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#4619416 - 01/26/23 03:12 PM Way of the Wild  
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There's no game by this name, it's an attempt to combine the two hunting games I'm playing, Way of the Hunter and Call of the Wild. Having a great time with these games, and wanted to write a thread talking about both, comparing them and giving anyone who might be interested a view in to how they play.

I have experience with hunting. My father was a hunter, and as a kid I would see him head out with the men, and return in that old CJ5, dressed in his cammies and Bean boots, with a Browning over his shoulder, game in the ruck, or a deer to hoist in to the tree in the back yard. So I grew up around it, and around firearms. We had a trap range, archery range and a rifle range in the back yard. I've been shooting since I was old enough to be trusted with a weapon. The age of ten could not come fast enough, as in Joyzee that's the age you can take the hunter safety course, and as long as you don't frighten the instructor, get your first hunting license. I can still recall this day, 45 years later. I took my 20-gauge, single shot break-action shotgun. A Winchester I believe. It was a gift from dad, a simple weapon, and hard to get in to trouble with. I recall the fence test. Each hunter needs to demonstrate his ability to safely cross a fence. In another one, the instructors wanted to impress upon our young minds the power and lethality we held in our hands, and I recall they set up a one-gallon milk jug filled with water and shot it with a slug in front of the gathered youngsters. Boom! The water went everywhere and the sheer size of that 'explosion' certainly drove home how powerful these weapons are.

I passed. I was so proud of my accomplishment. Even though it was only a few years, at that age it feels a lifetime I had been preparing. Countless hours shooting clay pigeons, or zeroing scopes. My dad even taught me to handload ammunition. We had a shop, with ammo presses. They were rotating contraptions that had a handle like a slot machine. Insert the primer, measure out the powder, put in the wad, the shot and crimp. Rifle cartridges too. I must have reloaded hundreds or thousands of rounds before I was a teenager. I thought it was so cool, firing and even taking game with rounds I loaded by hand. Police up that brass!

Above it all though, sport shooting and hunting was something I shared with my dad. My brother wanted nothing to do with it, he said he didn't like blood. So it was just me and dad. We would hunt locally for small game and waterfowl. The southern Jersey coast is good for this. And we would travel for hunts for bigger game. Mostly whitetails in northeastern Pennsylvania, but occasionally other spots for different game. My dad gave me my first rifle, a Marlin lever-action .30-.30 with a 3x9 Swift scope. Then a Browning .243 BLR, and finally a Browning bolt-action .270. What a magnificent rifle! Shotguns too, pumps, over/unders and side-by-sides. .22s for plinking. Our gun cabinet was full.

When I was 16 my father passed. I didn't handle it well. My best friend, and he was gone. I continued to hunt for a few years. Dad's hunting club brothers were very kind to me, inviting me to go with them. But it could never be the same.. The best thing about hunting was no more. By the time I was twenty I was done. The magic for me was gone, and after college I no longer wanted to actually shoot animals. The killing was never the thing for me. It was about the camaraderie, the woodsmanship. Being in the forest, nature. I did take game, but it was everything else about the sport that appealed to me. Tracking, wind and scent, stalking, reading sign, camouflage, mastering weapons. I mean, I loved just cleaning my guns. That smell! But I would never hunt again.

I still shoot, because I enjoy it. But the hunting is done. Or is it?

I was aware of course of the game The Hunter: Call of the Wild (2017), the sequel to The Hunter Classic. But I never pulled the trigger. My remote impressions were it was a bit arcade, and that I wouldn't like it a much as I should. So I skipped it. This past summer another hunting game released, called Way of the Hunter. The word was it was more of a hunting simulation than Call of the Wild. So I sat up and took notice. I wondered if perhaps this game could fill that void I've felt for thirty years. If it could perhaps take me back to that time in my life I enjoyed so much. A way to experience the things I liked about the sport, but without actually harvesting animals.

And you know what? It sure does. I've really taken to it. And so much so that I picked up Call of the Wild too. These are games, sure, but they have that certain something that hits the right notes for me. Being in the woods, stalking, taking good, ethical shots, always using the proper weapon to match the game. The reserves in both titles are breathtakingly beautiful. They succeed in allowing me to suspend my reality and become a hunter once again. In a sense it's a perfect thing for me, all the best things about hunting, while removing the worst. No killing, no dragging from remote areas, no field dressing, ya know? Just you, a rifle and nature. At its essence, this is just stealth gaming, and that's right up my alley.

So I want to use this thread to talk about how the games play, comparing the two titles, discussing my experiences as I take this ride. More to come.

[Linked Image]


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#4619423 - 01/26/23 05:54 PM Re: Way of the Wild [Re: DBond]  
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The first thing to address is how the games compare on a macro level. There's a third option, The Hunter : Classic, which is well-regarded, and has ditched the pay to win vibe it had for years, and which kept me from trying it. Now, you can just play it, but that ship has sailed for me, the game is much older (2009?), and with Way of the Hunter and Call of the Wild I don't feel compelled to give that one a go. But don't ignore it either. It has a fine reputation.

So then, how do the two more recent titles compare? I'd put it like this. Way of the Hunter is more of a hunting sim, Call of the Wild is more complete. I like the word 'robust', which encompasses how varied and complete it is. More maps, more animals, weapons and kit. It's expected, given it's six-year headstart. If Way of the Hunter follows a similar expansion trajectory I see this one eventually emerging the winner. Right now, the relative strengths and weaknesses round out in about the same spot for me. I prefer the actual hunting, or the field work in Way of the Hunter. But lately I've been putting all of my time in to Call of the Wild. Having many more reserves and animals to hunt gives it an edge. Once I've seen it all (and that will take a long time) I expect that I'll find my level more with Way of the Hunter. But it has some way to go to catch up.

