Can we have a poisoning wildlife game mechanic?

[Myshaak]

I am strongly against this idea, the reason being game balance. The wolves are too easy even now, no need to create new ways to deal with them before they are "levelled up" somehow. I am in favor of a bear trap with the same spawn chance as the rifle, but a way to kill all wolves in the map in a day? No. The player should never feel safe. After all, as you yourself pointed out, it is a VIDEO GAME, and a game needs a challenge to be fun. In removing wolves as a major threat you'd be removing the only real challenge, as food, water and temperature stop being a challenge once you get to know the basic mechanics.

[Link1714]

If you bothered to read it it says all wildlife now. And who said the poison should kill all the animals in the map? I said it should have a very low success rate. I agree wolves are too easy. There might be other animals in the future that poison could be good for.

But plenty of people are going to drop in and say its an unrealistic idea anyways so i should just give up.

[Myshaak]

In the title and one one post you mention poisoning a bear, yeah, yet the is focus solely on wolves.

I'm not saying it's unrealistic, I'm saying that as a game mechanic it is quite boring and cowardly way of eliminating predators, thus eliminating any challenge.

[EternityTide]

Link, don't take it the wrong way, this is just what discussion forums are for, discussion. I like the idea to an extent, but I really think that the implementation has to be done right or it will end up as an OP mechanic, or it will end up like the Illusion-spell-casting-skill tree in Skyrim: Barely ever used (EVER)

[Cosmoline]

It's possible to poison wolves. In fact it's the main way they're culled. They share their food. But it takes an expert trapper to place poison without leaving his scent and he has to use the right kind of poison. I don't think our hero would be up to the task, esp. with such limited resources.

[Link1714]

In the title and one one post you mention poisoning a bear, yeah, yet the is focus solely on wolves.

I'm not saying it's unrealistic, I'm saying that as a game mechanic it is quite boring and cowardly way of eliminating predators, thus eliminating any challenge.

I said bears or other wildlife. You only have to introduce something to a conversation once, and then it's part of the discussion. It's not my fault everybody else who is posting, including you, continues to pigeonhole the idea back to wolves.

And what's not cowardly about a knife or a gun? Or the bear trap you are okay with? Just tools made by men. I guess you would fight a wolf or a bear with your bare hands. Or you just have really arbitrary views on what makes a coward.

"A way to wipe out all the wolves on the map? No." That's not what ANYONE said. The poison should be balanced to have a very low success rate or at least be difficult to implement or harvest, etc. There's ways of balancing it. It's not like they'll just introduce poison and all of a sudden everything on the map will die. Seems like wildlife spontaneously generates anyway.

To say as a game mechanic it's flawed shows that you have a very narrow idea of how to implement it as a game mechanic, because its already made up in your mind that it would just immediately "eliminate the challenge"

Link, don't take it the wrong way, this is just what discussion forums are for, discussion. I like the idea to an extent, but I really think that the implementation has to be done right or it will end up as an OP mechanic, or it will end up like the Illusion-spell-casting-skill tree in Skyrim: Barely ever used (EVER)

EternityTide, I know, I'm sorry if I'm coming off as rude (except to those rude to me first) but I don't respect when people debate issues with me when they clearly (imo) haven't read or comprehended what I've said and have also put words in my mouth. Also, the strict adherence to the wolf discussion, after I immediately realized my mistake and changed the post to apply to any of the wildlife in the game, is frustrating to me. My angry comments are part of the process just as much as your comments are, but if the way that I argue my points seems intense its only because I'm really invested in figuring it out. It's not because I'm trying to wave my dick around.

As to what you said about the mechanic, I couldn't agree more. It would need to be very carefully tuned, and nice reference, but this game I think is specifically tailored towards options, given that so many different types of people will play it and some of them will want the option, some won't. I mean there are probably people who won't use snares because they like real-life rabbits. Some people are like Myshaak and they want to kill animals with their raw boner power and not take the easy way out. Some people would actually try successfully poison everything on the map and then suicide by poison in some poetic Shakespearean death swath.

