Remarkable bear encounter...

[Polynomial-C]

Hi,

 

still playing my first Interloper run - being at day 73 right now, I just fetched the Technical Backpack three days ago and reached cooking level 5 two days ago.

I decided to finally do something against the extreme cold. I still only have little good clothing and want to finally create my first bearskin coat. After I got my first bear skin from a luck shot short after I created my first bow (did a sloppy shot at a fleeing bear which hit him in the neck and he dropped dead), I now tried to do my first "real" bear hunt in TWM. So I went to the usual places where bears wander around and finally found one. And now the remarkable part begins:

My first shot missed him and he ran away being scared. I ran to the spot where the arrow landed and on my way I sprained an ankle. So now being unable to run, I decided to go back to the Mountaineer's Hut but at that moment the bear walked through a tree and immediately raised up on his hind feet and started to charge me. Fearing that this might be the end of my nice first Interloper run, I shot him twice and accidentally pressed the key to crouch. Not being aware that my character is crouching I kept the "A" and "S" keys depressed, trying to put more shots into the bear (my archer skill is still at level 4 so I cannot shoot while crouching). The time it took me to realize that my character was crouching and thus being unable to shoot was enough for the bear to come close enough to maul me - but he didn't. All he did was running in the same stupid circles that I was doing while being crouched (remember, I still had the "A" and "S" key depressed and tried to shoot him). I finally stood up again with my char but still running hobbling in those circles which the bear still did as well. I somehow managed to put three more arrows into the bear after which he finally dropped dead.

Now I'm sitting here in front of my PC, having a pulse beat that doesn't really feel healthy, being full of Adrenaline and still cannot believe that I survived the most dangerous situation I ever had in any TLD game I've ever played...

Has anyone else ever done such a "circle dance" with a bear and has not been mauled? I still cannot believe what just happened...

Edited January 31, 2022 by Polynomial-C

[SpanishMoss]

In the past, bears have initiated "death circles" in which they "slide" in a circle around the player, unable to get closer, but preventing the player from leaving. Usually happened when the player was on an elevated surface that the bear could not reach. Sometimes the bear would manage to spin so fast it was almost impossible to land a bow shot. I recall a funny video where someone (i don't remember who) got this to occur, and was shooting the bear with a bow, but ran out of arrows. However, the bear was spinning close enough, that the player was able to grab the arrows off the bear as it spun around him. 
-SpanishMoss

[turtle777]

For what it's worth, day 73 is quite late to think about bear skins.

The max. negative temperatures / weather is reached on day 50. Once it's that cold, hunting and harvesting bears becomes quite difficult. And then you still have to wait for the pelt to cure.

Start thinking about bear and deer skins earlier, and it will make your life much easier on IL.

-t