Since the other post on various species is unfortunately already closed, I’ll try to start a new one.
Last night my wife watched me play and her first question was: Where are the horses?
And right after that: Why don’t you raise pigs and chickens?
Well, and to be honest, I have no idea. Simply because they don’t exist in the game (yet).
But now that I’ve got the idea in my head, I keep thinking: Why aren’t there any pigs or chickens?
I would imagine that controlling so many separate individuals would be a problem anyway. If now 500 pigs or chickens were added, it could become difficult.
But maybe that’s still planned for the future. I would be happy about it in any case
I guess (I hope) they’re just prioritizing a way to make barn/livestock system solid and flawless, since it was really flawed (and still it is?)… Then I think they’ll add different livestocks too.
My take on Mo’ Livestock is first, ask what different animals would add to the game besides more graphic complexities.
Horses could be a new draft animal allowing faster carts and deliveries, but that’s a lot of work adding a new animal for a marginal effect.
Add horses to military and you get a true “medieval” feel to the game, but, frankly, mounted warriors and, especially, Raiders would change the game completely: you Cannot Farm if mounted enemies are in the area - they will massacre your farmers before they ever make it out of the fields on foot. This is, basically, why the Avar and Magyar mounted raiders spawned mounted knights and their retainers ready and waiting to catch and massacre the Raiders. It would change the game into much more of a Military and much less of a City Builder game, and, frankly, there are already plenty of Medieval Military games out there or in development.
Pigs and Chickens would add new food sources, but between Deer, Cattle, and Predators there are already plenty of non-Fish protein sources in the game. Chickens could add Feathers as a resource, but to what point? Goose was considered superior feathers for archery, feather beds and almost all other uses.
Sheep might be the one animal that would be a ‘useful’ addition: a Food Source, but more importantly a source for Wool resource, which could spawn Production chains for warm winter clothing, overcoats and cloaks, and Tapestries as a luxury item for the Upper Tier Housing. They would also give a whole new aspect to pasturing, because sheep notoriously can eat an area right down to the roots and require that they be moved around much more often than Cattle for the ‘pasturage’ to recover.
Sheep could also give the game a new Profession: the Shepherd, armed with a sling (archery not requiring anybody to make arrows for him) and a big mean dog . . .
Turnips and carrots are root vegetables implemented with different qualities and give the player room for choice.
So will cows and more options for pigs and chickens.
(Balance of food consumption and production)
Just a Medieval Note here: almost every Castle had a Pigeon Coop, because pigeons would reliably come home every night without constant watching, and so the coops provided a food source during sieges.
Chickens, on the other hand, join pigs as the ‘clean-up’ animals, able to subsist practically on whatever everybody else dropped as they were taking it somewhere else. So, possibly Pigs and Chickens could be added as ‘free’ (little or no Input of resource or labor required) Protein sources.
Chickens could provide eggs (non supermarket eggs can last for up to six months if you don’t wash them) as a way to get through the winter.
Pigs could be a fast source of meat. High birth rated followed by a slaughter of 6-8 pigs in the fall. They could also serve as a disposal source for spoiled food.