I'm just fighting for the option.

[Myshaak]

You are not coming off as rude, you are being rude. All I did was point out the gameplay ramifications such mechanics could introduce, nowhere in my posts did I attack you. I am really sorry if I offended you, could you please tell me what did I post to deserve such responses? Where did I come off as rude? Where did I put words in your mouth? What gave you the idea that I didn't read your posts?

I'm sorry to say this, but to me at least, it doesn't seem that you are fighting for an opinion. You are fighting against people with different opinions.

To answer your questions about weapons:

I think the knife is well balanced as a weapon because it is used only as a last resort, because you'll get hurt and need apply first aid, which also supports the necessity of first aid and accompanying mechanics.

I think the rifle is well balanced because the spawn chance is very limited, precision not so great and ammo is sparse enough not to go on a shooting spree out of boredom.

The key point I made about the bear trap was that the spawn chance for it would be the same as the rifle, which would give the player enough upper hand without overpowering him and resulting in wolf wildlife farms like players set up with rabbits.

[Link1714]

I didn't think my last post was rude at all hahaha but oh well I can't escape. I wasn't apologizing to you anyway.

I know those two things are SOMEWHAT well balanced currently, and I'm saying I don't see why they couldn't find a way to balance the poison mechanic too.

What I mean by put words in my mouth is that you assumed in your post, which was dismissive of the idea and called it cowardly, that it wouldn't be balanced just inherently. It's strange to call a mechanic unbalanced before it's implemented. That's why I'm confused by your rhetoric. And the rifle can spawn in like 15 different places now so I don't think its balanced at all anymore but I also think the rifle is kind of important with all the wolf glitches. Hopefully they fix both problems because recently I have found the rifle and at least 30 bullets within 20 days of starting. Hasnt't been much of a challenge since I can just kill wolves over and over again with my knife and antiseptic is plentiful. Also antibiotics if i let the infection just go. I can reasonably fight wolves with my knife for probably 100 days if i spaced it out. Who knows, I don't wanna experiment because this is a distance run, but I wouldn't say these tools are balanced yet.

The whole point of balancing the poison, which i already attempted to do in theory, was that you wouldn't get as much meat, if any (it is possible to harvest some safe meat from a poisoned animal, but not very effective or safe) or you could just get some gut or maybe hide (hide might also be ruined depending on the poison.) It's just an option for a deterrent for more lethal creatures. You took the idea in your mind and just said it was instantly unbalanced and would kill all the wolves on the map. Maybe you weren't trying to "put words in my mouth" but you certainly took the idea and ran it down a singular, narrow path.

[Myshaak]

Whatever, if you think my disagreement with your suggestions should result in personal attacks like

Some people are like Myshaak and they want to kill animals with their raw boner power.

and should belong in a public feature discussion, that's fine.

Please send me a PM if you wish to talk more.

Anyway, I hope that if/before this feature in a state you are describing gets implemented, the wolves get some upgrades first.

[Lux]

It would be easier to list the reasons why a poisoning mechanic has a place in the game.

The list of reasons why it doesn't have any place in the game is far too long.

1) Canada is dealing with wolf poisoning at this very moment because of the Keystone Pipline and its implications on Canada. By and large the people, ecologists, and everyone eXCEPt the deep pockets that are putting in the pipeline are completely against the poisoning of the wolves or any animals for that matter. I'm sure they'd be happy if that mechanic was included in a game.

2) You poison a wolf/bear/deer/rabbit/chipmunk to kill it for its fur and gut. You can't eat tainted meat or it will kill you too. This is akin to killing elephants for their tusks.

3) There's no source for poison, it is the bitter cold North. There are no plants that produce toxins that would or do grow in that environment. So other than using gasoline or kerosene which an animal likely wouldn't consume and which would do next to nothing on a knife blade or arrow tip, there is nothing in the game currently to use as poison.

So other than not having a source in the world, not having a delivery method in the game, everyone and their brother thinking its inhumane and wrong, poison is a great idea and belongs in the game.

That's just my opinion though.