Animals
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Wild animals occasionally spawn on the map according to the biome and from random events. These wild animals and tamed animals will wander and graze on vegetation, including player-grown plants, regardless of type. Growing food outdoors can sometimes attract animals to your base perimeter. Animals are an important source of food by the meat they provide once hunted and butchered.
Raiders will target tamed animals as often as colonists.
Animal trainers receive 90 XP per training or taming attempt. When animals nuzzle a colonist, it counts as a social interaction and is logged in the social tab of both the colonist and animal.
Animals tab
The Animals tab is in the menu bar at the bottom of the screen. The default hotkey is F4.
- The Animals tab lists all the colony animals. Clicking an animal name will center the map to that animal.
- A button lists the animal's master, if it has one. Click the button to assign a new master.
- Allowed areas are also listed here including Unrestricted, Home area, and animal areas. Each animal stays in its assigned area unless its master is drafted.
- Farm animals and some pack animals cannot be assigned zones, and are instead controlled by pawns with roping and pen settings.
- The [Manage areas...] button at the top of the tab opens a window to edit allowed areas.
As of version 0.14.1234 (15 July 2016) several features have been added to the Animals tab:
- Gender and life stage informational columns
- A "Slaughter" checkbox column to allow easy slaughtering of multiple tamed animals at once
- Checkbox columns for each trainable skill to allow easy training of many animals
Appearance
Most animals appear to have no limbs, just as colonists do.
Some animals have different appearances between males and females.
Behavior
- Wandering: Animals will wander the area when they have nothing else to do, e.g. eating or hunting. When wandering, some species of animals will tend to stay together in a herd. Others will spread out alone across the map.
- Roaming: Tame farm animals will occasionally attempt to leave the map if not in a pen or if a door is obstructed, with its frequency determined by the animal's roam interval stat.
- Filth: While walking on constructed floors they can leave animal filth. The rate of producing filth is proportional to body size and wildness. Farm animals tend to produce massive amounts of filth. This can be mitigated by the straw matting floor type, reducing filth by 95%.
- Forbidden food: Hungry tame animals will eat forbidden food and non-farm animals may even leave their allowed area to eat food.
Mating
Occasionally tamed males will approach a tamed female of the same species to initiate mating. The female will stand there, allowing males to mate with her. Afterwards the female can get pregnant.
More than one male can mate with the same female at once.
Wild animals do not mate.
Incest has no effect on animal health.
Fleeing
Passive animals will mostly flee when harmed. They will not flee if they are engaging in combat with an adversary.
More aggressive animals have a chance to revenge and turn and attack instead of fleeing.
Be aware that packs of animals may seek revenge together, quickly overpowering a single colonist.
If a member of a herd is harmed or killed, the rest of the herd will flee as well, scattering around.
Aggression
Sometimes a single animal may go mad, or every animal of the same species be driven mad by a psychic wave, and attack any humans not behind closed doors.
If injured by a colonist or tamed pet, certain species of animals will become maddened into a manhunter state and will relentlessly seek out humans to attack. Sometimes nearby animals of the same species will be simultaneously enraged. Unless otherwise neutralized, a maddened animal will eventually return to a normal mood after sleeping. Animals in manhunter state will attack doors if colonists try to go in and out of them.
Manhunter chances are listed in the Wildlife tab of the map screen with a red lightning bolt next to their name, and also on the Info tab of each individual animal's information window.
Predation
Most carnivores are predators. When hungry, a predator will prefer an easy meal. They'll first go for meals or food types within their diet. They may go for a downed or dead animal or a human corpse. But when a hungry predator has no other food nearby, they will hunt, kill and consume almost any animal smaller than them, including your tamed animals or even your colonists. This can especially be a problem on maps with little wildlife, like on Ice sheets when a polar bear wanders in. Still, predators tend to choose more vulnerable and weaker animals, and wisely avoid boomrats and boomalopes. Their attacks usually stun their prey, leaving them unable to fight back or flee. A predator will focus all their attacks on their downed prey, so if they do down your colonists or livestock and you have a colonist nearby, then direct them to Rescue that downed pawn. It could mean the difference between life and death.
Predators include the Arctic fox, Arctic wolf, Cat, Cobra, Cougar, Fennec fox, Grizzly bear, Lynx, Panther, Polar bear, Red fox, Timber wolf, Warg.
If you successfully hide all colonists and tamed animals away from a predator's reach, it will hunt any other available wildlife.
