A while ago Tynan made a thread about animals in combat - what came of it?

[Scavenger]

I see the comments seem to have digressed from the main topic... Did he do anything to resolve those issues he commented on in one of the patch notes?? I really want that in the game.

[vzoxz0]

I solved 3 by making a zone for animals that weren't part of combat, and assigning them to it at the start of the raid. Typically somewhere enclosed, safe from enemies.

[Ser Kitteh]

The answer, is no.

At the very least I would expect being able to equip shields ONTO animals considering the largest threat is gunfire, both the enemy and your own side.

I'm fine with animals needing to be trained all the time as upkeep, much like how turrets and traps need resources to maintain.

[Scavenger]

1. Animals were too squishy, and became less useful as they lose body parts as they are no ways to fix them unlike with current bionics.
2. Friendly fire - colonists that use guns are just as likely to hurt their own animals as much as the enemy would.
3. Positioning - related to friendly fire, it's just very finnicky to control animals if you want to keep them out of harm's way, especially when you're in a firing line from your nice bunker and Fido keeps getting in front of the minigunner.


I dont see that any of those were ever addressed... Though i could have missed something. Wish i had seen that before it finally came out because i could have said something, and i dont think hes going to fix it now, which saddens me, as pets are the best part of the game to me:/

You cant send off your fav pet to fight and expect it to live... It almost never does in any real fight, and if it does its missing a body part or 2. Best you can hope for with a loved pet is have it hunt down fleeing pawns.

Hell, pets arent even safe HUNTING lol. Even with animal prosthetic mods, i have they get parts bitten off constantly by small game.

@Tynan any chance of this ever getting fixed?

[bbqftw]

Position your colonists closer to animals to reduce friendly fire, unless you consider this an exploit of the interception mechanics

[Dashthechinchilla]

Animal reproduction was modified both in duration and quality. Meaning that it is harder to make swarms of some animals. Animals like wargs are more dangerous to tame from the wild. Plus the changes with weapon damage and armor impacted their performance in combat.

[Scavenger]

I know there are some minor work arounds.. But the problem wasnt actually solved. Animal combat is clunky at best, they just charge away. I really doubt he will fix it as he mentioned he would, since the game is now done, but i hope so! The only real thing the game is missing lol.

[Scavenger]

And yes, i think the new armor changed did hurt animals. They feel easier to kill, and thrumbos seem to drop easier too.

[bbqftw]

Animal control is only bad if your control is bad

[Jibbles]

I dont see that any of those were ever addressed... Though i could have missed something.

Didn't miss anything.  Hopefully they'll get fixed some day tho.

[Kirby23590]

I kind of wish that animals do use shield belts to help out surviving gunshots coming from raiders and from your own colonists at the same time...

Since i do use trained dogs & huskies to defend my colony in early and mid-game, and somewhat ditch them in late game and make the rescue and haul stuff only to free up the haulers...

I wish there was a mod for the animals using shield belts.

[Scavenger]

Thats still kinda just a band-aid for the issues lol, but its something!

[BLACK_FR]

I didn't have an opportunity to test new animals mechanics. My main reason to use them is to increase melee power of the colony in the case of drop pods raids. If release-capable animals add to raid strength then is it good idea to have some non-release capable animals like alpacas? Do they worth their wealth-adding?

[Ser Kitteh]

The problem with animals wearing, well anything, is they lack the proper coding like colonists do. Thus the reason why the animal armor mod requires players to use 'surgery' to equip them, more or less acting like a prosthetic than actual armour.

As of 1.0, I've been using less animals and more turrets. If Tynan wanted to make animals better in combat, well, that kinda makes them less valuable due to the fact that we have two fancy new turrets to play around with.

[Scavenger]

That's a bit besides the point imo.. It's not so much about having them for combat because the game needs more combat options, though it is lacking in melee.. But more about the animals themselves for people that like animals and Rping. At least in my opinion. Though leaving a mechanic in game that feels incomplete  isn't good lol.