Pet hunting issues

Started by Matthiasagreen, May 10, 2016, 09:11:26 AM

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Matthiasagreen

I believe this has been mentioned somewhere and probably addressed. I haven't mentioned it myself because I just figured it will be taken care of, but after scrolling through the bug pages, I am posting it just in case, because it annoys me so much and I really need this to be addressed. My apologies if this doesn't belong in the bug forum.

I love wargs. I tend to breed them any game I can. Either buy or tame a male and a few females and let them multiply. However, since Alpha 13, I rarely end up with any more than I started. The two biggest issues are:

1. Warg puppies hunting things that are bigger than them. They frequently get downed or seriously maimed. If they survive into adulthood (had a few reach teen, but never fully matured), they are missing a few limbs and are covered in scars.

2. Wargs in general hunting boomrats or boomalope. By the time my colonist even gets out of my base to save my downed, burning warg puppy, it burns to death. Adults are better off, but require a lot of healing and usually don't even get to enjoy the meal they risked their life for (it either burns up or the pet goes to be healed after it puts the fire on itself out). They also end up with some hefty scars. You would think my animals of advanced intelligence would learn what to avoid hunting.

Smaller issues:

1. Warg hunts animal, warg starts eating, colonist takes hunted animal corpse to stockpile. Rinse and repeat.
2. Turtles
3. No options for bed-ridden animals. Can't heal 'em. Can't give them new legs. Can't sell them. (had a trading caravan accept any pets BUT the bed-ridden ones. Who wants a warg puppy with only two legs, i guess?)  Can't kill them without pissing off a colonist. Not sure if they even mature while bed-ridden...?
4. Pet corpses get the same treatment as wild animals. Oh, your bonded pet died? Better grab it right away to butcher it for meat. I understand that on a barely surviving colony, meat is meat, but it seems off.
5. Are trip plotting mechanisms (can't remember the technical term) turned on for animals the same as they are for colonists? Because my warg sure tends to travel a long distance to hunt that animal that was on the opposite side of the wall he was on, but was not easily accessible without a very lengthy trip.
6. Do animals follow allowed areas when hunting? Or is it just my warg puppies don't understand allowed and disallowed areas at such a young age?
7. Do animals prefer to eat off the same corpse repeatedly or do they always go for a new kill. I would think animals would prefer corpses to hunting again, as long as they are fresh.
8. Why is my war puppy starving to death, walking all over creation to find an animal to hunt when I have plenty of meat and kibble in my base (the kibble is right next to his bed)?

Possible (hopeful) Solutions:

1. warg puppies only eat meat or kibble. At the adolescent level, they move to rabbits and squirrels.
2. Animals either learn what not to hunt or avoid certain animals altogether. I hunt a turtle a few times and get my butt kicked, I am going to learn to go for easier prey. If i get set fire every time I kill the animals with yellow sacs on them, I am going to avoid them. I understand this is probably too complicated to implement, so I would be ok with total avoidance for now.
3. I realize the choice between forbidding to not forbidding pet prey is not a clear cut decision, but I would go for forbidden with the choice to manually unforbid.
4. Give pets meal preference. Possibly: Kibble, corpses, hunting, meat. The priority is flexible though.   
5. Give butchering a pet allowed option, same with cremating.
6. Allow bed-ridden animals to be sold at the very least. At the very most, give some sort of offset to euthanizing a pet. Possibly a negative buff when a bonded animal is in pain and a short positive buff when a bonded animal is no longer in pain (specifically to euthanizing though. Mercy kill of sorts). Yes, you will be sad when they are killed, but when my own pet was old and dying, I was also just glad she wasn't in pain all the time.

Feel free to move the post if necessary. Also, If this is being addressed, no need to go through each point. I trust you enough and all i really need to know is I can start my warg breeding colony again in alpha 14. Thanks Tynan and Ison!
Hi, my name is Matthias and I am a Rimworld Addict. It has been five seconds since my last fix...

skullywag

restrict your pups to the safety of your base until they are grown up enough to hunt. They should respect allowed areas, if they dont, thats your bug.
Skullywag modded to death.
I'd never met an iterator I liked....until Zhentar saved me.
Why Unity5, WHY do you forsake me?

milon

#2
^ This.  You're letting your tame animals run around like wild animals.  ;)

Xav

Wasn't there a suggestion of sorts a while back wanting the logic of predators to hunt only certain prey?

...for instance, predators knew to avoid attacking a boomrat or a boomalope, because they were both native the planet and by experience/seeing them explode - learned to avoid them.  Something like that.

Tynan

Predators no longer hunt exploding animals.

There are also more weak prey creatures now (rats, etc).

And you can keep your puppies safe with an allowed area.
Tynan Sylvester - @TynanSylvester - Tynan's Blog