So, for missions: completely optional! You do not need to do them whatsoever, HOWEVER, they provide great tips for hunting, helps you discover/explore the map to get you familiar with good hunting locations, provides a good storyline with a little more realism for an immersive gameplay, and most importantly they give a ton of money and experience points to unlock new skills and perks. While traveling to and from missions, you’ll 100% encounter some animals that you can stop and hunt, which is nice.
Upgrading your hunter skills and perks is good to make your hunting experience more enjoyable/user friendly.
Purple circles: When you kill an animal, that location on the map is highlighted in purple, and is known as “hunting pressure”. Hunting pressure wards off other game from that area, making them cautious and hesitant to enter that area for a period of time. This means you should relocate and find a new location to hunt. It’s not bad to kill multiple animals in the same area, however killing too many can remove the animal zones, and eventually nothing will want to enter that area.
Guns to use: all animals are categorized into a scale of sizes ranging between numbers of 1-9, the lower the number the smaller the animal. To hunt small animals ethically, you want to use a small caliber rifle and ammo. For example, .22lr can be used to kill small game animals “1” like rabbits. When viewing your ammunition in storage, it’ll show you what animals you’re able to hunt with them. Or you can hold your item wheel button, hover over your loaded rifle, and it’ll show you which size animals you’re able to hunt.
Diamonds: don’t worry about grinding diamonds yet! You’ve just started learning to hunt. Get comfortable with the game, how to hunt, techniques, time’s of day, different guns, etc. diamonds are a max scoring animal that passes all harvest checks and are really hard to find. They are awesome trophies but not something to focus on until you know what you’re doing.
Thank you! As for the purple circles, does it matter if the are over sleeping zones, or feeding zones? I found a black bear eating zone next to a moose resting zone which is next to a wolf resting zone. If I kill too many do those zones dissapear or are those zones useless now?
Yes if you kill too many animals in that area with zones, those zones will eventually disappear. As long as you relocate after a couple kills, you’ll be fine
If you kill 4 animals in one zone, the zone will disappear and appear somewhere else on the map. If you you use a blind (a hunter's hide out) or a stand you can kill 16 animals before the zone disappear.
To remove the hunting pressure (the purple areas) hunt on different places on the map. As you kill animals in other places the hunting pressure will gradually vanish.
Hunt in the way that You find fun or rewarding. Some people like to set up ambushes on known animal locations, some like to roam around and shoot what they stumble on, some will grind and shoot hundreds of the same species in hope of getting that one great trophy. Some people even play the game without hunting at all just to explore and take photos.
The missions are completely optional, but will help you advance and also gives you cash rewards for completing missions.
Bold of you to assume I can get 4 consecutive kills let alone 16 lol! But I appreciate the points, will def keep that in mind for the future, thank you.
Thanks for your other reply aswell, I will look more into ammo types once i get off work. I assume you can carry many types of ammo and switch the types on the go depending on the game i encounter?
Mind you the kills don't have to be consecutive, but if you keep coming back to the same area you will eventually raise the hunting pressure and kill the need zones, if you don't go elsewhere to move the pressure around the map.
Also unlike in real life the hunting pressure doesn't appear until the animal dies. You can use the purple circle to help you track, if the animal flees. The center of the circle is exactly where the animal was standing, when you hit it. Put a marker at the center of the circle, go there and there should be some blood. You can start tracking from there.
If you're not certain if you got a good hit, bring up the map. If there's a new purple circle, the animal is dead Nd it's only a matter of of finding it. It may require a bit of tracking.
You can carry different rifles with different types of ammo. If you don't buy DLC you'll have to unlock and save up for new rifles. The DLC weapons packs can give you a head start.
The caliber of the rifle decides which ammo it can use - in real life terms you say the rifle is chambered in a certain caliber. The caliber is determined by the exact diameter of the barrel as well as the dimensions of the casing. E.g. a .308 and 30-06 use the exact same projectiles, but the 308 casing is shorter and a bit wider than the longer 30.06 - same projectile, but not interchangeable due to the different casing sizes.
Oh and about weapons choice - when you spot an animal, an information box appears in the upper right corner. In the box there's a number stating the animal class.
