Hearing range?

[JP_Finn]

“You hear a thud from the north-east”

Closest traps of mine that way: about 800-900 meters away.
... none of the farm plots’ light lever traps were triggered. But a hare was stuck in a loop snare. Didn’t hear whimpering.
I tried scrounging the area between where I heard the “thud” and the triggered loop snare. No sign of anything to “thud”

What possible sound sources could there be?

Closest forester settlement is maybe 4km away, the other direction. Closest Kiesse area is at least 20-25km away, Reemi and Koivula even further.

[JEB Davis]

Could be a tree falling, a rock falling onto the soft ground, a large branch falling off a tree, or a Njerp lying down for a nap ;-)

[PALU]

As far as I've been able to determine, it's either a trap or an animal brought down by a bird of prey (although I guess a hunter might be able to do that as well now: at least I've found arrows fired by Njerps, but I don't know if they target birds).

[JP_Finn]

Usually when Njerps lay down, for a permanent nap, it’s more swearing then slump than a thud 

I didn’t consider trees falling, although woods are riddled with fallen trunks.

Njerps do target birds, they then roast them and the fats too. I’ve not witnessed them using bow&arrows on birds, but don’t see why not.

[Tom H]

IT's almost certainly an owl or other predator bird knocking down a kill. Sometimes you'll find a partially eaten carcass but its usually just feathers.

[JP_Finn]

IT's almost certainly an owl or other predator bird knocking down a kill. Sometimes you'll find a partially eaten carcass but its usually just feathers.

I’d expected to hear screeching or similar versus “thud”

But that’d make sense, cabin area has sizable black grouse population. And eagle owl are met at times too.

[PALU]

I don't think UrW trees fall spontaneously, and trees felled by woodsmen/Njerps are described as hearing a tree fall from <direction>.

[Ara D.]

Why would a predator screech at prey and alert it. No death from above flies on silent wings

[JEB Davis]

Could be a tree falling, a rock falling onto the soft ground, a large branch falling off a tree, or a Njerp lying down for a nap ;-)

Everything I suggested was just joking, hence the wink at the end  ;-)
I shouldn't have assumed most would get the jokes.
The times my character has heard “heard a thud from the (direction)” it was always a predator bird getting a kill.

[JP_Finn]

Ara, maybe I should’ve used “squeal” instead of screech to avoid confusion. It’s not the hunter to make noise. But the soon to be dead prey.

[Galgana]

The messages folder has an interesting file that will elucidate what's going on when certain messages fire:

Spoiler: show

 see: urw_msg.txt

Code: [Select]

.DO_TREECLIMB.(who)
[*:<npc_desc> climbs up into a tree.]
[HEAR:You hear branches rustling in the [IN_DIR:<npc_direction>].]

.DO_LAND.(who)
[*:<npc_desc> lands down.]
[HEAR:You hear rustle of wings from the [IN_DIR:<npc_direction>].]

.DO_FLY.(who)
[*:<npc_desc> flies up into the air.]
[HEAR:You hear rustle of wings from the [IN_DIR:<npc_direction>].]

.DO_DIVE.(who)
[*:{splash}<npc_desc> dives under the water.]
[HEAR:{splash}You hear a splash from the [IN_DIR:<npc_direction>].]


.DO_DROP_DOWN.(who)
[*:<npc_defdesc> drops down on the ground.]
[HEAR:You hear a thud from the [IN_DIR:<npc_direction>].]

[Labtop 215]

My guess is that a bird landed for some reason.  It doesn't have to be related to any prey, predator, or trap.  I've seen birds just land and make a thumping sound as far as the game is concerned.

[JP_Finn]

My guess is that a bird landed for some reason.  It doesn't have to be related to any prey, predator, or trap.  I've seen birds just land and make a thumping sound as far as the game is concerned.

That seems most feasible. Thanks Lab!