On the server I have been working on we discussed/debated/implemented a realistic approach or I guess one could say the natural approach.
In nature predators are far rarer than their prey. We worked off of this premise. You can experiment for yourself and apply the numbers how you want but here are is the formula we ended up using.
The overall dino spawn was reduced from 1.0 to 0.8 this allowed for a bit of room on the island and your not constantly running into something.
Dinos were broken up into 5 catagories based on size and predator status.
Tiny dinos(dilos dodo, ants....the most basic food source for all animal predators)Spwn weight is 2 spawn limit is 4 , this makes the tiny guys the most numerous which more closely reflects the natural order of things.
Small (scorp size) spawn weight is 1 and limit is 2
Medium Spawn weight is .75 and limit is 2
Large (this also includes predatory bird, predatory fish and certain mammels) spawn weight is .5 and spawn limit is 2
Raptor and higher predator AND ALL cave animals spawn weight .25 and spawn limit 1
This makes the top notch predators the rarest which is most realistic, we also found it gives the predators some time to grow before being beaten down by the 3 brontos it accidently took on. it also allows room between dinos, overall makes for a much more realistic feel. If combined with max difficulty ASM 300% (supposed to be 400% but who knows how the heck this works) BUT you will see a lot of dinos at much higher lvls which makes the top notch predators much more dangerous...a lot of 50+ lvld raptors ect.
All of this just seems to make more sense on a natural lvl giving the game an actual hierarchy of food chain. it also makes for a more exciting game as the dinos you meet are far stronger.
Read more: http://arkservermanager.freeforums.net/thread/150/best-custom-dino-spawns#ixzz3t61IhqWl