It's been a hard winter... (feedback and possible bug)

[JupiterFox]

Accurate mode is brutal. My wolf's health was red, had a broken back leg, four hungry pups and an easy-going mate. Wintertime is the time of the wolf though. We took down a weak elk, almost lost two pups for it, but we got meat. I cheese the carcass though by taking all the chunks I could and then laying on top of the chunks because as far as I know, predators are attracted to carcasses but not chunks, which never get old. I don't know if this is something that the devs should remedy. So, I ate chunks and slept the entire time, letting my packmates eat the chunks too if they got too hungry. I slept and eat in one spot for quite a few days until my leg healed, and when I finally looked at the map, two wolf packs had been wiped out all at once? And these were the strong wolf packs that had always been there when my wolf came to the map. And the remaining one, Painted Rock, with whom I have a grudge, had taken a quarter of the map and constantly wanted to attack me because I took most of its territory in the autumn and killed the male leader.

Now, my pack is well and running strong again after that tough time with the broken leg. This all leads me to a couple questions that I decided to put in one post.
1) I'd like if Accurate mode NPC wolves had more consistency with their health. I took a huge chunk out of this one wolf's health, and she took a chunk of mine so we were about even. One sleep cycle later, I encounter her again, and she had healed double the health that I did, which I don't think is fair. I wasn't at full hunger, but I was close to it. It's accurate mode, yes, but I think it needs to be accurate mode for all wolves, not just the player. More random wolf carcasses spawning please and less healing time for injured wolves. I've noticed that dispersals tend to die more in accurate mode as well, which pleases me. Also, the mate needs to take on more damage. I have a very bold mate, and he's rarely at half damage even though he's attacking and being attacked left and right.
2) this leads me to wonder if the two packs dying at the same time is a bug? I didn't have much interaction with the two packs that died, only with Painted Rock. So, the RNG numbers were rolled, and all four or so pack leaders died shortly after each other? I didn't report it, but I just want to let ya'll know that this happened. I woke up, and all their territory hexes were cracked at once. Has two packs dying naturally at the same happened to anyone else?
3) I don't know if anyone else does this, but I've occasionally been able to cheese carcasses by pulling as many meat chunks out as possible then laying on top of them to prevent packmates from eating them without my permission. I am able to heal and rest and eat well because of this, and predators are less attracted to meat chunks than carcasses. I don't know how the devs would be able to fix this, or if it needs fixing because though I like taking advantage of this cheat when I can, it's taxing to take all the chunks and boring to sleep through an injury this way. But it works for desperate times.
4) speaking of meat chunks, I think it'd be awesome if coyotes and dogs were smart enough to harass a lone wolf for a meat chunk that is in its mouth. This would happen on the two higher difficulties and never on easy. I think that a group of coyotes could see a lone wolf with meat in its mouth. One coyote bites the wolf and makes the wolf drop the chunk, then another coyote swoops in and takes the meat chunk. All coyotes then flee. Seems like something coyotes, dogs, and maybe cougars could do. Not bears perhaps, because the chunk is too small for a bear to care unless it's in the fall and the bear needs all the food it can get. If the wolf is running though, the dogs/coyotes will give up chasing for the chunk after a while. Also, I could have sworn that the early coyote devblogs said that they're somewhat faster than wolves, yet the in-game coyotes can easily caught up to and then killed with some effort.
5) also is Floppy a normal moose in terms of damage and food? Obviously, she's always running around, so she never gets tired? Can she even be killed?
6) if you're playing an ironwolf, is pack succession technically always available?

Anyway, I'm tired. Thanks for reading this post. I'm sorry if this is too much, let me know if I need to create individual topics. I've been playing too much of this game and have a lot on my mind.

[Depressed_Cat]

Answering number 6, yes. Even if you die before becoming an elder wolf, you can do pack succession as long as you're playing as an ironwolf.

[Senpuff]

I'll chime in here and offer a few answers and thoughts where I can.

