Wolves are freaking me out

[JoE Smash]

30 minutes ago, dookiejones said:

@JoE Smash I am not trying to be rude, this post has grown quite a bit from what I had intended and I feel I should point that out.

I honestly was attempting to be polite and constructive with my criticism. I did not say you were or were not anything, I said you seem like. Text carries little inflection and I could have used more words but that just isn't me. I am short and to the point, you will never see me do a TL;DR section, it's not personal. The situation you are talking about, the wolves being in defilade, is the 10% I was talking about. All you can really do in that situation is your best with the tools you have, which I pointed out you should be swimming in the right ones on voyager.

I did not join this forum to talk smack, I joined to express my concern about the ease of using matches accidentally and to offer a solution, which I did and you commented on. I could easily lambast you for any number of your posts and I only read for about an hour. It is just not my thing and honestly does nothing for anyone involved.  

I read a bunch of interesting looking threads and noticed you in most of them. From what I saw you seemed to not want to follow advice given by players who are more skilled or experienced in certain areas than you, the pattern of you ignoring that advice is obvious and a detriment to your in game survival. I am not mad at you for it, that would be silly, but it is one of those things that you normally don't see when you are the one doing them. 

"You seem to be bad at the game." is your version of "polie constructive criticism?" That's a laughable statement if there has ever been one. What do you sound like when you are just being a rude asshat?

I've never ignored anyone's advice and me doing so is impossible to infer, because you have never seen me play, so that is a completely irrelevant and dumb assumption.

Most of the threads I have commented on have nothing to do with advice on how to play. Most of the posts involved adding features to the game, so you obviously have me confused with someone else to begin with. I have rarely ever used this forum for advice on how to play. That is what YouTube videos are for. Once I asked for specifics on the World Decay mechanics, but that still wasn't advice it was a clarification of a mechanic.

I can tell you are mostly likely bad at this game, life in general, and probably everything else because you seem to make up imaginary assumptions in your head....and you know what happens when you assume right?

Going forward if I need any advice from you, you will be the first to know. I'll write you a message.

In this thread I wasn't asking for you or anyone else's advice on how to handle wolves. I made the statement that I feel there are a lot of them, they seem to be everywhere, and they make me nervous.

Some people agreed, some did not, and some people gave me advice I never asked for. You didn't do any of those things. You just stated I suck at a game that I bought a week ago and have played for about 80 hours. I'm sure if I suck, I'll get better the longer I play it. Having gotten my 50 day achievement on a difficulty higher than Pilgrim isn't bad for someone playing this game for a week.

I think your criticism was uncalled for, it was extremely rude, and nothing about it was constructive.

So thank you, and have a nice day!

[dookiejones]

@JoE Smash yes actually, I do think I was being polite enough. I am not going figuratively blow you so you feel better about yourself. I could have easily just said, brah you suck, stop being a little girl and just kill the wolves already. I could have said nothing you do outside interloper is worth bragging about, neither is forlorn. I said nothing of the sort, and that is a very condensed version of what I would be like as a complete rude asshat as you put it. 

Not being able to deal with the wolves points to you not being very good at the game because they are so common. Most of the rest of the OP is describing how the game works as a problem, which points to you blaming the game for you not being able to deal with the wolves. As a single example of you not following advice , you not wanting to play pilgrim to learn the maps quickly. The connection is logical. 

I'll ignore the personal insults, it is pretty low class though.

You can feel free to watch me stream and see how bad I am, maybe you could learn to deal with wolves. Same name on YouTube, I'll be on between midnight and 1am eastern tonight. 

[JoE Smash]

9 minutes ago, dookiejones said:

@JoE Smash yes actually, I do think I was being polite enough. I am not going figuratively blow you so you feel better about yourself. I could have easily just said, brah you suck, stop being a little girl and just kill the wolves already. I could have said nothing you do outside interloper is worth bragging about, neither is forlorn. I said nothing of the sort, and that is a very condensed version of what I would be like as a complete rude asshat as you put it. 

Not being able to deal with the wolves points to you not being very good at the game because they are so common. Most of the rest of the OP is describing how the game works as a problem, which points to you blaming the game for you not being able to deal with the wolves. As a single example of you not following advice , you not wanting to play pilgrim to learn the maps quickly. The connection is logical. 