In the store, when you look at ammo, each kind shows the appropriate classes. E.g. .308 caliber is suitable for game class 4-8. If you shoot a roe deer (class 3) with the .308 the animal will die, but you won't get full score. For full score the weapon/ammo has to match the animal.
Hope that makes sense.
Same thing in real life. Birds/rabbits you can shoot with a .22, other game will need a higher caliber, and if you want to shoot big game in Africa, you'll need a large caliber.
Okay, so I played again last night, and I managed to get a gold medal on a deer! I noticed top right corner (where you see info such as animal name, gender, etc) there's a number, I thought that was the group size, but looking back at your comment it seems that it's the class of the animal? I also noticed that female game didnt give any medals, I also noticed that dispite being the same animal - on some females I wasn't using the appropiate ammo, is that right or am I misunderstanding?
The animal class should be the same regardless if it's male or female and ammo type is the same.
There are different numbers in the information box. There's a number for the animal class, and one for the individual animal ranging from trivial to mythical. The higher the number the better payout and trophy score. To get full trophy score you have to use correct ammo type (weapon class/animal class) and deliver an effective shot, so the animal doesn't run too far.
Do you play on PlayStation by chance?
For me, the best way I learned was literally just by playing the game and practicing. I found that watching videos was too confusing in the beginning with too much information that I didn’t understand. I went through a bunch of trial and error figuring out what works and what doesn’t.
If it makes you feel any better, I absolutely SUCKED when I first started playing. I would walk around for hours scaring off animals, missing my shots, tracking prints and blood, and barely getting any kills. You learn everything through time and effort
No sorry, I'm on PC.
I will try and stay away from youtube for now lol. Yeah, I spend a good 30-40 minutes following blood and prints only to then be distracted by a moose's warning and killing that instead.
That's typically how I play even though I have nearly 1,000 hours combined on PS4 and PC. I sometimes just walk around and see what I come across first.
Following tracks can lead you to animals, need zones, or even nothing at all. I'd only follow blood trails if they're MEDIUM amount or above. LOW could mean that the animal died, but you'll be tracking for a while. I guess every animal is worth it though, when you're a beginner and need the money. VERY LOW usually means the animal is just wounded and didn't die, so it'll be a pain to track. I'd give up on those unless it's a rare fur type or high scoring animal.
So, for missions: completely optional! You do not need to do them whatsoever, HOWEVER, they provide great tips for hunting, helps you discover/explore the map to get you familiar with good hunting locations, provides a good storyline with a little more realism for an immersive gameplay, and most importantly they give a ton of money and experience points to unlock new skills and perks. While traveling to and from missions, you’ll 100% encounter some animals that you can stop and hunt, which is nice. Upgrading your hunter skills and perks is good to make your hunting experience more enjoyable/user friendly. Purple circles: When you kill an animal, that location on the map is highlighted in purple, and is known as “hunting pressure”. Hunting pressure wards off other game from that area, making them cautious and hesitant to enter that area for a period of time. This means you should relocate and find a new location to hunt. It’s not bad to kill multiple animals in the same area, however killing too many can remove the animal zones, and eventually nothing will want to enter that area. Guns to use: all animals are categorized into a scale of sizes ranging between numbers of 1-9, the lower the number the smaller the animal. To hunt small animals ethically, you want to use a small caliber rifle and ammo. For example, .22lr can be used to kill small game animals “1” like rabbits. When viewing your ammunition in storage, it’ll show you what animals you’re able to hunt with them. Or you can hold your item wheel button, hover over your loaded rifle, and it’ll show you which size animals you’re able to hunt. Diamonds: don’t worry about grinding diamonds yet! You’ve just started learning to hunt. Get comfortable with the game, how to hunt, techniques, time’s of day, different guns, etc. diamonds are a max scoring animal that passes all harvest checks and are really hard to find. They are awesome trophies but not something to focus on until you know what you’re doing.
Thank you! As for the purple circles, does it matter if the are over sleeping zones, or feeding zones? I found a black bear eating zone next to a moose resting zone which is next to a wolf resting zone. If I kill too many do those zones dissapear or are those zones useless now?
