Your Feature Request / Idea
I was going to add this to my Herding suggestion here:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/448398-Herding
But i decided there were a few mechanics tacked onto it that might need it to be separate.
I would suggest that certain small carnivores, in my opinion raptors and deinonychus, set up an alpha the moment there is more than one of these animals in an enclosure, like in my herding suggestion. They would gravitate loosely around them, though perhaps more loosely than herbivores, and assume their general direction at times.
The real differences comes from the hunting methods. I think the current method of raptors and deinonychus hunting should be almost entirely scrapped. Small adjustments can be made for small herbivore hunting but i'll get to that.
Firstly, the pack should somehow communicate their combined hunger level to each other through code. If this combined hunger is low enough, then the alpha should trigger a pack hunt call, and with that, the pack hunt behavior. After she does this, the other raptors will quickly gather to her, and from this point on will very tightly assume her direction and gravitate towards her. This will persist until a kill is made.
The alpha will then pick a target, from the available animals in the enclosure. If we want to get deeper into this, the lower the "group hunger" the bigger the animal targeted should be, with the max being things like stegos and edmontos. For the purposes of this mechanic, dinos should have "Attach Nodes", 2 of these, one on each side for most. Some of the larger dinos i suggested could have 3 or 4. As the Alpha begins the chase, the pack will follow closely and all animals will attempt to jump onto these nodes. Not every jump should be successful, if the target moves out of the way quickly enough. If a jump is successful, the raptor will latch onto the prey and bite into it and use its hooked foot claws to claw at it. This will deal continuous health damage to the target. The more raptors on a creature, the more damage, naturally. When the prey reaches 1 or 0 health, it could either collapse or trigger a special kill animation, either way i think is fine. Then, the pack FEASTS!
Oh and btw, the latch should be on a timer. The raptor should only be able to remain attached to a panicking animal for a small window of time, after which, if the animal does not die, it will fall of. If the animal dies, they should jump off, but maybe time it differently so it doesn't seem like every raptor jumps off at the same exact time like machines. If an animal falls off the target, then either it or another animal will attempt to re-attach to the target. If we get deep enough into this, if there are too many failed attempts and the animal does not die, the pack may instead choose to abandon the target and pick something weaker to kill. but that might be a bit much.
Now, when it comes to small herbivores, this would obviously not work cuz they're too small to be attached to. I would say that having the pack all chase the animal and attempt to jump on it (and i do mean chases here, not squaring up against each other like in a boxing match), with a successful jump triggering a kill animation, would work just fine. If it is possible however and time is available to go the extra mile, you could add some extra AI lines to the code that have the animals try to surround and cut off the small runner, for a more likely success at a pounce.
This one, due to the hunting mechanic is not particularly easy, and while desperately needed to make these animals REALLY stand out and breathe variety into the game, i can see it take a while, so it's probably alright if it's built over a longer period of time.
I want to point out that nothing except raptor-type animals (currently velociraptor and deinonichus, later maybe utahraptor if it's added) should be able to latch onto prey this way or pounce. They are the only ones who have the curved foot claws that allow them to latch and their legs were built for jumps. Other animals, if they at all have a pack hunting behavior, should not attempt hunting large herbivores and instead stick to small ones, which they should just try and tackle as they chase.
If we really want to diversify things, although personally i do not believe that dilos should have pack hunting, their spit, if landing successfully should disorient small herbivores and prevent them from running, allowing for an easy tackle and kill.
I was going to add this to my Herding suggestion here:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/448398-Herding
But i decided there were a few mechanics tacked onto it that might need it to be separate.
I would suggest that certain small carnivores, in my opinion raptors and deinonychus, set up an alpha the moment there is more than one of these animals in an enclosure, like in my herding suggestion. They would gravitate loosely around them, though perhaps more loosely than herbivores, and assume their general direction at times.
The real differences comes from the hunting methods. I think the current method of raptors and deinonychus hunting should be almost entirely scrapped. Small adjustments can be made for small herbivore hunting but i'll get to that.
Firstly, the pack should somehow communicate their combined hunger level to each other through code. If this combined hunger is low enough, then the alpha should trigger a pack hunt call, and with that, the pack hunt behavior. After she does this, the other raptors will quickly gather to her, and from this point on will very tightly assume her direction and gravitate towards her. This will persist until a kill is made.
The alpha will then pick a target, from the available animals in the enclosure. If we want to get deeper into this, the lower the "group hunger" the bigger the animal targeted should be, with the max being things like stegos and edmontos. For the purposes of this mechanic, dinos should have "Attach Nodes", 2 of these, one on each side for most. Some of the larger dinos i suggested could have 3 or 4. As the Alpha begins the chase, the pack will follow closely and all animals will attempt to jump onto these nodes. Not every jump should be successful, if the target moves out of the way quickly enough. If a jump is successful, the raptor will latch onto the prey and bite into it and use its hooked foot claws to claw at it. This will deal continuous health damage to the target. The more raptors on a creature, the more damage, naturally. When the prey reaches 1 or 0 health, it could either collapse or trigger a special kill animation, either way i think is fine. Then, the pack FEASTS!
Oh and btw, the latch should be on a timer. The raptor should only be able to remain attached to a panicking animal for a small window of time, after which, if the animal does not die, it will fall of. If the animal dies, they should jump off, but maybe time it differently so it doesn't seem like every raptor jumps off at the same exact time like machines. If an animal falls off the target, then either it or another animal will attempt to re-attach to the target. If we get deep enough into this, if there are too many failed attempts and the animal does not die, the pack may instead choose to abandon the target and pick something weaker to kill. but that might be a bit much.Now, when it comes to small herbivores, this would obviously not work cuz they're too small to be attached to. I would say that having the pack all chase the animal and attempt to jump on it (and i do mean chases here, not squaring up against each other like in a boxing match), with a successful jump triggering a kill animation, would work just fine. If it is possible however and time is available to go the extra mile, you could add some extra AI lines to the code that have the animals try to surround and cut off the small runner, for a more likely success at a pounce.
This one, due to the hunting mechanic is not particularly easy, and while desperately needed to make these animals REALLY stand out and breathe variety into the game, i can see it take a while, so it's probably alright if it's built over a longer period of time.
I want to point out that nothing except raptor-type animals (currently velociraptor and deinonichus, later maybe utahraptor if it's added) should be able to latch onto prey this way or pounce. They are the only ones who have the curved foot claws that allow them to latch and their legs were built for jumps. Other animals, if they at all have a pack hunting behavior, should not attempt hunting large herbivores and instead stick to small ones, which they should just try and tackle as they chase.
If we really want to diversify things, although personally i do not believe that dilos should have pack hunting, their spit, if landing successfully should disorient small herbivores and prevent them from running, allowing for an easy tackle and kill.
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