Epic Moose Death

[cullam]

Well, that was a good death! 

A hundred and some days into my latest stalker playthrough. I go to a new area that I'm not familiar with. There is a moose, so I decide to take my chances, and try to hit it with an arrow from a long distance. My aim is true, but he sees me, and comes a charging. I get off one more shot, but then it's clobbering time. My first broken rib! 

It turns out that when you have broken ribs, 

you can't climb, so I'm stuck at the bottom of this climbing rope 

. I think to myself "cool challenge! I'm going to stick around where I am for a few days to heal up, and live as best I can! 
Well, unfortunately, I was at a dead end when the moose got me. So as I'm picking myself back up, he agros on me, and comes charging back to finish me off. To my surprise, I still live. Two broken ribs. But before I can do much to assess my situation, he notices that, con-sarn-it, that little monkey is still breathing! So we go for round 3. Now up to three broken ribs, in need of

5 bandages, 13 painkillers, and 260 hours of wait time

before I'll be properly healed. 

I don't know my way around this region at all, and I can't leave where I am, in case he turns around to stomp the last bit of my life away. So I build a big fire, as out of the wind as I can manage, and rest for a bit. I wake up freezing, with my fire having blown out. Not only am I freezing, this is by far the coldest weather I've EVER seen on stalker! -72 degrees C, with the wind chill! And it's pitch black out, and I'm at about 8% condition. I take my 3 stims, one at a time, as I wander into the darkness, desperately hoping to find a cave, or maybe even some sort of building! But there is nothing, at least, not as far as my blurred vision can see in the endless long dark, as it embraces me... 
 

[codfish107]

What map were you in and how much do you need to heal a rib (haven't played the update yet)?

[mystifeid]

Just got my first broken rib - required 2 bandages, four painkillers and 120 hours of sleep to heal. Took about ten arrows to kill the moose but for 30+kg of meat, I guess it was worth it.

[cullam]

I could be wrong, but I think it's just 120 hours of time - you don't need to actually be resting. 
I think I was up to 250 hours needed for the third rib. Maybe something like 210 for the second? I believe they also had slightly differing painkiller and bandage requirements. I think I needed a total of 13 painkillers, and one of them required an extra bandage? 

[mystifeid]

I still have 60+hrs left to heal and at least in Interloper, both sleeping and passing time seem to count as healing time but doing stuff like breaking up furniture does not. I don't have any books atm so I'm unsure about how research time affects the countdown. Repairing clothes however has no effect on the total.

Not too crazy about getting the idea of getting more broken ribs to see what happens.

Also it looks like a really, really, really big hide to make a satchel from. Must be a lot waste.

[mystifeid]

And for anyone thinking of trying it, I thought standing on top of a car might provide sanctuary from the moose attack.

It didn't.

[stratvox]

Standing on a fallen tree is what kept me from getting my second mauling from the moose. The moose kept trying to get to me but couldn't, so I put a couple of arrows into it and on the third one in the back of the head it dropped dead.

My experience with recovery indicated that one needed to sleep to recover. When I croaked I still had 62 hours to go, and that was six days later. I imagine that may depend on difficulty setting too....

[mystifeid]

As mentioned, even in Interloper, passing time either in bed or out also counts as recovery time.

I'm all better now and still with some moose meat left. It took ages for the hide to cure - about as long as it took for me to recover - but I just made the satchel. Took a moment to figure out how to use it - you need to wear it as an accessory - but now 5kg has been added to my encumbrance limit. That is, I can carry up to 35kg before becoming encumbered.

[Mroz4k]

Just throwing this out there... but doesnt a stim temporarily "remove" all the negative afflictions you have? I think you can climb the rope if you have broken ribs but use the stimpak. But I am not sure. Just something I would assume because I know it works with the sprained limbs.

Maybe broken ribs are more serious of an affliction and it doesnt work.

[mystifeid]

Possibly. Wasn't game to try. Broken ribs have a massive effect on stamina. You can still sprint for example, just not for very long.

[JAFO]

On 12/15/2017 at 0:37 AM, mystifeid said:

Took about ten arrows to kill the moose

One arrow and some patience would have had the same result.

[mystifeid]

3 hours ago, JAFO said:

One arrow and some patience would have had the same result.

I take my hat off to all those who, with no prior knowledge (and also possibly not having played the game for some time), killed their first moose with one arrow.

