Timberwolves

[tnbp]

So...  I'm on the verge of quitting The Long Dark story mode because of Timberwolves.  I don't have enough ammo to scare them off (I'm a little in disbelief of how much ammo it actually takes to scare them off in the first place.)  What other strategies are there to deal with them?  If you don't have enough ammo, the game is just over for you, essentially?

Very upsetting mechanic.  They're scripted, so you can't avoid them.  And there seems to be only one method to deal with them (shooting/scaring them), so if you don't have bullets, that seems to be the end of the road.  This has ruined the game for me.  What other methods have people found to deal with them?

[stratvox]

I've read that people have had success in scaring them off by hitting them with stones. I haven't tried that myself, though... but it may be worth loading up with some before you head through there.

[Guest jeffpeng]

Throw torches at them, throw red flares at them, throw blue flares at them. If you shoot at them try to actually hit them (conserves much ammunition). Also do the side quests with the bunkers etc. Even on Hardened Survivor you'll find more ammunition than you can reasonably waste unless you literally shoot in the air every time they approach you.

[dbmurph22]

If you're running a bit short of ammo maybe you could do some free exploring before your next goal in story mode?  I was able to find a fairly significant haul of ammo, rifles, revolvers, flare guns and such.  And I didn't seem to encounter them too, too often when I was just free ranging.

[ajb1978]

57 minutes ago, dbmurph22 said:

If you're running a bit short of ammo maybe you could do some free exploring before your next goal in story mode?  I was able to find a fairly significant haul of ammo, rifles, revolvers, flare guns and such.  And I didn't seem to encounter them too, too often when I was just free ranging.

This is the way to go.  In Story mode, timberwolves are always scripted, so you can kind of learn when to expect them.  The only times I've encountered timberwolves are at various stages of the main questline.  If you take out all the side objectives first before you ever talk to the priest, you will be able to get yourself outfitted with some really good gear, and nearly 100 rounds for the revolver, without ever once encountering timberwolves.

[dbmurph22]

Bingo.  I actually think wandering around too much is the wrong way to story the story mode, but I got geared up pretty well by the side questing.  Thanks for that added bit of info, ajb.

[aspiranten]

On 12/12/2019 at 5:30 PM, jeffpeng said:

Throw torches at them, throw red flares at them, throw blue flares at them. If you shoot at them try to actually hit them (conserves much ammunition). Also do the side quests with the bunkers etc. Even on Hardened Survivor you'll find more ammunition than you can reasonably waste unless you literally shoot in the air every time they approach you.

Dont give people false hopes. Flares does ZERO impact on morale meter. I depleted 20% of the meter by shooting 3 flares with the gun. Throwing 3 flares on it had no impact even at point blank range. I even ran after the alien wolf with a blue flare in my hand. It tries to escape, but turns around as soon as i turn around. Then i waited by the fire for 5 hours, but its just standing there by the fire waiting for me to exit the warm zone. Then realised i just had to die and reload way back before i even tried to get the survivor. No bullets = dead. Contrary to the real world...

Im with OP on this one, the game turned shit real fast with the new feature...

 

Edited January 6, 2020 by aspiranten

[Guest jeffpeng]

I don't. It works. It doesn't work well, but it works if you hit them. I'll demonstrate later. But using the revolver is definitely preferable.

Something @ajb1978 mentioned iirc .... you can do all the side quests before even going for the first survivor. If you do that you are very well well armed before having to face the bigger scripted packs. Not sure if this is what the designers intended, but it should help you.

Also

7 hours ago, aspiranten said:

Dont give people false hopes.

Not cool, bruh.

[ajb1978]

21 hours ago, aspiranten said:

Flares does ZERO impact on morale meter.

Yeah I dunno seems pretty effective to me.

 

[aspiranten]

Throwing and picking up like that didnt occur to me ajb. Nice tip. Though my aim is nowhere near that level.

 I could scare it off while holding the torch. I ran after it and chased it away, but that did nothing to the morale meter. Wolf just turned around after.

What i did was counter to the story. I reloaded several hours earlier, and postponed saving the people in distress and let them freeze for 72-96 hours while getting side quests and bunkers. After that i waded through the encounters with ease.

Also, i have to commend the devs on the world building. I found the rifle in an odd spot where i just had not explored at first. Didnt even see the spot from my first trips into the area. Made good sense to find a rifle where i did, and it made me really happy. It makes exploration valuable.

[ajb1978]

3 hours ago, aspiranten said:

Throwing and picking up like that didnt occur to me ajb. Nice tip. Though my aim is nowhere near that level.

No problem.  And for the record, red flares work as well, but are far less effective.   Blue flares are great because they act like a circle of protection, preventing timberwolves from getting within a certain distance of you as long as you hold a lit one.  They just kind of stop at the edge of the circle and growl, giving you time to line up a perfect throw.  Just get the wolf dead-center on your monitor, and throw.  And then scramble to pick it up ASAP because the wolves don't care about the flare once it's on the ground.

[Guest jeffpeng]

@ajb1978Thanks for the demo.

Also red flares and torches are functionally equal in effectiveness. So yes, you can even fight Timberwolves with a normal torch. I'd say roughly a third of what a blue flare does.

Edited January 8, 2020 by jeffpeng

[wizard03]

On 1/6/2020 at 7:06 PM, ajb1978 said:

Yeah I dunno seems pretty effective to me.

Thank you for doing that. I have video, but I gotta dig through twitch to find it, and the internet is acting ugly tonight....and yeah, it works.... Id suggest aiming for the wolfy, but just getting them close enough seems to be just as effective