Troodon Buff Suggestion (Poison)

[DUI_Stryfe]

Just for background I play 90% Troodon since it was released. There are several issues plaguing this tiny predator but I want to address the best solution for them being Underpowered right now and that's: POISON

In all the hours and hunts I've done as a Troodon I've not seen a single adult Dino killed in a Troodon hunt. That doesn't mean we didn't get close. But before a kill was secured we were always interrupted, lost track of the prey in forest, lost too many member on glitched pounces, or the animal just took off running when they got to like 50% and we didn't have the stam to keep up since we used it on jukes and pounces.

The best solution to Troodon poison and the weakness that goes with it is to apply a status effect that isn't just more damage.

Option 1: Poison depletes stamina
This would allow a Troodon pack to slowly wear out an opponent and stop the enemy from just being able to take off running across the whole zone once they hit stage 3. Basically as it stands right now they can take off running at stage 3 and for anything other than Stego they'll reset the whole process back to stage 1 on the next pounce.

Option 2: Poison reduces hydration.
This option is does something similar to the stamina drain but instead of preventing the animal from just sprinting off it allows for repeated strikes and tailing the prey as an option. If a pack of Troodons can't get to stage three and dog-pile (which 90% of the time we can't) they can still get the animal to stage 3 and maybe hold them there and prevent them from drinking. It's a slow kill but the you're gonna get a good 15min of action and an epic showdown when that thirst builds up and the animal is backed into a corner. This has the added benefit of being a Deinosuchus's dream come true as the animal on the run will be looking for the first water they can reach and won't have time to find the "safe spot".

Option 3: Poison reduces night vision by % per stage ( 25% - 50% - 75% )
This option provides a better "Kill Now" option for Troodons than the other two. It also plays more into the whole "night terror" aspect in that getting to stage 3 is going to make fighting back or seeing incoming pounces very difficult. You'd still be able to run away but knowing where you are going is gonna be a serious challenge. The good news is this would only be a night vision thing and the other dinosaurs would be just as safe from Troodon attacks as they are right now.

I think one of these three options is the best way to make Troodons "playable" in any real sense. I do sympathize with anyone who would inevitably grow to hate the little buggers once they can actually hunt. But I think the three options I presented allow for Troodon success but also counter-play from other species.

They'll still be 1 shot. They'll still not do a ton of damage. And I think that this will only bring hunt success up to maybe 50-60% but it may be a bit of a shock to the system from where we are now since it's almost 0% chance of bringing anything down.

Just as a follow-up I want to mention there are several ways other Dinos can basically thwart a Troodon packs attack:

1) Run away at stage 3 for 30-45 seconds (reseting the poison timer)
2) Run through a forest. (the bushes will blind the Troodons)
3) Stand back to a hill or cliff
4) Barricade themselves in Bushes and force Troodons to blind pounce into them.

Even with the buffs I'm suggesting these strategies will still mostly work. But you'll now have to consider a secondary factor that may give a patient or persistent Troodon pack a chance.

[Gloofin]

i do like option 1 but that would be really bad for mixpacking. one troodon could prevent you escaping. more stamina for troodons would be a safer option.

option 2 is solid, this allows for a similar hunting tactic to cerato vs stego.

i figured option 3 would be added to Dilo, because as far as i can tell Dilo's whole venom is hallucinations. though i would not be complaining if it was added to all night terrors.

[DUI_Stryfe]

Mix packing is something they should actively be discouraging amongst predators anyway. It would be ridiculously unfair to balance for that.

But yea option 1 would mean 1 or 2 skilled Troodons can bring anything to the point where they must stand and fight. With how many pounces it takes vs the 1 hit the prey must deliver I'd say it's still prey favored.

Frankly the night vision on everything is way too good. Even if they don't do option 3 all dinos except Troodons need a night vision nerf. Everyone is running crazy high vision. But that's another story.

The other option and one I hope the font take is to 3x the AI spawns of rabbits, chickens, etc. Fine Troodons can't kill anything but babies and juvies... then provide them with AI sources. I've not seen a rabbit or chicken in a week.