1> That's an interesting question. I know that hunger affects your healing rate BIG TIME, and the amount of health recovered diminishes quickly with less food in your tummy, but don't know if NPCs have a similar factor.
I know that I've tangled with NPC wolves on Easy and both of us were on the ropes. On Easy, one sleep with full hunger will almost completely refill your health, and my "sparring partner" was still missing about a third of theirs next time we met.
My boldest mate Yukiko is a menace who has more than once tested the limits of "Mate Permadeath Disabled". Hard to say exactly what happened in this case for you though, as this was pre-Saga last time I played on that save.

2> My best guess is that these packs either spawned in with, or lost, one leader, which triggered the disband countdown. If they weren't able to find a new mate, likely linked to what you said about dispersals dying much more frequently in Accurate, then they would collapse later. I say "spawned in" because on my current save I basically loaded in on top of a courtable leader, but hadn't completed Learn to Hunt on that wolf yet so couldn't capitalize. Of course given that this is Accurate, NPC wolves are probably just as likely to get killed in encounters out in the wild as you are - they actually do go on hunts and get in fights in the background. So either way is possible.

3> Can't say I've ever tried that. I wouldn't expect this one to be patched out any time soon if they do though, since meat chunks are supposed to be smaller morsels, and therefore less likely for a competitor to be willing to risk a fight over. Much like how competitors generally won't fight you over a hare.

4> This is an awesome idea and I love it.

5> I don't actually know. Her enclosure is much more secure in LR:AE, and therefore you can't break in to find out anymore. I even tried leaping off a nearby sloped rock, but faceplanted into the fence despite being a few meters above it.
I'd have to load into LR:C and clip in to find out. Which, given that moose are a tough fight even on a normal day, it might be a bit before I can bring her down and report back.

6> Yes, as long as your pack has any adults you can succeed to. After all, Elders and Ironwolves use the same code-path, just with the names changed. (An early bug after they added the feature would mix them up.)

[Loach]

Floppy is not on the menu in Anniversary Edition! Her enclosure is locked tight on purpose and any that did get close to her during testing discovered quick that it was impossible to bite her. This makes her immortal and invincible. Not a moose you can kill at all.

For the rest, are you currently in the normal branch, or are you in the public beta? Some of what you list here is addressed in the current beta patch.

In terms of packs disappearing suddenly, that sort of thing is usually on countdown in the background for a while. It's possible they were in imminent disbandment before all that sleeping you did, and all the snoozing simply sped by the process up and showed their fading off the map. A lot of the game world ticks by and does things regardless of what you do, so for reporting things you believe are strange with I, it's recommended to go back to a previous save if you have one and send a bug report with details of what you saw and why you think it is strange(or what you think should happen instead).

[Thicket Reaper]

The reason why rival wolf npc's heal faster, is because the player wolf is way more skilled than them. If I were to fight a rival 1v1, then the only damage I'd take would likely be from it struggling in my jaws. So npc's kind of have to have some advantages, otherwise it wouldn't be a very fair fight.

[JupiterFox]

Originally posted by Depressed_Cat:

Answering number 6, yes. Even if you die before becoming an elder wolf, you can do pack succession as long as you're playing as an ironwolf.

thank you

Originally posted by Senpuff:

I'll chime in here and offer a few answers and thoughts where I can.

1> That's an interesting question. I know that hunger affects your healing rate BIG TIME, and the amount of health recovered diminishes quickly with less food in your tummy, but don't know if NPCs have a similar factor.
I know that I've tangled with NPC wolves on Easy and both of us were on the ropes. On Easy, one sleep with full hunger will almost completely refill your health, and my "sparring partner" was still missing about a third of theirs next time we met.
My boldest mate Yukiko is a menace who has more than once tested the limits of "Mate Permadeath Disabled". Hard to say exactly what happened in this case for you though, as this was pre-Saga last time I played on that save.

