A question: Is prey shortage more likely in some regions than others?

Hi guys,

I've got a quick question for you. You know how lots of you have noticed that after awhile the large prey starts to die off/disappear in your game? Have any of you found that more often than not this is in the Arctic region when it's happened to you?

It's just a theory I have... that maybe the Arctic is the hardest region to play because not only do you get fewer prey types, but you get less of each type, too... it'd make sense that in one of the most inhospitable places on the planet it would be tougher to find more animals that stayed alive. X-D

I have another question too... have any of you who had this prey shortage problem also found that your prey numbers eventually recovered (without hexing)? How did it happen and how long did it take in game weeks/months? Did the season change when your prey populations recovered?

A penny for your thoughts... it just seems so strange that prey can so easily disappear without it ever coming back again...

---WhiteWolf

well white ive never had this "prey shotage" and off topic: i just got back from Mac Queens apple orchard and we got to pick are own apples and its last week to go pick fresh aplles from the trees.

Ohh yeah.

I've been having terrible luck in my main pack in the timber region. The large prey's numbers had gone down drastically TWICE. I fixed the first time by hexing, screwed up my months and I had to start over back on the 7th month (last time I'm hexing prey. >_<). Once the prey had flourished again, my pack wouldn't stop killing them all. So once again, it happened. I had to venture out far to grab one single beaver to survive from starving. Slept for about 2 days, and when I returned to my den, the prey number suddenly rose. It's strange, I'm not sure if it's the venturing or the sleeping. But eventually it does rise.

Are you the alpha of the pack?

Yes, I am the alpha female of the pack.

I too am concerned about messing up my game from hexing prey (as fun as it might be in the short-term). But here's something interesting that I learned from tonight's game...

Prey was very scarce through much of the autumn but I slept and rested a lot in the last month and a half of the season and didn't hunt so much. Winter came and there was some more prey again... not a lot of it, to be honest with you, I find it's mostly cows (if they count), but it does seem to reappear gradually. That's why I wondered if anybody else had noticed this kind of thing happening.

Anyway, it's further proof as to why the Arctic is such a difficult region to play, you don't get as much prey to start with anyway... not in terms of different animal species, at least...

---WhiteWolf

( wow I havent' been on for ages O_O )

Well, I had this in arctic too. I suddnly noticed all carcasses dissappeared and big prey. just a day later the rabbits dissappeared as well. While my mate and the beta went south to find prey, I pressed autoplay and my wolf stayed at the den for some reason. I kept checking my packs health but their hunger bars didn't rise. Then I decided to leave the den and go north. I had only a very small hungerbar left when I saw a bunny. I hunted it and holwled so my pack would come here. There were many rabbits there and a few moose. My beta made it and ate some bunnies but my mate died while chasing one O_O ( it was so sad... the bunny was already tired and he was just a few milimeters away from it xD ). I didn't save the game because I wanted everyone to survive the winter.

Conclusion: Yeah I had that in Arctic too. After like playing for 3 months. I think it might have been created to show the player that winter is the hardest season to survive.

i started off with 3 fir a pack me as rumour alpha and a year later all my prey died out with no hexing! whats going on and is there any way to get prey back?!

I think the answer may very well be no, Nova... I've done absolutely everything I can think of to get prey back into my Arctic game without having to hex and I've never been able to. I've tried: Migrating away from the den in the winter, travelling to the northernmost reaches of the game and sleeping and wandering for two months before going back home again, waiting for Spring, killing only sick or injured animals, getting the most from carcasses as possible, assembling the pack for a hunt when we're all hungry so everyone benefits from a kill rather than just me... and nothing has brought even the tiniest sliver of new prey back. The only large prey I'd ever seen around afterwards is cows and they're only there because of the people.

The bottom line seems to be, if there's no prey left in your game, there's no way to get it back (at least in Arctic). If there is some prey left, you might be able to stop them from dying out completely by moderating your kills.

Hexing still seems to be the best answer. :-/ Just don't hex the prey in the spring otherwise it has the unfortunate side effect of the game forgetting the alpha female is pregnant... so no pups that year... and if the pups were born already the alpha female might not feed them anymore (unless you're the alpha female, of course), so watch out.

---WhiteWolf

Please note: Unless said otherwise, by prey I mean any large non-wolf, non-human creature except for cows. Cows are not treated as prey by the game!

Well, I've never had this problem...But I think it is just because I don't hunt very much. I kill beaves like crazy though, I know I shouldn't, I'm just addicited to killing them...crazy, right? XD

ôô WhiteWolf, did you ever hunt without the absolute need for it?

I have hunted as I would call it "proactively" in my game which I think was my mistake... if I knew there wasn't a carcass that close to the den I'd make a kill before it looked like our food supply was running out, to keep it from doing so... usually only sick animals but sometimes the occasional healthy one...

In hindsight though I've realised that probably was way too much and I should have let the game go through its natural feast and famine cycles as this might preserve the prey population in the long run.

I'll probably be in a better position to say if this is what happened when I play through another game so that I have a chance to try playing differently BEFORE all the prey disappears. I'll let you know how that works out.

---WhiteWolf

lol same thing happend to my pack in the prairies. i was pasing the time it was autmn. i would hunt like one elk a day i stayed right by a pond. soon i had to go further and further to get a beaver. i had no clue were my pack was at the time.

actually i have been through a prey drought. i had a arctic pack and all that was there to hunt were bunnies... hundreds of bunnies.... finally we found a cow and killed in the night to avoid hunters. we ate off the carcass until a hunter found our feeding spot... so once again we had to leave food. Right now we're still hunting rabbits... ugh so many of them. I'm eating like a queen while my pack is just struggling on. hopefully we will find a carcass.