I'll ignore the personal insults, it is pretty low class though.

You can feel free to watch me stream and see how bad I am, maybe you could learn to deal with wolves. Same name on YouTube, I'll be on between midnight and 1am eastern tonight. 

Not once in this thread did I state I cannot deal with wolves. I said they make me nurveous, as in they scare me. I kill them and eat them all the time because I don't get parasites on Voyager. Do you want to see my wolf pelt collection?

The smell mechanic makes me nervous because whenever I kill anything, I am aware that I am more likely to be jumped by some unseen wolf from far away because they can smell me now. There are hills, trees, blizzards, and fog in the game. You can't see wolves through a hill. We don't have x-ray vision in the game, or thermal goggles. Wolves can be sneaky and jump you. That's what makes me nervous. If I couldn't handle wolves, I wouldn't have been able to loot all the major loot areas or Forlorn Muskeg. I wouldn't have been able to get to the forge and make arrowheads. I would be dead. Fire scares wolves so I made a fire and carried a torch and scared them off. That is one of the ways to handle wolves, correct? I accomplished that, and I had to kill at least 4 wolves to do so...

I have no interest in watching you play, I already have watched Geltaz and GrayStillPlays play the game on Interloper for at least 10 hours worth of videos. I want to play now...

[dookiejones]

The OP comes off as you having massive trouble with wolves, as in "omg I can't progress cause the wolves are broken, halp" trouble. Had I realized it was just you screaming like a little girl trouble, no offence meant, I would have laughed. I still find my self nopeing out half the time I see a wolf. One of those defilade wolves ended my run last night I was doing very well on for not having any shoes in forlorn on interloper. Like I said 90% of the time you see them first, it's the 10% that see you first that sucks. 

 

The fun part is, I went to forlorn to use the forge to make fishing hooks.... I did not realise you can just make them without the forge... 438 days is my longest run and I never noticed...

[Miniwizard]

8 hours ago, JoE Smash said:

I would say I know pretty much all the locations in Mystery Lake where there may be wolves, and I noticed the wolf pack on the tracks moved to the lake near the fishing hut....I am not sure where the pack moves after that.

It's not so much that they moved there, but moreover that some of the ones at the tracks despawned (in bad weather etc) and then when the weather cleared, new ones spawned on the lake. However, I know that when I am heavily involved in playing, and I am thoroughly immersed in the game world, I also imagine them travelling from one location to another location - scouting me, waiting for me to sprain my wrist or ankle while coming home with some fresh food.

The ones at both the lake and the rail derailment are easy to spot and avoid. My least favourites are the ones that wander around much more, such as in the commonly travelled central area of the lower westerrn half of the map.

Other maps, such as Coastal highway you can easily get jumped by one without warming as you exit a building if you forgot to exit while crouched.

[JoE Smash]

35 minutes ago, Miniwizard said:

It's not so much that they moved there, but moreover that some of the ones at the tracks despawned (in bad weather etc) and then when the weather cleared, new ones spawned on the lake. However, I know that when I am heavily involved in playing, and I am thoroughly immersed in the game world, I also imagine them travelling from one location to another location - scouting me, waiting for me to sprain my wrist or ankle while coming home with some fresh food.

The ones at both the lake and the rail derailment are easy to spot and avoid. My least favourites are the ones that wander around much more, such as in the commonly travelled central area of the lower westerrn half of the map.

Other maps, such as Coastal highway you can easily get jumped by one without warming as you exit a building if you forgot to exit while crouched.

You mean that sneaky one that likes to jump you in the burned out deadfall building when you are trying to make a fire....

If so I hate him too. Also the one that likes to try to jump you with the bear if you leave the trapper cabin and head twords the rails that transition to Forlorn Muskeg....

I didn't find them to be a fun pair...

The bear from Max's last stand was heading twords the trapper's cabin when I was wanting to leave. The wolf was hugging the south wall so I couldn't go around the bear that way. I had to go around to the left towards the deadfall and get to dodge their other friend....

It was swellzies!

[Carbon]

2 hours ago, dookiejones said:

...stop being a little girl...

