Bashing wolf with torch !

[alone sniper]

Hi guys 😊

So, here is an idea !

You have light torch and suddenly a wolf attack you. How about using torch as weapon ? ( Not talking about throwing it ) 

It will ruin your torch and you will have small chance of success.

Thanks guys 

[Doc Feral]

I think it was an old option with the "brands", I've read about it but started gaming later.

A torch or lit flare will make the wolf keep its distance if you're walking backwards facing it. It's just a way to gain some time when you're heading for a shelter or someplace to jump down. Looks like running with a flaming thing in your hand has a fair chance of scaring off the wolf if surprised (you may jumpscare it hopping onto a ridge). It happened to me once, on stalker and I had normal clothes, no furs. 

Edited June 10, 2019 by Doc Feral

[ThePancakeLady]

I could see using an unlit torch as a blunt instrument, working much like using a prybar does, only with far less damage, and you taking more damage. Maybe a bit better than bare hands, but not as effective as a prybar.

Using a lit torch would go against the working mechanics of the game... fire scares wolves, they stop or flee. And the amount of time we have from when a wolf goes into full attack to when they connect with us, even with the illusion created by the extreme slowing of time to allow for a weapon choice, would not be enough to pull out matches or a firestriker, to light the unlit torch and have a lit one in hand before the wolf rips your face off. Add in the real possibility that you would set yourself on fire in the attempt.

Lovely, dramatic movie moment, perhaps. But not "realistic" enough for the game., IMHO.

3 hours ago, Doc Feral said:

I think it was an old option with the "brands", I've read about it but started gaming later.

 

We used to be able to brandish a torch, flare or brand (basically a burning stick pulled from a fire)... waving it around, side to side, to try to scare a wolf off. I don't recall ever being able to use one during an actual struggle. Brandishing was done away with and replaced by throwing of torches and flares, some time ago.

 

[shade_grey]

5 hours ago, alone sniper said:

light torch

It's supposed to be spelled "lit" I have to say... It can be confusing. Although, all things considered, when compared to the current hand to hand weapons, apart from the knife, a torch would be comparatively light. Still, I'd imagine that it would be quite effective. Having a flaming stick shoved into its face would be frightening to a wolf.

32 minutes ago, ThePancakeLady said:

Using a lit torch would go against the working mechanics of the game... fire scares wolves, they stop or flee. And the amount of time we have from when a wolf goes into full attack to when they connect with us, even with the illusion created by the extreme slowing of time to allow for a weapon choice, would not be enough to pull out matches or a firestriker, to light the unlit torch and have a lit one in hand before the wolf rips your face off. Add in the real possibility that you would set yourself on fire in the attempt.

Wolves do attack even when players have a lit torch or even a lit flare equipped. It almost never happens to me anymore, apart from when doing challenges or during early game, but it is a thing. If a wolf attacks while you have a torch or flare equipped, the torch or flare will be dropped during the attack and will have to be picked up afterward if there are more wolves to fend off.

Edited June 10, 2019 by shade_grey
spelling and grammar

[ThePancakeLady]

1 hour ago, shade_grey said:

 

Wolves do attack even when players have a lit torch or even a lit flare equipped. It almost never happens to me anymore, apart from when doing challenges or during early game, but it is a thing. If a wolf attacks while you have a torch or flare equipped, the torch or flare will be dropped during the attack and will have to be picked up afterward if there are more wolves to fend off.

So the game mechanic that makes you drop the torch the first time, can make you drop it a second time? 

[shade_grey]

3 hours ago, ThePancakeLady said:

So the game mechanic that makes you drop the torch the first time, can make you drop it a second time? 

Sorry, I don't quite understand your question...

[ThePancakeLady]

 

56 minutes ago, shade_grey said:

Sorry, I don't quite understand your question...

 

4 hours ago, ThePancakeLady said:

If a wolf attacks while you have a torch or flare equipped, the torch or flare will be dropped during the attack...

Which means... you drop it, therefore you can't use in the first attack. You pick it up after the first attack, have it equipped... and the same mechanic that made you drop it the first time will make you drop it again.

4 hours ago, ThePancakeLady said:

So the game mechanic that makes you drop the torch the first time, can make you drop it a second time? 

