Hearthlings probably shouldn't talk to pasture animals

Suggestions
#1

Hi There!
Symbol here

This might sound odd, y’know, why not? Why not let them?

The thing is, i find it quite… bad that i often kill/harvest an animal right after a Hearthling is petting/talking to them, not intentionally but to see a Hearthling pet a poyo or sheep and for the sheperd to come and kill it right in front of their faces feels quite mean, hell, sometimes it’s the sheperd petting the animal, being all fuzzy and nice right before they kill the exact same animal that they just petted

Ofcourse i don’t want all the animal petting animations to go to waste, but i think we should rather be able to have pet sheep and poyo instead,
This will also allow the animal companion trait to be more impactful, and i can imagine someone having a pet poyo or sheep, they’re cute!

Anyway, that’s my thought on that

Symbol Out!

5 Likes
#2

Thinking about it, this suggestion can be combined with another suggestion about pastures made by @AlphaRW (with my additions). Pastures that have a percentage of their creatures set to “harvesting meat” don’t get hearthlings petting creatures, but pastures that are set to harvesting without killing animals work the same as they work now. How about that?

3 Likes
#3

Think two hundred years back, this was more or less normal.
Your kids played with a chicken and on the next day you and your kids ate the chicken.

3 Likes
#4

Agreed.
The thing is, I doubt we strive to create an absolutely historically accurate Medieval/Renaissance/Modern representation of the society here. Otherwise we also need bubonic plague and street sewers and jus primae noctis concept.

#5

I get your point here, but I admit I’m a little tempted to leave it in. Part of this is due to what @groms alluded to, but another reason is I think there’s an alternative interpretation to be had here. When viewed from another lens, this type of interaction shows the hearthlings care for their animals broadly, and don’t just treat them as food to be processed and consumed. If we had a slaughter pen where animals inside were never talked to and only existed to become meat, wouldn’t that be a little cruel in its own right?

I think we’ll run into some shade of this problem as long as shepherds work the way they do. I want to revisit the role of that class later though, so maybe there’s something that can be done about this then.

7 Likes
#6

This is how I see it. Compassion, even for the animals they eat.

1 Like
#7

“You’re going to taste so good in my belly. Yes you are, yeah, yes you are.”

6 Likes
#8

image
image.jpg535×736 52.9 KB

9 Likes
#9

i understand what you mean, because not petting/caring for the animals even if they are raised to be eaten is cruel on it’s own

i just find the occasions where a Hearthling pets an animal right before they’re killed, even watching them pet an animal that’s just marked for harvest feels cruel, i know this kind of thing’s low on priority but i feel like just not having them pet an animal marked for harvest’ll feel much better (at-least for me)

i’ll be awaiting the Shepard rework patiently, along with every single class (since i think you said you want to visit all of them in a stream, so all of them… ALL)

1 Like
#10

Still is normal, as a kid I ‘played’ a bit with a goose I then ate the next day. In rural communities it’s not so weird - nice to know the animals had a good life up until we ate them.

But I agree for a cutesy game like stonehearth it is verging on a little morbid.

1 Like
#11

Me too :slight_smile: not a goose but a chicken.

I do not have a problem with the current system but a beastmaster or animal tamer could provide a pet for each and every hearthling which could replace the current “talk with your food” :smiley: :laughing: :joy:

#12

I think this is a little much. 50 Hearthlings with 50 pets is going to feel very crowded. Even when the town is first being built and it’s 10 with 10, I think would be a little much.

3 Likes
#13

My gregarious Shepherd would get so lonely if she couldn’t talk to the animals. She might be my most consistently happy hearthling.

3 Likes
#14

“Game of Thrones: Second Sons (#3.8)” (2013)
Melisandre: [to Gendry] Death is coming for everyone and everything. The darkness will swallow the dawn.

Stannis Baratheon: What do you mean to do with him?
Melisandre: You know what I mean to do with him.
Stannis Baratheon: Then why bathe him and dress him in fine clothes? If it needs to be done, then do it. Don’t torture the boy.
Melisandre: Have you ever slaughtered a lamb?
Stannis Baratheon: No.
Melisandre: If the lamb sees the knife, she panics. Her panic seeps into the meat, darkens it, fouls the flavor.
Stannis Baratheon: And you’ve slaughtered many lambs.
Melisandre: And none have seen the blade.

Different context same concept.

2 Likes