relentless base attacks since installing traps

[Goggles Paesano]

Playing single player, normal difficulty... Have my base fully walled in with reinforced defensive walls. Recently got the directive to install defenses. Installed 10 deadfall traps around the about half the perimeter of my base, nearest to my gates. Ever since, my base is under almost relentless attack. Every day, every night, with breaks in between.

Is this normal? Is this going to stop or slow down? Do they run out of cannibals?

By the way, the deadfall traps have been extremely effective for me in the way I installed them, with the drop side facing inward towards the defensive walls. I've seen a lot of people face the drop side outward, and they are not nearly as effective that way. I even left a small gap between the wall reinforcment spikes and the trap triggers, just enough for me to fit though that gap. But the cannibals trigger them almost every time (sometimes they climb up on the spikes and don't trigger them immediately, but eventually they do). I've killed dozens of them over the course of a week of game days since I installed them.

If this is the new normal for my game, I may just stop playing. This is ridiculous.

[RequiemsRose]

So, you are encountering the delights of the aggression system, which may take some explaining. There are actually several tribes across the map that each track aggression separately. Aggression will rise slowly across all tribes, but engaging in activities they dislike within their presence will also speed up the process and it's a long list of actions they dislike. Some of the highlights include: large or multiple fires, running, harming or killing them, and damaging nature (they don't seem to mind hunting but they do mind chopping trees and smacking bushes).

Ultimately it means that anyone setting up a large or long-term base is likely to anger the enemies in their respective region, which it seems you have done. The aggression level will determine general cannibal behavior in that area though it mostly applies to tribals (the ones with decorations or primitive clothing, and light warpaint), and it has 3 basic phases that are relatively easy to identify: curiosity, aggressive, cautious.
-Curiosity is the closest you get to neutral and it's what you start at. The cannibals are generally curious, they will follow at a distance, scream, rush you, but hitting you is not too common.
-Aggressive is the stage you will spend most of the game in. They are angry with you and on the hunt. You will start seeing war parties when you have a consistent base, and combat is almost guaranteed when meeting a cannibal.
-Cautious is basically what happens when you max out the aggression system but haven't died a lot to it. The enemies take traits from both previous stages. When in smaller groups they are more likely to act like they are curious; keeping distance, yelling, but avoiding combat again. When more show up or one of the big boys joins the fun, they get much braver and will hop into the fight when they feel they have enough numbers or strong enough support.

As for your questions:
-Is it normal?
yes and no. It's normal for the attacks to become more frequent and harder over time, but where you choose to build your base can be a significant factor in how often you have to deal with your enemies. The more traffic an area generally has, the more trouble you will have with your neighbors on average.
-Is it going to stop or slow down?
Also a yes and no. That is why I explained the aggression system early in the post. It may slow down in a sense when your region reaches the cautious phase of aggression, or you might find it isn't as bad in areas you haven't riled them up in yet. However, the aggression never goes down. It will eventually grow in all regions no matter what you do. However, you will also find or make better items with which to protect or defend yourself with as you progress so once you get the hang of it it isn't so bad
(Bonus tips: with melee, strafe and stab. Most enemy attacks are linear. Side-stepping avoids most damage as a result, and puts you in a good position to counter strike in most cases. If you have a certain skill with bows, it's also worth noting that headshots nearly guarantee a one-shot on a cannibal as well.)
-Do they run out of cannibals?
Again, yes and no. There are only about 2 exceptions, but generally enemies won't respawn within caves. In that sense you can clear an area out and use it to avoid further hassle, if you don't mind cave life. On the surface however, they respawn, so they will never fully disappear unless you choose a gamemode that doesn't include them.

(It's also worth noting that if you don't want to lose your buildings you spent forever on, you can disable the ability for building destruction. Neither players nor enemies can break structures while it's disabled under normal circumstances).


TL;DR version:
There's a lot of factors that play into how often or overwhelmingly you get attacked, but right now you have angered your neighbors so they feel compelled to pound on your doors and beat you up for it.

[Rina]

Aga

[2High2tell]

WELL DONE @RequiemsRose That explains it well of a lot better then I could.

You can actually live somewhat peacefully for a long while if you tread lightly. Your traps, were a trap. LOL The traps set off, pisses off the natives who come a little more in force, which you trap and kill which pee's them off even more. Its a cycle.

I think the devs did a hell of a job with the aggressive system. Something I think that gets overlooked.

[Goggles Paesano]

I agree. @RequiemsRose, Thank you for a very detailed explanation.

