Survival mode timber wolves

[RegentRelic]

Is it just me or are normal wolves deadlier then Timberwolves. Timber wolves are more expensive to kill but they are easy to escape with only a little damage especially in regions that aren’t pleasant valley. Such as the new region that is coming in the December update.

[Looper]

15 hours ago, RegentRelic said:

Is it just me or are normal wolves deadlier then Timberwolves. Timber wolves are more expensive to kill but they are easy to escape with only a little damage especially in regions that aren’t pleasant valley. Such as the new region that is coming in the December update.

Normal wolves pretty much will not attack you unless you get near them, so anything away from that is an improvement. 

What I will hope is a change so that lighting a fire will no longer scare normal wolves until its fully lit. The running away from a man with a match trying to light some small sticks - but not from a man with a fully lit flare is a little weird. 

[ajb1978]

Timberwolves do less damage individually, even on Hardened Survivor, but as a pack can overwhelm you if you choose to stand and fight.  A single black wolf can easily be the death of you, depending on what difficulty or experience mode you're playing.  Timberwolves don't surprise you, as you're alerted to their presence several seconds ahead of time.  Black wolves on the other hand...well I think at some point we've all rounded a corner or crested a hill only to have a wolf like right freakin' there two feet in front of you.

Evading black wolves is just a matter of walking away, breaking line of sight, or finding some obstacle to disrupt pathing and then crouch into stealth mode.  Timberwolves do not quit when you break pathing, and continue pacing about the area until you actively drive off the pack by throwing things or shooting.  I stood on a fallen tree for like two minutes waiting for the pack to give up, and they didn't.  Also, and this might be because story mode is scripted, but I once outran timberwolves in Story mode and went inside the community center...and the entire pack was waiting for me the next morning.  And of course in story mode the back door is locked so I had no choice but to face them head on at point blank range.

That little ambush notwithstanding, overall timberwolves are not more or less dangerous.  It's just a different sort of danger, requiring a different response.

[MarrowStone]

I agree, @ajb1978, They're dangerous in much different ways. Timberwolves are harder to avoid but less "deadly" if you have the resources to deal with them, while lone wolves can possibly give up stalking you. So I'd say the Timbers are less deadly in the short term but force your hand to expend precious resources and therefore are deadlier in the long term. 

That's really cool how they wait outside for you. That sounds like a great storytelling element!  I don't think they should be able to "puppy guard" at point blank, however. 

[Admin]

Moved to WINTERMUTE forum as discussion of Timberwolves currently includes Episode 3 spoilers.

[ManicManiac]

15 hours ago, ajb1978 said:

It's just a different sort of danger

Definitely, I tend to think of them (jokingly) as furry piranhas. 

 

45 minutes ago, Dum_Gen said:

Only option is bow and arrows.

But there is another option...  There are stones everywhere and they are easy to stockpile. 
 

Edited November 30, 2019 by ManicManiac

[ManicManiac]

@Dum_Gen
If the stones connect (actually hit them I mean), and if I remember correctly...  I think 2 or 3 will break the morale of a small pack.  I can go back and verify tomorrow, I didn't keep track of the exact number.   I would just carry 6 stones on me when I wanted to save ammo.  When I needed to I would hightail it to something like a downed tree, some out of reach place, and pelt them with rocks till they went away.  So far, it's worked out pretty well for me... however I acknowledge the possibility that a difficulty like interloper might affect the morale mechanic, but I don't think it will (I think the difficulty will just affect the damage they can do). 

Edited November 30, 2019 by ManicManiac

[Blankshield]

I agree about being differently dangerous.   The circling and dashing in can get quite deadly in short order; in my playthrough, Astrid had multiple instances of blood loss from timber wolf attacks.

 

[KinoUnko]

definitely more costly... and apparently more fecund than even regular wolves. When I first arrived at the Cannery there was a pack of 4, I eliminated two at fairly high cost. and the place was quiet for a few days. Then I found the engineer's note about wolves, and lo and behold the pack had grown to 6 in size in the blink of an eye.

For some reason they make TLD feel more "gamey", for the lack of a better expression. Where before there was some attempt at simulating natural wild life. These buggers' sole purpose for existence is to chase me down. I never see them hunt anything else, and very rarely see them roaming an area. usually the first indication of them is the morale bar.

[ThePancakeLady]

They were supposed to have fixed the bug that has Timbers not hunting anything with the latest update, v1.67. Don't know what platform you play on, so don't know if you are an XBox player (they said the patch is delayed until Monday for XBox One),  GoG I have no idea if they got it yet. It hit Steam much earlier today, not sure about PS4.

[MarrowStone]

Im not sure I want them in every region. And definitely not as common as they are in the inlet. I enjoy how they force you to actually let go of some resources while at the same time being pretty straightforward/consistent in their mechanics. But they definitely feel a bit more gamey and annoying when they make up more than one or two groups in a map. They respawn wayyyy too fast as well. 

[ajb1978]

On 12/15/2019 at 4:48 PM, MarrowStone said:

I enjoy how they force you to actually let go of some resources while at the same time being pretty straightforward/consistent in their mechanics.

It is possible to evade them, just not as easy as regular wolves.  I was able to evade a pack by sleeping the night at the forestry lookout at BI.  They hung around for quite a few hours but eventually gave up.