Scent for alive creatures

[Nickboay]

This is a idea i had for both carnivores and herbivores, to be able to smell eachothers presence.
for this to work there has to be a set of things done just right, now this is a 1,2,3 idea out of my head but i hope people can help me improve it, the motivation for this idea comes from seeing a post that herbivores are not getting enough love and need balance.

so the set of things that has to be done right,
first thing i thought of was the radius of smell, i think that herbivores should have double the range of smell to give them a edge above carnivores trying to smell them out.

the second thing is what probably makes this really difficult to implement, but its a wind direction mechanic. if these 2 things are in place however i believe it can fully function.

the wind direction mechanic is above my level of knowlegde so i can not provide a way to create this, but i wanted to share the idea nonetheless as im sure one of you can come up with something for this or even dondi himself, when the wind direction mechanic would be in place however all scent related things ( exept for footprints) should follow the rules of the wind too, but the scent of food and water should have alot more range in that situation.


(im aware some creatures had better scent in reality, however herbs need some love this is why im giving them double range over preds, if u disagree with this setup then please provide solution)

* for alive creatures do not highlight them or outline them as this can give away details about size of the animal and type of predator/herbivore this should remain a surprise, i was thinking of a smokey blur (only the scent) little bit ball shaped in a simple color for pred and herb, scent of animal should spread out 120 degrees of range along the wind

[Rosa ♥★]

we already have a scent mechanic for alive creatures - footprints, no animal needs to scent you out farther than what your footprints can reveal already, if it's within a decent range you can smell it's footprints which is plenty and fair

[[Ravenous]]

@Sebeden
Is it plenty though? Fair I get, but in nature, hiding in a bush will never let prey evade it’s predator...should it ingame?

Ever seen Ceratosaur og Carno running around blindly biting at bushes after spotting a juvie from a distance? It looks really really stupid XD

Dinosaurs are the precursor to modern birds right? «An extensive survey of dinosaur skulls adds to the evidence that Tyrannosaurus rex had a killer sense of smell, and finds that the earliest known birds were much better at sniffing out prey than their descendents.»

A modern vulture can small a carcass from about a mile away, and they are supposed to have a reduced sense of smell compared to what dinosaurs had?

«The team reports in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B1 that the theropods had a wide range of smelling abilities. Although direct comparisons with modern species are tricky at best, the findings suggest that Velociraptor and T. rex rivalled bloodhounds in their ability to smell prey, says Zelenitsky.»

I feel like the dinosaurs in this game might have a cold ’cause I could hide between a T-Rexes toes as long as I don’t move and make more footprints...


The source of the quotes is this thing, no idea of it’s validity, but it was atleast a slightly interesting read:

https://www.nature.com/news/2008/081029/full/news.2008.1192.html

[Norz]

Scent for alive creatures would be useful on map smth about 50x50km with 100 players, and in kind of limited edition)like footprint but on trees, bushes...size of map and amount of player

[[Ravenous]]

I have to agree, atleast to a certain extent, with Norz.
Huge maps and AI that barely moves and suddenly stop making noises alltogether makes for a frustrating experience, so something not broken, like a 25-50 meter radious should put a feint glow in a small-ish area around potential prey maybe?

Not something god-like with a sharp yellow smoke-signal on everything with a pulse for miles around, but just something to help find those quiet static AI bastards when you’re on the verge of starving to death, or juvies hiding in bushes between your feet.

The same can be applied to herbivores too for that matter, the ability to sniff out an ambushing predator if you hear something on the other side of the bush you’re hiding under.

[Bomber Rex]

Actually.... I do agree with op here. This could be useful and should be at least considered.