Bear Spray?


Dancewithknives

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I just had a thought, why hasn’t bear spray or mace been added to the game?

 

it could be a really unique niche weapon to add, it has little to no use for hunting as well as a very limited range, but could deter predators without killing them. 
 

I haven't played on interloper, but it could be a way to add in a way to protect the player from predators without using it to hunt.  

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Why would the devs choose to introduce such a device into survival mode gameplay?   

Since game-play tends to be predicated on the character being aware and  careful, so thereby avoiding bear attack,  the provision of a special purpose device for one specific purpose may seem to be a significantly lower priority than many other possible things.  There would also be the necessity to work out how such a device would be used, how effective it would be under various circumstances, and the consequences that may result from it not working. 

Not to say that they would never introduce such a device into the game, but the incentives for them to develop such a device for the game seem to weigh against it for now.

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5 hours ago, UTC-10 said:

Why would the devs choose to introduce such a device into survival mode gameplay?

Well, just thinking off the top of my head: 

Compared to a torch, it can scare off animals but it does not provide light or warmth. Also, i’m not sure if torches scare off bears. 

faster to equip and deploy than starting a fire.

high risk weapon, has close to no range but can save your life.

Causes no damage to animals when used,( i found a bear corpse i killed after winging it in the foot once with a revolver and hiding in a cabin.)

lighter than firearms

with its addition, they could lower the spawn rate of firearms while still enabling the player to protect themselves. 

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To be honest, I do not see any reasonably compelling reason why such a device would be needed in the game as currently structured.  It remains a discretionary decision for the devs and I do not see any issue in how bears operate that would require or suggest the need for such a device.  Admittedly I would be a poor judge of need since I don't play in Voyager and higher difficulty modes. 

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When I see a bear, my brain goes into overdrive to find a spot from which I can send my arrow of death and take his goodies. Except recently, where I was navigating in a fog and heard a bear close by and didnt want to duel. I like hunting in TLD, so a bear or a moose is more often than not is a welcoming sight.

Honestly though, will and astrid are expert hunters and are well aware of their surroundings, making terrain work for them to avoid predators when needed.

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On 4/30/2021 at 10:23 PM, Dancewithknives said:

Well, just thinking off the top of my head: 

Compared to a torch, it can scare off animals but it does not provide light or warmth. Also, i’m not sure if torches scare off bears. 

faster to equip and deploy than starting a fire.

high risk weapon, has close to no range but can save your life.

Causes no damage to animals when used,( i found a bear corpse i killed after winging it in the foot once with a revolver and hiding in a cabin.)

lighter than firearms

with its addition, they could lower the spawn rate of firearms while still enabling the player to protect themselves. 

I would prefer they keep the firearm spawns, TBH... for the same reason I prefer to use a knife or hatchet to fend off a wolf attack rather than using a heavy hammer.  The former results in the death of the animal enabling me to take meat, hide or guts, as needed from them.  One generally gets to know where bears can potentially spawn and patrol, making them easier to avoid.  That, along with torches, are generally sufficient.  From what I see online, most established interloper players are not having much difficulty protecting themselves early game (before they acquire a bow) using avoidance.  They are certainly not getting attacked very frequently anymore.

Over the time I've played this game.... rifle, revolver and particularly ammo and gun cleaning kit spawns have been reduced significantly.  When I first started, I used to be almost possible to get to ones rifle skill to Level 4 or even 5 while staying within a single zone like Coastal Highway or Mountain Town.  I was finding that much ammo.  Now, most zones seem to now average only about 10 to 15 bullets for the rifle in total (although it has been admittedly awhile since I've attempted to fully clear all loot sites in Coastal Highway.  My last two runs clearing Mystery Lake, however, yields 15 and 17 bullets.  I have done several 100% clearings of Broken Railroad with Baseline Resources set as high as they will go just to see what sort of loot would be the maximum for that small zone.  On average, I get 11 rifle bullets and 25 revolver bullets.

Edited by UpUpAway95
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In my latest game I’ve found at least 1, some times 2, rifles in each map that i’ve visited. I think that’s a little excessive. 
 

I can’t really comment on the bullets ive found (It would essentially just be 1 upping nonsense). But using what you said, that would be 36 rounds that, if all shots hit, guns don’t break, and time given for the bleedout, results in 36 dead animals. Granted, that has as much to do with the way that bleedout works, but how much or little that would be is up to you. 

I think it may be considerate to think of other people’s playstyles. I know I don’t play the game efficiently, but i know that when I do supply runs to make my basecamp the beef jerky and cattail pimpin palace, there are times when i go on my supply runs where wish I could leave the guns and ammo behind and save the 4 legged meals on wheels for later. 

 

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Well, considering this is backcountry, it doesn't seem excessive at all! I wouldn't be surprised if every third house had either ammo or some sort of weapon stashed away.

Now that brings us to another great idea. There should be some sort of secret lockers that a player could locate, like under the bed, which can be found by either strange looking wallpaper or perhaps hovering over with a mouse!

Guns should be stashed away in a safe place!

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23 minutes ago, Stinky socks said:

Well, considering this is backcountry, it doesn't seem excessive at all! I wouldn't be surprised if every third house had either ammo or some sort of weapon stashed away.

Now that brings us to another great idea. There should be some sort of secret lockers that a player could locate, like under the bed, which can be found by either strange looking wallpaper or perhaps hovering over with a mouse!

Guns should be stashed away in a safe place!

I mean.... its a videogame. It doesn’t need to be real (Btw, I’m not some prude, I have 15 firearms myself.... and a can if bear spray).
 