What I think gives Way of the Hunter the edge in the field is more convincing animal behavior and animations, better shooting, ballistics and penetration and a herd management mechanic. The animal behavior is key. They are more alert and wary, their flush and spook reactions feel more realistic to me based on the hunting I've done. I feel like I need to be more measured and careful when stalking in Way of the Hunter. Call of the Wild is more forgiving? is maybe the right word. A few degrees easier perhaps to harvest the game. Both titles have rather abundant wildlife populations. Finding game is way easier than real-life of course. In that sense both games lose a bit of a connection to reality. But then I think, these are pristine reserves. No people, no traffic, no urban sprawl, no other hunters. Maybe places like this would be teeming with so much game. I don't know. But the feeling is it's all a bit too perfect. Sure, you have some down time with nothing around occasionally, but that never lasts for long. And if you are measured and careful, you'll always be close to another opportunity. Be a bit clumsy, ignore the wind, or make too much noise and you'll spook 'em out of there. Call of the Wild is a little more forgiving here, like I said, and it's all bit easier to approach to close range. It requires less of a methodical, slow stalk to get a good shot.

That's the actual hunting, and my opinion of it. But what about everything else? It's probably a bit unfair, given the relative infancy of Way of the Hunter, but I can only compare what they are, with maybe some speculation about what they will become. With that said, Call of the Wild exceeds Way of the Hunter in just about every possible way at the moment. Twelve reserves to two. Far more weapons. 82 animals to 20. Both have ATVs to ride, with Way of the Hunter just adding this last week. Both have lodges where you can show off your trophies. Call of the Wild has things like stands and blinds that Way of the Hunter has none of. Callers, scents, masking, decoys. Much more robust, right?

And what really sets Call of the Wild apart for me is it also has bows, crossbows and handguns, which Way of the Hunter does not have. I really enjoy the bow hunting, the added challenge it presents in getting a good shot. Highly rewarding to take a big buck with a bow.

But all of this robustness has a price in Call of the Wild. Much of what it has is locked behind DLC. Each player will have his own thoughts on this. Me? Somewhere in the middle I guess. I understand these companies are in it to make money. It's a cycle. They make a game, we give them money, they make more stuff, and so on it goes. Ten of the reserves, along with many weapons, ammunition and more are DLC-locked. There's still a good game there even without it, but I'd suggest that if you like it, you'll be dropping the cash to fill out your install, no doubt. Whether that is good, bad or indifferent is down to each player.

In addition, Call of the Wild also has 'mastery' levels, or whatever they call them. Using a certain weapon increases your mastery level, which is good, because many items are locked this way. You can't shoot this gun, or that ammo until you've proven yourself sort of thing. That too is fine, as far as I am concerned. Where it wasn't, was when I bought the Yukon DLC to unlock a .300 win mag rifle for class 9 (biggest game). You have to buy the DLC to get the gun, and then I realized I also needed twice the rifle mastery I have in order to buy it. Oi vey. Either rank-lock or DLC-lock your stuff, fine. But both? No.

By comparison, Way of the Hunter (out since August) has just one DLC plus a season pass. The pay DLC has just one shotgun, a statue and something else inconsequential. Everything else they've added since release has been for free, like the ATV, some new weapons and animals. What the plan is going forward isn't so clear to me. But I bought the season pass because new reserves, weapons and animals are planned, like adding archery. But those are just promises at the mo. In Call of the Wild you get what you pay for. In Way of the Hunter I can't be sure exactly what I've paid for smile

So which one should you get? Hell if I know. I just work here. But I think the answer is both. Or keep reading and decide for yourself.

Getting this close (Way of the Hunter) to wary game is a proper challenge. Selected difficulty plays a role in how alert the quarry is. In this case I let these mulies pass. Way of the Hunter's herd management encourages the player to cull the weakest and oldest, in order to improve the overall fitness of the herd. Culling one-star matures for example will probably result in higher rated animals down the line. The group pictured here was young males and adult females, no matures. So I let them go.

[Linked Image]


No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4619457 - 01/27/23 02:33 PM Re: Way of the Wild [Re: DBond]  
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One of the core concepts behind each of these hunting games is ethics. To harvest the game as cleanly as possible, and this involves two things -- hitting the right spot on the animal, and using proper weapons and ammunition. Shooting a bunny rabbit with a ,338 Lapua is overkill. Matching the round to the game is fundamental. Each game uses a class or tier system, with both animals and weapons rated. A class 4 whitetail deer requires a class 4 rifle, like a .243.or a .270. A single shot targeting the vital organs with a properly matched cartridge (or arrow/bolt) results in the cleanest kills, and the highest scores.

That is fine. That is good. I fully buy in to the ethical mojo. I only shoot with the right weapon, never saying "well just this once", and many times I've been forced to let an animal pass by because I my loadout wasn't right. This happens far more often in Way of the Hunter, which is more restrictive in what you can carry. While I am fully onboard with the ethical hunting thing, I have to point out that I don't care for how heavy handed Way of the Hunter approaches the subject. Preachy, and written like it's for six year olds. Maybe it's written in another language and the translation is poor. But it's eye-rolling. Imagine if your state government was producing ethical hunting instructional material for fourth-graders in the 1970s. I tolerate it, and these moments pass quickly. Others may find it quaint or charming, I don't know, so I won't dwell on it.

