Why do Cave lions not hunt in prides?
Cave lions and other paleolithic lion species hunted in prides like modern lions and were the most widespread animal species next to ancient man. Why do all the lions in the game hunt solo?
I think that people would agree that facing a pride of lions would have been the scariest thing to come up against in game, and would be extremely challenging and fun, especially in survival mode. It would require you to keep in mind where specific prides live, and plan accordingly of how to survive among pack hunting killing machines. In north america where saber toothed cats and lions overlapped, the lions actually pushed smilodon fatalis south, meaning that they must have interacted. I think that watching a pride of lions fight a saber tooth would be amazing to watch in game, especially if there was some sort specific animation.
The balance of power shifting between these two species of cat would be really fantastic, as there would now be another fiercer predator in Oros. It wouldn't just be a giant tamable creature, it would be a team of intelligent animals working as a team, another parallel to the Wenja, Udam and Izilla tribes. This would make cave lions more of a force to be reckoned with, and they could also hunt larger species of animals together, such as woolly rhino, tall elk, and even smaller mammoths.
I think this could be an easy fix, as the pack hunting is already in the game with the dire wolf. A small, historically acurate change that I believe would make the game even more immersive and fun to play than it already is.
My answer would be "sometimes"
I was the only person who voted "no" to the poll, but only because there wasn't a "sometimes" option. While I absolutely love the idea of lions hunting in prides, they don't always hunt in prides. They hunt in prides when they take down larger animals for strength, and occasionally hunt in prides for smaller, swifter animals to confuse them.
So, in my opinion, if they were going to add this to an update, I would ask that the lions occasionally hunt in prides to take down large animals like Bears, Cave Bears, and Mammoths but I would suggest leaving the smaller animals to fend for themselves.
The reason I say this is because a large animal like a Cave Bear or Mammoth would present the same amount of danger as 2-3 lions, so if you want to hunt that mammoth, maybe you can wait until some lions take it down for you, then scare them off with fire and spears or take the risk and fight them, or take the risk and fight the mammoth yourself.
(Mammoth, Cave Bear, Bear = 2-3 lionesses). That way you can still hunt lions, jaguars, dholes, wolves, and leopards in their respective groups without worrying about other packs swooping in to make things difficult.
That's just my opinion, but I honestly do enjoy the idea. Su! Su!