[Suggestion] Animals seek shelter from acid rain?

[Rutilant]

Literally hundreds of woodland creatures have died outside my house because they just stand around in acid rain. The corpses are actually becoming quite an annoyance to keep cleaning up!

Perhaps small animals should just vanish (as if hiding in a burrow or under a small shrub or something) and larger animals should try to stay underneath structures or inside wrecked vehicles?

Don’t know how much overhead that might add, but it would sure save me a lot of cleanup.

[EkarusRyndren]

…It always made me laugh in an admittedly sadistic manner when critters melted away in the acid rain… XD

[Luissen]

I figured it was a cruel byproduct of the game’s ‘fun’ mechanic, but now that you mention it, the free food is a bit disturbing, where are all the rest of them coming from!

A good suggestion in my opinion.

[StopSignal]

But where could they have shelter? Trees don’t work that way.

(But it would be awesome that their leaves could make you not to be so wet when it rains. Really. Please. And make them give some shadow, for when is hot. Please.)

[EkarusRyndren]

[quote=“StopSignal, post:4, topic:3890”]But where could they have shelter? Trees don’t work that way.

(But it would be awesome that their leaves could make you not to be so wet when it rains. Really. Please. And make them give some shadow, for when is hot. Please.)[/quote]

Give trees the same ‘roof’ effect floors get, the middle tile’s impassible but in a 3 by 3 area around the tree centered on the tree itself would be considered “inside” no rain, no etc.

[Rutilant]

[quote=“EkarusRyndren, post:5, topic:3890”][quote=“StopSignal, post:4, topic:3890”]But where could they have shelter? Trees don’t work that way.

(But it would be awesome that their leaves could make you not to be so wet when it rains. Really. Please. And make them give some shadow, for when is hot. Please.)[/quote]

Give trees the same ‘roof’ effect floors get, the middle tile’s impassible but in a 3 by 3 area around the tree centered on the tree itself would be considered “inside” no rain, no etc.[/quote]

This actually makes a lot of sense. You could have interesting visual effects shadowed areas during the day and the spots of full brightness peeking through the canopy.

It is the apocalypse though - without people living in all our homes animals like raccoons and opossums and skunks and all manner of creatures would start using them as shelter. This apocalypse also seems to severely accelerate the reproductive cycles of small woodland creatures, so they’d need all the space they can get!

[Belteshazzar]

Somehow I can see this going the way of Dwarf Fortress’ 3 dimensional trees once proper z-levels are in. Convergent evolution at it’s finest (burning forests become that much more hellish.)

[TaintedHolyWater]

Hellish? You mean DWARVEN!

That said I agree it would be cool if trees gave some form of protection from the rain/sun.
I haven’t updated in a while (should probebly do that) so I never noticed animals took damage from acid rain. Is that new?

[Rutilant]

I think so! It started happening late october I think. That was around the time I downloaded the experimental however so it might’ve been on those for longer than that.

[vultures]

Burrowing animals for sure (that’s a fox, too); canines and felines could improve their chances of survival with some sort of a stand-by action in the bushes and underbrush, though my own perception of the smaller (under) flora is well below the needed cover score for the job. I’m not all that sure about deep water; those crits not native to any coastal setting wouldn’t resort to it. Another thing about animal intelligence is that they perceive merely anything as a shelter, whereas it’s not moving or seemingly “alive”. Then a large wolf could survive the acid streak right below several cloth item-drop, even smaller nature’s sons & daughters could end up below wrecks, vehicles, even houses… This leaves us with biggest omnivores, leaf-eaters too - that’s bears and all the big game.
The fact that we all are familiar with is the american black bear’s nature - it would crush doors, weak links, medium wood panels, just about anything in order to follow its instincts. A thing I know of the raindeer is on account of their limited yet reasonable intelligence, whereas I can see members of their kind exploiting a given chance - a storage shed with a simple closing mechanism with the door is no great obstacle, and I think that a forced survival urge could manifest in increase of problem-solving ability.

To round up, zombie lore tells us a story of nocturnal creatures. The sun is known to speed up decay greatly and that’s something they wouldn’t enjoy. I don’t see a reason their structural-smasing nature shouldn’t come in handy yet again, if skies are pouring down certain end of existence.

[Inadequate]

I don’t think anything undead would be smart enough to recognize the acid rain as a threat, you know? I think if there’s one thing zombies lack, it’s a self-preservation instinct. Kind of redundant by then, after all.

[Binky]

+1 to animals seeking shelter. As mentioned, smaller animals could just disappear for a while to simulate them going into crevices in trees/burrows/whatever which would stop a lot of the mess. Bigger animals could try to seek shelter inside, but that might be difficult to put in (or might not!).

Interesting idea about trees giving shade though (and partial protection from acid rain, I imagine some would still get through). Perhaps if when trees overlapped their 3x3 square they could offer increased canopy/shade?

[Paquito]

The fact that we all are familiar with is the american black bear’s nature - it would crush doors, weak links, medium wood panels, just about anything in order to follow its instincts.

I usually relax and read or craft when it’s raining/acid raining. The prospect of a bear busting into my shelter during acid rain is terrifying

[DerpMcgee]

Dear god I dread waking up with a bear or moose in the bed with me.

[infectedmochi]

Once Z-level is in we can have trees realistically cover a small area around them, with large trees cover maybe 3x3 and young tree only cover 1 title directly below. This allow bigger animals like bears and moose to take cover in acid rain too, though I also like the suggestion of big animals just break into your shelter

[Inadequate]

I like the idea of trees giving shelter, if only so there’s actually more to do during those long summer days with endless acid rainstorms. Dodging between raindrops in the forest sounds way more fun than holing up in your base/vehicle and reading books/crafting just to pass the time. Hopefully if multiple z-levels are implemented treehouses will be a thing, too.

[FunsizeNinja123]

And then you’ll see them in front/backyards…

< everywhere…

[Luissen]

I am reminded of a long string of failed “survivalist” avoid the city campaigns ended prematurely due to acid rain. trees ftw…

[Zireael]

I strongly support trees protecting and small animals burrowing.