Pack animal
Pack animals refer to animals that you can bring along on a caravan to carry extra weight. The current pack animals in the game are Alpacas, Bison, Donkeys, Dromedaries, Elephants, Horses, Muffalo, and Yaks. Below you will see a table that will help you decide what will be the most appropriate pack animal for you.
| Animal | Carry Capacity (kg) | Health Scale | Melee DPS | Hunger Rate | Carry Capacity / Hunger rate |
Mass[1] (kg) | Carry Capacity / Mass |
Wildness | Riding Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpaca | 35 | 1 | 2.28 | 0.44 | 79.55 | 60 | 0.58 | 0.25 | - |
| Bison | 84 | 1.75 | 3.12 | 0.856 | 98.13 | 144 | 0.58 | 0.6 | - |
| Donkey | 49 | 1.45 | 2.39 | 0.52 | 94.23 | 84 | 0.58 | 0 | 1.3 |
| Dromedary | 73.5 | 1.6 | 2.74 | 0.856 | 85.86 | 126 | 0.58 | 0.25 | 1.3 |
| Elephant | 140 | 3.6 | 5.35 | 2.568 | 54.52 | 240 | 0.58 | 0.75 | 1.3 |
| Horse | 84 | 1.75 | 2.06 | 0.68 | 123.53 | 144 | 0.58 | 0.35 | 1.6 |
| Muffalo | 84 | 1.75 | 3.1 | 0.856 | 98.13 | 144 | 0.58 | 0.6 | - |
| Thrumbo | (n/a)[2] | 8 | 6.33 | 2.8 | 0 | 240 | 0 | 0.985 | 1.6 |
| Yak | 73.5 | 1.5 | 2.47 | 0.856 | 85.86 | 126 | 0.58 | 0.2 | - |
- ^1 While no one is going to carry a pack animal on their back, transport pods and shuttles
do have weight limits of 150 and 1000 kg respectively. Thus animal mass must be taken into account when planning caravans that involve them for one or more leg of the journey. - ^2 Thrumbos will refuse to carry packs, making them not technically a "pack animal", but they can be ridden, providing a speed factor of 1.6 to their rider in a caravan on the world map.
Additional
- You need to take into account the distance you're going, whether you plan to stay (or might) and for how long, and the return trip's length, and bring food accordingly for your colonists and animals. However, take note of the following:
- All of the pack animals currently in the game are herbivorous. As a result, provided the season and terrain allow, they can sustain themselves through grazing while in a caravan. They will not be able to graze outside of the growing season however. Be careful about bringing many animals or large animals, such as Elephants, during this time.
- Colonists will forage for berries/agave fruit/etc proportional to their Foraged Food Amount stat, with Tribal pawns recieving a 170% bonus. This food can supplement both the pawn and the pack animals food needs.
- Depending on the scenario, the traveling colonists can set up a temporary base and produce food (and other items), the same as at your home location. Time permitting, they can even construct buildings and workbenches, etc. This is only recommended for long-term stay.
- The more weight you add to the caravan, the slower it'll move. A caravan at maximum weight capacity moves at half the speed of an unladen one.
- Horses offer the fastest riding speed as well as boasting 84kg of weight capacity as well as only 0.68 hunger rate, arguably making them the best pack animal.