It is not possible to view the Needs tab of a wild animal, so you may have to deduce whether or not a predator is hungry based on its behavior. They sometimes remain near the area where they last killed and ate an animal for about a day. Bloodstains or partially-consumed animal corpses on the ground are a fairly reliable guide, as well as a source of free leather and delicious leftovers. Be careful not to let a hauler take away a predator's food before it has finished eating. It will still be hungry and will hunt your colonist instead.
Remember that fences and fence gates do not count as impassable for all pawns except for farm animals, meaning that predators can leap over.
Body heat
Animals will give out body heat, slightly heating up their surroundings. This is insignificant most of the time. In enclosed barns with many animals packed, the heat can become a problem in warm weather or hot biomes, and a benefit in cold biomes or during winter.
Breeding
Animals are born by live birth or by hatching from a fertilized egg.
Live birth
Female animals that give live birth become pregnant when a male animal approaches them and mates. Only tamed animals may breed. An animal's gestation period specifies how long a female's pregnancy will last.
A pregnant animal suffering malnutrition or is injured may miscarry. Miscarriages are noted by an in-game message.
Live births produce amniotic fluid (see Filth).
Some animals will give birth to multiple young. The probability of this is determined by a curve, and is different for each animal.
Animals can breed with their own family members without penalty, even for repeated generational incest, allowing a pair of 2 animals to eventually propagate into a packed room of the species of animal.
| Early stage (hidden) | : Starts at 0%. This stage is not displayed but may be surmised by the vomiting it causes. |
|---|---|
| Middle stage | : Starts at 33%. At this stage Moving is reduced by 15%. |
| Late stage | : Starts at 66%. At this stage Moving is reduced by 30% and may include vomiting. |
| Full term | : At 100%. At this point the female will give birth. Some species may have multiple offspring in a litter. |
Eggs
Egg-laying animals include the Cassowary, Chicken, Cobra, Duck, Emu, Goose, Iguana, Ostrich, Tortoise, Turkey as of 1.1. Females become fertilized after mating with males, causing them to lay fertilized eggs. Most animals will not lay unfertilized eggs, with the exception of chickens.
Fertilized eggs display their progress on the inspect pane and hatch when ready.
Fertilized eggs can be ruined by temperature if not kept within their safe temperature range of 1 °C (33.8 °F) to 49 °C (120.2 °F).
- Eggs may start to overheat at/above 50 °C (122 °F).
- Eggs may start to freeze at/below 0 °C (32 °F).
The inspect pane will indicate 'Overheating' or 'Freezing' followed by a percentage rising up to 100%. This status is halted when safe temperate is restored, but it is not reset - if the temperature is unsafe again, it will pick up where it left off. If it reaches 100% the egg is 'ruined by temperature' and will not hatch even if returned to a suitable area. A ruined egg still has full nutritional value and can be used to make a meal (or eaten raw, with a mood debuff).
Diet
While most carnivorous animals can eat raw meat, corpses, kibble, and meals, Wargs can only eat raw meat and corpses.
All strictly herbivorous animals and some omnivorous animals (notably pigs and boars) can eat live plants (except trees) and haygrass.
Dendrovorous animals such as the alphabeaver and thrumbo can eat trees, in addition to other plant-based foods.
Because all animals except wargs can eat meals, kibble, and pemmican, it is possible to feed meat to herbivores or plants to carnivores if it is prepared first.
Health
Animals have the same set-up as humans when it comes to health, minus the ability to operate on them (except euthanasia)(The option to amputate an infected limb can become available once infection sets in, at least on Thrumbos—assuming other animals as well). They feel pain, and have all of the different health stats that human pawns possess. Animals can become addicted to beer, and they suffer the same negative health alcohol effects as humans. Keep them away from alcohol. Animals need to have an animal bed (or sleeping spot) in order to be healed.
Like humans, they have a life expectancy, and are affected by chronic diseases. There is no way to cure them in the base game other than Healer mech serum, which would be incredibly expensive.
A tamed animal that requires tending will find the nearest animal bed or animal sleeping spot in their allowed area and rest there until it is either fully healed or dead. Pawns assigned to doctoring will tend its wounds or illnesses and feed it, just as they would do for a humanlike pawn. If all human colonists are absent or unable to care for a sick animal, it can die of starvation even if there is food nearby and it is capable of walking.
Animals have half the Toxic Sensitivity of humans by default.
Hunting
Wild animals may be marked for hunting, done by hunters with ranged weapons, who will proceed to shoot them at maximum range, before executing them with a neck cut when they are downed (except explosive animals). After killing their target, they will haul the carcass to a stockpile zone even if they are naturally incapable of hauling, but will not start hauling it again if they're interrupted.
Animals harmed by hunting that were not killed yet may become enraged and if its a pack type, its full horde may turn hostile against the entire colony. If they are non-aggressive animals they usually flee instead.
