Taming

[IcewaterCreek®]

What the heck is this worth?
There are plenty of things to kill for meat.
You can't ride them or trade them or breed them. So the point?
I know I am missing something... still do not have any need to do anything other than farm crops. Thanks for any help.

[Flin Fredstone]

Poop for fuel.
And when you have a male and a female it can get really crowded over time.

[Jaggid Edje]

Breeding them is a thing.

Poop for fuel is actually a decent way to get fuel. Plus I (personally) like to fertilizer some crops, because otherwise they take way too much space to meet my needs (I'm looking at you Siliconleaf).

Some of the animals also give other resources that one might find useful. And it's a cheap source of entertainment (relaxation).

Sometimes I also like to tame a small army of cannon fodder. Especially if I'm doing a low survivor-count playthrough. My dogs saved my arse several times when I did the True Solo achievement.

[IcewaterCreek®]

Originally posted by Jaggid Edje:

Breeding them is a thing.

Poop for fuel is actually a decent way to get fuel. Plus I (personally) like to fertilizer some crops, because otherwise they take way too much space to meet my needs (I'm looking at you Siliconleaf).

Some of the animals also give other resources that one might find useful. And it's a cheap source of entertainment (relaxation).

Sometimes I also like to tame a small army of cannon fodder. Especially if I'm doing a low survivor-count playthrough. My dogs saved my arse several times when I did the True Solo achievement.

Can you get them to fight for you?

[Jaggid Edje]

Originally posted by IcewaterCreek®:

Can you get them to fight for you?

Yes. Some of the animal types will automatically attack enemies that get too close, and if you train them you can actually draft them and give them orders during battle once they are level 5 or higher.

[msor]

No, you are not missing anything. Taming is pretty useless right now.

Meat is not needed in this game on a regular basis and even if you need it - there are plenty of wild animals around, that respawn every night. Manure is huge waste of workforce. Relaxation bonus is the same as other type of relaxation (statues, armchair, dart board...). Some animals can fight, but they are pathetic at this. Insects can give you stone on regular basis and Broodmother drop carbon tubes about once per year.

So do yourself a favor. Tame Broodmother for an achievement and never touch taming again.

[Paraleo]

once per year lol xD

[sugarskull]

I like to get 2-3 dogs for my survivors to pet and bond with for happiness. I get all female or all male dogs so they don't breed, though. I don't feel right murdering puppies.

And I'll get ulfens or whatever is on the map for hide, meat, and manure for fuel and fertilizing.

I believe some of the more powerful insect species (like from the nests) can be tamed for combat, but I haven't tried it.

[Kelreena]

I only grab a dog or two for relaxation. I train them, but I've never tried to use them in combat. (usually when I get to the point of taming dogs, my compound is pretty tough).

[Paraleo]

if i play a lot on a seed, i like taming broodmothers but the whole process can be frustrating and hit and miss, i am not sure right now but they drop carbon one time per day, also if u have many of them in a pen well positioned they can help versus the flyers. I think the max i had was 8 broodmothers tamed for real in an unmodded game, military scenario.

[Jarcionek]

Originally posted by Jaggid Edje:

Poop for fuel is actually a decent way to get fuel. Plus I (personally) like to fertilizer some crops, because otherwise they take way too much space to meet my needs (I'm looking at you Siliconleaf).

I find it easier to select an area around wild animals and mark poo for use, and let the delivery drones bring that to storage.

Obviously on some maps there aren't that many wild animals.

[Sum Ting Wong]

You can tame animals for your survivors to pet them to increase their happiness. Just tame 1 male/female each and plant a few patches of hay and forget about it.

[Ray64]

one benefit I have seen is that tamed animals will help you defend a bit, in one case I was being attacked near their beds and my camels went and ganged up on the enemy. I imagined this would be more effective if the tamed animal was a predator like those birds/raptors.

[poodlebb]

I tamed the cows once, breeded a very large family and then they started to get mad with each others and killing each others. I ended up shooting them all dead. I never tamed any animal after that.

[lorifel]

The main reasons for me to tame animals are:
- Huge morale boost that people get from having pets (bonding)
- Byproducts (manure, roots, etc.)
- Food reserves for unexpected hungry times when regular food reserves run out
- The last line of defence in case other defences go down
- Aesthetic and roleplaying reasons

[Michael]

For me it's basically just to have a source of manure that I don't have to micromanage. I wouldn't say any of the other benefits are worth having to make a space for them, spend time feeding them, or protecting them from humingflys.