Friday Facts #424 - Gleba Pentapod Enemies

[POPISowyNumer]

Someone's been watching "Alien Worlds", i suppose.

[Estelyen]

Someone's been watching "Alien Worlds", i suppose.

Or read Project Hail Mary.
They look like Rocky. Why make them look like Rocky, question?! Rocky is my friend, don't like fighting him! ♫♪♫♫♪!

[The Phoenixian]

One thing that strikes me with Gleba is that the mention of making pentapods based on starfish rather than making them "too alien" has me wondering if they literally evolved from starfish, lore wise. Between the Earth trees on Nauvis and the general theme of aliens with links to earthly biology, however strange and far flung (arthropod biters, starfish pentapods) I'm starting to wonder if this is a "humans are the precursors" sort of setting.

The theme for the unrevealed planet back on FFF-406 definitely sounds like the sort of music that might accompany exploring and reindustrializing a far-future Earth.

[vetvicka]

Thanks a lot for the spoiler alert!
While I enjoy all the FFFs I don't want to know everything before the release

[doktorstick]

Or read Project Hail Mary.
They look like Rocky. Why make them look like Rocky, question?! Rocky is my friend, don't like fighting him! ♫♪♫♫♪!

Amaze! Highly recommend it. Yes yes yes.

[AileTheAlien]

The animation of the heads [...] look so mechanical

I'm surprised they don't rotate the individual sprites, between the main rotation amounts. Like, it'd have some pixels that look "wrong" (I assume "aliasing" is still the right term?), but since they're organic they could be smoothed a bit. Then you could add some momentum, over-correction, and/or springiness to the rotation. At least, that's how I'd assume a big head would move - it's similar to the big monsters in the film...Monsters move.

[morse]

With pentapods' lifecycle being fully fleshed-out, the default biters now feel kinda lacking. Both spawners and worms just "pop up" when it's time for expansion. Wouldn't mind some special creatures that morph into spawners and worms zerg-style, with both starting small but then growing big.

[gnutrino]

I think eggs will be produced in the biochamber... so in theory you have to harves one manually to craft a biochamber and then with that chamber you can produe more. The issue is that if you don't process them fast enough they will hatch on your belts and thus cause damage. That part of factory production line will need to include turrets in the design in case any enemy spawns as a byproduct. Not a big deal, taken individually those are not a big threat.

Could be, the issues there would be that they'd have to break the rule about biochamber products coming out with the same spoilage level as what went in (or you'd just run out of eggs once they all hatched) and even then if the eggs are only used to make things that you would want intermittently (like biochambers) then you need a way for the process to "idle" when you're not using eggs. It would be possible to do this just having them run in a loop and killing off the excess once they hatch but the failure mode for something like that (e.g. if you experience a blackout or even a severe enough brownout) would leave you with no eggs to get it started again and you'd have to go out and search for a new egg raft to kick start production once you'd sorted out the issue.

With a plant/harvest cycle, you could just disable the agriculture tower to idle the process and, so long as some egg rafts were "planted" when an issue occurred, most failure modes would be able to pick production straight back up once whatever issue caused it was fixed.

The planted egg rafts could just not spawn any enemies as cybersteve547 suggested or spawn wrigglers only (which should be manageable without collateral damage to the rafts unlike the big boys) and require you to defend your "farm" against the inhabitants.

Anyway, I guess we just have to wait an see what Wube have in store for us.

[mmmPI]

That has to be one of the most exciting FFF so far for me, regarding anticipation, and i do say that a lot, it feels like there is a plan to keep the biggest reveal for the end or even not at all and i'd be expecting suprise in the game after seeing for how long the biters were kept secret.

I really like the look of the biters and found very interesting the process that leads to their designs. I think it really works , it reminded me of a crab and a starfish, but also of the xenomorph from the alien franchise, the smaller fast one in particular. With maybe a bit of feel for the eegra from that old warwind game, the green color and the tentacle. But i think the most striking to me is the plantera boss in terraria. The flying ennemies small and homing that harass you while you try to outmanoeuvre a clumsy tentacular biologic ennemy. The jungle/Gleba. I think it convey well the type of danger you face.

The way certain things circle around and act a little like a bullet hell game i think makes the combat more interesting, making me think that i will need to learn how to fight against those as part of learning how to beat the game. I'm curious if there is something special to understand when reading the shield do not work to protect against stomping, as if it was a hint to a new mechanic to bypass the shield with a certain type of damage. But in any case i'm already thrilled by the possibilities of them going above cliffs or wall and for the big ones to being able to carry smaller one. That's like aliens medieval siege tower tactics which fits so well against walled off player. And the alteration of the pollution mechanic sounds great too, making perfect sense on Gleba, where pollution damaging trees would have been weird if it was not supposed to damaged player-grown tree, or an extra difficulty, all of this is avoided by something that makes for a interesting mechanic i find.

I noticed the impressive train network, the goody hut made me think of civilization and the name of the station make me think some interrupt shenanigan is in use

I usually play peaceful and i think it would be nice to see a mod that uses the "area of smell" mechanic to make it a "repellant" area so biters wrigglers and stompers try to avoid the player, unless they can't because the pathfinding would cost too much ressources and they decide to attack only then.