 

2 hours ago, dookiejones said:

...screaming like a little girl trouble...

  Little girls around the world are growing vigilant. You'd best leave them out of your little tiff.

[JoE Smash]

1 minute ago, Carbon said:

 

  Little girls around the world are growing vigilant. You'd best leave them out of your little tiff.

Yeah I don't know what his deal is man. I guess he doesn't know how to speak in a polite manner. I just added him to my list....

[Scyzara]

Just as a general reminder to everyone: Please remain civil and polite towards each other, no matter what you think about each other's opinions or gaming skills.

It doesn't help anyone to insult each other and only makes these forums a less enjoyable place for the rest of the community. 

Anyway,  @dookiejones (and many others) gave you some pretty good advice regarding wolves in their posts, you might want to try those strategies and I bet they'll solve most of your current problems, @Joe Smash.

[Carbon]

48 minutes ago, JoE Smash said:

Yeah I don't know what his deal is man. I guess he doesn't know how to speak in a polite manner. I just added him to my list....

 It was just meant as levity Joe, not showing a flag.

[nicko]

45 minutes ago, Carbon said:

 It was just meant as levity Joe, not showing a flag.

What like this? i want one on my ship wreck @Riken

[Carbon]

1 hour ago, nicko said:

What like this? i want one on my ship wreck @Riken

 I think you mean my ship...squatter.

[vimrich]

I've played 300+ hours and this last week was the first time in all that where I spent longer than a week or two in CH (you used to be forced to go through CH to get to PV before they opened up some other caves). In my last run, I wanted to try fishing more so I went to CH where you can get really big salmon. After a 50+ day run there, I've slowly grown to sort of be OK with it now.

1. The Quonset/town - is a death trap eventually. Go in during low wolf times, loot and get out. If you stay there longer than a week or so, the game turns from survival into one of those fps games like Call of Duty.  You open the back door, hear a bark or two instantly and have to decide, turn back inside or run blindly for the nearest car or side cabin door before you get hit.  You won't even see the wolf, and often there's more than one, so if you run, just pick a direction and GO.  At one point on my last run, on my final trip to get out the last few kgs of food there were 4 wolves patrolling, 2 on each side. I left that last load till it was clear a few weeks later.

2. I had a lot of success based at the Fishing Camp.  The workbench is outside, and you have to go to the nearby fishing hut for a stove, but this can be a plus. You won't be inside all the time now while cooking or crafting and that can really cut down on Cabin Fever. One issue, a bear showed up about 30 days in and hung around for a few days. I moved out to Jack Rabbit Island. It's a bit of a walk back to the Fishing Camp workbench, but it's over open ice so you get a good look at safe pathing as you head out. 

3. Hills/logging roads - these are relatively clear of wolves I think. In fact, when on the slopes, just be sure to pause and listen for bears every now and then. I had no wolf issues. Bears are slow, so as long as you see them well before they "notice" you, you can get out of the way. This tip can help at the Quonset/town as well. If a wolf is on the other side of the building, you can hear footpads before they notice you. Might give you than extra step you need to race away.

4. This might be a bit "cheaty" but one thing you can do with wolves is hit ESC the minute you hear a bark, then hit quit and restart. If you go into buildings a lot, or are already trapped in one, you won't lose a ton of progress. The autosave/permadeath mechanic only kicks in when you get hit or take damage of some kind. Hitting ESC/quit is like your character is having a recurring nightmare; "that wolf came out of nowhere. then I woke up back in the Quonset and realized it was just that dream again."  You can even get your finger over the ESC key when you click to open the door. It might help you relax knowing if there is a wolf, you're going to quit, take a breath, and be ready next time. This can also be a much faster way to try out ideas than dying over and over. learn "wolf safe" aggro distance, the sprint mechanic, etc. in a more controlled manner because you can repeat the same situations.

But my other advice is, if you're not having fun, move through CH and play on other maps.  Also, I find myself mostly playing on Voyageur too. No shame there. I find the harder modes to be just, well tedious, not more challenging. Everyone has their own style.

