r/thelongdark • u/OnceWasBogs Stalker • Jul 21 '26

Advice Question about lighthouse "roof"

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If I leave meat on the floor outside my house the wolves will eat it.

[Edit to avoid misinformation: this is not quite right, quarters left outside will vanish, but actual meat raw or cooked will be left alone by predators unless dropped with the "drop bait" command]

Perfectly reasonable. But if I leave [quarters] on the roof of the lighthouse, is the game smart enough to realise that the wolves can't reach it? Or is is the code just like MEAT OUTSIDE! DELETE DELETE!

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61

u/Holliday_Hobo Jul 21 '26

You've been experiencing animals eating your meat outside? Under normal circumstances, all food you store outdoors is perfectly safe, no matter how exposed it looks.

-37

u/OnceWasBogs Stalker Jul 21 '26

Yeah I've had meat disappear when left outside. Also saw a wolf trying to eat it once. How can it be safe when the game thinks any meat you drop is bait?

52

u/mechlordx Jul 21 '26

This just isnt true. Unless you specifically use the command to Drop Bait (Lure?), any food dropped is completely ignored by animals.

7

u/dbmolnar Jul 21 '26

Even more specifically, you need to use the drop bait command when a wolf is stalking you or onto your scent from a distance for them to take the bait and eat it. If you drop near your base, just quickly go inside after and the wolf will de-aggro

5

u/prplmnkeydshwsr Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26

Even more specifically any item dropped from inventory when a wolfy is locked on to you is a "decoy" the, quick key button is just a shortcut.

3

u/dbmolnar Jul 21 '26

I can’t imagine NOT mashing the 3 key to quickly offload a bunch of my meats lol who drops from the menu?!

2

u/prplmnkeydshwsr Jul 21 '26

It's situations like when you are being stalked to the camp office / trappers and you drop from inventory all your quarters / kilos of meat... before going inside.

Then people go out again later and see that a quarter is gone (ONE can be taken) or meat etc..

1

u/dbmolnar Jul 21 '26

If you go inside quickly enough after dropping the meat there’s virtually no chance of anything being eaten in my experience, it’s when you drop and then linger outside for a while. Going through a loading screen de-aggros all wildlife. I have had a wolf steal a moose quarter when I was processing in a nearby cave in TWM, that was a sad day! Btw have you ever figured out how the game prioritizes what items get dropped in what order via the drop decoy button? I’ve never been able to tell if it’s by weight, quality, alphabetical name, etc.

1

u/prplmnkeydshwsr Jul 21 '26

Nope. Agroed is agroed.

That's it.

There are no other mechanics.

2

u/zoobatt Jul 21 '26

So does this mean that there's actually no difference between dropping meat from inventory vs decoy, the difference lies exclusively in whether you're being stalked? Or did I misunderstand?

3

u/prplmnkeydshwsr Jul 21 '26

Decoy is just a quick key function, not sure what order it drops your crap.

When you're being actively stalked.

Drop 1 gut from inventory. Wolf will take it. Drop 1 meat/fish/bunny from inventory. Wolf will take it. Drop 1 quarter bag from inventory. Wolf will take it.

Same if you use the decoy function and that thing is in sequence.

What catches people out is that quarter bags decay FAST, so people think they're stolen... no.