Is it true that AI spawns are concentrated around high density of players?

[Crater]

I keep reading various posts suggesting that the game prioritizes spawning AI near clusters of players. This seems odd for two reasons:

1) It discourages going out and exploring away from the meat grinders

2) Why would you need *more* AI in the places where there is already plenty of bodies?

I'm not saying the AI should just non stop spawn around me. For context I'm now playing as a fully grown herrerasaurus and I'm perched on top of a tree doing a 360 and there's literally nothing spawning around me for 15+ minutes. And yes I've tried moving to. I've moved from NE Plains west to water access and continued westward. It's just desolate and doesn't give the feeling of life in the jungle.

[Splina]

i just tried to play some herrerasaurus and the result for now is that i died 3 times from starvation...because i can't literally find any frikin thing -,-..., 2 times when i found something was a frikin boar and it killed me instead...
and once more some other player just ended the day

so what should i believe now?
is this bad design? a bad game overall?
just "bad luck?...or what??

i saw that herra has crabs in diet...so one time i went to coastal area where is said that crabs are....ran almost the entirety of the beach line and exactly 0 crabs found
what is this?? Wrong description? Are they even here?
how am i suposed to grow this thing a bit so it can finally hunt something like a boar or so...?

[ISI]

from what I have heard it is supposed to spawn by you. I have noticed that boar seem to spawn near me when I am a dieno on land.

[Splina]

so just sit in one place and wait for them to spawn?
anywhere??

what's the point of exploration then...?

*i tried this too in a way...because the night was pitch black again...
result? - starvation -,-

[Khanivore]

Spawns do occur when a player is near (even for a single alone player), but only in selected areas, particularity around migration zones

If you just sat in some random place you could indeed starve as it may not have an AI spawn point near, if you run through an AI spawn area but kept moving until out of that area, you may not trigger or even see the AI that do, and starve

Learning the map is crucial, you will die a lot, but remember your experiences in areas and learn from them, in time you will find food easy enough, but of course there is always completion for resources, have fun surviving that

[Touch Me]

It has been awhile since I played but the last few times I was playing I chose to spawn away from the hotbed areas. I got swamped by deer, goats, and I got messed up by the murder bacon squads(boars) multiple times. So I am still confused as to how the AI spawns operate if people are still having issues. The AI that I never really saw was chickens, frogs, and fish. I've done this as Omni, Cera, and Carno multiple times after it happened the first time. I will be playing soon again so I am getting ready for frustation.

[Crater]

Originally posted by Khanivore:

Spawns do occur when a player is near (even for a single alone player), but only in selected areas, particularity around migration zones

If you just sat in some random place you could indeed starve as it may not have an AI spawn point near, if you run through an AI spawn area but kept moving until out of that area, you may not trigger or even see the AI that do, and starve

Learning the map is crucial, you will die a lot, but remember your experiences in areas and learn from them, in time you will find food easy enough, but of course there is always completion for resources, have fun surviving that

1) I like how unfalsifiable this idea is. "You camped? Should have moved. Oh you moved? You moved the wrong way" --- ?????????

2) "Spawns do occur when a player is near (even for a single alone player), but only in selected areas, particularity around migration zones" - well I hope you're mistaken because that completely discourages exploration and just pushes people into hotspots.

[Khanivore]

Originally posted by Tabasco:

Originally posted by Khanivore:

Spawns do occur when a player is near (even for a single alone player), but only in selected areas, particularity around migration zones

If you just sat in some random place you could indeed starve as it may not have an AI spawn point near, if you run through an AI spawn area but kept moving until out of that area, you may not trigger or even see the AI that do, and starve

Learning the map is crucial, you will die a lot, but remember your experiences in areas and learn from them, in time you will find food easy enough, but of course there is always completion for resources, have fun surviving that

1) I like how unfalsifiable this idea is. "You camped? Should have moved. Oh you moved? You moved the wrong way" --- ?????????

2) "Spawns do occur when a player is near (even for a single alone player), but only in selected areas, particularity around migration zones" - well I hope you're mistaken because that completely discourages exploration and just pushes people into hotspots.