Hunting may take longer during bad weather since there's a shooting modifier while it's raining or snowing that makes it more likely for shots to miss.
- Fog (with or without rain): hit chance multiplier is 50%.
- Rain or snow: hit chance multiplier is 80%.
To mark animals to be hunted use one of the following methods:
- Click Wildlife, Click the first red X to the right of the animal you want to hunt and change it to a green check mark
- Click Orders, Hunt, then click one or more individual animals.
- Click Orders, Hunt, then click and drag a box to surround and select multiple animals.
- Select one or more animals, click Hunt.
Hunting tips
- Animals can be hunted manually instead of just using the hunt order by drafting a colonist and right clicking to fire at animals. This allows the killing of multiple animals in one session, or hunting from close range. Closer range reduces the chance of missing shots or unintended friendly fire, but raises the chance of provoking animal revenge.
- In the occasion of a full horde revenge, early-stage colonies may easily become overrun, leaving all colonists downed. But down is not out. Eventually, one or more of your colonists may recover. With luck, this miracle may take place at nightfall, when wildlife sleep (except for the most enraged beasts among those), or they have wandered far enough, opening a chance to rescue everybody else. The manhunter status of the horde will disappear overnight.
- Melee blocking could be a valuable tactic to defeat the rampaging animals. In addition to making it easier to defeat the animals even when outnumbered, it also keeps your downed colonists near your base for easy rescue.
Life stages
Animals all have three different life stages. The age at which they enter the juvenile and adult life stages is determined for each animal separately. Animals may have different graphics for different life stages, or may simply appear smaller. Animals start out as babies and their age is listed as minutes, hours, or months. Some animals have a specific name for this stage (e.g. chick). They then move on to juveniles (teenagers). Eventually, they reach the final life stage, adulthood. In the stages before adulthood, animals have lower stats (body size, health scale, mass, carrying capacity, move speed, hunger rate, meat amount, leather amount, market value) that normalize when they reach adulthood. Animals have different sounds (call, anger, wounded, death) for different life stages. Babies may simply make a higher pitched sound, or have a different sound altogether (such as chicks). Depending on the species, animals will need to reach the juvenile or adult stage before they can reproduce.
Babies have 40% of the hunger of adults, and juveniles have 75% of the hunger of adults. Babies have 20% of the body size of adults (other than baby birds, which have 10% of the body size), and juveniles have 50% of the body size of adults. This also determines their meat yield and leather yield.
Needs
Animals require food and sleep and will fulfil their needs on their own.
Food: Animals will eat any available food according to their diet. Herbivorous animals of the colony can be left to eat grass on their own. Note that animals require different amounts of food compared to humans, as represented by their Hunger Rate.
Rest: Animals will sleep as needed. Tamed animals will sleep in animal sleeping spots, animal sleeping boxes, or animal beds. If none of which are available, the animal will crash out on the ground inside its allowed zone. A tamed animal will not sleep as long as its master is drafted.
Animal husbandry
Animals can be tamed and put to use in the colony, providing several benefits.
Taming
Wild animals can be tamed by a animal handler with sufficient Animal skill and available food. Tamed animals may be bred, trained, traded, slaughtered, or farmed.
Wild animals may be marked for taming using the Tame button.
An animal handler will attempt to tame marked animals using food fitting that animal's diet. The chance to tame an animal depends on the animal's wildness (displayed on the info window) and the handler's 'Tame animal chance' stat. This stat is determined by the colonist's animals skill, manipulation, talking, and hearing. When a handler fails to tame an animal there is a cooldown period before another attempt can be made. There is also a chance it will turn manhunter and start attacking the handler and others. The revenge chance is shown on the Wildlife menu. After a while the handler may drop unused food. Tamed animals will remain in or near the colony or they may be assigned to animal areas to contain them. Setting animal areas is usually necessary to restrict them from eating food not intended for them.
Tame chances
Besides the animal handler's own skill, the wildness of the animals also counts.
Tame chances undergo a post-processing curve.
- An animal with 0% wildness has a x2 taming chance.
- An animal with 50% wildness has normal taming chance.
- An animal with 100% wildness cannot be tamed at all.
Currently, the hardest to tame animal is the Thrumbo with a post-processed taming chance of 3%.
Animals with 0% wildness remain tame forever. An animal with a wildness above 0% (shown on the wildlife tab) needs to have maintenance training in Tameness. If it loses all Tameness it will go back to being wild.
Minimum skill
Some animals require a minimum skill before they can be handled. The game will prompt the player if no colonist has enough skill to handle the animal. In this case a colonist has only 1 point as an utter beginner and has learning ability, the easiest...
