Wild animals and you- who let the dogs out.

[Comrade Crimson]

The zombie apocalypse would bring about many changes. Shuffling, man eating corpses, rotten food, the power going out... and nature reclaiming the land.

 

 

Obviously there would be some trouble for some animals to survive being eaten by slow lumbering zombies. Some small pets trapped in a house may be fairly unlucky. But a fair many pets as well as wild animals may be able to evade the zombies, be able to escape their pens and holdings/houses and escape into the wild.

 

Which comes to my suggestion- the chance to see feral dogs and cats running about with varying degree's of hostility. You may encounter the friendly but spooked man's best friend of a dog or a curious cat. Or, you could meet that starving hound with fleas, rabies and anger issues that lives with a pack of other similar, ravenous individuals that want to rip your face off. Many disasters (such as Hurricane Katrina) saw dogs forming packs within a matter of days, and cats are already feral and not fully domesticated and would escape the first chance they get. (It's scientifically proven dogs mourn their pet owners and will not eat their bodies unless they are starving, while cats have been known to chew off and eat the faces of their owners if they died within their house.)

 

So alongside these animals roaming freely, some friendly and some not, maybe even some being able to be food sources or companions, we also got to think- Hey! This is Kentucky! There should be sheep, horses, pigs, chickens and cattle on some of these ranches right? Some animals may very well just be butchered or not be able to escape. But some may very well just bust down their holdings, especially if they are panicked and in a herd. Seeing feral farm animals about every once in a while or potential in farmland area would be fairly interesting because it provides the player with multiple agricultural or food options.

 

And eventually, as nature fully reclaims the towns of Muldraugh and West Point (and others,) wild animals from the outskirts would most certainly come trying to find scraps and wandering around freely. Which adds a whole new level of danger and potential while playing.

 

I am not saying these encounters should be common, but having them ingame would be something not only realistic, but quite cool. And adds a whole new dynamic to potential hunter trappers, herdsman and farming style gameplays, or the fact you may just end up being dog chow.

 

Lemme know your thoughts.

[migulao]

Wild animals going to be implemented with hunting, and I think dogs are a confirmed yes, can't say the same about cats though.

 

EDIT: 404 posts, that is terrifying.

[Comrade Crimson]

In before error.

[Kajin]

Cats would be just about mandatory, I imagine. Mice, rats and other vermin just love to get into crops and food stores to eat what they can and shit and piss all over everything they don't. You can't include animals like that and NOT have them as a potential problem, after all.

[BLATANTLY_POTATO]

I hope there would be a way to turn cats and dogs off. I would be too sad from seeing dead cats and dogs.

[deprav]

I hope there would be a way to turn cats and dogs off. I would be too sad from seeing dead cats and dogs.

 

They'd make a good target practice tho, now that aiming skills matter.

Also I'm pretty sure most of what the Op said is already planned ! But yeah I've been thinking about it again as well just a week ago, running away from a pack of ferral dogs would be scarry as hell.

[Bolgfred]

Got bitten by a dog once - I bite back. It was scary, but wild dogs are cool.

 

 

 

Additionally I wan't to sit inside a house not knowing if it is a zombie or a bison that is knocking at my door. We need Bisons.

[Some Clever Username]

I knew allot of this was planned but what if you had a farm with cows and pigs, that would be awesome! Didn't think about having cattle before, interesting...

[Kajin]

If there's one animal that would survive the zombie apocalypse (and be the most useful) it'd be goats. They're fast and nimble little bastards and they can navigate tough terrain really easily to escape pursuers.

[Comrade Crimson]

Pigs would be very durable as well, and cattle would be high maintenance but obviously highly rewarding if you can maintain them.

 

There is also always the chance that you might end up dying from your own ranch animals if they get spooked... zombie comes along, and all your cattle come crushing you and your kidneys out your earholes in a panicked stampede.

 

Adds more ways to die in this game, and that's always a plus last I checked.

[migulao]

Pigs would be very durable as well, and cattle would be high maintenance but obviously highly rewarding if you can maintain them.

 

There is also always the chance that you might end up dying from your own ranch animals if they get spooked... zombie comes along, and all your cattle come crushing you and your kidneys out your earholes in a panicked stampede.

 

Adds more ways to die in this game, and that's always a plus last I checked.

Mmh... earhole kidneys... tasty.

[Comrade Crimson]

High in protein and vitamin A.

[Some Clever Username]

So I guess my down time in the game will be "Farmville: Scared Cattle Cruching Your Earholes Version"!

[Kajin]

Pigs would be very durable as well, and cattle would be high maintenance but obviously highly rewarding if you can maintain them.

