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Ecosystem

Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2017 4:19 pm
by chikoeduardo
It would be cool if creatures could interact with each other. I often see them working together to trash my sub and I think "That guy could definitely eat those instead of chewing a metal hull" as I see my sub filling with water.

I would imagine Tigerthreshers attacking anything that isn't a Tigerthresher. And the prey could either attack back or flee.
Maybe they could bite and drag a deceased creature or human and leave the area with their food.

Some creatures could just flee when wounded instead of just keep attacking till death. Or become hostile when disturbed. Maybe some creatures don't like lights and will become hostile or flee at the sight of them. I could imagine creatures that hate light stop attacking once the light source is no longer disturbing them.

Some creatures could be of different sizes as a way to represent age. Maybe size/age could affect their aggressiveness, damage output and other similar stats.

Husks could just stun and/or cause suffocation damage in their victims with attacks instead of causing physical damage. They could then grab the unconscious victim and infect them and finally drag them outside the sub as a way to kill them so the parasite inside takes control of the body. I would imagine the Husk infection could also be present in other like forms too.

Re: Ecosystem

Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 9:49 am
by QuickLoad
ooh.
i like this idea a lot.

although things in water are still nocollided so it's a bit weird, but I was thinking something like a tiger thresher going for a husk or crawler, and the husk/crawler running away.

we can have advanced mechanics like a swarm of husks attacking the ship, but suddenly they all run and 5 minutes later an endworm appears.

something like that, it'd be awesome.

Re: Ecosystem

Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 8:33 pm
by Wicker
God.
If this was implemented.
Husk's would instantly become the bane of my life more than they are.

Re: Ecosystem

Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2017 7:17 pm
by chikoeduardo
Good thing they can't damage hull walls and doors. Husks + Crawlers is a dangerous combo when they work together, which is something that should not happen, IMO.

Husk version of other lifeforms and all working together, though. That's another story. Probably a horrifying one if something like this gets implemented. :P

Re: Ecosystem

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 4:06 pm
by Omniary
I like a lot of the ideas in this thread, they'd definitely make the entirety of Europa feel like an actual community of diverse sea life that all fall under a pecking order, rather than a level of a game with enemies in it. Having things like Tiger Threshers possibly infighting or Crawlers being the universal punching bag would do so much to give credence to Baro's ocean.

The whole idea actually reminds me of an quaint little game that's coming out in a couple of weeks, Rain World. You play as a tiny critter at the bottom of a very aggressive foodchain, and you're essentially given a massive network of regions to explore and hunt for food in. While the artstyle and fluid animation are really neat to look at, I really love how every creature in the ecosystem exists simultaneously and will dynamically interact with you and others. Some creatures will work together to take down a common enemy, or two of the same kind will fight over territory, it's a game that I really think can only be sold not in words but gifs and videos.
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Also, hey, this game has horrifying underwater creatures too!
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Obviously I don't really think Barotrauma needs as in-depth of an ecosystem as such, but having enemies that go after each other instead of you all the time would be pretty neat.

Re: Ecosystem

Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2017 12:32 pm
by chikoeduardo
Woah... that game looks amazing. I'll add it to the list of games I'd like to try.

But yeah, maybe it could be added to the current AI attack priority system. For instance, Monsters have:

attackhumans="500"
attackrooms="50.0"
attackweaker="50"
attackstronger="-30"

So there's a base system that could be expanded for this purpose.

Re: Ecosystem

Posted: Wed May 03, 2017 3:49 pm
by Regalis
Omniary wrote:Rain World
Tried this last week and I think I'm in love. Going in a similar direction would definitely make the ocean a more interesting place and the creatures feel less like robots whose only purpose is to serve as an obstacle between you and the next outpost. Even if we don't end up going as far as Rain World, as chikoeduardo said, there's already some logic in place that would make it easy to get some predator-prey action going.

Re: Ecosystem

Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 2:05 pm
by chikoeduardo
The new creature interaction system and their ability to eat corpses is the best thing!

If you give different creatures the same combatstrength value, they will not attack each other and work together, which is especially awesome when adding younger/older variants of the same creature.

The only thing that I'd like to point out is new husks will still attack each other and eventually kill themselves. Even old husks will attack them. I tried to see if there was a way to prevent this via basic xml modding but it still happens even if you give them the same combatstrength as old husks so this must be hardcoded.

Re: Ecosystem

Posted: Mon Dec 25, 2017 4:03 am
by Jacobo
More behavior for creatures would be an awesome addition and is no doubt in the works somewhere. Anything that gives players more meaningful choices can change the outcome of a game. What if certain creatures weren't aggressive unless they were in a group? Or you could aggro a creature by getting too close to it.

Imagine a curious tigerthresher, of all things, swimming near your submarine like a dolphin. It shows no threatening behavior until an enterprising security officer swings a railgun towards it. It may leave, begin attacking, or do nothing at all. It's that third outcome that interests me the most, because now that Gunner has to make a choice -- does he save the ammunition for a real threat down the road? Or does he fire away and risk attracting more creatures. Weighing that risk/reward is an integral part of Barotrauma, and I think more creature behaviors and ecosystems would go a long way.

jacobo