RimWorld is a game of survive and thrive management disguised as a story generator. Wherein the player is subjected to events created by an AI “storyteller.” These events can vary from beneficial, to downright catastrophic. From defending against pirates to trading with settlements, the true goal is to escape from the rim.
With the game mimicking real life, there are many things to do and specialize in. Players plan to detail the scale they want to play on. Weapon creation, defense building, and base design are three things to plan for in-game. Let us focus on an essential aspect: Agriculture, more specifically, animal husbandry.
RimWorld and Food
Food security is essential for any community to survive. The same is true in RimWorld where things like crop rotation and seasonal crops do not exist. The factors that determine crop growth are terrain and its fertility, temperature, and light. While plants need player intervention to ensure growth, the same can’t be said for animals in most cases.
Animals are the main source of meat in the game. The fauna you encounter in your colony depends on the biome you are set up in. You might see Muffalo in colder places, and Dromedaries in arid areas, which goes into planning.
At some point, hunting down animals becomes unsustainable as the game shifts from surviving to thriving. It soon comes time to tame, raise, and breed animals on a farm.
The Basics
Before you start raising animals, you need to ask yourself a few questions. Think about the things you want to get, be it food, wool, or a helper around the colony. Female Cows, Yaks, Goats, Dromedaries, Caribou, and Elk give milk, with cows being frequent. Female Chickens, Ducks, Geese, Ostriches, Emu, Cassowary, Iguana, Cobra, Turkey, and Tortoises produce eggs.
Your next question is if raising animals is sustainable for the colony right now. Animals need food to survive, and it’s easy to come by earlier on. But when attacks become more potent, you will opt to bring them in. Arsonists can burn and destroy unprotected buildings, causing animals to run free. Placing them in an enclosed space with no valuables ensures they are safe during raids and invasions.
What to Eat and Where?
Animals in RimWorld can be classified into herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. It is also wise to raise animals that eat one type of food. If you also want bears, you can feed them dead raiders, if you want llamas, grow hay.
A portion of good food to fits all animal food needs is kibble, a mix of plant and meat. Wargs are pure carnivores, so make sure to supply them with meat. If you have a Thrumbo, you can feed them some trees since they are dendrovores.
Non-trainable animals need to be placed in enclosures to prevent them from being untamed. Allocate a stockpile to place food for them by allowing only that food for that stockpile. A good rule of thumb is to aim for surplus when it comes to food.
This is true for regions that have hard conditions, like temperate and tundra regions. Remember also to limit the livestock through culling. Even if surplus food is good, many mouths to feed is never a good idea unless you can accommodate them.
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