Taming Strategies

[Brass Buckles]

First, a little info:

I'm playing almost exclusively singleplayer. I rebuilt my computer a while back so rather than load my backup save, I decided I'd start over. Right now I'm still in hide, probably moving to chitin in another few levels. I am a nervous, cautious player and I tend to progress slowly, so even with the previous high-level character, there was lots of stuff I hadn't done. I have done basically no ocean exploration (I want to) or caves (I really want to, but I have to find them first!). I have not fought any of the bosses.

I'm going to want to move on to taming bigger tames soon, as well as smaller ones that are difficult. I'm finding that for some creatures I want to tame, I'm going to need to try some other strategies. There are some strategies I already know, like using an Argentavis with a high-melee scorpion set to Aggressive to take down a Quetzel.

First creature: Beelzebufo. I tried once, from the back of my trike, and it nearly knocked out my trike. Had to kill it instead. What's the best method to knock one of the frogs out? Do I need to be on foot and just try to circle it? Hunting blind of some sort? Something else?

Next creature: Giganotosaurus. I'm not at a level I need to worry too much about taming one just yet. But I thought I should start planning my strategy now, so I'm fully prepared at that point. I haven't seen one yet this game (thankfully!) but I know very well how difficult they are, and how dangerous if one shows up near my base before I'm building in metal. Last game I lost a good Argentavis to one with just one hit, while flying high enough above it I assumed I would be safe.

Would it work to build a metal hunting blind on top of some pillars, with a ladder up and a window or hatch to shoot through? I was thinking a 1x1, but now that I've considered it, I might want to build with no ground access and enable a pteranodon or argentavis to park inside (easier to avoid being eaten). Tthat's a whole lot of resources for one person to gather. Would it even work? I'd have to either build it very quickly when I knew a giganotosaurus was close--which is foolhardy at best--or stock it up with supplies and a bed as a mini-base and wait (or destroywilddinos) until one spawned near enough to hit. And even then... can its attack hit through the open windows I'd need to shoot from?

Creature 3: Dire Wolf. I'd like to build a snow biome base eventually, and I'd like to tame a few of the wolves. I remember them being ridiculously tough, as in they'd even tear into my Argentavis if I picked one up to move it off alone in hopes of making it into an easier tame. And they took high numbers of tranq arrows to take down. As strong as they are, I'm not counting on Triceratops being much of a shield if things go poorly and I end up surrounded by a full pack. Is there a better strategy than standing on a passive high HP trike? Do I just need to build a big stone box and drop one of them in there with a flier? Can Argentavis even carry them anymore? Saber cats are tough but dire wolves are kind of terrifying!

If you want to offer any kind of strategy for any other creature, feel free. Even if it doesn't help me, maybe it could help someone else.

[Regalwise]

I play SP too.
The frog and the wolf can be picked up with an argie and dropped into a stone taming box with windows and a dino gate. Super easy.
The giga takes a long time of high torpor-per-second tranking which is hard for one person to keep up, although I have seen it done in videos. I think you'd need a few hundred trank darts and more than one aprentice or journeyman rifle (for when durability wears out on the first one). It can be done by shooting down from the top of a high cliff. Kiting the giga to a suitable place is super dangerous, they are quick and one near miss can kill easily, as you have learned already, LOL.
As far as protecting your base, build a perimiter wall at least 4-5 high, preferably metal, and 10 foundations from any dinos or structures inside the wall. Make sure there are no plant species x anywhere near the inside of the walls to prevent drawing agro. If any get close, kiting them away is your best bet. I have kited a couple to the ocean and they drown pretty easily.

[bLunT]

on my singlepayer i spawn in longnecks till i got a 1000% damage one, put it in a box on the roof of my base and intend to take the giga down with it if one shows up :D
seeing how OP they are, now i feel the same ^^

now if that'll work or not that's another story, didn't have the chance to try yet, only one way to find out i guess ^^

ps: i use that same longneck to kill any tamed dino's i don't want anymore too, a bronto with 7k health took 2 bullets for ex, pretty efficient imo :D

[Regalwise]

Blunt, if you want to try shooting a giga to kill it, I recommend doing it far from your base. If you fail to kill it, it will destroy anything it can reach that's not metal :(
Wild ones have 300k HP, that will take a LOT of bullets, LOL

