Hunting Animals... And shooting your colonists in the process!

[Nasikabatrachus]

I typically have just one pawn hunting, which brings in plenty of food and minimizes accidents. However, what's really hilarious is when a squirrel is shot to death in the middle of a pitched sniper battle, just because it was standing in the middle. It must freak the little people out when they realize they live in a strictly 2-dimensional world.

I do think there needs to be some way to prevent friendly fire, though. Accidents happen, but sensible people can still generally stop themselves from shooting each other when they're on the same side.

[BassMonroe]

I just have 1 Guy hunt quite far away from my colony.
Its ironically funny though when you watch a sniper bullet fly across the map and hit one of your colonists, its that moment of panic what kicks in as you try to draft the hunter as fast as you can before he takes everyone out.

[Aerouge]

I gave a hunter an M16 moments before a travelling party from an (friendly till then) group of Outlanders decided to come for a visit. And of COURSE they had to spawn in the group of deer currently getting hunted. Funny thing is my hunter managed to kill 3 of them before killing the deer, than walked up to the corpse of the deer (while under fire from the 2 surviving visitors), grab the corpse and walk back to the base like nothing ever happened. And he only got one bullet in an arm. I was so amazed to watch this that I did not even draft him (okay i planned to let him die in the retaliation fire for his own stupidity).

Still I would wholeheartedly agree! The AI needs a friend / foe  safety while hunting.

In a firefight during an assault this could be tricky interesting as well because the worst injuries are from my colonists shooting at flanking melee attackers.

Schematic:

xABx   E
xxxx

x= Sandbags
A= Colonist A (Aiming at E)
B= Colonist B (getting a Shootgun load from A into the back)
E= Tribe Attacker with a club charging the funny people hurting themselves with the boomsticks

I really wish the AI would realize that the shortest way (through the brains of a colonymember) is not the best way to shoot an attacker.

[Geokinesis]

Schematic:

xABx   E
xxxx

x= Sandbags
A= Colonist A (Aiming at E)
B= Colonist B (getting a Shootgun load from A into the back)
E= Tribe Attacker with a club charging the funny people hurting themselves with the boomsticks

I really wish the AI would realize that the shortest way (through the brains of a colonymember) is not the best way to shoot an attacker.

In this instance you need to be sorting out your positioning of the drafted colonists to avoid it if an enemy makes it close to you shooters.

[EscapeZeppelin]

When I do hunt in the front-yard, the hunter is drafted. That way I can micro manage him.

I think that's one of my few complaints about Rimworld, that the combat/shooting has to be so micromanaged. Turrets spewing out bullets? Sure seems like a great time to sweep in front of them.

[obuw]

Wouldn't it be nice to just disable friendly fire during hunting at least? Or maybe it's enabled because hunting accidents make the game tell better stories? 

[TankaaKumawani]

The best strategy seems to be limiting the number of hunters in addition to not hunting in high-traffic areas.  An AI that's a little more friendly fire savvy would be nice, though.

[Jaxxa]

I am against any specific disabling of friendly fire for hunting, I don't see a reason that it should be treated differentiate from any other type of combat.

That being said the whole AI system could do with some changes to make pawns smarter,
From not walking into the line of fire to avoiding killboxes.

[Astraeus]

I would prefer a simple friendly check before firing. A pawn should scan all available targets before firing, choose which has the highest hit %, and then scan for a friendly between themselves and the target. If a friendly is found, they could choose the next highest target and again check. If no targets exist without interference, they could just aim but not fire until the obstruction has moved. I've had a lot of friendly fire incidents not just involving hunting, but also with the tribals who's most powerful tactic is the lemming-like charge which often results in so much more damage from friendly fire than their clubs.

In case Ty is watching this thread, I don't want to sound too much of a backseat developer here. I don't code and from what little I know, it's a nightmare to implement even the smallest of fixes if you're adding in something entirely new, not modifying something already built.. but I really do feel that before this game goes live, there should be some improvement in pawn A.I. They work perfectly fine for now while 90% of us understand Early Access (and let's be honest here, Rimworld's early access is so much better than some games that have fully released..), but I think a little work to make sure that our colonists aren't accidentally murdering each other would go a long way in quality control.

[Thorin]

I think that's one of my few complaints about Rimworld, that the combat/shooting has to be so micromanaged. Turrets spewing out bullets? Sure seems like a great time to sweep in front of them.

Apparently we have a bit of a different taste That's just one of the reasons I do love it.
Hey miner, you're going to bed, no problems with that,. but do take some metal back with you. You grower, the same for you to.. haul some stuff back when done.
Keeps me a bit more actively involved with the game, like an overseer.