Wolves need to be afraid of camp fires

[Gustuv Wynd]

I had told myself I had given up on this game since the idea of super wolves came along...but the Minnesota, US winter weather I've been experiencing in the real wold has made me in the mood for some TLD. So I thought...let's give it one more chance.

I started out in Desolation Point in a Voyager game. I had been avoiding the wolves for the most part. I had only had to kill one in a few hours of game time. I was thinking maybe this isn't so bad.

I was coming out of the mine entrance near the hill up to to Katie's and saw a deer walking right in a nice wind sheltered spot along the road. I had just found a pistol and ammo so I thought good fortune had smiled. So I sneak up and shoot it. Drops on the spot. I build a fire for warmth rather than defense and a way to get a head start on cooking. Select 1kg and harvest. Come out of the time skip fine. Scout around a little bit. Listen and hear nothing. So I select another 1kg and harvest.

I come out of the time skip to "bark, bark, growl...". There is a wolf in stand off mode. I still have my pistol equipped so I pull up and shoot. The wolf actually drops with it's nose touching the deer. Something I thought wasn't supposed to happen...or at least I had read something that critical shots from a pistol got nerfed. Maybe they didn't, but whatever. Was feeling kind of happy since it was in the heat of the fire and I was thinking I might be able to harvest at least some meat of it since I was running light on gear yet. I scouted the local area good and found and heard nothing. I decided to equip a rock and try to scare off any wolf that should come by as I like wolves in real life and even virtually I don't like the idea of killing them for nothing. I select 1kg and harvest.

I come out of the time skip to "bark, bark, growl...", but this time I also heard the pitter patter of tiny wolf paws. It was already charging. I tried to pull out my pistol, but I din't have time. So I fight it off and it goes running off to die. I bandage up and OD on prescription pain killers since one dose can only effect one injury. Feeling very angry now. I scout a long ways off. I find two wolves over by the light house bridge. I kill them both just to leave them lay on the ice as there is no way I could harvest them without freezing in the wind, but now I might be able finally harvest that deer with no wolves around to find me by smell. I go back, start another fire, and select 1kg to harvest.

I come out of the time skip to "bark, bark, growl..." and without even looking at the situation, I hit escape...hit ctrl alt delete...killed the game's exe and uninstalled. I am done.


Can some one tell me how any of the above sounds like good experience? Can some one tell me how this was good decision to make the magnetic labotomy override the instinctual fear of fire that all animals have had for likely millions of years?

Can't even harvest an animal kill without waging a full scale war. This is complete garbage. All I can think of right now is the complete waste of resources and (virtual) life that was spent for nothing. Granted I haven't seen anything this bad in the time I played after this super wolf update...I still have no idea where those wolves were coming from. It isn't a typical spawn point, but there was one moderately close by...though, had the wolves simply been afraid of fire it would not have been an issue.

The only thing I could have tried to differently was quarter the deer and haul it out in pieces, but that takes longer than getting 1kg so I might have had multiple wolf attacks at once in that case...plus had the wind changed I would have to cancel out and run for shelter with nothing. Which isn't fun either, but that is part of the naturalistic challenge the game used to present...now the game feels anything by natural.

Please at least make wolves being afraid of fire an optional custom mode setting...though I personally would rather see a full on restore back to the game version before this last update and we can forget this idiocy ever even happened. I am not going to be one of those people that cries they want a refund after I've had probably well over 1000 hours of enjoyment from the game (and only paid $30 USD for it back in early access), but if the game was like this in the beginning there is no possible way I would have bought it without refunding it. Statistics would dictate that others would feel the same way and I can not see how any one could have experienced what I did and thought it a pleasantly challenging experience.

[wilky]

Originally posted by PowerOn:

CF is overrated, since don't cause health penalty, if you get just need pass a day outdoor, fishing on in a cave.

Thing is that some players go craft 30+ hours on a go, without have a B plan for deal with CF.

Lol, I agree with you.

But sometimes I spend 30 hours crafting in a go (or 30 hours inside forging ammo at Bleak Inlet) but I still never get the risk for Cabin Fever affliction. I guess I just spend a lot of time outside, exploring, fishing, etc.