- Animals that require no points (zero) to tame are: Alpaca, Cat, Chicken, Cow, Dromedary, Husky, Labrador retriever, Pig and Yorkshire terrier.
An animal's handling skill requirement is calculated as follows:
Skill = 9 * (wildness - 0.3) / 0.7
So animals with a wildness of 30% or less won't require any handling skill whatsoever.
Starting pets
For most scenarios, new colonies will include a random pet that is already tamed. These pets will have a random name and have a chance to be bonded with a pawn. The animals available are determined by the handling skills of the starting pawn(s), as the game will not provide a pet that cannot be handled by the colony. This rule is broken when all colonists have animal handling disabled, as the game will still provide animals that require periodic taming.
The chance of getting an animal is influenced by the "petness" stat, with a higher value resulting in a higher chance. The selection of animals also influences the chances, as a Husky has a 26% chance of being selected with the highest handling skill at 0, while at level 8+ the chance is only 12%. Hares, snowhares, capybaras and cobras are all under 1% chance due to the petness being so low and the animal handling being so high.
| Animal | Handling skill required | Petness | Chance (with 8+ handling) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yorkshire terrier | 0 | 1 | 12.06% |
| Husky | 0 | 1 | 12.06% |
| Labrador retriever | 0 | 1 | 12.06% |
| Donkey | 0 | 0.6 | 7.24% |
| Yak | 0 | 0.3 | 3.62% |
| Cat | 1 | 1 | 12.06% |
| Horse | 4 | 0.6 | 7.24% |
| Iguana | 4 | 0.15 | 1.81% |
| Rat | 4 | 0.15 | 1.81% |
| Monkey | 5 | 0.5 | 6.03% |
| Warg | 5 | 0.5 | 6.03% |
| Guinea pig | 5 | 0.3 | 3.62% |
| Chinchilla | 5 | 0.2 | 2.41% |
| Boomrat | 7 | 0.2 | 2.41% |
| Fennec fox | 7 | 0.1 | 1.21% |
| Red fox | 7 | 0.1 | 1.21% |
| Arctic fox | 7 | 0.1 | 1.21% |
| Hare | 7 | 0.08 | 0.97% |
| Snowhare | 7 | 0.08 | 0.97% |
| Capybara | 7 | 0.08 | 0.97% |
| Cobra | 7 | 0.05 | 0.60% |
| Timber wolf | 8 | 0.1 | 1.21% |
| Arctic wolf | 8 | 0.1 | 1.21% |
Bonding
Animals may also form bonds with their handlers, or doctors.
- When an animal has its wounds tended by a colonist, there is a constant 0.4% chance of the animal will bond with the colonist, regardless of Animals skill. If the animal is wild, the animal will instantly self-tame, disregarding wildness.
- When tamed, an animal also has a 1% chance to bond with the tamer.
Bonded animals will provide a constant mood buff to their masters if bonded. They will also be easier to train (5x multiplier on chance).
On the death of the pawn an animal is bonded with, it can go into one of two animal mental breaks; manhunter, in which it will attack all nearby entities, and confusion, in which it will wander around, uncontrollable, similar to dazed humans.
Interaction
Tamed animals can be trained by colonists. With Guard trained, they will follow their master around if designated to do so.
Some animals can be milked or sheared, which will be handled if necessary. Only adult animals can be milked.
Occasionally, animals can nuzzle colonists, giving the colonist a mood buff. Animals can nuzzle anyone regardless of handling skill.
When injured, they will go to animal sleeping spots/ beds for rest and treatment.
Naming
Newly tamed animals get numerical designations so you can tell them apart (“Muffalo 1”, “Muffalo 2”, etc.). The game names certain animals when tamed or bought. Others are named when they form a bond with a colonist Names can be changed by the player from the "Training" Tab.
Animals without a pet name may have a gender-specific name (i.e. hen, rooster, buck, doe), or a lifestage-specific name (piglet, warg puppy), or even a gender/lifestage-specific name (cockerel).
Names of tamed animals are not shown on the map unless the option is turned on. See Menu, Options, 'Show animal names'.
It is possible for animals which have been lost or sold to reappear later as part of a wild herd. This will only happen with animals which occur naturally on your colony's biome. They will still have the name you gave them (including automatic names like "Muffalo 2"), but will need to be tamed and trained again.
Training
Tamed animals may be trained depending on their trainable intelligence. Click the animal's training tab to specify training and view progress.
The stats of the training pawn, including Animals skill or Global Work Speed, have no effect on how fast each training session is completed. Instead, increased skill improves a pawn's Train Animal Chance, resulting in the animal requiring fewer training attempts in the first place.