Prior to setting up the traps due to the item appearing on the to-do list, I was living in my walled-in base without issue. I had not killed any natives at that point. I used stealth and avoided them as much as possible. I had cut down many trees for my defensive walls and stock, bashed totems (to get cloth and skulls)... but they never attacked my base. With one exception, a blue arm or leg monster (I can't remember which one) appeared at my base and attacked at day 30.... which surprised me since I read they are an advanced enemy and I had not killed anyone at that point.

On day 45, I ventured north to the edge of the snow biome to get boar skin. I unintentionally stayed overnight at the top of a cliff which was also the base of the snow biome as it got too dark to safely navigate back (because of the cliff and water). I did manage to down four boars, so had four of the six boar skins I wanted (so I could build the cold suit and a spear bag). On the way back, I encountered some natives that made runs at me. I'm not sure if I successfully hit any of them in self defense. I know they hit me a few times bc I lost a few pieces of the so-called stealth armor.

It was when I got back from that trip, that I noticed the set up defenses item appeared on my to-do list.

One other thing to note, I have not been captured in this game. I do not have the compass or map yet in this playthrough. (I tried a prior playthrough on hard and the arm/leg mutants blew though my base like a tornado and largely destroyed everything only 27 days in, so I quit that attempt and started at normal).

I'm pretty sure I left the last save prior to setting up the traps. I'm thinking of reloading it and going on without the traps and see if the base is attacked. If not, I think I'll skip setting up the traps for as long as I can. The completion of even one advanced trap seems to trigger a sea change in the native behavior.

As @2High2tell said, the traps were a trap, lol.

There are a few other things I would note as strange or bugs.

1. At some point prior, I was awarded the serial killer (100 cannibal kills) achievement without ever having killed a single cannibal.
2. I found dead cannibals more than once. I can only surmise that tribes either kill each other or more likely that the leg/arm/fat bastaard mutants kill them.
3. I think I got credit for those mutant kills, which is not fair if the aggression system picks that up as my doing.

[RequiemsRose]

Originally posted by Goggles Paesano:

There are a few other things I would note as strange or bugs.

1. At some point prior, I was awarded the serial killer (100 cannibal kills) achievement without ever having killed a single cannibal.
2. I found dead cannibals more than once. I can only surmise that tribes either kill each other or more likely that the leg/arm/fat bastaard mutants kill them.
3. I think I got credit for those mutant kills, which is not fair if the aggression system picks that up as my doing.

Pacifist and the inverse achievement, serial killer have some known quirks to them. You are correct that the cannibals are prone to in-fighting (especially tribals vs ferals), and you are correct that all cannibal deaths end up counted against you regardless whether you actually had any part in the matter or were even aware they died.

Which is where the odd multiplayer setup comes in handy for many people. Getting serial killer is fairly easy, getting pacifist on the other hand tends to require either a SP mode without enemies or enjoying a bit of time in the Multiplayer games. This happens to be because the host counts as "the Player" to the AI within the game. This means all cannibal deaths on a multiplayer server get blamed on the host, rather than any of the players present (and likely doing the killing). Since your kills count against the host rather than you, in multiplayer, you can commit genocide and still end up with the pacifist achievement after the required 10 day period as long as your are not the host.

[Goggles Paesano]

I reloaded that save prior to installing the traps. It's been 6 game days and there is no onslaught. No attacks on my base at all. There is no doubt to me that installing an advanced trap at this point, is a trigger. I also know that if I go to install a line of traps, I will set them all up and wait till all of them are placed and built 99%, and only then insert the last stick in all of them to activate them all at once. Otherwise, it will be hell to try to get the rest installed.

Note that leaf traps don't count as I have them surrounding my base and that didn't make any difference when I did it.

Day 51 and I still haven't had to kill any of them yet. I know that will change once I start exploring the caves. Trying to put that off as long as possible and gather everything else I can first.

No doubt I would have had the pacifist achievement if it worked correctly, and not the serial killer.

I did note that one recent game day as I was heading north, a line of tribesmen appeared to be running away from a fat bastaard mutant. The fat bastaard mutant seemed to be chasing them (albeit, slowly). I can see that kind of thing is likely the source of the dead natives I've found face down in the field.

[RequiemsRose]

Surprisingly, not often. Normally cannibals will drop their current activity when they spot you, but in certain situations you might encounter some interesting interactions they have. They are their own most common cause of accidental death surprisingly. The big things come in several flavors, and are generally known as creepies. Some have special abilities that can result in cannibal death, like when they make trees fall, but largely they don't fight with the cannibals.

The cannibals don't even hunt (anything but you and your food racks) so they don't die to animals either. Instead, the starving ferals tend to pick fights with the tribals to varying degrees of success. Sometimes they even "drown" themselves by running just a bit too far into deeper water while maneuvering around each other. It's also worth noting that sleeping cannibals tend to be hard to wake up if met by something other than the player, but apparently the sleeping one shot also applies to other cannibals striking them. It doesn't happen often but it's an interesting way to find out that hardy grey cannibal was murdered in a field by a starving feral that swung while he slept.

