BEARS/WOLVES detailed suggestion.

[The_Wolfian]

I have made this rather complex so of course if it was to be added then the devs could choose parts not to add or simplify things to their liking.

Many people are wanting more variety and challenge in the world to help with the survival aspect. Endnight have stated they have no plans for bears or wolves currently but here we go anyway.
Endnight seem to like the AI side of things so having a somewhat smart ai for animals would be great as well, especially for the long term survival aspect of the game.

Wolves

Basics:

• The island could be populated with a few packs of timber wolves. (3-4 different packs)
  
• There will be locations on the map that they can use as dens (like the single room caves)
  
• They roam the map as a pack.
  
• They can have pups during the spring. (Will be more defensive around young)
  
• Hunt their own food and have a hunger system, if they can't get enough food to feed themselves and their family they may go after a cannibal (or you).
  
• They will occasionally howl, if you can hear howling then you know they are in the area.
  
• Anywhere between 5-10 wolves in a pack.
  
• Packs are persistent (if you kill half of a pack of 8 then only 4 will remain in that pack until they have more babies) If an entire pack dies then another pack can spawn in after a year/seasonal rotation.

Den system:
A wolf pack will have a den they call home, they will rest and eat here (if they bring food home). When they are out hunting the den may lay empty.

During spring time the pack may have pups and in that case while they are young they will remain at the den with some adult wolves while a smaller group go out hunting.

Every now and then they may decide to move home, in that case all the wolves will move out as a pack in search for a new den location.

Inside an active den you may find meat, bones and other 'scavenged' things.
An unoccupied den may have some bones and maybe some left over stuff.

Hunger system:
The hunger system will work similar to that of the 'anger' system on the cannibals. The hungrier they are then the more likely they are to attack you or the cannibals.
Individual wolves may hunt for small game like rabbits to take back to their den to feed any pups or themselves.

A pack of wolves hunting will go for larger game like deer or even a moose. Each wolf will get a fill of their meal and satiate their hunger.

If they don't get enough food and can't find an alternate food source then they could die and their body will remain in the world for a bit to be scavenged by you or other wolves (If they are also basically starving). Will be more likely to happen during winter.

Pups:
During the spring you may see pups roaming with a pack, or just chilling in/outside of their den.
They won't have babies every spring, if they already have young growing then they won't have more babies until they have all grown.

The wolves will be more defensive when they have babies and will be more likely to attack you, cannibals or even a bear if you/they get to close.

The pups will slowly grow over two years (two seasonal rotations). And become more independent as they get older like joining in on hunting trips or even trying to catch their own food, or even wandering off on their own somewhere.

Attacking:
The wolves will generally avoid the player if they sense them, you may see them observing you from a distance but if they are not showing any aggression then you should be fine if you keep your distance and don't provoke them.

If a wolf is planning to attack you then it's posture will be more aggressive and it will be growling/barking at you to give you a warning.

A single wolf will be fairly easy to fend off as it is likely just starving and looking for food, you could fight it head on or even try throwing it some meat and it may take it and leave you alone, loud gunshots may deter them aswell.

If a pack of wolves decide you are a threat/prey then fighting may not be a wise decision unless you have enough firepower/backup. A way to prevent them from attacking you is fire, they don't like fire and will back away from it, keep at it and hopefully they will leave you alone. Loud gunshots may also put them off but not as much as if they were alone.
If you do fight a group/pack of wolves then if you manage to kill enough of them then the rest may flee.

Befriending Wolves:
This is not taming the wolves! Just making them more friendly towards you.
If you do find out a wolf pack is living in your area then you can attempt to befriend them to make it a little safer for yourself. To make peace with the wolves then you would need to not attack them or threaten them in anyway.

If you notice you are being watched then you can drop some food on the floor (maybe put a stick in the floor and slap some meat on it) and move far enough away, a wolf may then approach the meat and eat it/take it home. If you do this enough then the wolves won't see you as a threat. But as a source of food.

Once you are friendly enough with a pack then if one is starving then they may approach you for food, just be careful and make sure the body language is friendly/submissive and not aggressive. You can then drop some food for it and it will take it without attacking.
If you are being attack by cannibals and the befriended pack sees this then they may attack the cannibals to defend their 'food source'.

While they are friendly they won't move den/home, you can get a bit closer without them warning you to go away (makes it easier to see some pups). They will still attack if you get too close to any pups or hurt any of them.

If you do not maintain this friendship by feeding then they will become less friendly until they don't care about you anymore.

Uses for them
They provide a challenge to the survival aspect of the game.
Can provide you with wolf skin that can be used for decoration.
Adds more to the environment and dynamics of the world.
If befriended then can provide some protection.

