Rimworld Pack Animals: A Comprehensive Guide to Caravan Operations

Operating a caravan with pack animals requires careful planning and execution. Pack animals can be a reliable source of transportation and labor, but they also require regular feeding and care.

The type of pack animal you choose will greatly impact your caravan's efficiency. Burros are a popular choice due to their strength and endurance, but llamas are also suitable for carrying heavy loads.

To keep your pack animals happy and healthy, it's essential to provide them with adequate food and water. A diet of hay and grains is recommended, along with regular access to clean water.

Caravan Management is an essential aspect of managing pack animals in RimWorld. The 'Choose Route' button allows you to set destinations for a caravan, and the game will automatically calculate the quickest route, taking terrain types and roads into account.

To ensure a smooth journey, it's crucial to plan ahead and pack sufficient food and medicine for your caravan members. Pawns will eat automatically when necessary, but they'll prioritize food that spoils earlier. If there's insufficient food to feed the entire caravan, humans will be fed before animals.

When it comes to caravan scheduling, all caravans start moving at 0600 hours and stop at 2200 hours, regardless of pawn traits or schedule. The sole exception to this is if a caravan has no animals and exclusively human members with the Never Sleep gene or mechs, which will continue traveling 24 hours a day.

Long Distance Journeys can be challenging, but there are ways to make them more manageable. One key tip is to use basic technology options to resupply your caravans and keep your colonists healthy on the road.

Campfires are a must-have for long distance travel, allowing you to cook food and keep warm. Pemmican is another essential item, providing a reliable source of energy for your colonists.

Passive coolers can help keep perishable items fresh, but don't forget to build settlements whenever you run low on food or resources. This will give your colonists a chance to restock and recharge.

Generated maps can be a lifesaver on long distance journeys, offering forageable food and animals to hunt or tame into the convoy. Just remember to give your colonists time off to relax and restore their joy.

Here are some key items to pack for long distance travel:

By using these items and building settlements, you can make long distance journeys much more manageable and ensure the health and happiness of your colonists.

Psyfocus is a valuable resource for caravan travelers, and it's great to know that pawns in a caravan can regenerate it while remaining stationary or waiting. This is especially useful for long caravan journeys.

In fact, this means that you can use psycasts even on long trips, as long as you take some time to recharge.

As you plan your caravan journey, sustenance is a crucial aspect to consider. Pawns traveling in a caravan will eat automatically when necessary.

Grazing animals can be a valuable asset on the road, as they can instantly refill their hunger bar when in a place with grazable plants, without any cost. This can save you from having to carry extra food for them.

Pawns will prioritize food that spoils earlier, so it's essential to bring a variety of non-perishable food items. If there is insufficient food to feed the entire caravan, humans will be fed before animals.

Colonists may also benefit from consuming items like Beer, which can provide a mood bonus and help keep them sane on long stretches of travel.

Here's a comparison table to help you make sense of caravan management systems:

Caravan management systems vary in complexity, with some offering basic features like user authentication and others providing advanced analytics and reporting.

The number of users that can be added to a system ranges from 10 to 100, depending on the provider.

Some systems allow for multiple administrators, while others restrict access to a single user.

Integration with other software, such as accounting and property management systems, is a key feature of many caravan management systems.

Some providers offer mobile apps for easy access on-the-go, while others require users to log in through a web browser.

Data storage options range from cloud-based to on-premise servers, with some providers offering a hybrid approach.

Costs can vary significantly, from $10 per month for a basic system to $100 per month for a more advanced solution.

Security features like encryption and backups are essential for protecting sensitive data.

Customer support options, such as phone and email support, can also vary between providers.

A different take: Is an Emotional Support Animal an Assistance Animal

Caravan Performance is a crucial aspect of RimWorld, and understanding how pack animals impact caravan speed can make a huge difference in your survival. Caravan movement speed is determined by the equation: Caravan movement speed = (13.6 * Multiplier from Ridden Animals * Multiplier from Carried Mass)/Terrain Movement Difficulty.

