How Cougars Should have been done!

Here's a copy of ideas I'd posted to the TLD Steam forums. I'll put it here too, for more discussion.

**the TLDR**: Cougars are very difficult to spot and hunt, as they'll actively keep out of your line of sight, They'll interact in interesting ways with the other wildlife and truly be a part of the world of Great Bear Island. They are pretty much every bit as dangerous as they are in the current implementation, but their being actually present in the world becomes far more immersive as you may catch glimpses of the great cat stalking you, giving a more visceral and visual feeling to it, rather then a ghost animal making ambient noises and randomly jumping you.

**Full Idea:**

Here's what I'd like to see in a better implementation of the cougar, which still captures the overall idea Hinterland was going for of an animal that's hard to spot and kill, and is very dangerous.

The encroachment part is ok, but what I'd do with the cougar is first off, have it be in the game world, like every other animal, so it's not a ghost that phases into existence randomly to attack with the player having absolutely no control over the situation.

The cougar would be elusive still, but here's how, and this implementation should involve animal AI mechanics that are mostly already in the game for other animals, just with a new behaviour model applied.

Unlike most animals that just openly wander about, the cougar would be very elusive. He'd use the terrain and blindsides to keep out of sight of the player, though on rare occasions you may catch a glimpse of him if he's close and you're in open terrain, but mostly the cougar keeps to cover, so he'll be behind stuff that blocks your view of him.

When he first enters a region, he'll be keeping his distance from you, stalking you and learning your favourite routes. As time passes, he'll grow more interested in you, and start stalking and tracking you much closer. If you're spending time stinky that'll attract his attention faster.

As he grows closer to you, the danger level ramps up. Eventually, he will begin attempting to jump you from behind or from blind hills or corners. Unlike all other hostile animals, he does not vocalise and charge at you in a frontal assault, he'll attempt to charge or pounce from cover or from behind.

if you're quick, you may just get a shot off as he's pouncing. If you're lucky, and catch a glimpse, you may have a moment to try a shot at him, but when he knows you've spotted him, he'll run for cover, making him hard to shoot, if you can even catch a glimpse.

How does he interact with other wildlife?

Rabbits, deer and moose, he will hunt and eat. The Cougar is the one predator the moose should fear. However the cougar is afraid of bears and will keep his distance. If startled by a bear appearing from a blind corner, he'll panic and run like wolves will, which can give a rare chance to catch a cougar in the open.

Wolves are afraid of cougars and will run away whenever they see, smell or hear one. The longer a cougar is in the region, the more wolves will avoid that region and thus they'll start spawning less, as will deer.

Timberwolves can be a more interesting interaction. As they're in packs, the cougar will avoid them, and flee if startled by them. Timberwolves will engage in a pack attack on any cougar encroaching on their territory, meaning timberwolf regions will give the player a slight reprieve from the cougar - at the cost of having to deal with timberwolves. If a pack manages to surround or corner a cougar, the cougar will fight back, If he can wound, scare or kill enough timberwolves, their morale will break as it does when they attack the player character, however a large pack can kill the cougar. A cougar killed by timberwolves will have its hide and claws ruined in the fight, so you'll only be able to harvest some guts and meat, so no freebies on the high value cougar parts by letting a pack of timberwolves do the dirty work for you.