Autonomous mining to save cats?

[jerpo]

So last night I got the massive cats event and my cave base was soon overrun with cats.  After a while they started to annoy me so I decided to rid myself of them.  I was worried slaughtering them might hit me with a debuff, so I placed a bunch of animal sleeping spots in a room and after they went to sleep I walled it off, Cask of Amontillado style.  After some period of time (a day?) I get the message that they are starving. Good, plan is working, right?  Except that one of my pawns saves the kitties by going around to the outside of the base and mining out an opening in my cat tomb, letting them all out. 

So can the pawns decide to mine objects blocking their way even if you haven't marked it for mining?  It strikes me as a bit scary that my pawns are developing autonomy.

[skullywag]

This is either a planned feature, or its a kind of funny development due to the code that allows pawns to break out if walled in, which basically evaluates to "I cannot path where i need to go to  complete my assigned job, therefore I will dig out", in this instance the code did what I think it should, the pawn said "I must feed the cats but I cannot path there, therefore I will dig in", the logic is the same, just ones digging in the other out. heh how cool.

[me911]

Not sure about the mining automatically, that's interesting.
But  don't worry about slaughtering them, it has no negative effects unless they are bonded to someone, then the "bonded animal died" mood penalty happens regardless of how they die

[Dread Zep]

you know you can create areas that the animals are allowed to be in right? you can just restrict them from entering your base and hold them in a confined area... this is especially useful when you get the toxic fallout event and need to keep them from going outside. provide them with some kibble and breed/sell/slaughter them.  they sell for a fair amount compared to their upkeep. also you can set up multiple animal areas because some animals dont get along.

[jerpo]

This is my first play through and I haven't done anything with restricted zones for anybody, but that's a good idea. 

In the game, this cat story ends with the mass slaughter of the little guys, with no negative repercussions.

[Dread Zep]

This is my first play through and I haven't done anything with restricted zones for anybody, but that's a good idea. 

In the game, this cat story ends with the mass slaughter of the little guys, with no negative repercussions.

ahh i see, dont worry took me a while to figure out too... actually was my first toxic fallout that forced me to rethink things.  now im setting up chicken coops and livestock pastures like a pro... though admittedly i havent made a cat harem yet

[DariusWolfe]

Restricted zones are key to surviving a lot of events. They're not super intuitively implemented, but they're super useful.

One thing I recommend is to take the first Animal Zone and invert it, then go in and remove areas you don't want the animals to go, such as your food storage. I do this every game, as soon as I get a freezer set up. Then I set up a stockpile just for kibble, make it high priority, and set the butcher table to make more every time it's less than 25-30.

I also usually have an "Indoors" and "Animals Indoors" zone that I use to get everyone inside in case of threats like toxic fallout, big raids or manhunter packs. The Animals Indoors tends to not include the food storage area, as well.

[DeltaVee]

Did you actually notice a pawn going to mine on itself? I've had starving dogs in my mountain base trying to dig a way out (restricted zones be damned; he just wanted something to eat and dug his way out of the base (how a dog can chew through granite walls is beyond me, but I digress). I think this is what happened to you; the cats dug themselves out to save themselves.