Scary Wolves


CalNieDaGtarGuy

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I mentioned it on a thread, but thought I'd get some help here. Being an all-around scaredy-cat, I tend to dread entering known wolf spawn areas. I just feel safer snuggled up inside, but that quickly gets boring. Does anyone have any advice on how to drop kick this fear so I can enjoy the game more fully?

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As long as you have enough first aid supplies and reasonable health I would just fight them. Yeah you're clothes may get ripped and your health will go down but as long as you are near shelter you can recover and improve your mending stats at the same time. 

 

 

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Travel with some guts to use as a decoy. If you keep your distance, and use sprint sparingly/wisely you need never fight wolves unless you happen to get jumped cresting a hill or something. That and you could focus on maxing your cooking skill so that you can survive off the meat, which makes the bait + bow combo a foundation of survival on late game stalker/loper runs. Become the hunter, not the hunted!

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> Select Stalker difficulty

> Spawn in Costal Highway

> Have fun with the wolves

But seriously though, I lost most of my fear for wolves because I've been finding them everywhere in Stalker. When you encounter these guys, you'll not only learn how to escape them but also notice how even if you get caught, it's not that big of a deal to be scared.

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With a Rifle there's no need to be afraid, either kill it or shoot in the air before it runs.

Without a Rifle be sure to always have a torch or flare handy, they won't attack as long as it's burning and you can throw it towards it's feet to scare it away. Or you can also drop a decoy and run ;)

But the best way to get rid of your angst: go hunt them deliberately, I decorated my Island once with their fur :D

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Wolf dodging basics:

1. No meat or raw guts. - Since the new mechanics, smell drags wolves to you from very far away almost instantly.

2. Crouch (when prudent). - Crouching makes you invisible to wolves up to a certain distance (smell still works so guideline No. 1 still counts).

3. Listen very carefully. - If you can hear the wolf, the wolf is close enough to hear you. If you are crouched, then you can hear the wolf without the wolf hearing you. Even if you are not crouched, you still have time to act; you can run away, light a torch, or crouch and prepare to shoot (only works for the bow if your skill level is 5).

4. Carry a flare or a torch, or both. - This buys you time and room to maneuver if an encounter happens. If you're carrying both, start with the torch and if you miss your throw you can light your flare fast enough to prevent the wolf from jumping you.

5. Use the terrain. - Spotting wolves from a vantage point allows you to plan a safe route. If an encounter does happen, you can use a hill, building, or outcrop to make the wolf lose interest. Your objective with this is to break line-of-sight and get distance. If you're far enough that the wolf can't hear you and an obstacle keeps the wolf from spotting you it will lose interest. Passing through terrain impassable to wolves is also a way to stop a chase or end an encounter. Climbing up or down to unreachable spots is a surefire way to make them leave you alone. It could also scare them away (I don't know why, but if you are in or on an unreachable spot they just run away sometimes).

6. Wear hides if possible (outer most layer). - Hide clothes are probably the most protective clothes available in the game (I haven't found all the clothes yet so I could be wrong about this). If you do get jumped, they protect you well and they don't take as much damage as other clothes (in my experience). It's possible that wearing a wolf coat could also scare wolves away (I don't know if this is true).

7. Use weapons to control them. - As long as you haven't been spotted, you can use weapons to control them and make them go where you want them to go. Just firing the rifle will make all wolves that are close by run away from you. The distress pistol seems to be expressly designed to scare away wolves. Shooting an arrow will make it run away from where the arrow landed. Stones can be thrown to make wolves go to where the stone landed.

8. Cull them once in a while. - In some places, the density of wolves is just too high. When possible, killing them is the best way to make sure that you don't get cornered.

Edit: One more thing: Carry bandages. - Like meat in guideline No. 1, blood attracts wolves. Although being attacked by wolves isn't the only thing than can cause bleeding, it would be very unfortunate and demoralizing to be attacked by one wolf, bleed, not have any bandages, which therefore causes another wolf to jump you.

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My problem is that I'm terrible at shooting wolves once they see me. I panic and miss, caught out by the little jinking manoeuvres they do. Sometimes I leave it too long to shoot as well, and get jumped just as I squeeze the trigger. Wish I could be cool, calm and accurate. Testament to the game, I suppose!. 

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On 6/21/2017 at 0:49 AM, Nervous Pete said:

My problem is that I'm terrible at shooting wolves once they see me. I panic and miss, caught out by the little jinking manoeuvres they do. Sometimes I leave it too long to shoot as well, and get jumped just as I squeeze the trigger. Wish I could be cool, calm and accurate. Testament to the game, I suppose!. 

