Wolves not scared of fire...

[GBI • LIFE]

So, I was in Mystery Lake and had set up a snow shelter and had started a fire right in front of it. I went into the shelter yet a wolf ran right past the fire came in and attacked me.

I thought fires were supposed to scare off/deter wolves from attacking %100 of the time?

[Michael]

Was there an aurora? I think they get a bit braver and more aggressive during those.

[GBI • LIFE]

Nah, no aurora as was the middle of the day.

I should have mentioned I was bleeding/bandaging at the time while in the snow shelter. I am thinking that the smell of blood to the wolf overwhelmed it's fear of fire so it attacked anyways. Could that be correct?

[jswilliams]

Wolves and (camp)fires work differently than, well, not sure if you're returning to the game after a break. My understanding is you need to provoke the wolf's fright by aiming with a weapon while near a dropped Torch/Flare, lit campfire. If you just let them growl at you or in your case pass time (bandaging, harvesting, etc.) there is a significant chance it will charge.

My guess...your bleeding attracted it (or it was already following you or you were in its patrol path or something), it approached, and then overcame its fear while you bandaged, which would appear to be instantaneous to you but not for the game's RNG calculation.

Also a fire thrown at them works, but unreliable, and especially unreliable if you don't get it close to them.

From the scenario you're talking you took the best steps you could.

Kinda curious where exactly this happened in ML and did you have Scent?

[IFIYGD]

Originally posted by jswilliams:

Kinda curious where exactly this happened in ML and did you have Scent?

If they were bleeding, they had increased scent, even if the Stink-o-meter was not showing.
Look at custom settings to see what the default vanilla settings are for different modes- predators can smell you even if you aren't carrying meat/fish/guts or bleeding. Meat/fish/guts/bleeding increase the scent you give off and how far away the predator can smell it from. IRL- I don't have to stink to high heaven for my service dog to smell chemical changes indicating my blood glucose is going low or high. She can sniff it and alert to it from across the room, or from another room if there are not strong odors (like cooking) going on. Not having the Stink-o-meter lit up with 3 squiggles in the game does not mean you have zero scent.

Custom settings- look at default settings for wildlife scent/smell range, scent increase from meat and blood, and wildlife detection range. These 3 things really determine how easily predators can smell/hear/see you. Wolf fear plays into the scenario as well... default is medium settings across all modes IIRC, and it determines how likely a wolf is to be scared off by fire, torches, flares and gunshots. I am guessing it affects how they react to the new flash-bangs from BRM too.

[GBI • LIFE]

Thanks folks, your replies gave me some good reading to learn from for sure! Definitely some things I wasn't aware of before.

It occurred by the large 2 story cabin by the lake itself.. foolishly I should have just run inside the cabin instead of using the Snow Shelter lol, but that's a good piece of learning for next time lol.

I also had one bar of scent showing up and my settings are all default.

[jswilliams]

Ah ok. Once upon a time I had a snow shelter by Camp Office tucked into the passage Lake Trail. There is a wolf spawn just over the hill toward the RR tracks. Out of further curiosity where did the battle take place that caused bleeding? Out on the ice or Train Derailment? It must have been a different wolf and was on a sniffer intercept.

You have the right idea though Life, in the future...get indoors. Two kinds of bleeding.

1.The ASAP slap bandage on right now even if Freezing and Wolf in sight or be Dead Right There

2. Where shelter is nearby and a little travel will just cost you double digit health but otherwise no problem.