Coastal Highway - Dances with wolves.

[DogFoodEaterPs4]

Looooving the game on console. So now that that is out of the way.

I am on Day 78 of a stalker run. Started in ML and moved to CH. It seems like over the years of watching the game they have ramped up the number of wolves and decreased their lethality .  I only bring this up because I have come across certain scenarios where I really felt like, " this is a bit ridiculous". E.G. I was moving off Jack rabbit island on my way to the lookout tower. I was making a wide route (the long way) to avoid wolves in areas that they usually are. Long story short I am in an ice fishing hut with 5 wolves circling me. They lose interest and start walking away. I poke my head out and and start crouch walking backwards instantly triggering another pursuit. They were a good ways off as well. I eventually had to wait until they were completely out of site and then booked it.

My question to you is. Do you find certain areas ruined by the wolf population. I still feel like the game is balanced in CH, and it's suppose to be a challenge but I am finding that something is off here. There are literally wolves everywhere along the coast and the islands. I find it is detracting from the game a bit because there is not a lot I can do to avoid them if I need to get from my base, to well, anywhere on the map. Don't get me wrong. There needs to be the struggle and it should be a challenge. If you love dealing with wolves all the time it's great! Maybe I just havn't figured out the routes to take.

I can and have dealt with the many many wolf encounters in CH. 95% of the time I get away without a fight. I just feel like it is getting annoying which detracts from an amazing game.

[Riotintheair]

Stalker is (as promised) a wolf dodging/combat simulator, it's fun in short doses but it wears thin after a while for me. I think the Interloper and Voyager difficulties are more fun long term with their fewer wolves that seem a little less eager to attack. Though it's also been a while, so maybe Stalker wolves aren't any more aggressive and I've figured out how to better escape wolves without fighting them since I last played it.

Interloper wolves are very dangerous, but they're relatively rare. My current run is still at 5 wolf fights in 229 days, and I haven't had one in about 75 days now - though I had a very tense and long retreat to Rural Crossroads store last night that I though was sure to end with me firing the distress pistol, but I kept moving away from him and he just followed along growling for several 100 meters or so. I also enjoy the long re-spawn timer on Interloper's wolves, so culling them in my territory is a valid wolf management strategy.

Voyager wolves are substantially less dangerous (than Stalker and Interloper) and less numerous (than Stalker), but they re-spawn fairly quickly, so it's harder to clear a safe space for long periods of time, on the other hand I can safely melee Voyager wolves once I have modest gear.

[Fuarian]

55 minutes ago, Riotintheair said:

Stalker is (as promised) a wolf dodging/combat simulator, it's fun in short doses but it wears thin after a while for me. I think the Interloper and Voyager difficulties are more fun long term with their fewer wolves that seem a little less eager to attack. Though it's also been a while, so maybe Stalker wolves aren't any more aggressive and I've figured out how to better escape wolves without fighting them since I last played it.

Interloper wolves are very dangerous, but they're relatively rare. My current run is still at 5 wolf fights in 229 days, and I haven't had one in about 75 days now - though I had a very tense and long retreat to Rural Crossroads store last night that I though was sure to end with me firing the distress pistol, but I kept moving away from him and he just followed along growling for several 100 meters or so. I also enjoy the long re-spawn timer on Interloper's wolves, so culling them in my territory is a valid wolf management strategy.

Voyager wolves are substantially less dangerous (than Stalker and Interloper) and less numerous (than Stalker), but they re-spawn fairly quickly, so it's harder to clear a safe space for long periods of time, on the other hand I can safely melee Voyager wolves once I have modest gear.

Interloper wolves are rare over time. But when starting out they are still everywhere. Especially when moving through Forlorn Muskeg.

[TreeBeard]

18 hours ago, Riotintheair said:

Stalker is (as promised) a wolf dodging/combat simulator, it's fun in short doses but it wears thin after a while for me. I think the Interloper and Voyager difficulties are more fun long term with their fewer wolves that seem a little less eager to attack.

Agreed, Stalker for me is just unplayable, I can't stand the wolf intensity. Obviously some players like it, but I just find it annoying.

[DogFoodEaterPs4]

4 hours ago, TreeBeard said:

Agreed, Stalker for me is just unplayable, I can't stand the wolf intensity. Obviously some players like it, but I just find it annoying.

Glad to see I'm not alone. It just seems slightly unbalanced. I love the challenge of less loot, harsher weather and even the stalking element of the wolves compared to Voyager. Just to many damn wolves. I'm on Day 90 now. Oh, contracted intestinal parasites on a 1% chance of contracting it.... COME ON!... lol. I was so good at rationing my wolf meat. 1 piece every two days. Anyways, Stalker is teaching me the slightly less dangerous routes and what to look out for. So in that part I don't think Hinterland just dumped a bunch of wolves in and said "Have at it". I'm on the fence really. Maybe it is my personal preference and I just need to "suck it up buttercup". If it was me though I would have less wolves, more lethal, and keep all the tracking and behavior that the wolves have now.

Good luck out there.

[Riotintheair]

Always want to be careful with that 1% chance... If I eat one kg of wolf every 24 hours for a 1% chance interrogated once a day, I have a 60% chance of catching parasites at least once in 90 days of doing that.

Edit: I also would note that if I get the 1% chance just 10 times in any given game, I'd none the less, expect to face a parasite infestation in about 10% of my runs as it's a 90.4% chance I pass all 10 checks.

[selfless]

1% chance is not some guesstimate or actuarial catchall.  You are playing with a slot machine hardwired to payout exactly 1% of the time.  It's going to to happen with calculated certainty.  Don't bet against it ever happening because you will be wrong.

[DogFoodEaterPs4]

3 hours ago, Riotintheair said:

Always want to be careful with that 1% chance... If I eat one kg of wolf every 24 hours for a 1% chance interrogated once a day, I have a 60% chance of catching parasites at least once in 90 days of doing that.

Edit: I also would note that if I get the 1% chance just 10 times in any given game, I'd none the less, expect to face a parasite infestation in about 10% of my runs as it's a 90.4% chance I pass all 10 checks.

I'm not sure that it is accumulative like that but resets per day (I remember nothing from my statistics course...lol). My thoughts: If you did it every day for 100 days you cannot say you have a 10% chance of getting sick during this time because it is a slot machine (chance). With that logic If I eat meat for 1000 days I have 100% chance of getting it, there is never 100% chance.....in chance. But it goes further than that I just can't remember. What I really think is accurate because it resets after the risk is gone is that over 100 days you had a 1% chance per day of getting sick. Or, in 100 days you had 100 1% chances of sickness. So really it is just bad luck. Or they are trolling us....lol.

I could be completely wrong but I really don't think chance accumulates like that, or I don't understand the mechanic in the game.

[Riotintheair]

If it checks at 1% odds 90 times the overall collective odds of passing all checks with a 99% chance of passing is ~40%  - the math is trivial it's (0.99^90).

You'll never see odds reported as more than 1% but none the less if you eat 90 pieces of predator over the course of your game there is a 60% chance you'll catch parasites at least one time. The human brain is pretty bad about understanding the probability of low probability events compounded over many times, which is what it happening here. You see 1% and your brain goes, "it'll never happen to me" but if you take a 1% chance 90 times you have a 60% chance of failing at least once.

[DogFoodEaterPs4]

Good on yah mate! I will always listen to that 1% roll the dice! Thanks for the probability lesson, and useful info.