Carry restrictions gives each game a slightly different vibe here. In Way of the Hunter, you are limited to two weapons at a time. Call of the Wild instead uses a max carry weight. In Way of the Hunter, two weapons is not enough to cover all animal tiers. There's no (current) combination of two weapons that covers it all from rabbits to moose. Call of the Wild is more generous. Standard max carry is 20 pounds. You decide how to fill it, perhaps opting for guns over callers and scents, or a tent or decoys. Ruck sacks are available to increase this max weight, but these also increase visibility and noise signature. This is more flexible and allows you to carry weapons to cover all classes of animals in your loadout, but perhaps at the expense of other kit and gear. Or opt for a ruck, your call. There's more opportunity cost in Way of the Hunter, and loadout choices feel more consequential as a result. In Way of the Hunter my standard carry is a .308 bolt action Steyr Monobloc and a .300 Steyr SM12 bolt action. Both are scoped. This combination covers most of the game, all the largest for sure, but not the smallest like birds and waterfowl, rabbits, fox, badgers and the sort. So I stalk with that loadout in general, but make special hunts when I want to go for the smaller stuff, taking a .22 and a shotgun for example when duck hunting. But if an elk trundles past, there's nothing I can do. This can happen too in Call of the Wild depending on your choices, but you can cover for it also.

There are far too many weapons and ammunition types (Call of the Wild only at the mo) to go in to any real detail in this thread (unless asked). And I'll say that ballistics are simplified, developed for gaming purposes rather than realism. But I have to give the edge to Way of the Hunter, which feels more real to me especially the way that range is modeled, and how the projectile behaves over distance. Bullet drop, impact energy. Way of the Hunter has a neat mechanic that shows this energy in joules, and as long as you aren't on Ranger difficulty, you can see this prior to taking the shot, showing you the estimated energy at impact and whether that is proper for the animal you are targeting. Each animal is rated with a range of proper energy, and your task is to match that and take the game cleanly. And with this energy displayed you can see in real time how range effects the ballistics. Your .308 might be delivering 3200 joules at 150 yards, but that might drop to say 2,200 at 300 yards. So the range to the target plays a big role in which cartridge is ethical.

A good example is the .350 Guide rifle. Guides don't hunt, and they carry a rifle like this for defense of the hunting party they are leading. If a bear attacks, you need that massive stopping power of a .350 round. But a round like this loses energy quickly over distance. So while it is a class 6 (highest tier) rifle, the loss of energy reduces its tier rating at range. This leads to using it at short range against moose, elk and bear. But if you stand off a bit it becomes suitable for deer, as the lower energy now fits in to the ethical window for the smaller tier 5 animals. Pretty cool, and this ballistic modeling I prefer over Call of the Wild, which feels more formulaic and less dynamic. Both are satisfying, but Way of the Hunter feels more correct based on my shooting and hunting experience.

So this more convincing shooting, combined with more convincing animal behavior and what feels to me like more detailed penetration modeling all add up to giving Way of the Hunter the edge in the field for me. The actual hunting and shooting just feels better. But honestly, Call of the Wild isn't far behind, and both result in fun and convincing hunting out in the field.

In Way of the Hunter, animals are classified according to a star system. One star is the lowest rated and five stars is the best in terms of trophy and fitness. This is my first five-star whitetail, taken with a .308 Monobloc.at 225 yards. I like hunting all of the animals in these games, but I consider myself a whitetail hunter first.



[Linked Image]


Another core concept in both games is hunting pressure. Each shot taken and each animal harvested results in more pressure on that local region. With enough pressure, the animals will migrate out of the area. In Call of the Wild, this is represented by purple blotches on the map. You want to keep moving around, never hunting one location for too long. In this shot of the Silver Ridge Peaks map in Call of the Wild, you can see the purple spots that mark where I took a shot. These fade out over time with the brightest ones showing the most recent shots.


[Linked Image]



Attached Files 5starwhitetail.jpgPressureMap.jpg

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#4619467 - 01/27/23 04:13 PM Re: Way of the Wild [Re: DBond]  
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So how do these games run?

My box is Bond-Built™ Ryzen 2600, 1660Ti and 16 gigs o' RAM. Both games are installed on a mechanical drive.

And they both run like sh!t through a goose. No performance issues at top settings even on this modest hardware. Smooth framerates and perfect stability. No crashes or slowdowns for me.

Graphically, Way of the Hunter gets the nod. It's much newer so I reckon we would expect this. Textures are better, animal models and animations are superior to my eye. And in one of the most drastic differences between the two games, Way of the Hunter has much longer render distances. Call of the Wild cuts animals out at 500 meters. Way of the Hunter does not. If there is a render limit to Way of the Hunter I haven't noticed. I can spot animals at 1000 yards. Of course you won't shoot at such range, but it gives you targets to stalk in on and makes the gameworld feel more real and alive. Vegetation too, although both games have a limit, meaning animals far away are sometimes more visible than closer ones. This is especially true of small game. At 200 yards you might be able to see a fox clearly, since the vegetation isn't rendered around him. But as you move in closer, that starts to be drawn and now you can't find the fox in the high grass. This is one of the things that serves to break that suspended reality and remind me I'm playing a game.

What I find I am disappointed with in both titles is the positional sound. I can't be sure if it's related to my hardware/headphones or how it is implemented in game, but the positional cues have little accuracy, which makes it very difficult to pinpoint locations by sound. Too bad, as that would be great, and makes the game a little harder than it should be unless you use the visual cues the games offer, which I do. I'd like to drop this crutch, but it would take a complete sound rework (or better hardware?) and that's not going to happen.

Otherwise, both games have good soundscape, although I wonder sometimes how accurate some of the animals calls are. One of them sounds more like big merchant screws through hydrophones in Silent Hunter than any animal I've ever heard. The weapons sound good in the main, and there's ambient nature sounds, although these can be overbearing on some maps. Hard to find the right balance I think.

