Timberwolves a little TOO unflappable...

[ajb1978]

So I finally looted the entire game world of all its batteries, sulfur, and stump remover.  I'm gearing up to go on an ammo-making marathon, and objective #1 is to clear the cannery of hostiles.  I armored up in my toughest gear and headed out armed to the teeth with revolver, rifle, bow, flare pistol, and pocket full of rocks for good measure.  I went in crouched like a snake, pulled out the rifle (why not), lined up a perfect shot, and BLAM.  First wolf was hit nonfatally, and fled.  The ones behind him...kept on walking unfazed.  Lined up a second shot..BLAM...another one takes a non-fatal hit, and runs off.  The third one likewise showed no reaction whatsoever to either the rifle reports or the deaths of his comrades.

A: I'm impressed Timberwolves can survive a direct rifle hit without perishing.  B: I'm disappointed that they have zero regard for their own mortality.

The same fate followed all the other timberwolves in the area.  I mean I know they're supposed to be tougher than regular wolves...but apparently they're also monumentally stupid.

[Martin Prchal]

Their hunger has driven them mad, or maybe the cold. They are slightly demonic but I don't mind it too much. 

[ThePancakeLady]

Reminds me of the Moose. Territorial to a fault. Moose will stand below you, as you are perched on a fallen tree above the, raining gunshots or arrows down on them, until they die. 

Not the first animal we've had in the game that will defend its territory, to the death. Just saying...

[Ahatch]

Keep us posted thinking about taking my 500 day run bored Interloper survivor to Bleak Island to make some ammo. But how are these wolves versus arrows , might be a lot tougher hitting a running moving target. 

[ajb1978]

6 hours ago, Ahatch said:

But how are these wolves versus arrows , might be a lot tougher hitting a running moving target. 

Don't let them know you're there, and you'll have a chance   I have no desire to try this in practice but based on what I've observed, if you get the drop on them and avoid alerting them to your presence, you should be able to pick them off one by one no problem.  They apparently don't react to stealth kills.  If they DO detect you, prioritize getting to unreachable territory.  The way those guys buzz about, attempting to hit them would be a waste of ammo. That said, while they do zip about, they each individually have a tendency to hold their ground for a second or two.  If you can get yourself perched somewhere unreachable, that can present you with an opening to plug them one at a time.

But without a revolver, I wouldn't recommend engaging them on the ground.

[turtle777]

The more I read about the Timberwolves in BI, there more I think they are a bit overpowered.

Perhaps, that’s intestinal, to make BI a “pro” region. 
 

If Timberwolves get rolled out to all regions, I don’t see how regular Loper play will still be possible. 
 

-t

[TROY]

On 12/14/2019 at 7:54 PM, ThePancakeLady said:

Reminds me of the Moose. Territorial to a fault. Moose will stand below you, as you are perched on a fallen tree above the, raining gunshots or arrows down on them, until they die. 

Not the first animal we've had in the game that will defend its territory, to the death. Just saying...

With the Timberwolves, it has NOTHING to do with defending territory, they will chase you across the entire map unless you kill every single one of them. Its ridiculous.  I gotta totally with the OP,  these are way over the top. might as well have zombies in the game as these things.

 

[ThePancakeLady]

13 minutes ago, TROY said:

With the Timberwolves, it has NOTHING to do with defending territory, they will chase you across the entire map unless you kill every single one of them. Its ridiculous.  I gotta totally with the OP,  these are way over the top. might as well have zombies in the game as these things.

 

It has everything to do with it. The release notes/Dev Diary for Errant Pilgrim even says they "...will defend their territory to the death.".  

https://steamcommunity.com/games/305620/announcements/detail/1720868778918967576

 

"NEW REGION: Bleak Inlet

A wind-swept coastline reveals an abandoned industrial facility -- an aging Cannery that holds some useful secrets. But finding your way to it is a two-stage affair, involving accessing the region from both the Raven Falls ravine, and Forlorn Muskeg. But watch out! Vicious Timberwolf packs have moved into this region, and will defend their territory to the death."

It has everything to do with territory, them being territorial, and defending their territory.

[alunasmoon]

does anyone know if the timberwolve attack on pilgram mode just wanna be sure before i explore

 

[peteloud]

I am becoming fed up with these timberwolves.  On my latest trip to BI I had at least three attacks by packs of timberwolves.  As I was out of ammunition I was using bow & arrows from a slightly elevated position. Several times I had what seemed like a very good shot, easily aimed at the wolf and I expected a kill, or at least a certain hit.   The arrow flew into the ground near the wolf or over the wolf.  These were straightforward simple shots that should have hit it.  At other times I waited until the wolf was much closer but my bow was inactivated, so couldn't fire an arrow.  I had a similar experience with the revolver earlier in the game.  Afterwards, only about a quarter of the arrows were recoverable,   The rest had just disappeared.

