Location, Location, Location

[Tom H]

I've seen videos of new players who have lost track of their traps and have personally experienced the same annoying problem, that of being unable to locate a trap.

When we move around much in an area where we've laid a trap and lose track of its location our only solution is to explore the entire area and, hopefully, find it again. It would be very helpful if we could choose to enter the area near the trap, as opposed to always/only entering at the last place we exited.

[MrMotorhead]

This could be a tricky problem.  There could be several traps per tile.  I encounter this problem when laying snares for birds in berry bushes.  I solved this problem by only laying several traps near each other and moving several tiles away before placing another cluster.

It would be very easy to lose a trap inside spruce infested terrain as well, when doing this I always try and place it near a landmark.

Seems like there is some code for this type of event though, when doing the advanced adventures game course, the task completed upon zooming into a tile where prey was caught in a trap and it wasn't visible to my character immediately upon entering.

[raredragon]

i just draw a massive arrow using dropped branches

[Tom H]

There's a guy I watch, a new player, who makes videos of Unreal World who simply gives up on finding the traps again. As a matter of user-friendliness, I think the ability to choose to zero in on traps would be a good option.

For instance, when I run across fox tracks, I put down a paw-board trap. If I mistakenly wander from the trap's vicinity before going to the strategic map, when I return I will have to search for the trap. New players learn this the hard way and it could put them off the game. 

[PALU]

If a "zoom in to zoom point" functionality was added there would likely be max one one per tile (while a list could be implemented, it's doubtful if it would be that useful, and it would be a pain to have to go through the list when there's only one point in it). If a player placed multiple traps within the tile, the player would have to place them in a manner that they'd be able to memorize a path between them (or place them such that the next one is visible from the previous one).

Note that I don't want to be zoomed in right beside a bear trap with my back turned... Nor do I want the dog, on the tile to the east of my character, to zoom in next to the trap.

[JP_Finn]

Like Palu, I don’t want to get dropped right next to a trap either.

There’s strong Pro like Tom says to ease new players into the game. But that’s also not helping new players on “paying attention” to their location, where their traps and belongings are.

[Tom H]

I was thinking more along the lines of always being placed due north of the last trap that was placed, not necessarily as close as JP_Finn and Palu show concern about.

[JP_Finn]

Issue with fixed re-entry in direction X: if the trap is on Zoom In area border, the fixed entry “distance X, direction Y” might force the character to enter on neighboring Wilderness Map area. That might not even be possible, depending how the ‘zoom in — zoom out’ is coded.
Entering the character toward center of the area, facing to closest trap might help.

But! That still wouldn’t help with the difficult of finding wide spread traps in heavy vegetation (e.g. spruce mire) areas. Might see one or two of Z amount of traps in that area. But looking for or... memorizing where the traps are would still work the best.

[JP_Finn]

As an alternative, I would feel like a characters could remember where their traps are.
Just like other fixed world structures: log buildings, shelters, etc are remembered and shown in the grayed out area of the screen; display set&found traps in the grayed out, memorized areas.
Only show them in set mode, don’t show them triggered, don’t show any animals on them. Until seen again.
“I remember setting a trap behind those spruces”

[MrMotorhead]

Something that might help is a way for our characters to see farther on the zoomed in map.  This would be a way to show things that are visible on the zoomed out map and represent them in the zoomed in view.

In this example we see our dog beyond the zoomed in range, if we had zoomed out we would have been able to see it on the zoomed out view.  So if it went into a spruce mire or somehow got blocked from view the icon would disappear.

This could also represent traps that lie within a certain range, even if they are not visible, but shown because the character remembers where they were placed.

[paulkorotoon]

Climbing a tree and zooming out usually helps me in such cases. Hovewer, I don't set many traps in one location, don't set them behind trees and don't go too far from then before zooming back to wilderness map.

Btw, as far as I recall, setting a lot of traps in a single location can make spirits angry, isn't it?

[PALU]

It seems setting a lot of traps in a short time can lower your standing with the spirits (training trap setting by setting and releasing traps), but I don't think it matters where the traps are set. In fact, trap fences are effective because the traps are in a limited area (connected by fences).

[Sami]

I've seen videos of new players who have lost track of their traps and have personally experienced the same annoying problem, that of being unable to locate a trap.

When we move around much in an area where we've laid a trap and lose track of its location our only solution is to explore the entire area and, hopefully, find it again. It would be very helpful if we could choose to enter the area near the trap, as opposed to always/only entering at the last place we exited.

But doesn’t it also work so that if you zoom out and nearby the trap, the next time you zoom in on that wilderness tile you will be placed back there? That’s the existing method you could use, but yes of course you have to remember to exit the trap site like that deliberately.

There are several difficulties and cons, discussed already in this thread, to always placing character near the traps when there are such on the zoomed-in map. The logic would be pain to make, given there are lots of trap, and some players specifically prefer to enter back where their exited. With a change new confusion would arise for some.

You can also try to select trapping at zoomed-in terrain locations which are easy to remember. IRL thing that works in the game too. Or you can add natural markers, such as felled trees and branches, like some suggested.

Also, if you scan the area walking in ever decreasing circles (or squares is easier in the game) that’s best way to locate something, rather than running around randomly. That’s also IRL thing that works in the game too.

[PALU]

Sometimes wildlife force you away from your traps, such as those pesky birds that force you to move further and further away in order to FINALLY be able to exit the tile (and if you chase away one another one moves in).

If you're reasonably experienced with the game you'll do that with some thoughts as how to find your way back to your traps, but if you're reasonably new and focused on getting out of the tile more than where you do it you can scramble your bearings for when you return later.