Truly, I would hold these people up as: Elite Gamers.

Or maybe just as: Lucky Sods.

[JAFO]

1 hour ago, mystifeid said:

I take my hat off to all those who, with no prior knowledge (and also possibly not having played the game for some time), killed their first moose with one arrow.

Truly, I would hold these people up as: Elite Gamers.

Or maybe just as: Lucky Sods.

They're not "elite", or "lucky"... they just know how the game works, and how to make best use of that knowledge.

Every animal in the game can easily be killed with one shot. And it doesn't take any special skill.. just the ability to hit the animal. Anywhere. Even just a paw.

Any non-instantly-fatal wound will, given time, cause the animal to bleed out and die. Guaranteed. Arrows are actually better for this than bullets, because they cause more blood loss, meaning a shorter bleed-out time. For instance, bleed-out time can range from 1-3 hours for a deer, or 1-9 hours for a bear, depending on what part of the body was hit. I'd imagine a moose might take a bit longer than a bear, but not all that much. It may take a while, but it will die.

But the problem is, many players don't have the patience to let the animal die in its own time*.. they want it to drop right damn now. So they keep pumping arrows/bullets into it until it drops dead. But every shot after the first hit is an unnecessary waste of ammo. Patience is the name of the game. And it will conserve precious bullets/arrows/bows.

* Or they just don't realise that only one hit is needed to guarantee a kill...

[mystifeid]

3 hours ago, JAFO said:

Or they just don't realise that only one hit is needed to guarantee a kill...

Cough...

I could be wrong but from what (very limited) reading I've done, moose don't bleed out. Anyway, I know that I pumped a lot of arrows into it over two days and it didn't bleed out.

Also unless things have changed drastically since the last time I played the game, hitting an animal (except a rabbit) with an arrow does not guarantee that it will bleed out. Even in my current game (day 80 Interloper), I have had a couple of bears and even a deer shrug off arrow wounds. I think the most arrows I've ever put into a bear, over multiple days, without killing it is also about ten. At one point, it was looking like a pin cushion.

Every time that I think that I might be beginning to understand how this game works, it changes. But I'm glad that you have certainty.

If I'm hunting deer and one runs off wounded then the first thing I do is head for shelter/warmth, pass time and wait for it to bleed out. In the past however there was a high probability that the animal would return to die in the vicinity in which it was shot. A couple of game days ago, near the PV Farmstead I shot a deer. It didn't return. I shot and wounded another one. It didn't return. Neither did the third one. Finally the fourth one dropped dead on the spot. But I never did find any trace of the first three.

Quite often now, after hitting and wounding a deer with an arrow, it will run but mark time on the spot for a second or two and if you are prepared, a second quick kill shot is easy - so I would have to disagree that there is no point in having secondary shots. Pleasant Valley in Interloper past day 50 is an inimical place. Exposed in the open, there is no time for patience.

But you have neglected to share your experiences of killing moose with a bow and arrow...

[JAFO]

32 minutes ago, mystifeid said:

But you have neglected to share your experiences of killing moose with a bow and arrow...

That would be because I don't yet have any.. my comments are based on past experience, extrapolating that into the current situation. So I may be mistaken, but I'd be surprised if Hinterland have messed with core behaviour to that extent.

 

35 minutes ago, mystifeid said:

If I'm hunting deer and one runs off wounded then the first thing I do is head for shelter/warmth, pass time and wait for it to bleed out.

That may be the root cause of your problems.. there's a long-standing bug where if you shoot an animal, then enter an interior location (any place where there's a loading screen when you enter) before it dies, then the animal magically won't die. The workaround is to exit the building within 60 seconds of entering. If you subsequently re-enter the building, things will be fine.

[shade_grey]

10 hours ago, JAFO said:

One arrow and some patience would have had the same result.

Hold on... I've never seen a moose bleed in this game.

[mystifeid]

7 hours ago, JAFO said:

That may be the root cause of your problems.. there's a long-standing bug where if you shoot an animal, then enter an interior location (any place where there's a loading screen when you enter) before it dies, then the animal magically won't die. The workaround is to exit the building within 60 seconds of entering. If you subsequently re-enter the building, things will be fine.

I've seen animals recover before I've even reached an interior. Also there have been times when I have waited by a fire or in a cave (no loading screen).

