I need suggestions for pasture structure for my Northern Alliance hearthlings. I built some really nice poyo coops but they don’t use them, I would build a gazebo shelter that’s fenced in, but it just looks too bland. Anyone have a cool working structure?
One trick I’ve used in the past is to build small, raised poyo coops (“huts on legs”) before placing down my poyo pasture, I’m not sure if you’re still able to place pasture “through” buildings but basically I started dragging the pasture on one side of the buildings and continued it to fill the fenced-in paddock so it didn’t start or end on any occupied block, and it didn’t throw any complaints at the time.
The poyos didn’t use my coops, but they did shelter under them (not intelligently, mind, they just wandered around as usual; but because I intentionally placed the coops between the gate and the centre of the paddock where food would be placed it meant the poyos spent most of their time around the coops anyway.) I thought it seemed very appropriate that the poyos preferred to hide under the homes I’d built for them – all of the chickens I’ve cared for have been recalcitrant and uncooperative hahah!
Another option is possibly just to build a really large barn with a dirt floor, and place your pastures in there. Leave one side open or half-open so the poyos/whatever can get outdoors, but place hay bales and such inside to make it comfortable for them when the weather is bad.
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They should really add an animal AI that makes them seek shelter when the weather gets bad, as real animals would do
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Since winter, that can hurt pastured animals, was implemented they should have also made the animals seek shelter or allow us to order them to do it. But unfortunately there is not much time left for that. So we are left with no other choice but to abandon the fenced pastures and make them roofed structures or hide them underground. (or you can station your army in the poyo pasture so that the clerics keep the hens alive through winter as I had to do in my first winter playthrough 
)
As for ideas for shelters, I have been fiddling with the ability of the geomancer to create patches of dirt. May be we can build a nice looking pen and then cover the interior with a layer of dirt and place the pasture there. The floor would be a little high but I’m still thinking about it.
Just a question. Are sheep affected by winter or does it only kill poyos? I haven’t got rabbits so I don’t know about those either…
Have Fun, Kyth.
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It applies to all pasture animals.
Also, some good news: it seems that trees count as cover for pastures; all through my last winter I noticed that the sheep on the heavily wooded side of my pasture didn’t seem to be taking damage from the cold, while those on the other side (which was open, and planted heavily with frostsnaps and a few berry bushes so not many trees) took damage frequently. My cleric did patrol past the sheep pens though, so I assume that I missed most of any damage that the sheep took from the cold. However, I never saw the cleric healing the sheep in the far corner of the pen (which was far further than the healing aura can reach), and that’s where the trees were thick enough that I had whole areas with no snow… so I reckon that the trees count as “blocking the sky” and thus provide shelter.
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Yep, you were right. Sheep are also affected. I just created a new pasture and the new sheeps are hurt by the cold. I don’t know why the first two are not. Except that one of them is blue bell. Thanks for the info. I’ve moved the coops underground. 
Have fun, Kyth.
Bluebell has 500 hp and the other sheep only have 50 so the cold damage tick might not show that Bluebell’s taking as much proportional damage.
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