Hunting Overhaul. 5th in a series of possible updates.

[SuperStriker16]

The hunting system is at best times, simple and other times, just confusing in TLD. like how you can walk within 5 feet of a rabbit and it just be chillin out sniffing and walking around, or 20 feet from the front of a deer just by squatting down. Or how all animals are basically restricted to their spawn locations. Or how you can be reallllllly far away from a bear, shoot it, and then it runs after you as if you were right in front of it (I’m still a bit salty about that one). You get the point, for a game that strives for realism, but is very unrealistic At least in this regard. First things first, deer, rabbits, and other things (like wolves when they hear a gunshot) should flee from 3 times the distance to prevent rabbits from being in grabbing range if I squat down. Second similar to hunting games, wildlife should have need zones, for example, deer in herds coming to feed on acorns or grasses for a few in game hours, then going over to the water, (they should be able to drink from waterfalls or punch holes through the ice in frozen fresh water sources. And finally finding a place to bed down and sleep, (then they would be easier to sneak up on). It would be similar for predators, but they would stalk the herds of deer and pick one off here or there to eat. if the animals cannot manage this simple cycle for long enough, then they die. The zones should be scattered around the map so the animals can move long distances. How players find these zones would be to track down the deer (in this case) by following its foot prints in the snow, which would stay on the ground until it starts snowing, which the tracks slowly become indistinguishable from the other terrain over 10-30 in game minutes of continuous snowing depending on how heavy the snowing is. Once a zone is descovered (a feeding zone for herbivores could be nibbled short grass and a feeding zone for carnivores could be multiple carcasses in an area with some bones for good measure) it could then be marked on the map kinda like how rabbit groves are. Another thing that would help realism is over hunting, by killing fawns or their mothers and especially if you over hunt one gender of animal over the other which would decrease the population largely, requiring players to take out 1 male for every 1 female. This is easy enough to tell for deer, moose or if they add them, caribou/elk as the males have antlers while the females have smaller ones or don’t at all. It gets more complicated for wolves, bears, and birds, and cougars when they add them, as they don’t have obvious differences between them. For them they could have fur/plumage differences in color, differing reproductive organs, or for females have their offspring follow them. Also if you hunt and successfully kill a deer (for this example) the others should avoid the area you killed it at for some time. Kind of like hunting pressure in COTW for anyone that plays it like me. This concludes my TED talk.

[SuperStriker16]

8 hours ago, diggity said:

 

There's probably some good points in there, but now it's just a wall of text that's about to mangle me and I don't have the energy to fight it.  Line breaks plz!

 

Your wish is my command!

 

The hunting system is at best times, simple and other times, just confusing in TLD. like how you can walk within 5 feet of a

rabbit and it just be chillin out sniffing and walking around, or 20 feet from the front of a deer just by squatting down. Or

how all animals are basically restricted to their spawn locations. Or how you can be reallllllly far away from a bear, shoot it,

and then it runs after you as if you were right in front of it (I’m still a bit salty about that one). You get the point, for a game

that strives for realism, but is very unrealistic At least in this regard.
 

First things first, deer, rabbits, and other things (like wolves when they hear a gunshot) should flee from 3 times the

distance to prevent rabbits from being in grabbing range if I  squat down. Second similar to hunting games, wildlife should

have need zones, for example, deer in herds coming to feed  on acorns or grasses for a few in game hours, then going over

to the water, (they should be able to drink from waterfalls or  punch holes through the ice in frozen fresh water sources.

And finally finding a place to bed down and sleep, (then they would be easier to sneak up on). It would be similar for

predators, but they would stalk the herds of deer and pick one off here or there to eat. if the animals cannot manage this

simple cycle for long enough, then they die.

 

The zones should be  scattered around the map so the animals can move long distances. How players find these zones

would be to track down  the deer (in this case) by following its foot prints in the snow, which would stay on the ground until

it starts snowing, which  the tracks slowly become indistinguishable from the other terrain over 10-30 in game minutes of

continuous snowing  depending on how heavy the snowing is. Once a zone is descovered (a feeding zone for herbivores

could be nibbled short grass and a feeding zone for carnivores could be multiple carcasses in an area with some bones for  

good measure) it  could then be marked on the map kinda like how rabbit groves are.
 

Another thing that would help realism  is over hunting, by  killing fawns or their mothers and especially if you over hunt one

gender of animal over the other which would decrease the population largely, requiring players to take out 1 male for every

1 female. This is easy enough to tell for deer, moose or if  they add them, caribou/elk as the males have antlers while the

females have smaller ones or don’t at all. It gets more complicated for wolves, bears, and birds, and cougars when they add

them, as they don’t have obvious differences between  them. For them they could have fur/plumage differences in color,

differing reproductive organs, or for females have their offspring follow them. Also if you hunt and successfully kill a deer

(for this example) the others should avoid the area you killed it at for some time. Kind of like hunting pressure in COTW for

anyone that plays it like me. This concludes my TED talk.

[Admin]

Thank you for your feedback! 

[Kranium]

Just an addendum by me, because I got to thinking about TLD hunting mechanics today while out hiking around our ranch.

 

Rabbits (hare) change their colour in the winter, they go pure white. For camouflage. They're surprisingly hard to see, you tend to only notice them if they're moving. But when they detect you first, they freeze. They'll stay motionless, unless they think you've seen them / get too close, at which point they dart off. Very very hard to hunt, outside of snares. Still possible, though. I wonder if it would be better to have them white, in game, so at least they're harder to spot. That would be a simple tweak. Implementing better prey mechanics would be great, too, albeit much harder to code for. So, if you see one, you can potentially sneak up on one & nail it with a rock, but it would be tougher & more of a gamble. How close can you get before it takes off?

 

I took this picture earlier today. I'm zoomed in here, I was roughly 25 meters away. It was frozen in place, hoping I'd pass by without noticing. I managed to get about 8 steps closer before it darted away. Food for thought. (the snow has been melting here for aprox. 1 month now, and rabbits here have been starting to change back to summer colours, so this one isn't pure white anymore, but still kinda close)

 

 

Edited April 15, 2023 by Kranium

[SuperStriker16]

Love the pic, and great idea!