Cuddle Fish Disappearing

[FlyingFish19]

Hello, I have been having this issue where my cuddle fish randomly disappears for no reason. I have it set to not follow and swim around my base in the bulb zone but after playing for around 40 minutes 1/3 the 3 cuddle fish is just gone. I've heard that all creatures go to the exact center of the map when bugged, so I went there and it wasn't there. Once I came back then my second cuddle fish went missing. Maybe this is a bug that's been in the game for a while or am I missing something? Any help is appreciated!

[Coops]

Maybe they were eaten by a reaper?

[dreamrider]

C'mon, Coops,
That would have to be a VERY determined, and visible Reaper. A cuddlefish has TWICE the HP of a Reaper, and it is faster and nimbler. Also, the base is in the Bulb Zone. So, unless it is very close to the mountains ... what Reaper?

OP:
Creatures DO retreat toward the center of the map, but not when "bugged". Retreat behavior is triggered when the creature is significantly hurt. But the retreat is not immediately all the way to the center of the map. It is progressive, along a vector toward the center of the map. A hurt creature (at least the hurt Reapers of my (ahem) "acquaintance") will migrate a few hundred meters, then try to settle on a new focus point.

So, looking for them in the direction of the center is a reasonable idea. If something (an ampeel?) DID hurt them, maybe they would do that. But to search for where they might have ended up from that sort of migration, you would need to search all along a vector from their original focus spot (your base) to the center of the surface map. And they are small - it will need to be a careful search.

The good news: Once they are out of the Bulb Zone along that vector, I can't imagine anything that would hurt them.

(One thought: I have never tried it, or looked at the Scanner menu when there was an active cuddlefish, but will the Scanner Room locate a cuddlefish? Does anyone know? Admiral? Kippen? Lil Puppy? Ignis?)

[Coops]

Originally posted by Coops:

Maybe they were eaten by a reaper?

A Dingo ate your baby!

[Cheboygan]

Originally posted by Coops:

A Dingo ate your baby!

Not to be that guy, but most investigations have concluded that her baby was actually eaten by a dingo.

[FlyingFish19]

Originally posted by dreamrider:

C'mon, Coops,
That would have to be a VERY determined, and visible Reaper. A cuddlefish has TWICE the HP of a Reaper, and it is faster and nimbler. Also, the base is in the Bulb Zone. So, unless it is very close to the mountains ... what Reaper?

OP:
Creatures DO retreat toward the center of the map, but not when "bugged". Retreat behavior is triggered when the creature is significantly hurt. But the retreat is not immediately all the way to the center of the map. It is progressive, along a vector toward the center of the map. A hurt creature (at least the hurt Reapers of my (ahem) "acquaintance") will migrate a few hundred meters, then try to settle on a new focus point.

So, looking for them in the direction of the center is a reasonable idea. If something (an ampeel?) DID hurt them, maybe they would do that. But to search for where they might have ended up from that sort of migration, you would need to search all along a vector from their original focus spot (your base) to the center of the surface map. And they are small - it will need to be a careful search.

The good news: Once they are out of the Bulb Zone along that vector, I can't imagine anything that would hurt them.

(One thought: I have never tried it, or looked at the Scanner menu when there was an active cuddlefish, but will the Scanner Room locate a cuddlefish? Does anyone know? Admiral? Kippen? Lil Puppy? Ignis?)

I live right next to the lifepod within the bulb zone, so around the center of it near the mushroom forest. I recently tested this morning that when I hatch alien containment ampeels, they chase away the cuddlefish. Now I just have to find as you said along its vector. One thing to note, my safe shallows might be bugged as there is ampeels there and around 200 meters away from lifepod 5 is a reaper leviathan destroying an ecosystem because of that one time I went to the kelp forest near the aurora's engines.

[dreamrider]

It isn't bugged. There are several reasons that aggressive creatures may relocate/re-focus. But it isn't THAT uncommon.

The Reaper is because it followed you, probably. (I assume you didn't injure it in an early game encounter.)

Ampeels DO show up in the SS, occasionally.

Most of us believe that it is because they get injured somehow, while we are close enough for their cell to be active in the game engine. They will fight with Warpers, or Crabsquids, or especially Reapers that get into the same range. And of course encounters with your avatar.

They might also follow some prey. If that gets them far enough from their spawn point, they then seem to be a bit more free to wander around hunting.

[matbechet09]

I have put a cuddlefish inside my base and it just disappeared 10 hours of playtime later.