Small critters like beavers shouldn't be so vicious

I’ve ended up losing a character I was doing an island challenge to because of a beaver that suddenly decided to attack me in the middle of an ocean, and its not the first time i’ve had problems with overzealous rodents (excluding rats).
Now I live in canada and I’m fully aware of how much damage those things can do if they want to (they eat trees for crying out loud), however typically speaking they are incredibly timid and will only rarely even let themselves be seen, let alone get close. I could understand maybe if it was being territorial, but there’s no reason for it to actively seek out players to kill, especially in the middle of the damn ocean. They’re herbivores, not carnivores after all. Even larger carnivorous creatures like wolves or coyotes are very cowardly and only go after weakened prey, not fully healthy grown humans, since even if they win the fight their injuries could still kill.
So i’m thinking the AI could really use some work with how smaller animals react to players, or at least add something like a “beaver dam” structure in the map for it to make sense for them being so agressive.

I think, given that they are “infected” (or better “parasitized”) as well, they do (and also should) show the same or at least similar symptoms that humans do (increased violence, reduced fear, …).

Beavers are crazy aggressive in CDDA. And they’re not really mutated or anything, so they probably should act more like RL beavers and flee like most in game wildlife.

Usually coyotes don’t attack you in CDDA unless you’re wounded. Bears are reasonably close to real life as well, just stay away from them and they don’t pursue. But beavers? Those little bastards are apparently Moose Shamans, because they channel the unstoppable fury of their hooved master and charge you like berserkers. I still remember one character sleeping in their VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER, and waking up to find a furious beaver waiting for him. And when he stepped out to deal with the furry intruder, a large mole bushwhacked him.
Seriously, though, they should be toned down a bit. They go from zero to murder too quickly.

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My god. Someone was attacked in the ocean? That was premeditated By the beaver. There’s no other way.

If the effects are similar to humans than a portion might act as aggressive as zombies but the rest should behave normally to normal animals.

I’d assume that if (based on the design document) 3/4 of all humans more or less turned feral for a bit and most turned back to “normal” behavior afterwards, the same would apply to beavers (or any animal), just delayed / shifted in time.
As with any living being it affects/infects, the blob seems to favor or directly cause aggressiveness and other irrational behavior, as seen with a lot of the critters in game.
Since beavers can have aggressive moments, the blob might provokes this response more often than usual.

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One problem form a lore prepective is that if small critters are so agressive there aren’t gonna be any left a month after the cataclysm. Even if the zombies ignored them when they attack mutants and normal animals sure don’t and would just tear them to ribbons.

we’re talking about beavers specifically.

Same point applies. If they are this aggressive than after a month they would all be (un)dead as they attack anything bigger than them and get killed as a result.

I haven’t tested or documented it before, but I’ve had at least one experience where I encountered beavers and they kept their distance, but then after I smashed a young tree in their vicinity, they aggroed on me and stayed aggro until I killed them. There may be some action or threshold that causes them to trigger and consider you a threat.

I can asure you keyboard cowboys/girls that beavers don’t want you near them. Even with all the drunken morons in my area where beavers are common. Short of chasing one or stepping directing on it or its home, you will not be attacked unless it has rabies. I have beavers down my street in a pond and several rivers near me with them as well. They waddle like hell away when you see them…or rather they see you.