What is the point of ranches?

[weregamer]

I have never built one. Are they unrealistically more efficient at producing food than farms, or something? (Or more realistically, does having meat in the diet make non-vegans have higher comfort?)

Between their size and the existence of vegan colonists, they don't look very apealing.

[JohnNav]

Agreed :) I add/install that DLC after Mars Terraformation so the Animals will appear outside ;)

[BLADERUNNER]

They produce large amounts of food for little input, think the base production for the lowest producer (goats) on the outdoor version was 160 for 5days with good building performance that can be boosted very high, makes the indoor normal farms ideal for growing seeds, if you select the dome you can set a filter so that vegans wont move into or live in domes making the vegan thing not an issue

[Mizi]

They also don't need specialists, which is great for early game if there isn't enough botanists.

[Ericus1]

They produce food more efficiently than farms early game, before you have the better crops/techs. Late game farms are better on a per Sol/worker/water basis with the techs and 100% soil.

https://survivingmars.paradoxwikis.com/Food#Farm_Crops

[SkiRich]

You can consider ranches as a form of outdoor farm producing food.
Once food is produced it is agnostic/generic, so vegans will eat it.

[Terry Tate]

Originally posted by Mizi:

They also don't need specialists, which is great for early game if there isn't enough botanists.

in my oppinion ranches are too OP

no specialists

not much input to keep them going

can be built outside

[Summer]

It's good for the Church of the New Ark (I think?) drawback that nerfs farms and hydroponic farms. For that mission profile, I just use the ranches instead.