Animal AI??

[RazorOH]

I have noticed in MANY instances that if I take a certain amount of time to do something (rest, past time, etc) that the animal AI does NOT seem to keep up. For instance, I was in a snow shelter and I could see a bear moving away from me - I slept for 3 hours - and when I was complete with the rest, the bear looked like it had only move a foot! In reality, i should not have seen the bear. I also noticed this in many other instances, this does not make for much realism!

[Arcani]

Your right cause I have the same thing happen on my end as well. It's like time stands still for them when it should not.

[Scyzara]

That's most likely on purpose to protect players from wolves and bears charging all over the place like The Flash every time you melt some snow or perform other timesink activities outside. 

Of course it's unrealistic this way, but the alternative would be much less enjoyable for most players. 

[elloco999]

On the other hand, it also means you can't use any method that passes time more quickly than normal game time to wait until that bear/ wolf has moved off far enough for you to follow your route/ move into a certain area etc.

But I agree with @Scyzara that it's probably a necessary evil.

[Resethel]

And for my part I disagree... partially.

In the current state of the game, this mechanic is somewhat okay imo.

But this kind of decisions should have more impact like:

•  Should I sleep in middle of nowhere before exhaution, risking to be caught by a wolf/bear/other, or should I take some more risks to find a decent shelter?
• Should I skin my deer here before a blizzard or wolves coming or should I carry the corpse to a safe place, risking injuries and/or other stuffs?
• There is a bear on my path, should I sleep here, knowing that it may leave but risking to freeze or being spotted without being able to do anything, or do I try to sneak behind it?

[RazorOH]

I understand what some are saying about the time sync, but for me, the more reality the better. Knowing that I slept for 3 hours, and that the bear is now gone, but where is he now...that is realism, and makes one be on edge, and be more careful in continuing their journey. If it was all easy, it would be NO fun for me.

[Hiemalis]

I've already put some thought into that, and I've always wondered why the devs don't implement a system in which whenever our survivor focuses on a menu-based/time-lapsed activity, the surrounding animals are periodically repositioned at random nearby points. within their paths (as in "pathfinding").

The number of repositionings would depend on the amount of time expended. Each repositioning would test against the chance of the animal detecting the character; that way, there's some chance that a bear interrupts your field dressing, for example.

Could it be some limitation of the engine? Or perhaps it would require nontrivial programming? Or perhaps they simply prefer it that way. I really wish they would consider this -- resting for an hour and seeing that the wolves barely moved do break immersion. Even the fast-forwarding solution mentioned by Scyzara would be preferable, at least IMO.

[Dirmagnos]

Player shouldnt be able to sleep when there is a bear nearby to begin with. What kind of idiot would do that, seriously ??!

There is a friggin bearminator 30 meters away and you are like "Ahh, ok, let me take a nap". Most people would have their adrenaline levels thru the roof with such neighbor, sleeping would be out of the question.

[Scyzara]

The problem is more complicated than some comments here imply. TLD's wildlife does not only attack  you when it walks right through you, but rather as soon as it senses you. 

I'm pretty sure there would be an outrage here on the forums if players got attacked by wolves they didn't even see in the area (e.g. because they were on the other side of a hill) while they started to chop some wood. Especially bears roam quite large territories and sense the player from fairly long distances.

Just imagine the amount of complaints if chopping some wood or melting some snow outdoors automatically came with a 10% risk of being mauled by a bear you never saw coming. (And 10% is already a quite conservative number given the number of bears and the sizes of their territories).

[Hiemalis]

20 hours ago, Scyzara said:

The problem is more complicated than some comments here imply. TLD's wildlife does not only attack  you when it walks right through you, but rather as soon as it senses you. 

I'm pretty sure there would be an outrage here on the forums if players got attacked by wolves they didn't even see in the area (e.g. because they were on the other side of a hill) while they started to chop some wood. Especially bears roam quite large territories and sense the player from fairly long distances.

Just imagine the amount of complaints if chopping some wood or melting some snow outdoors automatically came with a 10% risk of being mauled by a bear you never saw coming. (And 10% is already a quite conservative number given the number of bears and the sizes of their territories).

The percentage -- in case someday the devs decide to implement something like this -- would be completely under their control; i.e., it could be any number no matter how acute their senses or wide their paths/territories.

Anyway, a possible solution would be to set a script trigger like "interrupt the time-lapse action whenever a potentially hostile creature comes within distance X". So if you can see a bear, you probably wouldn't be able to sleep. And if you're field-dressing a deer and the game repositions a wolf in a near enough spot, it just interrupts you in time to walk away without being noticed. This way, animals aren't frozen in time and space anymore while we're doing stuff -- and we don't have to be caught off our feet, but we still have to pay attention to what is going on around us.

