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Total Members Voted: 69

[AutomataKittay]

Ohh, I see someone working on hive-like lifeform, should be interesting in the fun way

[Halfling]

Larva done. They have a head with 8 tentacles and 3 eyes on either side, and a 3 part body with 4 pairs of insect legs I nicked from StL (that's fine, right?)



You will get 30% male and 70% female larva for efficient procreation. Also, since fiddling with transformations from one type of evolved creature into another is tricky, you can actually make as many queens as you like and only get 32 larva for each one - one time purchase, the queen is useless except as a defender after that. If you make too many, you'll have to figure out a creative way to squish them as they can't be moved (not immobile, just can't be controlled. Spawn them somewhere and lock the door).

Interesting note: they even get professions when made this way, they are larva peasants. This is hidden when you give them a display name like I did, but becomes visible if that's removed.

[Gnorm]

Behold! the first post of the third era of the epic saga of Mastertea:

Part 1: In which the entire population of the settlement go completely insane and much tarnish stalk in consumed
-----

From the Journal of Gnorm:

1st Granite, 555

Well, I completely destroyed two years worth of my journal entires in an ink well spill. All that remain are two short entires on the fight with the storm dragon and on the completion of the town hall. In order to preserve the history of this town, and so that I can have a good reference book when I choose to write my autobiography, I will record all that I can remember here.

Our military has grown to two full squads, and the original captain has recovered from her injuries to resume command. The military recently gained a victory against the treelords, resulting in the death of one elfish wrestler and one treelord merchant. While I am happy with this victory, I fear retaliation, and I plan to expand our army.

The trading depot has been relocated to accommodate for the future paved roads. It is, fortunately, close enough to the original site that merchants won't get confused.

One of our woodworkers has taken over a carpenter's workshop, and is demanding gems. Being that none have been found in the caverns, I have started a mining project to dig deeper into the earth. Hopefully, gems shall be found.

3rd Slate, 555

Our miners have been running into issues recently. Apparently, they have dug a tunnel right above a deposit of stone known as "jaded slate." This stone is filled with water that has seeped into it. Our miners have taken great measure to not flood our mines, which has resulted in some winding tunnels.



6th Slate, 555

Perhaps the smallest migrant wave arrived today. Exactly one dyer came to our town. Our whole population is 220, so I cannot complain. Almost half of our population is children, though.

Meanwhile, one of our axemen got into a fight with a mechanic. I am trying to think of a way to keep remove him as a threat quickly and quietly.



11th Slate, 555

Our woodworker has gone completely mad from the lack of gems. A casket shall be prepared for him.

15th Slate, 555

There seems to be an issue with a shortage of food. No doubt the 106 children are responsible for this.

26th Slate, 555

Apparently, a group of underground creatures known as "reaver ants" have been harassing my men.



Their entry in my copy of "The Halfling's Almanac 554" is less than encouraging. But my army will make short work of them nonetheless.

6th Felsite, 555



Damn it! I knew that the spider-centaurs would not wait long before bringing war to our settlement. An armed group has arrived to avenge the blasted thieves that we have put to justice. I shan't stand for such an assault. The military has been mobilized, and shall strike!

8th Felsite, 555

Our army has been all but decimated! The enemy that seeks to destroy us approaches!



13th Felsite, 555

The enemy has been annihilated, but at a great cost. Many halflings have been killed, and many more have been injured. The military, including the captains, has been completely destroyed, with only one wounded axeman as  a memory of it's power. I have ordered many caskets, thus that those who have fallen can be properly entombed



17th Felsite, 555

The destruction of the military has put the entire town into a state of panic. I was recently attacked by a butcher, resulting in a broken arm and a wounded leg. I've noticed many others murdering each other, and I worry about the future of this civilization.



21st Felsite, 555

The wild citizens have destroyed the trade depot, and have stolen many goods from the traders. As for me, I'm not sure I even care anymore.



26th Felsite, 555



In all of the chaos one of the children began to laugh like a maniac, and has recently claimed a tanner's shop as his own. Whatever he wants, be it gems, shell, or silk, I doubt he'll find it.

