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If you want to make it more difficult, it would be kind of cool to make the highly intelligent animals psychic. Which gives me an idea:

The Thrumbo, when threatened, broadcasts a percentage of its pain to all nearby enemies. This means if you attack it with a shotgun, your colonists feel like they took a shotgun wound. The colonists aren't actually wounded, they just feel that way. Now, the pain would be reduced a little because otherwise incapacitating a Thrumbo would incapacitate your whole colony as well, but the idea is that the thrumbo is a peaceful creature that's capable of defending itself without killing. When combined with it's horn attack, this ability lets the Thrumbo down a colonist with only a couple strikes. BUT, the colonists aren't necessary at risk of death. If the Thrumbo escapes or is killed, the effect fades away over a short time.

For sake of argument, Colonist's psychic pain = .5*Thrumbo's pain. Multiplier to be adjusted for balance.

Now, this leads to the question: Should tamed Thrumbos cast this ability only to enemies, making the creature very valuable? Should the effect stack with multiple thrumbos, or would that be too powerful? I think the best compromise is a non-stacking, enemies-only effect. Either way the Thrumbo becomes super effective for defending a colony as the psychic attack's effectivness scales with the number of organic enemies.

As a bonus, the new Thrumbo boosts the gameplay value of the tinfoil hat, as both raiders and colonists will need it to harm thrumbos, and if the thrumbo defense mechanism is universal, then your colony will need tinfoil hats to prevent a friendly thrumbo's defense from backfiring onto the colonists.

[Pirate Objectives:]

Assassinating a particular colonist would be frustrating at low levels. So these events would need a little bit of tweaking. But I do like the idea of raider objectives. More flavor text for incoming enemies is always nice, after all.

Pirate Objectives:
Wealth Hunt: Pirates looking for delicious booty! Steal Gold, Silver, Weapons of high quality. If they are not being shot at, will attempt to take furniture and statues.
Supply Run: Pirates need to eat, too! Generally during winter, or during the early months of the game, pirates will seek food, medicine, clothes of sufficient quality, plasteel, Uranium.
Kidnapping: Most "pirates" are former colonists brainwashed to serve for the pirates. Weather they use advanced technology or old-fashioned torture to do it is unknown. Survivors don't like to talk about it. Regardless, the pirates need manpower, so they're taking some of yours. These raids have fewer enemies with high-level weaponry: Minimize losses, maximize gains.
Ransom: Like the above, but with the intent to force payment out of a colony the pirates feel they can't break. Most common tactic is to seige the colony, kill or wound the counterattackers, and take the survivors for ransom.
Assassination: Someone in your colony has drawn the ire of the pirate leader. Maybe they were a pirate you rehabilitated, or maybe a refugee who offered to join your colony for protection. Maybe they're just a really good shot? Regardless, the pirates will send snipers and/or heavily armed brawlers to attack the colonist, and you must defend him. Alternatively, the Pirates may offer to just take the colonist and leave in exchange for not destroying your colony.
Weaken Enemies: The Pirates set fires, kill animals, and destroy crops in order to prevent the colony from becoming too strong to raid.

Tribal Objectives:
Supply Run: As above, but now with tribes.
Assassination: As Above, but with tribes
Weaken Enemies: As Above, but with tribes
Land Grab: These raiders want your land. They will not stop until everyone is dead.
Prison Break: The Raiders want their friends back. Occasionally they'll try to ransom instead of resorting to violence.
Rightful Owners: Somewhere in your colony is a sacred tribal relic. Maybe a master-crafted weapon, or a psychic lance. They will stop at nothing to get it and return it to their colony. As with Prison Break, may try a peaceful alternative.

Additionally, I'd like to see attacking tribes bring dogs, wargs, elephants, rhinos, or Thrumbos with them on raids. Gives their raids a more unique flavor than just "ZERG RUSH!"

Outlanders
Supply Run
Weaken Enemies
Prison Break
Assassination
Land Grab: In this case, the "Land Grab" attack's flavor text would indicate the Outlanders don't want your land; they simply see you as a threat to passing travelers. Either way they're still going to kill you all.

