Small, specific QOL animal/hauling/interaction suggestion...

[Limdood]

I think it is small, I do not know enough about the code to actually say "yes. this is simple"

From the A17 update notes:
-Equipment rack is now a general shelf which can hold pretty much anything.

From a Bug report I made a while back:
"Just had a husky walk into a room it was not allowed to enter and eat luciferium."

And the response from Tynan:
"It's as designed; the pawns don't always do what you tell them. (Area restrictions are an AI request, not a force-field.)"

My suggestion/request:
Make animals UNABLE to interact with shelves or anything on them.  They can't haul things to a shelf, haul them off of a shelf, or consume any item on a shelf.

My thinking on the matter:
It is perfectly understandable that animals/pawns will occasionally stray out of allowed areas to interact with objects.  I wholeheartedly agree that animals would go nibbling strange objects.  On the other hand, there are INCREDIBLY low-tech solutions to prevent animals from getting at things they aren't supposed to.  An overhead shelf would likely stop all but elephants or thrumbos accessing its contents.  A simple hinged chest with a latch would defeat all but the cleverest animals (and the double-lock latches, like on instrument cases would stop ALL animals). 

I do think that a "foolproof" "protection from animals" stockpile/shelf/item-holder should be in the game.  If you model animals getting into stuff and eating strange objects based on realism, then it feels like the most basic, common sense solution to this problem should be implemented as well, also based on realism.

I further think that preventing animals from accessing an area should come with the common sense drawbacks you would expect it to.  If animals can't access the stockpile/shelf/item-holder to consume it's contents, then they shouldn't be able to haul to it or from it either.



This suggestion is coming due to the change in function (and description) of the equipment rack in A17, though an alternative, also "realistic" and common-sense solution would be to add a toggle mark to doors that allows/forbids animal passage through the door (already colonists vs. raiders are distinguished, and the rationale for "no animal passage" doors could easily be a latch or lock)