A Proposal to automate Livestock Pens

[ShinkuroYukinari]

Hello!
As we are all aware, Livestock Pens are rarely used as a food source, except in some niche situations or as Britain, cause Fulling.
From my perspective, one of the main issues is that a food economy based on Pens can easily be crippled if the player forgets to refresh them, making Mills more desirable as you just build the thing, place the Settlers and off you go!

An idea I came up with is this:
All Pens and similar buildings get an option to activate or de-activate automatic production of certain livestock.
If activated, a trickle is introduced, similar to the Ottoman Settlers.
Once X seconds pass, if the cap isn't reached and you have enough food, 1 of that livestock spawns and the appropriate food is deducted. Say, 1 sheep and -100 food every 10 seconds.
This way in the mid-late game, if a player establishes a food eco using Pens, he can activate the trickle and, provided he doesn't end up idling some Settlers due to putting too many on Herding, he can rely on those Settlers working nonstop, thereby being able to focus more on other parts of the game, like the big battle going on, for which you need constant reinforcements.
Assuming it can be coded, it can make Livestock more practical to use by preventing the issue of having your food eco be crippled because in the heat of battle you forgot to refresh the Sheep.

I would like to hear your opinions on this and what could be improved!

[supahons]

Livestock isn't good in supremacy (https://eso-community.net/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=15822)
and in treaty it's a skill - no need to change imo.

[Frost Bite]

Strategy games are named so.. because it requires immense attention, the ability to react and take decisions. Focussin on livestock whilst killing enemy units is what that seperates a pro from a mediocre player.

[pecelot]

sounds like farm automation in AoE2 — it should be given a shot in the III DE

[zoom]

Decreasing building cost might make sense, for starters. Although it's unlikely to meaningfully impact viability.

Making this mechanic viable in supremacy is risky business. Maybe later on, down the road.

Regardless, an interesting thought!

[Squamiger]

I feel like if you do this, then what becomes the functional difference between mills and livestock pens? Why have both? Right now, livestock pens provide more food but require a lot more attention and investment and time to pay off. It's a strategic choice that most players don't make in supremacy because hunts usually last till the game ends, and in treaty, it's a skill that separates winners from losers

[Interjection]

^
This is simply not true, I ran the maths a while ago. Livestock pens are just objectively terrible if you train animals from them. If you send some upgrades maybe it's okay but you'll probably lose the game not shipping crates and etc

https://eso-community.net/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=15822

[pecelot]

well, you still get more food than on mills
some time ago, when I was still playing treaty at times, I wondered if it was worth it to go for livestock pens as a civ with no upgrades whatsoever, like the Germans — the overall balance should be positive

[Imperial Noob]

Serbia in WOL has a sheepyard economy and players can operate it easily. It's a matter of viability.

[jgals]

Livestock is useful in supremacy. With Iroquois on Deccan, Mongolia etc it's actually OPAF. I have had great success sending filling instead of 3v if I have more than 5 animals in age 1. On Mongolia you have all cows fat by 7-8 min and can fitepit spam so many aenna it's unfair.

I wish you would make livestock automatically go to farm like they so pen. That's something that really need to be done