Making sleeping more safe.

[Homocommando]

I have read a few stories about people getting attacked in their sleep, and I don't think it's very realistic.
Wild animals have very light sleep. Even my dog wakes up pretty much always when I just try to just get up from a chair while she is sleeping.
People back then were probably quite a bit more similar to animals, and they probably knew something could possibly kill them in their sleep if they didn't wake up, so I bet they would wake up if they heard something suspicious.
Even I myself wake up every time someone enters my room when I sleep, and I know why I woke up, so I think if something opens door to your cabin in the middle of forest, or gets really close to you it should be 100% chance you wake up (unless you have very poor hearing). Especially if you have seen e.g. a njerpez warrior, or a bear, the day before (or, a few days).
Also I think you should be also able to bar the door. It's not that hard to make something that allows you to prevent door from being opened from outside.
And for now the wake up messages are very general "You think you heard some rustle" or "You think you saw something move in the distance".
Considering, that I myself often know what I am woken up by, I think our character should also know it. Not always, but the closer the sound source is, and the more dangerous it feels to character, the highest chance there should be he knows.
So if you hear another human is close to you, and approaching you in your sleep, you should wake up and get message "You think you hear footsteps". If it's a bear, "You think you hear walking big animal". But if it's either far away, or just a squirrel/some bird, then it would make sense to not know what woke you up, because your mind doesn't put much attention to it.

[ineedcords]

I have read a few stories about people getting attacked in their sleep, and I don't think it's very realistic.
Wild animals have very light sleep. Even my dog wakes up pretty much always when I just try to just get up from a chair while she is sleeping.
People back then were probably quite a bit more similar to animals, and they probably knew something could possibly kill them in their sleep if they didn't wake up, so I bet they would wake up if they heard something suspicious.
<snip>

I agree with this - it should be easier to wake up & detect.

As detailed in the post linked below, I too got killed by an animal in my sleep (bear). That was a green character with a short total life of 16 years plus 1 day of adventuring. He was without a dog or any other companion so it was kind of OK to lose him that way.
https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=5353.msg19098#msg19098

What happened today however should never happen in UrW. Here is what happened:
I had 7 dogs, 3 bulls, 1 forest reindeer and was sleeping at my shelter at night time. A lynx dives in to this camp area.
This is insane behaviour by the lynx ignoring 10 dangerous animals plus the human.
On my mind, both dogs and bulls should be considered dangerous for a lynx (or even for a human!) plus the existence of human (PC) should be very scary for a lynx.
Anyway it did dive in, harmed the forest reindeer which died in the morning and then run away. Dogs and bulls did nothing. Dogs were not leashed at all, 3 bulls however were leashed (to the PC).

I can't wait for improved lynx behaviour as well as easier-waking-up PCs (in this case, by the time I woke up, it was already too late and the lynx was already harming the reindeer). I should wake up when it's approaching in the first place to have a chance to defend.

[JP_Finn]

“I can't wait for improved lynx behaviour as well as easier-waking-up PCs (in this case, by the time I woke up, it was already too late and the lynx was already harming the reindeer). I should wake up when it's approaching in the first place to have a chance to defend.”

I’m with you waiting for lynx behavior tune-up; they’re ... overtly aggressive.
Especially with your mentioned entourage of sizable dog pack.

One thing I disagree with, is the last sentence: “wake up when it’s approaching...”
Lynx hunt by sneaking upon their prey. If a human, however animalistic, could wake up to lynxes soft paws on the stalking approach: lynxes would have starved to death trying to catch hares or deer with hearing that’s orders of magnitude more astute than any humans’.

If your character has good relations with the forest spirits; it could be justified to have him/her wake up with eerie/suspicious feeling.

[PALU]

I agree with JP_Finn when it comes to the PC waking up by itself, but I'd expect real world dogs to make a racket when they detect the predator (because it's recognized as a predator, and so is a threat, not wait until it attacks).

[ineedcords]

Yup, what I actually had on mind was: "at least one of the 7 dogs should have barked in alarm & woke me up" but re-reading my message now looks like I omitted the dogs bit completely which changes the meaning of course.

I agree with you both. In fact, one paragraph above I said something similar (a PC without dog may not even hear a sneaking bear):

That was a green character with a short total life of 16 years plus 1 day of adventuring. He was without a dog or any other companion so it was kind of OK to lose him that way.

That makes sense. I don't want my character to wake up every time a lynx/bear/animal is approaching (that would be beyond average human sense I think) however as per clarification above I expect to be woken up by (at least one or two of the 7 dogs) which appears to be common thinking with JP_Finn.

I didn't think of PC's standing with spirits and how it *might* make it easier to wake up to danger, I think it is a good idea and if it's not in the game perhaps that could be a separate suggestion (and a good improvement).

Edit: wording

[Homocommando]

I can't wait for improved lynx behaviour

Yeah. I don't play UrW anymore, so maybe it was repaired already, but over year ago, I was trying to hunt down a lynx for probably like a week, maybe even two weeks. One time late in the day I spotted some pretty recent tracks, and there was no way I would not try to catch it. The hunt just kept going on, until it got pitch black, I had only one tile of visibility, but I was already so close to catching it, that I simply ignored it and kept following the tracks...
And then to my surprise I see a lynx, right next to me! It was walking my way!!! Finally!! I smacked it over the head with my staff, and the next day I started tanning it's hide

But I don't really get what happened? Do (or did) the lynxes have only 1 tile of visibility at night? Lol. But they would still have hearing, and would know I am still following it. So did it just forgot it was running away from me for like a few hours? xD