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Author Topic: Terrifying biome I embarked in isn't so... terrifying  (Read 2577 times)

Driverman

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Terrifying biome I embarked in isn't so... terrifying
« on: January 28, 2015, 10:00:54 pm »

So I like fun and I am not very good at this game which helps me have more fun. Seems I can manage to take out a fort in a relatively happy area by having one dwarf not fill his strange mood and lose his mind, killing a few others and putting my fort in a tantrum spiral. So I embarked in a terrifying biome because I wanted to play more defensively (ie, hole up as soon as I embarked, etc) and it's been pretty uneventful aside from the eyeballs and tendrils coming out of the ground (which are highly annoying). I had a weretapir show up and wax one or two dwarves, turn into an elf and leave the map. There are giant ticks running around but really, not much fun. I was hoping to be fighting off zombies and hiding in my fort from the undead. The weather is just goblin blood rain, no clouds (which I hate despite my affinity for fun).

How do I find a more terrifying "terrifying" biome next time?
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Pencil_Art

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Re: Terrifying biome I embarked in isn't so... terrifying
« Reply #1 on: January 28, 2015, 10:02:47 pm »

The weather is randomized. Try some of the challenges listed on the wiki.
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BlackFlyme

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Re: Terrifying biome I embarked in isn't so... terrifying
« Reply #2 on: January 28, 2015, 10:16:52 pm »

I used to scout areas using adventurers. Though you may not be able to identify the weather of the biome, as rains and mists can be infrequent. But you should be able to tell what type of animals and plants will be in the area, and if there are undead within the biome. Carrying a corpse, or even just a small part that can be animated, such as a hand, can help indicate whether the biome will raise undead or not, as the part will spring to life and jump out of your backpack.
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Driverman

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Re: Terrifying biome I embarked in isn't so... terrifying
« Reply #3 on: January 28, 2015, 10:28:46 pm »

How would you set out to finding/getting to an evil biome as an adventurer anyway?
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YAHG

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Re: Terrifying biome I embarked in isn't so... terrifying
« Reply #4 on: January 28, 2015, 11:17:10 pm »

If reanimation is what you want, there is no need to scout things out at all  8). Last time I used this interaction it made everywhere into a reanimating biome O0 (basically just take out the requirement for it to be an evil biome etc.).


interaction_region.txt
Code: [Select]
interaction_region

[OBJECT:INTERACTION]

This evil region will have an undead animation effect as well as material clouds and material rain.
The materials would need to be supplied as an inorganic object entry elsewhere (or as a creature material etc.).

[INTERACTION:EXAMPLE DEAD ANIMATION]
[I_SOURCE:REGION]
[IS_REGION:ANY_TERRAIN]
[IS_FREQUENCY:100]
[I_TARGET:A:CORPSE]
[IT_LOCATION:CONTEXT_REGION]
[IT_AFFECTED_CLASS:GENERAL_POISON]
[IT_REQUIRES:FIT_FOR_ANIMATION]
[IT_FORBIDDEN:NOT_LIVING]
[I_EFFECT:ANIMATE]
[IE_TARGET:A]
[IE_INTERMITTENT:WEEKLY]
[SYNDROME]
[CE_FLASH_TILE:TILE:165:3:0:0:FREQUENCY:2000:1000:START:0]
[CE_PHYS_ATT_CHANGE:STRENGTH:300:1000:TOUGHNESS:300:1000:START:0]
[CE_SPEED_CHANGE:SPEED_PERC:60:START:0]
[CE_ADD_TAG:NO_AGING:NOT_LIVING:OPPOSED_TO_LIFE:EXTRAVISION:NOEXERT:NOPAIN:NOBREATHE:NOSTUN:NONAUSEA:NO_DIZZINESS:NO_FEVERS:NOEMOTION:PARALYZEIMMUNE:NOFEAR:NO_EAT:NO_DRINK:NO_SLEEP:NO_PHYS_ATT_GAIN:NO_PHYS_ATT_RUST:NOTHOUGHT:NO_THOUGHT_CENTER_FOR_MOVEMENT:NO_CONNECTIONS_FOR_MOVEMENT:START:0]
[CE_REMOVE_TAG:HAS_BLOOD:TRANCES:LIKES_FIGHTING:MISCHIEVOUS:START:0]

BlackFlyme

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Re: Terrifying biome I embarked in isn't so... terrifying
« Reply #5 on: January 28, 2015, 11:19:22 pm »

They generally appear on your travel map as the same colour as they would on the embarking map. Just look for red, purple, or gray areas, and there is a chance they may be evil, just as blue non-ocean/non-lake areas may be good.
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Badger Storm

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Re: Terrifying biome I embarked in isn't so... terrifying
« Reply #6 on: January 29, 2015, 08:29:09 am »

They generally appear on your travel map as the same colour as they would on the embarking map. Just look for red, purple, or gray areas, and there is a chance they may be evil, just as blue non-ocean/non-lake areas may be good.