It is one thing to be injured or killed when I make a mistake, but I resent it when I am injured due to a bug, an unreasonable random action or bad game design.  I am slowly getting to the point where I am starting to think that I can't be bothered to to put up with the timberwolves and that I should look for another game. 

 

 

[ThePancakeLady]

15 hours ago, alunasmoon said:

does anyone know if the timberwolve attack on pilgram mode just wanna be sure before i explore

 

No, they don't. They run from you, like every other animal (except the Moose).

[StoneyWolf]

2 hours ago, peteloud said:

I am becoming fed up with these timberwolves.

I second that!

Timber wolves on interloper are 100% pointless to interact with you'll just waste resources for nothing in return.

Edited December 21, 2019 by StoneyWolf

[ajb1978]

27 minutes ago, StoneyWolf said:

I second that!

Timber wolves on interloper are 100% pointless to interact with you'll just waste resources for nothing in return.

To be fair, on Interloper, there's no reason to bother with BI at all.  It's not like you have any firearms to craft ammo for.  And while the milling machine is a nice touch, there's enough scrap metal in the world that it is totally not worth making the trip to BI to repair a tool vs. just forging a replacement.

[StoneyWolf]

8 minutes ago, ajb1978 said:

To be fair, on Interloper, there's no reason to bother with BI at all.  It's not like you have any firearms to craft ammo for.  And while the milling machine is a nice touch, there's enough scrap metal in the world that it is totally not worth making the trip to BI to repair a tool vs. just forging a replacement.

Yeah but it's a whole region and regardless of difficulty players are going to want to go there.

Timber wolves just IMO need to be changed their just not fun to interact with and I'm not saying their to hard and they kill me but I am saying their annoying and pointless again just IMO I'm not trying to force my ideas on you.

The way they currently are they are just resource wasters.

Edited December 21, 2019 by StoneyWolf

[Kayosiv]

So having spent a bit of time in Bleak Inlet now, I wanted to chime back in to say that... Timber wolves are nonsense.

I was attacked by a pack of 3. I had a rifle. I shot one in the face, killing it instantly.

The morale meter went down to 2/3.

I shot another in the head, killing it instantly. For sure I thought with 1/3 the pack dead the remaining wolf would scurry away.

The morale meter went down to 1/3.

I took out my bow and hit the wolf in the neck, sticking the arrow in the wolf.

The morale meter went down to 1/6.

I fired a second arrow at the wolf with an arrow already in it's neck, FINALLY causing it to flee.

The wolf then promptly ran off with my arrow in it, disappearing along with my arrow a short while later.

The moral meter seems to be given equal weight to a wolf getting hit by a stone and being shot dead with a rifle, which is completely insane.

[turtle777]

Just wait until they bring timberwolves to all regions  😕

Something’s gotta change.

-t

[ThePancakeLady]

14 minutes ago, turtle777 said:

Just wait until they bring timberwolves to all regions  😕

Who said they were bringing them to all regions? Hinterland didn't. A bunch of us players have talked about it, and may have wondered about it. But for now, we have no idea if they will be added to other regions or not.

[StoneyWolf]

1 hour ago, turtle777 said:

Just wait until they bring timberwolves to all regions  😕

Something’s gotta change.

-t

With the changes to normal wolf AI it's almost like they've brought timber wolves to all regions already so I wouldn't put it past them to actually do that.

I really hope something does change  

[stratvox]

My thinking on this is that TWs have been put in BI specifically for massive play testing before bringing them to other regions; at least PV will get them eventually I reckon, and I could see them going to many other regions (like TWM) over time. I'm expecting fine tuning of behaviour etc after the holidays, probably in time for the next sand box release; until then BI's gonna be super dangerous, esp. for the Lopers out there.

I'm wondering if the secret sauce with dealing with timberwolves might not be the need to hunt a pack to extinction; if you kill everybody in the pack it won't respawn, or perhaps will respawn plain wolves instead. Need to get enough time in on the map to see if that may be it.

As an aside, I noticed some people talking about stones (which I've not yet tried) for breaking their morale. I think that perhaps the big advantage of stones might be that you don't need to aim to fire, like a revolver but not like rifles and bows, which means you may be able to freehand a rock into their melon without that whole "avoiding aim" thing that they do when using a bow (which so far has been the only weapon I've used).

I need to fire up a sacrificial run so I can try it.

[Guest jeffpeng]

On 12/15/2019 at 1:25 AM, ajb1978 said:

I mean I know they're supposed to be tougher than regular wolves...but apparently they're also monumentally stupid.

Those two traits go along well in nature quite frequently. 

On 12/15/2019 at 3:25 PM, turtle777 said:

If Timberwolves get rolled out to all regions, I don’t see how regular Loper play will still be possible. 

Spoiler alert: it wouldn't be.

On 12/21/2019 at 2:42 AM, alunasmoon said:

does anyone know if the timberwolve attack on pilgram mode just wanna be sure before i explore

No they don't.