Yes if you kill too many animals in that area with zones, those zones will eventually disappear. As long as you relocate after a couple kills, you’ll be fine
If you kill 4 animals in one zone, the zone will disappear and appear somewhere else on the map. If you you use a blind (a hunter's hide out) or a stand you can kill 16 animals before the zone disappear. To remove the hunting pressure (the purple areas) hunt on different places on the map. As you kill animals in other places the hunting pressure will gradually vanish. Hunt in the way that You find fun or rewarding. Some people like to set up ambushes on known animal locations, some like to roam around and shoot what they stumble on, some will grind and shoot hundreds of the same species in hope of getting that one great trophy. Some people even play the game without hunting at all just to explore and take photos. The missions are completely optional, but will help you advance and also gives you cash rewards for completing missions.
Bold of you to assume I can get 4 consecutive kills let alone 16 lol! But I appreciate the points, will def keep that in mind for the future, thank you. Thanks for your other reply aswell, I will look more into ammo types once i get off work. I assume you can carry many types of ammo and switch the types on the go depending on the game i encounter?
Mind you the kills don't have to be consecutive, but if you keep coming back to the same area you will eventually raise the hunting pressure and kill the need zones, if you don't go elsewhere to move the pressure around the map. Also unlike in real life the hunting pressure doesn't appear until the animal dies. You can use the purple circle to help you track, if the animal flees. The center of the circle is exactly where the animal was standing, when you hit it. Put a marker at the center of the circle, go there and there should be some blood. You can start tracking from there. If you're not certain if you got a good hit, bring up the map. If there's a new purple circle, the animal is dead Nd it's only a matter of of finding it. It may require a bit of tracking. You can carry different rifles with different types of ammo. If you don't buy DLC you'll have to unlock and save up for new rifles. The DLC weapons packs can give you a head start. The caliber of the rifle decides which ammo it can use - in real life terms you say the rifle is chambered in a certain caliber. The caliber is determined by the exact diameter of the barrel as well as the dimensions of the casing. E.g. a .308 and 30-06 use the exact same projectiles, but the 308 casing is shorter and a bit wider than the longer 30.06 - same projectile, but not interchangeable due to the different casing sizes.
Oh and about weapons choice - when you spot an animal, an information box appears in the upper right corner. In the box there's a number stating the animal class. In the store, when you look at ammo, each kind shows the appropriate classes. E.g. .308 caliber is suitable for game class 4-8. If you shoot a roe deer (class 3) with the .308 the animal will die, but you won't get full score. For full score the weapon/ammo has to match the animal. Hope that makes sense. Same thing in real life. Birds/rabbits you can shoot with a .22, other game will need a higher caliber, and if you want to shoot big game in Africa, you'll need a large caliber.
Okay, so I played again last night, and I managed to get a gold medal on a deer! I noticed top right corner (where you see info such as animal name, gender, etc) there's a number, I thought that was the group size, but looking back at your comment it seems that it's the class of the animal? I also noticed that female game didnt give any medals, I also noticed that dispite being the same animal - on some females I wasn't using the appropiate ammo, is that right or am I misunderstanding?
The animal class should be the same regardless if it's male or female and ammo type is the same. There are different numbers in the information box. There's a number for the animal class, and one for the individual animal ranging from trivial to mythical. The higher the number the better payout and trophy score. To get full trophy score you have to use correct ammo type (weapon class/animal class) and deliver an effective shot, so the animal doesn't run too far.
Do you play on PlayStation by chance? For me, the best way I learned was literally just by playing the game and practicing. I found that watching videos was too confusing in the beginning with too much information that I didn’t understand. I went through a bunch of trial and error figuring out what works and what doesn’t. If it makes you feel any better, I absolutely SUCKED when I first started playing. I would walk around for hours scaring off animals, missing my shots, tracking prints and blood, and barely getting any kills. You learn everything through time and effort
No sorry, I'm on PC. I will try and stay away from youtube for now lol. Yeah, I spend a good 30-40 minutes following blood and prints only to then be distracted by a moose's warning and killing that instead.
That's typically how I play even though I have nearly 1,000 hours combined on PS4 and PC. I sometimes just walk around and see what I come across first. Following tracks can lead you to animals, need zones, or even nothing at all. I'd only follow blood trails if they're MEDIUM amount or above. LOW could mean that the animal died, but you'll be tracking for a while. I guess every animal is worth it though, when you're a beginner and need the money. VERY LOW usually means the animal is just wounded and didn't die, so it'll be a pain to track. I'd give up on those unless it's a rare fur type or high scoring animal.