Fleas are tiny flightless insects capable of jumping long distances. They feed on the blood of most warm-blooded animals.
An active den's flea load is displayed in the lower-right corner of the Pack Stats panel.
In WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition, fleas are a common and unavoidable pest encountered while the pack's pups of the year are reliant on den sites and everyone is living in close quarters or spending time in cramped spaces where they may thrive. Although they lack a visible entity due to their miniscule size, their presence is indicated in the lower-right corner of the Pack Info interface after the pack's newest litter has been born, as well as manifesting as a physical itch to scratch later on during the most advanced stages of infestation.
Fleas will gradually have an effect on the player-wolf, their mate and their young pups. Following the release of the 2.0.0 Saga update, yearlings and subordinate adults are all equally affected as the pack grows in numbers over time, further supplying the pests with plentiful hosts for breeding with which to multiply and spread.
Without pups, or with pups and living at a rendezvous site or else living nomadically without an active den site, fleas are inactive.In WolfQuest: Classic, fleas are not present as an irritable pest.
In Legacy versions of WolfQuest, fleas are not present.
Dens[]
In the Anniversary Edition, after the pups have emerged from the den's interior for the first time in spring, the game will begin to keep track of how much time pups spend sheltering inside the den. The more time that is spent sheltering inside, the more quickly the flea load will increase. It will continue to increase at a slower rate while the litter and their pack spend time together outside, but this will not halt their spread owing to wolf packs and therefore packmates living in close quarters.
For every 1½ hour (90 minutes) spent inside, the flea load meter will increment by 1% percent. Regardless of spending time inside, the flea load will always increase at a rate of 1% every 3 hours. For each full uninterrupted sleep cycle where time is advanced by 8 hours, the active site's flea load will be incremented by 1% for every 80 simulated in-game minutes spent inside the den. A full nap inside of the den will increment flea load by 6%.[pending re-validation]
Infestation Levels[]
In the Anniversary Edition, no matter which site the player chooses, all dens begin with a "mild" infestation.
- Between 0% - 40%, the site's load is labelled Mild.
- Between 41% - 60%, the site's load is labelled Irritating.
- Between 61% - 90%, the site's load is labelled Severe.
- Between 91% - 100%, the site's load is labelled Unbearable.
While there is a flea load, the player's wolf will have a random chance of suffering through a brief bout of itchiness, indicated by the avatar forcibly being stopped and rendered immobile to give itself a quick scratch with one of its hind legs. The higher the flea load, the more likely the pack as a whole is to experience one of these disruptive bouts of itchiness, and the more likely it will be to cause interruptions while tracking prey, during hunts, while travelling, while engaged in conflict, while dealing with raiding competitors and facing off against pup predators in crucial life-or-death situations.
Over time, the player may receive two notifications to alert them of the status of their flea infestation. The first is shown after an infestation reaches 30% and serves to inform the player about the pests' growing presence. As time progresses and the days pass, the second notification will appear at 50% and serves as a warning to indicate the flea population is growing. These notifications may be skipped if the player has disabled common notifications.
The peak of an infestation will trigger a forced relocation subquest. If the player is still inside the den when the Flea load reaches 100%, they are not automatically booted outside and therefore will not be immediately evicted, and will still be allowed to stay inside indefinitely or sleep as many times as they want. It is only until they voluntarily leave the den that it remains the pack's active home site. Once the player's wolf exits the interior space of a den site while it is fully infested, the game will then force the player into the Move to a New Den subquest and boot out the pack into a nomadic state.
Difficulty may be another contributing factor.[pending further research]
It is a very bad idea to idle inside of the den. While doing so guarantees safety and prevents predators from attacking the pups within for as long as they do not leave its safety, the time spent inside of the den will cause the flea load to rise at a steady pace until it maxes out. Upon exiting the den, being maxed out will force the pack into a nomadic state.
Culling[]
In the Anniversary Edition, it is not possible to cull flea populations. They proliferate inside the cramped conditions of a den, thus the player-wolf may want to reduce the amount of time themselves, their pups, and their packmates spend sheltering inside of it as much as possible to the point where they're only using the den to stay safe from predators. Sleeping outside, while only possible when near the den if not nomadic and triggered by the player, may help to slow the flea load.
Flea load will very occasionally reduce if the den is used sparingly for shelter, but it does not happen often and it is almost unnoticeable when it does occur. These decreases are short-lived and the pesky population will steadily rise again over time. It's very unreliable and so should not be depended upon, particularly during the later stages of infestation.
It is not easy to keep the pups outside at all times. The litter will still autonomously enter the den at low wakefulness to sleep even without being commanded to go home.
Rendezvous Sites[]
In the Anniversary Edition, once the pups reach 15lbs and have transitioned into their two-month-old forms, they will lose their dependency on den sites and the pack will have to move to one of many rendezvous sites found throughout their active game world's world map. From this point forward, fleas are no longer considered a concern and flea load disappears and is completely removed from the Pack Info interface. The same applies while nomadic. In fact, for as long as a pack remains homeless, those with one-month-old pups won't have to contend with fleas at all.
Choosing a rendezvous site will always be required in order to advance the game when pups are approaching 25 lbs.
Gallery[]
Anniversary Edition Gallery
Contributions for Fleas in the Anniversary Edition are welcome in this gallery!
? button in pack info.
.png "WQ-AE pack-info flea-load (pre-saga).png (708 KB)")
Trivia[]
Anniversary Edition Trivia
- A common misconception is that fleas are tied to sickness. While that may apply in real life, it does not apply to WolfQuest.
- In-game flea load does not contribute to pup illnesses.
- In-game illness is tied to genetic factors.
- Packs with 0 pups still gain flea load, however it increases far more slowly over time, even with occasional player-wolf entry into the den. This raises the question of whether these pests are affected by litter size.
- By this theory, flea load will accumulate faster with more pups, but will be slower to accumulate with less pups.
- Based on idle animations, fleas may or may not be an extremely minor pest year-round for animations featuring brief non-irritated and non-interruptive scratching.
References & External Links[]
| Events | ||
|---|---|---|
| Important | Flooding • Lost Pup • Sickness | |
| Passive | Carcass Spawns • Collaring • Fires • Fishing • Unknown Fate | |
| MIscellaneous | Fleas • Random Events | |
| Survival | ||
|---|---|---|
| Vitals & Senses | Health (disease, injury) • Energy or Stamina (rest) • Hunger (sustenance) • Wakefulness (sleep) • Scents (view, spores, posts) • Wolf Badge | |
| Skills & Stats | Affinity • Attributes • Commands • Experience (elder, perks, ranks) • Hunting (scavenging) • Personality | |
| Game Modes | Campaign • Single-player • Multiplayer • Ironwolf | |
| Sustenance | Carcasses • Hydration | |
| Territory | Den sites • Pack (territory) • Rendezvous sites • Wolves • Wolf Packs • Wolf territories | |
| Environment | Time • Vegetation • Weather | |
| Interfaces | Compass • Heads-Up Display • Map (world map) • Pack Info • Pack Stats • Tutorial | |
