Hi everyone,
Following up on a discussion (here) regarding dead villagers and dangerous wildlife locations, the conversation naturally drifted into how wolf and boar dens function in the game. I wanted to start a dedicated thread to gather everyone’s thoughts on predator dens, their resource value, and how they could be improved.
Here is a summary of the key points and perspectives discussed so far:
1. The Dilemma: Annoyance vs. Crucial Resources
- The Drawbacks: For many players, predator dens are primarily an annoyance. Even with nearby dens eliminated, random bear or wildlife attacks still happen. Furthermore, having too many active dens close to working areas makes it difficult for hunters and laborers to operate safely.
- The Benefits: On the other hand, wolf and boar dens provide significantly higher amounts of meat compared to deer, and most importantly, they are a vital source of tallow (fat) , which is essential for late-game production chains.
2. Clearing Strategy & Safety
- Players generally agree that hunters should be able to clear out a nearby den so they can work without constant disruption. Having one den nearby is manageable, but multiple active dens can overwhelm a workforce, meaning players should have to destroy them to secure their town perimeters.
3. Feature Request: Dynamic Wilderness Respawn
- The Problem with Full Clearing: Once you completely destroy a predator den to secure an area, it is gone forever. This permanently removes that spot as a hunting source, and since wildlife dens do not currently respawn naturally anywhere on the map, the wilderness eventually becomes completely empty.
- The Proposed Solution: Allow new wolf or boar dens to dynamically spawn/repopulate over time in remote, uninhabited wilderness areas (far away from player infrastructure, roads, and active heat maps). This mimics a real-life ecosystem where wild animals reclaim undisturbed nature.
- Bonus - Military Training: Newly spawned dens in distant regions could also serve as a great, ongoing combat experience source for your standing army, giving players a reason to send troops out on clearing patrols.
Additionally, I would like to suggest an improvement for the Hunter’s Cabin (Jagdhaus) UI regarding animal yields.
UI Suggestion: Clearer Animal Icons & Trapping Yields
Currently, the Hunter’s Cabin UI displays output numbers (Meat, Hides, Tallow) next to required materials/trophies, but it is very unclear which line corresponds to which animal (Deer, Boar, Wolf, Bear). Additionally, it doesn’t clearly show the increased yields achieved when using traps (Fallen).
Proposed UI Improvements:
- Animal & Trap Portraits: Replace or supplement ambiguous material icons with clear icons for each animal type, as well as a distinct icon/indicator when game is harvested via traps.
- Explicit Yield Breakdown: Show the exact resource gain with a clear
+sign for both standard hunting and trap harvesting (e.g., highlighting the higher yield of Meat and Tallow gained when trapping).
This would make the exact value of each animal type and the benefit of setting traps instantly visible and intuitive!
Discussion: To Clear or Not to Clear Dens?
This also brings up a fundamental gameplay question regarding wild boars and wolves: Should players actively hunt predator dens for food/tallow, or just destroy every den on sight?
- **The Case for Clearing Dens:**For most players, predator dens are a constant hazard. Wolves and boars frequently attack and injure laborers or hunters, causing efficiency losses and unnecessary micro-management. Once Barns/Cattle are available in the mid-to-late game, they provide massive amounts of Meat, Hides, and Tallow with zero danger, making aggressive wild dens feel obsolete to keep around near your town perimeter.
- **The Case for Hunting/Trapping Dens:**On the other hand, predator dens—especially when combined with upgraded Hunter’s Cabins (Tier 2 with dogs and traps)—yield significantly more Meat and vital Tallow than standard deer. If a den is isolated and well-managed with traps, it can act as a high-yield resource node rather than just a nuisance.
Where do you stand on this? Do you completely wipe out every den on your map to keep your laborers safe, or do you leave isolated dens active to farm them with traps for extra tallow and meat?