... find plants and animals?

[Kolide]

I think it's because I'm not looking hard enough or something, but whenever I try to find animals or roots, I'll walk for long distances and not find anything. Maybe the occasional boar or fox, but I can't hunt those until I get a root for string, but I can't find any of *those*, either. I'll see a skeleton on the ground frequently, but for some reason I won't be able to take bones from it, so I can't make a bonesaw for boards, either. Do I just need to look harder, or do I need to upgrade exploration, or what?

[Switch221]

Yeah just increase your exploration at first. 5-10 is good enough to see most of the taproots and nettles, and start seeing WWW to start your farm. It did seem like forever between each one I found in the beginning, but now I find them all over the place.

[Stormfeather]

Okay, to take stuff one by one:

The bones you see lying around are, I assume, human-shaped? If so, those are dead character bodies, and you can't use them for bones. If you find an *animal* skeleton lying around you can loot those for bones (right click on them), but not the humans.

If you're still this new, you don't want to hunt foxes or boars yet. In fact, you want to stay as far away from boars as you can, since they randomly might attack you, and may kill you outright. (Which means starting a new character, although you can inherit from the previous one.)

For bones, animal meat, etc., you'll want to stick to rabbits and chickens until you at least learn the ropes and get a few stats/skills built up. To do that, make sure you buy the Hunting skill, then find a chicken or rabbit (rabbits can be randomly most places, chickens are on grasslands, moors and heath), get as close as you can (really, on top of the critter), then right-click on it, when you have a square of four spaces in your inventory, and it'll pick up the animal. Then you can "wring neck" to kill it, then butcher it.

For string, your best bet is to buy the foraging skill (Oral Tradition first), and raise your perception*exploration score a few notches by buying some exploration points, then as you wander you should start finding stinging nettles and spindly taproots, which you can use for string (although nettles can't be used as fishing line and, um, something else, I forget what.)

To help out, you might wanna read over some things (like the foraging tables, combat system, etc.) in the wiki:

http://ringofbrodgar.com/wiki/Haven_and_Hearth_Wiki

Happy hunting!

[SleazyMelvin]

IS there no way to target finding rabbits? My sole ambition right now is a backpack, and someone stole my drying rabbit skins, I have walked for hours without finding one. I assume there is no skill that makes animal sightings more frequent, right?

Is the frequency random? I remember playing a little in the previous world and it seems like animals were way more common, since I started this character I have travelled all over seeing literally probably 3 rabbits and one fox total.

[Cynry]

There's no skill to find more animals, you're right.
And yes, I believe animal spawning has been reduced a short time ago.

IS there no way to target finding rabbits?

What do you mean ? If you use punch on them, yes, it is possible, and actually a safer way to catch rabbits, as the "range" seems a bit longer than the one to catch them, and they sometimes manage to flee from a catch attempt even when you're very close.

[SleazyMelvin]

There's no skill to find more animals, you're right.
And yes, I believe animal spawning has been reduced a short time ago.

IS there no way to target finding rabbits?

What do you mean ? If you use punch on them, yes, it is possible, and actually a safer way to catch rabbits, as the "range" seems a bit longer than the one to catch them, and they sometimes manage to flee from a catch attempt even when you're very close.

I meant do they appear more often on a certain type of terrain, I know how to capture them, just having a problem finding them.

[Tonkyhonk]

I meant do they appear more often on a certain type of terrain, I know how to capture them, just having a problem finding them.

rabbits appear on any tiles, while chickens usually spawn on grassland/heaths/moor tiles.
*edit* errr, probably no rabbits in cave nor mountains, forgotten about those areas.

if you see a fox, look around a bit carefully, they often chase rabbits and chickens, can be a sign of either rabbits or chickens around. (sometimes they kill some and leave dead bodies for you to pick up.)

wishing you good luck.

[Mashadar]

If you're looking for anything (either animals or forageables), you should always do it on boat.
Moving by boat is faster than running and causes no stamina drain, so you will find whatever you're looking for in a fraction of the time.
Even if you have no boat yet, staying close to a river is not a bad idea, since your chances to find some skeletons left over by hunters and/or a boat are good.

[Kolide]

Thanks all, I've upgraded exploration by a few and I now have enough roots for a slingshot. But I still need leather, and how do I get leather when I need a slingshot to get hides? /:

I'm hoping I stumble across someone with an open drying rack, but ehh, I don't wanna steal someone's hard-earned stuff :\

[Stormfeather]

You don't need a slingshot to get rabbits, which give you one hide each. (Or you can often stumble upon abandoned kills in the middle of nowhere, which are also fair game.)