How do you prevent colonists from being eaten by random predators?

[vampiresoap]

Obviously it's too much work killing predators as soon as they show up...Believe me, I've tried, and there's just too much micro...but if you don't, someday your lone colonist will find himself fighting a megasloth with his bare hands while he's out hauling stuff back to base...

[ArguedPiano]

You don't really. It sucks. Like you said you need to kill them as they spawn or micro your pawns.

If you have a surplus of Kibble try leaving some outside of your base. When they get hungry and go looking for food they'll sometimes eat that tasty kibble. Kill them then as they will congregate outside your base.

[Beider]

There is no guaranteed way to prevent this. You could tame some big animal (like bears) and have one assigned to follow each colonist around, combine that with a decent weapon and it is a fair chance that they will survive.

You could also use a mod like Colony Manager this would allow you to set a hunting zone (entire map) and set what type of animals you want to hunt. That way predators will get auto tagged once or twice a day for hunting. Of course you might want to make sure your hunter is well equipped and maybe has some tamed animal support as it could end up shooting a cougar at point blank range thanks to hunting AI not being the greatest.

[ReZpawner]

Kill them first. Seriously. If you see a predator anywhere nearby, gather up a huntingparty and kill them. Don't just mark for hunting, but gather all our capable colonists and get them all to attack the beasts.

You can make it slightly easier by making a wall around your base, but turrets won't fire at animals who are moving in to attack you, unless they have the "maddened manhunter" thing. Still, it's easier to monitor one entrance than the entire map.

[vampiresoap]

You don't really. It sucks. Like you said you need to kill them as they spawn or micro your pawns.

If you have a surplus of Kibble try leaving some outside of your base. When they get hungry and go looking for food they'll sometimes eat that tasty kibble. Kill them then as they will congregate outside your base.

Wish we can leave poisonous kibble all over the map

[Panzer]

I found that setting my colonists to auto attack instead of flee helps a lot with predators. Wolves and smaller predators can be killed pretty quickly with a shotgun or something similar, the only real threats are bears or cougars (and the odd two or more predators hunt the same guy situation, but thats rare), those should be taken out in groups.

[NinjaDiscoJew]

I try to keep colonist with ranged weapons near the base, and those with melee weapons can go anywhere.

[Canute]

You can use "lethal" blowguns from a mod which never aggro an animal together with the colony manager mod to hunt predators with that.

[O Negative]

Actually, there is an almost sure-fire way to prevent needless colonist deaths in the early game. The simple fact that there are no nocturnal animals makes a night-time colony almost completely safe.

This also works fairly well for hunting the predators. They're harder to hit at night and while they're sleeping, but it's always much safer to take them out while they're down and not wandering around.

Hope that helps!

[Ukas]

You don't really. It sucks. Like you said you need to kill them as they spawn or micro your pawns.

If you have a surplus of Kibble try leaving some outside of your base. When they get hungry and go looking for food they'll sometimes eat that tasty kibble. Kill them then as they will congregate outside your base.

Wish we can leave poisonous kibble all over the map

A poisoned rodent bait gave an undeserved and unnecessary death to my dog in RL, so I personally wouldn't like to see them even in a game.

There are good solutions here, like hunting in night time, and killing predators first. Taming a bear or a warg to accompany your hunter will help also. All these combined will make your hunting trips quite safe.

[cultist]

I found that setting my colonists to auto attack instead of flee helps a lot with predators. Wolves and smaller predators can be killed pretty quickly with a shotgun or something similar, the only real threats are bears or cougars (and the odd two or more predators hunt the same guy situation, but thats rare), those should be taken out in groups.

I think this is the best advice. Large predators are not so plentiful that they can't be culled without too much microing and small predators are more manageable if pawns attack them instead of running. Skilled shooters are reasonably likely (under good conditions) to kill or cripple smaller animals with the first shot, giving you a chance to get the pawn out of danger.

[mumblemumble]

Firstly, an outer wall helps the base be more secure : put everything you can inside it, so only hauling is a real issue.

Second, yes, proactively seek out preditors with a small squad. Predators are nasty, but with 3 on 1, only a bear, or thrombo is a serious threat.

Be aware of the flora / fauna balance! If you kill off a predators prey, they will hunt what they can : you included. If you aren't equiped to kill predators, leave lots of food for them to (hopefully) keep em fed on something not you.

Besides that, just be proactive and aware : oh and mortars can be handy if you are lazy, as a mortar will make most predators die of infection.

[Travinsky]

Actually, there is an almost sure-fire way to prevent needless colonist deaths in the early game. The simple fact that there are no nocturnal animals makes a night-time colony almost completely safe.

This also works fairly well for hunting the predators. They're harder to hit at night and while they're sleeping, but it's always much safer to take them out while they're down and not wandering around.

Hope that helps!

I might try that out actually, sounds like a good idea.

I've always had this problem, continuously scanning and tagging preds for hunting is a nightmare and way too micro in animal rich environment. Then on ice sheets, I'll forget all about animals until a colonist hauling gear gets stunned by a polar bear and there's nothing I can do then. I typically avoid hunting once I've got my farming set up to make sure any preds have lots of prey.

I did have this idea of breeding tons and tons of squirrels or rats then just releasing them into the wild, keeping any preds busy. Never tried it though.

[vampiresoap]

In my current playthrough, I just opted for having a slightly bigger base and restrict all my pawns to the base. I only use animals to haul for me now ;P

[ReZpawner]

Animals will also get attacked. Be the hunter, not the hunted, young grasshoppah.