Rimworld can be a lot of fun, but also very stressful. Having a good source of companionship can help your pawns deal with the trials and tribulations of colony life. Looking for some furry friends for your colony? The sources of wool and meat that are wild animals can be hunted, sure, but you can also make friends out of them. There are many different jobs your colonists can perform, and one of them is to tame animals. When you want to tame animals in Rimworld, you need to have a few things lined up.
Clicking the Wildlife tab at the bottom of the screen brings up the various animals present on the map. It’s a good idea to come back to this menu every in-game day to check for new candidates to be hunted or tamed. But for this guide, we’re focusing on taming.
Each animal listed here has a chance to tame peacefully or fight back. The higher the percentage chance under the Tame column, the more likely they will be to attack the colonist trying to tame them. Taming an Alpaca is a lot safer than taming a Timber Wolf. The skill of your pawn trying to tame them can reduce this chance from firing, but it’s never zero.
When an animal is added to your colony, they are moved to the Animals tab. So if you need to check on them, go there.
How to Tame Animals in Rimworld
- Have a colonist set to Handle under Work
- Select the wild animal you wish to tame and press the Tame button. (Or press the N key by default)
- Right-click the animal marked for taming and select the option Prioritize taming…
- Your colonist will then run over, and try to tame them.
Before trying this, you need to make sure that you have food in storage. Each type of animal has a diet that it will eat. Predators like wolves can be tamed with fresh meat. Alpacas and other vegetarian animals must be fed vegetables to be tamed. Check the animals diet by clicking the i symbol in their info box. Once tamed, they will eat the other items listed in their diet section. If you right-click an animal and the tooltip says Cannot tame: No food, that’s your clue to grow some veggies. Plop down a growing zone to get this dealt with.
Raising a Colonist’s Animal Skill
Thing is, just having food isn’t enough. Check the Bio tab on your pawn to see their skills. Their Animals skill is the factor you need to pay attention to. This is the key to getting good at taming animals. Once you have a steady food supply, it’s time to start working on your skills. This is a slow process and will take a lot of time. Send that colonist off taming passive animals that don’t have any danger of fighting back. That will allow them to practice without much risk of injury.
When a handler fails to tame an animal there is a cooldown period of 30,000 ticks (8.33 mins), or 12 in-game hours, before another attempt can be made. There is also a chance it will turn manhunter and start attacking the handler and others. This manhunter chance is that percentage listed in the Wildlife tab. The best way o prevent this is to send your best animal handler to do the task the first time.
Once you have your animals tamed, it’s time to put them to work. They can be play partners with your pawns, they can also be trained to haul and rescue colonists.
