What animals am I recommended to hunt?

[THANKS OBAMA]

I've been hunting skimmers for the hound chow and to level toughness, but they aren't nearly as plentiful around where I live it seems and some nights I can find as few as 1. I wanted to set up a hunting encampment somewhere to find more plentiful targets, but I haven't got a clue what I should be aiming for.

I also can't seem to remember for the life of me where the Skim sands are. i thought they were south of stoat where its red, but I either didn't notice the area transition, or it just didn't leave a big impression on me of swarms of skimmers.

[Morkonan]

Skim Sands are near Okran's Shield/whatever. It's in-between Okran's Shield and Tengu's Tower.

(Note:There are spots where several Skimmers lie in wait, so not unusual for three/four at a time with some spawns. Most are solitary/duos though, from my limited experience running through there.)

If you want to hunt something, hunt something that drops Animal Skins. Make a Skinning bench/Leathercraft bench and you can level up a decent Armor Smith in practically no time at all, just from converting animal skins to leather. Then, make leather armor for your characters and to sell, leveling them up a bit more.

Bonedogs are good hunting, but not if they outnumber you.
Garru = Great hunting. Lots of skins on those.
Goats = Generally come in large herds, but some of the best hunting.
River Raptors = Easy, won't eat you, OK skin drops.
Beak Things = Yeah, great hunting. For them. For you, not so much unless you can handle the incoming damage.

In general - Avoid hunting carnivores that you aren't sure you can overcome, since they'll eat your face when you're unconscious. Other than that, go after Animal Skin drops.

[BloodyRain2k]

I'd suggest River or Swamp Raptors. They seem to be rather plentiful and can spawn in quite large groups and even in groups of smaller groups.
I once ran into over 15 of them which were luckily just 3x5 xD

[cdplayer906]

Originally posted by BloodyRain2k:

I'd suggest River or Swamp Raptors. They seem to be rather plentiful and can spawn in quite large groups and even in groups of smaller groups.
I once ran into over 15 of them which were luckily just 3x5 xD

to add to this, hang around farm settlements (ie HN farms and smaller swamper villages) as they gravitate towards crops. most efficient way is to have bait farms in your own base w/ turrets facing inward. you'll have more animal skins than you know what to do w/.

[THANKS OBAMA]

Alrighty then, thanks for all the tips. I'll be making my hunting encampments heading out west from stoat into HN lands once I clear the Skim Sands. About the skins/leather situation, yeah I only wised up to that possibility recently. Prior to that I was just selling all the skins until I saw how many of them I'd been gathering. Sooner or later I'll be plopping down a tannery in my Stoat house to turn into goodies since I'm working on my third barrel right now.

This is probably my first time hunting but I've been pleasantly surprised with the gains. The money has been squat since I store the leather, but I'm keeping everything fed and the main target for it all is combat stats.

Once I'm averaging 30's and my bonedogs sitting at home hit elder I'll probably move on to try out those beak things as my next targets for experience.

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by loubre:

...This is probably my first time hunting but I've been pleasantly surprised with the gains. The money has been squat since I store the leather, but I'm keeping everything fed and the main target for it all is combat stats....

My armor smith leveled up to about 70 on less than 200 animal skins. That is NOT a lot of animal skins, considering how many opportunities I had to loot them or hunt animals in The Hub area. After that, he was making High quality Dust Coats right off the bat. Other, quicker, items sold for decent amounts, but I used him to outift everyone that needed items, instead. (Copper mining for the win.)

Raptors in HN territory would probably be a good choice, so long as you don't have any non-human group members, certainly not any Skeletons in your hunting crew.

[THANKS OBAMA]

I think the HN guys will leave me alone, hopefully. Earlier on I encountered a swarm of them near the UC towns they destroyed and they gave me the shpiel about wanting my "slaves" so I did the whole "I need them to better spread Okran's word."

I thought I needed to have the Holy Flame on me to accomplish this so I was just gonna book it if they tried anything [60+ Atheltics + Sandals] but I can't help but wonder if because I was a Greenlander that they just let it pass.

[cdplayer906]

Originally posted by loubre:

I think the HN guys will leave me alone, hopefully. Earlier on I encountered a swarm of them near the UC towns they destroyed and they gave me the shpiel about wanting my "slaves" so I did the whole "I need them to better spread Okran's word."

I thought I needed to have the Holy Flame on me to accomplish this so I was just gonna book it if they tried anything [60+ Atheltics + Sandals] but I can't help but wonder if because I was a Greenlander that they just let it pass.

the priest will give you a holy flame on your first prayer day if you tell him you don't have one. greenlanders are good regardless (except on prayer day, you'll need it to pray w/ the priest), but everyone else has the chance of being confronted by patrols w/ the exact dialog you encountered, holy flame on hand or not. skeletons are kill on sight

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by loubre:

I think the HN guys will leave me alone, hopefully....

