Kidnapper Fox

This article covers scrapped content.

The content seen on this page isn't part of the game, but exists in the game's code and or asset files. It is unknown if this content will ever be added to the game.

Kidnapper Fox
Information
Danger Level	80%
Power Level	1
Max Spawned	1
Can See Through Fog	No
Leave Time	Doesn't leave
Traits
Shovel HP	7 HP
Dwells	Outside
Shock Response
Stun Grenades	3.38s
Radar Booster	0.79s
Zap-Gun Difficulty	0.8
Internal
Entity ID	BushWolf

The Kidnapper Fox, also known as Bush Wolf, was an entity in Lethal Company. Kidnapper Foxes appeared as fox-like entities, and could only spawn in Vain Shroud groupings with more than one shroud present.

Note: The Kidnapper Fox received a lot of negative feedback since its release. Due to this, the entity has been removed in V60. Zeekerss announced on Twitter that he intended to rework the entity rather than scrap it altogether, stating the removal as "temporary". Though, in a more recent post, he confirmed that this change will probably be indefinite.

Bestiary

Kidnapper fox

Sigurd's danger level: 80% GOOD JOB he gets an A+ in creep schcool

Scientific name: Vulpes raptor\nA large mammal of the family Canidae, the Kidnapper fox has many unique biological traits. Two of these are its horizontal jaw and unique skull shape giving it a great biting strength, and its long, frog-like tongue which can reach even twice the length of its spindly body. They are solitary hunters and mate for life.

Kidnapper foxes have a very long, bushy neck and tail with a more reddish coloration, which is thought to blend in well with the numerous Vain Shroud, where it can almost always be found hiding and waiting for prey. The Kidnapper fox and Vain shrouds together form one of the most infamously known and unique mutualistic relationships between two invasive species. Together they continue to spread across planetary systems, stowing away on large spacecraft. Excluding a select few nature preserves, the ITDA has issued a kill-on-sight order for the Kidnapper fox and Vain shrouds due to their impact on ecosystems.

The Kidnapper fox earns its name from its aggressive yet timid and territorial behaviour, preferring to finish off prey out of sight and usually in the comfort of the Vain shrouds. It usually chooses to lie low and wait for things to come its way. But if it grows restless, it can use its long, sticky tongue to snatch its prey from great distances and drag them as far as it needs. If there are Vain shrouds in your area, carry a weapon and do not stray far from others; its tongue is quite soft and fragile and can be struck easily, forcing it to stop an assault. Today there are relatively few human deaths attributed to Kidnapper foxes per year, and most victims are unsupervised children or adults hiking alone.

Occurrence

One way to interpret the graph would be: "In 75% of moons with 20 Vain Shrouds, the Kidnapper Fox would have spawned by 12:00 PM."

Kidnapper Foxes can spawn on any moon (including secret moons), and they spawn when there are 17 or more Vain Shrouds on a moon, then the probability of the fox spawning increases the more Vain Shrouds are present:$S_{pawnChance}={\frac {V_{ainShroudCount}}{50}}$

The probability of the Kidnapper Fox spawning was set once the ships land, even if Vain Shrouds are removed via Weed Killer later on in the day. Every two in-game hours, if the Fox hadn't spawned yet the game would try to spawn the fox starting from 8 a.m.. Only one Fox was allowed to spawn each run, so killing the Kidnapper Fox would remove it as a threat for the rest of the day.

Behavior

The Fox has two distinguished areas: the nest area and kill area.

• Nest: Stepping into this circle would cause the Fox to go into hunting mode. The radius of the circle increased over time and had no upper bound, so not lowering the size of the area could cause its nest area to cover the entire map. To lower the radius in single player, the Fox would need to be stared down within a medium-range distance. In multiplayer, all but one employee was needed to stare down the Fox within the distance. All players staring at it decreased the size of the area much faster than if only some were starting it down. If there were 2 or more employee not staring it down, it would not affect the size of the nest.
• Kill: The kill area was relatively small compared to the nest. This was the only area where the Fox was allowed to kill Employees. Once a employee made contact with the Fox in this area, the Fox would rip off the Employee's head. When the Fox chased down players, the radius of the kill circle more than doubled.