Bears

Basics:

• There will be a small number of brown bears around the map.
  
• There will be locations on the map that they can use as dens (like the single room caves)
  
• They are solitary creatures that avoid interacting with other bears.
  
• Hunt their own food and have a hunger system, if they can't get enough food to feed themselves they may go after a cannibal (or you).

Behaviour:

• Bears will roam the forest in search for food, they will eat the berries off of berry bushes where available.
  
• They will gather at rivers where fish jump to try and catch them for food, there is a chance that two bears may go to the same spot for food and this may be the only chance to see 2 bears at once without a fight.
  
• If there are wolf cubs around then if hungry enough they may attempt to hunt one.
  
• They will also kill small animals for food.
  
• During the winter bears will hibernate in their dens/caves, as long as you aren't making too much noise outside the den then they won't be disturbed. However if you sneak and wake them up they won't be too happy and will chase you off or attack you.
  
• They will have a hunger system similar to the wolves in that if they don't get enough food then they may seek out a human victim.
  
• If a bear comes across another bear then there will be a showdown, they will try to scare each other off and if that fails they may fight each other.
  
• Bears will generally avoid attacking people unless hungry or provoked.
  
• Cannibals will actively avoid bears unless attacked by one.
  
• They can leave scratch marks on tree trunks (A way to tell that bears are around/have been in the area)

Attacking:
Bears will avoid a fight if possible, they will growl and roar at you to get you to go away. If that fails they will enter fighting mode (if they don't decide to just run away instead). They will approach you cautiously and may charge at you. (Running away at this point may cause the bear to chase you). The first time it charges will most likely be a bluff charge and if you stand your ground it will back off a bit again. However if you attack it then it will attack back.
To get out of this fight then you should walk away while facing the bear and resist any bluff charges once you get enough distance between you and the bear then it will leave you alone and go about it's business.

Bear spray could also be added as something you can find in the world (Maybe even be able to refill it with a plant blend you can craft). Using this on a bear when it charges at you will stop the charge and cause it to loose interest in you for a moment giving you a chance to gain some distance.

If you choose to fight a bear then using melee will more than likely result in your death
You have a few options:
Large calibre gun like a shotgun slug or revolver round, a well placed shot to the head will take it out.
Crossbow/Compound bow could take it out in a couple shots with carbon fibre bolts/arrows.
Using a crafted bow/9mm/weaker arrows will be less effective and require more shots to stop the bear.
Taser/baton won't get through the fur.

If the bear is damaged enough then it may attempt to flee unless it is killing for food, then it will be a fight to the death.

Uses for them
Provides a challenge for the survival aspect.
Can provide you with bear skin that can be used for decoration or worn as an outfit.
Bear skull/head decoration.
Adds more to the environment and dynamics of the world.
Gives the berries more things to do.

Please provide feedback below about this idea and anything that could be added/changed.

[Duke H. Vytantis]

Well-written but I think Endgames wants to keep it more of a horror game rather than a wildlife survival game. However the wildlife is still too one-sided regardless.
When marching through half the island it feels too much WIP or empty, regardless of the vast, well-crafted, dense bushes etc.

Wolves & Bears sounds good but it should be much simpler and amplify the effort they've put in the seasons-system:

-> The wolves mind their own business during the easier seasons and stay in a smaller radial area around their "den".
But during winter food is more scarce so they venture out further and said radial area expands that season.

-> If wolves would take away too much from the game, can always try with a solo mountain lion, cougar or maybe even a wolverine.

-> Bears are rare and hang around the nice sloped creeks where the fish jump around in. During spring they have a cub and are extra dangerous when near them. During winter they hibernate.

-> Boars because why not, TF had em.

-> Improve the moose ai & hp.

Enough unused mapspace and empty caves in the game right now to implement this.
Making them rare and local to specific areas is better than letting them roam the map etc. The wildlife needs to be expanded upon. But it should still be cannibal savage and mutant supreme. The more fleshed out the island gets tho, the greater the impact of getting attacked by the mutants tbh.

[The_Wolfian]

I did make it quite complex to be fair, it can always be dumbed down, and in terms of horror I feel like having a pack of wolves watching/stalking you in the night would be kinda scary.

And the wolves would be local to certain sorts of areas but they can move locations after some time to keep things different.

The seasons would greatly affect their behaviours as well.

[Bodean Abernathy II]

That would be neat, I think it would add to the horror aspect too. Gathering resources or just moving from point A to point B you will have to look out for anything, man, mutant or animal. Especially coming across an angry grizzly.

