Comprehensive Guide to Surviving Wolves in Stalker


ChillPlayer

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Hey Denyo, thanks man for your kind words, I am truly happy that you managed to pass the 100 day mark and I am very much looking forward to hear how you'll do in Stalker ;) It's nice to see how peoples experience changes once they understand that the game has certain rules and that you will die if you don't follow them - but also live if you do. The purpose of this guide and my streams is to show people what those rules are. To see that you and other viewers actually learned something from watching me, means a lot ;)

About the achievement, does this mean that it is fixed now?

Guide Update:

Hinterland seems to had way too much coffe or something, releasing 3 hotfixes a day lol. I cannot keep up with the changes as I have first to test everything. Some parts already need redoing and I have additional parts in mind that are relevant but somehow completely escaped my mind when I was writing it. I will update the guide due time but not after every hotfix as the state of the wolves is too volatile at the moment. Thankfully most of the parts are of a generic nature, if they keep up with the hotfix flood though I will have to generalize the more specific tips or get rid of them completely (like hand fighting).

It's still alpha, it's supposed to change a lot and as far as I can tell it's getting better and better with every update. I just hope they find a stable setting for the wolves soon so this guide stays true for at least a week :D

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Ahh..my biggest run now ended. :D I was officially pronounced as dead after 108 days 10 hrs and 52 min. :) Cause of death? Losing blood and death by shoque of double bear attack. :lol: :lol: Man,if I am not stupid sometimes,lol.I just entered PL map and started discovering it.I came down to Rural Crossroad,checked houses,then I didn"t know,where to turn.I saw ridge behind town,linear with waterfall,so I said I go there.On top of ridge I saw one cute wolf,200 m infront of me.So I went abit more right and when I was on top of bank,my eyes met...bear! :) I dunno,what ran over my head,but I was just looking at him,how slowly goes towards me and then I aimed with rifle(altough I had only 2 bullets!!) and"peng"-ed him.Man,I gotta had pissed him off propietly,coz suddenly he was on me,roaring. :lol: What an experience,lol.I was able only to watch his jaws slowly chewing me.As you all experienced,he left me with 10% and went slowly away from me.And,what stupid Denyo did? I healed myself and instead to walk back to house.I "peng"-ed him again,right into his ass,haha.This time he said no more joke,lol.I ran how fast I could,but he still got me.One bite and Denyo went to visit allmighty Manitou. :lol: :lol:

I had realy fun at this end,lol.It is ok,I don"t care much about my death.I wanted to start Stalker mode anyway.But,now,when I think...I won"t be stupid and I will first try Pilgrim mode in PL,so I get familiar with enviroment.I"m dead meat,if I start Stalker right there,where I don"t know this map at all.

What concerns Achievement,Chill...I have no idea,that they were not working before,coz I never had problems with unlocking and showing them.

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I would say that is a worthy end for a good run - after all you are in a new map und you get eaten by the most notorious animal in that place :D

But from what you described that's the bear I killed yesterday when you were in my channel too, you could've known that the bear's there :lol: The gap in the ridge where I shot it is imo the best place to to get it, remember how conveniantely he stayed above the ridge when I climbed down? Much time to aim and put some bullets in it's head.

The good thing is you can begin with Stalker now once you've finished your recon mission in Pilgrim ;) I'm sure you find it to be not as hard as you expect.

Only the "Exploration Game" achievement was bugged, I never could get it although I'm certain I was in all buildings. Steam statistics say that only 0.3% got it, which is why most people assumed that it is due to the burned down houses you cannot enter. But if it works now, all the better :D

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Now,tell me,if this game is not generous to me. :D:D:D

I started my first Stalker game today.Currently I am at 6th day of it.And I found bunker on 3rd day. :lol: It is A bunker,containing tools.And,I got 3 hatchets there and two simple tool,as well one advanced tool box,the red coloured one. :) Also,I found in game 3 more hatchets,so I have them 6 now,lol.I have 3 hunting knives and I found a rifle at Trapper"s. :D I got also 12 ammo already.

Only thing I"m lack off are clothes and sewing kit. :( I could go hunting to make boots,mittens and coat,but need sewing kit.I guess I will have to go to that darn Derailment.I"m abit worry about those two wolves there,but I think I will be ok.Coz I have realy no troubles avoiding wolves and controling their movement.I realy thought I will have much more troubles with them,on my first stalker mode play.And,for that I realy must thank this awesome guide and to Chill himself.Now,in stalker,there realy comes all those tips and aknowledge fully valuable.I know,it is only ML map,the easyest one for stalker and I expect to be dead in CH at least or by my frend Fluffy.:-)

Realy,in stalker now,surprisely,I am more worried about the weather and my condition,than about wolves.I hope I will survive this first run 10 days.Anything abowe that will be awesome achievement for the first time. :)

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Glad to hear you're doing so well :D

Lack of sewing kits was what killed me several times, or lets say desperate attempt to find one. Sometimes you cannot find but one kit in the whole ML, other times you find 5. You can usually find some in the logging or fishing huts in CH and in PV I found also several in each run.

