Hardcore Mode and Hunting Seasons

[cybvep]

The more I think about it, the more I believe that some sort of Hardcore Mode for those who want to make the gameplay harder and/or more realistic would greatly benefit the game. There are many things that can implemented in such a mode, but frankly, I think that the game only needs a few tweaks to become much much more challenging. And before anyone mentions house rules, obviously you can impose them on yourself and make the game as hard as you want, but let's face it - most players don't like house rules and prefer when the game itself handles all the rules for them. House rules can hurt immersion and make you feel as if you are not playing the game the way it was meant to play. But hey, if they work for you, then all is good.

The most obvious thing is to prevent animals from getting back to the same spots shortly after being spooked (and especially after being shot at). Over and over, again and again, until you wipe out the entire herd. This is not, however, something which I think should even require a "Hardcore Mode", but a general and much needed improvement in AI behaviour. The animals shouldn't try to get back to the same need zone all the time and should definitely be more aware of the hunting pressure even if the need zone still "exists".

Obviously, the Hardcore Mode should make animals more sensitive in general. Vanilla is not bad in that respect, but it can be very forgiving at times. Often it seems that as long as you are about 150 meters away, you really have to try super hard to spook the animal. Callers can also work like magnets to the point of ridiculousness, with entire herds coming to the caller's spot en masse and animals being spooked one by one when they come close to you, the rest of them not reacting to this in any way. This shouldn't happen in the Hardcore Mode or at the very least, it should happen much more rarely.

IMO fast travel should be disabled in the HM. Simple as that. You will be surprised how much more difficult the game can become that way. You need to plan your routes more carefully. You are much more aware of the wind and the time. You need to consider when it's efficient to use the ATV. Good stuff overall.

Getting yourself incapacitated/knocked out either by the animals or by falling should both pass the time and impose a medical cost. ATM it's an instant respawn with no real consequences. That shouldn't be a thing in the HM.

However, the most important element of the HM should be the hunting seasons, as they would really change the way you play the game. ATM you can kill everything in sight all the time. In a way, it IS a shooting gallery. With the hunting seasons as part of the HM, that would no longer be feasible, because it would not be "legal" to hunt every species during every season. During each hunting season you would be allowed to hunt X number of sth like 1 or 2 on-map species and maybe 1 more, but with an additional restriction in place (like bows/crossbows only or shotguns/handguns only). The exact number of animals which you could kill per season would heavily depend on the species, but it would also be slightly randomized. Killing animals outside of the scope of the hunting season would technically be possible, as you can always shoot things and they don't magically become invulnerable. However, they would generate 0 money, 0 XP, give no medals and couldn't be taxidermized, so in game terms, hunting them would be pretty useless. Each season would last a few in-game days. If you want to hunt something different or you hit your quota, you go to the outpost and wait it out. Alternatively, you change the reserve and go back when a different hunting season begins.
It should be readily apparent why hunting seasons would be a game-changer. They change your whole playstyle. You customize your loadout to the species permitted in a given hunting season, not as jack-of-all-trades. Targets of opportunity are less of a thing. You cannot shoot every animal you see and if you encounter a nice animal outside of the hunting season, you are encouraged to note it down and maybe find it when hunting is allowed. So yeah, definitely more of a challenge.

[Phi11]

I know for a fact that me...my self....am on board with the idea of having hunting seasons....or license's. It has bothered me that you can just kill whatever you want.....and there's no limit. This creates a sense of recklessness. The only angle that they may be going for is....its a reserve....so there's no reason to have a limit. I know a guy that has a deer reserve and he can alow you to shoot as many as he wants....not that he actually would do that....but just saying.

[MooseDragon98]

I am on board with this

[WERNERvsNEO]

Really doesn't sound bad!

I totally agree that realistic behaviour of animals should be a main goal for this game and not something for hardcore mode.

[cybvep]

I will bump this thread up simply because I believe that customisation would be great for the game's longevity and some sort of hardcore mode for players who want more challenge and/or immersion would be a good addition in general.

[kubanskiloewe]

i wished they would improve shooting to be more realistic and so that we can test it on different objects and wind settings at the range !

[cybvep]

Improved weapon ballistics is definitely high on my wishlist.

[HORIZONS]

I like all your points, and would add a revamp to the weather system to make it a bit more believable. Hunting seasons is an interesting one though. It would be a hard sell for a map such as Te Awaroa NZ (i hunt in the lower north island of NZ IRL) where all the game animals represented in COTW are introduced and classed as feral / noxious - it's almost a civic duty to go out and knock over as many as you can. We don't have seasons here - hunting is year round on public land for free.

Overall i fully a support a realism / HM / SIM aspect of COTW though.

