Creatures' behavior, taming, breeding and raising suggestions for ARK 2

[SerafinaS8]

In this post I'm only dropping a few ideas that came to my mind recently although my wild creatures behavior are not the focus of this post so they might be lacking. The real focus of this post is the tamed creatures' behavior idea I've had quite recently. I'm curious what all of you think about it. Also could anyone tell me whether people from Wildcard even read these? Anyway, here it goes.

Wild creatures' behavior:

Of course we could always use more refined behavior of wild creatures but first detection. Detection could work more on the basis of sight range (an orb one with cone cutout at the back of the creature for most creatures with predators having smaller range/larger cutout) as well as sound detection rather than simple proximity. Predators could pick and choose prey based on size tier and health and wouldn't attack when not hungry. Passive and passive flee carnivores like quetz, kairuku and tapejara could also hunt for food just picking smaller targets. Herbivores could graze as well as detect predators before taking damage and would react to predators' presence and other species getting attacked around them either by attacking the predator or running away based on their temperament and difference between each other's size tiers. Some species could be aggressive towards members of their own species and predators would be towards other predators, especially apex ones and predator packs towards other predator packs. All herbivores and some predators could move in packs or herds of which some could have only one male in them and if another male of the species spawns or approaches then the male from that herd will attack with or without warning. Some herbivores could be territorial but only towards creatures of certain size tiers and some could be extremely aggressive like hippos can be.

There could also be randomly spawning wild nests with eggs as well as wild babies, juveniles and adolescents with adolescents having adults' temperaments and behavior. Maybe they could be easier to tame the younger they are with a drawback that they aren't of use immediately after being tamed but you can gain some trust from them before they grow up in case of my proposed tamed creatures' behavior system. However if current imprinting stat bonuses are kept then them being easier to tame wouldn't make much sense.

Taming creatures:

Maybe ARK 2 could go away with adding levels when creatures tame to even out the playing field with wild creatures and make strength growth slower and the game maybe a bit harder by that? Downed creatures taking damage, instead of taking away these additional levels, would cause taming progress to decrease based on taken damage, even being able to go into negatives so protecting future tame from taking damage still matters even before you give it food.

A passive way of taming most creatures by trapping and feeding them without tranquing out could also be added. Maybe not necessarily by hand or last load out slot but maybe also by a special low range taming trough. It would be more dangerous in case of aggressive dinos as they will attack you at first and still may later on, risky in case of passive ones as they could get frightened (for example of a weapon) and try to run away losing some taming progress and both dangerous and risky in case of neutral ones as both might happen but also rewarding as it would be more time efficient and in case of my proposed tamed creatures' behavior give trust bonuses. For that method of taming you could also add ropes and lassos to aid players in dragging creatures where they want them but these are not strictly necessary, unless you're trying to tame a creature randomly changing direction they run in, please make them not do that, make them run in straight line directly away from wherever attacker is.

It would also be nice if the game didn't apply points to stats on wild creatures that don't increase with them and maybe also to stats that can't be used like oxygen on flyers unless Wildcard intend to make flyers be able to get into water with maybe not all being able to get out by flying out but only by reaching land.

Tamed creatures' behavior:

How about adding a training and bonding element to leveling a creature? Freshly tamed creature doesn't trust you yet. Passive creatures will obey you until they take damage and neutral and aggressive ones until they take a certain amount of damage (less in neutral's case) that depends on the amount of their health points taken in a certain time frame. Then they will attempt to flee, away from the opponent not in circles like creatures can from yuti fear roar can. You can fight them for control and defeat your opponent in the end but if you fight them too long they will throw you off. The bigger and stronger the creature the faster that will happen. You also wouldn't be able to put passive creatures on neutral and neutral on aggressive unless you reach a certain level of trust and passive creatures on aggressive without even higher level of trust.

Of course you can gain their trust by picking your opponents wisely so you can defeat them within the safe frame of damage received and gain their faith in you and their trust towards you. With trust rises the amount of damage they have to take to disobey you and attempt to flee in a fight. Every time the trust rises it rises for the whole tribe but also separately and in greater amounts for the rider or commander in case of non-rideable creatures but I would understand if Wildcard would choose to limit separate trust only for tamer or imprinter not every single tribe member that trained or used the creature. It might also be okay for tamed creatures to passively gain trust over time, just not in great amounts.

Imprinted creatures would rise trust way easier with the character who imprinted them and would start out with some trust already towards the tribe and some more towards the imprinter right from being claimed.

Also a better following and pathing system in ARK 2 would be good so following creatures don't run into things or off ledges constantly and stay at the following distance set and not run right into you when they get outside it if they are flyers or fast or for no apparent reason.

Breeding:

(I explain it with trust as a gain but with the standard imprinting stat gain it could also work.)

Females (most of the time) will incubate their own eggs and attempt to claim/imprint (not giving additional stats) on their young shortly after they are hatched/born so you have to be quick to be able to get trust bonuses. After imprinting on their young, mothers will provide food from nearby troughs till their offspring can access them on their own and possibly will keep them nearby till they are grown. If they have no food available females will not claim/ imprint or take care of their young. If a player imprints on a newborn creature they will get a typical care/indulgence timer that after reaching zero changes into an care/indulgence timeframe timer which in turn after reaching zero causes the trust to start decaying. The decay can be stopped by indulging the creature. At full trust to the imprinter, trust doesn't start decaying when the imprint timeframe timer reaches zero or the timers just don't show up anymore. To gain full trust for themselves and a partial one for the tribe, the imprinter needs to keep indulging the creature with cuddles, walks and favoured foods (from cooked and regular meat through prime and mutton to favoured kibble for carnivores, from cooked and regular fish meat through prime fish to favoured kibble for piscivores, from berries through veggies and tasty cakes to favoured kibble for herbivores and all previous for omnivores if all these foods exists in ARK 2 of course, the kibbles could also be reworked a little to make four types for the four diets). If a tribe's member other than the imprinter indulges the young creature, trust for the tribe rises a bit more than it would if the imprinter did it and trust for imprinter rises a bit less. If the imprinter does that, trust for them rises more than the one for the tribe. You can't get full trust for the tribe through indulging the young but you can get full trust for the imprinter. Also stats wouldn't rise from imprinting.

A creature with strong maternal instincts could also be added that would feed all nearby young no matter whose from nearby troughs till that's not necessary. Maewing would do well here. It would have to not have been evacuated from the Eden ring to not survive on the planet with it's escape abilities.

So overall the breeding could be made less of a drag but also less of a gain.

 

 

[PolloFrito22]

This post is very good! I hope they add that for ARK II.

I don't understand why this post isn't more recognized in the community, it shows magnificient ideas that I think they would add depth to the gameplay.