Of supercavitating boars and bears, and other such nonsense.

[Ratbatboo]

How in the heck is it that when these critters get into the ocean, they immediately set out for the next continent at flank speed and leave me behind in their churned wake? I mean, sure, they're fast as heck on land, and humans (humanoids? Seraph?) are persistance/endurance hunters. I don't expect to keep up with a running boar on land, but it gets very disheartening to get knocked down to half-health fighting a boar (I'm just barely copper age here), have it engage warp speed to the nearest body of water, then hydroplane out past the shallows and dive like a Cold War boomer trying to evade destroyers.

I know there's a way to set animal swimming speed in world creation (now), but is there any command to reduce it in a pre-existing world? I'd as soon not restart my game, although I suppose that means I should start carrying a spear just to huck at things that are fleeing (bows, slings, et. al. currently are too much of an inventory sacrifice for my tastes).

[Ratbatboo]

Actually, another important thought:

If I leave the area and sleep, etc., will they make their way back to shore? Or will they just continue their explorations of the great Marianas Trench until they despawn?

[Ratbatboo]

...Wolves do it, too. Why am I not surprised?

This is an entirely new challenge to having an archipelago world, even beyond the limited quantity of accessible land reducing access to ore and other spawns.

[pigfood]

There was a huge buff for animal swim speed in 1.21. While it's very, very annoying, it's not unrealistic. IRL, bears and wolves are rather good and fast swimmers.

For reverting to the good old days, look at creatureSwimSpeed:

https://wiki.vintagestory.at/World_Configuration

1 hour ago, Ratbatboo said:

If I leave the area and sleep, etc., will they make their way back to shore?

Animals have an AI task "get out of water". They can actually drown.