Time passes at a rate that feels really nice. In Way of the hunter it is 3x, or 20 minutes per hour. In Call of the Wild it is 4x, or 15 minutes per hour.

A typical scene in Call of the Wild. A female elk trundles down to the lake to have a drink, on a foggy morning. Weather is modeled in both games, with thunderstorms, rain, wind and snow (Call of the Wild only I think). Yesterday I was hunting the Yukon reserve in CotW. My dog (real life) was looking at me expectantly. But I was far from any camp. I didn't want to exit, as that would spawn me back at the last camp. So I crouched up under an evergreen alongside a trail to pass the time while I walked the dog. When I returned later, the green scene I left had been covered over in a fresh snowfall and was all white. pretty cool.


[Linked Image]

Attached Files FoggyPond.jpg

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#4619491 - 01/28/23 02:37 PM Re: Way of the Wild [Re: DBond]  
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This was a great write up! Dbond had really talked this game up enough to give me the itch to buy it. As a hunter when I was younger it has really brought me back to my youth sitting up in a tree and walking through the woods looking for rubbings and game trails.
Ive only put about 4 hours into the game so far but I am very much enjoying it. Im playing the game on a 48' Ultrawide and there are times I just stop on a cliff edge just to look at how beautiful the game is.
Still searching for my first 5 star buck!

#4619495 - 01/28/23 04:06 PM Re: Way of the Wild [Re: DBond]  
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Keep at it. Five stars have been rare for me in Way of the Hunter, but that's the way it should be right?

So far I've taken five star

Whitetail Deer
Red Deer
Mule Deer
Bighorn
Mountain Goat
Pheasant x 2

That's out of 160+ harvested animals, so a five star rate of about 4%. I've spotted two five stars I was unable to get a good shot on, and I don't take bad shots. If I don't feel assured of a proper, ethical, successful shot I don't take it. I've still missed, but nine shots out of ten find the mark. I think of it like shooting torpedoes in sub sims. High accuracy is more a function of positioning than shooting skill I think. Same approach here. Some players crank rounds downrange at anything that moves. But I try to ensure that every shot taken results in a harvest. I've had a few get away, and I actually feel bad about it! Like I've left a wounded animal, even if it's all virtual, but that's how much I get in to it.

Call of the Wild has a 'consecutive harvest' mechanic to encourage and reward the player for making sure every shot results in a harvest. If you hit any animal that you don't end up harvesting it breaks the bonus. Each successful shot raises the bonus by 20%. So if you take five in a row you get a 100% bonus to cash and XP (or maybe more accurately, you get 100% of what you should). It also used to affect trophy score, but the players didn't like it so the devs changed it.

I said above that Call of the Wild has 12 reserves, but it's 13. Two included in the base game and eleven as DLC. I have seven of them now with the purchase of the Yukon reserve. Itching for a sale when I'll snap up the rest, if I don't cave before then.



No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4619529 - 01/29/23 05:31 PM Re: Way of the Wild [Re: DBond]  
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Both games have taxidermy to show off your trophies.

In Way of the Hunter, there are two main lodges, one in each reserve (Idaho and Transylvania) and you can only mount animals taken in each reserve in their respective lodge.

In Call of the Wild, there are two lodges as well, but they are DLC, 3 bucks each, and you can mount any animal taken in any reserve in either lodge. When you harvest any animal you have the option to save it for taxidermy. So if you don't have the cash you can save it for later. Or until you decide to buy the DLC. I hit the limit which is ten so I had to buy the lodge.

In both you can choose from a variety of displays, although the Call of the Wild lodges have more spots and one has case and displays for weapons.

I mounted my first buck in each game, even though they aren't top trophies. But you gotta keep your first buck right? Growing up, the tradition in our camp was to cut the shirt tail off when a hunter took his first buck. I didn't know why they did that, but that's what happens. Honor traditions, don't question them smile

Other than those first bucks and any taxidermy that's done through the story line, I'm only mounting the best ones, five stars in WotH and top golds and diamonds in CotW. Taxidermy is expensive in both games, so you need to be selective.


My lodges are rather sparse at the moment, as it's expensive and I have only taken so many worthy animals.

Way of the Hunter (Bear Den Lodge) The whitetail in the center of the shot is the one shown above taken with the .308.


[Linked Image]




Call of the Wild (Safari Lodge). It looks like you can tour your friends' lodges, so when Sintax gets one I'll see. He couldn't resist the tales I was telling haha and picked up this one too.


[Linked Image]



Those are some fine bucks biggrin

Attached Files BerDenLodge.jpgSafariLodge.jpg

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#4619548 - 01/30/23 02:48 AM Re: Way of the Wild [Re: DBond]  
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This shot shows how Way of the Hunter displays the impact energy. In the upper right, this shot analysis shows impact in joules with the range displayed as well. When the energy number is gold it is within the ethical window. When white, it is above or below. So at a glance you can check before taking the shot. On Ranger difficulty, there is no Hunter Sense ability, which reveals this and more. I'm playing on Hunter difficulty and have this info available. You can clean up the UI if you want less of this info displayed too.

The deer in this image are mule deer, and their ethical energy window is 1,576-3,783 joules. This .308 is around 3,100 at 203 yards and puts it in the upper end of the window, which is what you want to kill as quickly and cleanly as possible. Impact energy is only that, and doesn't account for placement. Vitals still need to be hit to ensure a clean one.


[Linked Image]

Attached Files ScopeEnergy.jpg

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#4619604 - 01/30/23 05:51 PM Re: Way of the Wild [Re: DBond]  
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Several times I've mentioned 'mastery' in Call of the Wild but that's just my term for it. It's actually called weapon score.

