Animal husbandry

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Revision as of 13:06, 15 October 2020 by Akineko (talk | contribs)


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Vintage Story also includes a number of game mechanics that allow the domestication of some of the animals that roam the world. To domesticate animals, players must capture at least one male and one female so that offspring can be bred in "captivity". The animals behavior changes after multiple generations. Even after domestication, boars and bighorn sheep will still become aggressive when attacked.

Generational changes

  • After 3 generations:
    • Animals can be killed nearly instantly with the cleaver.
  • After 10 generations:
    • Sleeping Animals will no longer wake when a player approaches .
    • Aggressive animals will become neutral, i.e. only attack when being provoked.
    • Animals will no longer run away from the player.

Capturing Wild Animals

Two methods exist to capture wild animals for domestication.

  1. Active: Provoke the wild boars/pigs or bighorn sheep with a weak attack. In return, boars and sheep will try to attack players. If players run away from them, they will follow for a short distance. This behavior can be used to guide them into carefully prepared animal pens. Female pigs and sheep will always follow their male counterpart. If you encounter a group of animals together, try only antagonizing the males - the females will automatically follow. Wild chickens always try to flee from the player, again, use this advantage by chasing the chickens into the pen.
  2. Passive: In an area nearby the animals to capture, dig a pit at least 2 blocks deep and place a trough with food portions in it. Wait for the animals to fall into the pit trap, and convert the pit into the animal pen. Players can also chase wild chickens into this pit trap.

Breeding

All animals must consume portions of feed in order to breed. Placing 8 dry grass or 2 grain into a trough players can feed animals. Both male and female animals must eat until they become saturated. The Block info HUD shows the level of saturation when a player looks at an animal. It will also show the creature weight, generation, whether an animal is ready to breed, and if it may disappear due to darkness.


Pigs

Boars eat animal feed placed in a large trough. The Sows will need a satiety value of 10 before they are ready to mate. After a pregnancy of 25 ingame days, sows bear litters of multiple piglets (4-6) at a time, so be sure the pen is large enough to accommodate for a "pigsplosion", which may occur when breeding multiple females simultaneously. Piglets will need 158 hours to grow up, with a chance of 75% to be female and 25% to be male. Sows will have 6-11 days of "cooldown" time before they can breed again.
Note that boars (and sometimes sows) will attack players when in close range but will become passive after 10 generations.

Sheep

Sheep eat animal feed placed in a large trough. Troughs hold portions of dry grass or grains and sheep will consume either grass or grain. The Ewes will need a satiety value of 10 before they are willing to mate. After a pregnancy time of 20 days, ewes bear one lamb at a time, chances for male or female are 50/50. Lambs will take 336 hours to grow up, and the Ewes will need 4-11 days break before they are ready to breed again.
Note that male sheep (and sometimes the females) always attack players when in close range, but they will stop doing so after 10 generations of breeding.

Chickens

Chickens will only eat grain placed in small troughs. Hens need to reach a satiety of 6 before they are ready to mate. For now, baby chicks are not preceded by eggs - they appear like other baby animals. The pregnancy takes 9 days for the hen and there will be 1-2 chicks, with a "cooldown" of 6-9 days before the next pregnancy. The chicks will grow up after 168 hours, with a 90% chance for more hens and only a 10% chance for a new rooster.
Hens will lay eggs on the ground every 8-15 in-game days, which can be used in cooked foods but do not have any impact on breeding new chickens. Players should collect the eggs regularly, as they disappear within 2 days.

Harvesting and Butchering

Domesticated, or wild, animals can be killed and harvested for meat, raw hides, bones, and fat. Shift+right click with a knife in hand to harvest or butcher animals.

Creature Weight and Darkness

Two parts of husbandry that may be confusing for new players are the creature weight and darkness mechanics.

Creature Weight

The Block info HUD shows a property called "Creature Weight" which can range from good, decent, low, and starving. A lower creature weight causes fewer items to be dropped when it is killed. This is an issue over winter, or in cold areas, as it can significantly reduce the yield of livestock. Keeping animals well-fed prevents their weight from decreasing.

Darkness

Many animals will disappear if they are in darkness for too long and players can see if animals will disappear by looking at the Block info HUD. Light sources like oil lamps or lanterns, as well as sunlight, can prevent animals from disappearing.

Other animals

Bees cannot be domesticated, but the art of Beekeeping can help them be put in a 'controlled environment' as to be able to harvest their produce without having to kill them all off.

Foxes, hares, hyenas, raccoons, wolves, drifters and locusts cannot be domesticated and will have to be trapped and/or hunted down in order to reap the fruits of their dead bodies.

Foxes, hares, hyenas, raccoons, and wolves can be hunted for their meat, fat, hides and bones. Hunting Drifters can provide you with flax, rusty gears and temporal gears. Locusts however, have no drops so they only provide a distraction to harvest.


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