The type of animal you choose to ride can significantly impact caravan speed. For example, a horse has a riding speed of 1.6, while a donkey and dromedary have a riding speed of 1.3. This means that if you have a horse for every human pawn in your caravan, your caravan speed will be multiplied by 1.6.

Adding animals to a caravan can also impose a multiplier on caravan speed based on the Caravan riding speed stat of the animal. The table below shows the riding speed of various animals:

Caravan speed also receives a multiplier based on the ratio of Mass Carrier/Mass Capacity. This multiplier can range from 200% speed for zero mass to 50% speed for maximum mass.

Horses are arguably the best pack animal due to their fast riding speed, high weight capacity, and low hunger rate. They're a great addition to any caravan, but be aware that they're not found in all biomes.

If you're planning to bring many animals or large animals like elephants, be cautious about traveling during the off-season when grazing is scarce. This can lead to hungry animals and unhappy colonists.

Colonists can forage for berries and other edible plants to supplement their food needs, with Tribal pawns getting a 170% bonus to their Foraged Food Amount stat. This can help feed both your colonists and pack animals.

Here's a quick rundown of the benefits of each pack animal:

The Route Planner is a valuable tool in the game, allowing you to plan ahead and estimate the time it takes to reach a destination. You can drop waypoints on the world map to get an idea of the journey time.

The game will calculate the time it takes for a 1 tile/h caravan to travel through the planned route. This is a crucial factor to consider when planning your journey.

To use the Route Planner, you can place the starting point on an existing caravan to determine the time taken for a journey based on that caravan's speed. This feature is particularly useful for planning long-distance trips.

Pirates may approach your caravan and demand items and colonists as slaves, so it's essential to plan ahead and be prepared for potential threats.

Horses are an excellent choice for pack animals, offering the fastest riding speed and a relatively low hunger rate of 0.84. This makes them a reliable option for long trips.

Their weight capacity is also impressive, tying for second best at 84 kg. However, it's essential to note that horses are not found in all biomes, so you may need to consider alternative options for certain environments.

One of the benefits of pack animals is that they can sustain themselves through grazing, provided the season and terrain allow. This means you don't need to worry about feeding them, but be careful not to bring too many large animals, like elephants, during the off-season.

Colonists can also forage for food to supplement their own needs and those of the pack animals. This is particularly helpful for Tribal pawns, who receive a 170% bonus to their foraged food amount.

Caravan events take place on the road, leaving you without a base to fall back on. This means you'll need to think on your feet to defend yourself.

Surviving a caravan event gives you a 24-hour window to take care of vital needs like doctoring, resting, and feeding. You'll also have time to re-pack your caravan.

There are two ways to re-pack: manually giving cargo animals the selected item or re-forming the caravan. The first option lets you make the most of your surroundings, while the second gets you out of there quickly.

Eliminated hostiles can be fed to your animals, which is a useful way to keep them happy and healthy.

Caravan composition is a crucial aspect of RimWorld, as it determines how efficiently your pack animals can carry goods. Caravans can be formed with a variety of pack animals, including alpacas, bison, donkeys, and horses.

The carrying capacity of each pack animal is determined by their body size, with larger animals having a higher carrying capacity. For example, an elephant has a carrying capacity of 140 kg, while a human has a carrying capacity of 35 kg. Baby or juvenile animals have a reduced carrying capacity according to their body size.

When selecting pack animals for your caravan, it's essential to consider their carrying capacity and the weight of the goods you need to transport. You can use the Items tab to select supplies and see the combined carrying capacity and mass of selected items.

When forming a caravan, you'll need to choose which pawns will join, including colonists and animals.

At least one colonist must be chosen to join the caravan. This is a non-negotiable requirement.

Incapacitated pawns cannot be chosen to join the initial caravan. They'll have to wait until the caravan is already traveling.

