Wolfes and fires since Errant Pilgrim

[ToAsT]

Apologies to revive an older topic, but it's one that I came across via search, and the posts in here describe what I find frustrating with the most recent updates to the game in terms of wolf behavior. Rather than starting a new post and rehashing what others have already said, I thought I'd piggyback on this one.

Is anyone able to summarize what used to work and now doesn't, and what works now, to scare wolves away? Or point me to a definitive (exhaustive) guide of those two things? It's annoying that every video / post / guide has to specify which release version it was created after since the wolf behavior is ever-changing and Hinterland has decided it'd rather opt for surprising players with hidden gameplay changes rather than communicating the modifications or gathering proper feedback. It's difficult to know what's current and what represents older behavior that's no longer viable for players on the latest update of TLD.

From what I've experienced:

- Aiming a weapon or throwing a flare will immediately cause an aggro'd wolf to charge.

- A lit fire or dropping a lit torch in between you and the wolf will cause it to pause at a distance from you and growl for a few moments before charging. Aiming a weapon at this point will cause it to flee in almost all circumstances, although only for a few seconds before coming after you again (if you're still in its detection range). 

This is different behavior than before, when a lit fire would nearly always scare a wolf away if it came close enough.

- Harvesting any large animal is a huge risk now, even with a lit fire next to you, unless you immediately drop any harvested guts or meat since any wolves in the area will only hesitate for a short moment before attacking.

I'm not sure about:

- Does a lit torch or fire + aiming a weapon also scare wolves if they haven't come close enough to the fire?

- Does a lit flare or marine flare on the ground + aiming a weapon scare the wolves?

- Does any of this behavior change when an aurora is active? If so, does the flashlight work as a "weapon" with the lit torch / fire to scare away wolves?

- Do thrown stones, without any fire or lit torch on the ground, cause aggro'd wolves to flee? I've tried tossing stones at them but without any indication that it causes them to run away.

I haven't played Interloper often enough to know what the differences between that and Stalker are for each of these points, if any.

[darkscaryforest]

On 9/8/2020 at 12:45 AM, ToAsT said:

- Harvesting any large animal is a huge risk now, even with a lit fire next to you, unless you immediately drop any harvested guts or meat since any wolves in the area will only hesitate for a short moment before attacking.

Yeah, this isn't too bad though. The technique I use is: light fire, look around to make sure no aggroed wolves, equip weapon to have it ready, harvest what you want, drop it on the ground to lose scent, repeat. I don't think you'll get jumped mid-harvest if you weren't aggroed before you start. You might come out of harvest to discover your visitor growling by the fire, but just quickly aim your weapon to disperse them..you should have lots of time. If you wanted to harvest it all at once, I *think* scent still won't apply until your done so risk wouldn't increase here. Also, animals don't move very far when you're passing time like this (unless injured and running off), they kind of just dance around

 

On 9/8/2020 at 12:45 AM, ToAsT said:

Does a lit torch or fire + aiming a weapon also scare wolves if they haven't come close enough to the fire?

Speaking about the fire (less sure of torch), no. Say you have a fire waiting somewhere and you go aggro a wolf. You run back to the fire and the wolf is still far off. Aim your weapon and the wolf will actually charge, but stop short of where it normally would. If you're still aiming when it gets there, it'll turn and run off..otherwise it'll growl and wait. This is a great, safe way to kill a wolf btw. When the wolf turns to run, you have a split second window to pop him without fear of retaliation. I find it is best to do it after it has come to a complete stop and growled.

 

On 9/8/2020 at 12:45 AM, ToAsT said:

- Does a lit flare or marine flare on the ground + aiming a weapon scare the wolves?

I believe so, but double check me. If you want to squash the detection range after it flees to prevent reaggro, immediately crouch (helps if you have no scent).

 

On 9/8/2020 at 12:45 AM, ToAsT said:

Does any of this behavior change when an aurora is active? If so, does the flashlight work as a "weapon" with the lit torch / fire to scare away wolves?

I'm almost certain fires don't scare aurora wolves (and probably not flares or torches either) since one got WAY too close to my fire and I had to panic shoot it. The wiki states that a flashlight's high beam will scare wolves (ergo, aurora wolves since it only works during an aurora) by itself but I've never tried it.

 

On 9/8/2020 at 12:45 AM, ToAsT said:

Do thrown stones, without any fire or lit torch on the ground, cause aggro'd wolves to flee? I've tried tossing stones at them but without any indication that it causes them to run away.

Yes absolutely. If you score a direct hit on a wolf with a stone WITHOUT AIMING/NEVER AIM and without a fire or torch, you have a *decent chance* of scaring them off.  This has saved me many times.