Weapon Score Wiki

This is gained for each weapon type whenever you successfully harvest an animal with that weapon. So rifles, handguns, shotguns and bows all have their own scores.

The score is calculated by using a proper cartridge and getting the bonuses for quick kill, integrity, consecutive harvest and possibly more? I try to pay close attention to my scores after each one, but I've missed some. The wiki says the score can range from 0 to 75. The highest score I've noticed is 62, so I wonder how exactly this is determined. It seems to me empirically that just using a properly rated round (or arrow/bolt) isn't all there is to it. For example, my most used rifle is the .308. Deer taken with this rifle seem to average around 50 score. Elk and moose however are closer to 60/62 on average with the same weapon which covers class 4-8. Whitetails are class 4 and elk/moose are class 8. So it 'appears' to me that using cartridges in the upper end of their class range yields higher scores. If so, I'd expect with everything else being equal, that taking a whitetail with a .243 (class 2-6) should yield higher scores on average than a .308.

However! The smaller round makes getting the quick kill bonus that much harder to do. But assuming all bonuses, I think this may help explain the discrepancies I see from shot to shot with the score that is awarded.

I mentioned above how I bought the Yukon reserve DLC in order unlock the Canning .300 mag rifle to be my big game gun. Only to find that not only was it locked behind pay DLC, it was also locked behind rifle score. And that number is 6092. If you averaged 50 score per rifle kill, that's 121.84 kills to hit the number to unlock the gun. I crossed 5,100 points last night so nearly there, another 20 rifle harvests or so should do it. But this has been quite the hill to climb. On a different (active) forum a helpful member suggested using trainers to just grant myself the score since it is silly that you'd need to do it just to buy a rifle (which has in effect been paid with real money)

But that's not how I roll. Instead, I saw this a challenge. And when I do get it it will feel earned. Along the way (4,336 score) I unlocked the .338. This is a very powerful rifle that is ideal for the biggest game like lions, cape buffalo, bison. Both the .300 and .338 cover class 7-9, which encompasses smaller game like black, brown and grizzly bear, elk, moose and gemsbok plus the class 9s. But the .338 is single-shot break action, and I'm not a fan of this style rifle, so I've been holding out for the .300, which is a magazine fed bolt-action. This sh!t's expensive, so if I had caved on the .338 I would have had to wait a long time to build up the cash reserves to also buy the .300. Serious willpower. Serious firepower smile

The payoff will be Africa. I've purposely avoided it so far, preferring to wait for the .300. It will be my reward, plus I'm also a little frightened of the aggressive killers there so I want to ensure I'll have the ability to take them down at long range. I'm the hunter here, dammit.



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#4619652 - 01/31/23 07:46 PM Re: Way of the Wild [Re: DBond]  
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Turns out I needed 22 more kills to trip the threshold to purchase the .300 Canning. And interestingly I got a 75 rifle score. This was a 90-yard .223 shot on a Eurasian Lynx. Hit through the neck, which evidently counts as vitals. Nothing remarkable about this one and I don't understand why it was max score. It hardly matters now that I've unlocked virtually everything tied to rifle score. I still need another 400 points to get the .300 polymer tip ammunition, but I think that's it. The .338 was followed by the .470 and then the .300. That covers all the best big-game rifles.

There are a few reasons I wanted this rifle. The first is that I take my shooting percentage too seriously. I hate missing, always looking to take a good shot. When I went to the Finland map, called Revontuli, I set out on the first mission called the Blue Trail. Near the end of this the player is to demonstrate his shooting prowess, taking shots from inside rock circles on the ground at targets at increasing distances. 50, 100, 150, 200 and 300 meters. The targets are tiny, about the size of a dinner plate. I hit the first four on the first shot. But I missed the 300m target four times. Factory zero is 150m and I didn't know the required hold-over to hit at 300. I wasn't expecting to need to do this, or I could have gone to the range first and worked it out.

And then I looked at my shooting percentage, and all those shots counted as misses. I did miss four, but these shots shouldn't count, like at the range. But if you're going to make them count at least count the hits! So I gave it up as a bad job and not happy with what had just happened to my percentage. I decided to wait until I had the top scope, a 8x16, and the .300, which presumably has a flatter trajectory than any of my current rifles. I reckoned that combo would let me hit the 300m dinner plate.

Another reason I wanted it is I was not keen on my current class 9 options. I have a hand cannon .454 revolver, but of course that's only good in tight. And I have the Drilling rifle, which is a 16ga side-by-side over a single 9.3x74r rifle barrel. This can do the business on class 9s, but not really my sort of weapon. Bolt-actions are, so I wanted the .300.

Not only does it give you that big-game cartridge, it has a longer effective range. And if I'm going on safari in Africa, I want this. It's called the Canning Magnum Frontier in game, but looks like a Weatherby Model V, which I have shot at the range. I like using guns in the game I use in real life.

So after buying it I went to the rifle range in Hirschfelden. It's a free DLC. I needed to see how much holdover is required at 300m with this rifle. There is a zeroing perk, which I have yet to get. It's two levels. First level gets short zero, 50m I think, which is all but useless. Second level though gets long zero at 300m. With this perk all I'd need to do is put the crosshairs on and pull. But that shooting percentage thing makes me leery. The zero perk is an active one. You turn it on, I think with F key. But I can see how easy it would be to forget this, have it on 300m when you suddenly come across a buck at 75m and boom! the round sails over. All it takes is some practice at the range with the various rifles to learn their hold-overs/unders for different ranges. So I'm not sure whether I will pick up that perk.

