I’ve been mulling over some animal training ideas. Some of these have been put forward before, but I don’t think I’ve seen them knitted together.
Basic idea, animals are useful in a larger number of ways. But no animal is as useful as a dwarven peasant.
Changes and new kinds of animal training:
- War – many animals can be war animals, not just dogs. War animals are aggressive fighters and can be assigned to dwarves. War animals examples are dogs, lions, tigers, and wolves.
- Hunting – Hunting animals are also aggressive and seek out wild animals. They behave as hunting dogs do now. Hunting animals draw from the same list as war animals.
- Pets – Pets are weaker than regular animals, but make dwarves happier. (Is pet value just how much animals cost, or does it reflect what dwarves get out of having the pet?) Most small creatures are tamed as pets. Dogs, cats, and most other animals can be turned into pets. Pets behave like normal dwarves and run in fear when a meance is present.
- Heavy Pack – Large animals, such as horses and elephants, can be trained to haul heavy loads. These animals transport stones, ore, and furniture to stockpiles. When not working, they hang out near those stockpiles.
[**] One approach, dwarves with jobs involving heavy hauling look for a pack animal on the way to their mission. If one is around, they collect it and it follows them as it would for slaughter and chain animal jobs. While present, it gives the hauler +1 strength. +2 for large animals like elephants. The haulers do not release the animal until they draw an non-heavy hauling job.
[**] Another approach, the animals, themselves, pick up the heavy object and bring it to the stockpile. Essentially, these are peasants with stone,furniture, and (possibly) wood only.
- Light Pack/Serving – This needs a better name. Animals with hands are trained to pick up light objects and take them to stockpiles. These are mostly various primates. Enslaved goblins and koblods could also have this behavior.
[**] They could just handle hauling for food, items, and non-ballista ammo.
[**] Or they could provide an agility boost for dwarves they accompany.
- Farm – Traditionally, horses and mules are used to plow fields and work harvesting. Any big, strong animal could be helpful farming. They hang out near farm plots or, when none are around, food stockpiles.
[**] They improve the skill check for building farm plots. Assuming the farmer plows the entire plot (it looks like it), they’d speed that up. But that’s a small part of dwarven farming.
[**] Farmers grab a spare animal and bring them into the field when planting and harvesting plants. They improve the skill check and thus the speed of those actions.
[**] They serve as mobile barrels. Possibly requiring saddle bags, when a farm wants a seed, they head over to the stockpiles and load up. Then they wander over to the farms. Dwarves look for them first when looking for the next seed. When they are empty they get more. When dwarves start harvesting, they tell the critter to stop getting seeds and put plants on it. When full, they head to the stockpiles and unload. This idea is essentially another way of implementing dwarves carrying seeds.
Interface Changes – To help manage this, I’d like to see something like the jewler interface. When an animal is available, it appears on the list. A key is associated with each choice, bold when valid.
For example:
w-war h-hunt
k-pack f-farm
p-pet s-service
dog w h k f p s
elephant w h k f p s
I haven't tried to tie into the cart hauling ideas, but I think I see how they could fit.
Rylen
[ October 18, 2006: Message edited by: rylen ]
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Topic: kennel changes (Read 712 times)