 

On 9/8/2020 at 12:45 AM, ToAsT said:

I haven't played Interloper often enough to know what the differences between that and Stalker are for each of these points, if any.

From my observations, everything we've talked about applies to both difficulties. All my playtime has been past the fearless navigator update.

Edited September 19, 2020 by darkscaryforest

[Vince 49]

On 12/21/2019 at 10:43 AM, jeffpeng said:

If you wanna go back to when TLD was at its peak.... then you kinda have to go back to Vigilant Flame aka 1.37. Which I actually am considering myself.

@jeffpeng, I agree.  Besides the recent changes in wolf behavior discussed here, the new "improved" sprain system was introduced in 1.56 Steadfast Ranger  (the first update after Vigilant Flame).  As I, and many others with significant experience in the wild have posted elsewhere, the new sprain system is not realistic.  Worse, the constant warnings and alerts add unneeded stress and discourage exploration.  It is unfortunate that the "bad" changes decrease the value of great changes like the complete rework of Pleasant Valley plus many subtle improvements, such as slight increases in light level in many interiors.  In Vigilant Fame, even in the middle of the day, you really need a torch or lantern to navigate inside the PV barn, while the later versions increase the lighting just enough to enable navigation without a light source.

This is probably my second to last post.  I haven't kept track of the number of hours I've played TLD, but the sum of the in-game days of my current saves is 1369 days.  I truly believe the Vigilant Flame version of TLD is one of the best PC games ever made.  I've really enjoyed the play and this forum.  I've been a part of several topics here where there was wide disagreement, but everyone was polite and respectful of other's opinions.  I wish that was true everywhere.  I will make a last post about my "Warm Interloper" soon.  It is the closest I have found to a viable level intermediate between Stalker and Interloper.

As a famous frog once said "It isn't easy being green--but being orange is far, far worse".

Edited September 19, 2020 by Vince 49

[ToAsT]

On 9/18/2020 at 11:40 PM, darkscaryforest said:

Yeah, this isn't too bad though. The technique I use is: light fire, look around to make sure no aggroed wolves, equip weapon to have it ready, harvest what you want, drop it on the ground to lose scent, repeat. I don't think you'll get jumped mid-harvest if you weren't aggroed before you start. You might come out of harvest to discover your visitor growling by the fire, but just quickly aim your weapon to disperse them..you should have lots of time. If you wanted to harvest it all at once, I *think* scent still won't apply until your done so risk wouldn't increase here. Also, animals don't move very far when you're passing time like this (unless injured and running off), they kind of just dance around

 

Speaking about the fire (less sure of torch), no. Say you have a fire waiting somewhere and you go aggro a wolf. You run back to the fire and the wolf is still far off. Aim your weapon and the wolf will actually charge, but stop short of where it normally would. If you're still aiming when it gets there, it'll turn and run off..otherwise it'll growl and wait. This is a great, safe way to kill a wolf btw. When the wolf turns to run, you have a split second window to pop him without fear of retaliation. I find it is best to do it after it has come to a complete stop and growled.

 

I believe so, but double check me. If you want to squash the detection range after it flees to prevent reaggro, immediately crouch (helps if you have no scent).

 

I'm almost certain fires don't scare aurora wolves (and probably not flares or torches either) since one got WAY too close to my fire and I had to panic shoot it. The wiki states that a flashlight's high beam will scare wolves (ergo, aurora wolves since it only works during an aurora) by itself but I've never tried it.

 

Yes absolutely. If you score a direct hit on a wolf with a stone WITHOUT AIMING/NEVER AIM and without a fire or torch, you have a *decent chance* of scaring them off.  This has saved me many times.

 

From my observations, everything we've talked about applies to both difficulties. All my playtime has been past the fearless navigator update.

Thank you! This certainly helps. I watched another video since I posted this: they had a lit flare and a wolf growling at them. They threw the flare a couple of times and the second time seemed to scare the wolf off. In my previous experience from earlier versions of the game, the wolves would always charge me when I tossed a flare at them. Do you think this behavior has changed?

[darkscaryforest]

15 hours ago, ToAsT said:

In my previous experience from earlier versions of the game, the wolves would always charge me when I tossed a flare at them. Do you think this behavior has changed?

I've never had a wolf charge me just for throwing a flare (and it usually has a great chance to scare them away) as long as you don't get too close.

I have twice, once by a timberwolf with a marine flare and once by a regular wolf with a red flare, been pounced on for walking right up to the wolf with a flare in hand. It seems like maintaining a minimum of 10 feet is a good idea.