Once Guard is trained, they can be assigned a master which they will follow. You can configure when the animals will follow their master, by toggling whether or not the animal will follow while doing field work (hunting/taming), or while drafted.
Many skills require multiple steps to fully train.
After a training attempt on a tamed animal, there is a 6 in-game hour waiting period before that same animal can be trained again.
Since Beta 19 skills now decay over time. The speed at which skills decay is dependent on wildness of the animal. For most animals their wildness is high enough such that their tameness decrease over time, such that they will eventually return to the wild if not maintained. For this reason, if you do not have enough skilled animal handlers to keep an animal's skills fresh, it is best to sell or slaughter it before it loses tameness.
Guard: (Training intelligence required: Simple, Steps: 3)
- An animal trained in guard will follow its master and attack nearby aggressors. An animal's master is listed on the Training tab and on the Animals menu. Multiple animals may be assigned to a single master. Note that assigning an animal to the pawn it is bonded with will give that pawn a permanent +5 moodlet, and if a bonded animal is not assigned to its bonded pawn, that pawn gets a permanent -3 moodlet. Mood effects stack with multiple bonded animals, and one pawn can have both the positive and negative moodlets from two bonded animals.
Attack: (Training intelligence required: Intermediate, Steps: 5)
- Using the 'attack' command, animals may leave their master's immediate area to attack enemies. When the 'release animals' command is turned off, animals will guard their master and only attack enemies nearby.
Rescue: (Training intelligence required: Advanced, Steps: 2)
- Animals trained in rescue will rescue its master as well as nearby colonists. Only species of sufficient size can rescue.
Haul: (Training intelligence required: Advanced, Steps: 7)
- Animals trained in hauling will haul just as colonists do, although each species has a specific carrying capacity according to its size. Only species of sufficient size can haul, but the size required is less than it is for rescuing, meaning some animals can haul items but cannot rescue. Animals will perform hauling intermittently.
Combat
Once Guard is trained, animals will gather around their master upon drafting, and will attack nearby threats, or (unintentionally) block ranged attacks for their master.
This is configurable and can be disabled by disabling follow during drafted.
With Attack trained, animals can be released to attack threats from a distance. Even colonists incapable of Violence can send their assigned animals into battle.
Animals can be downed during combat, and can be rescued by colonists or other animals capable of Rescue.
Products
Certain tame animals produce milk, wool, or eggs. Shearing sometimes fails, indicated with a brief "product wasted" message.
Eggs
| Animal | Eggs Per Clutch Average | Egg Laying Interval | Eggs Per Season Average | Can Lay Unfertilized Eggs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cassowary | 1 | 3.33 | 4.5 | false |
| Chicken | 1 | 1 | 15 | true |
| Cobra | 1.5 | 10 | 2.25 | false |
| Duck | 1 | 1 | 15 | true |
| Emu | 1 | 3.33 | 4.5 | false |
| Goose | 1 | 2 | 7.5 | true |
| Iguana | 1.5 | 5.661 | 3.97 | false |
| Ostrich | 1 | 3.33 | 4.5 | false |
| Tortoise | 2 | 6.66 | 4.5 | false |
| Turkey | 1 | 1.333 | 11.25 | false |
Milk
| Animal | Milk Amount | Milking Interval | Daily Milk Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| [[Boomalope|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 11 | 1 | 11 |
| [[Caribou|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 10 | 2 | 5 |
| [[Cow|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 14 | 1 | 14 |
| [[Dromedary|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 18 | 2 | 9 |
| [[Elk|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 11 | 1 | 11 |
| [[Goat|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 12 | 3 | 4 |
| [[Yak|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 11 | 1 | 11 |
Wool
| Animal | Wool Amount | Shearing Interval | Daily Wool Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| [[Alpaca|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 45 | 10 | 4.5 |
| [[Bison|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 120 | 15 | 8 |
| [[Megasloth|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 200 | 20 | 10 |
| [[Muffalo|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 120 | 15 | 8 |
| [[Sheep|<ul><li>The symbol "[[" was used in a place where it is not useful.</li> <!--br--><li>The part "]]" of the query was not understood.Results might not be as expected.</li></ul>]] | 45 | 10 | 4.5 |
Slaughtering
Tamed animals may be slaughtered selecting the animal and clicking the Slaughter button, or by using the Slaughter tool from the Orders menu. An animal marked in this way will be slaughtered by an animal handler. The handler need not be equipped with a weapon. You can also set up an auto-slaughter order in the animals tab, configurable to limit the amount of male, female, and pregnant animals in a pen.