[EnemigoDeLaMafia]

The defensive wooden walls act like a magnet for cannibals, for some reason.

Also once they spot your base, it's likely they'll come. You can move to another area of the map for a while and they'll have to "spot you" again.

Keep in mind that deforestation is one of the things that raises their activity.

[Nephilim]

Originally posted by RequiemsRose:

So, you are encountering the delights of the aggression system, which may take some explaining. There are actually several tribes across the map that each track aggression separately. Aggression will rise slowly across all tribes, but engaging in activities they dislike within their presence will also speed up the process and it's a long list of actions they dislike. Some of the highlights include: large or multiple fires, running, harming or killing them, and damaging nature (they don't seem to mind hunting but they do mind chopping trees and smacking bushes).

Ultimately it means that anyone setting up a large or long-term base is likely to anger the enemies in their respective region, which it seems you have done. The aggression level will determine general cannibal behavior in that area though it mostly applies to tribals (the ones with decorations or primitive clothing, and light warpaint), and it has 3 basic phases that are relatively easy to identify: curiosity, aggressive, cautious.
-Curiosity is the closest you get to neutral and it's what you start at. The cannibals are generally curious, they will follow at a distance, scream, rush you, but hitting you is not too common.
-Aggressive is the stage you will spend most of the game in. They are angry with you and on the hunt. You will start seeing war parties when you have a consistent base, and combat is almost guaranteed when meeting a cannibal.
-Cautious is basically what happens when you max out the aggression system but haven't died a lot to it. The enemies take traits from both previous stages. When in smaller groups they are more likely to act like they are curious; keeping distance, yelling, but avoiding combat again. When more show up or one of the big boys joins the fun, they get much braver and will hop into the fight when they feel they have enough numbers or strong enough support.

As for your questions:
-Is it normal?
yes and no. It's normal for the attacks to become more frequent and harder over time, but where you choose to build your base can be a significant factor in how often you have to deal with your enemies. The more traffic an area generally has, the more trouble you will have with your neighbors on average.
-Is it going to stop or slow down?
Also a yes and no. That is why I explained the aggression system early in the post. It may slow down in a sense when your region reaches the cautious phase of aggression, or you might find it isn't as bad in areas you haven't riled them up in yet. However, the aggression never goes down. It will eventually grow in all regions no matter what you do. However, you will also find or make better items with which to protect or defend yourself with as you progress so once you get the hang of it it isn't so bad
(Bonus tips: with melee, strafe and stab. Most enemy attacks are linear. Side-stepping avoids most damage as a result, and puts you in a good position to counter strike in most cases. If you have a certain skill with bows, it's also worth noting that headshots nearly guarantee a one-shot on a cannibal as well.)
-Do they run out of cannibals?
Again, yes and no. There are only about 2 exceptions, but generally enemies won't respawn within caves. In that sense you can clear an area out and use it to avoid further hassle, if you don't mind cave life. On the surface however, they respawn, so they will never fully disappear unless you choose a gamemode that doesn't include them.

(It's also worth noting that if you don't want to lose your buildings you spent forever on, you can disable the ability for building destruction. Neither players nor enemies can break structures while it's disabled under normal circumstances).


TL;DR version:
There's a lot of factors that play into how often or overwhelmingly you get attacked, but right now you have angered your neighbors so they feel compelled to pound on your doors and beat you up for it.

oh boy you have explained it from A-Z i wish i can reward you with something but im short on points

[Nephilim]

Originally posted by Goggles Paesano:

Playing single player, normal difficulty... Have my base fully walled in with reinforced defensive walls. Recently got the directive to install defenses. Installed 10 deadfall traps around the about half the perimeter of my base, nearest to my gates. Ever since, my base is under almost relentless attack. Every day, every night, with breaks in between.

Is this normal? Is this going to stop or slow down? Do they run out of cannibals?

By the way, the deadfall traps have been extremely effective for me in the way I installed them, with the drop side facing inward towards the defensive walls. I've seen a lot of people face the drop side outward, and they are not nearly as effective that way. I even left a small gap between the wall reinforcment spikes and the trap triggers, just enough for me to fit though that gap. But the cannibals trigger them almost every time (sometimes they climb up on the spikes and don't trigger them immediately, but eventually they do). I've killed dozens of them over the course of a week of game days since I installed them.

If this is the new normal for my game, I may just stop playing. This is ridiculous.