2> My best guess is that these packs either spawned in with, or lost, one leader, which triggered the disband countdown. If they weren't able to find a new mate, likely linked to what you said about dispersals dying much more frequently in Accurate, then they would collapse later. I say "spawned in" because on my current save I basically loaded in on top of a courtable leader, but hadn't completed Learn to Hunt on that wolf yet so couldn't capitalize. Of course given that this is Accurate, NPC wolves are probably just as likely to get killed in encounters out in the wild as you are - they actually do go on hunts and get in fights in the background. So either way is possible.

3> Can't say I've ever tried that. I wouldn't expect this one to be patched out any time soon if they do though, since meat chunks are supposed to be smaller morsels, and therefore less likely for a competitor to be willing to risk a fight over. Much like how competitors generally won't fight you over a hare.

4> This is an awesome idea and I love it.

5> I don't actually know. Her enclosure is much more secure in LR:AE, and therefore you can't break in to find out anymore. I even tried leaping off a nearby sloped rock, but faceplanted into the fence despite being a few meters above it.
I'd have to load into LR:C and clip in to find out. Which, given that moose are a tough fight even on a normal day, it might be a bit before I can bring her down and report back.

6> Yes, as long as your pack has any adults you can succeed to. After all, Elders and Ironwolves use the same code-path, just with the names changed. (An early bug after they added the feature would mix them up.)

on accurate, sleeping without a full stomach is just a waste of time, health-wise, but my hunger was just almost full in any case. I should have healed a little more than I did, compared to the NPC
I've never had a mate die within natural cause aside from old age. I'd like that to be more likely.

I've cooled down since I first made this post. That makes sense, if they couldn't find a mate in time. I just... didn't expect it to happen to two packs at once.

Well, if you're in dire straits, that meat morsel cheese strat has saved me at least twice. Just pluck everything off the carcass into a pile then sleep and eat on repeat until your health and injuries are in the safe zone again.

:D

Oh, I must be remember the Classic LR save with Floppy. I guess I never actually tried to get in on LR AE
ok thanks

Originally posted by Loach:

Floppy is not on the menu in Anniversary Edition! Her enclosure is locked tight on purpose and any that did get close to her during testing discovered quick that it was impossible to bite her. This makes her immortal and invincible. Not a moose you can kill at all.

For the rest, are you currently in the normal branch, or are you in the public beta? Some of what you list here is addressed in the current beta patch.

In terms of packs disappearing suddenly, that sort of thing is usually on countdown in the background for a while. It's possible they were in imminent disbandment before all that sleeping you did, and all the snoozing simply sped by the process up and showed their fading off the map. A lot of the game world ticks by and does things regardless of what you do, so for reporting things you believe are strange with I, it's recommended to go back to a previous save if you have one and send a bug report with details of what you saw and why you think it is strange(or what you think should happen instead).

alright, thank you for the info

I'm not in beta. I looked at the list, and I guess that solves a few issues? Not entirely sure yet

oh okay. I can't go back to a previous save in ironwolf. I just thought it was strange that they both died off at seemingly the same time. I thought they should disband one pack at a time, as that seems less game-y somehow and more natural.

Originally posted by Thicket Reaper:

The reason why rival wolf npc's heal faster, is because the player wolf is way more skilled than them. If I were to fight a rival 1v1, then the only damage I'd take would likely be from it struggling in my jaws. So npc's kind of have to have some advantages, otherwise it wouldn't be a very fair fight.

but to heal double the health that I do is still ridiculous. just heal slightly at the same rate as I do on full hunger. On accurate, no strength buffs, we tend to be damage twins.

[topp]

1: This must be only on accurate, or a recent problem. On challenging I once fought a wolf, slept, woke and fought them again(and killed them). And their health was still rather low the second time I fought them, about what it should have been for me having injured them and then we both rested some.

[Loach]

I just thought it was strange that they both died off at seemingly the same time. I thought they should disband one pack at a time, as that seems less game-y somehow and more natural.

Usually they do! but sometimes it can happen around the same time for some packs, like what you saw.