If you cannot find enough kits, just don't bother anymore. Craft yourself new cloths everytime they get ruined (no need for a kit to craft, it only takes longer) and don't walk too far away from your base so you can always run back into shelter. But yes not being able to repair your clothes, especially with the recent changes, sucks big time.

Happy hunting ;)

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Note that if you have extra knives, you can use a knife to speed up crafting of clothes in the same way you can use a sewing kit. Takes a lot of condition out of the knife, but if you've got 3 of them, who cares? Use the one that is lowest for this sort of thing.

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I would never waste a knife on crafting unless I absolutely had to. Time is usually not an issue so I don't mind it taking twice as long to craft the clothes. At some point (on a long run anyway) you will need to repair your knife. So instead of wasting 1 knife on crafting, just use it for harvesting. Once it breaks, harvest it and you've got some scrap metal to repair your other knives when you need to.

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  • 2 weeks later...

"You need to die, alot, dying is part of the learning process in this game."

Seriously ? Why do you continue to think this is a finished game ? Cheap deaths are not part of good gameplay,

you shouldn´t have to compensate or adapt to something that is not even finished.This isn´t a competition.It´s meant to be enjoyed.There are ways to make wolf attacks enjoyable and still have them be as tough enemies.

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4.1 The best way to fight wolves is to avoid fighting them. Yes I know I said that already, but I mean it in a different way this time. Except when you are jumped while leaving a building or from behind a corner you can always outrun a wolf, if you take the wind into account. Never run against the wind when followed by a wolf. If you cannot run with the direction of the wind, run in a 90° angle but not against it or the fluffy will get you. Unless you...

;)

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Sure I know it is there bro, but make it simple with bold stuff.

You know whom are whining about fluffly bro's are being too hard, are often not really blessed with patience like the "wiser" ones like you and me.

This make their life harder until they become wiser. (this does not mean I read the description for building stuff from ikea, this is still something self-esteem related and also it involves the chance that I may build a tank by mistake instead of a shelf, description is for noobs, or for 3rd failed attempt)

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(this does not mean I read the description for building stuff from ikea, this is still something self-esteem related and also it involves the chance that I may build a tank by mistake instead of a shelf, description is for noobs, or for 3rd failed attempt)

LOL.. I like this.

(Though, for future reference, you mean instructions rather than description) :)

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  • 4 weeks later...

Thank you Syniska, your feedback is much appreciated and seeing that what I write actually helps people is what keeps me going ;)

Btw, hinterland posted on steam something very interesting in regards of using Decoys, that may explain in general the sometimes apparently erratic behaviour of wolves:

The way it currently works is it auto-selects the food item that has the greatest "scent" value (every food item has a scent value). This tends to be raw meat, then cooked meat, and then various other things, with low-scent foods like granola bars, etc. being the least effective.

I was aware that raw meat attracts the fluffies and Denyo and I suspected for a long time that cooked meat also does influence their behaviour. What bugged me most is that I couldn't figure out why some eating wolves do attack me when I am way out of shooting range and others don't. This might be an explaination for I never noted what food I had on me except for no raw meat. But I tend to run around with some slab of cooked meat, so...

After the update and some testing I will add this to the guide, until then it's best to not approach wolves with anything but some Bars in your inventory, especially when on a hunt.

If anyone did already test this, please share your experience ;)

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After the update and some testing I will add this to the guide, until then it's best to not approach wolves with anything but some Bars in your inventory, especially when on a hunt.

If anyone did already test this, please share your experience ;)

As far as I can tell from my observations, I would confirm your assumption with cooked meat. :)

There seem to be three factors alltogether that influence the range how far you can approach an eating wolf before it attacks you:

1. wind direction

2. food scent (I have the impression that cooked meat also causes slightly earlier wolf attacks, but definitely to a much lower extent than raw meat)

3. the angle in which you approach the wolf

Regarding the third point: If you approach the wolf from straight or diagonal behind, you can get as close as about 5m (maybe even less if wind directions are optimal) before it attacks.

Quite useful to set up a fire behind its back that scares it away as soon as it notices you - that's deer meat for a rather low risk of getting attacked - which is at least better than planing to hand-fight the wolf right from the start, I guess. (If it is sunny and/or you have enough matches of course).

I'll have to continue to test this strategy after the next patch, though. Wolf AI is likely (and imho hopefully!) going to get improved again. :)

angry-wolf-is-afraid-of-campfire.thumb.j

dances-with-wolves.thumb.jpg.47162f0c97f

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I will also confirm that cooked meat seems to be an attractant. Not to the extent as raw, not even close but this opinion might be taken with a grain of salt, as I have even quit traveling to dangerous areas with beef jerky!

