[Feedback] Instant spawning predators are a problem

[Stormfox]

Because it just happened again:

Predators can spawn anywhere on the map without any forewarning. They can spawn right in the middle of your base. And five seconds later they will likely attack and cripple a colonist before you even realize what is happening. Since you only get a warning when your guys start taking damage, you have no counterplay.

This needs to be fixed. Predators should not spawn so close to your base and players should get some kind of warning when they come near your pawns/installations.

[GarettZriwin]

Animals enter from outside map, if you don't have your base closed then obviously predators can wander inside...

[Stormfox]

No, they do not. At least, not only. Speficically, predators spawn out of thin air anywhere, and that can and will be right in the middle of your base. As with all events in this game, that even seems to be predetermined at least a bit before it happens, because until a few hours after my orininal post up there I would have been able to send you a savegame showing exactly that.

[Goo Poni]

Manhunter packs enter from off the map, they're not ODSTs. Predatory creatures also only enter from off the map, like any other animal does. Their wanderings might bring them close to your base whilst they're not hungry.

[carbon]

I've never, personally, seen an animal pop in / out of existence anywhere besides the edge of the map.
If you are indeed seeing that happen and can reproduce it / document it in a detailed way, please report in the bugs subforum so it can be properly dealt with.

If you happen to be running any mods, you should also check if disabling them resolves the issue.
Bugs related to mods should be reported in the Mod Bugs subforum.

[Keychan]

From my experience, predators cannot appear from thin air, but will move close to good prey candidates. So it may seem like they appear from no where, but if map is desolated with suitable prey, they see your farm and your pawns as a food source.

[cultist]

I seem to recall this topic so presumably it's an old bug that's still hanging around. I never experienced it myself.

[Thyme]

In addition to the above: Did you observe it as it happened? Was it really five seconds* untill they attacked your pawns? Have you then checked the hunger bar of said predator? All freshly spawned pawns usually do so with full bars.

*read: a few moments

[Grishnerf]

it is an old issue. but in a16 i havnt experienced it anymore.
happens when you have around half the map enclosed with walls on big maps.
the predators just get "somehow" behind your walls while you are offscreen looking somewhere else.
then they have free Access to your base.

[Stormfox]

Dear nonbelievers [scnr] - it happens, and it happens quite often. Had another two incidents today. I tend to see it every now and then in the "middle ring" so to speak, too - but it is usually not that much of a problem there, since the likeliness of one of your pawns being the only thing near them is rather low.

One recent instance could possibly have been just a hungry snake beelining across half the map right towards the back of my base and one of my two chicken - I did not catch it spawn with the autosave this time, just run through the rear part of my base. Still, it went for over 100 tiles straight for the chicken, repeatable after reloading. Even if that particular instance was "normal behaviour", I would question that behaviour.

[Pushover]

The issue is from how a hungry animal looks for food, since it looks for the one that is 'closest' (and maybe weakest) in tiles, even if it means running 100+ tiles to go around a huge wall. I don't like how this works, but I'm guessing it's done for performance. That said, this isn't an algorithm that runs too often (whenever an animal gets hungry), so it could probably be improved.

[Thyme]

Beware of farms: Animals get hungry often when there're many animals.

[jts1702]

Looks like someone hasn't enclosed their area perfectly. Life does not simply spawn out from nowhere, and my Institute (a mountain valley base perfectly walled off on its north and east valley openings, with the other sides large mountains if not going straight to the edge of map) has a clear grazing range, safe for my livestock to feed on once it was clear of the original wildlife.

[OFWG]

Dear nonbelievers [scnr] - it happens, and it happens quite often.

I was pretty sure this was happening too, but I wasn't aware it wasn't supposed to. Cougars and grizzlies were pretty commonly "just appearing" (afaict) and eating my chickens, which were 'behind the lines' so should have been obvious if they just wandered in.

[Ukas]

Btw, you don't have to enclose your colony perfectly to avoid wolves attacking your colonists. All you need is a few squirrels.

I dislike the idea of building walls, so I run an open town-like colony. Which means any kind of predator can walk in freely. Hunters are sent after the ones which I spot wandering on the map, but this screening is of course something that can't be done perfectly. So I developed a "squirrel defence", which is a zone inhabited by 3-4 squirrels, located partly around the colony and partly inside. Squirrels don't eat much, but as predators prioritize small prey, they will attack those squirrels first. While the predator is occupied in killing and eating those squirrels it's relatively easy to kill, so I'll just draft some of the nearby pawns and have that predator shot.