Kelp Impasse
Zourin
White Castle Join Date: 2015-02-27 Member: 201577Members
White Castle Join Date: 2015-02-27 Member: 201577Members
Anyone else being attacked by swarms of hyper-aggressive stalkers in the more recent SN X-builds? I've literally spent two hours of straight up arena matches against constant groups of 2-3+ stalkers and fleets of bleeders trying to get a few bits of silver, and worn out two knives trying to clear out enough of them to get the kelp to patch myself back together. It's rediculous. They aren't pacifying with food either, they'll eat every live fish in my inventory then chew through an instant 60-80% health as soon as i'm out. A few will pacify for about a minute then go right back to chasing me for upwards of five or ten minutes.
I've always enjoyed the less-than-lethal approach SN has had, but now I just want a gun to carve out the few dozen yards I need to get my hands on a few bits of silver. They were always aggressive, but at least politely so. Now I can't get within ten yards of a kelp plant without 1-2 making a beeline charge with reinforcements wandering in shortly after. I can't kill them off fast enough, and forget about out-swimming them.
I've always enjoyed the less-than-lethal approach SN has had, but now I just want a gun to carve out the few dozen yards I need to get my hands on a few bits of silver. They were always aggressive, but at least politely so. Now I can't get within ten yards of a kelp plant without 1-2 making a beeline charge with reinforcements wandering in shortly after. I can't kill them off fast enough, and forget about out-swimming them.
Comments
https://i.imgur.com/YXVUrFi.jpg
I like the aggression in theory, but the predators are all too persistent in this build. Can't even build a base without being assaulted.
I posted kind of a similar thread yesterday regarding their behaviour
Something that helps is searching for silver in grassy plateaus. There's only silver and gold on the floor which makes it pretty efficient and there are mostly sandsharks.
Also try to lure them away with scrap metal ... just drop a piece from your inventory and circle it. Stalkers have very straight priorities when it comes to metal...
Or we need stasis rifles... Lol
Or something that reduces the aggro range of predators and makes them less persistent.
materials don't exactly respawn at a brisk clip, so dying to stalker swarms in a first or second dive is pretty much game-over-restart due to material deprivation. I can lose a LOT of quartz in a first or second dive death, and that stuff is more valuable than gold.
Here's a suggestion to all those who are looking for silver in Kelp Forests: Don't XD
Just go to the red grass biome, they always have gold AND silver plus, they have far less swarms of bonesharks
you can't be serious, there just get 2 -3 tanks (not like that's hard...) and you'll be fine
As for the kelp zone... just go around it, bro :P
EDIT: Even worse, the Stalkers will keep attacking the player even while they are in their seabase! And they manage to do it trough constantly clipping against the walls.
I broke that...
1. All the predators are animals and thus should have a natural level of wariness and fear towards the player and player crafts. Evolution interacts with game theory for this to happen even on an alien world. Animals will be wary of attacking something bigger and louder than themselves (such as submarines).
2. Animals, when fear is overcome, are curious and will carefully examine things. For example, they smell or take a nibble to see whether its edible (rabbits do this to human fingers even though they are strict herbivores). The same should happen with submarines. They bang on it once and then decide to leave it alone. For this reason, unless that predator already knows the player, they should be approaching the player cautiously before dedicating themselves to an attack. Predators that have "tasted" the player should be the only ones that remain strongly persistent.
3. One of the things about game theory for predators is that they avoid getting hurt. There are countless stories of people surviving being near a shark by hitting them, making them back off. The same should happen for these animals too: a few cuts with the knife should at least give them pause or even deter them. A blast from a propulsion gun should do that to a greater extent and a blast from a repulsion gun should scare the *beep* out of them (I would be!), running away and keeping a safe distance from the play. Submarines banging against them should also have this effect.
4. Predators should be territorial with other predators, posturing and even attacking them to get out, not just us. Especially across species, say Stalkers vs. Bonesharks. So when a Stalker chases the player and meets a Boneshark, there should be a good chance that they'll at least temporarily fight each other or scare each other off before resuming attacking you. Maybe a lesser extent happen to between predators of the same species to prevent clustering like in the screenshot? Predators should also make more warning noises when they notice the player entering their territory.
5. Flares should temporarily mesmerize or confuse or blind predators, giving a player equipped with one some breathing space (it would give good reason to have flares). I recall one of the predators being attracted by lights. Dropping a flare might distract a predator. Maybe have this also happen to a lesser extent with the flashlight? Maybe even have a dedicated decoy item meant to throw predators off the chase?
6. Regarding Crashers and perhaps other fish: allow "playing dead" (remaining perfectly still) to be a viable tactic. Crashers that have their house open but not engaging the player may decide that ,if the player remains motionless for a few seconds, they'll close the houses back unless the player approaches closer.
I think if these are around, players will be less constantly demanding lethal guns as they would have more non-lethal options to deal with predators while giving the option of smarter behavior.
Fear of humans is an evolved trait here on earth though, that's the thing. Most other creatures (sans sea life) fear us out right since we are apex land predators. The creatures on this alien world, they don't know a damn about humans, there is no genetic information of 'fear that thing' in them. So of course they're gonna be trying to eat your face off, hell, even some sea animals do that to people right now, namely sharks, but cigarete snails will sting you and kill you, rock fish will stab your feet and poison you to kill you, box jelly fish will inadvertently touch you and kill you....sea creatures are an entirely different ballgame than land creatures.
It's an evolved response, but nothing to do with us. Prey animals are naturally skittish around all unknowns, and humans are typically not a common part of their environment. Predators naturally vascillate between wariness and curiosity, since they can't easily determine if we are a bigger predator or edible. That decision is largely determined if we're properly sized for being 'edible' and whether we fit (blithely) into their patterns (like wandering too close to a lurking croc).
That's why many predators can be easily deterred by inflicting a little bit of pain or even showing up unexpectedly, yet they'll gladly take significant risks taking down known prey like large game
The sea creatures you mentioned, however, are really not very smart. Jellyfish and snails quite literally don't have brains. Stalkers seem to be somewhat intelligent, at least on par with dogs. So they might be more cautious. I would also note that rockfish are only really a problem if you step right on them (which can be easy since they are quite hard to spot. So they really are not attacking you. I remember my dad, who used to live in texas, telling me about how he would shuffle along in the water at the beach, because the stingrays would only sting you if you stepped right on them and pinned them. If your toe just bumped into them, they would just swim away. Cigarete snails, I expect, will only attack you if you pick them up. Sharks, as well, seem to generally attack humans when mistaking them for seals, and will often bite a limb off only to spit it out and swim away, apparently not liking the taste.
i'm more annoyed with bleeders, since i've met them they dont seem to have an off switch once aggressive.
I hate bleeders... but they should ALWAYS be aggressive :P they probably can't really move that well and so most likely will suck whatever blood they can from whatever living thing crosses their path, while they have a chance xD
As for bonesharks, I agree, they should be very aggressive
Stalkers should have a day/night cycle trait I feel
Yes, but isn't it a bit odd on the Bleeders that they only go after you and not other fish, they should latch onto anything that gets close tbh, as they are now they're just underwater, human only, mosquitos
It is, I hope to see an animation where bleeders do actually latch on to other fish... would be interesting