[Totally not cow]

im playing exclusively multiplayer and as for most animals its best to grab them and drop them into a taming box a tranq them in there

as for gigas... it used to be eazy if you had a quetz with which you could even solo one but now with AI change im not sure how to take it down...
for starters try to get a quetz - you need a high speed argent+high damage scorpion set on agressive or make him attack the quetz or try to jump on its body (have some parachutes ready and make sure you set your flier on follow before taking off)

now if you managed the quetz shoot the giga from it (you dont even need a platform just be carefull not to fall down) and make sure you hit it every 5 seconds so xbows would be better then longnecks while soloing since their torpor recovery is like 1k per second and once its down make sure to be ready with narcotics within 2 minutes otherwise it wakes up

without quetz... its extremely unlikely or next to imposible to solo it... you see making a shooting pen requires the luck that giga will spawn close to it and if you make too many of them you will block the spawns or you could make a HUGE taming box for it somewhere in mountain and try to kite it there... you could even wall up entire mountain if you want :D

[bLunT]

Originally posted by Regalwise:

Blunt, if you want to try shooting a giga to kill it, I recommend doing it far from your base. If you fail to kill it, it will destroy anything it can reach that's not metal :(
Wild ones have 300k HP, that will take a LOT of bullets, LOL

i'd like to think my base is built well enough to kill it before it can even get close :)
if not and i get killed and the base detroyed well so be it, than it wasn't a very good base anyway :)

[Jerryn]

For Giga, big taming pens.

If possible, us natural geography to your advantage. I built one in the Maw, on a river, between a rock column and a water fall, using some B. Gate(you could also just use 1 B. Gate and metals walls(must be at least 4 high, especially if there is anything it can stop on for a boost).

I can aggro a Giga from the back of a Q, and lead it right into the pit. After that, it gets easy. But, Gigas can be a pain to keep aggroed sometimes, so it might take a while.

Tip: Clear or thin out the trees in the area where you are going to try and lead the Giga through, as they can get lost in the trees; and it is not fun looking for them in heavy woods.

I have also lead them a bit, by killing animals on the path I want to take them, and then drop lives along the path to get them to go in the direction I want.


For killing a Giga, the easy way is to lead it into the ocean and leave it; when you fly out of range, it drowns.

[Drakon]

Taming a Giga use to be easy as all you had to do is find a cliff edge that they cannot climb up and shoot arrows down at it, now that they have this new flee ability in I think the only way to tame a Giga is to build a giant metal pen and trap it inside it.

If you cannot get a frog into a taming pen then you can strafe around them as they have a fairly slow turning speed, but you will need some stim berries incase you get hit by them ( 3 hits and you will prob pass out at some point)

[Jerryn]

Originally posted by NudeNinja:

Taming a Giga use to be easy as all you had to do is find a cliff edge that they cannot climb up and shoot arrows down at it, now that they have this new flee ability in I think the only way to tame a Giga is to build a giant metal pen and trap it inside it.

If you cannot get a frog into a taming pen then you can strafe around them as they have a fairly slow turning speed, but you will need some stim berries incase you get hit by them ( 3 hits and you will prob pass out at some point)

I would make stimulants instead, and keep them in the hot bar. You get a bigger boost from less uses, plus they don't spoil. And, you get XP for making the stimulant. Also, useful for stealing boa eggs from boas.

[Brass Buckles]

I wish we could tame the boas. Those things can sneak up on you fast, so even though they die fast and easy enough, they can take you down before you have a chance to realize they're there.

Being right by the swamp has left me feeling pretty trapped, until I can get to level 35 on this new character...

And I hadn't thought about the giga fleeing with the new AI. Do they still run off even when enraged, then? If that's the case, then I probably do need to think about building a gigantic wall around the mountain where they spawn most (which is going to mean either upping resource drops for the chitin, or taking a veeeeery long time to do) plus a taming pen, or, just build a gigantic taming pen and hope it works.

I've pretty much discovered chasing things is a great way to run them into areas that get them killed before you can do anything with them. Of course, for a giga... that's probably not going to be an issue. Or so I hope.

Last game, I was cheatier, so I forcetamed some quetzals and a giga. This time, all I've changed are a few settings to make it a bit easier on me as a singular person. Forcetaming and setting your resistance to 0 kind of takes the challenge out. Oh sure you can face an alpha barehanded, but again... where's the challenge? (And why do alpha raptors always look the prettiest? I've seen one stark white with brilliant red feathers. Wanted to tame it sooo badly, but it was an alpha.)