The Animal is a level 2 Monster that will wander aimlessly until it spots a player or is provoked. It's a flesh-toned, 6 legged creature with a deformed screaming face. When triggered, it begins flailing and running chaotically, damaging anything in its path, making it a big threat to fragile valuables.
While mostly harmless on its own due to very low damage, it can still become a problem if aggravated near a more dangerous enemy, as it has the ability to knock over players.
Detailed AI[]
The Animal initially starts in the Roaming phase, where he moves around randomly within the level; if it hears a noise, it will enter the Investigate phase, pathfinding to the source of the noise and pausing briefly before returning to its Roaming phase.
The Animal can spot crouched/hidden players faster than most other enemies, being able to spot crouched players in 1.25 seconds instead of 2.5, and hiding players in 2 seconds instead of 5. Upon spotting a player, after a brief reaction animation (where it raises its middle legs and makes a groaning noise), it will enter the Chase phase, where it continuously attempts to pathfind to the player for 10 seconds. If it gets within 3 units of the target player during the Chase phase, it will enter the Wreak Havoc state, otherwise it will enter the Leave state when the Chase state ends.
In its Wreak Havoc phase, the Animal will move around randomly in the target player's room while kicking its legs around, knocking back and damaging any valuables it hits, as well as players (dealing 2 damage). This phase lasts for 20 seconds, after which it also enters the Leave state.
In its Leave state, it will choose a random location faraway from all players, and pathfind to that point, ignoring all noise or vision while moving to that point. Once it reaches that point, it re-enters its Roaming state.
Tips[]
- If two or more players grab it, it becomes stunned and can be picked up and slammed.
- It can be stunned by being struck with any Valuable, regardless of size, making it an easy kill when isolated.
- If player wants to slam the Animal with a Valuable while it's aggravated, they should do this from above, as if they try to hit the Animal from the sides it's very likely that it will just knock out player's valuable far away without the Animal receiving any damage.
- Ensure that you hide on a higher level or beneath a large piece of furniture, as this will protect you from any risk of getting damaged if it comes near and tries to trample you.
- The Animal will occasionally collide with objects around the map, damaging itself in the process.
- The Animal can trample Gnomes that they walk over, instantly killing them.
- Their flailing while provoked can also potentially damage other monsters as well, even other Animals. Beware of this if dealing with an Apex Predator or Elsa, as the animal's flailing can knock them over, and they'll take it out on the nearest semibot as a result.
- If you are attacked by an Animal, it's best to stay in a different room than the cart(s) or any big valuables, as the Animal will stay in your room while flailing around.
- The animal is most dangerous to freshly-revived semibots, as such semibots can still be one-hit by anything, including the Animal. Make sure freshly-revived semibots receive at least one or two bursts of health from a healthier semibot if you know an animal is on the map.