Giddy-Up 2 Continued - Animal Riding and Mounted Combat for RimWorld

Giddy-Up 2 Continued expands RimWorld's transportation and combat systems by allowing colonists to ride animals, fight from mounts and travel across the map without relying entirely on walking.

The modification continues the development of Giddy-Up 2 Forked, which itself was a major overhaul of the original Giddy-Up. Following the previous maintainer's decision to discontinue support, development has been taken over to keep the project maintained and improve its compatibility with the wider RimWorld modding ecosystem.

The new maintainer also plans to consolidate additional modules and community patches that were previously distributed separately.

Animal Riding and Automatic Mounting

The Ride and Roll system allows colonists to use suitable animals as transportation during everyday work.

When a pawn receives a job sufficiently far away, they may automatically search for a mount instead of walking to the destination.

Key features include:

• Automatic mounting for distant jobs.
• Configurable zones where riding is prohibited.
• Designated dismount points.
• Animal selection based on movement speed and carrying capacity.
• Improved automatic mounting behavior.

For example, colonists can ride animals between distant farming areas, mining sites and other colony facilities.

Mounted Combat

The Battle Mounts system introduces mounted combat for both friendly and hostile pawns.

Colonists can:

• Perform melee attacks while riding.
• Fire ranged weapons from mounts with reduced accuracy.
• Fight alongside their animals, which can also participate in combat.

Enemy raiders may also arrive mounted, adding new tactical challenges to colony defense.

Caravans and Mounted Travel

The Caravans functionality improves how colonists and visitors travel between settlements.

Instead of leaving the map on foot while leading their animals, caravan members can depart while mounted.

Wandering traders may also arrive riding animals, making travel and trade encounters more immersive.

Rideable Mechanoids

The modification supports riding certain mechanoids through compatible game content and integrations.

Supported scenarios include:

• Mechanoids controlled by a Mechanitor through the Biotech DLC.
• Hacked mechanoids equipped with a Giddy-Up module through What the Hack integration.

This expands mounted transportation beyond ordinary animals.

SaddleUp 2 Controls

The integrated SaddleUp 2 functionality adds convenient controls for drafted colonists.

Players can order a pawn to:

• Find and mount the nearest suitable animal.
• Dismount when necessary.

These controls make mounted units easier to manage during combat and emergencies.

Performance and Improvements

Giddy-Up 2 was rebuilt to improve efficiency and reduce unnecessary overhead compared with the original modification.

Its main improvements include:

• Major performance optimization, with the overhaul described as more than ten times faster than the original implementation.
• Removal of the previous HugsLib dependency.
• Integrated functionality previously distributed across separate submods.
• Individual module settings that can be enabled or disabled.
• Improved mounting and animal selection logic.
• Better integration with DLC content and Vanilla Expanded Framework.
• Continued maintenance and planned compatibility improvements.

Actual performance gains may vary depending on the colony and installed modifications.

Compatibility and Known Issues

Several compatibility considerations should be taken into account:

• Original Giddy-Up - Installing the original mod alongside Giddy-Up 2 may cause serious problems, including pawns becoming impossible to kill. Remove the original version when using this continuation.
• Biomes! Prehistoric - May produce log warnings and unusual rider positioning on Quetzal and Pteranodon. These visual issues are generally harmless.
• Allies are Helpful - Reported as incompatible.
• Animal Gear - Compatibility may depend on the version installed; an updated community fork exists.

Why Colonists May Refuse to Ride

Colonists do not automatically mount every available animal.

The system considers several factors:

• Movement speed - Animals slower than the colonist may not be selected.
• Carrying capacity - The animal must be capable of carrying the pawn.
• Allowed riding zones - Restricted areas may prevent mounting.
• Available mounts - Suitable animals must be accessible.

Animal carrying capacity can be influenced by game definitions and certain modifications, including animal bionics.

Giddy-Up 2 Continued provides a flexible mounted transportation system for RimWorld, combining everyday colony logistics, caravan travel and mounted warfare in a single configurable modification.