Animals on Cantr and Pok

[DELGRAD]

The way of life on AKI island has been destroyed since the restructuring of the animal system.
AKI island inhabitants had to do everything they could to survive against nearly 100 bears, 40+ boars, some cheetahs and wolves in each location.

Now bears are few, boars slightly more, cheetahs rare and wolves mostly nonexsistant. AKI is not what it once was. The hordes of animals and many dieing from animals was how it was and how it still should be.
My one character feels useless now do to this. He no longer has anything to do. Other characters there used to need him, now they do not.

Surely you could make AKI specific animals that could once again overwelm the island.

AKI has had a history of being a dangerous place. Now that is gone.
Why do all islands have to be safe? Let the island naturaly evolve to where
the inhabitants can reduce the number of animals on their own, not
by the staff.

[Doug R.]

Yet another way to think about this is to simply accept it as the way of life, and leave it to diversity-conscious players to preserve these predator species. Cantr is different than the real world, and perhaps in Cantr predators simply were not meant to survive man.

The real world isn't much different in that respect. Many predator species are endangered: wolves, large cats, bears, sharks, eagles, hawks, and so on. In some cases (e.g., sharks), they are endangered for the same reasons — retaliation for attacks on humans, or at least less concern for their species survival.

I had similar thoughts, but then realized that Cantr predators are even more disadvantaged. At least predators in real life have a purpose: the balancing of the ecosystem. Cantr predators don't even have that.

[Doug R.]

AKI has had a history of being a dangerous place. Now that is gone.
Why do all islands have to be safe? Let the island naturaly evolve to where
the inhabitants can reduce the number of animals on their own, not
by the staff.

Hordes of animals of any kind, from bears to lemmings, are a thing of the past because of necessity. The number of animals are now capped, and when they reach the cap all reproduction ceases. This cap is reached on average about once a month, and is countered by manual culls. I do have plans to keep places like Burgeo and Aki dangerous, mostly involving more aggressive animal types that can inflict damage in lesser numbers.

It looks like I'll be addressing Pok/Treefeather first, and then take a stab at Aki and Burgeo. I'll also review the animal locations caps, which are now based on aggression.

[sem]

For me the lack of animals in north and west Treefeather makes it more interesting. I actually like the fact that there are wilderness areas which are almost uninhabitable without outside supplies - it tends to push people together to where food is available and encourage trade. I don't think Cantr needs to encourage people to spread out more at the moment.

The Cantr island has an abundance of animals (at least in the areas where I have characters). It could afford to lose of some of them (say around 25%) without making life difficult

[sanchez]

Parts of Aki, at least, are still plenty dangerous. Weak people and sleepers cannot survive outdoors, and that is enough to be interesting.

[trexdino]

Well, the mountains could use more of any animals. All they have are a few mountain goats, more animals are needed in those areas because it is the only source of food.

[ceselb]

If both a novice fighter and weaker than average you will get damaged quickly outside even with a wooden shield. Infact even with an iron shield you shouldn't be out for extended periods without a lot of healing foods.
If you're slightly above average however, you can get by, almost unharmed with an iron shield.

[BarbaricAvatar]

Why not use extinct/endangered animals?

Panda's, Condor's, Thylacine's, Dodo's, Kagu's, Red Colobus Monkey's etc..

[the_antisocial_hermit]

The way of life on AKI island has been destroyed since the restructuring of the animal system.
AKI island inhabitants had to do everything they could to survive against nearly 100 bears, 40+ boars, some cheetahs and wolves in each location.

Now bears are few, boars slightly more, cheetahs rare and wolves mostly nonexsistant. AKI is not what it once was. The hordes of animals and many dieing from animals was how it was and how it still should be.
My one character feels useless now do to this. He no longer has anything to do. Other characters there used to need him, now they do not.

Surely you could make AKI specific animals that could once again overwelm the island.

AKI has had a history of being a dangerous place. Now that is gone.
Why do all islands have to be safe? Let the island naturaly evolve to where
the inhabitants can reduce the number of animals on their own, not
by the staff.

It is still damn dangerous.

[DylPickle]

I always thought mammoths, or something similar, would be cool for the Pok Mountain Chain.

[Frits]

I travel a lot and many chars i meet are surviving on meat almost all of the time. They use drying racks extensively hunt sometimes and many have meat stored, on top of that my own chars do just that! ..you know meat is preferred when travelling. Point is i suspect people are complaining their chars lack food when they are using drying racks, they don't have to but it saves work so that's what they do... or the desert, should it be easy to keep a community of 10 or 12 chars well-fed over time?

[Sizik]

Concerning the predator/prey relationship, here's an idea:
Make a new kind of animal that people are unable to kill (due to it's small size, agility, and ability hide really well), maybe like a gnome or something. If there are too many of these creatures, crop harvest rates go down, due to the creatures eating them. The only way to get rid of them would be to have predator animals around that eat the creatures.

[DylPickle]

Concerning the predator/prey relationship, here's an idea:
Make a new kind of animal that people are unable to kill (due to it's small size, agility, and ability hide really well), maybe like a gnome or something. If there are too many of these creatures, crop harvest rates go down, due to the creatures eating them. The only way to get rid of them would be to have predator animals around that eat the creatures.

First post, and it's a great suggestion. I bet it'd be hard for them to implement conditional crop harvest rates, though. But if there is a way, then this would be a real neat suggestion.

Gophers, Rats, Badgers, Squirrels, Magpies, and Crows would be interesting "Gnomes".