Bears: Fleeing vs Charging

[☠djb204☠]

First of all, I just wanted to say I love this game. I play every day after work for hours.

Now I'll be honest. Bears are not the slightest bit scary in CoTW. Sure they charge when they are shot at sometimes, but we know they could charge. If we miss once, chances are we WONT miss a second time.

What if... bears charged when a player gets too close without the bear knowing? Getting to close for comfort and surprising the bear should trigger a defensive response. 40m maybe? Getting into bow range with a bear shouldn't be non-threatening. It's should be dangerous. Spooking the bears and having the bears run off is realistic, but their should be a "too close" radius where the bear gets surprised and defensive and could charge if it detects within its comfort zone. This could really add to the experience with bears in the game. Imagine....

You've been quietly tracking a buck that you shot (flesh wound). Following the tracks, blood trails, etc. Finally you hear a rustle in shrubs in front of you. You can hear it walking in the shrubs (your close) so you draw your bow. Suddenly a bear peaks his head up over those same shrubs as it stands on its hind legs looking right at you. "That's Not My Buck". The bear growls and charges.

This actually happened to me in another hunting game "Pro Hunts", and it was one of the most scary but memorable moments I've ever had in a hunting game. I just got to close to this black bear. The black bears in Pro Hunts do flee when they detect the player, but if the player managed to get to close and surprise the bear, the bear would charge. It really gave the bear a distinguishing behaviour compared to all the other animals. In CoTW, I think bears would feel more threatening then they do if they charged when players get too close before alerting the bear.

[Mittens]

I like the idea and it would add to the "gameplay" but I think it would draw away from the "simulation" side of things. I am from the UK and have never hunted so I would not know from personal experience but from what I do know with reading and watching videos, black bears do not charge and tend to be more scared of you than you are of them.

I could very well be completely wrong here though. Just thought I would offer and explination.

New DLC: Grizzly bears, now that would be a different story.

[☠djb204☠]

I'm from Manitoba Canada, and yes black bears are usually more timid, but two people in my community were chased by a black bear this past week alone. This bear does have 3 Cubs though. Black bears can and will attack if they have Cubs.

[Mittens]

Thanks man, always nice to learn from someone who knows what they are talking about.

[☠djb204☠]

Originally posted by Mr. Dave:

Thanks man, always nice to learn from someone who knows what they are talking about.

There are some predatory attacks aswell. Very rare, but very possible. I'll share these as references. Hopefully they don't upset anyone.
http://globalnews.ca/news/3541017/black-bear-attack-alaska-extreme-race/

http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/other/black-bear-with-3-cubs-attacks-nj-woman-outside-home/ar-BBuDHwv

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/maulings-by-bears--what-s-behind-the-recent-attacks-/