[Mod Idea] Pets / Electricfield

[momoinflames]

Hi guys,

since i am kinda new to the forum I have absolutely no idea if this is the right topic to post this - if it isn't I'm sorry !

I just downloaded a few mods after i started playing again (didnt play since like Alpha2 ) and they are kinda amazing I really enjoy the time playing Rimworld at the moment so i thought i might can give some ideas about other mods that would fit fine in my opinion. I sadly have absolutely no idea about programming/modding and can't really learn it since i have a family to entertain and a time draining job

I thought about a pet system.
Pets could be researched up to 3/4/5/6 times. Each time you research it you can order a new pet (e.g. from squirrel to dog to mufallo to tiger) at the (stupid name incoming) pet order station/from a fraction you have positive contact to. - but the other gets replaced/has to be killed first (poor pets tho :/ ) and brought by a ship via droppod in a cage(pets can only sleep there comfortable). The cage can be sold to place it where you want to have it and is craftable/buildable for some steel. Pets can attack other animals/people and are able to hunt. Everything else should be disabled. They need food aswell but can only eat from special places/bowls.Maybe if you give them more than only meat/vegetables they could get a buff that boosts their movement speed/attack damage/health(resistance).  A new trader could be added aswell where you can e.g. buy equip like a collar that increases dmg or gives defenses.

Well that's all i was able to remind for pets after i thought about it for a while at work haha

Another thing i was thinking about was something like a electricfield (1x1 squares) as a defense. If people walk over it they get damaged/stunned but it consumes a lot of energy and needs steel+ something else expensive to avoid the opnes it might gives. ( You build a long entrance into your base like 40 squares long, spam the electricfield and only have to pick up the items and corps after it) It should be more like a supportive trap you build later in game to be able to handle the massive waves of raiders but still are able to capture a few of them without having everything messed up cause your turrets just shredded the hell out of them

Well yes that's it from now i hope everything is understandable since i am from germany and not very schooled with english.

Maybe these ideas give you other ideas or will someday to be find in the releases section

Have a great day whoever reads this and thanks for your time, you are awesome !

[Sempie]

My programmingskills don't include any modding right now and I want to start with that. The pet-idea doesn't sound too difficult and I mention to do this as a first project to start on this weekend.

The rough first concept, just after reading this post, would be this:

• Pets are normal playable characters.
• Pets have disabled most of the abilities (picking up weapons, hauling, chopping,...)
• Pets have animal sprites for the beginning (custom could be made later)
• Pets cannot use any items, except those that are allowed by the mod. Anything else would cause many problems.
• Pets only leave the homezone if you tell them to do.
• Any pet needs a foodbowl, like collonists need a bed. Without a bowl, they'll be hungry soon.
• Depending on their nature, hungry pets will either attack animals, or eat crops. Starving(not only hungry) carnivores will also attack colonists.(manhunt)
• Pets don't use beds. They'll get a blanket asigned. Pets won't have drawbacks of sleeping outside, except in rain. No one likes getting wet.
• Pets will get drawbacks of narrowness very easy. While a 5x5 room is perfectly fine for human, cats hate that.
• First strike multiplier. Pets will do much more damage (like 4 times) vs humans with their first attack. They can't deal with a fully equiped raider, however their use as watchdog would be small without that multiplier I guess.

As I mentioned, I never moddet rimworld, but I'm a dev and I should be able to figure things out.
However, there are some problems in my mind which might not exist as well as I might oversee some, this will show when I'll go to work on that.

Problems I imagine so far:

Pets size:
Colonists are simply <1x1 in size. However, is a mufflon possible? Can I make an colonist larger than the default? (collision)

Panic:
There are animals which cannot fight (slugs,..). How to deal with the circumstate in which they'll get attacked?
Is there some kind of fleeing implemented? Don't really have the motivation to code AI.

[picollo]

Are you aware that something similar that you are working on is being added to vanilla game?
Next update will include taming animals, sleeping boxes for them, etc.
I'm not sure if it is good idea to work on something that will be included in vanilla game. And if you won't like how it is implemented, then probably new version will have at least some mechanisms that will allow you to implement your ideas easier.

[Sempie]

Good to know, thanks.

[picollo]

https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=3420.0
This is very usefull link, you can check what Tynan is preparing for next releases.

[Alistaire]

Yea the pets are being added in the next Alpha. That's probably coming in under a month, looking at the average time between alphas.