Hey, I've been experimenting a bit with the traps, and also I read the wiki, and here are my suggestions about it:
1. Absence - I very dislike the necessity of not being around in the 75 tiles radius. I think it should be based more on the activity etc. If I live in the forest, definitely I should be able to catch a rabbit or squirrel on my yard, while sleeping or just being home.
Suggestions:
* For indoor mouse trap, it should just require to not being in the same room.
* Being indoor counting as not being in this 75 tiles radius (zombies included) for outoor traps.
* Non-binary distance counting for outdoor traps- just penalties to trap's strength based on the closest distance the player/zombie has been from the trap within the "counting hour" for each trap. For example "safe" distance could be 50 tiles, and -2 to trap's strength for each tile closer within the last hour.
* Sneaking could count as being 2 times farther than actual position, and just standing still and doing nothing, as even more.
* For the night animals, rabbit and squirrel, penalties are double (or more) for making loud noises (for example for being 30 meters "quietly" the penalty would be -20, but "loudly" -40).
* Ability to make traps "stronger" by dropping "safe" food in very close radius from the trap - animal is being more confident and easier to catch. I'm doing this with mouse traps in reality, and it's working good xD (no, I don't eat them )
A few another ideas
* Cheese in reality is not good bait for mice and rats, really. They definitely prefer meat, grains etc. Just saying
* Much greater chance for catch in the winter months, because food is scarse.
* No possibility of escaping from the trap, if the animal is already trapped. It's really crappy trap design if the trapped animal can escape. Or such possibility should be really very small, and canceled at all with for example 3 lvl of Trapping. Of course it doesn't prevent lured zombies from destroying the trap
* I don't know if it's mechanics for that already, but it would be nice if Trapping skill would lessened chance for losing the bait without catching animal, increase trap strength (the more advanced hunter, the better camouflaged are his traps, and more sensitive).
* Triggering traps by players and zombies, by just walking on the tile with the trap.
* Trapped animals not dead (except of mouse traps) - they are alive, and are making noises (at least just in the triggering moment) trying to escape, and luring zombies if they are able to hear that. Making them dead could require a little of time and some bladed weapon in the main equipment.
* Maybe some abundance mechanics like with Foraging and Fishing, with some Trapping level needed to get the info about abundance of animals in the zone. Maybe even separate abundance for each animal
* Variable loot. Not very much, because there are small animals. Just like fish are in 3 sizes. Or age categories it could be applied by their strength depending from actual season: spring - greater % of catching younger, smaller, but easier to catch animals. Summer - normal chance, adult animals. Autumn - no young animals, greater % chance of older, bigger, but more experienced (so harder to catch) animals. Winter - only "older" animals but much easier to catch because of scarcity of food in the nature
What do you think? (Yeah, I know most of my ideas is making the game easier, but I think the current Trapping mechanics are just unrealistically hard and frustrating - and it's like mere demo version of the fun part of the mini-game it could be, if someone could rely on the traps a little more)
