Mounts & Taming

Tames persist on your outposts and change the hauling math completely — a geared-out mount is a permanent infrastructure investment, not a one-off pet.

The lineup

• Moa / Arctic Moa — fastest, tiny cargo. Scout and courier, not a hauler.
• Terrenus — the all-rounder; balanced speed and cargo across forest and grassland.
• Buffalo — slow, huge cargo capacity, pulls carts and takes a pack harness.
• Tusker — slower still, tankier, will fight back if cornered.
• Mammoth — the strongest and slowest of the lineup; a moving base more than a mount.
• The roster keeps growing past these five: the Orbital Workshop's Overrider Saddle (Moa/Ubis) and Carrier Saddle (Buffalo/Tusker/Terrenus) both name additional species, and the Specialised Raptor Saddle turns some tamed predators rideable too. Check what's craftable before assuming the classic five is the whole list.

Ranching Station loop

• Build the Ranching Station (Wood x30, Leather x20, Fur x10, Rope x10, Iron Nail x15) first — it's the hub for feed, saddle storage, a hitching post and an animal bed, and lets tames idle safely instead of wandering. Saddles, the Hitching Post and carts are all crafted at the Ranching Station, not just stored there.
• Hitching Post (Wood x6, Fiber x4, Rope x2) and Hitching Rope keep a tame anchored near base between trips instead of walking it home from wherever you tamed it.
• Species-specific feed (Arctic/Desert/Endurance/Mountaineering/Omni Animal Feed, plus Animal Bait for luring) and the Animal Gruel line keep a stable fed without raiding your own pantry.

Taming talents worth grabbing (Husbandry, 20 nodes)

• Arctic Training / Desert Training widen a tame's temperature tolerance during the taming process itself — the difference between a taming attempt failing overnight and one that doesn't.
• Nurturing Presence speeds taming for nearby juveniles; (Still) One With Nature stops predators targeting juvenile creatures while you work.
• Like the Wind and Beasts Endurance buff a tamed mount's speed and stamina after the fact — a standing crew investment, not a one-time taming perk.

Breeding (Genetics, 19 nodes)

Genetics is its own talent tree, separate from Husbandry — it's what governs mating two tamed creatures, not taming a wild one.

• Rapid Breeder shortens gestation; Mother's Care buffs nearby juveniles after birth; Father's Strength buffs the father after fertilization; Hormones boosts damage resistance during gestation itself.
• Wildcard / Genetic Volatility raise the odds of a stat (genotype) mutation on offspring; Visual Anomaly / Prime Variants do the same for color mutations, and Forced Evolution for growth-trait mutations — pick the pair matching what you're actually breeding for.
• Hunter's Eye / Scout's Intuition give wild creatures a chance at rarer colors and bloodlines when captured or tamed, not just bred — worth taking even if breeding isn't the goal.
• Seeing Double gives tamed creatures a chance to birth twins — pure throughput if you're running a breeding program rather than one-off tames.

Hauling

• Wooden Cart (Wood x80, Refined Wood x50, Rope x20, Iron Nail x15, Epoxy x10, plus a Basic Riding Saddle as an ingredient) + a Buffalo turns a base move into one trip instead of an afternoon of overloaded prospectors — craft the saddle first, since the cart recipe consumes one.
• Harvesting Cart, Seeding Cart (with Steel/Titanium/Platinum Plow upgrades) and Watering Cart are dedicated farm-support carts — worth building once your crop plots outgrow hand tools.
• The Quick Tamer Saddle (Orbital Workshop) drastically speeds up taming itself — a good early workshop unlock if your crew tames often.

Crew doctrine

• Tame near base — walking an untamed Buffalo or Mammoth home is a whole session by itself.
• One mount per role beats one mount per person: a shared Buffalo+cart for hauling, a shared Moa for scouting, is more efficient than everyone taming their own.