[robsonhost]

I like this ideia, with more SIM mode and hunting sessions

[Vedo]

The devs of this game have said that CotW isnt a sim. I have been suggesting sim elements for years and nothing, eventually i gave up.
This is an ARCADE SHOOTER ANIMAL COLLECTING GAME. Its not a hunting sim and will never be one.

Just wait for Ultimate Hunting, that looks to go the sim route.

[cybvep]

Well, we can already turn off various UI elements/indicators to make the game harder/more immersive. This would be a sort of expansion on this idea. It's an optional feature.

[Neurotic Panda]

Hunting seasons with limited kills is probably the single dumbest idea i've heard of for this game. period. no thx.

Feel free to enter IRL and have all these restrictions placed upon you. personally in a GAME, i want to play it. not kill an animal and be done for a 'season' with zero to do..

Also if you want a hard mode. turn off ALL indicators, everything, turn off the HUD, never use callers or scents, never use the ATV or fast travel, etc. If you want silly limitations, then after you kill and harvest an animal from that 'region' on the map then you can no longer hunt that region for 'x' amount of time. basically however silly you wish to make the game. Make it an IRL year, IDC. go nuts.

have fun !

[Vedo]

Thats not a feature. You are not supposed to play the game like that and its obvious. You cant gauge noise level without the indicator, certain sounds that are loud to you make no noise according to the indicator and certain sounds that are quiet make a lot of noise according to the indicator. Visible tracks dont show up on certain terrain even though they are there. You get the intrusive "press E" prompt when you walk over tracks no matter what. Visibility is inconsistent as all hell and makes no sense a lot of the time. Many of the games skills and perks require you to have some or all UI elements active. Etc etc.

Its an arcade animal collector and no amount of tinkering with the settings will make it anything other than that.

[eagle74]

We all play the game for fun. The issue is that "fun" is in the eye of the beholder. What is fun for me may be something that you feel needs to be eliminated entirely from the game.

NO to increasing spook times. I used to stalk hunt 80%+ in the game, but when they broke the animal footstep sounds, I started tripod/stand hunting a lot more & actually liked it. So now I'm probably hunting about 50/50 stalk vs still. The amount of time an animal remains nervous after being spooked doesn't really matter to me for stalk hunting but it is a big deal for tripod hunting. Once you shoot the 1st animal, the rest of them may return to the zone, but they take up residence in the tree line or bushes. And you are lucky if you get a shot on the 2nd one. They often stay nervous for 1-2 game hours so you cannot call them out. Tripod hunting around vegetation got less productive when they increased the spook times a while back. And the current state is about right for me.

No to hunting seasons & regs. I don't want to play the old games where you got 2 deer tags. Not to mention that hunting laws vary widely by region. Where I live, coyote & feral pigs are open season 24/7 no limits. You cannot shoot turkey with any rifle & you cannot shoot hens most of the time. In some areas deer limits are 1 per season & in others its 5 per day. etc, etc.

[Torva Messor]

Originally posted by eagle74:

We all play the game for fun. The issue is that "fun" is in the eye of the beholder. What is fun for me may be something that you feel needs to be eliminated entirely from the game.

NO to increasing spook times. I used to stalk hunt 80%+ in the game, but when they broke the animal footstep sounds, I started tripod/stand hunting a lot more & actually liked it. So now I'm probably hunting about 50/50 stalk vs still. The amount of time an animal remains nervous after being spooked doesn't really matter to me for stalk hunting but it is a big deal for tripod hunting. Once you shoot the 1st animal, the rest of them may return to the zone, but they take up residence in the tree line or bushes. And you are lucky if you get a shot on the 2nd one. They often stay nervous for 1-2 game hours so you cannot call them out. Tripod hunting around vegetation got less productive when they increased the spook times a while back. And the current state is about right for me.

No to hunting seasons & regs. I don't want to play the old games where you got 2 deer tags. Not to mention that hunting laws vary widely by region. Where I live, coyote & feral pigs are open season 24/7 no limits. You cannot shoot turkey with any rifle & you cannot shoot hens most of the time. In some areas deer limits are 1 per season & in others its 5 per day. etc, etc.

i understand where you are coming from here but i think what people want in this is a mode you can turn off/on before the session starts that makes it more realistic

[Torva Messor]

i personally would LOVE hardcore mode - i remember a long while back on hunter classic during a livestream i was doin where i hunted with color of the tracks turn offed and i wasnt allowed to use the hunter mate whatsoever for ID-ing calls or for tracking and i absolutely and thoroughly enjoyed that session and if i can do something like that here on COTW it would make each hunt all the more enjoyable. especially if there are seasons and more realistic weather patterns(tho the weather might be a tad harder to make more realistic)