28th Felsite, 555

Spring is almost over, and this past Spring has been one of the worst experiences in my life. I am currently recovering from my injuries in the makeshift hospital. It's more of a freakish circus than a hospital, with insane halflings running here and there beating each other up. Blood coats the floor; I wish, for once, that it was vomit. As soon as I recover, I'm going to seal of the entrance to these catacombs, leaving the crazies inside.

[Halfling]

Tsk tsk Master Greenwitch - didn't your mother warn you about being too adventurous? Bravery will have that effect on halflings... Especially if they are doubling over vomiting from tarnish stalk consumption already. Cowardice Moderation and bows are the answer.


Drones done... 2 segments, otherwise similar to larva except much larger. Have pincer claws instead of forefeet. Overlords mostly likewise. Immobile, huge flying creatures with 16 eyes, many hanging limbs, a large head, claws, mouth tentacles and large teeth underneath. If you can disable their gas bladder they'll fall like an antelope.

Turns out this race will die in worldgen because larval procreation does not work there. So, for worldgen purposes, all drones are female and all overlords are male, and 70% of the population is drones and 30% overlords to begin with. They will procreate in worldgen mode, but not in fortress mode because overlords are immobile there.


Cont'dedit: happy day! The first queen was born "naturally" at a hatchery today and immediately gave birth to larva eggs.



Notice also the beginnings of a healthy purple covering the landscape, and the spatter of blood. I didn't actually look up Meph's method but I assume it involves SPATTER_LIQUID?

Spoiler: glamourshot (click to show/hide)

[StLeibowitz]

Ahahahhaha, Mastertea. Your army was probably screwed either way Reavers come in groups of forty - I doubt your halflings could have survived that, no matter how many you had. Your playthrough is making me very happy, Gnorm.

@Halfling Xenoentomologist: Do Queens serve any purpose after their eggs fall off, or are they expendable after that?

Also, I love how these worlds will be completely dominated by hive-minded or otherwise eusocial insect species. This is turning into a very interesting succession game.

[Gnorm]

Part 2: In which Gnorm checks out of the hospital
-----

From the Journal of Gnorm:

3rd Hematite, 555

One of the fellow patients has informed me of a rumor that the crazy child has murdered a fellow halfling, grabbed its corpse, and dragged it to the tanner's workshop. I fear the worst.

7th Hematite, 555

The child has revealed the fruits of his labor; I am thoroughly disgusted.



This scepter will, no doubt, only serve to further the great madness present in this town.

13th Hematite, 555

One of the bowyers in the "hospital" went berserk today. He was quickly silenced, but it causes me to fear for my life even more now than before. I'm requesting a transfer.

17th Hematite, 555

The diplomat finally left today. Frankly, I'm surprised that he decided to stay as long as he did.

22nd Hematite, 555

The hospital becomes bloodier and bloodier as more patients go insane and attempt to murder me. They want my town; they are envious of my success.

1st Malachite, 555



The assassins think that they have won. They have incapacitated me and left me to rot in this despicable hospital. They have run amok throughout my town with the intent to destroy the balance of this town's structure and society. In crippling me in their assault, they believe that they have effectively murdered me; they are wrong.

The city's population, including me, is 145. That means that there are 144 usurpers wandering about. I am among the dregs of halfling society. They wish to ruin my testament to halfling life and liberty!  I realize now, that I must take arms against those who wish to destroy me. Either I defeat the usurpers and retake command of my settlement, or I die a martyr, forever hailed as a halfling hero.



They'll never truly understand; there is but one halfling worthy of being mayor of this town! I finally understand what must happen! In order to save my town, I must destroy it, its population, and its mayor!

From the Notes of Foul Chiefdesert, a cook, found inserted into the journal:

The founder and leader of Mastertea is dead, killed at the hands of his own people that he himself attempted to destroy.



Before he breathed his last, he, in his final act as mayor, declared me the new mayor of Mastertea, and that I was to finish what he started.

I feel like the most unlucky girl on the planet.

[Halfling]

Oh ho, this will be epic. Adding it to the first page asap.

Ahahahhaha, Mastertea. Your army was probably screwed either way Reavers come in groups of forty - I doubt your halflings could have survived that, no matter how many you had. Your playthrough is making me very happy, Gnorm.

