DLC wishlist - Ranching

[Sasza22]

Ranching is a solid and pretty fun system but it has some aspects i`d wish were improved or fixed in the upcoming dlc. Here is a list of stuff i`d like to be adressed:

1. Wrangling airborne critters (and slicksters). - Managing airborne critters is counter intuitive. You need to lock them in a room with a critter dropoff and use the dropoff auto wrangle mechanic to move the critters. It works but it`s confusing for new players and overall weird. Why can`t we just manually wrangle them? Floating critters already detect when they are "unreachable" (probably for combat) so wrangle errands should be easy to do. Just make it require a higher level of ranching to do.

2. Critter traps should be reusable. - Traps cost plastic atm which is a leftover from the first version of ranching (before wrangling was a thing). The plastic is lost after one use. It makes it really not worth to make one when we can just collect the eggs instead or send one rancher to wrangle them all. In the current iteration it is only useful for morbs or when we really want to move a pacu. But if it was reusable it would provide a less labour intensive way to catch and relocate wild critters, especially if they are in a room with little oxygen or requiring long ladders (in case of dreckos for example). You`d just set one trap and and check back each time something gets caught then reset it. The fish trap would allow a quick and easy relocation of your pacus which is annoying to do at the moment. There should also be an airborne critter trap (instead of a lure) so we can manage those as well. To balance maybe some of the traps should require bait per each use.

3. Pokeshell aggro needs fixing. - Pokeshells in aggro mode (when they are red beacause of an egg nearby) should attack dupes and other critters on sight. They don`t do it 99% of the time. I had dupes sleep next to angry pokeshells and they got ignored. Only moment when the pokeshells actually attack is once i load a game with potential targets in the same room. After that something breaks and they just ignore everything. The dupes don`t react properly as well. They stand still taking the hits and start fleeing a minute later once they moved quite far away. I reported that as a bug before and i hope it`s fixed espeially if more agressive  critters will be added in the dlc.

4. Morphs for all critters. - Maybe not all but for most of them. Especially the starting ones. The plug slug has huge potential for morphs that have a different diet but i`d also love to see pip morphs or pokeshell morphs. Also more drecko morphs, we got more plants now so maybe their diet could be expanded. They could produce other useful materials like ceramic, glass or lead (we might need more lead for radiation protection in the dlc).

5. More happiness modifiers for critters. - For now we just have basic ranch size requirements, feeding and grooming. But what if other things affeted them as well. Briar bluff apparently is liked by critters. Hatches don`t like light. Pokeshells should require salt water. Shinebugs like company. All those could affect the critter happiness and by it how effective the critter is (it`s metabolism). Less than grooming but enough to have like 60% of current production without dupes spending extra time tending to them. They could also affect morph chances. Each critter should have it`s own individual requirements for full efficiency.

6. Let us milk the gassy moo. - Anyone still remember that thing? What planet did it come from? We should get an extra wierd world in the dlc with a few of those. They should have some breeding mechanic now that the sapce got reworked. I also wish they wouldprovide some sort of milk on top of their natural gas production. There seems to be a new cooking station so exotic ingredients are just what we need.

This is just a whishlist. I am not demanding for that to be added i just wish the game had some of that. Fell free to add your own wishes for ranching. I might make another list for medicine and diseases tomorrow.

[Whitecold]

I agree especially on the gassy moo. In the base game, they never felt really right, since they were a ridiculously complicated way to produce a very common resource. (You have so many options for power at this point)

Gassy Moos sound fine as a trophy critter to ranch, but then they should also have an unique reward. Doesn't matter that you probably don't need food or morale either, but if this is the only way to get a milk shake, then to space we travel to get that milkshake!

[goboking]

22 hours ago, Sasza22 said:

6. Let us milk the gassy moo. - Anyone still remember that thing? What planet did it come from? We should get an extra wierd world in the dlc with a few of those. They should have some breeding mechanic now that the sapce got reworked. I also wish they wouldprovide some sort of milk on top of their natural gas production. There seems to be a new cooking station so exotic ingredients are just what we need.

If Gassy Moos produced milk...

• Electric Grill:  Milk = Cheese
• Electric Grill:  Raw Egg = Boiled or Fried Egg  (essentially a reworked Omelette)
• Gas Range:  Raw Egg + Cheese = Omelette

This would give us a practical reason to ranch Gassy Moos and an end game for raw egg, which currently tops out at +1, IIRC.