Allies
Insanity: A psychic pulse has driven some nearby travelers (Early game) or even an entire chunk of a civilization (Late game) insane. These enemies do not have a real objective in mind: They'll kill people, burn crops, destroy objects, beat each other up, steal items regardless of value, and generally make nuisances out of themselves. Do not expect to see or hear from these people for a while as they work rebuild their civilization. Note that this event can occur from any faction, not just enemies.

Why are you wasting valuable Swine on surgery and vaccinations when you have a perfectly serviceable supply of KO'd raiders to practice on instead! >

Mechaniods are easy once you have shields and frag grenades. You use the same tactic used in the picture, but since the grenades damage MULTIPLE Mechaniod "Organs" they are garenteed to hit something critical every time. Unlike a pulse rifle, which always seems to hit "Fifth Body Ring" or "Right Senser Port".

I find 4 guys with grenades while one or two shielded people distract can kill a Mechaniod in one volley. Six or more will vaporize the corpse. Adding in some turrets also helps as it gives the mechs something else to shoot at.

Is it possible to build "Hybrids" of two different rooms? For example, I like making a single, beautiful area for my colonists to congregate when idle, eating, or playing. This maximizes the benefit gained from social activities while minimizing the cost of decorating rooms with statues and flooring.

In Alpha 12, this would mean the room is both a dining room and a rec room. Can the game understand the duel functionality of such a room?

No. Imagine a tribal raid spearheaded by Elephants!

This could be the solution to the whole "So many tribalmen attacking your camp the game nearly crashes" problem we've had for so long: If we can replace some of the attacking tribals with animal handlers with attack animals, we'll have an increased variety of challenges within the same event, while cutting down on the absurd size of the raids. I like the idea of Elephants and Rhinos in particular because they could absorb a ton of punishment before going down, thus distracting you from the angry human horde right behind them.

Train that monkey in release, and give him that Plasteel Knife!

My friend started a campaign, but due to either a bug or plain luck ended up with, like, 40 Yorkies in 30 minutes of playtime.

Check real quick to make sure you can't put a "No Roof Region" in your dorms. Sometimes their are pockets of thin rock roofs or even open areas that you didn't see being roofed over as the colonists mined. As of Alpha 11 drop pods apparently gained the ability to crash through thin roofs.

Could be a bug, but can't hurt to check.

The "Wild West" is not defined by the six-shot revolver, nor is it defined by the lever-action Winchester. Both guns were developed late into the settlement of the West. Hell, the "Wild West" doesn't even need to take place in deserts or badlands: It stretched from the Great Plains to the mountains and valleys of eastern California.

The Wild West theme is defined by the frontier. It is defined by small, isolated, and often hastily erected civilizations, with miles of untamed land between them. Common elements are wild and restless tribes of "primitive" peoples, the clashing of technologies from across time (bows against repeaters against muzzle-loaders was not unheard of), and a complete lack of laws or stable government. Rimworld hits its mark perfectly. In my opinion at least.

Skunks! They wonder the map, will spray colonists that threaten them (Giving the colonist a temporary mood debuff), and if they die everyone within a certain radius gets another mood debuff due to the stench. Also adds a new event that can be commemorated in art.

We all know how stupid the ai is when given free reign on thief own weapons. So how do you hunt, if at all?

Me personally, I draft my colonists and have them wonder the map in a blob, shooting single targets together. This way I can ensure maximum meat gathered without injury at the expense of my colonists' moods.

Best mace ever, hands down.

Really, I think what the game really needs is a mechanic where the prisoners pick up stray weapons in their cells. Right now I'm locking prisoners in the armory filled with everything from rusty shanks to plasma rifles because the prison cells are currently being used by depressed colonists in need of a mood buff.

Not exactly a masterpiece, I hammered it out in under 20 minutes. But the point stands.

We're gunna need a way to feed tamed animals. Perhaps a trough or bowl that you can designate? Or do assigned animal handlers take care of that?