Nice pics Szyzara. I will give that a try. Lately if I saw that fresh kill happen with all of that nice shelter around, with the right distance you can have free meat. Run past, not to close or you are in a fight and bee-line for shelter. Wolfie is off his kill and you have not spent a thing except for a few calories.

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1. wind direction

2. food scent (I have the impression that cooked meat also causes slightly earlier wolf attacks, but definitely to a much lower extent than raw meat)

3. the angle in which you approach the wolf

I created some while ago a thread that unfortunately went under pretty much unnoticed:

http://hinterlandforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=4066

In there I described my frustration because I got attacked when approaching it from the side. But as I said, I didn't pay attention to what food I had in my inventory except making sure to not carry raw meat. Ryans post sheds a new light on that.

Given the volatile nature of an alpha version I don't see much sense in testing statistically which food has which scent value, maybe the devs would be willing to share this info? All we know so far is: raw meat has highest scent value, followed by cooked meat and at the bottom end are granola bars and such. But what about the inbetween, I could imagine that dog food would have a higher scent value than say Salty Crackers but what about Tomato Soup or Sardines? More importantly, do the values stack? And what are the treshholds that trigger which behaviour in the wolf? There is a difference on how a wolf approaches you that got a whiff of raw meat smell on you, and one that spotted you because you walked into it's attention radius (with no raw meat).

My somewhat educated guess is:

- Raw meat has a value of say 1.0

- Cooked meat of 0.5

- Canned stuff of 0.3

- Everything else 0.1

In this assumption and with values that stack, having 2 slab of cooked meat is as bad as having 1 slab of raw meat on you. And there might be some hidden punishment for carrying dog food around (with one of the best weight/cal ratio at all) in that it also has a scent value of 1.0. Because all this is not known now(?) I think it's best to not have any food in your inventory when going on a hunt.

This can be all tested but it's a tedious work and as I said, previous experiences show that the devs love to "fix" everything we find out :twisted:

What would be interesting to know though is if anyone got "prematurely" attacked by a wolf that is harvesting a deer, approaching from the side and taking wind into consideration while being sure to not carry any food.

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Given the volatile nature of an alpha version I don't see much sense in testing statistically which food has which scent value, maybe the devs would be willing to share this info?

I completely agree on that. Decent statistical testing would probably be almost impossible as we have no means to measure distances exactly. One could only try to take a screenshot in the very moment a wolf starts to attack and try to compare the distances based on that, but that wouldn't be an exact science either. Hit F9 half a second to late and you mess up your results. (Not to mention the very difficulties to test the agression radius for at least 20 times for each food type under the same wind conditions and angle^^).

Because all this is not known now(?) I think it's best to not have any food in your inventory when going on a hunt.

That depends a bit on what exactly you're planning to do. :)

If you want to go for the wolf-deer-combo and prevent being jumped at prematurely, your advice is very good for sure.

In case you want to lure a wolf away from a deer corpse (and want it to start chasing you very early so the initial distance between you and the wolf is as big as possible) you might also want to carry some raw meat on purpose. ;)

I've done this a few times in order make a wolf stop to eat a deer corpse. When the wolf starts chasing you, you run away from it and escape into a nearby house.^^

Not very heroic (and quite risky as the wolf sometimes outruns you) as I have to admit, but it gives you a free deer corpse for no bullet or hand-fight in case you succeed.

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You're very welcome. ;)

Got a bit creative lately when I noticed that I might run out of bullets eventually unless I work out some "advanced" hunting methods like using campfires (an immobile torch alternative, so to say) or escaping into houses.

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In case you want to lure a wolf away from a deer corpse (and want it to start chasing you very early so the initial distance between you and the wolf is as big as possible) you might also want to carry some raw meat on purpose. ;)

I've done this a few times in order make a wolf stop to eat a deer corpse. When the wolf starts chasing you, you run away from it and escape into a nearby house.^^

Not very heroic (and quite risky as the wolf sometimes outruns you) as I have to admit, but it gives you a free deer corpse for no bullet or hand-fight in case you succeed.

Hmmm...this is actually very,very usefull tip and I wonder,how I didn`t get to that idea,too.But,well...nobody is almighty,that`s why we have this awesome comunity and frends here,to help each others. :D

In my previous run I had problems luring wolf away from deer,as I had to get quite close to him,so he noticed me(even if I approach him from frontal side).When he noticed me and I turned arround and run,he outrun me soon and even dropped decoy didn`t help,as distance was too close,between me and wolf,so he ignored decoy,which was ussually Beef Jerky or Candy Bar,lol.

As you said,sometimes carying raw meat is wellcoming and usefull.I definately will change some of my tactics,according to use your tip.I give you +5 for this tip,Scyzara. ;):)

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Heh, wolves are very fast now,

" Lately if I saw that fresh kill happen with all of that nice shelter around, with the right distance you can have free meat. Run past, not to close or you are in a fight and bee-line for shelter. Wolfie is off his kill and you have not spent a thing except for a few calories."

I would not recommend this to anyone now.

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