Topic: Active hunting tips?  (Read 5493 times)


Lustelo

  • Guest
« on: March 16, 2021, 12:56:15 AM »
I am in the very early game. I've been trying to found and kill any animal to complete the ''Search for the wilderness'' and ''A kill'' quest, but i could not find anything. I tried using the tracking skill on the zoomed in map, but i didn't had sucess. I zoomed out and started walking randomly on the wilderness map, but i just got fatigued, hungry and thirsty. Lately, i started walking randomly on the wilderness map again and i found a elk. I tried to shoot a javelin at it's body, but i missed. Dude, i have 90% skill on spear!!! Why did i miss??? Lately i found a few reindeers, i tried to shoot a arrow on one of them but i missed again (i don't remember on much % i had on bow, but i can afirm that was a lot), and all of them started running. Any tips? What i'm doing wrong? I heard people saying on this forum you can climb a hill or mountain to have a clear vision, but in which map i need to do it?

JP_Finn

« Reply #1 on: March 16, 2021, 04:23:09 AM »
Almost any carried weight incurs a penalty, as does fatigue and wounds.
And even if you have 90% skill in spear, but have 10% encumbrance (carrying stuff) and 65% fatigue, that counts same 15% skill. Yes, it’s harsh, but try run a 2miles /3.2km, carrying loaded ruck, then try to throw javelin accurately. From the run/jog.

Also, moving targets are harder to hit, and even with 100% skill in bow, trying to hit a small target, like squirrel, ermine or hazel grouse from 40m is going to fail most of the time.

To complete the task for tracks, you can find tracks outside any village or settlement (the villages&settlements themselves won’t generate/show any footprints. Put immediately outside, you’ll find tracks in abundance.
“Meeting wildlife” is matter of simple bumping in to game in the wilderness map and zooming in.
“Kill” task requires you to kill any animal. (Sadly no, even they’re savage; Njerpez do not count), even a trapped one will work.


Every tile in Zoom in view is 2m or 6’8”; you’ll want to be close, I prefer to get to 10tiles or less  for a shot. Sometimes it’s easy, other times it’s futile. Keep at it and you’ll figure out what works for your play style.

PALU

« Reply #2 on: March 16, 2021, 09:34:41 AM »
Apart from the skill reductions JP_Finn mentioned, ranged attacks also depends on the range: the further away the target is, the lower the chance to hit.

I don't try to throw a javelin at a range larger than 6, and don't fire bows at large ranges either (with the exception being human enemies, i.e. robbers and Njerps).

Using the tracking skill on the overworld map isn't particularly useful in my experience, as it misses tracks that you've seen and reports tracks that you then can't find when you zoom in. I'd rather zoom in randomly and look for tracks that are possible to follow.

Matti-patti

« Reply #3 on: March 16, 2021, 12:06:01 PM »
I don't ever really go out to specifically hunt (unless I'm going after some animal I spotted near my settlement), instead I simply hunt animals that I encounter when doing my regular activities like trading exploring, gathering and small game trapping. I then load the meat and furs (or sometimes whole carcasses) on my dogs for further processing.

To find animals, climb on hills and mountains on the zoomed out (world) map. If you don't have any, the lichen forests are the next highest elevation. If you don't have any of those or have very few (Reemi territory and the area around it has problems with too low elevation, notably), I recommend hunting elsewhere. You don't often actually see the animals around from your high vantage point, but you sometimes do and this is the most hassle free way of finding them. If you don't at first see any try the next hillock or recheck ones you have already been to. If you are really desperate to find animals right now, don't just randomly walk around on the world map, but zoom in occasionally to check if you see anything. Almost equally important is picking the right terrain where to hunt: I consider hunting animals in spruce mires and conifer forests act of desperation (excepting bears since they hold aggro well). Open mires on the other hand are great places to hunt as you often find yourself cornering animals against the numerous ponds that dot this terrain and they offer clear lines of fire.

Character wise, speed and endurance are the most important stats, even more so than the weapon skills as active hunting in URW does ultimately come down to some variety of persistence hunting. Some animals like lynxes and badgers can be simply run down with fast, high endurance character and some educated guesswork, even in the summer when they don't leave tracks on most terrain. Also keep mindful of your encumbrance, for example the difference in fatigue buildup between 1-2% and 5-6% is already huge and apparently non linear.

