The food industry along the rim is an unforgiving and often empty endeavor. What, you thought corn would grow easily? Nope. It takes work, careful planning, and even security from the wild folk, animals, infestations, raiders, traders, and more. Everything and everyone along the rim wants what you have. But taming animals in RimWorld may be the answer to all your problems!
But another source of food and leather comes from tamed animals. How does animal husbandry work in RimWorld? It’s difficult for beginners, so let’s dive in!
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Taming Animals in RimWorld
Step number one in the world of animal husbandry is taming. Any wild animal on the map — from the smallest squirrel to the majestic Thumbro — is tamable. A tamed animal under your control may be bred, trained, traded, slaughtered, or farmed for food and pelts.
Thankfully, taming is straightforward. Select the animal in question, then in the bottom left, you’ll note a ‘Tame’ option with an outreached hand symbol. Click it. Your pawn with the highest animal skill will attempt to tame the specified creature.
Some animals, however, do not need any skill. These include:
- Alpaca
- Cat
- Chicken
- Cow
- Dromedary
- Husky
- Labrador Retriever
- Pig
- Yorkshire Terrier
Taming Chances in RimWorld
Besides the ability of your colonists, the wildness of the intended animal affects its tame chance.
- A 0% wildness rating incurs a 2x taming chance.
- A 50% wildness rating has an average taming chance.
- A 100% wildness rating animals are untamable.
If your goal is to tame a majestic Thrumbo, then know you’re in for quite the grind. A Thrumbo is one of the most challenging animals to tame in the game. Its taming chance sits at 3% post-process.
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Animal Bonding in RimWorld
Once you have a tamed animal under your control, it’s vital to keep them under your thumb. For that, bonding is crucial. An animal will form a bond with their handler or doctor.
When wounded, whichever colonist tends to their injuries will incur a 0.4% chance to increase the bond between the animal and the colonist. This chance occurs regardless of skill.
Once tamed, an animal will have a 1% chance to bond with their tamer.
Training Your Tamed Animals in RimWorld
Once you’re done taming and bonding with your animal, you have two options. You could sit around and enjoy the company of your newfound pet. Or — the more likely option — you could train your tamed animal depending on their trainable intelligence. For this information, click the animal’s training tab and view their current progress.
The downside to training is it’s time-consuming. After a single training attempt, you must wait 6 hours in-game to undergo a second training session. Furthermore, skills decay. You must keep up with your training regimen.
There are four primary skills you may train in your animals:
- Obedience — Obedience training allows a tamed animal to follow its master and attack aggressors.
- Release — Release training allows the master to use the ‘release animals’ command, in which the tamed animal leaves the immediate area to attack aggressors.
- Rescue — Rescue training allows animals to rescue their master and nearby colonists, depending on their size.
- Haul — Hauling allows your animal to do what it says on the tin. Each species has a specific carrying capacity depending on size, however. Once assigned to haul, animals will do so intermittently.
Animal Husbandry = Animal Products
The whole point of animal husbandry is to raise animals to benefit your colony. If they’re not fighting or hauling materials, then what else will your herd of emu do in their spare time? Well, Ludeon Studios thought of this, too.
Most tamed animals produce goods — milk, wool, or eggs.
- Eggs — Cassowary, Chicken, Cobra, Duck, Emu, Goose, Iguana, Ostrich, Tortoise, and Turkey.
- Milk — Caribou, Cow, Dromedary, and Elk.
- Wool — Alpaca, Bison, Dromedary, Megasloth, Muffalo, and Sheep.
The amount produced depends on the animal, the interval between milking or shearing, and a set daily average.
You should now have a basic understanding of how animal husbandry works, how to make the most of your tamed animals, and how to build an army of vicious attack iguanas for your colony.
Good luck in RimWorld (Steam)!