Here's my first group with my new Weatherby Canning at 300m. First two shots aren't even on this target. I held over too much. Then they started hitting a little short and the final one on the bull to show me where to hold. Scope wobble is insanely bad. I really hate it. I was prone, but the wobble was like I'd just drunk a whole bottle of Jack. the combination of the inherent wobble, the high magnification of the high-power scope and the tiny target at long range makes it far harder than it would be in real life. It's a game yeah, but this is pretty bad. It's far better in Way of the Hunter. If you want to use wobble to differentiate stances, fine, I get it. But prone is supported and the only wobble is your breath and heartbeat. Not this drunken mess. It all adds up to mean that very long range shooting is harder than it should be in Call of the Wild.


[Linked Image]


Attached Files Range.300.jpg

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#4619688 - 02/01/23 02:14 PM Re: Way of the Wild [Re: DBond]  
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Not many sim hunters around here I see. Comments are welcome in case that may not be obvious smile

Among the best things about both of these hunting games are the reserves. Big, beautiful and diverse. Way of the Hunter's reserves are much larger per map, but Call of the Wild makes up for it by having far more. I believe more maps are in the pipeline for both games, and we'll see how that shakes out.

Way of the Hunter currently has two reserves, both I believe are 55 square miles (142 sq kilometers).

-- Nez Perce valley is the North American reserve. Pacific northwest is the description, and I think I read it is supposed to be Idaho? Regardless of where it is, it is stunning.

-- Transylvania is the European reserve. More open, and rolling, but plenty of rough country too.

The view to the west from the deck of the main lodge, Bear Den, in Way of the Hunter. The river valley running across the center is a great spot for deer and pheasant.

[Linked Image]




Call of the Wild has 13 reserves and on average I believe they are about 24 square miles (64 sq kilometers)

-- Layton Lake is one of the two reserves included in the base game. This one is also Pacific Northwest

-- Hirschfelden is the other reserve included in the base game. A Europe map and where the DLC rifle range is located.

DLC reserves (cost is US $8 per)

-- Medved-Taiga. A Siberian snow map. Probably my least favorite, of the ones I have, if I had to pick one. Beautiful, but dangerous. Bring a close defense weapon.

-- Vurhonga Savanna. Played this one last night for the first time. Wide open as you'd expect. A really nice diversion from the other maps, but of all the reserves, this one suffers most from the restricted rendering distance in Call of the Wild.View distance is phenomenal on all of these maps, but animals are cut out at 500m. It's most jarring here with the vast vistas over the savanna.

-- Parque Fernando. An Argentinian reserve

-- Yukon Valley. Stunning map with seasonal change and big game. Grizzlies.

-- Cuatro Colinas. Spanish reserve

-- Silver Ridge Peaks. Southern Rockies. This was the first map I hunted.

-- Te Awaroa. New Zealand reserve.

-- Rancho del Arroyo. Mexico reserve. Typical arid terrain as found in the American southwest and northwestern Mexico

-- Mississippi Acres. South central United States. Universally voted least-favorite map in the game. Has gators though.

-- Revontuli Coast. Finland. This might be my favorite map to hunt. Whitetail hunting is my thing, and this is a great reserve for whitetails. I also love the terrain. The forests are not as dense as most others, the terrain is more gentle and rolling, and there is very little of the heavy undergrowth that makes sight lines on other reserves more challenging. Feels like hunting in my county park. Lots of class 1 game, making it the best small game and .22 reserve. Mostly birds.

-- New England Mountains. The newest reserve in Call of the Wild. I don't have it but really want it. I think this map will be the closest to the terrain I've hunted. Waiting for a sale.


Sunrise in Finland. Revontuli is a beautiful reserve (as are they all!)


[Linked Image]


Stalking with a bow for whitetails alongside a lake in the Layton Lake reserve.

[Linked Image]

Attached Files BearDenView.jpgLaytonBow.jpgRevontuliSunrise.jpg

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#4619689 - 02/01/23 02:39 PM Re: Way of the Wild [Re: DBond]  
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I have Hunter Call of the Wild, and while I technically have tons of time in it. Not much of it has been actual hunting. It's just gorgeous and a good way to escape the frozen winters here for short spurts and walk around some very realistic looking locations. I put it in the "wind down after a long day" category of games.

#4619690 - 02/01/23 02:47 PM Re: Way of the Wild [Re: DBond]  
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Hey wormfood. I know there are some players who play Call of the Wild as a wildlife photography game. And there are missions for this in some reserves. They don't want to hunt the animals, just photograph them and enjoy the walk in such stunning environs. Pretty cool (I like the hunting though).



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#4619693 - 02/01/23 03:41 PM Re: Way of the Wild [Re: DBond]  
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If anyone is new to the game, or just wants to see which animals, weapons and cartridges (including arrows/bolts) are in Call of the Wild, check out this link. I refer to this constantly, mostly to decide on which loadout I want to carry for each map. The animals listed along with their classes on the left hand side of the spreadsheet show which classes your weapons need to cover if you want to cover them all, which isn't necessary of course.

Call of the Wild Class and Cartridge

It also shows which DLC unlocks which ammunition and weapons. Any weapons or ammo in a Weapon Pack is free to use after purchase of the DLC. Others may be locked behind weapons score as well.

Another very handy reference I use a lot is this chart for Way of the Hunter. It is a little out of date, and doesn't include a few of the most recent guns. But it is a good tool to help decide on which cartridge to use for which game. The way energy over range is handled means that matching weapon tier to animal tier is more of a grey area, but as a 'rule of thumb' sort of reference it works very well. Ballistic performance seems to me to be tied to the ammunition, and not the gun. So for example both.300 win mag rifles have identical performance. I have read however that the Steyr rifles are more accurate than the Remingtons. If so, the difference is minor at best, and both manufacturers will serve you well.