[Giga Gero]

Ok guys thiss is awesome can we just somehow post it to devs if there will be enough people with this request they have to add it

[Boogie 0_0]

Hopefully developers can take inspiration from this post.
So much effort and so many details.
I shall award thee

[Ryzilynt]

Originally posted by The_Wolfian:

...so of course if it was to be added then the devs could choose parts not to add or simplify things to their liking...

This was the only thing that stood out to me.

I'm cool with suggestion though.

[Raikira]

+1 for Bears

[Boogie 0_0]

Originally posted by Raikira:

+1 for Bears

For reals

[ryannorgreeves]

Wow. Lot of thought put into this. There's a level of complexity that would maybe be tough to do right, but would make it a more worthwhile add. Honestly there could be other impacts. Something like - Muddy cannibals steering clear of an area or ceasing to follow you if you enter a pack territory. Whether or not your current armor/appearance causes aggression or passiveness. A wolf pack is likely to go after someone in deer hide armor or avoid flesh armor cause it smells like the mutants you cut it from.

Your system of getting the wolves feeling less aggressive and more of a coexist mode does lead into some interesting situations of leading some enemies into their turf and slipping to the side and watching the pack go to work. Cannibal AI being not great was a concern in another thread, but if they were able to get some to aggro wolves/bears and others run that would pair nicely with the animal AI of warning you and not just always attack mode.

[alfaunicorn81]

Thanks!

I would rather tame a wolf than Kelvin *yep...I'm not joking xD*

[trevorkrause]

Originally posted by The_Wolfian:

I have made this rather complex so of course if it was to be added then the devs could choose parts not to add or simplify things to their liking.

Many people are wanting more variety and challenge in the world to help with the survival aspect. Endnight have stated they have no plans for bears or wolves currently but here we go anyway.
Endnight seem to like the AI side of things so having a somewhat smart ai for animals would be great as well, especially for the long term survival aspect of the game.

Wolves

Basics:

• The island could be populated with a few packs of timber wolves. (3-4 different packs)
  
• There will be locations on the map that they can use as dens (like the single room caves)
  
• They roam the map as a pack.
  
• They can have pups during the spring. (Will be more defensive around young)
  
• Hunt their own food and have a hunger system, if they can't get enough food to feed themselves and their family they may go after a cannibal (or you).
  
• They will occasionally howl, if you can hear howling then you know they are in the area.
  
• Anywhere between 5-10 wolves in a pack.
  
• Packs are persistent (if you kill half of a pack of 8 then only 4 will remain in that pack until they have more babies) If an entire pack dies then another pack can spawn in after a year/seasonal rotation.

Den system:
A wolf pack will have a den they call home, they will rest and eat here (if they bring food home). When they are out hunting the den may lay empty.

During spring time the pack may have pups and in that case while they are young they will remain at the den with some adult wolves while a smaller group go out hunting.

Every now and then they may decide to move home, in that case all the wolves will move out as a pack in search for a new den location.

Inside an active den you may find meat, bones and other 'scavenged' things.
An unoccupied den may have some bones and maybe some left over stuff.

Hunger system:
The hunger system will work similar to that of the 'anger' system on the cannibals. The hungrier they are then the more likely they are to attack you or the cannibals.
Individual wolves may hunt for small game like rabbits to take back to their den to feed any pups or themselves.

A pack of wolves hunting will go for larger game like deer or even a moose. Each wolf will get a fill of their meal and satiate their hunger.

If they don't get enough food and can't find an alternate food source then they could die and their body will remain in the world for a bit to be scavenged by you or other wolves (If they are also basically starving). Will be more likely to happen during winter.

Pups:
During the spring you may see pups roaming with a pack, or just chilling in/outside of their den.
They won't have babies every spring, if they already have young growing then they won't have more babies until they have all grown.

The wolves will be more defensive when they have babies and will be more likely to attack you, cannibals or even a bear if you/they get to close.

The pups will slowly grow over two years (two seasonal rotations). And become more independent as they get older like joining in on hunting trips or even trying to catch their own food, or even wandering off on their own somewhere.

Attacking:
The wolves will generally avoid the player if they sense them, you may see them observing you from a distance but if they are not showing any aggression then you should be fine if you keep your distance and don't provoke them.

If a wolf is planning to attack you then it's posture will be more aggressive and it will be growling/barking at you to give you a warning.

A single wolf will be fairly easy to fend off as it is likely just starving and looking for food, you could fight it head on or even try throwing it some meat and it may take it and leave you alone, loud gunshots may deter them aswell.

