Bear hunting 101

[Hylander]

See, now this is what I thought initially when I saw those pictures with all those dead wolves, that you were somehow manipulating the game to produce that many animals in one spot. This is clearly the case here, since in a normal game you can't get that many bears period.

[Scyzara]

I haven't seen a single bear respawn after 60 days in pleasant valley yet... I very much doubt they ever respawn.

Agree to Hylander regarding the picture. Even if it's not an intentional manipulation of the game, it's at least a massive bug and thus non-reproducable.

[traceyle]

The devs programmed so that if you sleep in a "bear" or wolf territory, you will get attacked. What he does is sleep in a place that bear cant get to him so that he can shoot it down easily. That way you can respawn wolf bear without worry about being attacked. In another word this is just a bug(one of many) that player can use to manipulating the gameplay for benefit, and these are plenty of way for cheating. This topic should be in bug topic. I had already post one before but the devs doesnt seem to notice yet.

viewtopic.php?f=56&t=3984

[ChillPlayer]

I figured that you did this opeth as traceyle descibed, sleeping and getting bear spawns this way? Because I only know of 4 "permanent" bears and they are always in the same location, I never had the impression that they are wandering around the map.

This could easily be checked, I am sure that after your killing frenzy you would find the 4 permanent bears still in the same location. This also means that it doesn't really matter where you sleep by the fire, as long as you do it in a place where bears can't reach you. Another one would be inside a Hunter's Blind, I've experienced myself that a bear was spawned that didn't belong there.

But it's a handy tip nevertheless, unfortunately I see already the next update incoming lol, hinterland seems to fix every bit we find out that makes the game easier (and rightly so ).

[Scyzara]

@traceyle: Thanks for the explanation!

In my humble opinion, the devs should simply give the four permanent bears a respawn timer of 50 (or 75) days. (It's just natural that bears from nearby areas will sooner or later repopulate an area after its former inhabitant died).

This would make abusing certain game mechanics unnecessary.

For this specific "sleep-respawn"-bug I suggest to have the bear spawn right within the sleeping player so melee combat cannot be avoided.

I mean if wolves can attack you right through a fire (just try sleeping in a fisherhut with a campfire placed at the entrance), what's strange about a blackbear climbing some rocks? They're great at climbing trees, they shouldn't have trouble to crest rocks that humans can climb...

[ChillPlayer]

Well it's an unfair mechanic to begin with, remember my "Ravine is the most unfair place in the game" thread? This is where I first encountered it. Because it was not possible to count all wolves I was not certain that it got spawned. But with bears, there are only 4 bears you can encounter while being awake, period. If you kill them all you should be safe from bears or at least only get attacked by the visible bears. If you chose your camp carefully after studying the movement of the bears, you should be able to sleep safely outside.

Now clever dudes like opeth found a way to even exploit the mechanic, I really see no reason why an unfair and exploitable mechanic should remain in the game, so I hope it will be fixed. Personally not because of the exploit (opeth's pictures are legendary ) but because I don't think it's fair. But the former might be a more pressing reason for the devs to adjust it

[elloco999]

I never did like the way you get attacked by wolves (or bears) while you sleep. In stead of a chance of spawning a wolf (or bear) when sleeping outside, just have the wolves and bears that are on the map continue their movements and if one gets close enough they will attack you. It makes absolutely no sense that if you sleep at a location where you've never seen a wolf (or bear) and you sleep there you get attacked. Animals should not suddenly visit places just because the player sleeps there if they never do so when the player is awake.

[ChillPlayer]

+1 elloco, this is also my idea of how it should be.

But I also see why the devs choose to implement it this way, they simply don't want us to be able to camp outside safely and without this mechanic they would have to add much much more wolves and bears to cover every area of the map. Otherwise, getting lost in the wild during a blizzard would not be a big thing, just go way up the hill, build a fire in a place where the wind doesn't blow it out and sleep through it.

With the current mechanic you are forced to find some sort of shelter when a blizzard hits and those are usually the most thrilling parts of the game, where you actually are put under stress as you see your condition dropping and dropping, no idea where you are, getting more desperate minute by minute until finally, at 15% condition you see that familiar bridge where you know to follow the road to find a cabin and survive yet one more time.