 

There is also always the chance that you might end up dying from your own ranch animals if they get spooked... zombie comes along, and all your cattle come crushing you and your kidneys out your earholes in a panicked stampede.

 

Adds more ways to die in this game, and that's always a plus last I checked.

Pigs and cows would need a huge amount of space, though. You can't really feed them any way other than free range without a support network bringing you in large quantities of feed to keep them fed. You'd need a pretty large group of survivors looking after the cows in particular because you'd need to fence in the entire area they happen to be roaming around in and keep patrols going around the perimeter to make sure zeds don't break the fencing.

 

Pigs would be slightly easier, but they tear the ground up something awful and would need extra ground to give well trodden areas a chance to grow in. Not to say I think you can't have cows and pigs, you totally should, but they'd be supremely difficult to take care of.

 

The best animals, in my opinion, would be chickens and goats. Maximum utility to resources consumed with them. Chickens give eggs (valuable protein and fat) and goats give milk (valuable fat and minerals) without having to butcher them. Pigs are only good for meat and cows take up so much space and consume so much resources that, if I already had goats, I just wouldn't bother with them.

 

I like spooked animals causing injury, though. I consider horses to be my arch enemy when it comes to the zombie apocalypse. Huge, lots of resources to keep them, and if you were riding one when a zombie comes along you'll probably get bucked off and left for dead. They'd be good for plowing farmland and hauling wood for fencing, but I wouldn't trust them very much.

[Comrade Crimson]

Very risk versus reward with these sort of things- horses would be hard to train, but they could be useful. Having herd animals definitely is a strategy for the long term I think, and one if you can get it to work will help out significantly. It'd also encourage players to expand their land instead of just walling off their farm and house and having an ultimate self sustaining super fort, animals need to move and graze new pastures. Meaning players have a chance to die out in the field again.

[Kajin]

One thing I'd like to see in the game would be the ability to train Herd Dogs and Livestock Guardian Dogs. A properly trained herd dog would guide the herd and keep it in an area for you so you wouldn't have to build fencing. It could even be trained to cause a ruckus and herd zeds away from the livestock if it sees any. Then it could lose the zeds following it and circle around back to camp. Herd dogs are typically small to medium sized and very hyperactive. The border collie is an example of a good herd dog.

 

Livestock Guardian Dogs don't really herd the livestock so much as hang out with them as part of the group. Their main job is to keep the herd safe from predatory animals or poachers. Anything that looks like a threat to the herd is chased off or killed. Real effective countermeasure against wolves, coyote, bobcats, feral dog packs or even rival humans. Livestock guardian dogs are typically larger than their herd dog counterparts.

 

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herding_dog

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livestock_guardian_dog

[Comrade Crimson]

Or you get multi-role dogs which act between guardian and herd dogs, which are typically for larger herd animals like cattle.

 

Point in case example is the cuddly Bouvier... which also happened to be the type of dog I grew up with, my childhood dog being one. And yes they really are like big cuddly bears. (who don't shed, their hair is like human hair.)

 

(And yes, I still miss her. Was a lazy but good family dog RIP Tori :C)

 

Bred for cattle herding and protection in around Belgium/flanders and France, known to have towed wounded soldiers in WW1 and was a poor man's horse and hauling dog. Breed was even known to have bit Adolf Hitler's hand and lived through his extermination programs he issued after the incident when the Belgian Ambassador's pup got nervous and bit that stinkin' fascist's hand.

 

(And yes their tails and ears are traditionally cropped both for health reasons for prevention of physical problems later in life and avoidance of injury while herding. Not mandatory but its common.)

 

Commence adorable pictures of puppies and the breed in general.

 

 

/Praise for my favourite breed done.

 

Dogs can also perform other roles too, and I'd like to see guard dog, hauling dogs and other jobs that can be assigned to them. Because man's best friend is truly, his best friend.

 

And on that note, there should be an entirely new skill, called Rearing.

 

Rearing as a skill involves the care, education and management of animals. Whether it's raising your puppy or kitten to become useful and loyal pets to aid in your activities or raising up your own herd of sheep, goats, pigs or cattle and taking care of them to supply your operation with their needed food output, or breaking in, training and riding a horse it all is under the umbrella for caring for animals and using their traits tactfully and competently.

[Kajin]

There's another animal I kinda want in the game. Guinea fowl. They're like chickens but they only eat insects so farmers sometimes use them for pest control. Supposedly they'll pick the beetles right off of a potato plant and leave the plant unharmed. It'd be somewhat rare in comparison to the more common domesticated chicken, but if you can secure a breeding pair you'd never have to worry about insects eating your crops ever again.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guineafowl

[Some Clever Username]

Now I really want to be a farmer in the game! I hope they put cattle into the game!