Cannibal behaviour, facts?

[XistenZ]

People are saying that if you kill them alot or cut down trees they'll come after you. Well, both these actions are required for survival/basebuilding so it's not really an option to not do that.

If I have a base that's not in the middle of a patrol, they will not come knocking on my gates, but when I'm running about the island their patrols grow in size the more days I've survived. Is this based only on days survived or is it also connected to how many cannibals I've killed or how many trees I've chopped?

Would be nice to have facts about their behavior and not just theories. Someone must've tested surviving for 100 days using only single-use tents without chopping trees or killing cannibals, living on berries and flowers.
I'm not too interested in that playthrough but I might do it just for the science of it!

[Syncourt]

To my understanding:

1. Trees only aggrivate cannibals if they catch you cutting them down, they can hear you cutting down trees if they are nearby and will then investigate the noise. Otherwise they will spawn near tree stumps and investigate nearby, it is possible to cut trees down a distance from your base carefully without being noticed. If any of your stuctures are in sight of a patrol route or search party they will see and investigate it though.
   
2. They very often spawn when a fire is lit, especially at night and even more so with bonfires. They then usually investigate the fire although I have seen many spawn after the fire is lit and walk straight past the fire without coming to investigate it.
   
3. Cannibal bodies will attract attention also.
   
4. Attacking/killing female cannibals seems to really aggrivate them.
   
5. They do grow in size and strength up to a certain point, I believe that is more to do with the aggression created by deforestation and killing though as well as days survived to a certain degree, but it does not infinitely increase. There seems to be a limit.
   
6. One you have aggrivated them they will always find you, no matter where you go as long as it is within thier pathing limits. I don't believe that killing animals has anything to do with thier agression, so surviving off berries and flowers is of no use and will only stop you from maintaining average weight and gaining strength.
   
   The Q&A thread that is pinned in this forum mentions:
   

   Q: How do enemies find player camps?
   
   
   A: Enemies can be attracted to player camps by lit fires, particularly at night. Bright fires at night will generally draw enemies to investigate the area. Most player generated noises can attract enemies as well, chopping down trees, dropping large objects or throwing things can attract attention. Dead bodies can also attract nearby enemies. There are also parts of the map that enemies will tend to patrol more often, such as villages, cave entrances and beaches. Building your camp too close to these areas can dramatically affect the amount of encounters.

[ARSM™]

Originally posted by Perrterrter:

People are saying that if you kill them alot or cut down trees they'll come after you. Well, both these actions are required for survival/basebuilding so it's not really an option to not do that.

If I have a base that's not in the middle of a patrol, they will not come knocking on my gates, but when I'm running about the island their patrols grow in size the more days I've survived. Is this based only on days survived or is it also connected to how many cannibals I've killed or how many trees I've chopped?

Would be nice to have facts about their behavior and not just theories. Someone must've tested surviving for 100 days using only single-use tents without chopping trees or killing cannibals, living on berries and flowers.
I'm not too interested in that playthrough but I might do it just for the science of it!

you done need to kill them

[Syncourt]

Sorry to clarify, where I say they grow in size and strength I mean numbers and stronger types. Each enemy type has a set amount of hit points and damage dealt per hit no matter how late in the game it becomes. Though there are 'blue' versions of the mutants that are tougher and faster. Kind of hard to spot the difference aside from thier actions though.

[(The) Brunk]

Originally posted by Syncourt:

Sorry to clarify, where I say they grow in size and strength I mean numbers and stronger types. Each enemy type has a set amount of hit points and damage dealt per hit no matter how late in the game it becomes. Though there are 'blue' versions of the mutants that are tougher and faster. Kind of hard to spot the difference aside from thier actions though.

the blue cannibals are bigger as well