[Dirmagnos]

Why would chopping wood or smelting snow would have a chance of animal attack. I doubt that any of those sounds/smells are of any interest to wildlife.

Altho i wouldnt mind that there would be a chance, based on duration of activity and animal movement patterns, that animals would be spawned in vicinity of player, not just attacking him completely randomly. Its logical and could utilize same script as with sleeping, when player wakes up when he start losing condition due to hunger or thirst - player notices wolf and stops what he is doing.

[elloco999]

15 hours ago, Dirmagnos said:

Why would chopping wood or smelting snow would have a chance of animal attack. I doubt that any of those sounds/smells are of any interest to wildlife.

You answer your own question:

15 hours ago, Dirmagnos said:

there would be a chance, based on duration of activity and animal movement patterns

If you are chopping some fir limb into firewood, it can take 1.5 hours. If you do that while a wolf is on the other side of the hill and walking towards you, and the wolf's walking speed is accelerated as much as the game time, that wolf would walk right by you. It would notice you and attack you.

As it is now, the walking speed of the wolf is not accelerated even if the time is. So in that 1.5 hours you are chopping firewood, the wolf only moves a few feet and it's still on the other side of the hill and won't attack you.

[RazorOH]

I can understand about being blind-sided while chopping wood, melting snow, etc. but again is this not realistic? It could be programmed that if this EVENT occurred - chopping wood and a bear appears near that activitiy, dont allow it to attack, but make itself known around the area when the event is done. I myself like a game to be as realistic as possible, I know that this can get very difficult, but it can be done programmatically so as not to 'anger' the community. It just doesnt make sense to go thru an event, like sleeping, and seeing a bear in the distance, right before you go to sleep, and then you wake up, and it is still there and has not moved. Don't get me wrong, the devs have done a SUPER job in this game, the sandbox version is probably my favorite game EVER. But realism should be strived as much as possible. Thanks to the DEVS for all of their hard work!

[Vinceofpyrenees]

On 30/08/2016 at 6:06 AM, RazorOH said:

I can understand about being blind-sided while chopping wood, melting snow, etc. but again is this not realistic? It could be programmed that if this EVENT occurred - chopping wood and a bear appears near that activitiy, dont allow it to attack, but make itself known around the area when the event is done. I myself like a game to be as realistic as possible, I know that this can get very difficult, but it can be done programmatically so as not to 'anger' the community. It just doesnt make sense to go thru an event, like sleeping, and seeing a bear in the distance, right before you go to sleep, and then you wake up, and it is still there and has not moved. Don't get me wrong, the devs have done a SUPER job in this game, the sandbox version is probably my favorite game EVER. But realism should be strived as much as possible. Thanks to the DEVS for all of their hard work!

I wish DEVS will read you 

[rikard]

On ‎24‎/‎08‎/‎2016 at 1:22 AM, Scyzara said:

The problem is more complicated than some comments here imply. TLD's wildlife does not only attack  you when it walks right through you, but rather as soon as it senses you. 

I'm pretty sure there would be an outrage here on the forums if players got attacked by wolves they didn't even see in the area (e.g. because they were on the other side of a hill) while they started to chop some wood. Especially bears roam quite large territories and sense the player from fairly long distances.

Just imagine the amount of complaints if chopping some wood or melting some snow outdoors automatically came with a 10% risk of being mauled by a bear you never saw coming. (And 10% is already a quite conservative number given the number of bears and the sizes of their territories).

I think there should be a punishing difficulty for the players who want absolutely realism, I agree with you guys, this would increase the difficulty, but that's what the fans of this forum are looking for, a realistic, punishing and painful game.

On ‎30‎/‎08‎/‎2016 at 11:06 PM, RazorOH said:

I can understand about being blind-sided while chopping wood, melting snow, etc. but again is this not realistic? It could be programmed that if this EVENT occurred - chopping wood and a bear appears near that activitiy, dont allow it to attack, but make itself known around the area when the event is done. I myself like a game to be as realistic as possible, I know that this can get very difficult, but it can be done programmatically so as not to 'anger' the community. It just doesnt make sense to go thru an event, like sleeping, and seeing a bear in the distance, right before you go to sleep, and then you wake up, and it is still there and has not moved. Don't get me wrong, the devs have done a SUPER job in this game, the sandbox version is probably my favorite game EVER. But realism should be strived as much as possible. Thanks to the DEVS for all of their hard work!

and I agree with razoroh, if you are chopping wood, and a wolf it's coming and you've seen it, the chopping wood should stop a prepare for engagement.

 

and I also agree with you are doing a great job!