Pigeon

Pigeons are animals which are part of the animal husbandry feature. They have to be raised from eggs and fed with crops like barley to be happy. In return, they can be bred and their eggs used to raise further pigeons or for cooking. Although they are offering pigeon feathers over time and pigeon meat on death, their main feature are exploration tours: pigeons roam around and bring back all kind of items, including some special ones which are only available as exploration tour loot.

Raising Pigeons[ | ]

Finding Pigeon Eggs[ | ]

Pigeon eggs are a result of breeding but they can be also found in the nature, which is the only way to start a pigeon husbandry. Pigeon eggs have a drop chance of 12.5% from small trees and can drop in all quality levels.

Pigeon egg

Building Sleeping Boxes[ | ]

Every pigeon requires its own sleeping box, which is at the same time the main hub for controlling that pigeon. These boxes are also the storage for loot found on exploration tours and the place for hatching eggs. If a sleeping box has a pigeon, the pigeon is bound to that box. Pigeons without sleeping boxes are unbound and have to be bound to an empty sleeping box first. Not till then they are able to eat, breed and go out on exploration tours. Sleeping boxes are available in the building menu.

Pigeon sleeping boxes — Four sleeping boxes with pigeons in two of them.

Pigeon sleeping boxes are available in the Outdoor Objects Category in the building menu.

Hatching Pigeon Eggs[ | ]

To hatch a pigeon egg, it has to be placed in a pigeon sleeping box which has no pigeon bound to. If multiple eggs are placed into one pigeon sleeping box, only one will hatch. Besides placing the egg into the sleeping box, nothing else has to be done. There is no difference in hatching between eggs found by chopping small trees and eggs laid in the course of breeding. After some time, the egg hatches and a new pigeon appears in the locked sleeping box.

Pigeon Statuses[ | ]

Pigeons have a name and a gender as well as 6 statuses: Satiation, Stamina, Curiosity, Libido, Happiness and Age.

Satiation: Satiation decreases over time, so the pigeon has to eat from a feeding box or the sleeping box. Every crop fully refills the satiation, but crop type and quality have a further influence. Pigeons eat barley, spelt, rye, wheat and corn. They don't die if the satiation reaches zero, but feeding is a good practice anyway, because if not, they are getting unhappy and won't do exploration tours or breed anymore.
Stamina: Stamina decreases over time, too. If the pigeon gets tired, it flies to the sleeping box and restores its stamina. Like satiation, a low stamina doesn't kill the pigeon, but makes it unhappy and it won't explore and breed anymore.
Curiosity: Pigeons get curious over time and if the curiosity reaches the maximal value, it starts an exploration tour.
Libido: The libido fills over time and if full, the pigeon is ready to meet a partner of a different gender and... produce an egg.
Happiness: Happiness increases or decreases given how well the pigeon is treated, which also depends on the quality of food provided. A high happiness affects many activities of the pigeon, like the rarity of loot found on exploration tours, the drop chance of pigeon feathers, the quality of pigeon meat and pigeon eggs or the amount of skills an offspring gets.
Age: The pigeon will die some day because of a high age. It will then leave some pigeon meat.

Interacting with Pigeons[ | ]

When a pigeon is born, it is automatically bound to the sleeping box the egg was put in. Clicking on the sleeping box opens the pigeon interface, stating its name, gender, statuses, experience, skills and interaction buttons.

The yellow and orange buttons at the bottom of the interface are related to the options available for interaction. They allow to open/close the box /, ring the bell , bound/unbound the pigeon /, send it on an exploration tour , send it to find a breeding partner or kill it . The red buttons allow the activation and deactivation of automatic behavior, so pigeons do/don't search for food in feeding boxes /, breed / or make exploration tours /.