I read no critic about the names , and i think it's not fair that there is not more praise, i think it deserved to be mentionned because that's rare x)

I think it's weird for creatures to have their multipurpose hole at the top of their body, due to gravity it may cause some inconvenience, but it's not unheard of and i appreciate the anatomic information, it's not quite clear how many heart each specie possess, but if it's more than one, i think it's legit to use flamethrower anyway.

And watching the video again, i think the music and overall ambience is very pleasing, unique, exciting and funny, the flying ennemies, that sound like they have a little engine. I think that's what will end up deciding where i try to settle as a planet first , or maybe for a game, it makes me want to do "a playthrough where i have my main base on Gleba", or in Fulgora, for the mood of the planet, and then making it a self-imposed challenge if possible to comply with the objective.

And also the egg system versus the nests in Nauvis is making me anticipate the same level of uniqueness in other planets, and it's a lot of expectations x)

[FunMaker]

The first thing while reading the pollution part:

I would try to put all production to gleba, because pollution is not of a concern here - am i missing something?

[foxiest_engineer]

I love them! We need a wriggler plushie in the merch section!

[1000i100]

Fantastic ! Real enemy to fight !
I was hoping it !

There is one mechanic for another planet that i hope to see :


Borrow enemy.
The idea :

They go under the floor and go up only when they detect their target (pollution spawner, for example).

While there are under the floor, there are immune to most damage and untargetable.

Player can build floor plate to have "wall" on the floor to prevent this kind of attack (or slow them highly)

With dedicated technology (seismic sonar), you can track approximately their position in the underground.

With seismic tower you can damage everything around (them under the floor and all your nearby building)

Perhaps some of them are taunted by seismic tower, other can fear them.

Of course, when they go back to surface, all your tower can damage them normally.

Most of them can't attack from under the floor (and are blocked by floor plate), but some evolve to damage from underground...

The biggest enemy can be like sand worms of dune, or be unable to move under the roof, but can borrow to hide and regenerate before going back to fight.

EDIT :
Except the seismic tower, artillery with dedicated heavy ammunition to generate distant seismic wave could be used with lower range than with classic ammunition.
(and not borrowed enemy oriented, a spore ammunition for gelba, with to usage : a napalm like effect (distant wide range flame thrower to burn eveything) but also without ignition a decoy effect to attract enemy to this spot rather than vital ones by spreading spore/pheromone/pollution).

NEXT POINT :
You talk about pathfinding. I would love a bleed pheromone and a death pheromone, why not specific by kind of enemy.
Theses pheromones very slowly fade. They impact somes enemy as fear spot. Theses ones will change path to try attacking somewhere safer for them.
This is the main feat about death pheromones. It can be completed with a mechanic where weak enemy will avoid death pheromones of theres kind, but stronger one will be attracted like avenger behavior. And the heavier enemy death there, the heavier will attack this spot (and weaker will search for other path to attack).

[AileTheAlien]

sand worms of dune

I'd rather take inspiration from other burrowing or tunnelling animals, since the dune-worms are more fantastical than sci-fi. The Graboids in Tremors are a bit more realistic, since they're so much smaller and pointier. Or you could make them look like a cross between snakes and armadillos. If they burrow more slowly and only burst out for the final attack, they could look like giant gophers, moles, etc. Instead of bursting out to directly attack you, you could have a subterranean species carve out sinkholes underneath your base, that finally collapse all at once, leaving behind some cliffs and maybe a different color terrain, to make it look like a real cave-in.

[foxiest_engineer]

Also a cool detail I notice is the design continuity. I went back to https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-410 to check out the Missile Turret, and it looks like it's actually inspired from these guys! It's got the head shape and the eyes, and it shoots missiles like Strafers shoot biological missiles! Really awesome stuff, good job devs!

[Mithaldu]

those enemy designs might trigger trypophobia for some people. hope y'all double-check that instead of just make an area that's unplayable for some people

[Paperfrog]

Lots of nitpicking and little praise in many comments even when the first new enemy in years are revealed. Some acknowledgement doesn't hurt, people. It looks bloody amazing and I can't imagine the work hours put in!

[The Phoenixian]

A sudden thought just occurred to me: Given the confirmation that rocket turrets come from Gleba now, and the fact that the tesla turret needs to be made on Fulgora, specifically, will rocket turrets also have to be made on Gleba, specifically? If so, please tell me the recipe involves a pentapod egg.

Because it would not only imply that rocket turrets are directed by a hatched wriggler but could also, in fact, mean that a spidertron is effectively a pentapod in power armor.

Yes I want to be Dr. Robotnik powering my war machines with small woodland swamp creatures. Please.

[Bi0nicM4n]

OK, now I have another reason to shift Gleba in my planet visiting order list to the bottom.
Also, a rocket turret getting unlocked on Gleba? Hwat?

[TheNetherQueen]

Honestly I like the idea that the pentapods have a blind gut, rather than a through gut, like actual starfish

[adam_bise]

AWESOME!!

CANT WAIT!!