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Managing the Threat: Aggression


Survival in Sons of the Forest is defined by your interaction with the island’s hostile inhabitants. By adjusting aggression parameters, you can transform your server from a relatively peaceful building simulator into a relentless “tower defense” experience where your base is under constant siege.
Reading TimeDifficultyLast Updated
4 minutesBeginnerJanuary 2026

Global Behavior Settings

These variables are found in /userdata/dedicatedservergameplay.json:

1. The Aggression Level

Located under "GameSetting.V.EnemyAggression":
  • Low: Enemies rarely initiate combat and will often observe from a distance.
  • Normal: Balanced behavior; they will attack if provoked or if you enter their territory.
  • High: Constant raids. Patrols will actively hunt players across the map and engage on sight.

2. Attack Frequency

The frequency of “Base Raids” (where cannibals specifically target your structures) is tied to the time of year and your proximity to their camps. In “Hard” mode or with custom difficulty enabled, you can increase the EnemyDamage multiplier to make every encounter potentially fatal.

Custom Difficulty

If you set your world to Custom difficulty, you can manually fine-tune variables like "GameSetting.V.CannibalDamage" and "GameSetting.V.MutantSpawnRate" to create a unique challenge that fits your community’s skill level.

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Last Updated: January 2026 | Sons of the Forest: AI parameters verified.