looking for advice re: free-ranging slimes

[MozarteanChaos]

i have a few (about five, currently) largos of various types that i'd like to free-range (preferably still on the ranch, just outside of a corral) - all but one can eat meat, so i'm planning on adding a chicken coop and a garden to whereever they'll be put, if it doesn't generate food naturally.
i'd like to know if anyone has experience with free-ranging slimes - particularly how far they tend to wander, if they despawn, if you've had trouble keeping them fed, and what areas of the ranch are the best to keep them in.
currently, i'm considering the grotto as a potential free-range area, due to how closed-off it is, and the fact that three of the largos are already in a corral there. if anyone has input of any kind regarding this topic, i would love to hear it. thanks!

(i'm on casual difficulty, so the tarr aren't a concern for me)

[lev258]

Making them gardens with fruit and veggie is OK, but with a coop, you can expect they simply eat all your chickens, so it's not a good idea.
I sometimes keep phosphor+anything largos in the Grotto. They like to move around (even to the tunnel towards the teleport), but don't really go upstairs. With a slime toy, they prefer to be near it. Slimes vanishing from your Ranch is basically a bug, it happens only rarely. So they won't despawn in normal circumstances.
The Overgrowth is also a good place to keep them free, but the grass makes finding plorts harder. Of course a drone can help you with that. Chickens also spawn here naturally, so no need to be concerned about meat.

[ArgentumRattus]

there are only two ways to free range safely imo - have only 1 type of slime/largo in the area (because they wont eat their own plorts and thus wont turn into tarrs) or play the mode where tarrs don't exist at all.

Only free range I do is the phosphor quantums in the grotto because quantum slimes wont stay in a pen anyway and I've never had any get out of the grotto. that is the only largo i have in there with a few lemon trees which are exclusively used to feed just them. I use two drones to pick up the two diff types of plorts and take them to a remote market to sell them

[MozarteanChaos]

Originally posted by lev258:

Making them gardens with fruit and veggie is OK, but with a coop, you can expect they simply eat all your chickens, so it's not a good idea.
I sometimes keep phosphor+anything largos in the Grotto. They like to move around (even to the tunnel towards the teleport), but don't really go upstairs. With a slime toy, they prefer to be near it. Slimes vanishing from your Ranch is basically a bug, it happens only rarely. So they won't despawn in normal circumstances.
The Overgrowth is also a good place to keep them free, but the grass makes finding plorts harder. Of course a drone can help you with that. Chickens also spawn here naturally, so no need to be concerned about meat.

thanks for the advice - i'll keep all of that in mind! the grotto does seem like the best option, so i think i'll go with that and see how things go. probably still going to have a coop in there JIC, but i'll try keeping it out of reach

Originally posted by Army.Starlight.Cloud.E.L.F:

there are only two ways to free range safely imo - have only 1 type of slime/largo in the area (because they wont eat their own plorts and thus wont turn into tarrs) or play the mode where tarrs don't exist at all.

Only free range I do is the phosphor quantums in the grotto because quantum slimes wont stay in a pen anyway and I've never had any get out of the grotto. that is the only largo i have in there with a few lemon trees which are exclusively used to feed just them. I use two drones to pick up the two diff types of plorts and take them to a remote market to sell them

yeah, i'd imagine the tarr would be a big roadblock outside of casual
sounds like you've got a nice setup, though. thanks for sharing

[lev258]

Just a tiny bit of addition. With a slime toy, I managed to keep quantum largos always inside the corral (not only the cube toy, but the one for the other half also works), while the lemon tree is just next to them. Afterimages go outside, but they never. If I move the toy outside, they will follow it. :)

[purplecharmanderz]

Originally posted by lev258:

Just a tiny bit of addition. With a slime toy, I managed to keep quantum largos always inside the corral (not only the cube toy, but the one for the other half also works), while the lemon tree is just next to them. Afterimages go outside, but they never. If I move the toy outside, they will follow it. :)

Just ensuring one thing is clear, slimes only benefit from 1 toy at a time.

[lev258]

Of course. Just wanted to emphasize, that for largos, you always have 2 toys to choose from.

[keybounce]

Quantums: They will phase out if they don't get enough food. Just feeding them doesn't do it. What worked for me was first vacuuming up all the slimes, then putting lots of their fruit down in the pen, then putting the slimes in slowly so that they can eat as they go in, and become well-fed/happy.

[Happygamer]

I have free-range honey slimes in The Overgrowth, free-range Quantum slimes on the beach and The Grotto has my phosphorus slimes just bouncing around between two fruit trees. I add to each of these areas a pond for water slimes a silo; and drones to manage everything. The main ranch has just basic slimes in pens and all the vegetables resources of the game in gardens. The Lab is the best place for Largos. I use three pens of Largos, a nearby silo and an incinerator in the back to raise fire slimes and burn extra materials. The Lab is easy to maintain if you use it as a teleportation hub.

[Comrade Tiki]

In Grotto, I free-range a ton of Quantum-Dervish largos.
Every time I walk in, it's chaos, but it's a contained chaos.
The cyclones of unlucky largos scatter fruit from the trees, for all to forage, so it is self-regulating. I had tried free-ranging Quantum-Saber largos before this, but lemons were stacking up (because some of them would occupy space at the bottom of the trees, keeping others from eating), hence the decision to use Dervishes.

In Overgrowth, I free-range Mosaic-Tangle largos.
They forage on chickens, carrots, and gardens of silver-parsnip.
Only rarely does one go rogue and visit the docks... These largos are a bit harder to make because their slimes are rare, but they're great. Tangle slimes have no problems reaching nearby food, so I let them rule the place. When I see 4 chickens spawn and immediately get dragged underground, I know I'm doing it right.