7 hours ago, JAFO said:

That would be because I don't yet have any.. my comments are based on past experience, extrapolating that into the current situation. So I may be mistaken, but I'd be surprised if Hinterland have messed with core behaviour to that extent.

So, you are guessing then...

Please try killing a moose (with one arrow) in Interloper and let me know how it goes.

[cullam]

On 12/15/2017 at 3:21 AM, Mroz4k said:

Just throwing this out there... but doesnt a stim temporarily "remove" all the negative afflictions you have? I think you can climb the rope if you have broken ribs but use the stimpak. But I am not sure. Just something I would assume because I know it works with the sprained limbs.

Maybe broken ribs are more serious of an affliction and it doesnt work.

I tried climbing the rope with the stim, to get back to a cave. No go. 

[JAFO]

On 12/17/2017 at 6:09 AM, mystifeid said:

Please try killing a moose (with one arrow) in Interloper and let me know how it goes.

Will do.. no promises when, though... so far as I'm concerned, the game is currently too bug-ridden to play.

(and I fail to see what Interloper has to do with it.. the way animals die doesn't alter with difficulty level)

[mystifeid]

2 hours ago, JAFO said:

and I fail to see what Interloper has to do with it.. the way animals die doesn't alter with difficulty level

Your mindset while hunting does though.

I just found another one not too far from the Spruce Falls Bridge near Milton. I have a rock I can sit atop with a fire while I wait patiently for the moose to meander closer. I have a good side shot and I put an arrow into it's chest. It bellows and runs away. I can see the arrow still sticking out of it as it runs. For all of about ten seconds. Then it resumes it's meandering. Same old story.

I wait patiently but the moose is not bleeding out.

I hit it twice more, both times in the chest with exactly the same effect. Except now the moose is walking around nonchalantly with three arrows visibly sticking out of it's chest.

Since I started with a couple of long range incentives to get it to come closer, I'm now down to my last arrow. There is a very long way to go if I want to make any more. I need those arrows that are in the moose and on the ground.

The moose comes close again but this time it is walking away cross tail and it's neck this time is not shielded by it's antlers. I let fly and the moose drops in it's tracks.

Two game days previously I insta-killed a bear with the first arrow. I wish I could do the same with a moose.

Wow, there are a lot of wolves in this area. I thought I'd killed them all the other day but then got harassed by four more coming back last night.

[JAFO]

3 hours ago, mystifeid said:

I just found another one not too far from the Spruce Falls Bridge near Milton. I have a rock I can sit atop with a fire while I wait patiently for the moose to meander closer. I have a good side shot and I put an arrow into it's chest. It bellows and runs away. I can see the arrow still sticking out of it as it runs. For all of about ten seconds. Then it resumes it's meandering. Same old story.

The 'stops running and wanders around' bit is no different than what a deer or wolf does after being wounded. But eventually they do drop dead.

3 hours ago, mystifeid said:

I wait patiently but the moose is not bleeding out.

And for how long did you wait patiently, exactly? A bear can take up to 9 hours to bleed out and die.. for all we know, it might take 12 hours or more to drop a moose.

[JAFO]

3 hours ago, mystifeid said:

Two game days previously I insta-killed a bear with the first arrow. I wish I could do the same with a moose.

The best arrow insta-kill for a bear is in the eyeball.. maybe that's where you need to hit the moose.

For a deer, a good insta-kill spot is to put an arrow right up its arse.. seems logical to think a moose might be vulnerable in the same way.

[mystifeid]

48 minutes ago, JAFO said:

The 'stops running and wanders around' bit is no different than what a deer or wolf does after being wounded. But eventually they do drop dead.

Good luck with your theories. Remember to use just one arrow. And yeah, after more than 1.3k hrs playing Interloper, if someone wants to tell me how the game works, that's fine. But I'd prefer we were playing the same game. I'm sure that won't be a problem for someone of your calibre.

[Smilezz_g21]

The trick i use for hunting is, as soon as i hit something and it starts to run then as fast as i can i hit the deck of cards and fast foward time 2-5hrs before it gets out of site so it dies close by

[JAFO]

On 12/19/2017 at 12:07 AM, mystifeid said:

Good luck with your theories.

There are a growing number of reports that the moose does not bleed out. Opinion is divided over whether it's a bug or intentional.

So.. I was wrong, and I apologise.