/ Open/Close Sleeping Box: If a sleeping box is open, the pigeon flies around, explores, breeds and eats from feeding boxes. If the sleeping box is closed, the pigeon can still enter the box (as well as breeding partners can), but it can't leave the box anymore. Curiosity and libido increase only if the pigeon isn't locked in the box, so it's better to let it open. Besides that, it's important to pay attention to the weather. If it gets bad, it's time to bring the pigeons back to their boxes as they can die during bad weather.
Ringing the Bell: If the pigeon is not in the box and the player wants the bird to come back, he can ring the bell. The pigeon will then fly to the box and if it enters it, the box gets automatically closed.
/ Bound/Unbound Pigeon: Pigeons have to be bound to a box to go on exploration tours or to breed. If the sleeping box gets destroyed or if the player unbounds the pigeon, it starts to follow the player until he bounds it to an empty sleeping box again. This mechanic is also useful to move pigeons from one place to another, e.g. to setup a new pigeon home at another place.
Explore: If the curiosity of the pigeon is full, it starts an exploration tour by default (if allowed). If not or locked in the box, one can manually instruct the pigeon to start a tour.
Breed: If the libido of the pigeon is full, it searches for a breeding mate by default (if allowed). If not or locked in the box, one can manually instruct the pigeon to start the breeding.
Kill: Pigeons can be manually killed. They drop some meat into the sleeping box. The amount depends on the pigeon's happiness.
/ Activate/Deactivate Automatic Search for Food: If active, the pigeon will search for food in feeding boxes. Independent of this option, the pigeon will always eat from its own sleeping box.
/ Activate/Deactivate Automatic Breeding: If active, the pigeon will search for breeding mates on its own. If not, one has to manually instruct the pigeon to search a breeding partner.
/ Activate/Deactivate Automatic Exploring: If active, the pigeon will start exploration tours on its own. If not, one has to manually instruct the pigeon to start an exploration tour.

Feeding Pigeons[ | ]

Normally pigeons search for a near feeding box, but if there isn't one or if it's out of food, they search for food in the sleeping box they are bound to. Feeding boxes are a good way to centralize the feeding of pigeons. Therefore, the player has only one place to put crops like barley, spelt, rye, wheat or corn in.

The pigeon's recent meal influences the loot found on an exploration tour. The crop's type increases the chance of finding loot with a high quality. Therefore, it's better to feed them with a high tier crop like wheat instead of simple barley. Overall happiness as well as the recently eaten crop's quality increase the chance to find rare loot, e.g. mysterious seed bags instead of a piece of wood. The crop's quality has a higher weight than the pigeon's happiness in this calculation.

Pigeon feeding box — A pigeon feeding box to centralize pigeon feeding.

Breeding Pigeons[ | ]

Pigeons need love, too. If the libido is full, they will search for breeding partners. Both a male and a female pigeon have to be available. The male pigeon will then fly to the female's sleeping box. After some... time, the female pigeon will lay an egg into the sleeping box. To hatch the egg, it has to be placed in an empty sleeping box.

The child will inherit appearance and skills from its parents, but modified by some randomness. So it's very likely that the pigeon will share one or two colors of its parents as well as some of the developed skills. The player can increase the amount of skill points passed to the offspring by increasing the Super Genotype skill.

Pigeon love — Yes, there is a censor bar.

Exploration Tours[ | ]

Exploration tours are the biggest use of pigeons and the found loot will be extended in future versions of Orcish Inn. Right now, pigeons can find a lot of stuff, including mysterious seed bags, resources, crops and more. The pigeon needs a full curiosity until it can start an exploration tour. It will then fly away and will come back later, putting the found loot in its sleeping box. The box gets a white particle effect if an item is in it (except it is something the pigeon can eat). The recently eaten crop and its quality determine rarity and quality of found loot.

The loot found on exploration tours include: barley, spelt, rye, wheat, corn, belladonna, blueleaves, dryroot, sunflowers, lotus, barley bread, spelt bread, rye bread, wheat bread, corn bread, belladonna soap, blueleaves soap, dryroot soap, sunflower soap, lotus soap, wood, stone, iron ore, fiber, skulls, dynamite, seed bags and Valentine's Day cards. Exploration tours of pigeons are the only way to obtain Valentine's Day cards.

Experience Points and Skills[ | ]

Pigeons gain experience points over time, if not hungry, tired or locked in their sleeping boxes. After some time, the pigeon gains enough experience to level up, which is rewarded with 3 additional skill points which can be spent on one of its skills. The relation between a skill's value and its effectivity is not linear: increasing a skill from 5 to 6 has a much higher impact than increasing it from 51 to 52. The following skills are available:

Frugality: Decreases the time until the pigeon has to eat something.
Perseverance: Decreases the time until the pigeon has to go to sleep
Curiosity: Decreases the time until the pigeon starts another exploration tour.
Libido: Decreases the time until the pigeon is ready for breeding.
Happiness: Increases the happiness the pigeon gains over time.
Fountain of Youth: Increases the time the pigeon lives.
Cognitive Capacities: Increases the amount of experience the pigeon gains over time.
Gatherer: Increases the chance that the pigeon finds rare loot on exploration tours.
Super Genotype: Increases the chance that the pigeon's offspring get high skill values at their birth.
High Quality: Increases the chance that the pigeon leaves high quality pigeon eggs, pigeon feathers and pigeon meat.
Resistance: Increases the chance of the pigeon to survive bad weather.