How Realistic Are Some Mechanics?

[Pencil]

As I play, I've wondered how many minor mechanics have been implemented into the game that you barely notice, but make the game more realistic. I have a few questions on these:

Does running increase Hypothermia risk? 
Does the percentage increase faster when you run while freezing?

Where's the best area to shoot when hunting?
I've noticed that headshots are usually what immediately kills an animal. But that's not necessarily realistic for some animals with tough skulls. When hunting a bear or moose, is it more effective to go for the heart or the head? Is there only a small area on the head that actually does critical damage? Does the game even consider the heart as a one-shot kill?

That's all for now, but if you know of any minor mechanics that make the game more realistic let me know. 

 

[UTC-10]

As far as I know running does not impact hypothermia risk except maybe at the margins (a tiny increase in warmth that would be easily missed).  You won't get warm from running but you can get exhausted.  There is no sweating in the game from running or any strenuous activity.  

 

The animal model used in the game consists of zones of the animal which have a chance for a critical hit or a bleeding wound.  The head and neck of an animal would tend to have the best chance for a critical hit which kills the animal on the spot or, if that does not happen, the shortest bleed out time.   Getting good with the particular weapon (revolver, rifle or bow) tends to up the chance of a critical hit. 

A hit scores a critical or a bleed, so the  usual advice would be one good hit (death or bleed) is all that is needed.  In the latter case of a bleed then one has to locate the carcass which might be some distance from where it was shot.  Multiple hits give a chance for a killing shot but do not really impact bleeds unless it was a more severe bleed (depending on where the shots landed).  No cumulative effect from bleeds.  

So if the animal is hit and runs away (didn't die on the spot), the key thing is that it leaves a blood trail which means it is bleeding.  There are "trivial" hits that look like a good hit but do not bleed the animal so no blood trail.  

Moose are the only animal that does not bleed out.  In this case, listen to the moose that was shot and if it is now making a kind of moaning noise (usually it is silent) then that seems to say another good hit (like another head shot) will tend to drop it.  But that is just what I surmise.  

It is possible to "heal" a bleeding animal which seems to be related to the way the game handles certain situations but you didn't ask that.  

[hozz1235]

@UTC-10 did a good job of "surmising" 😉.  If there are factors in the game which affect this, I believe it would be so minor as to be imperceptible.  There are also many other RNG which I'm sure play into these, which makes a conclusive answer very difficult.  I imagine only the HL designers could answer for sure.

Personally, I only go for the headshot on a charging wolf.  The rest of the time, I go for the lungs/heart.