I'm just really sad DF still doesnt have chemical properties for materials, acid atacks are off the table for example
If he wants to be extremely precise in this mod (and he aims to do every single monster, so I think that's a yes), he should make a record of every weapon in the game, and simulate the same crafting system in the series, where a weapon takes a weapon and materials to get done. Materials you get from monsters and the world
Armor set buffs are out of the question, and I'm not sure about getting all the weapons 100% accurate to the game; the insect glaives kinsect, for example, is right out. In addition, I'm not planning on adding in every single unique weapon. Simply having shit like "Rathian Whip" and "Brachydios Hammer" is good enough for me. The real meat I'm going for is playable palicos and monsters inhabiting the world; that will leave me satisfied.
That said, acid attacks shouldn't be that hard. We already have a creature that spews fire; if I make it a syndrome that eats away at the tissue, that should work pretty well. Even if it won't destroy items, it will destroy dwarves; which is what we care about, in the end.
I think the bigger challenge will be making reliable material values, like how the Khezu has stretchy and loose rubbery skin (rubber gecko badger) and the Gypceros has a rubbery skin but not loose. Which I'm not sure would share the same shear values, also due to being rubbery and/or loose it should be able to absorb some impact damage as well (reducing how much it transfers to other limbs?)
Also curious if you're going to make metals for the armor types and metals for the swords? or custom reactions for weapon/armor making (so that you can't make weird combos like a rathlos claw hammer) Which comes back around to the material stuff (some bones stronger/sharper, claws, horns, etc)
You're forgetting zamtrios. Getting that thing to inflate without regenerating will be a pain; considering just leaving them as separate castes.
Material values, however, shouldn't be to much of a problem. I'm leaving most monsters with the standard tissue setup, and putting the variation into the scrap you get afterwards. Maybe "Hard x Scrap" and "Soft x Scrap" for various parts.
Not an expert, but When I played MH viciously, I remember you were able to see the size and weight of a captured monster. My recomendation is getting the average volume and just eyeballing it from the pics of a said monster
The problem is that what it gives us isn't volume; it's length. If it were volume, the Najarala would be about the size of a cat. Which might be a bit wrong. I suppose eye-balling it is.
(Save for the dalamadur. I'm giving that thing the volume of Mount Everest because fuck it.)