Roneranger's Wish List 2.0: Flora/Fauna

[roneranger]

In my opinion, one of the most lacking areas of the game is actually plant life and wildlife. I hope that there's more to come, and I'd assume that's the case given we are only in an alpha. It also makes sense if the intention is to highlight the fact that it is a desolate winter wonderland but there are still more critters in the bush than wolves, bears, deer, rabbits and crows. There's also a fair amount of different plants, flowers, bushes and trees too. I thought I would make a list of some suggestions of both and hope that a few make it into the game.

BIRDS:

- Grouse: Great tasty little bird and fairly easy to find in the bush. Better hunted with a .22 than the rifle in the game, but you could kill them with a bow too.

- Whiskeyjacks: Probably my favourite winter bird, you see a lot of them in the alpine. They have a very distinctive call, which I find more appealing than a crow's call. probably not any practical value, more of an aesthetic addition to the wildlife.

MAMMALS:

- Foxes: I think they'd be a good non-hostile animal to have in the game that you could also snare, maybe if you baited the snare with some rabbit meat? Besides, what trapper ensemble would be complete without a fox hat?

- Cougars: In my area, cougars are just as much of a threat as wolves. More solitary, but also potentially more formidable; the cougar would be a deadly predator. Maybe they're only found in the more mountainous regions of the game?

- Mountain Goats: These are also extremely common in my area, a lot of hunters prefer to hunt goat over deer here. They could also be found in the mountains with cougars and create the same sort of wolf/deer scenarios in different environments. perhaps a concept for a new map?

PLANTS:

I haven't seen any birch or alder trees in the game yet, although I saw birch saplings most trees looked like fir or cedar and they were indistinguishable. Which is not the case in real life, hemlock spruce and fir may look similar but cedar doesnt look like any of them. Having different tree types is crucial in accurately detailing the temperate rainforest. A healthy forest ecosystem will have many types of trees, and all of the ones I just listed. I loved that there were some trees with old man's beard on them though because it is a very useful material.

- Bark: I've noticed that when harvesting cedar or fir you often get a couple of tinder plugs, which I assume is supposed to be bark from the wood you harvested. Bark is also a very useful material when it comes to crafting items in real life, I think it would be neat to see it implemented into the game.

- Devil's Club Root: I was very pleased the first time I saw rosehips in the game. Devil's club root has medicinal properties and can be used as a painkiller either when ingested or made into tea. It could be a great natural remedy available to the player after other medicines are depleted. There are plenty of edible roots still available during the winter and winter blooming flowers that can be eaten as well. And plenty of stuff that makes you sick! It would be neat to have some plants you can pick that make you sick instead of well.

ROCKS:

Honestly, I need rocks guys. Rocks to throw, rocks to keep as pets. Itd be really nice to be able to find rocks in caves or something. Even if they have no practical value, that could be the joke: "I collected 12 rocks hoping to make something out of them and found out they're useless. fml" Rocks in survival games are like piles of garbage in first person shooters. There's gotta be garbage everywhere!

[toebar]

Some good and appropriate suggestions! I agree that more tree diversity would be nice (and realistic), but I don't think it needs to be a priority.

Not sure about the winter roots and flowers though-- what winter blooming flowers do you know of?

Roots generally wood require too much effort to get out of the ground due to the snow/ice/frozen ground to make it worthwhile-- they might be important if you're starving, but lack of food is not currently an issue in this game...

yes please to pet rocks

[TheIncredibleHibby]

I love a lot of these suggestions! I've also suggested this before but I think it would be pretty neat to add female deer as well, since the deer population around is basically one huge sausage party with antlers...same with the human corpses lol, I've seen that brought up elsewhere as well.

Though IIRC bark has already been implemented as a random pickup like other types of wood. Was plenty pleased to see that.

[swissheart]

rocks to keep as pets

I like your ideas.

[roneranger]

Witch hazel is a winter blooming flower and has medicinal properties and heather is another. Both have species that are native here. Dogwood doesnt bloom in winter but it might also be a good choice for a canadian shrub.

And I have actually noticed birch tree textures on trees since posting this, but the shape of all the trees are very similar which is partly why I didnt notice at first. Although apparently my computer is far below min spec so perhaps once I upgrade this month I will see an improvement in textures. In terms of firewood though, birch and alder typically burn longer than cedar fir and hemlock. Usually cedar and softwoods are better for kindling with hardwoods being better for sustaining fires for longer periods. These arent huge issues in the game for me but these details would also give the game more realism. Regardless of how inhospitable the setting of the game is, there is still a thriving ecosystem.

[toebar]

Witch hazel does bloom in fall to winter, but it tends to be an eastern north america species, and it's a shrub as well. What exactly do you mean by heather? Mountain-heather is common in alpine and subalpine BC but it blooms in early summer. Anyway, I am hopeful that the Spring version of the game will include a lot of local plants to use

I interpret the 'fir' in game to mean Douglas-fir, which is quite dense for a softwood and burns more similarly to a hardwood-- hence the description in game. Birch might rival it for heat, but not alder. Cedar, as you say, is for kindling. The alternative fir is subalpine fir or another of the trees in the Abies genus (aka 'balsam'), which is light, soft, and not good for burning really at all (so does not match the description or function in game).

Some interesting trivia-- (or at least I found it interesting when I moved here from eastern Canada where hardwoods are common!) is that the usual firewood used in the northern parts of BC is lodgepole pine. Birch would be good, but it's much less common. Douglas-fir is good but also less common and not found that many places in the north, and aspen doesn't have near the heat. So the ideal species are used when they can be but the sheer commonness and decent heat output of lodgepole pine makes it commonplace.

[roneranger]

you know your stuff!

[toebar]

I have professional and personal experience in the area I'm often impressed with the variety and depth of knowledge that shows up on these forums--it's always and interesting place to visit.

[SteveP]

Though IIRC bark has already been implemented as a random pickup like other types of wood. Was plenty pleased to see that.

Yes indeed. I spotted the birch bark on a video play through by one of our skilled members, GELtaz. I could not find mention of it in the update notes on steam or on a search using Google or here on this forum with the exception of your posting.

[Litstorm]

I agree, i definitely want to see more types of animals/plants as well as different skins/colors of animals.

I would also like to see smaller rodents, owls, and hawks.

and maybe some pine trees for some tea.