There were three states for the Kidnapper Fox: hiding, hunting, and attacking.

• Hiding: When the Fox first enters this phase, it would linger in the biggest patch of Vain Shrouds for 80 seconds, in which it would then go to the second-biggest patch of Vain Shrouds on the map. The Fox would have been relatively peaceful in the 80 seconds of lingering, only switching to its attacking if the employee gets too close.
• Hunting: Stepping into the Fox's nest area would cause it to target the trespassing employee. If the employee was outside, the Fox would attempt to go behind the employee and then attack with its tongue. When staring down the fox outside, it would either run away and try again or attack you if you were too close. If the employee was inside the ship, the Fox would wait for 18 seconds waiting outside before entering the ship and latching on.
• Attacking: Once the Fox had locked on to an employee, the employee would drop all of their items and the Fox would attempt to drag them into its kill range. The longer the Fox had latched on, the harder the fox pulls against the employee. It would retreat back into its hiding phase when either it was attacked or when it killed an employee.

Strategy

Controlling:

• When returning to the same moon for multiple quotas, make sure to bring Weed Killer to remove Vain Shrouds and decrease the chance the Kidnapper Fox spawning on later runs.
• Stick together as a team when the fox is present, as the Fox was less likely to chase players down due to its stare-down mechanic.
• Only one Fox was allowed to spawn each time, so killing it would remove it as a threat (similar to the Bracken).

Escaping:

• In case you were inside the ship, you could've hug the walls on the side of the entrance to survive the attack.
• You could've also piled up furniture (such as the Terminal or Cupboard) inside the ship to hide behind to survive the attack.
• If you were on the ship's railings and the Fox latches onto you from below, the Fox would immediately detach.
• If you are seated inside the Company Cruiser, the Kidnapper Fox couldn't latch on to you.

Killing:

• If you were all alone, you could bait the Fox to latch on to you and pick your dropped weapon to counterattack it. The tongue did not do any damage, so you could've repeated this as many times needed.
• If you were with a teammate, you could have one person bait the Fox and the other attack it until the fox was dead.

• Do not charge the Fox when it charged you, rather try to walk further away from it. This was due to the kill area's size increasing when it is chasing.
• When possible, the best way to kill the Fox was to run it over with the Cruiser.

Notes

• The Kidnapper Fox was referred to as the "Bush Wolf" when it was in the game files.
• The Kidnapper Fox would let go of a employee if the door is shut on the fox's tongue. However, an employee that is being dragged by the fox couldn't interact with the ship buttons, so this requires another person.
• The kidnapper Fox would not kill a employee it was dragging unless it was near its nest or had been attacked by a employee recently.
• The scientific name for the Kidnapper Fox, "Vulpes raptor", roughly translates to "Fox thief" in Latin.
• Because Kidnapper Foxes blended in so well with Vain Shrouds, they were difficult to spot.
• The kidnapper fox continues to play its hit sound when struck after death. This is true of all entities.
• Old Birds do not target kidnapper foxes. They can still kill one if they shoot it while targeting something else.
• Kidnapper foxes have been removed temporarily, people think this is because of "annoyance".
  • This temporary removal has been stated by Zeekerss to likely be a permanent change.

Gallery

A dead Kidnapper Fox

The head of a Kidnapper Fox up close

A dead Kidnapper Fox on the ship

Concept Art #1

Concept Art #2

Kidnapper Fox animations

Audio

Description	Audio
Tongue Shoot
Calls
Far Calls
Steps
Growl Dragging
Kill
Hit
Die
Growls

History

Version 55: June 28, 2024

• The Kidnapper Fox is added.

Version 60: August 17, 2024

• The Kidnapper Fox has been removed temporarily for fixing.