On 12/22/2019 at 7:16 AM, Kayosiv said:

The moral meter seems to be given equal weight to a wolf getting hit by a stone and being shot dead with a rifle, which is completely insane.

I agree. If you kill one wolf ... the others should be instantly sent packing.

 

[Guest jeffpeng]

2 hours ago, stratvox said:

As an aside, I noticed some people talking about stones (which I've not yet tried) for breaking their morale. I think that perhaps the big advantage of stones might be that you don't need to aim to fire, like a revolver but not like rifles and bows, which means you may be able to freehand a rock into their melon without that whole "avoiding aim" thing that they do when using a bow (which so far has been the only weapon I've used).

I need to fire up a sacrificial run so I can try it.

On Stalker, either pitching or aiming you need to HIT about 2 stones per wolf. Which means you need to hit at least 10 stones on a pack of 5. If you can do that - respect. Also there are like a total of 5 stones on the entire map. So good luck!

Edited December 23, 2019 by jeffpeng

[ThePancakeLady]

9 minutes ago, jeffpeng said:

On Stalker, either pitching or aiming you need to HIT about 2 stones per wolf. Which means you need to hit at least 10 stones on a pack of 5. If you can do that - respect. Also there are like a total of 5 stones on the entire map. So good luck!

Stones are iffy, but do work in Stalker to a degree. And, lol, there are more than 5 stones in BI,, usually in groups of 2-3 near bunny areas. But, they are a pain to lug around, or carry in from another region. But they will work to break just enough morale to get the Timbers to back up for a second. You better be ready with a Marine Flare or  a weapon like a rifle (or bow & arrows) right away, and have steady aim, though. And yeah, you better hit several Timbers in the schnozz, directly, with those stones. Marine flares you can throw at their feet, stones need to hit them in a tender spot, it seems. I would not count on them as your only defense, unless you have no other choice. And then... good luck to you. Hope there is shelter to sprint to really nearby.

[Guest jeffpeng]

40 minutes ago, ThePancakeLady said:

Stones are iffy, but do work in Stalker to a degree. And, lol, there are more than 5 stones in BI,, usually in groups of 2-3 near bunny areas. But, they are a pain to lug around, or carry in from another region. But they will work to break just enough morale to get the Timbers to back up for a second. You better be ready with a Marine Flare or  a weapon like a rifle (or bow & arrows) right away, and have steady aim, though. And yeah, you better hit several Timbers in the schnozz, directly, with those stones. Marine flares you can throw at their feet, stones need to hit them in a tender spot, it seems. I would not count on them as your only defense, unless you have no other choice. And then... good luck to you. Hope there is shelter to sprint to really nearby.

The point of the exercise was to see how viable stones are, not to make a point of why to bring a weapon. They aren't really, unless you have a dozen of them on hand, which is a considerable weight to lug around as you pointed out, and even then you require to actually hit those on erratically moving targets that take chunks out of you all the while. And while "5 stones on the entire map" might be exaggerating, they aren't exactly abundant, so you indeed need to bring them beforehand.

For me personally .... I guess the best way to deal with them is not to deal with them.

First of all ... if you can avoid them ... avoid them. There is nothing worth the risk in the areas they patrol except the cannery. If they still see you ...as long as you are sprinting they have a hard time reaching you. So be light, and be rested. Even as long as you are just moving unencumbered you can mitigate a lot of damage because their pathfinding is so jerky and erratic they have problems keeping up. If you have a revolver (which apparently applies to Interloper now, too) keep moving backwards, and take shots when they come close and stand still for a second. Haven't tried bows, but I don't see them work well here.

Edit: one thing I've seen working is putting your back to a wall, accellerant up a fire, and pull and throw torches like a madman. But as stated in another thread: Accellerant is rather scarce and hard to come by except you find yourself an expert fisherman. So that's hard to repeat often. Marine flares are a very finite resource, too. Throwing and picking up normal flares or torches isn't a good idea with more than 2 wolves.

You can bypass the pack in the cannery yard entirely by just sprinting through them. Tested that multiple times now. Once you hit the rope you are home free. Getting out of the cannery might be more problematic - I haven't found a good way for that, yet. You could try and snipe them from the little platform under the pier. Maybe if you sneak out of the Workshop you can get a drop on them? Need to test that.

Edited December 23, 2019 by jeffpeng

[ajb1978]

Anyone else wish they could take one of those hockey sticks down from the trailer wall and play Whack-A-Wolf with it?

[Guest jeffpeng]

6 minutes ago, ajb1978 said:

Anyone else wish they could take one of those hockey sticks down from the trailer wall and play Whack-A-Wolf with it?

I think you point in the right direction. Maybe let us find an ice hockey keeper gear somewhere, it doesn't get much more Canadian than that I guess. With that, and armed with a hockey stick.... we all know how that movie ends.

Alternatively I want to revive my notion that the game is clearly missing a railgun. And a rocket launcher.

Edited December 23, 2019 by jeffpeng