Glowstick rave party

[Headhanger]

Hi everyone. Just got the Penumbra pack on STEAM after playing the Overture demo. I'm loving it. The suspense, at first, made me doubt whether or not I was going to go back to playing the game any time soon. Especially when that dog padded right by me and I almost had a heart attack. Of course, after a good night's sleep (and fending off nightmares), I was resolved to return to this fantastic game.

It has already given me a load of ideas for building suspense for the Call of Cthulhu and Dark Heresy tabletop RPGs I run.

Anyway, I've only just got a radio and turned the power on (I'm trying to leave as few spoilers as possible) in Overture.

Possible spoilers follow
I found a use for this stinking beef jerky I'm carrying around. I laid a trail into a cargo container, hid, and then ambushed a dog when it went inside the container to follow the smell of the jerky.

I pushed a heavy metal crate in front of the door and now it's barking and growling at me while I laugh at it and bang on the side of the container with my hammer just to p' it off. Silly doggie... you no outsmart physicist.

A question arose when the same tactic had no effect on a second subject. The next time I tried to lure a dog into a container, it didn't even look at the jerky.

Was this intentional programming? Just a one-off bug perhaps? Or maybe some of these unfortunate looking mutts have had their noses rot off... they certainly can't smell me and I'm sure I've soiled myself at least once.
Spoilers end

Also: if I use the glowstick, does it have a limited lifetime? Since it looks like a chemical flare, does it stay lit forever? Or does its light get extinguished (or just hidden) when I put it away? I don't want to be walking around lit up like a Christmas tree when those dogs are sniffing me out.

Did I mention that this game rocks? The last time I was this scared was on The Cradle mission in Thief: Deadly Shadows. In fact, Overture has me more frightened than I was in any of the Thief games. Frictional should be very proud of that.

TL;DR: Can all dogs be trapped? Is the glowstick's illumination permanent, and if so - can I hide its luminescence?

[graykin]

The glowstick will last forever, and the light will be completely, 100% contained when you put it away...it won't give away your position when a dog walks nearby (although if it gets close enough, it will still find you...obviously).

I did actually try that trick of trapping the dog in the container. I threw the jerky in there, barricaded it with some draggable boxes, and rejoiced at my cleverly devised method of getting the dogs out of my way! It was funny too, because the dog would try to knock the door out of the way--and I did actually hear the door break off as the dog collided with it--but with the boxes in position, he had no chance of escaping.

However, just to let you know Headhanger, there is a tiny flaw with this plan.

Spoiler below!

I entered another room, did my thing in that room, and then re-entered the hallway with the trapped dog. Well...the dog wasn't trapped anymore. The barricade was still holding firm, but the dog was outside, almost as if he had never been in the container to begin with. The way the game handles things, I guess, is that it'll save the positions of objects like boxes and doors and such, but the position of the dogs gets reset when you leave and re-enter the room. So before you plan on trapping the dogs like that again, make sure to consider whether its worth the effort.

Just to let you know.

EDIT: Oh, as for the dog ignoring the beef jerky...that might just be a small bug. I've had a problem or two trying to lure the dogs with the jerky as well...I doubt it was intentional, but maybe it just had something to do with where, in relation to the dog's sight radius, you threw the jerky. I forget, can you pick up jerky once you've thrown it? You might just need to try it a second time.

[Headhanger]

Thanks for the swift reply.

That's good news about the glowstick. I am paranoid about this antique torch running out of batteries every ten minutes. With graphics this good, you don't want to miss out on the superb lighting, right?

Ah, spoiler tags!

Spoiler below!

Damn. I wasted three bits of jerky on that dog. It didn't even eat one of them. And I can't put them back in my inventory! Just as well - I don't want every dog in the mine following me because I smell like a tasty snack.

So now I've infuriated the trapped hound, it's going to be doubly sure of tracking me down if it ever escapes.

As for where the jerky was in relation to the dog; I tried everything short of throwing the jerky at the dog. At one point, the subject was standing only a few inches away from the jerky.

Perhaps the meat's aroma gradually wears off? The first time I tried this trick, the monstrous creature in question was fairly close; on the second attempt, I waited until it had wandered off before laying a trail.

I think that I should curb my curiosity, and the urge to pit my wits against these monsters. They would kill me on sight, but I'm virtually toying with them. I'm sure it's a Thief habit.

[spukrian]

I´ve also had trouble with the beef jerky occasionally. It seems unpredictable. What might work on one playthrough maybe won´t the next time you play the game. I have no idea why...

From what I can tell, the dogs use both sight and smell to detect the meat. Also, if you throw the meat against something it might make a sound that the dog hears (sometimes).

[Headhanger]

Yeah, it seems a little touch-and-go.

I suppose it sustains the suspense. You can never be sure whether it will work or not.

It does, however, mean that while you may outsmart the AI, your plans may not work because of an arbitrary chance of success/failure.