a Cat as "Big as a Bear" drinking at a pond. Your first initial options are to "Try to scare it", "Flee", and "Grab [horse]'s reins and turn ride on to either: Turn around completely, or wait for the cat to leave. Trying to scare it branches out into 3 sub options of "Sneak up quietly close to it", "Sneak up quietly and then suddenly pop up yelling" and "Talk a bunch of rubbish to let it know you're there." Each one of those options branches out into 3-5 additional options.

So far i've only found that grabbing the reins allows you to escape with your life, but there's a part of me that actually wants to, I don't know, pass the encounter vs waiting it out? Make friends with the giant murder kitty?

[bloodyharbinger]

Yes its possible to survive the encounter without running away or attacking it.

The stoat thing appears to be a bug. I will report it right quick.

[Rithrin]

Originally posted by CaffeineQueen:

Originally posted by Rithrin:

Hmmm. I've hit that encounter a few times without much combat experience. I don't remember the exact options, but there seems to be a specific order you need to perform actions in.

For example, taking out the bird first is pretty important, otherwise you're getting double teamed. It's possible to kill the bird before the cat gets to you. Then when facing the cat, there's several options to prepare yourself against its moves in combat. The first one I choose, if I recall, is to watch for a specific attack, which allows you to land a deep cut in its shoulder. That option will not work in further rounds of combat, but you can play defensively and avoid most damage for a few rounds until you earn the cat's respect for still standing and it leaves.

I haven't managed to slay it yet, but I typically face that encounter early before having a lot of combat experience/tools available, but I assume it's possible to do so.

Hey! Thanks for your comment - this is actually a wholly different cat encounter - sorry I probably should have specified which one.

The Cat encounter i'm referring to is the one where see a Cat as "Big as a Bear" drinking at a pond. Your first initial options are to "Try to scare it", "Flee", and "Grab [horse]'s reins and turn ride on to either: Turn around completely, or wait for the cat to leave. Trying to scare it branches out into 3 sub options of "Sneak up quietly close to it", "Sneak up quietly and then suddenly pop up yelling" and "Talk a bunch of rubbish to let it know you're there." Each one of those options branches out into 3-5 additional options.

So far i've only found that grabbing the reins allows you to escape with your life, but there's a part of me that actually wants to, I don't know, pass the encounter vs waiting it out? Make friends with the giant murder kitty?

Yep, sorry, reading comprehension fail. I don't recall what I did with that one, but I tackled it rather later on in the game.

[Fringehunter7719]

I think this might be what you're looking for:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2868362665
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2868362761

Or, extracting the text of the user input options:

• I talk rubbish to let it know that I'm nearby.
  
• I stand straight, making myself as tall as I can, with raised shoulders and chest out.
  
• I look directly into its eye and do my best not to blink. I'm in control.
  
• I walk away, trying to stay confident slowly.

As far as I can tell you can get either the first, second or third of these wrong, but only one of them. And you cannot choose the "I squat down, making sure our eyes meet." option for the second choice.

The advantage of this is that you don't have to spend 75 minutes waiting for the cat, if you want to continue in the same direction.

[Og-the-Trog]

Also, that dragon vs bird fight is actually the birds trying to prey upon the dragon's baby, which is crushed underfoot if you don't help drive the birds off.

[d12ddd]

Big cat is big danger, but with the stats and items you have it should've been possible to win unless you also need the crossbow. I had almost the same setup and made it flee the first time I encountered it, but I injured it with a crossbow before battle, so that's probably what allowed me to win

[cavy]

I waited the thing out.