New update, New beginnings, Same old fears...

[strongpelt]

Well with the fresh update I deleted my old game, loaded up a custom one with the settings almost exactly like Voyager with the only thing really being changed being the wolf spawn. I set that to low. Feeling pretty good with my settings I picked Milton (mountain town) to spawn in. Easy enough start. Loving exploring the town. Though I saw a dog house and I felt a bit of fear and amusement as I imagined a wolf hanging out there would be interesting. Looted about two cars when this a**hat showed up.

Was only able to get the tail end of him. I ended up exiting the car a few minutes later as I was freezing and I was right next to a building. Oh boy was that a mistake... Got instantly mauled after I threw a flare (unsuccessfully) at him. Fought him off, He ran towards the front of the building. I (Stupidly) followed him a bit trying to get to the front door. He turned around and mauled me a second time. Though admittedly that second struggle was very short, he ran off pretty fast. I am now currently hiding in the building and looting it as I tend my wounds with my tail between my legs feeling considerably less secure in my home spot. (I wanted my base to be mothergreys house.)

New features, same old stinking wolves. 

 

Hows everyone elses update going?

[strongpelt]

Update: I discovered the building I was in was the bank, and good god I wasn't expecting to be able to loot all the safety deposit boxes! Worth the jumping I got.

Also, upon leaving the building I found two wolf bodies, so I think I was just jumped by two wolves? Honestly don't know but hey I have meat and pelts now. 

[Mroz4k]

Must have been two wolves. At least to my understanding, wolves never attack twice. As soon as you exit the first struggle, the wolf should be bleeding (unless you were fighting it off with fists and merely deterred it in the first place, but even with fists you can cause bleeding in a long enough struggle) - and once wolf starts bleeding, it will never "exit" the panic mode till it dies.

If you scared the wolf off and it stops "running around" - it means its not bleeding, and shooting it again will result in it, coming after you again. 

So those were two wolves. Guess you got lucky the second time that the struggle was short.

Dont worry, you will eventually get a hold of wolves - they arent really that difficult to deal with once you get to know their habits.

[Hotzn]

On 9.12.2017 at 7:27 AM, Mroz4k said:

and once wolf starts bleeding, it will never "exit" the panic mode till it dies.

Hmmm... don't be too sure.

[Mroz4k]

42 minutes ago, Hotzn said:

Hmmm... don't be too sure.

No, it will never leave it. If wolf starts bleeding, it will panic until it dies. Only through bugs or through foolish behaviour can you make it attack again. If you enter indoors and leave them, the bleeding may occasionally be lost. I think you need to wait indoors for that to happen, too. Regardless, if the wolf stops bleeding, it leaves the panic mode.

Another case might be just "hurting" them - this can be a graze shot which did not actually cause physical bleeding. This results in wolf getting scared away, but not actually bleeding, and once it gets far enough away from you, it will switch to predator once again.

Finally, you can occasionally retrigger the predator mode for a panicking wolf if you hurt it again. That's why it's foolish to shoot more at a panicking wolf. 

I have dealt with hundreds of wolves, and since Faithful Cartographer this was always true, and even though I have little experience since Wintermute came out, nothing I heard here on forums indicates the wolves would rapidly change in behaviour.

Aurora wolves are a whole different topic but those are irrelevant to this post.

[cekivi]

1 hour ago, Hotzn said:

Hmmm... don't be too sure.

I don't know about the most recent update but I have been jumped by the same wolf twice. I was chasing it (to harvest once it bled out) and got too close  

@strongpelt: If wolves remain an issue remember that you can give yourself a huge boost in fighting them without disabling wildlife attacks. 

[strongpelt]

4 hours ago, cekivi said:

If wolves remain an issue remember that you can give yourself a huge boost in fighting them without disabling wildlife attacks. 

If i make it too much more easy I think it will get boring! Im having fun, Just wasn't expecting the wolves on the second day. 

Also had another surprise when I was just trying to map out Mountain town...

Didn't actually notice him, It got foggy so I got into a car and was about to pass time to see if the fog would clear so i could map, before i hit the button I thought i heard a wolf so I decided to wait and see. Eventually I realized the sound was not a wolf, but I haven't encountered many bears to realize it was a bear either. I was expecting a moose when teddy strolled into view... 

I had a rifle at this point, so I got out of the car, shot him, got back in the car and past time for an hour. He dropped dead soon after. Sad thing is though I wasted the meat. I'm too far from home to drag it home without attracting every wolf in the entire map. So I just took the pelt. 

I think I need to thank the fog for saving me from a mauling though. another 30 seconds and I'm sure i would be a bear toy. 