If you try to slaughter a bonded animal, the game will warn you about it due to the mood impact this has on the animal's master.
Pack animals
| Carrying Capacity | Mass - Adult | |
|---|---|---|
| Alpaca | 75 | 60 |
| Bison | 180 | 144 |
| Donkey | 105 | 84 |
| Dromedary | 158 | 126 |
| Elephant | 300 | 240 |
| Horse | 180 | 144 |
| Human | 75 | 60 |
| Muffalo | 180 | 144 |
| Yak | 158 | 126 |
These animals can can graze meaning they don't usually require food during a caravan. When carrying items in their inventory, they will appear to have packs on, which disappear when unloaded.
Release to Wild
Unwanted animals can be released to the wild using a command next to the slaughter button. Releasing bonded animals also causes a mood debuff to master of the animal.
Social
Each animal has a Social tab that lists that animal's bonds and relations. Clicking an entry jumps to that bond's counterpart. Bonded humans have a persistent mood bonus, unless they have the psychopath trait, while set as that animal's master. Animals do not have such thoughts or bonuses.
Occasionally, tame animals will nuzzle your colonists. More pet-like animals such as Yorkshire Terriers and Cats will nuzzle often, whereas wilder animals such as Timber Wolves and Grizzly Bears can still nuzzle colonists, but rarely do so. Animals can nuzzle patients in bed. A colonist who is nuzzled receives a +4 mood buff for 1 day.
Trade goods
Tamed animals may be sold to traders. Animals purchased from traders will be already tamed. Bulk goods traders offer pets and farm animals while exotic goods traders carry most of the wild species. Traders offering animals will attempt to at least carry a breeding pair of a core farm animal.
Raising animals
Feeding animals
The simplest way to feed non-strictly-carnivorous animals is to create a large pen where animals can graze on the wild grass and brambles. The pen marker will show the number of animals the wild plants can sustain (measured in cows, goats, and chickens. When the weather is too cold or too hot though, plants grow slower or even stop growing. Furthermore, plants become totally inedible when the temperature drops below -10 °C (14 °F), because they all are considered leafless, grass as well as trees. This unrealistic mechanics is not explained in-game, and is quite puzzling to unaware players. It looks like animals starve on top of good-looking grass. See Plants#Temperature for more info.
| Animal Name | Type | Diet | Produces | Average Production/Day | Average Nutrition Produced/Day | Nutrition Needed/Day | Hay/Kibble/Day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpaca | Farm, Pack, Wild | Herbivorous | Wool | 6.67 | - | 0.72 | 14.4 |
| Alphabeaver | Wild | Dendrovorous | - | - | - | 4.8 | 96 |
| Arctic fox | Wild | Carnivorous | - | - | - | 0.29 | 5.8 |
| Arctic wolf | Wild | Carnivorous | - | - | - | 0.29 | 5.8 |
| Bison | Farm, Pack, Wild | Herbivorous | Wool | 4 | - | 1.36 | 27.2 |
| Boomalope | Farm, Wild | Herbivorous | Chemfuel | 6 | - | 2.08 | 41.6 |
| Boomrat | Wild | Omnivorous | - | - | - | 0.56 | 11.2 |
| Capybara | Wild | Herbivorous | - | - | - | 0.48 | 9.6 |
| Caribou | Farm, Wild | Herbivorous | Milk | 6 | 0.3 | 1.44 | 28.8 |
| Cassowary | Farm, Wild | Herbivorous | Eggs | 0.059 | 0.015 | 0.64 | 12.8 |
| Cat | Pet | Carnivorous | - | - | - | 0.16 | 3.2 |
| Chicken | Farm, Pet | Herbivorous | Eggs | 0.5 | 0.125 | 0.56 | 11.2 |
| Chinchilla | Wild | Herbivorous | - | - | - | 0.48 | 9.6 |
| Cobra | Farm, Wild | Carnivorous | Eggs | 0.075 | 0.019 | 0.11 | 2.2 |