Not really a question there ^^^, but wondering how you see this working. And how you see hitting a wolf in the head with a torch not having a risk of the tool not only breaking, but breaking and dropping a flaming lump of charred wood onto your body or face. Where an unlit torch would only drop a piece of wood on you, rendering the tool useless, doing no harm to you or them. But leaving you using bare fists after it breaks.

[ajb1978]

I don't know about bashing but I've often wondered why, if you're holding a lit flare or torch, you don't just shove the business end directly into the wolf's face. Or if that's too dangerous, press it against any part of the wolf really.  I mean if someone were to press a burning torch against your hip, you wouldn't stick around!  Holding a burning torch should, by rights, allow you to instantly end the struggle.

But I mean...that wouldn't make for very challenging gameplay.

[shade_grey]

5 minutes ago, ThePancakeLady said:

Which means... you drop it, therefore you can't use in the first attack. You pick it up after the first attack, have it equipped... and the same mechanic that made you drop it the first time will make you drop it again.

Not really a question there ^^^, but wondering how you see this working. And how you see hitting a wolf in the head with a torch not having a risk of the tool not only breaking, but breaking and dropping a flaming lump of charred wood onto your body or face. Where an unlit torch would only drop a piece of wood on you, rendering the tool useless, doing no harm to you or them. But leaving you using bare fists after it breaks.

Currently, when the player is attacked by a wolf while having something equipped, the game unequips it as a setup to the wolf struggle animation sequence. After all, it would look very weird if the rifle or storm lantern was present in the player's view while they are punching the wolf. For a lit flare or lit torch, they cannot be kept in the player's inventory unequipped, so the game drops them. If Hinterland were to implement such a mechanic, they simply have to make an exception if the player were to chose a lit torch or lit flare as a weapon.

With regards to your concern about "hitting" the wolf with the torch, @ajb1978 lays it out concisely in his post ^^^. You don't need to hit the wolf with the torch, you simply shove the torch or flare into the wolf's face and let the exothermic reaction do the "talking."

[UpUpAway95]

I think planting a lit torch into the eyes of an attacking animal should be a guaranteed way to send them scurrying off in pain and should be more effective than any of the blunt weapons we can use to fend off an attack in progress.

[ajb1978]

2 minutes ago, UpUpAway95 said:

I think planting a lit torch into the eyes of an attacking animal should be a guaranteed way to send them scurrying off in pain and should be more effective than any of the blunt weapons we can use to fend off an attack in progress.

Absolutely.  However this would have devastating consequences to game balance, so I can see why it is the way it is currently.  Torches and flares would become ridiculously overpowered if they became instant-win tools.  You could reduce flare spawns sure, but torches...you can currently pull them from a fire by the dozens. Even if they went back to "Take Brand" and require you to properly craft a torch with sticks, oil, and cloth, that would still make wolves practically a non-threat.

[UpUpAway95]

22 minutes ago, ajb1978 said:

Absolutely.  However this would have devastating consequences to game balance, so I can see why it is the way it is currently.  Torches and flares would become ridiculously overpowered if they became instant-win tools.  You could reduce flare spawns sure, but torches...you can currently pull them from a fire by the dozens. Even if they went back to "Take Brand" and require you to properly craft a torch with sticks, oil, and cloth, that would still make wolves practically a non-threat.

Yes, they'd have to work out some balance.  There is a bit of a balancing factor with the torches, however, in that it isn't always possible to be walking with a lit torch (due to winds) and there would always a risk of your torch blowing out just as the wolf attacks or being snuffed out as the attack pushes the PC back into the snow.  Balancing the flares (which don't blow out, etc.) would be more of an issue.  Perhaps they could just leave them out of the weapon-selection screen under the premise that they have some sort of "cold-tip" guard that protects the user when the flare is lit (since we're already carrying them improperly anyways, we should be able to stretch reality a little farther).   I'd hate to see them reduce spawns of flares since they are an alternative to matches, particularly in interloper where the player (without using loot tables) may not find matches for quite some time into their run... I almost always seem to find a flare or two lying around though to keep me going.

Edited June 10, 2019 by UpUpAway95

[Guest kristaok]

I think in the easier difficulties Lit Torches can scare Wolves off, I could be wrong though... but yea, I could totally see myself ramming a Lit Torch right in the Eye Socket of a charging Wolf.