On creature spawns and default behaviors

[csbx]

I've managed to create a little system for creature spawns (on a local basis, though dynamic basis), but now I'm ready to dig into how they react in the world.
The formlist I created contains encXXXX versions of animals--deer, wolf etc.
I notice that they don't seem to behave as creatures tend to in the base game--ie. I don't see natural kinds of predator-prey behavior. They totally ignore one another.
I'm not looking to script this aspect--I'm intending to create the same kind of setup as exists in vanilla skyrim, where you see wolves chasing deer naturally.

I'd appreciate any suggestions !

[Qvorvm]

Predator/prey behaviors come from an interplay of AI packages and factions.

I haven't worked with them directly so I am unclear on the details, but you should look at the corresponding tabs in vanilla wolf and deer records.

[TheInadvertantBadger]

I seem to recall having to add "PreyFaction" to the factions list for prey animals, and "PredatorFaction" to the factions list for predatory animals. The interactivity between factions can be viewed in the Faction listing itself.

It would also be a good idea to inspect the AI Packages you add to your creatures to make sure there's nothing to inhibit combat behavior within their parameters. Noteworthy is how creatures who are members of PreyFaction are shown as being enemies with the PredatorFaction (and HunterFaction, causing them to be chased after and hunted by random hunters).

Aggression, Confidence, and Assistance, which can be changed in the actor's AI Data tab, also play a key role in their behavior.

For instance, your custom wolf may have it's aggression set to Aggressive (causing it to attack enemies of the factions it belongs to), but if it's confidence is set to Cowardly, it'll likely run away from any conflict it gets involved in.

It's also natural for a wolf pack to act like just that - a pack. Thus, having assistance set to Helps Nobody likely wouldn't make sense.

As mentioned above, you should look at what the vanilla creatures have in order to match them for normal behavior.

If you need deeper reference materials: https://ck.uesp.net/wiki/AI_Data_Tab

[csbx]

@Qvorvm and @TheInadvertantBadger

Thanks for the replied ! I was hoping to just employ the vanilla system that takes care of all of this--ie. just use the actors that the vanilla systems use and the same emergent behavior should be apparent in the spawns generated by my mod.
But I'm realizing that just using enc variant for a creature (e.g. encwolf) may not be the right approach given how vanilla actually employs spawns in the game. I'll have a deeper look at that.