It's great that the alpha mechanic was added to the game. However, I believe it can be improved. As of right now, all the dinosaurs do is assume their battle stance for 10 seconds before one finally runs away, which has gotten lackluster. There should be a chance that the dinosaurs will actually fight one another when contesting the role of alpha. Here are some arbitrary percentages to illustrate what I'm suggesting:
However, I realize that this idea would be difficult to implement because it requires new animations, such as the idea of two large carnivores slamming each other with their heads or their bodies. If Frontier doesn't have the time for this, an easier alternative could involve using the fighting animations already present in the game. Unfortunately, even in this easier alternative, there would still need to be some new animations. This is due to the fact that, for example, there's no kill animation of a ceratopsid killing another ceratopsid. Despite the difficulty, I believe it would be worth the effort since it would add more variety and another potential risk into the gameplay.
- 50% of the time, dinosaurs contesting for the role of alpha will do exactly what they do now. They will assume their battle stance, and after a few seconds, one will decide that it's not worth it and retreat.
- 30% of the time, the dinosaurs will fight. For example, medium and large carnivores will attempt to slam each other with their heads or their bodies. Light damage will be dealt, but nothing deadly. One of the combatants will retreat before their health reaches critical levels.
- 20% of the time, the dinosaurs will fight to the death. The fight will accidentally escalate to lethal levels as it's no longer a fight for the role of alpha, but a fight to the death. The player will receive the standard notification alerting them that the dinosaurs are fighting. Following the previous example, medium and large carnivores will no longer attempt to simply slam each other, but will bite and slash, causing heavy damage.
However, I realize that this idea would be difficult to implement because it requires new animations, such as the idea of two large carnivores slamming each other with their heads or their bodies. If Frontier doesn't have the time for this, an easier alternative could involve using the fighting animations already present in the game. Unfortunately, even in this easier alternative, there would still need to be some new animations. This is due to the fact that, for example, there's no kill animation of a ceratopsid killing another ceratopsid. Despite the difficulty, I believe it would be worth the effort since it would add more variety and another potential risk into the gameplay.
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