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Yeah, pigs can haul, wild boars can't. (I think they used to be able to in some older version, not sure.)
They eat very little. They breed profligately.
They are small targets, thus not too easily destroyed by an armed invader.
When they inevitably *are* destroyed, they explode in a glorious fiery deathblossom.
Boomrats. The ultimate in self-replicating, self-propelled incendiary munitions.
p.s. If your goal is making enemies into face-hats, you may have to open a "scorched but serviceable" line in your haberdashery.
Wild Boars work pretty well, but you are going to be spending most of your colonists time just training them all to release. Domestic pigs are much easier to train, but you have to buy them, and it takes a while for them to breed to critical mass (By which point the raids are probably too strong), and domestic pigs don't hit nearly as hard as boars.
Rabbits and squirrels work suprisingly well, so do Cobras in a jungle maps. As mentioned boomrats are basically a ground based artillery barrage. Boomrats don't really even need to be trained, just zone them on the enemy raid.
Dogs work pretty well too, especially huskies. It takes a while to breed enough of them, but they are good haulers in the mean time. The zero wildness makes them super easy to train, and they do good damage. You need a ton of doctors to patch them up afterwards though, and even on Pheobe you are going to lose them to raids faster then they breed.
The things you have to balance is dps, survivability and replacement costs/time as well as "maintenance."
Wild Boars are still the best "general purpose" animal army members. But, they don't do anything but eat and poop when they're not fighting enemies. They're best in groups, the larger the better, but that also means that you'll have to maintain and keep those groups up to strength during peacetime and that means slaughtering your army service-animals is going to be a rare thing.
Some animals have peacetime benefits, like hauling or producing chemfuel or wool or eggs... Are these valuable enough to consider for animals that are going to primarily be in an "army." Or, rather, should you first decide what animals have the most peacetime benefits and that could still be serviceable combatants?
I think the latter consideration is the best one - Instead of recruiting for combat, recruit for peace and consider for combat.
Muffalos make a great all-purpose animal, even for combat... but you have to use the "Combat Zone" method to get them in the line of fire. Yet, even so, they yield milk and wool during peacetime.
Boomalopes are very destructive and work well in the "Combat Zone" method. Plus, they yield Chemfuel. But, they have a bad habit of exploding at inopportune moments.
Emus... have 45 hp, two attacks, can stun and lay eggs for peacetime meals. Ostriches have a slightly longer laying period, but a bit more dps. Both have faster movement speed than Wild Boars, too. These look very good for animal soldiers...
Biome will matter a great deal, since one may not have easy access to many of the game's animals. So, you've gotta go with what you've got if you want an Animal Army. Another consideration is "bullet sponging" since the advantage for some animals is their size or target footprint - Large animals are usually bullet sponges for your defenders more than offensive units. (Except Thrumbos or Megsloth, but those aren't something I think that's being considered here.)
For myself, I'd only go with animals that can produce resources like milk, eggs or fur and that have decent hit points. "Release" training is a bonus, but if it can't be used then the animal has to have a decent size to act as a bullet sponge if necessary in a Combat Zone.
They take a while to breed and their eggs don't hatch overnight, but they can haul and release and take/give quite a bit of damage.
You know it was always T-Rex that you wanted.
Boomrats are your best option if all you want is sheer killing potential. The fiery explosion ensures that the enemy experiences pain. One down side is when you bunch up your animals. Boomrats have a smaller radius to their booms, but can still catch other friendly animals in the cross fire. I split mine up into herds of 4-5 before I send them out at the enemy head on.
If you don't like flammability then cobras are your next best bet. They don't reproduce as fast, need hot/warm environments to live in and as carnivores are a bit harder to feed, but their toxic bite helps them handicap enemy fighters. They are arguably the hardest animal to hit with a gun and are surprisingly fast for not having legs.
Squirrels are a nice backup pick. They are a small target for enemy shooters to lock onto and I believe are the meatiest small animal so when they do die, they fill up your colonist's plate a bit more than other animals.
Boars were once the second best animal in the game (behind the muffalo) but after they got their ability to haul taken away they aren't all-powerful any more. They are the best medium sized animal you can get. They are more survivable than squirrels are in a melee and if they can seriously mess up any enemies who they get close enough and will generally win any fight where they have a numbers advantage. Another plus is their diet, which is omnivorous. They eat grass as well as dead raider bodies. They are easier to keep large quantities of them because of their wide diet.
Also, in case anyone is wondering, monkeys are very bad. Because they punch and cause minor blunt damage they often end up losing most melee fights they end up in. They are hard to shoot but there's better options out there. And while they are omnivorous they eat a lot of food for an animal of their size. Monkeys are not worth it.