Hello everyone! Today I'd like to propose some of my ideas to improve and add to the pack hunting mechanic. 
The main attraction of these games has always been the animals, how they interact with each other, and their environments. Pack hunting was a highly anticipated addition for many people before launch, myself included. Unfortunately, a lot of people have been left somewhat underwhelmed by its current state.
Here's a list of problems myself and many others find with pack hunting. I've numbered them in no particular order:
While issues such as herbivores being unfairly weak and carnivores being overpowered contribute to some degree, the biggest problem with pack hunting is that a winner is decided before it actually begins. This can be observed when you heal the dinosaur being hunted. They will never damage their attackers and the fight will continue forever. If these fixes are going to be put in place, pack hunting will have to be made truly dynamic.
But I believe the groundwork for an interesting, dynamic system is present.
I can't speak to the limitations or guidelines put in place by Universal, but I know that Frontier wants this game to be the best it can be, and so do I!
So without further ado, here are my solutions to Pack Hunting Problems! Each solution is numbered to correspond with an aforementioned problem:
If this post gets enough traction I might do a follow up post on how to improve regular one-on-one fights and hunting, as well. Sauropods will need to be reworked for them to fit into any of these solutions, so I've neglected mentioning them.
I'm hoping someone from Frontier will read this and consider implementing something similar to what I've proposed. They've had a great track record for community response thus far.
Big thanks for reading!
The main attraction of these games has always been the animals, how they interact with each other, and their environments. Pack hunting was a highly anticipated addition for many people before launch, myself included. Unfortunately, a lot of people have been left somewhat underwhelmed by its current state.
Here's a list of problems myself and many others find with pack hunting. I've numbered them in no particular order:
- All predators attack the same way. Proceratosaurus and Dilophosaurus somehow latch onto prey without any sort of sickle-claw. Dilophosaurus also makes no use of its spit ability.
- Pack hunters (especially Velociraptor) have an extreme durability. They can be bitten down on and flung 70 feet by a Tyrannosaurus rex, rammed straight in the chin by a Triceratops' horn, smashed with the club of an ankylosaur or the thagomizers of a stegosaur, or kicked by an elephant sized hadrosaur, and then get back up with enough vitality to leap right back onto their prey. Even if the small carnivore is injured, they will still jump back into to the fray.
- Prey items are often killed very quickly. This is especially true for sauropods, which are brought down in a matter of seconds by carnivores less than 1/100th of their weight.
- Prey items do not make much resistance. Each group has only one direct method of attacking their predators. Hadrosaurs kick, theropods bite, stegosaurs swing, and other than that, all they can do is stand in place and shake. Each of these attacks is also only able to happen if a pack hunter latches onto a specific part of their prey. Prey will not attempt to run away, and instead stand still and wait to be attacked.
- When prey is taken down, pack hunters will often ignore the corpse, sometimes even cannibalising their fallen brethren instead. The pack may even begin attacking another prey item before they've finished eating the animal they've already slain.
- Packs will only work together to take down prey of a certain size. Smaller herbivores are pursued by a single hunter, or fought one on one. This doesn't really make much sense, especially for a two way confrontation, as the small carnivore is almost always at a disadvantage.
While issues such as herbivores being unfairly weak and carnivores being overpowered contribute to some degree, the biggest problem with pack hunting is that a winner is decided before it actually begins. This can be observed when you heal the dinosaur being hunted. They will never damage their attackers and the fight will continue forever. If these fixes are going to be put in place, pack hunting will have to be made truly dynamic.
But I believe the groundwork for an interesting, dynamic system is present.
I can't speak to the limitations or guidelines put in place by Universal, but I know that Frontier wants this game to be the best it can be, and so do I!
So without further ado, here are my solutions to Pack Hunting Problems! Each solution is numbered to correspond with an aforementioned problem:
- Different species should target different dinosaur groups, and attack in different ways. Velociraptor should be the most competent pack hunter, to fit in with their high intelligence within the series. Dilophosaurus should remain grounded, spitting on the targeted dinosaur to blind it. When the dinosaur they're attacking has been blinded sufficiently, the whole pack will attack simultaneously to bring the dinosaur down, and begin dealing damage to their toppled prey.
- Damage should be dealt to prey by each pack hunter for however long they are latched on. Damage should be dealt to pack hunters by prey each time they are thrown off violently or hit with a counter-attack. This would immediately solve the problem of pack hunters taking zero damage from attacks, or prey walking away with zero damage after a lengthy battle. When a pack hunter is given an injury, brought below the "low health" threshold, or runs out of stamina, they should withdraw from the hunt. Stamina should drain rapidly when a small carnivore is latched onto prey. If a dinosaur is tough enough, the pack may simply run out of stamina and be forced to give up, leading to a loss with no casualties.
- Each pack hunter should do negligible damage individually. Only when working together should that accumulative damage be sufficient to injure their prey meaningfully. The defence stat of their prey effects damage dealt via a negative multiplier, the damage dealt should depend on each pack hunter's individual attack stat, but generally damage dealt per attacker should be around 0.3% of their prey's health per second (varying among species, of course!)
- Dinosaurs should thrash, buck and bite as much as possible. Certain dinosaurs should also run whenever possible, trying to throw off their attackers as they do so. Instead of standing still, waiting to be attacked, dinosaurs should try to face the pack. All dinosaurs should also attempt to attack their predators on the ground. New animations should be easy enough to add to reflect these behaviours, and would make hunting much more visually interesting. Hadrosaurs should not only kick but also headbutt, tail slap, bite, and stomp on their predators. Ceratopsians should charge, and attempt to crush their attackers whenever possible, as should stegosaurs and ankylosaurs. Theropods may seem limited to biting, but they can also stomp and claw at pack hunters (assuming their arms are long enough). When they do bite down on their assailants, maybe they could sometimes shake or crush them instead of throwing them away.
- This is in part a larger issue with hunting in general. My fix is to combine the desire to hunt with hunger. Bar hybrids, carnivores should not hunt unless they are hungry, and should always feed from a dead source of meat when possible. Dinosaurs that require prey can still have the need to hunt, but should only do so when there are no corpses present.
- If a dinosaur is big enough to feasibly be attacked by several small carnivores, they should be pack hunted rather than taken on alone. Small herbivores than run rather than fight should be pursued by the whole pack, and each pack member that latches on should slow them down or trip them up. Alone, it will take several attempts from the predator to bring down swift prey, but together it can be done quickly and efficiently.
If this post gets enough traction I might do a follow up post on how to improve regular one-on-one fights and hunting, as well. Sauropods will need to be reworked for them to fit into any of these solutions, so I've neglected mentioning them.
I'm hoping someone from Frontier will read this and consider implementing something similar to what I've proposed. They've had a great track record for community response thus far.
Big thanks for reading!
