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Gameplay questions / Re: How do animals scent bait? distances?
« on: May 31, 2017, 04:43:36 PM »
There is something to animals not being hungry and ignoring traps. I observed it mainly on birds, but seen also on elks and some carnivores. When the birds eat berries, they normally ignore traps, i.e. don't target them. On the other hand, they still can be caught in a bait-less traps, or do not eat berries set as bait in the trap they are caught in. I have one special loop-snare set near the lake bank, which attracts (or rather: catches) birds more frequently than five other snares and small traps set nearby, despite being baited by only mushrooms and some seeds, which are never eaten. I suppose this is caused by terrain configuration.
Carnivores can hunt other animals, can eat carcasses (for example badgers can eat more than one rotten bird carcass in one sitting), and can attack animals caught in traps.
I've seen attacks of wolves on foxes, wolves on elks/stags (a stag killed and partially eaten by wolves can be still skinned and butchered, so I sometimes practice stealing a kill), goshawks and eagle owls on other birds (including ravens) and squirrels, foxes on hares, lynxes and gluttons on about anything that moves on the ground (including villagers) etc. The farm animals can be effectively a bait, but this is dangerous for them.
As for wolves, they are attracted and eat spoiled meat in the traps, the same lynxes and gluttons. I catch all of them near my home sometimes (two tiles away), but mostly after I spend some time away, preferably sleeping several tiles off my site, like in a village. It almost looks as if they weren't visiting when I'm too close.
As a side note, there are spells for increasing a chance to attract animals, both general and specialised (for certain animal types, like fox or bear). Might be worth trying. The one with bear seems to be worthless, I caught only a single bear in the trap in three years since I started using it, but the one for foxes seems OK.
Carnivores can hunt other animals, can eat carcasses (for example badgers can eat more than one rotten bird carcass in one sitting), and can attack animals caught in traps.
I've seen attacks of wolves on foxes, wolves on elks/stags (a stag killed and partially eaten by wolves can be still skinned and butchered, so I sometimes practice stealing a kill), goshawks and eagle owls on other birds (including ravens) and squirrels, foxes on hares, lynxes and gluttons on about anything that moves on the ground (including villagers) etc. The farm animals can be effectively a bait, but this is dangerous for them.
As for wolves, they are attracted and eat spoiled meat in the traps, the same lynxes and gluttons. I catch all of them near my home sometimes (two tiles away), but mostly after I spend some time away, preferably sleeping several tiles off my site, like in a village. It almost looks as if they weren't visiting when I'm too close.
As a side note, there are spells for increasing a chance to attract animals, both general and specialised (for certain animal types, like fox or bear). Might be worth trying. The one with bear seems to be worthless, I caught only a single bear in the trap in three years since I started using it, but the one for foxes seems OK.