PSA: Carted-up Donkeys and Horses still breed.

[Maehlice]

Donkeys and Horses pulling carts have fixed Conditions at 100% and require no shelter. It made sense they wouldn't contribute to breeding either, so I've always operated under that assumption and set reasonable Cart limits lower than those of my Donkeys & Horses.

I was wrong. They do still breed. I've been running a lot of livestock tests since I started playing; I'm surprised I only just thought to try this one.

What I also learned is that a newborn Young Donkey or Horse at Age 0 will pull a cart. However, doing so instantly transforms them into an Adult at Age 9.

In light of this new information, I think the best practice is simply to set the Cart and Donkey/Horse limits to be identical (infinite?).


This feels very broken and exploitable to me.

[TsPok]

It was really strange when I have no donkey and horses but one cart built and when I catch one, it went to cart and harness itself into it. No waiting until getting old or even not spent a season free - the moment it was catches it purposefully was going into this cart.

[gittubaba]

I feel like this "hidden" reward is needed for carts bcz otherwise carts become more worthless.

[martiño]

Yes, we actually we had a version of the game during development where only donkeys/horses without a cart would breed but this forced the player to have another pack of animals just to replace the ones in the cats which wasn't good from the gameplay point of view

[Ronald Gordo]

My donkeys and horses are smart and come home alone to the city when are abandoned by villagers running in the cold ... that's all I need ...
Thanks Great and Powerful Dev.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1700711542

[d102_KoT]

Originally posted by Maehlice:

What I also learned is that a newborn Young Donkey or Horse at Age 0 will pull a cart. However, doing so instantly transforms them into an Adult at Age 9.

In light of this new information, I think the best practice is simply to set the Cart and Donkey/Horse limits to be identical (infinite?).

Thanks for that. I wondered what was going on with young equids

[Maehlice]

Originally posted by martiño:

Yes, we actually we had a version of the game during development where only donkeys/horses without a cart would breed but this forced the player to have another pack of animals just to replace the ones in the cats which wasn't good from the gameplay point of view

You guys have done very well maintaining a good balance of pros & cons with almost every aspect of the game, so this really surprises me.

As it stands, there's no downside and only an upside to maintaining Donkeys/Horses.

Given enough time, a village could live off of the Skins & Meat from a huge herd of zero-maintenance Donkeys & Horses.

[jg89d]

I often see donkeys and horses, attached to unmanned carts, heading towards haystacks, but I can never tell if they eat cause of maintenance and construction sites continuously consuming hay.
Their status reads "idle"once they get there but do they actually eat? That would be awesome.

[Maehlice]

Originally posted by jg89d:

I often see donkeys and horses, attached to unmanned carts, heading towards haystacks, but I can never tell if they eat cause of maintenance and construction sites continuously consuming hay.
Their status reads "idle"once they get there but do they actually eat? That would be awesome.

They do not.

The devs recently gave Carts an amazing, much-needed buff.

When a Cart is unmanned, the Donkey/Horse automatically returns to and waits at a building with storage slots.

[jg89d]

Originally posted by Maehlice:

Originally posted by jg89d:

I often see donkeys and horses, attached to unmanned carts, heading towards haystacks, but I can never tell if they eat cause of maintenance and construction sites continuously consuming hay.
Their status reads "idle"once they get there but do they actually eat? That would be awesome.

They do not.

The devs recently gave Carts an amazing, much-needed buff.

When a Cart is unmanned, the Donkey/Horse automatically returns to and waits at a building with storage slots.

I knew about that but I thought it would mean only warehouses and granaries. Damn, I would've loved it, forcing a natural limit on carts and some strategic choices by the player.