Can't tame cat in alchemist's tower

[Ninski]

I tried for over an hour before today's patch and just tried for another hour after today's patch. I've managed to get a single heart three times. I literally cannot get close enough before the timer runs out unless I time it absolutely perfectly. Often the cat will continue the eating animation as if it is supposed to have more time but the hearts disappear and it can't be pet. If I try to use the stairs walls to hide it gets alerted immediately once I become visible. What am I doing wrong here? Everything else I've tamed in this game has been easy, one or two attempts.

[Goldie]

I'm having the same trouble. I watched a YouTube video of someone doing it to see if he had to move the cat to a certain floor or place, but he managed it pretty much the way I'm trying to manage it. I saw someone else suggesting that you turn off the "Lose Some Progress" in the settings for taming.

I'll keep trying. I hope you are successful too.

[Galadhlinn]

The taming process is one of the most frustrating gaming elements I've experienced, in any game. I spent two hours trying to tame a goat before finally succeeding. The goat disappeared from its fenced in area a few days later. I'm done with taming until it is fixed or removed.

[Silent Warrior]

My tipps for taming, especially the cat:
Go to your settings and lower the taming difficulty. There is a slider where you can set it to not losing progress. This way your already earned heart will stay.
Equip an armor piece to increase your sneak speed.

The cat in Alchemist's tower seems to be bugged in some worlds. Still possible to tame it with much patience, but it's harder than the end boss.

[Galadhlinn]

Originally posted by Silent Warrior:

My tipps for taming, especially the cat:
Go to your settings and lower the taming difficulty. There is a slider where you can set it to not losing progress. This way your already earned heart will stay.
Equip an armor piece to increase your sneak speed.

The cat in Alchemist's tower seems to be bugged in some worlds. Still possible to tame it with much patience, but it's harder than the end boss.

Wow! I would not have even thought that there would be a slider for taming difficulty. lol Thanks for that invaluable tip.
Now if I could get back the hours thrown away on the lamest gaming experience ever. No Man's Sky has a similar taming mechanic that actually works. You throw a few treats at your pet of choice, give it a few pats on the head, and it is added to your pet inventory, back to the game. That Keen somehow seems to believe that the taming of a goat process should be up there in difficulty with slaying a dragon is mind boggling. : /

[Ninski]

Thanks, did not realize there was a setting tied to this. I have not found any armor yet that affects sneak speed but good to know it exists.

[Galadhlinn]

Originally posted by Ninski:

Thanks, did not realize there was a setting tied to this. I have not found any armor yet that affects sneak speed but good to know it exists.

Silent Stride in the Ranger skill tree does increase sneak speed, tho.

[Ninski]

With the setting changed I was able to complete it thanks everyone. It seems you need to be perfectly behind the cat and you can play a sort of red light / green light with it where it won't fully alert and you can still make progress to get into petting range. Still seems mechanically different and wildly inconsistent compared to taming other animals.

[nguren]

I accomplished it on the base difficulty. The issues I had was it getting spooked by nearby creatures, ended up hunting around and making sure everything in the vicinity was dead and it worked. Still took several tries as sometimes it would walk towards me after petting and I couldn't get far enough away for it not to get the ! Also don't try it with a friend, I was playing multiplayer and the tower is just too small, the cat would get too close to one or the other of us every time. Had to have my buddy leave the tower for me to be able to get it.

Good luck, I still found it easier than the dog.

[LyaranTirel]

I found the problem I had to tame those thinigs: After the first pat you have to go as far as you can before the ! sigh goes in. Even if you hide somewhere close they will not count as a 'reset' and just go direct to ! instead of the yellow ?

[Kavan Longfellow]

Nope. Untamable.

If I appear, it _instantly_ goes to ! - even if I'm behind it & far away, while it's eating.

Bugged.

[Nathanese]

It is pretty hard with default server-options. And the small room is not helping.

[allmosphere]

I found that the '!' seems to instantly go away if you go down the stairs a bit. I used the strategy where I'd throw the bait so it is roughly at the top of the stairs that go down and I'd wait on the stairs that go up. When it starts eating then sneak down the stairs, pet it and immediately go down the stairs as it walks away. Make sure you walk down the stairs and don't fall because you will come out of crouch and it will ruin it. Then I'd let it get some distance and repeat. This is the only way I could do it because when I was anywhere on the floor at all it seemed to alert it and I'd lose my progress.

[Amos]

Originally posted by Kavan Longfellow:

Nope. Untamable.

If I appear, it _instantly_ goes to ! - even if I'm behind it & far away, while it's eating.

Bugged.

I'm not saying that you are not experiencing a bug, this is EA after all... but I don't think you are. I have seen a lot of posts about how taming is impossible and it always feel like they have a different understanding of the mechanics from my own.

These are my observations:

- It doesn't matter if the animal is facing away from you.
- It doesn't matter if the animal is currently eating or not.
- The only thing that matters is your proximity to the animal AND whether there is an unobstructed line of sight between you.
- Be aware that the game can be quite "picky" about LOS calculations (and they seem to be happening down at ground level). On uneven terrain LOS can be broken from just a few meters away.

I have seen a lot of posts saying things along the lines of "there was no indicator at all and as soon as I stepped around the corner, it showed the '!'" This is happening because while the animal did not have LOS to you, it was not getting alerted. As you entered LOS, you were already inside the alert radius (i.e. you never passed through the yellow '?' zone; you bypassed it).

The solution is to be further away from the animal before re-establishing LOS. You can then safely approach it until it shows the '?', throw bait, etc.

And yes, in some cases the animal might need to be repositioned first for that to be possible.

[Marimba]

In case it helps anyone -

If you manage to pet it once but then have trouble sneaking far enough away in time to work on the second heart without scaring it, try using the roll action (ctrl) to get away from it faster (this moves you quick without breaking stealth)

[WallaceTheSane]

I spent over an hour last night taming that damn cat. I had to look up a video, and I asked in the Discord, and I was told about the settings. I'll never spend the time to tame again, as that's just not something I want to invest my time in. It's a neat feature, but I don't feel it's respectful of my time, personally. I'll forever have the farm quest unfinished, which will bother the hell out of me, but I'll get over it.