As an aside, good mountain ranges are gold, not blue, and good tundras can be hard to spot, but I think they're actually a bit darker than usual.  The colors can also be used to suss the kind of biome within an alignment: good grasslands are cyan or teal, while good wetlands are dark blue.
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Sanctume

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Re: Terrifying biome I embarked in isn't so... terrifying
« Reply #7 on: January 29, 2015, 10:05:06 am »

I use Phoebus tile set that comes with the Lazy Newb Pack.  Purple, Red and Gray areas are evil and can be Horrifying, Sinister, and Terrifying.  I think all of these can re-animate the dead.

However, some embark locations have multiple biomes, so only the evil tile portions of the embark area can re-animate.

Badger Storm

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Re: Terrifying biome I embarked in isn't so... terrifying
« Reply #8 on: January 29, 2015, 02:54:30 pm »

Not all evil biomes reanimate.  The three kinds of possible interactions are evil rain, undead, and evil clouds (which can sometimes turn even a kitten into an unstoppable super-zombie).

Go into legends mode.  Look at the megabeasts at the top and the animals on the pages following the semi-megabeasts.  If you look closely you might see a zombie giant dingo or something.  Looking at their entries might allow you to suss which evil biomes, if any, raise corpses as undead.
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gchristopher

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Re: Terrifying biome I embarked in isn't so... terrifying
« Reply #9 on: January 30, 2015, 06:23:46 pm »

Not all evil biomes reanimate.  The three kinds of possible interactions are evil rain, undead, and evil clouds (which can sometimes turn even a kitten into an unstoppable super-zombie).

He said it. Evil biomes get up to two of the three possible interactions:

- Evil rain chooses a random material that can range from blood (mostly harmless but messy), to custom materials with random effects of mild to moderate severity.
- Reanimation creates undead with some small variations in how much of a stat boost they get. Reanimating regions will have access to the world stocks of undead creatures, so they'll appear at the map edge.
- Evil clouds are a custom material that either thralls/husks or has moderate to severe random effects, up to effectively being instantly lethal.

Random materials might be the kind (glob or dust, etc) that sticks to the ground or victims, so in the worst case, that kitten super-zombie will infect anyone near it that gets some of the material on them.

In 34.11, I witnessed a few weird cases where rain/cloud (or something) effectively permanently affected every land and air tile in the entire region. Birds would instantly fall dead at the edge of the map, regardless of whether it was raining.
An embark in such a region would end instantaneously on unpausing after embark. (which was pretty neat) I tried an area that was partially insta-death, and birds would again die instantly after flying into a tile that was part of the region. Sadly, I never figured out exactly what interaction made that happen, because I wasn't diligent in taking those save files apart.

I've just started 40.24, with a 5x5 embark that is a reanimating terrifying region on three sides, and the undead wildlife are accumulating like crazy in the caverns. There's a decent horde of undead crundle parts. The only long-term survivor out there so far is a very tough flying forgotten beast made of tiger eye.

If you want a good tough embark, back up your region directory and try a few different embarks until you land in one that's bad enough. If you see undead wildlife, then you should have reanimation. Otherwise, slaughter a few animals somewhere in the evil region and leave them at the butcher shop to see if they come back to life. Wait for the first rain/cloud and you should have a good handle on how much Fun it is!
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Goblins

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Re: Terrifying biome I embarked in isn't so... terrifying
« Reply #10 on: January 31, 2015, 05:27:59 pm »

I would embark next to a necromancer tower inside of a terrifying biome.  Huehue...
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Edit: BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! A goblin just got gelded by a copper mace in a weapon trap! This game is the greatest.
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Niddhoger

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Re: Terrifying biome I embarked in isn't so... terrifying
« Reply #11 on: January 31, 2015, 11:14:05 pm »

You kinda lucked out on another issue- the (zombie) animals that spawn and attack your dorfs.  I had one embark wiped out before I could begin to move underground due to a murder of reanimated crows.  I had barely cleared out an area to designate as a new underground meeting hall when the murder ripped through my dorfs.
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