Kidnapper fox isn't the problem. The vain shrouds are the true issue.

[Goofy Ahh Rat]

I'm playing the devil's advocate here for a moment, but the vain shroud-kidnapper fox combo is not a bad idea on paper. The feeling of "I have to do this side quest or else the game will be more difficult" is an interesting game mechanic which is common in most game titles. In lethal company's case however, it's completely unfun and a game ending scenario in its current state.

For those who don't know, the new roster of monsters includes the vain shrouds, a plant which, if not taken care of with weed killers, will multiply when you return to the same moon, and the kidnapper fox, which spawns when enough vain shrouds are present in one place and is extermely hostile to players

The kidnapper fox, when disregarding it's high HP, is pretty balanced, since it can't spawn without vain shrouds. The problem is these stupid plants spawn right in front of your ship and are a lose-lose scenario regardless of what you do. If you don't kill the VSH (I'm calling the vain shrouds VSH from now on), then the fox spawns the next time you arrive and likely ends your run. If you try to deal with the VSH (The UNUSUALLY HIGH population of VSH) you have to spend about 120 credits on weed killers, only to leave and have all your hard work reset with the VSH coming back the next day, and that's WITHOUT the fox spawning. Otherwise, you'll just die by the fox if you try to clean the VSH.

It's apparent that this is a problem in every moon, so i've come up with some solutions in the next patch/update:

1) Move the VSH spawns further away from the ship in semi-important locations (i.e near the ladder which leads to the fire exit in Assurance), while increasing the range where the fox can move in order to still make the fox a considerable threat.
2) Reduce the amount of the spawning VSH, or make it multiplicative (One VSH left unkempt will spawn one, two will spawn two, three will spawn three etc.) or make it so if you remove all VSH, no more will spawn for the rest of the run on the specific moon.
3) Actually give the shovel a secondary use instead of only being a melee weapon, being a cheaper, but slower alternative by unrooting the VSH, and rework the weed killer as a ship modification, being expensive, but partly or completely destroying the VSH with a lever or button.

TLDR: Game is currently unplayable due to an unfair monster combo. Some gameplay changes are mandatory in order to fix the game

[jungus]

The average pub lobby already struggles to get like half the loot out of the compound on the easier moons, so it's dumb to also add a bunch of weeds you need to micro manage on an already limited schedule.

[Nokturnal]

Originally posted by jungus:

The average pub lobby already struggles to get like half the loot out of the compound on the easier moons, so it's dumb to also add a bunch of weeds you need to micro manage on an already limited schedule.

Yea, this pretty much. The amount of weeds that spawn is just too high to be worth dealing with. It's either bugged or something else is wrong with it too because our team has gone to new moons we've never visited and there will be like 20 weeds already spawned when we get there. The amount of Weed Killer in each bottle is just so insanely small that you have to just spam Weed killer to try to get rid of them, which just feels like a giant waste of time as the next time you visit it all respawns and then some.

The fox itself isn't that hard to deal with, but if dealing with the weeds is supposed to be a possible gameplay mechanic, it's currently unmanagable. They just spawn and respawn too quickly and the amount of weed killer per bottle is too low to even deal with it in a quick timeframe.

[Beefcakes]

I think it should keep a similar theme of after second quota it spawns. But its a fixed amount 5-10 vein shrouds. And then rather then it spreading, it only spreads a new bush when a player dies or maybe when a body cant be recovered. Once its completely removed, it doesn't spread on that planet any more.

[Viiuan]

there is also the issue of gamebreaking bugs present in the vanilla game (that are addressed by mods like Buttery's) that can make it impossible to remove all of the vain shrouds and in some cases even softlock your Cruiser.

[Richard Roe]

glad we are taking aim at the real problem

fox outside of weeds is a super easy 1 v 1 (maybe make it much much more skittish and bracken like) and give it a visible nest where it will drag a player to kill

if the weeds weren't directly tied to fox they would be more an environmental hazard (which could be cool if done right)

[geordiebroon58]

yea someone finally gets it, the vs is the problem (ima just call it VS due to initials even tho it can stand for "versus")

1. limit the ammount of VS spawns, this means it cant be all over the place becoming tedious to clear and makes it more managble

2. buff the wed killer in some way, increese uses, break vs in 1 shot, make the prive only cost like 10

3. brevent generatiing in unrechable areas and if it is (ets say a pumpkin overlaps it) then the VS just gets deleted

4. as you said dont let it spawn so close to the ship its really annoying when its just tryna pull you out all the time as you are trying to use the monitor to support your teammates

5. as of writing this new idea came in my head, make it take some time efore it spawns that way if you are going in with te intent to clear it doesnt require you to kill it to safely and completly clear it

iv never had a problem with the fox as an enemy apart from it sometimes spawning in the direct path on something like artifice (more of an annoyance)

just that weed killer is hella expensive and hardly does anything nevermind the fact cleaning it is a chore in general and you have to be prepared for it on any map

[Five]

how to deal whit both: vain shoulrd killer and shovel

[JRC0629]

Yea VS spawning right under the ship makes it very difficult to get back into the ship once fox has spawned