Tracking animals

[noindyfikator]

A few days ago I decided to play haven. It was a beautifully day.

I woke up at 7:30 am. Checked my credo, quests and cupboards with meat. I made a plan for whole day. Finish 1 credo level and kill a few mammoths.
I started with credo. My quest was to find a yarrow. There was plenty of terrains around my place where yarrow spawn. I was walking for 3 hours around, didn't found any yarrow. I was very angry, turned off the game for 30 min.
After 30 min when I chilled a bit, I decided to go for mammoths. I went to mountains where my palisade is ready to cheese kill those big monsters without taking any damage - heheh. I was looking for mammoth for 1 hour 30 min. Didn't found any. I destroyed my keyboard because I spend 4 hours 30 min walking around, doing nothing. How my gameplay was looking like? Right click -> right click -> left click on map -> right click ...

The next day I tried to repeat my tasks. This time with more luck, I found yarrow after ~20 min and mammoth after ~30 min. But, my first experience was not that funny.

Yesterday I was playing RDR 2 and I was hunting (tracking animals).

Today I wake up with a great idea, what about adding tracking for animals to haven?. Animals walking over the forest (Bears, Moose, Deer etc.) or mountains (Mammoths) or sea (Orca, Cachalot) should leave "Animals Scents". Imagine a big Mammoth walking over the snow, NOT leaving a single paw scent.

In real life animals leave a lot of scents. Check out this image.


My idea is to add a new mechanic to the game, which should be easy to implement. On biomes where animals spawn, based on you PERCEPTION * SURVIVAL you will see an "Animal Scent". Animal Scent will work similar to tracking a real player, so there will be an arrow pointing specific direction. Every animal scent will also have numbers of use (the more, the closest animals is).

You will ask, but animals spawn when a players enters a map grid, there are no animals/flowers on map when there is no player.

Animal Scent will significantly increase chance to spawn tracking animal. How it will work in game:

1. A player goes for hunting
2. A player see animal scent
3. A player grab animal scent
4. A player check how many uses has animal scent (1-20 (random numbers, up to devs)). Let's say animal scent has 5 uses and points left. When a player pick up animals scent the next scent is spawning immediately in an area where first scent is pointing. So a player can keep tracking an animal.

Scent should be connected with an animal. So if a player spawn an animal, all scents connected for that animal will no longer work. ​

Lets say 5 uses increase chance for spawning animal by 20%, 20 uses - on the next grid there will be tracked animal.

What about forgeable? I have no idea for it, so leave this topic for the next day. This topic is about animal tracking. I think this can be fun when good implemented.

Best Regards,
The best fighter w13

[lordgrunt]

I think your understanding of a word scent is wrong. I can see how the game suggests it because of crime scents that can be tracked, but that's just what they are, scents smells, reeks and the like.
You are rather a looking for "animal tracks" phrase.

While the idea of animal tracking is what game could use, to an extent, imagine what animals leaving tracks all over the world would do, the mess would be substantial.
Not to mention spawning / despawning mechanics, you start to track animal, it goes few grids away and poof, tracking failed?

[noindyfikator]

The idea is not to add millions of "animal tracks" per grid, but 1 animal track per 1 grid or something like it. Not every animal will leave scent, of course. If you think every animal will leave scent and my idea is to spawn billiards of scents u probably should not use forum at all cuz you IQ < 0.

Despawning animals is not a problem. There is a simple fix for that, if a player used animal scent/track 1-2 min ago, animal won't despawn. There is nothing complicated, and you overthing it adding weird thoughts like "there will be mess".
Every idea is bad if you implement it in a wrong way.

[The_Lich_King]

This would destroy the server, imagine how many scents it would have to track

[noindyfikator]

U guys are talking about implementation while having no idea how server works. I can assure you that server will handle it without any problems. This topic is not about implementation but idea.
If you want to talk about implementation, ask Jorb/Loftar to hire you. But if you say, that 1000 (tbh it will be more like 200) objects will crash server, then u probably won't get that job

[Liss12]

I like the idea, but i think it can be simplified greatly.

1) Animal tracks spawns like regular foragables, preferably in proximity to corresponding animal.
2) When picked it have lifetime of 5 minutes.
3) When used it shows you direction to nearest animal of that type simmilar to crime scents.
4) Animal scents/tracks disappears after corresponding animal is killed.

This would make hunting slightly more enjoyable i think.