[Linked Image]


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#4619771 - 02/02/23 01:38 PM Re: Way of the Wild [Re: DBond]  
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Another core concept that both games share is need zones. Each animal species has zones for rest, eating and drinking. They move between each on rough schedules. So for example, hunting near a water source at dawn or dusk is more likely to find whitetails than during the middle of the afternoon, when they'll be at their resting zones. As you move around the map you'll identify these zones, which become marked on your map. Over time you gain the knowledge of the best places to go, and at what time of day, to find the species you are looking for. In both games, lakes are key spots. Not only do they attract animals, they tend to extend sight lines. Taking shots clear across a lake is common.

So which ways can we hunt? Both games have towers spread around the reserves. These of course give an elevated perspective, increasing your search radius and getting your point of view above the undergrowth and folds in the terrain. In Call of the Wild only, there are additional blinds that can be constructed, both permanent and temporary. These methods are called ambush hunting and it can work fine. There is a lot of game around, and the likelihood of getting a shot is relatively high, compared to real life anyway. Both games have callers you can use, and they are very effective. Bring the game to you.

But I don't really do any of that. I'm a stalker. I move slowly and quietly through the terrain, stopping frequently to listen and glass the surrounding terrain, and to break up my noise signature. Even going very slow and low, you're going to generate some noise. Wind is a key factor. Whenever I'm planning a stalk, I have a look at the wind, then the map, to decide on where to begin, and then stalk upwind. The wind direction changes often, but hunting downwind is difficult, your scent easily detected and making the animals alert if not spooked outright. So I choose a spot to begin and stalk upwind toward a destination like a lake, or maybe another camp. It works great, and is a lot more enjoyable than sitting in a stand or blind for me. Even though callers are effective, I rarely use them. Something about hunting this way is not for me.

I have a lot of friends who hunt. I give them grief about how they do it, telling them 'that's not hunting!" Many of them drive the deer, or other game. A line of shooters take up position, then another line moves through the terrain in their direction, flushing the game toward the shooters. No, that's not hunting. Some of my friends spend all year baiting deer, putting out piles of apples or other food to condition the game to come to that spot looking for a free meal. Then, when deer season rolls around, instead of a pile of apples it's, the lazy hunter with his rifle waiting for them. Easy meal, indeed.

Over the years as I've hunted and fished, I see there are many approaches to these sports. Some take the easier routes, others, like me, want to challenge ourselves and do things in the manner requiring more skill. For example, when you fish, do you use live bait? It's super effective and you'll catch a lot of fish. By contrast, fly fishing is more difficult. The casting, the presentation, fooling a fish by matching the hatch. This is fishing, to me. I want to find the art in the sport. The 'catch' isn't the aim really, it's the experience and challenge, testing my skill against the game. Stalking is for me, the purest form of hunting, and better yet, with a bow!

Regardless of how you might feel about any of this, the options exist in both games to allow all of these approaches. Find your zone. Even driving is possible in multiplayer, if you're so inclined.


I've talked a lot about my pursuit of the .300 win mag rifle. On my first hunt with this rifle, in the Yukon reserve, I was glassing a grizzly at about 400 yards, and thinking how I might intercept him as he moved across the meadow. Suddenly another grizzly emerged from the undergrowth to my right. You can assign a key to mount and remount scopes in an instant (I set it to N which is not used in Call of the Wild). I bought the gun for it's long range, big game capability, but my first shot was at 6 yards! Too close. My first grizzly bear. The muzzle brake on this rifle makes me think it's modeled after the Weatherby Mark V Accumark. There are two versions to buy, and I bought the traditional one with the wood stock.


[Linked Image]


And a few random shots of yesterday's hunting. This is the view from what might be the highest point in the Silver Ridge Peaks map. What a climb! But man, what a view. Those clouds were roiling through the valley. You have to see it in motion. Beautiful


[Linked Image]


A moose taken with the .300

[Linked Image]


In both games, the keys to a successful harvest are proper ammunition and placement. Here's a perfect shot, taken with a .22 on a drake paddling on the pond. Dead center. Literally, a sitting duck.

[Linked Image]


Attached Files Grizzly300.jpgHighAltitude.jpgMooseDown.jpgMallardHeartLungShot.jpg

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#4619773 - 02/02/23 01:59 PM Re: Way of the Wild [Re: DBond]  
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For fishing, I think part of that is what you're fishing for. Walleye aren't gonna bite any fly fishing lure on the surface. You need to get the bait down on the bottom where they hang out at.
Then again, that depends on why you're fishing. Fly fishing is a bit more fun, but man do walleye taste good.

#4619774 - 02/02/23 02:08 PM Re: Way of the Wild [Re: DBond]  
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Good point, and probably why I don't fish for them. Same with catfish, or any fish that needs bait to catch. Like flounder fishing. I can't stand it. Bottom-bumping, drift fishing with bait on spreader rigs just ain't my cuppa. I need artificials and casting to keep me interested. The only real exception is shark. Chumming and drifting with cut bait. But those are sharks!

Everything else I fish for is with lures. Some trolling, like for tuna or marlin, but mostly cast fishing. that's what I like.


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#4619861 - 02/03/23 01:21 PM Re: Way of the Wild [Re: DBond]  
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Actually, my reply misses the point, it's not that walleye require bait, but that they don't hit on flies. You can still catch 'em on lures, but down deep generally. Anyway, While I used flies as the extreme example to make my point, it's artificials that are the real point. I've never been all that keen on deep fishing. Lake trout, drum, wreck fishing off the coast. I'm more of a trout or bass fisherman in fresh water. And then again, I catch and release, as I tell my son, to ensure the fishery for his grandchildren.

