Cougar Attacks; Scripted or Avoidable?

[Pencil]

I figure this question will be answered by YouTube videos in the coming days/weeks, but if anybody figures this out, is a cougar attack scripted to happen, or can you spot the cougar and avoid the struggle? Can you scare it off with a flare shot or noise maker before it reaches you? 

If you can't do anything to stop an attack (besides leaving the region or staying indoors, of course) then I'm probably going to consider to keep it out of my current save, because in that case I'm not ready for the random jump scare while walking across a lake or open valley lol. 

So, will the cougar be spot-able before a struggle, will there be any reaction time before a struggle, and can it be scared with high powered deterrents? 

[ManicManiac]

Indeed, presently unknown.  
This looks like a job for SCIENCE!

[UpUpAway95]

The announcement indicates that you won't be able to spot the actual attack coming.  You will have ample warning though when the cougar has spawned in the region (a counter in the lower left corner).  It also shows the number of days the cougar will remain in that region after you've left it.  From the video, it did look like it was possible to survive a cougar attack (perhaps like a bear attack, they only take you down to within an inch of your life and then wander away briefly) - giving you time to shoot them, but missing that shot probably means they'll attack again immediately.

[thekillergreece]

Presumably scripted as can be seen here. Presumably, even if you hug a tight corner inside a hut, you can still be attacked since the cougar is dropped on you.

I tried to spawn one with dev console, and it could spot and catch me just like a wolf would. A bit of spoilers I found below.

Spoiler

It can also spot and attack/kill wolves and moose. However, the attack is extremely buggy as the cougar AI is permanently on 'pursuit' mode and thus gets stuck on the kill.

 

Edited June 24 by thekillergreece

[Pencil]

23 minutes ago, thekillergreece said:

Presumably scripted as can be seen here. Presumably, even if you hug a tight corner inside a hut, you can still be attacked since the cougar is dropped on you.

I tried to spawn one with dev console, and it could spot and catch me just like a wolf would. A bit of spoilers I found below.

  Hide contents

It can also spot and attack/kill wolves and moose. However, the attack is extremely buggy as the cougar AI is permanently on 'pursuit' mode and thus gets stuck on the kill.

 

That's interesting. So the dev console cougar is not the same as the vanilla cougar? From what I've seen, you won't be able to see the cougar unless you just survived a struggle from it so I doubt you'd see it kill an animal in the normal game. Maybe that's a idea they scrapped. 

[thekillergreece]

4 minutes ago, Pencil said:

That's interesting. So the dev console cougar is not the same as the vanilla cougar? From what I've seen, you won't be able to see the cougar unless you just survived a struggle from it so I doubt you'd see it kill an animal in the normal game. Maybe that's a idea they scrapped. 

No idea, I'll give it some more testing.
From limited testing, it doesn't look good. I mean, I sort of expected us being able to see it a couple of seconds before catching us for a struggle instead of teleporting ontop of us for the event.

[Pencil]

I'm wondering if your protected near a fire or while holding a flare. If there's no way to stop an attack then I might have to turn off the sound and beeline to the next region while sitting on the other side of the room from my monitor lol. 

[Pencil]

I'll go ahead and drop my suggestion and opinion on the cougar here: 

Make the cougar visible a second or two before a struggle. If you are in the open on a lake or somewhere like Pleasant Valley or Forsaken Airfield, there should be a very small chance of being attacked if any. Otherwise we should be able to see the cougar coming from a ways away in those areas. 

I would much rather have the cougar spawn in near the player once the RNG has rolled for the cougar to attack; whether that be behind an obstacle, on a tree or a building, or simply behind the player a ways away. Then give the player 1-2 seconds to be able to react. It doesn't have to make any noise, but at least we have a chance to scare it if we happen to turn around when it spawns in. 

It only appears when it's ready to attack but it doesn't instantly spawn on us. 

[UpUpAway95]

I'm still trying to find out what this might mean for sighting the cougar in Pilgrim mode.  Does the cougar still attack in that mode (meaning it spawns on top of the player) or is it passive like other animals in that mode (which means one should be able to sight it without being attacked, at least when in that mode).  According to a video I saw, it apparently only comes into a region in pilgrim mode after 70 days, so it's not something that would apply at all to a 50-day one-region run in Pilgrim even if left enabled.  On higher difficulties, the encroachment is 5-30 days, so that does mean that it's likely I won't be getting much beyond that when deliberately staying in the cougar's territory, but we'll see what happens.😀

[UTC-10]

I expect that, for now, the attack of the Cougar is going to be similar across all difficulties.  As an "event" there would be no point in  having the Cougar appear at all in Pilgrim unless it does attack.  

With my ongoing Pilgrim game, at about the six day mark on Timberwolf (when the update occurred) I had notice from the game that the Cougar would arrive in four days.  I missed the enable/disable stage as I RESUMED my game rather than LOAD it.  I also now have scurvy active.  I did notice what seemed like the Cougar snarls when my character wakes up.  

I moved off Timberwolf with the Cougar three days out.  Now the question is how long until my presence in Pleasant Valley attracts the Cougar.