While playing this game, I've noticed that a lot of people rely almost exclusively on chat, roars, or 'friendly crouching' to communicate, but these methods have some issues:

1) Each chat is exclusive to a single species. (You can only chat with people playing the same species as you)

2) There are only 5 roars in game, and at least 3 of them already have specific meanings.

3) "Friendly Crouching" is not always trusted, and also breaks immersion for those wanting to role-play or just have a more realistic game-play all together.



In short, body language is probably the best way to communicate between species, especially considering that we have a resting animation. "But isn't friendly crouching body language?!" Well, technically yes, but body language is much more complex than just that. We can crouch, but we can also rest (sit or lay), use attack animations, or move in certain ways with WASD. Now, on to the guide...

As mentioned, we have more animations at our disposal than we use. Factor in the fact that your dino's head looks wherever you're looking, and we have some possibilities for threatening displays.

Say you're an Allosaurus or Carnotaurus sitting at a pond or lake, and a Shantu or other large dinosaur comes up to the water's edge and just stares at you. You get up and move and they keep their eyes locked on you at all times, making sure they turn to face you. As you inch towards them, they start roaring do an attack animation (ex: swinging their head in your general direction or stomping the ground). As you move further, they stop using attacks, but keep roaring at you and don't move. You might think "Hey, they're challenging me", but not necessarily. If an herbivore wanted to kill you, they'd just run straight in to kill you instead of giving you notice. Likewise, a carnivore would have killed you without giving you a chance to notice them.

So what's happening in this situation? Simple: The dino that walked up to you at the water just wants a drink, but doesn't trust you to not attack them and is trying to tell you to give them space. The roaring and stomping is them telling you that you're too close, and that they will stand their ground at attack you if you attack them.

In short terms:

To tell someone to keep away from you, keep your gaze locked on them at all times, roar if they're too close, and use attacks as display (don't actually run at them and hit them unless they attack you first).

You can do this to tell a predator or intruder to back off or keep away. It's a warning that if they don't leave, there will eventually be a fight.

Notice how in the intro section I mentioned that "friendly crouching" isn't always trusted? Well, the reason it's not always trusted is because a crouch is quickly and easily transitioned out of, and also because the dino in question is still mobile while crouched. I've noted some carnivore players friendly-crouch their way up to an herbivore, then attack them once close enough. So how do you know who's really being friendly, and how do you tell others that you really are friendly?

Now remember the situation above about the Allosaurus and the Shantungosaurus? Well, if the Allosaurus were to walk in the opposite direction for about five seconds, then lay down (rest), that would indicate that he's not interested in hunting the shantu.

So why is distance and rest a better alternative? First off, the large distance means that the shantu would have plenty of notice if the allo were to get up and move, a sort of head-start to run away if needed. Second, getting up from a resting position takes a moment, which again gives the shantu a notice ahead of time and thus a chance to leave if they don't feel safe.

Laying down can also show that one is confident or relaxed. A rex laying down at the edge of the water will take time to get up, and would have to get up if it were to hunt anything. A carnivore laying down in plain sight is saying that they're not interested in hunting, and may also mean that they have claimed that general area as territory.

In short:
Someone who is laying down is saying that they are not a threat, and/or that they are comfortable where they are.

Another important thing is knowing how to tell others that you're willing to be friends with them or join a group. Sure, there's the "friendly" roar and the crouching, and that works fine, but there is another way that I've seen others do before: walking in a circle. Sounds silly, but it works.

If you have people in your friends list and want to make sure it's them in-game, you could also come up with other patterns to walk in. For example, a figure 8, a triangle, a square.

Think of it like the dinosaur equivalent of a hand-shake. However, I would recommend you not trust these gestures if made by a carnivore that's not of your same species; you never know when they might want to make you a snack...

Now, we all know the different roars... Ranged/Loud, Friendly, Aggressive, "Help", and the default roar on the F key. However, the meanings can be slightly different depending on the dinosaur using that roar and the situation that you/they are in.

Suppose that you and your buddies are all at a lake and someone uses the "help" roar but you don't see any danger. It's most likely that they saw something and are warning you and the others to stay alert. The same can be said if they use the "aggressive' roar. Take note of who roared, and where they are looking; odds are they're keeping their eyes locked on whatever they saw.

Also, a 'ranged/loud' roar can be used as a threat as can the default roar. However, this only works if these roars sound loud and/or threatening without any context or name assigned to them.

And of course, the friendly roar can be used in conjunction with the passive stances mentioned earlier to reinforce to others that you don't mean them any harm.

In short, the roars (according to keybindings) can mean these various things depending on the situation:

1 = Where are you? / Over here! / Over there! / *Stay back!
2 = Let's be friends. / I'm friendly. / I won't hurt you.
3 = Stay back! / I can fight you! / Leave now! / *Danger!
4 = Help! / *Danger!
F = (Typically same meaning as the previous roar)

*The star symbol means that the roar only has that meaning in an appropriate situation.

So, for those who skimmed over the larger parts or want a quick refresher, the things to remember are as follows...

• Attack animations mean "Stay back!" or "Leave!"
  
• Resting means "I'm comfortable here."
  
• A resting carnivore that doesn't get up when it sees you has no interest in you.
  
• Each roar has a meaning, as listed in the previous section.

These are the methods I use in-game; it's actually been habit for me since I first got this game back before the Theri was implemented...

So, now you know how to better communicate with others without have to rely solely on the chat-box, which means you can roughly communicate with other species too!


A quick PS by the way... I've also looked at some guides to survival by Jynn, and they're a great help too! I've also read guides that list the statistics of each dinosaur species, and it helps to know what is and isn't stronger than you, so you know when to run and when to fight. Hope this helps!