New player, very confused, lots of questions.

[Ripz]

First time playing I would go over 20 minutes without seeing a single animal. Even longer at night. I follow fresh tracks or tracks from a recent hit for literally dozens of minutes just for the "fresh" tracks to become old, or to have the trail turn cold. The first few times I literally walked the whole trail, checking binoculars every ~10 seconds or so, and gave up after about an hour. Then I tried sprinting the whole trail until getting to "fresh" tracks again, still it just keeps going until they become old or disappear. I also try adjusting based on run/trot/walk and walk up hills and around corners, just to be extra sure to not accidentally spook them before I see them, but still they somehow move too fast.

Feels like I've tried everything. I have better luck just using lures at oppurtune times, or hopping between need zones, so at least that works, but I wouldn't want to rely on that all the time. It's too easy and chance based. I bought this game to HUNT, i'd rather do that, not hold W for 30 minutes just for the chance to shoot something. Or walk into a need zone at the right time for a modernized version of duck hunt.

What am I doing wrong? It's not like im running at animals chasing them away, I can't even find them in the first place. The rare time I do come across an animal I manage to patiently stealth my way to a kill pretty smoothly, although I wouldn't know where to shoot them if I didn't look it up (thanks for nothing tutorial), and even after researching I still have NO IDEA what the range is for the different noise levels and animals (doesnt say anywhere in game OR online).

Another issue is every once in a while (maybe 1 in 10 or 20), I'll directly shoot at an animal, but it leaves no blood splatter. Usually there's at least a blood trail still, but not always. And a few times it doesn't even show the animal getting hit, as if I didn't hit it at all when I KNOW I aimed directly at it. Occasionally it shows the splatter a couple meters away from where I actually hit it. And yes I took the time to test and make sure of this using rangefinger and marker on the map.

Biggest problem though, seems like the animal density in this game is next to none, or they're dispersed a bit too randomly, and they move too much/quickly on their own. I know there's need zones but again, I'm talking about just basic finding and tracking randoms. Is that not supposed to be viable too? Thats what the tracks are for after all isnt it? Not just for locating your walking corpse trophy.

Basically, got some questions:
1) Whys it taking so long to find animals to hunt?
2) Why does tracking fresh trails still take so long? Or rather, why do animals stay on the move for so long?
3) Is no blood splatter or hit animation a bug? Or is there something else about the weapons and effects of hits that the game didn't tell me about?
4) Does shooting different organs/parts do different things (other than effect score)? If so, what?
5) What is the range of every noise level that an animal can hear you?? And does it scale based on the animal? If so, how can I find out for each animal?

One more thing, when an animal I shot gets mixed up with others, is there no way to tell which one is mine other than hoping it's level isn't the same (or has distinguishable antlers or something)? At first I was looking for some blood on it or something, but nope apparently not?

[elmamado]

:0

[Vault Traveler]

Its a beginner issue really, later you just "get it"?

I try my best from a former beginner point so maybe it gives you some insight.

1) Because there are places where literally no animals or the tracks are absymal old, literally keep moving dont bother with such tracks until you "get it". Also the track you get send from time to time sucks ignore it. Best is to simply walk (not sprint) around and react when animals call out, than fast crouch towards the call. ALso its important to discover the map and find some needzones so you can slowly learn how they move around (the majority walks from needzone to needzone).

2) Animals are really easy to spook and even if not they sometimes flip their ♥♥♥♥ for no reasons, if you really want to chase that bear or coyote it can turn into an seemingly endless hunt, the tracks also can be missleading sometimes even animals seem to disapear. Those tracks arent 100% bulletproof as you will. Had 100m gaps between the last track and the animal suddenly come towards me, sometimes they go back and forth for no reason. So basically dont go toooo crazy about it, if you follow tracks for say 10-30 minutes maybe let it go, its literally not worth your time unless you think its a Diamond Trophy. Also animals always keep wandering unless they hit a need zone they wanted to go. Later you get some perks and skills to reduce the frustration.