Learn the map and where to find your food, migrations zones are good particularity as the game shows you where to go, so a reasonably reliable starting point, but spawns can be found in places outside migrations, you just have to learn, find those yourself (encouraging exploration), only play time will teach you that, or maybe a friend you find on the way

Note: If you sit in a spot that's not an AI spawn point of course you wont magically spawn in AI and you will starve, you only do that in areas your testing or are known to have AI spawn points, if you run through those areas known or unknown to have spawns you will may miss them just as easy, again explore and learn the map, and die often (you are food for others after all)

[Crater]

Originally posted by Khanivore:

Originally posted by Tabasco:

1) I like how unfalsifiable this idea is. "You camped? Should have moved. Oh you moved? You moved the wrong way" --- ?????????

2) "Spawns do occur when a player is near (even for a single alone player), but only in selected areas, particularity around migration zones" - well I hope you're mistaken because that completely discourages exploration and just pushes people into hotspots.

Learn the map and where to find your food, migrations zones are good particularity as the game shows you where to go, so a reasonably reliable starting point, but spawns can be found in places outside migrations, you just have to learn, find those yourself (encouraging exploration), only play time will teach you that, or maybe a friend you find on the way

Note: If you sit in a spot that's not an AI spawn point of course you wont magically spawn in AI and you will starve, you only do that in areas your testing or are known to have AI spawn points, if you run through those areas known or unknown to have spawns you will may miss them, again explore and learn the map, and die often (you are food for others after all)

Please point to a resource that has these "AI spawn points". Do you mean this? https://www.islemaps.com/

[Khanivore]

Originally posted by Tabasco:

Originally posted by Khanivore:

Learn the map and where to find your food, migrations zones are good particularity as the game shows you where to go, so a reasonably reliable starting point, but spawns can be found in places outside migrations, you just have to learn, find those yourself (encouraging exploration), only play time will teach you that, or maybe a friend you find on the way

Note: If you sit in a spot that's not an AI spawn point of course you wont magically spawn in AI and you will starve, you only do that in areas your testing or are known to have AI spawn points, if you run through those areas known or unknown to have spawns you will may miss them, again explore and learn the map, and die often (you are food for others after all)

Please point to a resource that has these "AI spawn points". Do you mean this? https://www.islemaps.com/

I meant as you play the game learn the map, but that online map may give you an idea, it does show spawn points for different AI, not sure if it's accurate now as the Devs do change things up somewhat every update, still a useful tool, worth a test.. could be an interesting quest for you to see if its still mostly accurate

[Cora]

the main river and especially around the river delta have reliably high enough concentrations of boar... sometimes solo boar and sometimes a family of them for the larger hunters out there...

If you are playing Herrerasaurs because you too saw the amazing OwLTime video on Youtube... and are new to the game as a result... and wary of pvp hunting behavior... spawn in the southern beach... and run along the swamp southern edge moving east. (the northern swamp always seems to have raptors and though herrera can even the odds with them... as a newbie this may be too much for you until you figure your stuff out and more importantly, get bigger.) your goal for now will be to eventually reach the river delta as an adult but for now you need to remain in the swamp feeding on fish and avoiding boar and rival predators... even other herrera as they may mistaken you as a raptor due to our similar appearance.

Once you reach the upper size of juvenile you can begin reliably taking down boar by Tree Bombing them but fish will still be a major part of your diet. bare in mind that you make a lot of noise while swimming and crocks dont even need that sound to track you as they have their own mechanics... thing is, there isnt enough food in the swamp for adult crocks and raptors are better off in the northern spawm if they are even there at all due to them being way better in the grasslands. so if you encounter another preditor, it will most likely be a baby crock or another herrara and the crocks are super afraid of other crocks just slightly larger than them... so catch your fish and eat on the shore and continue moving east to the delta and what will be will be... but rarely will you run into any real trouble in this area.

once you are fully grown and having traveled east as suggested to the delta... explore the delta and other regions along the north/south river passage without much fear of starvation. there are several parts of the detla's river which are too shallow for crocks to hide... (seriously the only real threat to a Herrera is another herrera accidentally mistaking you for a raptor or a crock in the water.) allowing for you to drink and even doing so from the cover of foliage... boar is common and even though you are new to the game and seeing that baby stegga is just so cute... there is no way for you to communicate that you arent trying to hunt them... so respect the personal space of the other players unless you are trying to hunt them... because that is exactly how they will see you and you arent big enough even fully grown for them to be more afraid of you allow for you to initiate combat. they will all assume you are scouting for a larger mix pack even if actually you havnt even seen another player in several hours... so just live the good life of a herrera and leave the lesser beings to struggle in the muck.

