Bear traps and Adrenaline

[EmperorPingu]

(Partial response to this post by qualicabyss)

 

Personally, I'm not a fan of the meta of building a 3x3x3 pit to deal with bears (cheese it solution). At the same time, unless you go in as the hunter or a clockmaker, outrunning bear and wolf is a chore. So, here are my suggestions for improving how to handle with bears and wolves. Some of the suggestions might seem unintuitive on their own, but they've been designed to work in tandem with the other suggestions, so consider this really as 1 big suggestion broken up into smaller parts (I do of course welcome you to critique any or all components you feel deserves constructive scrutiny).

 

1. Reduce the respawn rate of predators (but only slightly - or make it a variable option from world settings).
Personally, I'm okay with the frequency of bears by location across the map, but I'm about to suggest that the killing of bears should actually be harder in and of itself, therefore: if you do actually kill a bear, they should be sent back to the lobby for an even greater amount of time in my opinion before respawning in the area.

 

2. Bears and wolves don't fall into pits (unless chasing player or food animal).
No more easy pit kills. Not too sure how it would work but it would probably involve bears and wolves not descending ledges more than 2 blocks high without a yummy incentive.

 

3. Pit traps
Make several "Cross lashing" from sticks and rope. Place the cross lashings over a pit no bigger than 5x5 blocks in area, OR a gap no wider than 5 blocks from either side. Next, put your shears in "leaf extraction" mode (don't know if this is a thing already) and craft the leaf blocks into a "Bundle of leaves". Next croach over the Cross lashings whilst holding Bundle of leaves and right click on the the gap areas (the squares) made by the cross lashing intersections (it will look like each square gap overlaps over 4 separate blocks). You should make sure that there is a clear two wide "path" leading to the other side of the gap/pit made out of the leaves (so that at least 1 whole block is covered in the leaves thus enabling AI path finding mechanics). Bears and wolves will not distinguish the pit trap from regular traversible ground BUT ONLY if the predator is in hunt mode. If they are not hunting a food animal or the player then they will be too smart to go over it. If the player chooses, they can carve punji sticks to do extra damage, or smith metal punji's for critical damage (causing bleed damage which should lead to the animals death). Punji deaths can cause bear fur to tear and be worthless.

 

4. Bear Trap
Classic bear trap - made from iron, meteoric iron, or steel only. Can be baited. If not baited, then the trap should be covered in leaves or else a mob won't interact with it. Can be set off by bears, wolves, foxes. Foxes should rarely be got by the bear trap (~ 5%), instead they act as pests and grab the meat because big smart. Bear trap is reusable but must be reset with each use and can be accidentally set off by the player. The bear trap will stick to the player/animal slowing them down and causing great damage unless the trap is pinned down with a chain and metal peg (hammered into the ground). If the bear is trapped via a metal pegged trap, then they should die naturally after a few days.

 

5. Adrenaline (early game solution to the bear scare)
If a bear or wolf is chasing you for at least 10 seconds, the player gets an adrenaline speed boost (5%) up until about 10 seconds after the predator has stopped chasing the player provided the player has satiation/not-hunger. During "Adrenaline" the player's hunger and satiation reduce sharply.

 

6. Bears can climb 2 block high ledges

 

Afterthoughs: The overall design I went for is something where killing the bear/wolf in the early game should be much harder, but this is counterbalanced by enabling the player to escape the threat more effectively (via adrenaline). Mid game (pit traps), the player can build effective defense and deterance for their bases if wanted, but it does run the risk that the player too could fall down into the bear pit and damage themselves also. Late game enables a more effective deterance for bears by giving the player the opportunity to trap them indefinitely and causing critical damage to the bear in such a way that both traps them and holds them down so the bear cannot easily swipe at the player (but the player with a spear could easily kill them).

Personally, I feel that bears should be a seriously difficult mob to deal with (they're freaking bears!). That said, how we deal with the bears themselves is something that should also evolve and progress as the player themselves progresses through the game.

I did also wonder how hairpin/trigger traps could possibly be implimented as well but I haven't come up with anything quite grounded yet apart from the idea of using the leaves again to hide hudden ropes or trigger mechanisms.

If you are interested in bear traps, check out this mod for 1.19 by Jayu: https://mods.vintagestory.at/beartrap

Edited January 7 by EmperorPingu
Forgot to add Bears climbing 2 block high ledges

[LadyWYT]

1 minute ago, EmperorPingu said:

1. Reduce the respawn rate of predators (but only slightly - or make it a variable option from world settings).

I do agree that the respawn rate probably needs to be tweaked, as I've killed a bear or two only to have another bear immediately spawn. That being said, I'm not sure that I would put an option for it in the world settings; the Survival Challenges tab is pretty cluttered as it is.

