So Red Paw Icon does not necessarily mean aggressive animal/creature?

[quiescentCeez]

Found a giant rat head like dinosaur creature. The red paw icon shows when you are scanning him yet he doesn't seem to be as aggressive as most.

"Hostile, aggressive fauna that are near the player are indicated by a red paw icon; they will attack and try to kill the player when in range."
- NMS WIki

He does attack if I stand right in front of him yet not always. Does a lot of animal belching/roaring but doesn't really attack me as compared to some other creatures that just kept on attacking me.

5 min of standing around him and he only bit me twice and ran around in circles and stop and roar then run around again but did not approach me directly.
Also note that the scan described it as Mature/Rational/Cautious/Worms(diet)/Gentle Soul.

I'm regretting the few red paw icons I've killed on site.
Hehe.. I feel bad now and maybe they were just territorial.

A bug? Bad coding? Or as intended?

[WoogieMonsutā]

Some of them try to "stalk" you instead of charging directly at you. It is not a bug.

[Xenomorph]

Most of the creatures nowadays have a really large turn radius, so the AI might having trouble getting to you just by sidestepping and such. But the paw means aggressive, yes. However, you might get a break if they just killed prey, and they become peaceful for a while.
These days i always keep a good stash of pellets, got a fancy for finding large predators, riding them and taking pictures for whatever reason :)

[quiescentCeez]

Hehe.. TY guys .. yeah i'm sure if i afked it would have killed me eventually.
Ahh.. I either forgot or did not know(confusing survival games.. ARK cough..) about the taming and riding mechanics that is something i will try out.. lol

[Xenomorph]

Taming and riding is very simplistic. You tame critters so you can collect stuff then have (like milk, eggs and such), and riding you toss them a pellet, can mount them and walk around, but this feature is a bit underdeveloped. Creatures are not too fast, get tired too quick, have a large turn radius, you cant scan things when riding, and if you jump out, you have to toss them another pellet to ride again before they walk away. I quite enjoy riding different critters and taking pics tho :)

Edit: I'm not 100% sure, but i have a strong feeling that riding critters makes sentinels neutral on planets where sentinels are aggressive, unless maybe you get right on their face. They do not protect against storms tho.

[quiescentCeez]

Thanks for the heads up. I'll be careful testing the mounts/taming. :D

[gamamew]

The red pawn means the animals gets plasma launched in the face by me when showing

[Orion Invictus]

It's realistic, I think. Aggressiveness in the animal kingdom doesn't always mean an outright attack. Some animals just make a lot of noise to keep you at a distance.

[Haunt Fox]

I think they might have hunger mechanics separate from what players do?

I once witnessed a predator kill some other creature out of a herd, appear to eat it a bit, and the thing never bothered me for the few minutes I was doing whatever it was I was doing there. Others will run to you as soon as they spot you (and I've been noticing in those cases, they tend to be the only critter(s) around ....

So they might have "prey animal NPC" set to higher priority for attack than players do. Just a guess.

[Legendary]

Originally posted by gamamew:

The red pawn means the animals gets plasma launched in the face by me when showing

But not too close, or you get the "death quote".

I stopped using Plasma Grenades except when doing the "Infestation" missions for that reason.

[Lailantie]

Originally posted by Sparky the Space Raccoon:

So they might have "prey animal NPC" set to higher priority for attack than players do. Just a guess.

On my home planet there are two predators (bait artificial worms), but they never attack me and I never get red paw signs. They only eat a certain creature species, not the others. If I encounter them they just walk around a bit and then walk away from me.

[Legendary]

My experience is that Red Paw predators always attack - some predators completely ignore me and others will make a bit of a show ( roaring, pawing the ground ) but won't attack.

[76561198126064654]

When you scan a lot of them their info says they "stalk their prey for days." Maybe that, the roaring, bull-stomping, and running circles around you like wolves in Skyrim, is all just whoever does the AI for creatures is trying to have a little fun, and we're overthinking it.