Animals are among the most important production chains in Solarpunk. Chickens give you Eggs, Pigs are your only lasting source of Truffles, and Sheep provide Sheep’s Milk. At the same time, animal care is one of the mechanics that trips up a lot of players early on. Despite successfully taming an animal, no Eggs appear, Pigs stop digging up Truffles, or breeding simply doesn’t start.
This guide covers how to unlock all animals, where to find them, how animal care works, and what conditions need to be met for breeding to actually work.
Unlocking Animal Care
Before you can keep animals, you first need to finish the relevant research at the Research Table. Chickens become available noticeably earlier than Pigs and Sheep, which is why they’re normally your entry point into animal care.
| Research | Level | Cost | Unlocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Animal Basics | 5 | 5× Wheat | Animal Feed, Nametag, Chicken Coop, Feeding Trough |
| Feeding Trough | 5 | 5× Cloth | Feeding Trough |
| Pig Shelter | 6 | 5× Carrot, 5× Wood | Pig Shelter |
| Sheep Shelter | 7 | 5× Corn, 5× Wood | Sheep Shelter |
Later on, you’ll also unlock automatic water and feeding troughs. These make it much easier to keep larger animal farms supplied. First, build up a stable supply of Wheat, Carrot, and Corn. Without enough feed, animals quickly become unhappy and stop producing.
All Animals at a Glance
| Animal | Lure | Product | Shelter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | Wheat | Eggs | Chicken Coop |
| Pig | Carrot | Truffles | Pig Shelter |
| Sheep | Corn | Sheep’s Milk | Sheep Shelter |
Each animal type produces its own resource. Pigs in particular matter a lot, since they’re the regular source of Truffles. For the airship upgrade to Level 4, you need to hand over 10 Truffles to the Trader Bot. Each animal type produces its own resource. Pigs in particular matter a lot, since they’re the only permanently available source of Truffles. For the airship upgrade to Level 4, you need to hand over 10 Truffles to the Trader Bot. You’ll also need Truffles for cooking recipes like Vegetable Pizza and Vegetable Skillet.
Where to Find Every Animal in Solarpunk
Chickens, Pigs, and Sheep spawn at fixed locations in Solarpunk. There are three wild specimens of each animal type in total. While you can reach Chickens early in the game, Pigs and Sheep require a further upgraded airship.
| Animal | Locations | Game Phase Required |
|---|---|---|
| Chickens | New Start Island, Tri Island and The Land | Reachable early in the game |
| Pigs | Chair Island, Lower Nice and Golden Mid | From airship Level 3 onward |
| Sheep | Two sheep on the V-shaped island southeast of the starting island, one sheep on the large island to the northwest of it | From airship Level 4 onward |
To bring an animal to your shelter, hold its preferred lure in your hand: Wheat for Chickens, Carrots for Pigs, and Corn for Sheep. The animal will then follow you as long as you don’t get too far away. Build the matching shelter along with the feeding and water troughs before you go looking for it. That way, the animal can register to its shelter as soon as it arrives and start producing right away.
How Animal Care Works
Every animal permanently registers to exactly one shelter of its own. That shelter also acts as its sleeping spot and affects the animal’s happiness.
Before an animal produces Eggs, Truffles, or Sheep’s Milk, three conditions need to be met:
- A matching shelter,
- A filled feeding trough,
- A filled water trough.
Happiness is the average of the hunger, thirst, and shelter values. Only happy animals regularly produce their resources or look after offspring.
Hunger and thirst drain continuously. A fully supplied animal stays fed and watered for roughly 100 minutes before those values run out completely. Successfully luring an animal doesn’t mean you have a working farm yet. The shelter, feeding trough, and water trough should already be built and ready before the animal arrives on your island.
Feeding and Happiness
How well your animals are cared for determines whether they produce resources and reproduce. If hunger or thirst drop too far, warning icons appear above the animal. At the same time, Egg, Truffle, or Sheep’s Milk production stops.