For archery the most important thing to ensure is to have a clear line of fire: don't shoot the pines. If you are after some forest reindeer for example it's a good idea to hang back a bit so that they don't start running and wait for a good opportunity. Though if you encounter the reindeer via the sudden encounter type where the game pulls you in a middle of the herd, don't waste your opportunity for the close range shot. I think shooting (with bows, javelins are short range only) at the max range is not to be underestimated. You'll often miss sure but this often doesn't send the animal running yet and you can make several attempts. Just keep the line of fire clear. Since the changes to cord economy some time ago arrows are really cheap up to whatever level you can craft them at with even modestly successful bird trapping.

There are also some kinks to keep in mind that you can exploit: for example animals often like to run in diagonal zig-zag pattern that you can learn to predict to a degree, and herd animals in particular like to rebound back towards you after they stop running. This is particularly useful when persistence hunting forest reindeer. First you scare the animal, then you alternate between running and walking after it using both your observation of the animal, it's tracks and some guesswork to minimize time loss. You'll soon see the animal again rebounding towards you after it stopped running. Run towards it to scare it again and then resume your usual mix of running/walking and following it. Rinse and repeat and you'll soon have an otherwise unharmed breathless forest reindeer.

Ultimately successful hunting can take patience and the "I think I'm going to give up on this animal. Too much of a bother. But no, not just yet! And now I finally killed it!" is the greatest gameplay experience in URW.

Lastly, if you are getting fatigued from just walking around you'll need a pair of skis and a ski stick, or you'll need to practice your skiing skill. I don't actually recommend starting in spring as new player since it really starts you in the last days of winter, start in summer and autumn instead.
« Last Edit: March 16, 2021, 12:26:20 PM by Matti-patti »

Lustelo

  • Guest
« Reply #4 on: March 16, 2021, 03:12:25 PM »

Every tile in Zoom in view is 2m or 6’8”; you’ll want to be close, I prefer to get to 10tiles or less  for a shot. Sometimes it’s easy, other times it’s futile. Keep at it and you’ll figure out what works for your play style.

Does a diagonal tiles count as an additional tile? If i shoot a animal or human that's at south-east, north-west the range is doubled? Like if the diagonal tile be 4m instead of 2m when it's a horizontal or vertical tile?

PALU

« Reply #5 on: March 16, 2021, 05:18:37 PM »
Movement doesn't take extra time, and I don't think anything else does either, so I believe it doesn't count as 1.414... tiles (square root of 2).

Lustelo

  • Guest
« Reply #6 on: March 16, 2021, 05:26:25 PM »
Movement doesn't take extra time, and I don't think anything else does either, so I believe it doesn't count as 1.414... tiles (square root of 2).

Movement doens't take extra time? That's strange because when i turn around with my character without even moving, a turn pass. About the tile, that means if an enemy is at an intercardinal direction the range doens't get further, right?
« Last Edit: March 16, 2021, 05:35:43 PM by Lustelo »

Erkka

« Reply #7 on: March 16, 2021, 05:50:09 PM »
Quote
If i shoot a animal or human that's at south-east, north-west the range is doubled? Like if the diagonal tile be 4m instead of 2m when it's a horizontal or vertical tile?

I just checked the code. Range is not doubled, yet it varies based on the angle you are aiming at. For example, if your target is 6 tiles to the south and 2 tiles to the east, the actual distance is about 6.32 tiles.
UnReal World co-designer, also working on a small side project called Ancient Savo

PALU

« Reply #8 on: March 16, 2021, 11:49:45 PM »
Erkka's response shows that I'm wrong at least when it comes to distance.

What I meant (which might not be correct, based on Erkka's response) was that moving the EXTRA distance resulting from diagonal movement doesn't take longer (as opposed to the firing distance being longer, which Erkka said it is).

Erkka

« Reply #9 on: March 17, 2021, 08:07:27 AM »
I think PALU got it right. Technically speaking: Character and NPC movement code uses integers, but missile trajectory code is based on floating-point calculations.
UnReal World co-designer, also working on a small side project called Ancient Savo

Ara D.

« Reply #10 on: March 18, 2021, 03:47:20 PM »
I play active hunters, if you can afford it buy a dog. To chase deer and elk to breathless state. As to hills and mountain remember that just because you can see the surrounding area doesn't mean you're going to see the wild life in the area. High eyesight helps the chance to spot game on the world map. When I'm hunting I generally hunt swamps or walk from peak to peak. Most of the time I get squirrels for encounter wildlife and kill. Once you tree a squirrel you can throw rocks or better yet braches at it to knock it down. Boom encounter wildlife, kill, and a hide.

 

anything