Most of the delta's players congregate in the middle river region as the herbivores will often form large herds near the sanctuary... and likewise the more pvp focused predators will as well and they have no choice but to if they are of the larger variety. herrera, being a smaller predator can benefit from a purely pve play style and opt into pvp at the time and place of their choosing... so poke around and see what the other dorks are up to while you lounge in the trees as the battle of survival plays out below you.

Herrera have some amazing coloring options and though many people like the vibrant colors... i recommend looking into saving some stealth patterns as the herrera has really great nighttime and dawn/dusk stealth options making you nearly invisible in the swamp and delta even to nightvision making Herrera viable in the grasslands as well, though restable trees and water are more rare here... you wont have the speed, power, size, or stamina to make reliable kills like a raptor can so dont try playing like a raptor... your stealth and size is great for stealing from the dorks and your main attack is from Tree Bombing.

[Crater]

Originally posted by Khanivore:

Originally posted by Tabasco:

Please point to a resource that has these "AI spawn points". Do you mean this? https://www.islemaps.com/

I meant as you play the game learn the map, but that online map may give you an idea, it does show spawn points for different AI, not sure if it's accurate now as the Devs do change things up somewhat every update, still a useful tool, worth a test.. could be an interesting quest for you to see if its still mostly accurate

You are not addressing the question. How did you determine there are specific AI spawn points? Ai spawn points implies specific coordinates where they spawn. You keep saying there are static spots but then don't mention where, don't mention how you know.

[Evil Minіоn]

I think they don't explicitly spawn around higher player densities.
But they spawn around players and despawn when there are no players around - given you are in one of the spawn zones to begin with.
There also seems to be a kind of delay before a zone starts spawning AI in the first place.
And it also seems AI respawns more or less as soon as its body is eaten.

So in areas with high player density the zone will be active, AI has more places to spawn (the combined area around all the players) and once AI spawned it is less likely to despawn, because there are players around. And if those players are hungry carnivores who kill and eat the AI, more will spawn as the "slot" is open again.

This seems to explain it as a kind of "side effect", though there might be other effects, too, if for example the AI spawner iterates over the players. But I am sceptical this actually happens, because when I enter a non-hotspot AI zone (those exist, you don't need to join the meat grinder) it tends to spawn a bunch of them.


You are perfectly right in that the current system discourages going out and exploring or even travelling to another area (due to the potential delay that can be lethal, when your hunger drops too low). It also "snitches" on players, because when you enter an area and there is already AI (without spawn delay) that means someone is or was around.

[Cora]

Originally posted by Tabasco:

Originally posted by Khanivore:

I meant as you play the game learn the map, but that online map may give you an idea, it does show spawn points for different AI, not sure if it's accurate now as the Devs do change things up somewhat every update, still a useful tool, worth a test.. could be an interesting quest for you to see if its still mostly accurate

You are not addressing the question. How did you determine there are specific AI spawn points? Ai spawn points implies specific coordinates where they spawn. You keep saying there are static spots but then don't mention where, don't mention how you know.

without knowing for sure from being able to view the data directly... but based on observations as i played the the game has 2 or more systems working together covering spawn chances for AI food sources...

first of these are the migration paths that carnivores are directed to. herbivores are directed to a rotating cycle of migration areas as they move around the map to take advantage of specific food sources... while carnivores are given direction simply to the nearest migration hotspot to them based on their current location on the map. ive found that these migration regions tend to spawn boar more frequently as they have been what i hunt most often as herrerasaurus. Isle Evrima also has a more ambient spawn mechanic which tends to spawn boar around me even when i am outside of these zones and most frequently while i am resting in a tree i can hear them rummaging around in the vicinity.