I was wondering the same just now after i existed the game, My base is located at the Big tree near the yacht, On the first arrival there i faced a group of them, They attacked me so i had to gut them, I built my base day after day and i always get at least a small group patroling the outskirts of the tree lines there, And a small group consisting of 2 to 3 always attacking me everyday, Since that i had many bones and limbs, i fully built bone armor on day 3, And started to build more effigies near the tree lines, The more i built the more they become pissed off, They started appearing on the sides of the small hill of that big tree more often than the lines of trees that had a group of effigies near it, As if they are avoiding that area and moved their patrol points on the sides, They started running up and down the hill reaching out on the beach with the yacht or to the other side of the beach next to the small tent, As if they trying to cut me off and encircle me but they dont attack me, Only if i approach their patrol line they stop and attack, it's been 11 days and i didn't see any big guys, I wonder why, So in short, I have the same experience with you but im facing the beach bikini tribe at the big tree on the hill, They tend to become more aggrassive and more frequent attacks when i built effigies and 2 traps.

Note : They saw me holding 2 wooden sleds full of bodies waiting to be cooked, That pissed them off very much and they rushed from their patrol lines to attack me, one of them tried to drag one of the dead bodies with him but the entire patrol was cooked for dinner, I noticed that i became the cannibal not them, right now since day 9 to currently day 11 i only saw 2 patrols and if they saw me they run away directly.

[Goggles Paesano]

Since I reloaded the save I judiciously kept prior to installing the traps, I have not had a base attack by the tribes.... and that was even after killing all available crazies in the "hanging cave." The only base attack I've experienced was from a random pair of patrolling mutants, a fat baastard and an armsey, that wandered too close to my base. The key is to get out of the area of your base asap and lead them away so that they don't destroy the place.

The other day, I experienced a "worm" attack while exploring... which was both interesting and terrifying as I had not seen one of them before. They are pretty cool, actually. It was kind of jaw dropping and I've played a lot of games for a lot of years. Lots of WTF? were muttered at the time.

[Nephilim]

Originally posted by Goggles Paesano:

Since I reloaded the save I judiciously kept prior to installing the traps, I have not had a base attack by the tribes.... and that was even after killing all available crazies in the "hanging cave." The only base attack I've experienced was from a random pair of patrolling mutants, a fat baastard and an armsey, that wandered too close to my base. The key is to get out of the area of your base asap and lead them away so that they don't destroy the place.

The other day, I experienced a "worm" attack while exploring... which was both interesting and terrifying as I had not seen one of them before. They are pretty cool, actually. It was kind of jaw dropping and I've played a lot of games for a lot of years. Lots of WTF? were muttered at the time.

i noticed everytime i check my lumber mill area were i cut down trees, Cannibals tend to always watch the base from afar and its been like 7 days everytime i show up there they were just there watching between the tree lines and when i appear they leave directly, Some moments i saw a group of 4 attacking my noose trap and disabling it, Then shortly after they attempted a failed ambush from behind, Was cooked after for bones.

[General Malaise]

Killing loads of Cannibals in traps is one of the best bits of the game for me.

I'm just having another go, after about a year or more since playing. I've got my base near the Yacht, my favourite place - though I have tried others.

I just build loads and loads of trap, and even a party of around 8 or so, will all die. Gives you loads of bones for Armour.

[Nephilim]

Originally posted by General Malaise:

Killing loads of Cannibals in traps is one of the best bits of the game for me.

I'm just having another go, after about a year or more since playing. I've got my base near the Yacht, my favourite place - though I have tried others.

I just build loads and loads of trap, and even a party of around 8 or so, will all die. Gives you loads of bones for Armour.

wows we are the same thing here, i also havent played in half a year and in my favorite place too the tree next to the yacht, I suffer from many patrols there tho

[General Malaise]

Originally posted by I LOVE ICECREAM:

Originally posted by General Malaise:

Killing loads of Cannibals in traps is one of the best bits of the game for me.

I'm just having another go, after about a year or more since playing. I've got my base near the Yacht, my favourite place - though I have tried others.

I just build loads and loads of trap, and even a party of around 8 or so, will all die. Gives you loads of bones for Armour.

wows we are the same thing here, i also havent played in half a year and in my favorite place too the tree next to the yacht, I suffer from many patrols there tho

We may be in a different place. I'm in the bay next to The Yacht.

I always grab a pot for water, sometimes the Modern Axe, and go to what Farket calls The Fertile Lands. I'll craft everything while I'm there(you have to go a bit further North for Wild Boar), and do a bit of grinding. Then I'll build a Raft House and paddle down to the bay.

If you have enough traps, even the Mutants will die easy enough - but not the Worm thing though.

This is work in progress. It's still OK when a large group arrives, but I'll double this amount of traps eventually.

I'm on Day 61. I've got Strength over 80, and Athleticism over 70. I've not been in many caves yet. When my base is complete, I'll be doing more of them.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2608578774