Enemies seem to despawn if you leave an area and come back.

Question

I've noticed this in two games now, where there are spitters guarding coal nodes (different nodes in different games).  I left to go get more rebar, came back, and the spitters were gone.  I think I actually despawned a fire-spitter this way in another area, as well.

Comments

Same here. I even had it happen after dying against a large stinger + alpha and reloading. It feels pretty weird to hit some (welcome ) resistance just to have it never exist.

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I also had this - I had just unlocked the coal milestone and there were two spitters guarding the coal deposit. I nearly died, so left the area and just thought I would do coal much much later. However, when I was looking for power slugs, I noticed that the spitters were no longer in the area.

I then set up a miner and three coal generators and doubled my power output so easily. The monsters should still have been there, to make this more of an issue. Don't get me wrong, it hasn't spoiled my enjoyment of the game, but potentially I have progressed a lot easier than I should have been able to - I don't even have the rebar gun yet!

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I have noticed this issue several times and tried to replicate it, in order to understand what was happening.

Upon first entering an area, creatures spawn normally at all spawn points.  Once you move away far enough for them to disappear, the background engine is suppose to keep note of them and re-spawn them upon return to render distance.  I can't tell if the bug is the engine not noting them properly upon de-spawn or re-spawn, but either way, they are gone.  

This works on any roving ground creature (not sure about the giant giraffe things), but it does not affect the flying crab, bug plants, or gas plants.  It has made collecting enough organs and carapaces difficult.  I've actually gone on specific hunting trips to get them before they disappear.

I hope this helps the Dev team ID and eliminate the bug.  I like having to fight the creatures, and them just disappearing takes away an important element of the game.