 

[JoE Smash]

3 hours ago, vimrich said:

I've played 300+ hours and this last week was the first time in all that where I spent longer than a week or two in CH (you used to be forced to go through CH to get to PV before they opened up some other caves). In my last run, I wanted to try fishing more so I went to CH where you can get really big salmon. After a 50+ day run there, I've slowly grown to sort of be OK with it now.

1. The Quonset/town - is a death trap eventually. Go in during low wolf times, loot and get out. If you stay there longer than a week or so, the game turns from survival into one of those fps games like Call of Duty.  You open the back door, hear a bark or two instantly and have to decide, turn back inside or run blindly for the nearest car or side cabin door before you get hit.  You won't even see the wolf, and often there's more than one, so if you run, just pick a direction and GO.  At one point on my last run, on my final trip to get out the last few kgs of food there were 4 wolves patrolling, 2 on each side. I left that last load till it was clear a few weeks later.

2. I had a lot of success based at the Fishing Camp.  The workbench is outside, and you have to go to the nearby fishing hut for a stove, but this can be a plus. You won't be inside all the time now while cooking or crafting and that can really cut down on Cabin Fever. One issue, a bear showed up about 30 days in and hung around for a few days. I moved out to Jack Rabbit Island. It's a bit of a walk back to the Fishing Camp workbench, but it's over open ice so you get a good look at safe pathing as you head out. 

3. Hills/logging roads - these are relatively clear of wolves I think. In fact, when on the slopes, just be sure to pause and listen for bears every now and then. I had no wolf issues. Bears are slow, so as long as you see them well before they "notice" you, you can get out of the way. This tip can help at the Quonset/town as well. If a wolf is on the other side of the building, you can hear footpads before they notice you. Might give you than extra step you need to race away.

4. This might be a bit "cheaty" but one thing you can do with wolves is hit ESC the minute you hear a bark, then hit quit and restart. If you go into buildings a lot, or are already trapped in one, you won't lose a ton of progress. The autosave/permadeath mechanic only kicks in when you get hit or take damage of some kind. Hitting ESC/quit is like your character is having a recurring nightmare; "that wolf came out of nowhere. then I woke up back in the Quonset and realized it was just that dream again."  You can even get your finger over the ESC key when you click to open the door. It might help you relax knowing if there is a wolf, you're going to quit, take a breath, and be ready next time. This can also be a much faster way to try out ideas than dying over and over. learn "wolf safe" aggro distance, the sprint mechanic, etc. in a more controlled manner because you can repeat the same situations.

But my other advice is, if you're not having fun, move through CH and play on other maps.  Also, I find myself mostly playing on Voyageur too. No shame there. I find the harder modes to be just, well tedious, not more challenging. Everyone has their own style.

 

I'm not above saving and quitting, and I have done so historically.

So far CH has been far more reasonable than I had anticipated from videos. I have cleaned out the entire western area of the map so far, from the train tracks in the north to jackrabbit island. 

That wolf that surprised me at the wooden bridge up north disappeared never to be heard from again after I dropped him that 5% condition mouldy venison. Maybe he really did get food poisoning, lol...

Funny you should bring up the Fishing Camp. I moved all my belongings to the hut with the workbench behind it. The day after I got there, I was working on my wolfskin coat, and I noticed a wolf wandering back and forth on the furthest dock. I lit a fire next to the workbench and grabbed a brand/torch from the fire. I walked over there and chucked the torch at him. He freaked out and proceed to run down the dock ramp, but then he crashed into the dock in front of him and ended up running in place.

I seized this opportunity to get some much needed archery practice...as I had not yet shot an animal with an arrow. Of course my first shot missed due to my excitement and total lack of archery experience. I corrected my aim with my second shot, and nailed him in his front left shoulder. He let out a yelp and some blood sprayed into the air. I let loose a second arrow and he dropped dead on the spot. 

I walked back to my cabin and turned a stack of pallets into 10 reclaimed wood. I lit a new fire next to his remains, and used my knife to strip him of all meat, hide and entrails. I then cooked up his meager 3.5 kilos of flesh. He was my dinner that night.

The next day I headed to Jackrabbit Island to loot the island and the cabin there. On my approach I noticed a lone wolf wandering the northern section of the island by the ice. I gave him a wide berth and proceeded to loot. On my return trip to my fishing camp hut, I observed the same wolf wandering up the chain of small islands in the direction I was heading. I again kept my distance on my way home.

