Who let the dogs out...

[Sami]

Let's try to make a return with development news then. It's taken some browsing of the code and decoding hazy written notes to find the path which I was following prior to fracturing my arm, and the sick leave that followed. But now also my to-do memory has recovered to great extent and there are snippets of upcoming features to present.

Dogs... NPC dogs... Village dogs... Dogs to better protect the NPCs... that's what I had started to code, and that's what is now to be continued.

Village dogs are now released out of their pens, and they roam freely at the village area. This allows village dogs to truly protect the village from possible threats and intruders. Village dogs are also improved in their watch dog behavior, and unfamiliar visitors are now greeted with alarm barks and by coming close by to sniff and check them. Village dogs may seem intimidating for strangers but this behavior is gradually toned down when you become more familiar with the village.

...to be continued -- there are a few more dog things coming up..

[Tom H]

WIll our personally owned dogs now bark in alarm if they see Njerp or robbers, before I am attacked/fighting? They do a fine job with undesirable beasts but seem to require a trigger with humans.

[PALU]

Dogs currently don't react to Njerps unless they aggro, but as far as I've seen they do warn against robbers homing in on you, assuming they detect the robbers. However, dogs sometimes have a very poor situation awareness, failing to detect predators just a few tiles away for several turns.

How would you train a dog to single out Njerps? If they stank of garlic (or something less vile, but readily detectable by a dog) while honest people did not, that might be detectable, but otherwise he'd just be another human going about his business.

[Tom H]

Dogs are not dumb. They have a territoriality threshold within which they automatically switch to alert. They stay at 'Alert' until they get reassurance from their master that an intruder is accepted. They don't have to be called to be alert. They jump to that status without prodding.

After dogs have gone to Alert status there is an expected response, a more cautionary approach. They remain at alert, barking. If an intruder fails to adopt a more cautionary approach, the dog's Challenge status is triggered and there is a good chance they'll become aggressive as the intruder advances too far within the dog's perceived territory, particularly if their Alpha, their master, suddenly appears, too. Without the Alpha's reassurance, the dogs will not step down from their Alert status.

My point being that dogs do not have to be trained to bark at Njerps. They'll do so unfailingly unless trained NOT to bark.

[PALU]

As long as the dogs behave the same with respect to all unfamiliar people encountered in the wild (i.e. including adventurers and woodsmen, not only "bad" humans) I have no problem with dogs alerting their owner at the appearance of someone. I expect it to be possible to train dogs not to go crazy when entering villages too.

[Ara D.]

No idea how to code this, but, in my experience dogs territorial limit is more geographic, stranger approaches the house dog goes to alert with low growls and barks. Where as when out for a walk with the alpha they rarely bark and challenge because we are invading another's territory or are in no dog's land. I think unreal dogs behavior is appropriate when away from the homestead, however I think their agro needs to be increased in tactical maps that includes a player built building or shelter, such as auto agroing and chasing npc and animals a set distance from the house. As to signaling that something is ok perhaps shouting the stay command settles the animal down. I know at home in the real world I correct and indicate to my dogs not bark or growl or any number if other behaviors with a sit/stay command. Also super great if we could command dogs after agroing such as no stop you dumb mutt don't go chasing half a wolf pack alone while the other half uses me for a chew toy.