 

3 minutes ago, EmperorPingu said:

2. Bears and wolves don't fall into pits (unless chasing player or food animal).
No more easy pit kills. Not too sure how it would work but it would probably involve bears and wolves not descending ledges more than 2 blocks high without a yummy incentive.

In this case, I think placing some fresh meat over the trap is a good solution, provided that the pit is also disguised(as you mentioned in #3). That way the player still has the option of building a trap to more safely deal with a large predator, with the drawback of needing to put in a little extra effort to build the trap. I'd also note that like most traps, the pit trap still has a chance to fail should a smaller, less dangerous creature like a fox or boar take interest in the bait.

 

7 minutes ago, EmperorPingu said:

4. Bear Trap

I like this idea as a late game option, and I daresay it would also see some good use in PvP scenarios. Simply scatter some leaves over the trap to help disguise it from other players and creatures. Players could easily pry it open if caught though, so the PvP application depends heavily on a status effect system--getting caught in such a trap should really be breaking bones or causing other lingering injury.

 

11 minutes ago, EmperorPingu said:

5. Adrenaline (early game solution to the bear scare)
If a bear or wolf is chasing you for at least 10 seconds, the player gets an adrenaline speed boost (5%) up until about 10 seconds after the predator has stopped chasing the player provided the player has satiation/not-hunger. During "Adrenaline" the player's hunger and satiation reduce sharply.

Honestly, I'm going to vote no on this one. It's not a bad idea, but it feels a little too clunky to implement(I could be wrong) and I'm not sure it would really increase a player's chance of survival. Most new players, I think, don't last ten seconds when spotted by a wolf/bear; typically by the time they notice the beast they're already being attacked, in which case it's usually too late to run. Not always, but usually. I also think this kind of effect would require the status effect system to be implemented, and such a system is just as likely to apply a debuff to the player after getting chomped. An adrenaline buff won't really help survival there either.

The best method of avoiding death by wild animal is to simply pay attention to the surroundings and avoid the aggressive wildlife. The aggressive wildlife can be very brutal, yes, but that brutality also serves to teach newer players a very important lesson--Vintage Story doesn't pull its punches, so it's best to be cautious, pay attention to actions, and be appropriately equipped for the task at hand.

[marmarmar34]

My thoughts on respawn tweaks would be that certain animals should be spawning under certain conditions. Such as wolves spawning due to an abundance of rabbits and chickens, or bears with berry bushes and a large water source nearby. 

I have reservations with the bear trap idea. Traditional metal snap traps require a good bit of mechanical parts that would need to be accounted for. Small bits like catches and latches would be fairly simple, but the wire for the spring would require a whole process of spooling a metal rod through smaller and smaller gaps.

[EmperorPingu]

On 1/7/2026 at 9:28 PM, LadyWYT said:

Honestly, I'm going to vote no on this one. It's not a bad idea

Yeah, I'm not so hyped on that aspect either tbh, but I do think there is some warrented concern for a lot of early game players that unless playing as hunter/clockmaker, then outrunning the bear is next to impossible. I've found the only way I've been able to do is to get lucky and find blocks of elevation to jump onto and around (or weaving in and out of trees) in order to shake the bear off. I was aiming for something that could lead up to a kind of progression of bear handling where early game would be simply fleeing as the method of handling and late game actually neautralising the threat. Although some predators can be seen from a distance, I'm not entirely convinced this is the most foolproof strategy - most bear attacks I've had has been a case of them sneaking up on you

 

On 1/7/2026 at 10:00 PM, marmarmar34 said:

My thoughts on respawn tweaks would be that certain animals should be spawning under certain conditions. Such as wolves spawning due to an abundance of rabbits and chickens, or bears with berry bushes and a large water source nearby. 

I actually love this idea lol. Proper full on ecosystem ftw. Couldn't design it myself but there's definitely something to it (you should suggest it).

On 1/7/2026 at 10:00 PM, marmarmar34 said:

I have reservations with the bear trap idea. Traditional metal snap traps require a good bit of mechanical parts that would need to be accounted for. Small bits like catches and latches would be fairly simple, but the wire for the spring would require a whole process of spooling a metal rod through smaller and smaller gaps.

But ofc! Part of why I love Vintage Story so much is because things like this are a massive grind - it makes the achievement of it that much more satisfying - besides, if you have a full on bear deterant, why shouldn't they be difficult and high tier to make?