Dogs/Cats/rodents

[FearTheAmish]

So did a quick search and didn't find anything on this... but i am positive i did because this should be a suggestion i apologize in advance to the mods....

So i know domestication is coming but wanted to make a few suggestions for non food animals. also as a member of a town i have noticed that food sources never decay in any way and i think a mechanic should be added for this, below is my suggestions.

Dogs: Should be able to either be purchased at the vendors for specific breeds (hunting/herding) or captured and trained.
Trainable
- Hunting: used to stun/slow creatures can be used in a pack of 4 or less
- Herding: Used with the implementation of other domestic animals to move groups of them from area to area (possibly add the ability for grazing animals to consume grasses growing in plains and this would be away to some what automate the process)
- Gaurding: Patrol around the towns/plots, any unknown player that enters the area would cause dog to growl setting of an "alarm" with the player. If unknown player performs any criminal act's dogs would attack.
- War: dogs are trained to be used in PvP they could be used in a pack of 4 or less

Rodents: they are un-trainable and are naturally occurring in towns they will randomly feed on any foods they can reach

Cats: can be purchased from vendors in town the purpose of them is purely for removing/lowering rodent infestations. They will automatically hunt for rodents inside of towns and breed on on. They do not need to be trained for anything.

[MagicManICT]

Some more information about rats, please. What causes them, more specifics about how to get rid of them. Can we have dachshunds to catch them instead of cats, or maybe chihuahuas?

Oh, and could we catch the rats so we could feed them to our pet snakes?

[Bearcub]

I want pet snakes *-* I'd feed'em with my surplus bear meat to grow up to bear's size

[Randall]

Can we also have pet bears?
Not sure if this is a good idea, though. It could be very nice to have a pet, yet implementing its AI for it not to be completely stupid and as a result utterly annoying is ultimately hard. So I'd vote no for this improvement.

[FearTheAmish]

Some more information about rats, please. What causes them, more specifics about how to get rid of them. Can we have dachshunds to catch them instead of cats, or maybe chihuahuas?

Oh, and could we catch the rats so we could feed them to our pet snakes?

so i am going to take this as not sarcasm (which is my prerogative as the op!). Rats could be spawned once a certain number of houses are in a general area and the number of rats is dependent on how much food is on that plot. So for example a hermit with one house and 15-20 things of food might only spawn two but a large town of 15 houses might spawn 30. They can start as just 1 per house then would increase with the amount of food stored. Another way to remove them would be traps that could be crafted and left by food storage area's.

Also Dachshunds don't hunt rats they are designed to go after rabbits and badgers (why they are long and skinny to get down burrows) you were probably looking for terriers though.

[dageir]

The number of rats in a place should double every 5 or so days if no measures are taken. Rats could be used as a biological weapon. Imagine dropping a couple of em inside enemys farm. Rats should also carry the plague which will drain blood pretty fast unless its cured or you get well by yourself. They should eat 0,1 kg worth of food per day each. Rats can be picked up like the frogs.

[MagicManICT]

I thought they were bred for any rodent--rabbits, rats, minks, etc. (Though other than burrow digging, they make horrid rabbit dogs... give me a beagle any day.)

No, it wasn't sarcasm. We had rats and things to do with them in HnH (one recipe, I think, and could be a sacrifice for ancestral magic). They were just random wilderness spawns, though, and if they're going to be tied to towns/cities as a pest, I think there should be proper spawn mechanics.

[FearTheAmish]

I thought they were bred for any rodent--rabbits, rats, minks, etc. (Though other than burrow digging, they make horrid rabbit dogs... give me a beagle any day.)

No, it wasn't sarcasm. We had rats and things to do with them in HnH (one recipe, I think, and could be a sacrifice for ancestral magic). They were just random wilderness spawns, though, and if they're going to be tied to towns/cities as a pest, I think there should be proper spawn mechanics.

i Agree i think they would be a really cool spoilage mechanic to keep the developed cities from getting too large and stockpiling loads of food.

[Mereni]

When you say the rats would eat 'any food they can reach', what do you mean? Do you mean fields and any storage containers or sheds or cabinets in house? Or would stored foods be out of reach for them?

I like the idea of cats in the game to hunt rats. We'd need in-game cat food, or have to feed the cats meat though. I grew up on a corn farm and we had a dozen cats to keep the mice down. I can tell you, you can't expect them to feed themselves on the rodents they catch; they actually do a much better job if they're hunting for their instincts, not because they're actually hungry.

[dageir]

Cats like fish and meat.