Pigs in particular often leave their shelter area when the feeding trough is empty and stop digging up Truffles. So check your feed and water supplies regularly, or automate the supply later using electric buildings.
Once all three happiness values are high enough, animals automatically start producing their respective resource or start looking for a suitable partner to breed with.
Breeding Animals
Breeding is one of the most common stumbling blocks in Solarpunk. Many players seemingly meet every requirement but still don’t get any offspring. The cause is almost always a missing shelter.
For animals to breed, all of the following conditions need to be met at the same time:
- Two fully grown animals of the same species.
- Both animals are on the same island.
- Both animals are fully cared for.
- The animals are within a radius of roughly eight meters of each other.
- A free shelter is already available for the offspring.
In practice, breeding almost always fails because of a missing third shelter. Since every animal is permanently tied to its own shelter, a third animal can’t be born if only two shelters are occupied. In that case, breeding simply never starts. Build the third shelter before you bring two animals together. That way, offspring can appear immediately and you avoid unnecessary waiting.
After successful breeding, the young animal grows into an adult within roughly ten minutes and can then produce resources itself or be used for further breeding.
Breeding Chickens via the Incubator
Chickens have a second way to reproduce. Instead of waiting for natural breeding, you can place a Hatchable Egg into an Incubator. The Incubator needs a power connection. If the power supply is interrupted, the hatching process stops too. If everything runs smoothly, a chick hatches after about a minute. Especially for larger chicken farms, this method is noticeably faster than normal breeding.
Transporting Animals Between Islands
Later on, you’ll unlock the Animal Transportation research. After that, you can craft an Animal Transporter and comfortably relocate animals between different islands. Animal transport pays off especially if you want to centralize your animal care on one main island. That way, you don’t have to keep searching for and luring animals on their original islands every time.
To do this, select the animal you want with the Animal Transporter and then choose an already built Animal Receiving Station as the destination. A drone automatically brings the animal to the corresponding island. So every island you want to transport animals to this way needs its own Animal Receiving Station.
Alternatively, you can still lure animals with their favorite feed. But with larger bases or multiple islands, the Animal Transporter saves a lot of time.
Automating Animal Care
Once you’re keeping several animals, automatic supply becomes worthwhile. The relevant research unlocks the Automatic Feeder and the electric water trough. Both buildings need to be connected to your power grid.
The Automatic Feeder has several slots for Animal Feed and supplies animals from its stock. The electric water trough keeps the water supply going as long as enough power is available. This means you have to check the troughs much less often, and your animals keep producing even during longer exploration trips.
Automation saves a lot of time, especially with several Pigs or Sheep. Just make sure you have a stable power supply and enough Animal Feed, since the Automatic Feeder doesn’t produce the feed itself.
No Eggs, No Truffles, or No Breeding? Fixing Common Problems
No Eggs or Truffles
First check whether the feeding and water troughs are filled. If an animal’s happiness drops, Egg, Truffle, or Sheep’s Milk production stops as well.
Animals Aren’t Breeding
In most cases, a third free shelter is missing. Even if both breeding animals are fully cared for, breeding won’t start without a free shelter for the offspring.
The Animal Follows Me but Doesn’t Produce Anything
Successfully luring an animal doesn’t mean you have a working farm yet. The shelter, feeding trough, and water trough should already be built and correctly placed before the animal reaches its new location.
Pigs Have Stopped Digging Up Truffles
Check the hunger, thirst, and shelter values. As soon as one of these drops too low, Pigs stop producing Truffles.
The Animal Won’t Follow You
Make sure you’re holding the right lure: Wheat for Chickens, Carrots for Pigs, and Corn for Sheep. If you get too far away, the animal can also stop following you.
You can find more Solarpunk guides in our Solarpunk overview. There, we collect all our current guides on research, islands, animal care, resources, and other game mechanics.