[PhantomDgen]

I still dont get the very deep mechanics of the wolf yet, but still. i think could be more to them. Wolves are pretty damn smart. Im sure a real lone one or a pack can manage and do ambushes, stalk their prey based on what animal it is, hiding spots and try to corner their target. When i thought about that i expected the game to give the wolf more awareness of the enviroment and plan around it. Maybe perharps obeserve the player going into houses and ambushing, hiding to try and get the player by surprise and vice versa.

There should be situations where i could have an advantage or disavantage interating with then without it being a very substancial advantage. All i see its: Gun good, dont run low on bullet because need bullet to kill wolf without a bunch punishing for attempt to get food.
I thought about maybe when going into building the wolf A.I dont just go away and stick together a bit and kinda round around the building and interact with holes, a window if you let it open and show more agressive ways to interact with stuff if you got bigger amounts of meat. And just give up after a while if you dont have much scent and dont get to close to the places they are checking. Would need more processing power to renderize a bit out of the direct building, but would make other exits and escape routes have a massive tactical advantage and require you to treat homes as an rest are not just being free from all danger until you run low on resources to consume. Maybe even hiding places to put stockpiles, reinforce holes and entrances to block then off, or trap the places they could get in, or bait then. Just somenthing to do not make then just simply ignore you for set time when you enter a building with 5Kg of raw Meat that has holes on the walls.

Of course with proper balancing, i dont want wolves to be even more powerful. But i would like to have more interaction other than:

if X meters from human -> growl, bark randomly, walk sLoWy towards player position
If Y meters from human or atack or aim -> Lock-in and Charge
Then -> run B meters away
After Z time -> Go back hunting hooman

There is obviously more than that, but it has a huge amount of trial and error to learn about somenthing which is purposibly hidden like the coding of ai and how to abuse it. That's not how wolves work, you dont just exploit the way they work, the way their A.I. act. Because it gives the game which should be very immersive and a simulation a very artificial feel. which sends you back to reality that its just an A.I to attack you not an actual Wolf acting like an Wolf would.

Seeing tips like that make me kinda frustrated, i want to play with the mechanics without going any deep into the A.I. Like they acting like that on an specific tick, or when crouch, and decoys make you invisible to them. And the sudden massive chance of wolf reactions when on real life all that little things and tricks you did would do not have a actual solid change on the situation on real life, you STILL are in front of a damn dead deer, just because its on your hand, should do not make it smellier and increase wolf range by massive amounts. they should feel organic animals after all. They should show FEAR show feelings, pain, HUNGER. Afeting their actions after some events. They attack the player and then just ignore what just happened and how they are bleeding and go back to you until they kill thenselfs. I just get the felling they are some guards who just patrol the map to dificult the player life. They should, but at least not into such guardy-ish way

This its just my thoughs, im dreaming high, that sort of interaction prob (I meant ARE ) just way too much and would just change the whole game so 99% there are not gonna any interaction even getting near that. But damn i was thirsty to find an good organic A.I on these wolves

[Triggerhappy]

I believe there is some sort of glitch associated with passing time in any fashion while near a fire when it comes to wildlife agro. On my current run, on two separate occasions, I started a fire to try and harvest safely with wolves around and combat the cold. The fire successfully stopped the wolves from engaging when I wasn't harvesting, but they would insta-jump me the instant I finish a harvest session. I don't believe fires work as a deterrent when you're passing time. In the same vain, I crouched while harvesting a deer, and heard a wolf speed past me. After that harvest session, I noticed the tracks passed within maybe 5 feet of me, practically walking on top of the deer I was harvesting, which is very definitely within detection range of a wolf when crouched. Harvesting does weird things to the game mechanics.

[Burning Bridges]

Playing with wolves on default difficulty has become completely stupid. The only solution I have found is Custom difficulty. You can disable wolves or tone them down to the bare minimum, although even then they will be guarding places you need to pass, eg where HG placed a 4 wolf patrol on the only passage through Forlorn Muskeg.

[caviarus]

Fire is not a Shelter.


Would be stupid otherwise. Campfire pauses the wildlife only for you to decide what's next.