3) The game does have some old and annoying bugs, but usually the hit detection and blood splatter do work atleast for me, as mentioned in your other thread be aware prone is kinda risky due to the landscape geometrie. (It does work but crouch is superior in that regard). Also bulletdrop is kinda weird, for starters try to get close slowly and simply shoot lungs from the animals broadside and point your crossair simply straight forward. Also Verify your game data on steam maybe there is something fishy?

4) Yeshish shooting liver, lungs will kill them, but they may run around for a bit especially bigger animals, heart and neck is insta kill but kinda hard to pull off at the beginning, brain shots are possible but you destroy your trophy, also brains are tiny, why bother.
Shooting the stomach kills also pretty fast but it does not count as ethical so there is no reason to shoot that. Body shots will kill, each shot does a damage and they suffer from bloodloss, this depends on several things like ammunition, caliber, etc.
That said, aim for the lungs (broadside behind the front legs), seriously, especially at the start dont bother with anything else.

5. Some animals hear you further away, but without adding to much data, simply put, sprinting spooks literally everything over 200m, walking alerts most till 150m, fast crouch walk is about 75m and slow crouch without foliage (they increase your noise) you can go about 25m, prone you can literally bump into them.

Bonus Question: Use your binocular to mark it first than take aim and shot it, so you can simply take the marked blood splatter/track it leaves.

[mike57angler]

You could look at your Hunter Player statistics in "Codex" (press F1 in the game) and have a look at how you are frightening animals away. This would explain why you aren't seeing any animals.

Try to get downwind of mating calls or warning calls and approach the area that the call came from very carefully, using binoculars to spot the animal from a distance before it spooks. Or use lures and callers to attract the animal towards you from upwind, keeping yourself down and possibly using the scent eliminator to cover your own scent.

[Vault Traveler]

Just for your understanding a beginner hunt for one trophy can take between 20-40 minutes, sure you get way faster soon after but at the beginning if you hear/see animal call take this time frame for your estimated time you will/should need to get close and kill it from short distances (30-75m) without support tools just by playing slow and with lots of awarness.

[Ripz]

Thanks, that really explains a lot. But 200m?? Holy ♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ thats insane!! I often cant even see more than ~100m with all the trees in the way, how am I supposed to know if theres a animal within 200m?? Even at 100m I didnt think anything would spook right away. I've been running until I see an animal or think im about to <100m.

So we're supposed to walk everywhere by default? Thats slow as hell isnt it? Whats the point of even sprinting then if you scare everything out of range anyway?? I thought walking, crouching, proning was for getting closer and repositioning, not just for finding animals to begin with. Jesus. They could at least tell me in game wow.

Only thing though is I've tried walking entire tracks left behind animals ive shot or started as fresh tracks, and I've ended up walking for over 40 minutes sometimes and they're still on the move. They're need zone really that far and im just unlucky? Or maybe those were dense forests and I kept spooking them with walking before i could even see them... Then what, i'd have to crouch walk the whole way???

Also knowing animals will always head towards a need zone is really useful, i had no idea. Thanks.

[SouthernMan1972]

Make sure you don't try to follow something with the wind at your back. Also, higher level animals are much more difficult to sneak up on, as are animals that have just recently been spooked by you and are nervous or on alert.

[Ripz]

Originally posted by SouthernMan1972:

Make sure you don't try to follow something with the wind at your back. Also, higher level animals are much more difficult to sneak up on, as are animals that have just recently been spooked by you and are nervous or on alert.

Yeah i forgot to mention, i think ive been pretty good with the wind, ive played other games with that mechanic recently so im used to it. Is there any way to tell if an animal is still on "alert"? Or how long should i wait before pursuing?

[SouthernMan1972]

It tells me when I spot them if they're calm or nervous, but I can't remember if that was always that way. It might be one of the skill upgrades. If you're following something that was fleeing from you, or is aware of you, it can be a slow process. I don't do it.