There is a sweetspot for shooting them, which is just after they stop jinking and just before then pounce.  Its a pretty easy shot if you choose the right moement.

 

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 As soon as you ironsight, they go into attack mode. Doing this action while they are at a reasonable distance is important, then start walking backwards as they make their run towards you. Backing up seems to make them go less zig-zag and beeline toward you, making a shot quite easy, bow or rifle. Works for me anyhow.

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9 minutes ago, selfless said:

Just drop some bait.  They will saunter over to it paying you no mind.  Shoot at will.

Of course, it was probably carrying that bait that got their attention in the first place.. ;)

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some great suggestions above. I would just like to give another that I use very often.

So when I want to take out a deer I generally chase/scare them toward/close to my home base, just to make getting home with all the smelly meat safer.

You can also employ this tactic when travelling when going through tight gaps(ambush spots)or over hills with bad line of sight chase /scare the deer/rabbits toward your direction of travel and let them flush the wolves out for you

then you've got a distraction so you can box around the area.

also depending on your supplies/needs. You now have either a free deer for the price of a torch /flare/double kill for one bullet /arrow.

 

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 Sure...you can bounce deer off rocks as well...they come right back and run through you! ;)

 To the OP: one more thing that is useful; just fight them! I was truly scared at first as well, so much so that my hands actually shook (embarrassing, but true)! I just decided to start a new Voyageur game, get tooled up with a hatchet and go out and look for wolf fights. I won most, lost a few, but more importantly, it got me over my fear of the buggers. It also helped me to clearly understand things like the range at which they become aggravated or aware of me, how long they follow before attacking, their 'patrol' zones and when they will simply stop following due to their set pathing...things which really helped me in my long-term games.

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While guts weigh much less, I prefer to carry around a cooked wolfsteak or two for the same decoy job. Guts are far more useful to me than the possibility of parasites from wolf meat. Cooking the wolf steak first gains you cooking skill and kills the scent of raw meat so it won't be such an attraction for the far off wolvies.

It also means that should I be caught somewhere in a blizzard without enough other food, I do have a somewhat risky alternate backup on me.

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9 hours ago, Miniwizard said:

While guts weigh much less, I prefer to carry around a cooked wolfsteak or two for the same decoy job.

On this subject, I discovered yesterday that carrying 6 cooked steaks (deer, in case it matters) lights up one stink bar. 5 will not light up the bar. I believe that even a few cooked steaks will still get you at least a little more attention from wolves, so don't assume that you're fine, just because no scent bars are showing.

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@JAFO Ah.. thanks for that. I assumed there was still some scent from them rather than absolutely none - but fairly minimal by comparison to raw items. Actually, I've never checked to see if cured guts work as a decoy, not that I'd use them as such - just never actually tested that.

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6 minutes ago, Miniwizard said:

@JAFO Thanks again - good to know.

Oops.. somehow I totally missed that "cured" bit.. my bad, sorry. :$

I cannot confirm cured guts working, as I generally never carry them, only fresh guts.

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On 20/6/2017 at 8:49 PM, Nervous Pete said:

My problem is that I'm terrible at shooting wolves once they see me. I panic and miss, caught out by the little jinking manoeuvres they do. Sometimes I leave it too long to shoot as well, and get jumped just as I squeeze the trigger. Wish I could be cool, calm and accurate. Testament to the game, I suppose!. 

 

On 21/6/2017 at 4:34 PM, CalNieDaGtarGuy said:

I have the same problem @Nervous Pete. I'm not really scared of seeing the wolves; that I can deal with. It's the audio jumpscare. It's the anticipation of the "Oh Sh*t" moment that kills me.

Glad to see people struggling like me. Why do you guys are scared of wolfs? Why wolfs and not a blizzard hitting or starving?

My guess is plain ignorance. And that's fine, we can't know everything. But we sure can learn! Follow @Raf109 advice and start a new game, the wolf game.

Get to know the wolfs. The same way you know how to not starve to death or to find shelter. If you are still scared listen some music. Forget about the ingame sounds. Then, when you know their ranges and movements, stop the music and listen. Listen to the birds the same way you listen to the wind.

And last but not least, just enjoy the game. Once you get past that fear the game is ten times better. I was able to beat my last interloper run thanks to the fact that I stopped traveling during the day and started doing it at night too. I was afraid ignorant.

EDIT: Know that I speak Spanish. Sorry if I misspelled.


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