[cekivi]

29 minutes ago, strongpelt said:

I think I need to thank the fog for saving me from a mauling though. another 30 seconds and I'm sure i would be a bear toy. 

Yeah, I've had some accidental close encounters. I once left an ice fishing shack and while I was fishing a bear had moved right up to the entrance. It did not go well for me!  

[Ruruwawa]

12 hours ago, strongpelt said:

II had a rifle at this point, so I got out of the car, shot him, got back in the car and past time for an hour. He dropped dead soon after. Sad thing is though I wasted the meat. I'm too far from home to drag it home without attracting every wolf in the entire map. So I just took the pelt. 

If you have time and the weather is on your side, consider harvesting the bear meat and just dropping it in the snow.  Meat on the carcass spoils quite fast, but it'll freeze in the snow and last much longer.  Then you can haul it back to base a load at a time if you pass that way.  In fact, unless a bear dies right on my doorstep, this is the way it always work out for me.  I never seem to have 30kg of extra bag space.

Also: if you are worried about running into wolves, move the meat during a blizzard.  The wolves and bears are hiding in their dens, so you'll only have the cold and visibility to worry about.  Obviously this only make sense if you know your surroundings well.  Sometimes I'll mark a path from a landmark I know I can find in a blizzard to the meat pile using sticks or tinder or whatever.

[stratvox]

Quartering is also a viable option, and when it comes to bears I use it quite often. You can grab the hide and guts and one quarter and hoof it on home to drop the hides and guts and harvest the quarter. This should get you 8-9kg of meat which you can then drop in the snow for long term preservation while you book back and forth between your base and the other quarters to bring the rest back.

Ending up with 30kg of meat in the snow outside your main shelter is great, it means you've got a good fifteen days where you just don't have to worry about food, and can concentrate on other things like looting trips, crafting, skill improvement, and so on.

[Sunwolf]

11 hours ago, Ruruwawa said:

Sometimes I'll mark a path from a landmark I know I can find in a blizzard to the meat pile using sticks or tinder or whatever.

That's a great idea!  I don't fear the wolves or bears or hunger or thirst in this game.  I fear getting lost in a blizzard.

[Mroz4k]

1 hour ago, Sunwolf said:

That's a great idea!  I don't fear the wolves or bears or hunger or thirst in this game.  I fear getting lost in a blizzard.

Sticks and stones are always a good indicator in case you do get lost. Preferably, I would use ruined flares and things like that too, because they can be a bit more conspiculous then sticks and stones - for example ruined tailor kits work great! 

But whenever you can, I highly recommend to just spend time looking around, trying to imprint the map in your head. Map knowledge will eventually come in handy! And always be on a lookout for potential quick ducking spots in case a blizzard strikes and you are too far to go indoors. To give a good example, been cut off by a blizzard somewhere on a lake in FM - too far to go back to Farmstead, too far to go forward to trains. Turns out I was okay even with my 2 hours worth of wood only because I crawled under an ice float that was sticking out of the ground by the shore. Made a fire because it was wind protected, slept in two hours, even got to chase a wolf off when it came - and went in the blizzard foraging for more wood around the shelter to keep the fire going.

Luckily, TLD is different in one regard to real life - in TLD, you ALWAYS walk straight. In real life, most people tend to limp a little bit into right. This is extremely deadly in real life - people trapped in real blizzards died just a few hundred meters from safety because they tried to "follow their nose" and walk in straight line, but ended up making huge circles as they couldn't keep walking in a straight line because of bad visibility.

In TLD, you walk straight, so good tip when getting lost in a blizzard is not to panic, pick a direction, walk in it in a straight line - and pay attention to the terrain - if you hit the wall, follow the wall, you will eventually either find an indoor location, a cave or at least a temporary shelter... If you walk into a hill, you might get a better idea of where you are, and at least you might be able to get out of the wind for a bit. Dont look  around though - easy to lose the sense of direction this way. If that happens, look on the ground for your footprints - they can help you realize in which way you were going in the first place.

[Mroz4k]

20 hours ago, cekivi said:

I don't know about the most recent update but I have been jumped by the same wolf twice. I was chasing it (to harvest once it bled out) and got too close

I was thinking more about this - I have never had that happen, unless I actually provoked the wolf again. But I usually play on Voyageur. Maybe this is different in the harder modes? 

[Meat]

21 hours ago, cekivi said:

I don't know about the most recent update but I have been jumped by the same wolf twice...

I can confirm that this can still happen. Just happened to me yesterday. I began applying first aid after the first wolf attack without first scooting out of its sight. The wolf came back for a second round. I easily fought it off with no additional damage to my character but it definitely can still happen.