[Poll] How should the enemies be called?

[azoundria]

I very much approve of the consideration to change the name! The enemies don't creep, so creepers never seemed to make sense to me. (Never mind the Minecraft creeper, for which these enemies have NOTHING to do with.)

However, 'biters' seems to have similar problems. If the graphic is changed so the enemies bite you, then fine. They can bite your equipment too, I suppose. It could fit with the worms that bite you from the turrets too. However, this breaks down when you're thinking of trade (as I saw on the post). Try to tell your friends you want to produce some iron plates for the 'biters' to make them happy, and tell me if that sounds reasonably sane.

Both 'creeper' and 'biter' don't work well if you plan to make any sort of humanity for the enemies, like materialism or a desire to protect their planet from pollution. It may work if the main thing they did was creep around, or bite, but it sounds like you're going for more sophistication.

That's why I was proposing calling them 'natives'. This is a common theme to any area that gets colonized. They are native to the land. Natives can attack. Natives often protect their environment. Natives can trade. It just seems to fit where you're heading with these enemies. What is the opinion of others on this? Is there anything I've overlooked?

[Nirahiel]

+1

[Goddohando]

For me it doesn't matter as long as the game is balanced and fun
Biters are okay.

[Aarkreinsil]

Since their cute little spawnhouses and turrets have been replaced, they don't really look that intelligent to me after all. Just like insects or primal beasts with a hive mind, but not really intelligent or civilized.
As it stands I'd find it much more plausible if you could "domesticate" them by giving them food or other treats that will make them forget about you invading their space, just like early humans did with wolves.


To find a middle ground, how about just giving the race a proper name. You could name them something like "Teradonians" , then call the worms "Teradonian Annelids" and so on. You could even have different tribes with varying diplomacy then.
Just like you'd say "This is a friendly Appalachian Archer, but the warrior of the Apache tribe over there wants to beat the crap outta me"

It would also be totally fine if the biters were just their equivalent of guard/war dogs, and had no higher intelligence, then the name would still be plausible as long as you keep some kind of humanoid, vaguely intelligent species behind them, that you can interact with.

[SilverWarior]

I belive developers intent to introduce more enemy types in the future.
Biters are now just one type of enemy which come in thre variations (small, medium, large).
In a way you could say biters are wolves, one species. But later the developers would include other different species, maybe even humanoids.

[azoundria]

I don't know the game direction, and these are all great points. I think the big issue is the humanity, and all of these parts of the latest post hint at enemies with a great deal of humanity.

"they get angry" - Enemies that experience emotions.
"making pacts with enemies" - Enemies that are diplomatic.
"examine from which direction the attack will come" - Enemies that think and adjust their strategy.

So if that's the direction, I think 'natives' is much more suited. Obviously, it's up to the developers to decide what they are going for in the game.

I also wanted to point out, I'm proposing natives as a generic term for all the enemies. In the future, if and when the enemies split out into subgroups, they can all have their own name. That doesn't preclude calling enemies as a whole natives. If there happens to be enemies which are just animals, then natives would not refer to them, however I haven't heard of any plans in the direction as of yet.

One thing I would recommend though, is using a noun for the name. Using a verb for the name creates very narrow enemies. Biters bite. Creepers creep. Using a noun, like 'soldier', 'worm', 'native' or 'Factorion', reflects enemies with some depth to them, who are known to do more than one thing.

[aRatNamedSammy]

we all know they bite, and spit.. but, what is their name ? i mean, what name that race of alien will have? not Alien, they dont spawn from your chest after a facehugger catch you alive
i was thinking in the translation site, and after looking at few places, i notice , in french, in the campaign, they are called xeno's, but is that their real name? or just temporary until later decision
bitter, spitter, well, i know they bite, spit and all... nothing original? am i too fancy ?

[MadZuri]

They are called creepers.

[aRatNamedSammy]

creepers.... that only the game #10686 with an alien named creeper.. wow..

[vampiricdust]

I call them Bitters. They're bitter we're here & polluting their world. So bitter they'll destroy everything we build until it falls silent. So bitter they'll pursue us forever until they or we are dead. Bitter they cannot defend their world forever.

I now expect there to be baneling like Bitters that do splash damage, meant as wall busters. Just as they exploded you hear a sound eerily reminiscent of a fuse being lit.

[Smarty]

they are all named bob the bitter 1, bob the bitter 2 ect.

[ssilk]

This is explained in the wiki. See https://forums.factorio.com/wiki/inde ... le=Enemies

The "aliens" are you! The player-character. You are the alien. But this is mixed often (even by the devs), so don't care much about it.
There where this initial discussion about that: https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=6&t=1340 Call Biters/Creepers Natives

So in short: On the planet are living the natives.

The natives are basically also your enemies. That's why they are called "enemies" in the wiki, not natives...

The natives are currently:
- the spawner, which spawns
---- the biters - these where formerly called "creepers", cause they where just placeholders (from another game?) and looked like ... creepers.
---- the spitters.
- there are also worms.
- there are also some more biomes, like trees, fishes etc. which must also be counted to the native life but is not your direct enemy.

PS: I saw some note on the taskboard about "spiders" in one of the last FFF's.

[vampiricdust]

The wiki mostly calls them Biters. It does say their natives, but natives is an adjective, not a noun.

[Koub]

Actually, native is both a noun and an adjective. I'm not a specialist, but iirc, adjectives do not take 's' on plural.

[MadZuri]

A quick google of native gave both the noun and adjective definitions. Also, adjectives can become nouns.

[patfly]

We just calls 'em Bugs, in these here parts...

'Course, really don' matter what ya calls 'em, just so long's ya splatter 'em, and the unholy birthplaces of 'em.

[Dll0706]

We are the ones who crashed on their planet and started polluting and taking its resources. We are the aliens, they are the natives. Technically speaking of course!

[Sinnersaix]

Thats how Economy works;

Find something of Value.

Have someone sitting on it.

Declare him an Alien/Monster/Enemy.

Kill the shit out of him.

Take what your want.

Get stupid Rich.

Write the History Book's.

Have a nice Life.

[Xterminator]

Yup pretty much. I think a popular Steam Review put it pretty nicely:
"Build Factories, destroy ecosystem, anger natives, destroy natives, take their oil. Murica Sim 2016".

[ShizukaMiyuki]

Yup pretty much. I think a popular Steam Review put it pretty nicely:
"Build Factories, destroy ecosystem, anger natives, destroy natives, take their oil. Murica Sim 2016".

Its just like America back in 1775 all over again xD