This is a great interaction, and if wolves are buffed we would see it more.
Sending a single vill across map should be almost unviable without sending support units.
It’s a hot take I know, but I think it would increase the strategy needed for expands and such.
This is a map design problem, not a wolf balance problem. If you’ve played many games on Archipelago you’ll know wolves are often a big problem if you try to colonize the middle islands with only 2-3 villagers and no backup early game. There’s at least 5 or 6 wolves in a close perimeter on each island and villagers alone can easily get ganked before they can build a tc or landmark on the island. It is already game changer in the right conditions, and I will tell you I do plan to have more wolves than in official maps on my custom maps. Risk vs reward. But yeah, it sucks that you can’t harvest food from them. They’re annoying enough to deal with, there should be a reward other than “ha ha ha ha staying alive staying alive”
Besides everything already said, their attack animation is also terrible. Not looped properly so they are biting and suddenly freeze.
Wolves should also attack deer if they get close. One more motivation to scout and kill them ahead of time if they can rob you of 350 food. $hit, AoE 1 had wild animals attacking each other.