In another thread I suggested lockpicks and related materials be added to the game. I concur, I love searching for shit in games.
 

 

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14 hours ago, Dancewithknives said:

In my latest game I’ve found at least 1, some times 2, rifles in each map that i’ve visited. I think that’s a little excessive. 
 

I can’t really comment on the bullets ive found (It would essentially just be 1 upping nonsense). But using what you said, that would be 36 rounds that, if all shots hit, guns don’t break, and time given for the bleedout, results in 36 dead animals. Granted, that has as much to do with the way that bleedout works, but how much or little that would be is up to you. 

I think it may be considerate to think of other people’s playstyles. I know I don’t play the game efficiently, but i know that when I do supply runs to make my basecamp the beef jerky and cattail pimpin palace, there are times when i go on my supply runs where wish I could leave the guns and ammo behind and save the 4 legged meals on wheels for later. 

 

"I think it may be considerate to think of other people's playstyles."  Yes... consider that if a player chooses to make a run in 1 zone only and without a revolver... 11 shots with a rifle limits that run severely in length.  What I said is that it has already been reduced significantly (that is, personally, I'm finding far fewer rounds of ammo for the rifle when I first started playing; and I'm finding far fewer rifles overall).  Raph acknowledge one reduction to rifle spawns when they introduced the revolver.  There was another when they introduced Bleak Inlet (which assumes that everyone using a rifle will collect their brass and take it all to Bleak Inlet to reload).  I would not like (personally, i.e. my opinion) that it be reduced further to introduce bear spray... which everyone has been surviving without quite well since this game was released. 

ETA:  IMO, bear spray is pixel fluff... it does not serve a purpose not served by other items not already in the game) - i.e. torches and stones.  It's like spray paint, which serves the same purpose as marking stuff with tinder or sticks or stones or whatnot.  HL can add it if they want.  I probably just won't bother collecting it when I find it; and yes, that's my playstyle.  If, however, they use it as another excuse to further reduce ammo for the rifle, I won't like it at all.  It does not serve the same purpose as the rifle BECAUSE it is incapable of killing the animal.

ETA:  Why don't you suggest they cut the number of birch and maple saplings in the world instead... because the rifle and the bow do serve the same purpose... killing larger game... and lopers should need fewer than a zillion, mostly retrievable arrows if bear spray is added.

Edited by UpUpAway95
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4 hours ago, UpUpAway95 said:

chooses to make a run in 1 zone only

Ummm.... okay? I mean, if you’re going to do that then you may have a point... but then it’s essentially like playing Resident Evil with only a knife and complaining that enemies are too strong. 

 

 

I didn’t mention it because I don’t use the bow very often. If the sapling are an issue, then I don’t see a reason why they can’t reduce the spawn rate if it needs balancing. 

 

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8 hours ago, Dancewithknives said:

 If the sapling are an issue, then I don’t see a reason why they can’t reduce the spawn rate if it needs balancing. 

Saplings do not respawn. Once you've used up all of the saplings in the world, the only way to get more is when they wash up on shore in Desolation Point, Crumbling Highway, Coastal Highway, or Bleak Inlet: by beachcombing.

This is not a particularly common occurrence, having saplings wash up on shore.

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10 hours ago, stratvox said:

Saplings do not respawn. Once you've used up all of the saplings in the world, the only way to get more is when they wash up on shore in Desolation Point, Crumbling Highway, Coastal Highway, or Bleak Inlet: by beachcombing.

This is not a particularly common occurrence, having saplings wash up on shore.

True, but overall, there are far more than 11 shots with a bow worth of them available in every zone... and the total amount has been added to with each new zone.  In Ash Canyon, for example, my test run with the maximum available loot settings and resources setting, I collected 20 birch saplings but only 17 rifle bullets.  I got about 95% of the zone's loot site explored before I collapsed the run.  BTW, note to Atheenon (since I've heard him say on multiple stream), groups of saplings being already chopped down is not an "interloper" thing.  At Miner's Folly, that group of saplings was already chopped down in my test run.  Broken Railroad, on average, will yield 7 birch saplings and 4 or 5 maple when the plant availability (not respawns) settings are set to the maximum.  At the shafts per sapling, that's a minimum of 21 shots.... but, of course, each arrow is retrievable multiple times.

Conversely, ammo spawns for the rifle have been reduced and, as I said... with the available loot settings set to their maximum, I still don't tend to get more than 17 bullets for the rifle in any given zone.  Broke Railroad averages about 11 rifle bullets.   That's a vast difference in the amount of ammo available for the bow vs. the rifle... so why pick on the rifle again if a reduction in available ammo is desired to incorporate bear spray?

Edited by UpUpAway95
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1 hour ago, UpUpAway95 said:

That's a vast difference in the amount of ammo available for the bow vs. the rifle... so why pick on the rifle again if a reduction in available ammo is desired to incorporate bear spray?


 

19 hours ago, Dancewithknives said:

didn’t mention it because I don’t use the bow very often. If the sapling are an issue, then I don’t see a reason why they can’t reduce the spawn rate if it needs balancing. 

 

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24 minutes ago, Dancewithknives said:


 

 

Yes, I understood that... I was clarify my numbers to @stratvox, who seemed to be thinking that I was referencing respawns of saplings, when I was not... but rather referring only to initial spawns in individual zones with loot and plant settings pushed to their maximum levels (i.e. reflecting what should be, on average, the maximum numbers available on a per zone basis).  I've not done a "whole world" compilation because that would take multiple  hugely long run at those settings to get "scientific" averages... and I'd get quite bored with that.

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