Back to the hunting... OK, not that fast.... there's also a Call of the WIld: Angler put out by the same company as the hunting game.

OK, back to the hunting for realz this time. Yesterday I hunted several maps, and had great luck with whitetails on Layton Lake reserve. There are achievements for harvesting 50 examples of each of the many animals, all the ones that were in the original release anyway. "Whitetail Hunter" is the one I want and I must be closing in by now. After spending about a half hour zipping around the reserve on the ATV to unlock a few more outposts, I got down to the hunting, fast travelling to a spot to the west of a likely looking lake, and then stalking toward it, in to the wind. Whitetails were out in full force, and as I slowly made my way to the water I spotted a group of them across the lake. Using the binoculars, I picked out the one with the best looking rack and took the shot with the .308 from 256 yards. Good shot, and he went down after a couple of steps.

He was on the far side of the lake and I had to go the long way around to get to him, but did so very slowly and quietly, as I could see more deer in the area. I started crawling within 100 yards so that I wouldn't spook the deer now drinking further along the shore.

My view as I crawled up, bow in hand in anticipation of the next shot. Nice buck, 14-pointer!


[Linked Image]


After harvesting that buck, I kept crawling and got in a good position, when the deer finished drinking and turned to head back to their forest lair. I popped up and took a shot. I don't hunt does/females really, but I will with a bow, since it's more difficult to get a good shot, so I take the bird in hand approach, take what I can get. You can see her friends to the left, including a young buck. The sight is a rangefinder, called a Brightsight. You place the red dot over the target and hit E, which locks in the range, and then place the green dot which now appears on the spot you want to target. Simple and accurate. I feel very confident anywhere inside 90 yards. The white marks on the ground are the highlights for tracks. Bow is the 65-pound peak draw, compound Orpheus, firing 420-grain broadheads. I'm closing in on the required bow weapons score to buy the Hawk Edge 70, and along he way I'll unlock the 300gr small game and 600gr big game broadheads. Strangely I can buy tracer arrows in these weights, but not the standard broadheads. Tracer arrows are not like traditional tracer rounds, tracing the path. They emit a flashing red beacon to help locate game in dense brush and high grass.


[Linked Image]

Attached Files ConfirmTrophy.jpgBowShotLL.jpg

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#4619959 - 02/04/23 07:08 PM Re: Way of the Wild [Re: DBond]  
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I don't think I could play such a hunting focused game though it would be great if that level detail and mechanics could be brought to an open world survival game.

#4620014 - 02/05/23 05:34 PM Re: Way of the Wild [Re: DBond]  
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Yeah, you're right Crane. Having to harvest game in order to feed yourself to survive using mechanics like these. Use the wrong cartridge, or hit the wrong spot and you might spoil a good deal of the potential sustenance you get. And if ammunition is precious, it would put a premium making the most of your opportunities. Taking large, healthy animals in the cleanest way possible. Bow hunting would rise in appeal because you can often recover the arrow. I would add the need to get it back to camp, dragging it, or lashing it to your vehicle to get it back. Like you said, in a survival game it would give this cool hunting in small doses, just one of your activities, instead of the only activity like in these two games I'm playing.

I caved again and picked up the New England Mountains reserve DLC. I wanted to wait for a sale to feel smart, but I now had plenty of time on each reserve I do have, aside from maybe the savanna and Siberia, where I've done a few hours at least on each, but so far I prefer more of a forest and farmland sort of set up. Growing up in New Jersey and spending my youth hunting in northeastern Pennsylvania made me think that the New England map would be the closest match. And it is, on the southern half of the map There's a river valley that bisects the map east to west, and south of this line it feels a lot like the terrain I've hunted, Bradford and Sullivan counties in NE PA, if anyone is familiar with the region. Private land near Endless Mountains State Park, along the upper end of the Susquehanna River. Sort of sitting in the center of the Poconos and Catskills.

The land in the reserve lacks the populations, sparse as it is, and the dairy farms that dot the area. And the soil isn't full of clay haha. But otherwise it really is a close match and this is already one of my favorite reserves. The mountains as we call them in the east are really more like ridges. Rounded across the crest and running a long distance along the spine. What geologists call a dissected plateau. The way the rivers 'cut' the land looks great too, just as it was when I hunted. So this map feels like home. North of the river valley the terrain is heavier and more rugged, more like Vermont or Maine. This reserve is very good for whitetail hunting, Has quite a few class 1 small game, like 'coons, cottontails, bob-whites, ringnecks, ducks and turkey. Well, coons are class 2. Also has bobcats, coyotes, red and gray fox. Black bears and moose are the big game in the preserve. So a nice mix, and the first reserve where I feel like I want to carry a shotgun.

I caved again and bought the Duck and Cover DLC for four bucks to get the 20ga semi-auto and birdshot and slugs. I have a 12-ga over/under but not the score to unlock birdshot or slugs. Just buckshot, so it is slow going gaining that mastery. Buying Duck and Cover just gives that kit for 'free' and now I can use that 20ga for everything from rabbits, pheasant and duck to deer. Only holds 3 rounds. Must have a magazine plug dammit. They'll probably sell a DLC to give you two more shells.

This shot really feels like the region I'm talking about, maybe if those hills in the background were one contiguous thing. It's too early in the season to feel like buck season really, this is like late September judging by the foliage. But it would have been nice to hunt deer in a light jacket instead of foot-deep snow, so here I get to head out when the weather is still nice smile


[Linked Image]

Attached Files SuilivanCounty.jpg

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