If a pack of wolves decide you are a threat/prey then fighting may not be a wise decision unless you have enough firepower/backup. A way to prevent them from attacking you is fire, they don't like fire and will back away from it, keep at it and hopefully they will leave you alone. Loud gunshots may also put them off but not as much as if they were alone.
If you do fight a group/pack of wolves then if you manage to kill enough of them then the rest may flee.

Befriending Wolves:
This is not taming the wolves! Just making them more friendly towards you.
If you do find out a wolf pack is living in your area then you can attempt to befriend them to make it a little safer for yourself. To make peace with the wolves then you would need to not attack them or threaten them in anyway.

If you notice you are being watched then you can drop some food on the floor (maybe put a stick in the floor and slap some meat on it) and move far enough away, a wolf may then approach the meat and eat it/take it home. If you do this enough then the wolves won't see you as a threat. But as a source of food.

Once you are friendly enough with a pack then if one is starving then they may approach you for food, just be careful and make sure the body language is friendly/submissive and not aggressive. You can then drop some food for it and it will take it without attacking.
If you are being attack by cannibals and the befriended pack sees this then they may attack the cannibals to defend their 'food source'.

While they are friendly they won't move den/home, you can get a bit closer without them warning you to go away (makes it easier to see some pups). They will still attack if you get too close to any pups or hurt any of them.

If you do not maintain this friendship by feeding then they will become less friendly until they don't care about you anymore.

Uses for them
They provide a challenge to the survival aspect of the game.
Can provide you with wolf skin that can be used for decoration.
Adds more to the environment and dynamics of the world.
If befriended then can provide some protection.

Bears

Basics:

• There will be a small number of brown bears around the map.
  
• There will be locations on the map that they can use as dens (like the single room caves)
  
• They are solitary creatures that avoid interacting with other bears.
  
• Hunt their own food and have a hunger system, if they can't get enough food to feed themselves they may go after a cannibal (or you).

Behaviour:

• Bears will roam the forest in search for food, they will eat the berries off of berry bushes where available.
  
• They will gather at rivers where fish jump to try and catch them for food, there is a chance that two bears may go to the same spot for food and this may be the only chance to see 2 bears at once without a fight.
  
• If there are wolf cubs around then if hungry enough they may attempt to hunt one.
  
• They will also kill small animals for food.
  
• During the winter bears will hibernate in their dens/caves, as long as you aren't making too much noise outside the den then they won't be disturbed. However if you sneak and wake them up they won't be too happy and will chase you off or attack you.
  
• They will have a hunger system similar to the wolves in that if they don't get enough food then they may seek out a human victim.
  
• If a bear comes across another bear then there will be a showdown, they will try to scare each other off and if that fails they may fight each other.
  
• Bears will generally avoid attacking people unless hungry or provoked.
  
• Cannibals will actively avoid bears unless attacked by one.
  
• They can leave scratch marks on tree trunks (A way to tell that bears are around/have been in the area)

Attacking:
Bears will avoid a fight if possible, they will growl and roar at you to get you to go away. If that fails they will enter fighting mode (if they don't decide to just run away instead). They will approach you cautiously and may charge at you. (Running away at this point may cause the bear to chase you). The first time it charges will most likely be a bluff charge and if you stand your ground it will back off a bit again. However if you attack it then it will attack back.
To get out of this fight then you should walk away while facing the bear and resist any bluff charges once you get enough distance between you and the bear then it will leave you alone and go about it's business.

Bear spray could also be added as something you can find in the world (Maybe even be able to refill it with a plant blend you can craft). Using this on a bear when it charges at you will stop the charge and cause it to loose interest in you for a moment giving you a chance to gain some distance.

If you choose to fight a bear then using melee will more than likely result in your death
You have a few options:
Large calibre gun like a shotgun slug or revolver round, a well placed shot to the head will take it out.
Crossbow/Compound bow could take it out in a couple shots with carbon fibre bolts/arrows.
Using a crafted bow/9mm/weaker arrows will be less effective and require more shots to stop the bear.
Taser/baton won't get through the fur.

If the bear is damaged enough then it may attempt to flee unless it is killing for food, then it will be a fight to the death.

Uses for them
Provides a challenge for the survival aspect.
Can provide you with bear skin that can be used for decoration or worn as an outfit.
Bear skull/head decoration.
Adds more to the environment and dynamics of the world.
Gives the berries more things to do.

Please provide feedback below about this idea and anything that could be added/changed.

THE LONG DARK is a thoughtful, exploration-survival experience that challenges solo players to think for themselves as they explore an expansive frozen wilderness in the aftermath of a geomagnetic disaster. There are no zombies -- only you, the cold, and all the threats Mother Nature can muster.