sometimes especially on new england, I'll wait for hours in game for animals to arrive at need zones. is this normal?
#animals not showing up at need zones
grizzled pilot
ruby saffron
Been having the same issue on several different maps
lone shoal
Yes, the time indicated in the icon is only the general time range for that type of need of that species, that does not guarantee that the animal uses it exactly when it starts, it can arrive 10 minutes before it ends, use it and leave...
However, each animal uses 5 areas of need, 2 for rest, 2 for food and 1 for drink throughout the 24 hours of the day, if some of the areas are not unlocked then the animal will have to cover a lot of ground and will be late for the schedule in which it starts
amber mantle
@lone shoal I didn't know not having some of the zones unlocked would slow them down. Thanks for that tip. Very helpful. Definitely going to make sure I find more zones. I usually try to find all drink zones for sure but randomly find the feed zones. Definitely going to use this advice
mild agate
I don't have all my zones unlocked and it's never slowed mine down. I show up 30 or more minutes after and they're all there
lone shoal
It is not necessary to have all the zones, just to have passed through the area at least once for the animal's spawn point to activate and start using zones, if you have already selected the animal once using that need zone every time you relog the game the animal will be there at that time since its spawn point moves, but if you arrive a few minutes before it activates then the animal will be in another unlocked need zone or its default spawn point and when the time changes it will start moving in the address of the need zone in which you are waiting...
This varies for each species and each map, if there are predators on the map then if the animal is moving towards the area and on the way it crosses a predator it will flee, once its "fleeing" status is over it will resume its path towards the zone, that lengthens the waiting processes a lot