All in all though, seeing three wolves and killing one of them while looting the west most third of Coastal Highway is far more relaxed and reasonable than I had anticipated. There is still much ground to cover and areas to loot. Before I start celebrating, I should see how my coastal town and gas station exploring goes, lol!

[JAFO]

31 minutes ago, JoE Smash said:

Before I start celebrating, I should see how my ... gas station exploring goes, lol!

Stones. Stones are your friend.

[JoE Smash]

10 minutes ago, JAFO said:

Stones. Stones are your friend.

I have to work on my stone throwing. I tried it in Mystery Lake, and it did not work as intended. I tried not to use the aim button, because I know aiming weapons at wolves definitely ticks them off. I swear when I threw the rocks there, the wolf investigated the sound for a second, then he made a b-line for me...

Maybe he saw me, I was crouched and pretty far away. I can't seem to throw particularly far either....

[Ysidro]

Throw away from the direction you want to go in, and move away the moment the wolf starts moving. Try practicing while sitting on a rock up high, so the wolf/bear can't reach you.

 

And one of the things I would definately recommend if you want to camp at the gas station is to, the first time you clear out the space around it, start tons of fires. The last thing you want the moment you hear barking or growling is to then have to find a spot to start a fire in, if you have a whole bunch of burned out campfires near the place you can simply click one and immediately start a new fire there.

[JAFO]

8 minutes ago, JoE Smash said:

I can't seem to throw particularly far either....

Distance needs altitude. Aim higher into the air, for increased distance. See @GELtaz's recent video where he herds wolves around with stones.

[JoE Smash]

5 minutes ago, JAFO said:

Distance needs altitude. Aim higher into the air, for increased distance. See @GELtaz's recent video where he herds wolves around with stones.

I watched it, and I tried throwing upwards more....it just didn't work out...

I'm sure I'll attempt it again at some point in the future after saving....

[wahchewie]

Thought I'd share some support in that although I think its random,  I've found the wolves pick on me more as a fresh spawn? Sometimes they'll really single you out from a mile away and others you have to jumping jack to get attention. Fresh spawn I've had one sprint at me from 100m away for no particular reason and that sucked because you have no medicine stamina or resources to deal with.  Then of course when kitted out there's a million ways to deal with them, and of course you have the condition and stamina to burn too. You can do a Bit of a sprint away around a corner yes, or drop some bait...   strip off naked and stab them lol... that being said quantity of wolves  does not equal quality.  They're inconsistent,  sometimes smart and sometimes utterly brain-dead. and I do not believe there should be so many or that they should respawn so much either aka garage in  CH. Btw, fluffy,  in the dam? She slow walked about 2m in front of me and didn't see me. Put a Lee Enfield round into her butt and she ran around the generator room twice,  then came back and jumped on me& died after one mouse click. Wolves AI is Just all over the place 

[Renegade30]

29 minutes ago, wahchewie said:

Thought I'd share some support in that although I think its random,  I've found the wolves pick on me more as a fresh spawn? Sometimes they'll really single you out from a mile away and others you have to jumping jack to get attention. Fresh spawn I've had one sprint at me from 100m away for no particular reason and that sucked because you have no medicine stamina or resources to deal with.  Then of course when kitted out there's a million ways to deal with them, and of course you have the condition and stamina to burn too. You can do a Bit of a sprint away around a corner yes, or drop some bait...   strip off naked and stab them lol... that being said quantity of wolves  does not equal quality.  They're inconsistent,  sometimes smart and sometimes utterly brain-dead. and I do not believe there should be so many or that they should respawn so much either aka garage in  CH. Btw, fluffy,  in the dam? She slow walked about 2m in front of me and didn't see me. Put a Lee Enfield round into her butt and she ran around the generator room twice,  then came back and jumped on me& died after one mouse click. Wolves AI is Just all over the place 

I agree it does seem inconsistent. But I kind of felt like Hinterland were going for different wolf personalities, like some run from you when they get close (even without the wolf or bear coat). At times this does seem strange though, some wolves seem particularly aggressive for no particular reason while others are total bitches