Imagery in my head when I read that:

"Oh, it'll be fine. They're good guys. It'll be great. It's not like like they don't travel in military formation, threaten to kill anything that doesn't look like a Greenlander, and aren't religious fanatics armed to the teeth who have never once laughed at anything, ever. They're fine. Trust me."

"Uh, so how fast can you run?"

Note: It's been passed around the forums/elsewhere that they don't have anything against Scorchlanders. That is untrue, I think. While my Scorchlander who used to run errands for me in HN territory has never been accosted, one insulted her not long ago, calling her one of the "Darkened Ones" or something like that and claiming she was damned or would be cleansed or some such... Pretty rude, to be honest. :) Gonna have to cleans 'em for that one...

[flu007]

Originally posted by loubre:

Once I'm averaging 30's and my bonedogs sitting at home hit elder I'll probably move on to try out those beak things as my next targets for experience.

Yup, they're pretty good for that. Beak Things are doable if you take care not to get overwhelmed. And their AOE attack is annoying, so it takes a bit of manual positioning to limit that effect, but even then the dogs should get plenty opportunity to raise their Toughness.

They give more chow food than Skimmers too. 6 skins, 5 raw meat and 12 foul meat per Beak Thing. If you have a whole kennel to feed, they're the thing to hunt.

[THANKS OBAMA]

All that meat, both useful and foul, AND SKINS? Yeah I'm gonna have to hit that up in short fashion here. Around where would I find them in large numbers?

[flu007]

I'd start in Vain, the Hive Village west of the Hub, since then you can shelter in the Hive huts if needed. And that Hive Village is close to the edge of their territory, so you can retreat to The Hub for longer healing sessions.

Alternatively, the Catun/Mourn area would also work. Catun in particular, since there are plenty of guards, shops and houses for sale there. Also sizeable packs of Skin Spiders, BoneWolves and Garru that pass through that area.
(In this area, do check the Beak Things before attacking them, though - very occasionally a Beak Thing Elder will wander by, and those are no joke. :)

(Catun is, however, smack in the middle of Beak Thing territory, but if you can get there, it's a good place to settle down for a bit.)

[Serina]

Bonedogs are great for hunting River Raptors. My elder bonedogs could bite once and deal enough damage to incapacitate a raptor so if you have several dogs, they can tear apart a larger group of river raptors fairly quickly.

Beak Things are great, as long as you don't group up for the aoe. I would advise against hunting Beak Things with your bonedogs.

As someone else mentioned above, you can find a good number of Beak Things around the Hive Villagers. I start west of The Hub and follow the river through Vain. I have also found a lot of Beak Things around the Bonefields, between Flat's Lagoon and Catun if you happen to be around that area.

Also, I don't know if you already do this, but I always set maximum number of nests to max (4) in my games now for maximum amount of fun :)

As I type this, Mourn has been overrun by Beak Things. Everyone is dead excluding the people hiding inside the bar and the tech hunter shop. 11 Beak Things camping the NE exit of Mourn. I will sneak my party out during the night through the SW side. :D

[THANKS OBAMA]

Oh I don't mind them taking damage repeatedly, I usually set up a mass of sleeping bags/tent and fire nearby my hunting grounds. So them getting hurt just means more toughness to get 'em regenerating faster with or without the beds. I'm not relying on them for the damage output just yet, just trying to figure out where to toughen them up.

[flu007]

Originally posted by Serina:

I would advise against hunting Beak Things with your bonedogs.

I wouldn't, but do start slow and careful and feel things out. The dogs will get injured a lot, and if they're still pretty green, even if they're Elder, then be prepared to carry some off to safety.

A few well equipped and decently skilled people can handle Beak Things much less messier than with dogs, admittedly. But since his mission is to level up lots of dogs, river raptors aren't going to get him very far, their stats are around 7 or 8 or something.
(If the dogs really are quite green still, though, it's probably not a bad idea to do a batch or two of raptors first to get them up a few levels, at least.)

[Serina]

Originally posted by loubre:

Oh I don't mind them taking damage repeatedly, I usually set up a mass of sleeping bags/tent and fire nearby my hunting grounds. So them getting hurt just means more toughness to get 'em regenerating faster with or without the beds. I'm not relying on them for the damage output just yet, just trying to figure out where to toughen them up.

Oh, gotcha. Then yes, Beak Things would be great for that. I thought you were just hunting for meat/leather. You get the best of everything with Beak Things ^.^