A-Life (Advanced Entity Behavior) (Not practical, more fun concept)

[KoviBat]

First, this is not a suggestion I think would be practical to implement. This is a pipe dream concept that's fun to think about, and I do not, in any way, expect the developers or modders to seriously attempt to implement a system like this. Additionally, any time I say 'entities' just assume I mean AI like enemies and animals. I don't want to call them AI because that term has recently been associated with LLMs, which causes confusion and frustration. With that out of the way, let's begin.

The focus of this suggestion is on behavior that is not influenced by player action. While player interaction with animals (such as wolves) could do with some more variety and depth, this concept instead focuses on what they do when you aren't involved.

To begin, assign each creature a 'den' where they go to sleep or take shelter from storms, temporal storms, or winter. From this den, creatures will journey out in search of food and water, and will frequent places where they are able to find them. For predators, this will be caves. But for grazing animals, their den will likely migrate through more open areas over time. What this does is give animals more reliable places to find them. Finding bears at a river where they catch fish, for example, or during winter, hibernating in their den.

Ideally, monster spawns would be tuned down around dens, or conversely, animals will only make dens in places where monsters aren't as common, so you don't find an army of dead Drifters beneath the claws of a bear. Monsters should also attack animals and vice versa, though monster corpses won't be eaten.

Animal behavior should become more aggressive the hungrier they are, and less aggressive the more full they are.

Additionally, monster behavior should discourage them from being out and about in daylight, so as the sun rises, they return to dark areas they spawned from, be they rifts or caves.

Please feel free to add on to this idea.

Edited August 25, 2025 by KoviBat

[LadyWYT]

I do believe more complex creature behavior is on the roadmap, it's just a matter of figuring out what to implement and how, while keeping performance and gameplay solid for the average player.

1 minute ago, KoviBat said:

Animal behavior should become more aggressive the hungrier they are, and less aggressive the more full they are.

Eh, partially agree. A larger predator that's hungry should absolutely be more inclined to hunt the player. I think it's fine for larger creatures to get aggressive when the player invades their space, but it would be better if some of them tried to keep some distance from the player, or otherwise gave the player a clear warning, before resorting to aggression. Wolves kind of do that already, in that they will offer a warning growl when you start getting too close, but the difference between "close enough for a warning" and "close enough to attack" is very small--the player typically just gets attacked.

In any case, the space requirement is important in order to keep players from walking right up to an animal and getting a relatively easy meal. Currently, this is an issue for pigs and sheep, since most of the time you can just walk up to them and provoke a fight rather than needing to actually hunt them. Deer are more polished in that regard, in that deer will flee if you get too close, and the males may try to attack you if you hit them. Male moose are an exception, since they will generally attack instead of run.