Needs
Happiness is the average of three scores: fed, watered and sheltered. At 80% or more the animal counts as happy.
Fed and watered: each meal at a Feeding Trough adds 20% to the fed score and each drink at a Water Trough adds 20% to the watered score. A search for food or water that finds nothing takes 15% off that score.
Sheltered: with a shelter of its own the score rises 2.5% per minute. At night the animal goes to its shelter and gains 5% per minute there, 10% in rain and 20% in a thunderstorm. Without a shelter it loses the same amounts in those conditions.
Separate from happiness, the food and water meters drop 1% every 20 seconds, so a full meter empties in 33 minutes 20 seconds. The animal looks for a trough when a meter is under 81%, at most once a minute. A meal or a drink refills that meter by 25%.
Produce & breeding
A happy animal with a shelter of its own puts its produce into that shelter after 2 happy minutes, then 1 more every 8 happy minutes, up to 5 waiting: Eggs from chickens, Truffles from pigs, Sheeps Milk from sheep. Every unhappy minute sets the count back 5.
After 30 happy minutes in a row, an animal breeds with another of its species within 8 m that also has 30, if a free shelter exists. The baby appears in that shelter and grows up after 10 minutes.
Chicken Incubator: a Hatchable Egg in the powered incubator hatches into a chick after 60 seconds. The hatch fails if the power is off for 3 checks in a row.
An Animal Transportation item sends the animal to any built Animal Receiving Station by drone and is used up. The animal leaves its old shelter.
Automated Care
Two troughs run on the energy grid, each drawing 50 power. The Water Trough (Powered) fills itself while powered. The Automatic Feeder moves 1 Animal Feed from its own storage into the trough every 5 seconds while it holds less than 75. Both are crafted at the Energy Crafting Table from their unpowered trough plus 5 Cobalt and 5 Silicon.
Animals only eat from a Feeding Trough or Automatic Feeder and only drink from a Water Trough; crops, ponds and rivers are ignored. They only pick a trough holding at least 5. One Animal Feed adds 25 to a Feeding Trough (100 max); a meal takes 12 and a drink 12.5.
Questions
How do I get animals in Solarpunk?
Nine animals are placed in the world: 3 chickens (New Start Island, Tri Island, The Land), 3 pigs (Chair Island, Lower Nice, Golden Mid) and 3 sheep (two on Worm Island, one on Flat Big). More come from breeding: a happy adult finds another adult of the same species within 8 meters and a baby appears. Chickens also hatch from hatchable eggs in the powered Incubator.
How does animal happiness work?
Happiness is the average of three scores: fed, watered and sheltered; at 80% an animal counts as happy. Meals and drinks at troughs raise the fed and watered scores by 20% each, a shelter of its own raises the sheltered score over time.
How do I breed animals?
After 30 happy minutes in a row, an animal breeds with another of its species within 8 m that also has 30, if a free shelter exists; the baby grows up after 10 minutes. A Hatchable Egg in the powered Chicken Incubator hatches into a chick after 60 seconds.
Can I move animals between islands?
Yes. An Animal Transportation item sends the animal to any built Animal Receiving Station by drone and is used up. The animal leaves its old shelter.