wolf aggression

[Whole_Sale_Meats n Fur]

I am relatively new just finishing up on first run through on easiest lvl (pilgrim I think). I recently started a new one moving difficulty up one. I was expecting animal attacks to be possible but infrequent at this level but I am attacked on site constantly. I cant imagine how much worse the wolf attacks would be if I was playing at a more difficult level. Also more recently I noticed a change in wolf aggression even on Pilgrim level. Usually they bolt immediately upon seeing me but recently I have encountered wolfs over a kill that refuse to run. Would appreciate any comments. Thanks in advance.

[IFIYGD]

If you are being attacked frequently in Pilgrim Mode, that is not normal.
In Pilgrim Mode you really have to provoke predators to attack you, and I mean you really have to work hard at it. Carrying meat or guts generally does not provoke predators in Pilgrim Mode. Confronting a wolf while it is guarding a kill *might*, but even then, they usually run off. In Pilgrim, only the Moose (which is not a hostile animal, but rather a territorial one) will happily attack you if you get in its face.

If they are only attacking you if they are at a kill and defending it, yep. That's about the only time they will jump at you in Pilgrim Mode. Don't run up on them. If the wolf is eating or guarding a kill, approach slowly, and stop when the wolf turns toward you. Then take one or two slow steps backward. Throw a stone at them, or wait for a few seconds and take one slow step forward. They will *almost always* run off at that point. But if you run up to the kill and do not stop when they break from eating and turn toward you, growling, they *may* attack.

If you have a weapon like a rifle or bow & arrows, you can often shoot them when they turn from the kill (be quick), and you get a twofer kill. Deer & wolf to harvest together is always nice. Revolvers are not as accurate for this, and often just scare the wolf into running off unless you get a lucky crit shot in.

[Cheese_Slope]

On voyager (the next difficulty above pilgrim), yes, wolves will generally attack you. There is a small chance they will run when seeing you, but don't count on that. I believe wearing clothes made from wolves, bears, or moose increases your chance of scaring them when spotted. However, their detection range is fairly small. A lot smaller than the higher difficulties.

For pilgrim, I've never been attacked by anything (except for a bear once because I shot it). I've run up to a moose many times in pilgrim and never been attacked. The moose will get into attacking position, ready to charge, but then will simply turn around and run. Maybe that's just me and there is still a chance of being attacked on pilgrim.

[Incariuz]

Having torches, flares, or even rocks to throw at them can help. Still not a guarantee, but they help.

[darkscaryforest]

Have you ever seen the movie "A Quiet Place"? Pretend you are surviving in that kind of world

[iwasa]

Once you leave the protection of [general] No Animal Aggression [without provocation] in Pilgrim you become subject to attack by predators. That entails you getting into detection range of the wolf/wolves which has a general area that it/they patrols over.

The scent indicator in status is a qualitative measure of how "smelly" you are and at three scent level the wolf can detect you from pretty far away though it tends to not come loping towards you (it is still searching for the source of that enticing odor).

Sometimes, because of desirable resources/facilities, the devs would place a larger number of wolves in that vicinity - the wolves that circulate around the Coastal Townsite because of the many houses, interior fire locations, and the quonset garage, in Coastal Highway being an example.

I play only Pilgrim so I know that I picked up bad habits from the relative immunity to attack. You just have to adjust to the change and pick up habits and tactics to minimize your danger.

Good luck.

[Whole_Sale_Meats n Fur]

Thanks for all the comments. I did just recently get attacked by a wolf in Pilgrim. I ran up on it just as it killed a rabbit. I guess the timing was bad. Afterwards that same wolf in the area killed a deer. I approached a lot more slowly and instead of running (which up to that point) they had always done it just faced me and growled. It matched my movements as I moved back and forth continued to growl probably for about 15 seconds or more. Since that happened right after the first wolf attack I had on Pilgrim I thought that it may be related. I then had it happen a couple times since in the same region and then seemed to stop. They run away again like they used to. Thanks again for all the comments I like to try to understand some of the more subtle things I find.

[iwasa]

I play in Pilgrim and took to sneaking up on a feeding wolf to shoot it. At the time being less than level 5, I would have to stand up to shoot. Was I surprised when I crept [too] near then I stood up and the wolf immediately turned from feeding and attacked. Took me a while to get over my shock about what happened. About the only time that the wolf didn't "fear" me.

[Whole_Sale_Meats n Fur]

I guess even on Pilgrim disturbing a wolf eating can invoke an attack. Interesting.

[Whole_Sale_Meats n Fur]

I agree, when I got attacked I was right there when he was about to eat the rabbit.

[IFIYGD]

Back in 2016 when I first started playing the game, I was chased by the bear on Mystery Lake. I was down by the last fishing hut, by its cave. I knew the bear was roaming the lake nearby, and didn't think anything of it. I was playing Pilgrim. Nothing was going to attack me, right?
I don't remember clearly what I did that made the bear chase me. We couldn't throw rocks then, I had no fish or meat or guts on me. But I saw bones in the cave and ran over to check it out- it was the first time I saw bones at a cave entrance. I think the running may have gotten the bear to chase me. Never turn your back on a bear and run (in game or in real life). I did not get mauled, but that bear charged all the way to the cave and reared up in the entrance, but ran off when I turned the character around, crouched, and faced it.

Scared the begeebers out of me. And I learned then that caves with bones in them are bear dens, and yes... bears do not like you going into their caves, even in Pilgrim Mode. I am not sure if I had kept my back turned to the bear when it was reared up if it would have mauled me or not. Or if I had moved toward it instead of crouching down. That was over 5 years ago, and a lot has changed in the game since then, but it was a lesson for me that in Pilgrim, you are not 100% safe from predators, even if the bear did not rip me to shreds that day. You still need to be cautious in Pilgrim Mode.

[Whole_Sale_Meats n Fur]

interesting story thanks for the info.