So I'm devided on this... for one yes, it's unfair to spawn wolves and bears out of thin air wherever the player sleeps, but I also don't want an easy way to survive blizzards, I am playing this game exactly for these (virtual) life threatening situations where I'm constly thinking "holy shit, holy shit, holy shit... puuuh finally I'm safe".

There would be an easy way to solve this: just prevent the player from making a fire anywhere outside (caves not included) when a blizzard is ongoing and there would be no need anymore to spawn wolves to scare us away.

[TLDFAN]

+1 elloco, this is also my idea of how it should be.

But I also see why the devs choose to implement it this way, they simply don't want us to be able to camp outside safely and without this mechanic they would have to add much much more wolves and bears to cover every area of the map. Otherwise, getting lost in the wild during a blizzard would not be a big thing, just go way up the hill, build a fire in a place where the wind doesn't blow it out and sleep through it.

With the current mechanic you are forced to find some sort of shelter when a blizzard hits and those are usually the most thrilling parts of the game, where you actually are put under stress as you see your condition dropping and dropping, no idea where you are, getting more desperate minute by minute until finally, at 15% condition you see that familiar bridge where you know to follow the road to find a cabin and survive yet one more time.

So I'm devided on this... for one yes, it's unfair to spawn wolves and bears out of thin air wherever the player sleeps, but I also don't want an easy way to survive blizzards, I am playing this game exactly for these (virtual) life threatening situations where I'm constly thinking "holy shit, holy shit, holy shit... puuuh finally I'm safe".

There would be an easy way to solve this: just prevent the player from making a fire anywhere outside (caves not included) when a blizzard is ongoing and there would be no need anymore to spawn wolves to scare us away.

Some of my favorite parts of the game are finding shelter and that survival aspect. Not knowing if I'll make it. One Mystery Lake I don't really get that anymore because there are too many shelters, same with Coastal Highway, Haven't lived to see the new map yet but I hear it is the place where you can die before finding a shelter.

As to animals finding you at night. Animals pick up on your scent trail so unless you camp indoors or find a place really secure and off the snow ground, like up on a rock which is where I camp with some success you are prone to getting eaten in your sleep.

[Denyo]

its apparently in the game,,,, and Im still doin it while it lasts,, i cant speak for everyone on the Leaderboards, though. Maybe later il post some tips cause iv been rcving pm's how i do it.

i will reveal some tips how to be on top of the leaderboards ,who basically just want to have this achievement, it may have a positive or a negative impression to others, its all in game anyway, its just fun competition in my opinion

(every opinion is subjective)

Hmm...now I understand,why devs made now that wolves can climb and reach every high slope,even there,where we cannot climb up.Now in game there is no more safe places to travel,and tactics must be changed.

Just one thing I would ask you,opeth,and others,too. If you find a easy way to survive and find out successfull ways of any game mechanics...don`t come to forums and show off your skills,pls.Coz that way you won`t do any favor to other players,but quite opposite.When devs will see,which mechanic you,kinda of,"abuse",they will change it and make it harder.

Keep that for yourself or stop using it,just don`t show off anymore,pls.Coz of all announcements of those tips and tricks in game,game developing already started to move in a direction,which will soon cause a gossip of players.I know that from my own experiences in game and from reading and watching other players.I just hope game designers won`t go too far and make this game more disliked to mayority of fans.

[Hylander]

So here's an interesting tidbit from hinterland_ryan on the Steam forums:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/305620/discussions/0/610573009250372793/?tscn=1424726150#c610573009252818792

Seems like this whole exploit will most likely be going away in the future...

[ChillPlayer]

Thanks for sharing Hylander, this gives reason to hope

Btw there is still a way to hunt 3 of 4 bears without fear for your life. If you position yourself somewhere where the bear cannot reach you, he won't react to getting shot at, he just continues to wander around and eat bullet after bullet. There's only one bear where I didn't find a safe spot yet, the other ones can be hunted without risk. This actually takes a way alot of the rush and adrenaline that bear hunting is supposed to give, it's practically reduced to climb a rock and empty your magazine.

It's not easy to fix this I gather, if it runs away after the first shot I can just go back to my camp and collect the bled out bear the next day. The only way I see is to give them the ability to climb the same rocks as we can and improve pathfinding for the AI, so that it always can get to us. Would make for some interesting bear&mouse play, but right now it's too easy to get your hand on 15 days of meat, the mighty bears deserve a better fight