| Cougar | Wild | Carnivorous | - | - | - | 0.48 | 9.6 |
| Cow | Farm, Pet | Herbivorous | Milk | 18 | 0.9 | 1.36 | 27.2 |
| Deer | Wild | Herbivorous | - | - | - | 0.64 | 12.8 |
| Donkey | Pack, Wild | Herbivorous | - | - | - | 1.2 | 24 |
| Dromedary | Farm, Pack, Wild | Herbivorous | Milk | 6 | 0.3 | 1.28 | 25.6 |
| Duck | Farm, Wild | Herbivorous | Eggs | 0.286 | 0.071 | 0.56 | 11.2 |
| Elephant | Pack, Wild | Herbivorous | - | - | - | 3.2 | 64 |
| Elk | Farm, Wild | Herbivorous | Milk | 6 | 0.3 | 1.36 | 27.2 |
| Emu | Farm, Wild | Herbivorous | Eggs | 0.059 | 0.015 | 0.64 | 12.8 |
| Fennec fox | Wild | Carnivorous | - | - | - | 0.19 | 3.8 |
| Gazelle | Wild | Herbivorous | - | - | - | 0.56 | 11.2 |
| Goat | Farm, Wild | Herbivorous | Milk | 6 | 0.3 | 0.72 | 14.4 |
| Goose | Farm, Wild | Herbivorous | Eggs | 0.625 | 0.156 | 0.72 | 14.4 |
| Grizzly bear | Wild | Omnivorous | - | - | - | 0.56 | 11.2 |
| Guinea pig | Wild | Herbivorous | - | - | - | 0.54 | 10.8 |
| Hare | Wild | Herbivorous | - | - | - | 0.37 | 7.4 |
| Horse | Pack, Wild | Herbivorous | - | - | - | 1.36 | 27.2 |
| Husky | Pet | Omnivorous | - | - | - | 0.8 | 16 |
| Ibex | Wild | Herbivorous | - | - | - | 0.56 | 11.2 |
| Iguana | Farm, Wild | Omnivorous | Eggs | 0.100 | 0.025 | 0.45 | 9 |
| Labrador retriever | Pet | Omnivorous | - | - | - | 0.64 | 12.8 |
| Lynx | Wild | Carnivorous | - | - | - | 0.3 | 6 |
| Megascarab | Insectoid, Wild | Omnivorous | - | - | - | 0.16 | 3.2 |
| Megasloth | Farm, Wild | Herbivorous | Wool | 8 | - | 3.2 | 64 |
| Megaspider | Insectoid, Wild | Omnivorous | - | - | - | 0.56 | 11.2 |
| Monkey | Wild | Omnivorous | - | - | - | 0.4 | 8 |
| Muffalo | Farm, Pack, Wild | Herbivorous | Wool | 4 | - | 1.36 | 27.2 |
| Ostrich | Farm, Wild | Herbivorous | Eggs | 0.053 | 0.013 | 0.88 | 17.6 |
| Panther | Wild | Carnivorous | - | - | - | 0.48 | 9.6 |
| Pig | Pet | Omnivorous | - | - | - | 0.72 | 14.4 |
| Polar bear | Wild | Omnivorous | - | - | - | 0.56 | 11.2 |
| Raccoon | Wild | Omnivorous | - | - | - | 0.51 | 10.2 |
| Rat | Wild | Omnivorous | - | - | - | 0.32 | 6.4 |
| Red fox | Wild | Carnivorous | - | - | - | 0.19 | 3.8 |
| Rhinoceros | Wild | Herbivorous | - | - | - | 2.4 | 48 |
| Sheep | Farm, Wild | Herbivorous | Wool | 4.5 | - | 0.72 | 14.4 |
| Snowhare | Wild | Herbivorous | - | - | - | 0.37 | 7.4 |
| Spelopede | Insectoid, Wild | Omnivorous | - | - | - | 0.4 | 8 |
| Squirrel | Wild | Herbivorous | - | - | - | 0.32 | 6.4 |
| Thrumbo | Wild | Dendrovorous | - | - | - | 5.6 | 112 |
| Timber wolf | Wild | Carnivorous | - | - | - | 0.29 | 5.8 |
| Tortoise | Farm, Wild | Omnivorous | Eggs | 0.100 | 0.025 | 0.53 | 10.6 |
| Turkey | Farm, Wild | Herbivorous | Eggs | 0.091 | 0.023 | 0.8 | 16 |
| Warg | Wild | Carnivorous | - | - | - | 0.4 | Cannot eat kibble |
| Wild boar | Wild | Omnivorous | - | - | - | 0.72 | 14.4 |
| Yak | Farm, Pack, Wild | Herbivorous | Milk | 6 | 0.3 | 1.36 | 27.2 |
| Yorkshire terrier | Pet | Omnivorous | - | - | - | 0.48 | 9.6 |
Farm = Produces, Pack = Pack Animal, Pet = Cannot be found in wild, Wild = Can be found in wild
Growing haygrass
While the land can sustain a sizable population of animals grazing on it, it doesn't have an infinite supply and can still be depleted. Winter can also stop grass growth, leaving nothing for your grazing animals to eat.
If you need to raise a lot of animals, e.g. an exponentially growing flock of chickens, you will need to grow haygrass to sustain them all. You also need to have a stock of haygrass to keep animals fed through the winter.
