Eyeless Dogs

A prowling Eyeless Dog, captured hunting for a target on Asset-A64's helmet-mounted camera.

<IDENTIFIER>	> EYELESS DOG
<CLARK'S DANGER LEVEL>	> 65%
<BEHAVIOUR>	> ROAMING / CHARGING
<SHOVEL HP>	> 12 HITS

Eyeless Dogs are large, mutated canines that hunt in packs. They are prevalent on most charted moons and are often a threat an employee has to consider when recovering scrap in the dark. As the name suggests, this entity is completely blind in a visual sense, and instead mostly relies on keen hearing to hunt their prey. Unlike typical pack hunters, they divide their efforts by hunting in various locations on the surface to find targets.

Upon hearing a sound that they believe could be a possible meal, they will roar and charge in the direction of the sound, attempting to eat it. This includes sound from many recorded sources, notably:

• Voices of employees.

• Footsteps and running of employees.

• Many equipment items that create noise.

• Dropped scrap items.

• Scrap items that create noise, such as Airhorns. Cats, or Robot Toys.

• Active Boomboxes.

• The item dropship.

• A melee weapon striking a surface.

• The Loud Horn upgrade for the ship.

• Peepers latched to an employee.

Any of these sounds being heard, or colliding with potential prey will trigger them to attack the target as long as they can hear it. Although large, Eyeless Dogs are able to fit inside the company ship, causing it to remain an unsafe location if the entity is nearby and it hears sound inside. Eyeless Dogs are susceptible to the stun effects of a Zap-gun, but are unaffected by blinding effects due to their lack of sight, such as from a Stun Grenade or Radar Booster.

Like other dangerous exterior entities, the Eyeless Dog is more likely to spawn at night, or on eclipsed moons.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

• Utilise sneaking and the sound indicator on the HUD to effectively evade Eyeless Dogs.

• Lightning on stormy moons can kill an Eyeless Dog in a single strike. Using loud metal items as a lightning rod to attract dogs can be an effective strategy in this regard.

• It is possible to kill an Eyeless Dog by dodging their lunges and using a melee weapon to strike them, but this will take some time due to their high health. Can be made easier by carrying as little weight as possible, and working with a teammate wielding a Zap-gun.

• Eyeless Dogs will occasionally fight Baboon Hawks and Masked in the chance they encounter one another.

• It is possible to bait Eyeless Dogs using certain sound sources:

  • Active Boomboxes left outside can effectively neutralise a Dog by keeping their attention.

  • The Loud Horn can be used to bring Eyeless Dogs towards the ship, drawing them away from teammates who may be in danger.

  • The terminal operator can call an item dropship in to distract Eyeless Dogs and pull them away from the ship if they are patrolling near the door.