I prefer just to walk into the wind toward water and scan with the binoculars along the way. I find it more satisfying to hunt them when they have no idea I'm there, and work for position so I can drop them on the spot. I keep the tracks turned off so it makes you shoot carefully.

[MaGicBush]

I have 3 trophies now. Starting to figure it out, but yea my first trophy took an hour almost. I shot it and it ran around and I chased it(Red Deer) and finally found it laying. I couldn't figure out which tracks was the one I shot since it was in a small herd and I shot it.

I havn't had much trouble, but I hunt all the time in RL so I have a lot of patience. As soon as I hear an animal I crouch and walk towards it creeping slowly in tall grass. I got super close to that Red Deer doing that. I also tend to only sprint if I am not trying to actively hunt animals and just doing a quest or going to a different spot. When I am ready to hunt I just use the walk instead of sprint. From what I have read it seems to get easier as you gain levels and perks/etc.

[Ripz]

Man i dont get how anyone plays like this. Even walking on open field I still get 2 red bars. How tf is walking only 1 bar less than running?? Crouching and holding shift is still 1 red bar, and even that is hella slow. To even maintain the noise bar in the white I have to slow crouch everywhere for 2 white bars. This is ridiculous. Animals literally walk faster than that, how am I supposed to catch anything?

[Ripz]

Originally posted by MaGicBush:

I have 3 trophies now. Starting to figure it out, but yea my first trophy took an hour almost. I shot it and it ran around and I chased it(Red Deer) and finally found it laying. I couldn't figure out which tracks was the one I shot since it was in a small herd and I shot it.

I havn't had much trouble, but I hunt all the time in RL so I have a lot of patience. As soon as I hear an animal I crouch and walk towards it creeping slowly in tall grass. I got super close to that Red Deer doing that. I also tend to only sprint if I am not trying to actively hunt animals and just doing a quest or going to a different spot. When I am ready to hunt I just use the walk instead of sprint. From what I have read it seems to get easier as you gain levels and perks/etc.

Back in my day games got HARDER as you played through them, not easier. Feels a little backwards to give new players the hard part lmao.

[bunny de fluff]

Pump your skill points into the ambush tree instead of the tracker tree. I only have 30hours but the map I played , Hirsch, does not have working bushes or tree to lower my visibility, had no choice but to go the ambush route.

[Ripz]

So after trying to find answers online, I stumbled across this https://steamcommunity.com/app/518790/discussions/5/1652171126132075789/?ctp=5

I think my games been bugged since I started playing and I didn't even know. It seems my character's been making more noise then it's supposed to. I been trying to test it, and it seems to have a high chance of triggering when running in a bush or running around haphazardly, not sure exactly whats causing it yet, but restarting seems to fix it temporarily, but it starts again fairly frequently. Im sure this has been making it a lot harder to find and hunt animals than it's supposed to be.

I was contemplating refunding this, they should really have fixed this after all these years. If it keeps happening I'll have no choice but to demand a refund.

[bunny de fluff]

Don't feel too bad about it, this game is not for everyone anyway . If you keep playing the game, you might get better, but then you might start to contemplate whether getting better at it is actually worth the trouble : )

[wb3jma]

Everything spooks you have already been answered at what ranges and predators seem to spook easier than prey, just change your pace as soon as you hear an animal call out and from run to walk to crouch and in some circumstances crawl. Instead of hunting a map right out get a Quad(DLC) and follow the missions on the main story arc this will get your experience and get usefull perks faster. It will also help you discover need zones on your map. In terms of need zones all animals need to drink and it's obvious where water is on maps do recon there for drinking need zones. For hitting animals to get good blood splatter from a major organ, from the front an animal on all fours and heads up will show you the breast. Aim couple inches below for a heart shot takes some practice from a distance. From the side you have lots of lung areas shoot below the scapula following the back edge of the front leg down a bit. Finally for tracking animals. Get the dog(DLC) and work with the dog if you get to blood splatter and hit the B key a menu comes you can order the dog to track. Let the dog do the hard work just follow him at a run.