Thoughts On Animals As Enemy NPCs

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Lexx416
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Thoughts On Animals As Enemy NPCs

Post by Lexx416 »

I love the hunting system in this game, and I really enjoy combat - which normally I'm neutral at best about in any given game. However, I've been thinking a lot about Hunting (grinding for loot, combat skill, etc.) vs Hunting (actively going after animals for pelts, meat, and other useful bits of their bodies), as well as how straight up dangerous animals are in the real world.

I'd love it if wildlife in COGG reflected that, by making it so that even for highly skilled warriors going after predators was generally a Bad Idea without a hunting group. Wolves are terrifying and frequently hunt in packs. Bears and Moose are nightmarish beasts that require great skill to take down even with modern hunting gear. Mountain Lions, crocodiles, and even elephants can all be stealthy monsters to deal with in the real world, and maintaining these creatures as "very difficult to kill solo" would also maintain an element of constant danger in the world - but an element you have to (special circumstances notwithstanding) generally seek out on your own.

All that is to say, I think there's absolutely a reasonable place for "I want to do combat, so I go and murder things" in the game, and I think it'd be a little more thematic and reasonable if that was kept mostly in the realm of fighting fantasy critters and humanoids, while keeping those dangerous wildlife beasts at a "mini boss" status, but upping the rewards for hunting them successfully (which also helps solidify the niche of the upcoming Monster Hunter Society).

I'd probably have it so that most animals, baseline, have comparable resistances to light armor, and up them as things are more unreasonable to solo, along with higher body part HP totals - I cannot envision a world wherein a single man swinging an axe at a bear will end well for that dude. And additionally have them attack at faster roundtimes when appropriate, with higher damage factors to their attacks to simulate greater than human strength (maybe give pack hunters Side-By-Side because gosh that would be terrifying).

But in exchange, those animals can produce more hides (perhaps 2-3 large pelts from a bear or moose, as an example), or hides with more hidden/discoverable resistances behind them, or even increase the base market price to reflect the rarity of these things - if you take the time to hunt down a pack of wolves with your buddies, the risks should be high as should the rewards, and this would help maintain the Cool Factor of having a bunch of Wolf Fur clothing, or bear leather armor, or whatever.

Ideally, you'd need to go out with a group of 2-3 people to try to take on a pack of wolves or a bear, and have each of those fights still be tricky and potentially costly in terms of getting wounded. Sort of like Mini Bosses with the rewards being those rarer pelts that folks have been asking for just for aesthetic purposes - which creates a luxury good, which is (I think) a great thing to have when you're trying to create an in game economy.

As stated above, I think that animals like that should mostly (outside of GM Events, or maybe the occasional random world encounter in the wild, or as a consequence of over hunting an area) stick to their areas, so that we don't get a bear sitting in Shadgard Canyon eating people every day.
"You hear the Woses, the Wild Men of the Woods... Remnants of an older time they be, living few and secretly, wild and wary as beasts."
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Fellborn
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Re: Thoughts On Animals As Enemy NPCs

Post by Fellborn »

Just a few quick notes.
Lexx416 wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 9:31 am I'd probably have it so that most animals, baseline, have comparable resistances to light armor, and up them as things are more unreasonable to solo, along with higher body part HP totals - I cannot envision a world wherein a single man swinging an axe at a bear will end well for that dude. And additionally have them attack at faster roundtimes when appropriate, with higher damage factors to their attacks to simulate greater than human strength (maybe give pack hunters Side-By-Side because gosh that would be terrifying).
All this currently possible, and done for certain animal mobs as well as those currently in the works.
Lexx416 wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 9:31 am But in exchange, those animals can produce more hides (perhaps 2-3 large pelts from a bear or moose, as an example), or hides with more hidden/discoverable resistances behind them, or even increase the base market price to reflect the rarity of these things - if you take the time to hunt down a pack of wolves with your buddies, the risks should be high as should the rewards, and this would help maintain the Cool Factor of having a bunch of Wolf Fur clothing, or bear leather armor, or whatever.
Not saying this isn't open to the realm of possibility, but I'd expect to see more "dangerous" animals in their own separate zones like Wechuge/Volmonks are now instead of completely huntable. How people want to tackle that, is up to them, but I definitely wouldn't expect them to be easy prey for everyone. The resistance aspect is possible, but it needs to make sense. A standard has been set with what is currently available and any further additions to this will likely be in the same vein. Also, IIRC, fur weighs a little more than leather but offers better warmth anyway.

Swarm mechanics are also being looked at, as multi opponent combat is definitely a weakness to some classes that I am keen to make use of.
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Lexx416
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Re: Thoughts On Animals As Enemy NPCs

Post by Lexx416 »

Fellborn wrote: Thu Sep 02, 2021 10:44 am Just a few quick notes.
Lexx416 wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 9:31 am I'd probably have it so that most animals, baseline, have comparable resistances to light armor, and up them as things are more unreasonable to solo, along with higher body part HP totals - I cannot envision a world wherein a single man swinging an axe at a bear will end well for that dude. And additionally have them attack at faster roundtimes when appropriate, with higher damage factors to their attacks to simulate greater than human strength (maybe give pack hunters Side-By-Side because gosh that would be terrifying).
All this currently possible, and done for certain animal mobs as well as those currently in the works.
Lexx416 wrote: Wed Sep 01, 2021 9:31 am But in exchange, those animals can produce more hides (perhaps 2-3 large pelts from a bear or moose, as an example), or hides with more hidden/discoverable resistances behind them, or even increase the base market price to reflect the rarity of these things - if you take the time to hunt down a pack of wolves with your buddies, the risks should be high as should the rewards, and this would help maintain the Cool Factor of having a bunch of Wolf Fur clothing, or bear leather armor, or whatever.
Not saying this isn't open to the realm of possibility, but I'd expect to see more "dangerous" animals in their own separate zones like Wechuge/Volmonks are now instead of completely huntable. How people want to tackle that, is up to them, but I definitely wouldn't expect them to be easy prey for everyone. The resistance aspect is possible, but it needs to make sense. A standard has been set with what is currently available and any further additions to this will likely be in the same vein. Also, IIRC, fur weighs a little more than leather but offers better warmth anyway.

Swarm mechanics are also being looked at, as multi opponent combat is definitely a weakness to some classes that I am keen to make use of.
Oh awesome! That's all great to hear. I'm 100% cool with dangerous animals in their own zones - that's sort of what I meant in the post, and maybe just didn't communicate that very well.

Appreciate the thoughts/feedback/etc., and really excited to see what hunting dangerous animals will be like going forward!
"You hear the Woses, the Wild Men of the Woods... Remnants of an older time they be, living few and secretly, wild and wary as beasts."
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