Colonists can carry incapacitated humans and animals at a normal speed once the caravan is on the move. This is a big plus for caravans with injured or ill members.

To manage your caravan's supplies, you'll want to use the Items tab. This tab allows you to select supplies from your Stockpiles or Home Area.

You can choose any item on the map when reforming the caravan, but initially, only items in your immediate vicinity are shown.

The carrying capacity of humans and pack animals is separate from their hauling capacity. To calculate it, multiply their Body Size by 35.

For example, a human has a carrying capacity of 35 kg, which includes their clothing, gear, and inventory.

Caravan carrying capacity varies by item type and size. Here's a list of common items and their carrying capacities:

Baby or juvenile animals have reduced carrying capacities, and if a colonist or animal is already carrying something, their carry weight will be reduced accordingly.

To form a caravan, colonists and animals will gather around a caravan hitching spot or a random place within your home area and wait for all members to assemble.

It's a good idea to put the caravan hitching spot inside your warehouse to reduce loading time. This can save you a lot of time and effort in the long run.

Colonists will ignore any needs during the formation, except for food - if they're starving, they'll take a break to eat if food is available.

If a colonist feels exhausted during the process, they won't rest in their bedroom but will collapse near the caravan hitching spot.

You can temporarily interrupt a pawn by assigning them to do another task, and they'll resume caravan loading once the task is complete.

If a member of the caravan has a mental break, the process will pause until they recover. If you down or kill a member, the process will be canceled.

If the formation is successful, the character roster on top of the screen will split, showing those who stayed at home and those who left with the caravan by greying them on a different "box".

Caravans are a group of one or more colonists who gather together for different purposes and leave the current map tile. Each caravan is represented on the world map by a yellow icon.

Double-clicking a caravan will select all caravans on the screen, allowing them all to be ordered to a single destination. This can be a huge time-saver, especially if you have multiple caravans on the move.

There are three different ways that caravans are formed: by sending colonists out from your home, by reforming a caravan after it has been broken, or by the storyteller spawning a raid.

If a caravan member dies in the close-up view, they will drop their items which must be picked up. If they die on the global map, their gear will be lost.

Here are the three ways caravans are formed:

Upon reforming a caravan, all items, animals, and pawns must be manually selected to be included with your reformed caravan, or they'll be lost forever.

Caravan Operations are crucial in RimWorld, and understanding how they work can make a big difference in your game.

You can use a route planner to check the time it takes to reach a destination, allowing you to plan ahead and make informed decisions about your caravan's journey.

A route planner can be used to calculate the time it takes for a 1 tile/h caravan to travel through a planned route, which is essential for planning your caravan's movements.

You can also use the route planner to determine the time taken for a journey based on the speed of an existing caravan.

Pirates can be a significant threat to your caravan, and they may demand items and even force you to hand over members as slaves if you don't comply.

If you refuse to give in to their demands, they will proceed to assault your caravan, putting your colonists at risk.

Caravans start moving at 0600 hours and stop at 2200 hours, regardless of pawn traits or schedule.

This travel routine can be a bit restrictive, but it's essential to remember that caravans will rest while not moving. If a newly formed caravan leaves the colony map after 2200 hours, it will enter the world map and rest until 0600 the next morning.

In fact, caravans will stop to rest even if they're just a single tile away from their destination, unless they have no animals and exclusively human members with the Never sleep gene or mechs. This exception allows 24/7 caravanning, but it's not always the most practical option.

For example, if all caravan members are riding a horse, it's only 6.67% faster than having them never sleep. This means 24/7 caravanning is mostly useful in the early game when horses are scarce or on extreme temperature tiles like the ice sheet.

Caravans will continue traveling until they reach a settlement, camp, outpost, or similar map fixture, even if it's after 2200. This can be a good thing, as it means you can plan your caravans to arrive at a safe destination before nightfall.