@Halfling Xenoentomologist: Do Queens serve any purpose after their eggs fall off, or are they expendable after that?

Also, I love how these worlds will be completely dominated by hive-minded or otherwise eusocial insect species. This is turning into a very interesting succession game.

Queens are large, tough (they need to survive losing a large part of their body) and can spit thorns - I didn't originally mean to add this, but it turns out sometimes egg fragments get stuck on top of trees and you need early anti-air. That's about it. They could serve any purpose you want them to though, they're still in the making.


Research note for anyone following: removing NO_THOUGHT_CENTER_FOR_MOVEMENT from queens apparently stopped them resurrecting larvae in fort mode, again... and new, more important note: Forgot that creatures that are already body-transformed can't body-transform anymore. This is a significant obstacle as it prevents making artificial queen parts into larvae... queens will have to split into larva, not eggs. Whatever. turns out that leads to them becoming full queens immediately leading to some unintentionally fast propagation of the species. Looks like it will have to be spawning eggs from drones via a 600 phases limited transformation that queens then resurrect and transform to larva (new plan)



On the bright side of things, I have a new pet now. Healingmaster is large and very muscular. I'm almost sad she doesn't have any other attributes that are different from other larva, as I didn't make any yet.

[Halfling]

Doublepost but separate topic: I've now seen 6 forest fires in my testing. Something is definitely causing those. But so far I've been unable to figure out what, catching them late.

[StLeibowitz]

The world itself is spontaneously combusting. Lovely.

I'm going to check the raws for the alchemy plants and see if I left a fixed-temperature artifact somewhere in there.

EDIT: Nope, not that. Has anyone added any creatures with [IMMOLATE] perhaps? Any burning-hot secretions?

[NRDL]

Could somebody please catch me up?  The last bit I've read is like 20 pages ago. 

[StLeibowitz]

Short version: Halfling's adding xenomorphs which have pseudo-infanticide as an essential part of their reproduction, I updated my alchemy raws with Halfling's corrections to the tags, Gnorm's Mastertea playthrough continues on strongly, and the world is randomly catching on fire for an unknown reason. I think that's the highlights, unless I missed something.

Ah, twenty pages ago. I did miss a few things: Sackhead's raws have been uploaded, so there's an option of a graphical tileset now, I've added alchemical reactions and gas weapons/buffs to the game, along with potions that give the drinker magical powers, BFEL hinted at a special surprise inside the elf raws, and dirigible gazelles were and I think still are being worked on.

[Halfling]

That, and Hugo is working on some cephalopods to make for interesting fauna, many have expressed interest in making their own megabeasts, the dirigible antelope is a thing and well, lots of people working on things. Lots of things that it would take as much room to list. Also Sackhead has yet to acknowledge or insert any bugfixes despite how I've posted a list of them twice so I'll pm soon.

[StLeibowitz]

Oh, wait, that personal megabeast bit is a thing? Hmm...

This will be fun

[Halfling]

Yes, we talked about signature megabeasts and you should make one, like all who contributed. Can never have too many of those.


I finally figured reproduction out despite the problems above. You still start with only drones and don't need to wait for a queen.

1. Make a queen at a hatchery using a drone. Drone transforms permanently into queen.
2. Spawn larva at a hatchery using a drone. Drone transforms into eggbearer that splits into 32 parts and dies (it didn't to begin with but I felt it should be added to fit the theme).
3. Queen animates eggs. Eggs de-transform into drone larva and are slaughtered.
4. Queen animates these as friendly female and male larva that should spawn drones and overlords at a 7/3 ratio.

Repeat as necessary for more larva.

[kopout]

The world itself is spontaneously combusting. Lovely.

I really ought to sig this.

EDIT: Nope, not that. Has anyone added any creatures with [IMMOLATE] perhaps? Any burning-hot secretions?

The lift gas  for dirigible gazelles burns at 10074 U^o. Scorching biomes can reach as high as 10080 U^o. It possible that scorching savannahs could have wild fires as the wildlife spontaneously combusts. Homoeotherm should prevent this like it did in arena tests but it might work differently in fortress mode.