Haygrass gives a total of 0.9 nutrition (18 units of hay) when fully grown and harvested, compared to 0.5 of grass. However, you have to keep your hungry animals from getting to it otherwise they'll only get a max of 0.2 nutrition from eating the plant.
Making kibble
Kibble is a kind of animal feed made with both plant and animal sources. It can be made using haygrass and any kind of meat, including human or insect meat.
All animals except wargs can eat it, so it makes a good way to feed your animals using mixed sources of nutrition, including those that animals won't normally eat. Kibble also lasts forever under a roof so you can store it and use it to feed animals when in need, such as in winter when there is nothing to eat.
Pens
Pens are areas which farm animals are assigned to. These pen animals will be passive, meaning that hostiles will not attack these animals, and vice versa. Tamed pen animals must be put in a pen, or they will occasionally attempt to leave the map, meaning they disappear forever. Colonists will automatically rope roaming farm animals and place them in the pen. The borders of pens can be marked with: solid walls, doors, fences, fence gates, and animal flaps. To mark an enclosed area as a pen, place a pen marker inside. The pen marker allows you to configure auto-slaughter orders and also tells you the amount of animals that can be sustained in a pen with wild plants, measured in cows, goats, and chickens. An attached, roofed, and heated/cooled coop can be built with an animal flap as a door instead of a regular door for animals to stay warm or cool down during extreme temperatures.
Corpse freezer
In typical RimWorlder fashion, you can use a freezer to preserve the corpses of raiders (or dead colonists if you're desperate) so you can feed omnivorous and carnivorous animals. This allows you to make use of corpses while avoiding heavy mood penalties from butchering humans or eating their flesh.
Pet care
Tamed animals that have a social bond to a person will affect the master's mood positively while living and negatively if killed (-8 for 20 days). This bond will either improve resistance against mental breaks or cause them. Because of the effect they cause on feelings, these creatures should be given special treatment, or any animal worth keeping alive.
These are a few tips to keep them safe:
- Keep them indoors by creating a new animal zone within a room.
- Keep them at the Home area after building a base wall.
- Prey pets should not be left wandering around in unrestricted area.
- Hunt their predators to prevent surprise attacks (or just wall the base in to prevent predators from coming in).
- Patrol your perimeter by zooming your view out to a larger scale but not to full, just enough to spot their sleeping animation of flying ZZZs while they rest at night. Sweeping your surroundings once every night shall keep you aware of threat presence.
Note: The first three of these tips only apply to pet animals. Farm animals are passive while in pens, though if the pen is built with fences, predators can still pass through.
Version history
- 0.12.906 - Animals can now be tamed and trained. nimals now sleep. Animals can be pregnant and give birth. Animals can be named when tamed or when nuzzling. Animals produce animal filth. Animals have “life stages” related to their ages. Eggs, Milk and Wool production added. Nuzzling added. Animals have life expectancies.
- 0.12.910 - Rebalanced animal hunger rate and animal hauling.
- 0.13.1135 - Added new animals, some of which will hunt people. Some animals are now predators, including colony pets (e.g. cats catch squirrels). Animals can gnaw corpses apart directly now. Animal bonding added.
- 1.2.2719 - Removed naming animals through nuzzling. Animals only get names by bonding, or if given names by the player (so you can implicitly tell which animals are bonded by seeing which have names).
- 1.3.3066 - Major overhaul to animals: added multiple animal-related buildings, added pens, decreased trainability of boomalope to none, added sterilization, added release to wild.
- Herbivorous
- Alpaca • Bison • Boomalope • Capybara • Caribou • Cassowary • Chicken • Chinchilla • Cow • Deer • Donkey • Dromedary • Duck • Elephant • Elk • Emu • Gazelle • Goat • Goose • Guinea pig • Hare • Horse • Ibex • Megasloth • Muffalo • Ostrich • Rhinoceros • Sheep • Snowhare • Squirrel • Turkey • Yak • Toxalope
- Omnivorous
- Boomrat • Grizzly bear • Human • Husky • Iguana • Labrador retriever • Megascarab • Megaspider • Monkey • Pig • Polar bear • Spelopede • Raccoon • Rat • Tortoise • Wild boar • Yorkshire terrier • Waste rat
- Carnivorous
- Arctic fox • Arctic wolf • Cat • Cobra • Cougar • Fennec fox • Lynx • Panther • Red fox • Timber wolf • Warg
- Dryads
- Barkskin • Berrymaker • Carrier • Clawer • Gaumaker • Immature dryad • Medicinemaker • Woodmaker