I do not know if the resting behavior is a trigger for them spawning or not... just that i was always resting it seemed when they would appear... but when roaming around exploring i only found them if i happened to be within or near by a migration zone.

my observation is purely surface level... but typically for herrera i found that living around the river and river delta leading from north to south is very sustainable... but traveling west food became very rare until i stopped to rest in a tree preparing to die of starvation when suddenly a boar or a school of fish would spawn. this is why i think moving around really made it difficult. make note that as a baby or juvenile a boar is a serious threat so even if one does spawn near you... you cant realistically take one on until you are at the larger size of juvenile and sub adult.

[Crater]

Originally posted by Evil Minіоn:

I think they don't explicitly spawn around higher player densities.
But they spawn around players and despawn when there are no players around - given you are in one of the spawn zones to begin with.
There also seems to be a kind of delay before a zone starts spawning AI in the first place.
And it also seems AI respawns more or less as soon as its body is eaten.

So in areas with high player density the zone will be active, AI has more places to spawn (the combined area around all the players) and once AI spawned it is less likely to despawn, because there are players around. And if those players are hungry carnivores who kill and eat the AI, more will spawn as the "slot" is open again.

This seems to explain it as a kind of "side effect", though there might be other effects, too, if for example the AI spawner iterates over the players. But I am sceptical this actually happens, because when I enter a non-hotspot AI zone (those exist, you don't need to join the meat grinder) it tends to spawn a bunch of them.


You are perfectly right in that the current system discourages going out and exploring or even travelling to another area (due to the potential delay that can be lethal, when your hunger drops too low). It also "snitches" on players, because when you enter an area and there is already AI (without spawn delay) that means someone is or was around.

This coheres with my experience too by and large.

The thing you're referring to as a side effect is what makes it hard to know for sure. However as an example, if I take herrera and go to the north beach of water access, you would *think* the game would spawn turtles / grabs on that beach over time. But it just doesn't. So this tells me "keep moving". But if I keep moving in one line and don't stop, I also won't see anything.

The beach is a good test case because there's no foliage to hide the spawns. If the game is checking a radius around you, as I assumed, going to the north west tip of that beach just north of the dam would likely limit the radius to the sand. And that doesn't, nothing spawns.

[EdvonSchleck]

Originally posted by Tabasco:

Originally posted by Evil Minіоn:

I think they don't explicitly spawn around higher player densities.
But they spawn around players and despawn when there are no players around - given you are in one of the spawn zones to begin with.
There also seems to be a kind of delay before a zone starts spawning AI in the first place.
And it also seems AI respawns more or less as soon as its body is eaten.

So in areas with high player density the zone will be active, AI has more places to spawn (the combined area around all the players) and once AI spawned it is less likely to despawn, because there are players around. And if those players are hungry carnivores who kill and eat the AI, more will spawn as the "slot" is open again.

This seems to explain it as a kind of "side effect", though there might be other effects, too, if for example the AI spawner iterates over the players. But I am sceptical this actually happens, because when I enter a non-hotspot AI zone (those exist, you don't need to join the meat grinder) it tends to spawn a bunch of them.


You are perfectly right in that the current system discourages going out and exploring or even travelling to another area (due to the potential delay that can be lethal, when your hunger drops too low). It also "snitches" on players, because when you enter an area and there is already AI (without spawn delay) that means someone is or was around.

This coheres with my experience too by and large.

The thing you're referring to as a side effect is what makes it hard to know for sure. However as an example, if I take herrera and go to the north beach of water access, you would *think* the game would spawn turtles / grabs on that beach over time. But it just doesn't. So this tells me "keep moving". But if I keep moving in one line and don't stop, I also won't see anything.

The beach is a good test case because there's no foliage to hide the spawns. If the game is checking a radius around you, as I assumed, going to the north west tip of that beach just north of the dam would likely limit the radius to the sand. And that doesn't, nothing spawns.

Did you test that on an empty server? I'm not playing evrima nor have I played since the release of pachy, but remembering back in legacy AI spawns were very predictable, yet sometimes they wouldn't spawn even though you'd expect them to. That almost certainly came down to slot capacity for alive AI on the server. You can't have infinite amounts. The game won't spawn AI if there's no room (resources) on the server