Why are there no aurora moose?

[piddy3825]

Was just wondering why we don't see any moose being affected by the aurora?

Sure, we don't necessarily see them that often, but we should.  Shouldn't we?

Makes me wonder now whether or not there's gonna be an aurora cougar when we get the cougar back.  

 

[ThePancakeLady]

I've seen people claim they got one, but I can't even recall seeing a Moose at night in any of my games. (They may be out at night, but I have never seen one myself in over 10,000 hours of playtime on Switch, Steam, and XBox).

Would it makes sense, though? We don't have Aurora Deer, and the Moose is very loosely related to that class of animals. Plus Moose are not predatory- they are territorial. They don't actively hunt you like wolves, bears and timberwolves do. They just don't like you being in their space.

As to the Cougar- we'll see I guess. They *are* a predator, it appears that they will hunt us. The question is whether or not they are out and about at night or not in the game. If they are- yeah, Aurora Cougar (death wish granted...).

[I_eat_only_wolf_meat]

Aurora burbot in the next patch.

[Veskaida]

On 11/12/2024 at 9:35 PM, piddy3825 said:

Was just wondering why we don't see any moose being affected by the aurora?

Sure, we don't necessarily see them that often, but we should.  Shouldn't we?

I think TLD's convention is that "prey" animals flee (and despawn) during auroras, and "predator" animals are replaced with their aurora counterparts. Moose are 'hostile wildlife' because they are territorial, but aren't predators. So maybe there is something in TLD's design bible about 'what the aurora is (lore)/mechanically (gameplay)' that defines that.

I'd love to hear @Raphael van Lierop's thoughts on why there is no Aurora Moose, or if we'll get an Aurora Cougar.

I suppose it might also also be explained in TLD's narrative, such as (Spoilers for "Tales From The Far Territory" and possibly "Wintermute"/Story Mode):

Spoiler

Some symptoms of exposure to Rüdiger's Machine are "Emotional volatility" and "lack of inhibition", which could be interpreted as increased aggression being a possibility. I don't think this makes a strong case necessary for 'aurora predators' VS 'aurora territorial animals'; but in general predator species tend to be more aggressive than prey species (most of which who usually flee from conflict).

 

On 11/12/2024 at 9:53 PM, ThePancakeLady said:

Would it makes sense, though? We don't have Aurora Deer, and the Moose is very loosely related to that class of animals. Plus Moose are not predatory- they are territorial. They don't actively hunt you like wolves, bears and timberwolves do. They just don't like you being in their space.

Moose are territorial yes, but so are Wolves/Timberwolves and Black Bear in-game. I haven't seen any evidence in TLD that any species of wolf is predatory against humans (hunting humans for food). Wolves are predators, yes, but Wolf and Timberwolf behavior when hunting is different between stalking The Survivor VS hunting deer/rabbit/ptarmigan where they bark and follow the prey animal with their head and ears upright before sprinting at it. We also see no signs of Wolves/Timberwolves eating Frozen Corpses (humans), though they do eat animal carcasses they've killed and are attracted to carcass/quartering sites killed by The Survivor.

I also don't think it's a fair comparison between Moose and Deer; yes both are Cervidae, and Deer (e.g. White Tail) can be aggressive, but Moose are far larger, more territorial, and aggressive towards humans (particularly males during mating season, or females with a calf); where as Deer typically flee from humans. For example:

• Moose weigh 800-1,600lbs (362-725kg), White Tail Deer weigh 150-300lbs (68-136kg).
• Moose kill more humans in North America than Bears (all species), at ~800 car accidents per year (and more incidents from feedings, hikers, campers, etc). Part of this though is simple frequency, because there are more Moose than Bear. Also, much of these are automotive accidents (so in a post-car apocalyptic setting like TLD would likely have less moose fatalities per capita).
• There are laws in place to try and discourage close interactions with Moose and Humans (e.g. feeding Moose in Alaska imposes a $10,000 fine), because of how dangerous these animals are and the frequency of interaction (people getting hurt).

On 11/12/2024 at 9:35 PM, piddy3825 said:

Makes me wonder now whether or not there's gonna be an aurora cougar when we get the cougar back.

On 11/12/2024 at 9:53 PM, ThePancakeLady said:

As to the Cougar- we'll see I guess. They *are* a predator, it appears that they will hunt us. The question is whether or not they are out and about at night or not in the game. If they are- yeah, Aurora Cougar (death wish granted...).

Cougar is an interesting point! I agree: I think there should be an Aurora Cougar according to TLD's conventions. Though in all honestly, I haven't tested if there 'is' one for predux-Cougar. I'll test that out now and reply if there is.

On 11/12/2024 at 9:53 PM, ThePancakeLady said:

... I can't even recall seeing a Moose at night in any of my games.

Moose do spawn at night: I've encountered them at night many times; their spawns are rare and semi-random. Like other wildlife Moose cannot spawn during a blizzard or aurora (for non-aurora wildlife). Although even if the odds are the same, your likelihood for encountering Moose at night is lower since:

• TLD nights only last 9.5 hours (vs 14.5 for TLD's 'day')
• Auroras can 'only' happen at night, but Blizzards can happen at night 'or' day (both prevent Moose spawning).
• Night is colder/more dangerous so 'most' players tend to sleep at night and explore/travel during the day.

Regarding 'Aurora Moose' specifically, I made a similar post in 'this' thread earlier, explaining some of these TLD mechanics:

The tl;dr answer is:

"when TLD decides the weather will change to "Aurora", the Aurora audio/visualsappear ~10 (in-game) minutes ahead of it's gameplay mechanics. (e.g. Aurora Wolves)"

So to a player unaware of this 'transition feature', it could appear that a Moose (which spawned pre-Aurora) is active during an Aurora. It's worth noting that if an Aurora 'actually' starts (that post-10 minute transition) Moose 'will' flee (even if they're charging), though I don't think it can hard-interrupt them mid-struggle, unlike non-Aurora Wolves (which an Aurora will actually end a struggle mid-way through!).

On a side note, wildlife in TLD can only despawn if they are currently unloaded (outside of The Player's FOV, render distance, or on a different map (e.g. you transitioned inside an 'indoors' cabin)). So for example, if you 'trapped' a Moose in a part of the map where it could not move outside The Player's FOV/render distance and you never left the area, it would remain there (in a fleeing state) potentially through an entire Aurora. This is similar to the mechanic/feature/bug present for Blizzards where wolves can stalk the player during a blizzard if they began stalking pre-Blizzard, but 'new' wolves (who were outside FOV/render) will despawn.

Edited November 14 by Veskaida