Cataclysm-dda: Wolves, dogs, coyotes and other animals should have a fear trigger.

[RafeHaab]

Game version: any

Operating system: windows 10

Tiles or curses: any

Mods active: any

Expected behavior

Bears and mooses have a fear trigger (noise), but dogs, wolves and coyotes do not. I think one should be implemented because at of now, your ownly choice is to fight them off.

Actual behavior

Said enemies don't have a fear trigger.

Steps to reproduce the behavior

I'll simply link to this reddit comment where another user and I were talking about the topic.

https://www.reddit.com/r/cataclysmdda/comments/92php8/currently_4_days_into_a_no_starting/e37lf44/

[DracoGriffin]

Yes, that's me, now you should suggest what that fear trigger should be.

[RafeHaab]

Wolves are shy by nature. They won't attack anything that they see as dangerous. Noise would be a good fear trigger, but it's already done in the game and runs the risk to become boring for players if every predator can be scared away by yelling.

What I propose is to keep "friend attacked" as an anger trigger, but change "friend killed" to a fear trigger for these species. It's realistic, as seeing a pack memeber die means this "prey" (the player) is too dangerous to be a prey, and mimicks actual wolf/dog behaviour. It also makes the "hit and run" ingame tactic they use better, as you can tell they are afraid of getting hurt. Fleeing when one of them is killed would make it possible to survive their attacks and make the game more fun and realistic.

If the order of the triggers in the code matters, it should be like this: friend killed (fear), stalk, player close, player weak, friend attacked (anger)

[nexusmrsep]

Fire, lit torches. Although not even sure it can be implemented.

[DracoGriffin]

For mon_coyote , we get the Eastern Coyote, which seems to be more of a pack hunter, than a lone solitary predator. This probably warrants GROUP_MORALE. Secondly, for all coyotes (and wolves), "hazing" or making loud noises and trying to intimidate the animal is suggested, so "SOUND" should also be applied as a fear trigger. Lastly, "FIRE" is an option for a trigger, and should applied as a fear trigger, but not sure how the code actually works, especially as fire may not be completely end-all (it seems to ward off more timid/cautious creatures, rather than the desperate and hungry) --- so SOUND should cause larger fear whereas fire is smaller amounts. Also, HURT should probably be removed as pack hunters generally don't fight to the death, as the nature of the pack is as one is hurt and flees, the others might move in or retreat depending on which member of the pack is fleeing.

Old:
"anger_triggers": [ "STALK", "FRIEND_ATTACKED", "PLAYER_WEAK", "HURT", "PLAYER_CLOSE" ], "placate_triggers": [ "MEAT" ], "flags": [ "SEES", "HEARS", "SMELLS", "ANIMAL", "PATH_AVOID_DANGER_1", "WARM", "FUR", "HIT_AND_RUN", "KEENNOSE", "BLEED", "BONES" ]

Suggested:
"anger_triggers": [ "STALK", "FRIEND_ATTACKED", "PLAYER_WEAK", "PLAYER_CLOSE" ], "fear_triggers": [ "FIRE", "SOUND" ], "placate_triggers": [ "MEAT" ], "flags": [ "SEES", "HEARS", "SMELLS", "ANIMAL", "PATH_AVOID_DANGER_1", "WARM", "FUR", "GROUP_MORALE", "HIT_AND_RUN", "KEENNOSE", "BLEED", "BONES" ]

For mon_coyote_wolf , we get the Northeastern coyote which also seems to be a pack hunter, although the size can differ. So, probably should receive the GROUP_MORALE flag, as following the same as above, should receive SOUND and FIRE fear triggers.

Old:
"anger_triggers": [ "FRIEND_ATTACKED", "PLAYER_WEAK", "PLAYER_CLOSE" ], "placate_triggers": [ "MEAT" ], "flags": [ "SEES", "HEARS", "SMELLS", "ANIMAL", "PATH_AVOID_DANGER_1", "WARM", "FUR", "KEENNOSE", "BLEED", "BONES", "FAT" ]

Suggested:
"anger_triggers": [ "FRIEND_ATTACKED", "PLAYER_WEAK", "PLAYER_CLOSE" ], "fear_triggers": [ "FIRE", "SOUND" ], "placate_triggers": [ "MEAT" ], "flags": [ "SEES", "HEARS", "SMELLS", "ANIMAL", "PATH_AVOID_DANGER_1", "WARM", "FUR", "GROUP_MORALE", "KEENNOSE", "BLEED", "BONES", "FAT" ]

For mon_wolf is just a typical wolf, so we don't really know the size and breed. However, the same advice repeats for wolf attacks. Also as pack hunters, they should benefit from GROUP_MORALE.

Old:
"anger_triggers": [ "STALK", "FRIEND_ATTACKED", "FRIEND_DIED", "PLAYER_WEAK", "PLAYER_CLOSE" ], "placate_triggers": [ "MEAT" ], "flags": [ "SEES", "HEARS", "SMELLS", "ANIMAL", "PATH_AVOID_DANGER_1", "WARM", "FUR", "KEENNOSE", "BLEED", "BONES", "FAT" ]

Suggested:
"anger_triggers": [ "STALK", "FRIEND_ATTACKED", "FRIEND_DIED", "PLAYER_WEAK", "PLAYER_CLOSE" ], "fear_triggers": [ "FIRE", "SOUND" ], "placate_triggers": [ "MEAT" ], "flags": [ "SEES", "HEARS", "SMELLS", "ANIMAL", "PATH_AVOID_DANGER_1", "WARM", "FUR", "GROUP_MORALE", "KEENNOSE", "BLEED", "BONES", "FAT" ]

Lastly, I don't really have much evidence or source for it, but I'd like to believe that an additional fear trigger could be "FRIEND_DIED", so if a pack member falls, it should probably reduce their commitment to a fight. The funny thing is unlike bear attacks which detail what to do if you're actually attacked, I can't find anything about what to do if you're actually attacked by coyotes or wolves (whether to curl up and protect yourself or fight back, so if fight back is the option rather than play dead, than "HURT" could qualify as a fear trigger).

[RafeHaab]

You can actually find what to do if a wolf pack attacks you, but it depends on their intentions and youy ability to interpret their body language correctly.

Wolves attack for two reasons: territory and food. If you can tell wich one is causing them to go after you, you can correctly decide if curl up (territory) or fight back (food), as wolves defending their territory will acept a surrender but escalate their attacks if you challenge them, but hunting wolves won't and in fact, "surrendering" will only give them a easy kill, so fighting back is the only option.

[ipcyborg]

Fire and Animal Behavior:
https://talltimbers.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/161-Komarek1969_op.pdf

According to this doc:

It may surprise many that animals do not have an innate fear of fire.

As stated there, animals usually avoid fire. But some of then (like birds) may be attracted by fire/smoke.
The fire avoidance tag is PATH_AVOID_DANGER_1.

Looks like we don't need to add "FIRE" to fear_triggers for mammals.
And probably remove "FIRE" from "gigantic naked mole-rat" (mon_nakedmolerat_giant).

This confirms adding the "SOUND" trigger to fear_triggers:
https://www.businessinsider.com/what-to-do-if-you-are-attacked-by-a-pack-of-wolves-2015-12

Still not sure about FRIEND_DIED, probably just leave this for now.

So, if I'm correct, this issue is all about adding "SOUND" trigger to fear_triggers for dogs, wolves and coyotes (and other animals?).
I could use this as the "Good First Issue" :)
Or is it require more research?

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