Throughout my years of playing Dwarf Fortress I have always had issues with the plant system. Grow plump helmets and you never have to worry about food or drink, send out unskilled nobodies out into the woods and they come back with their hands overflowing with edible plants, no poisonous plants, plants can't really be used for much other than dye and thread, most plants are incredibly cheap and you can feed your whole fort off of a few rough gems' worth of food,
only a few types of mushrooms, the list goes on. This mod works to fix these issues in addition to adding much more variety and functionality to the world's flora without just adding reskined plump helmets. Most of the mushrooms added by this mod are true to actual existing species of mushroom or are based off of existing mushrooms with extra added features to make them more game friendly. Some prominent features include:
1. Poisonous mushrooms
2. Completely useless mushrooms
3. Mushrooms that grow in very specific climates for only one or a few seasons, instead of the usual 'Grows everywhere all the time'
4. Mushrooms that can be refined into usable items, like a more dwarvenly method of how elves grow their tools, because instead of 'communing with nature' or 'asking the trees nicely' its more of a 'tearing nature up from its roots and forcing it to do our bidding'
5. Mushrooms that can be refined into ingots
6. A number of new dyes
7.
Growable weapons (mushrooms that can be refined into weapons)
8. New mushroom 'grasses' that turn the monotonous green grass landscape into a more realistic and appealing terrain
9. Psychotropic mushrooms
And much more to come as I work on it!
As it currently stands, there is
much more I intend to do with this mod. It is currently at the point where there is enough content for me to release it and there to be a noticeable difference to the game, but I hope to get to the point where there are a substantial amount of new reactions, all normal plants can be removed and you can effectively survive in any biome in any season off of mushrooms, and possibly some fungus creatures and civilizations after I finish with the plants.
I encourage you to go in blind and try to weed out the poisonous and useless mushrooms from the edible and useful ones, but for those who want to know what they're getting into (like me) I have included a list that I intend to update as more mushrooms get added.
Buildings:
The Shroomery: The workshop where most basic mushroom processing and refining occurs
Edible Mushrooms
Brown Cup: Spring and Summer, Temperate Broadleaf and Conifer
Black Earth Tongue: Underground all year, a fast growing plant that dwarves will reluctantly eat, small chance of a minor bad thought, layers 1-1
Slippery Cap: Spring, Summer, and Autumn, Temperate Broadleaf and Conifer
Winter Slippery Cap: Like the slippery cap, but blue green, rarer, grows during the winter and in tundras, glaciers, and in mountains
Dead-mans fingers: A slow growing thread bearing mushroom that grows in all not freezing evil biomes in Summer and Autumn
Cup Morel: Spring, Temperate conifer, tropical conifer, and taiga, not actually cup shaped
Bell Morel: Spring, Temperate conifer and broadleaf, string bearing
Early Morel: Fast growing spring, Temperate conifer and broadleaf, string bearing
Black Morel: Spring, Temperate broadleaf, temperate conifer, taiga, tropical conifer, badlands, rock desert, low chance of abominable pain when brewed
Half-Free Morel: Incredibly cheap, spring, temperate conifer and broadleaf, taiga
Common Morel: Spring, Temperate conifer and broadleaf, taiga, tropical dry broadleaf, badlands, mountain
Burnsite Morel: Spring, temperate conifer and broadleaf, taiga, tropical conifer, badlands, rock desert
Narrowhead Morel: Spring, temperate conifer and broadleaf, taiga
Flexible Lorchel: Summer and Autumn, Temperate conifer and broadleaf, taiga
Purple Coral Fungus: Underground all year, layers 1-3
White Worm Coral Fungus: Underground all year, layers 1-3
Flat-topped Coral Fungus: Underground all year, layers 2-3, small chance of having a good thought
Mushroom Grasses (Not that they really matter)
Groundwart: Mountain, temperate conifer, taiga
Carnation groundwart: Mountain, temperate conifer, taiga
Soldier Grainy Club: Any land
Dwarf Acorn Cup: Any land
Cartilage Cup: Mountains, temperate conifer, taiga
Jelly Cup: Underground 1-3
Warty Jelly Cup: Underground 2-3
Coral Woodcrust: Underground 2-3
Gelatinous Woodcrust: Any forest
Funnel Chanterelle: Any wetland
Pinecone Mushroom: Taiga, temperate conifer, tropical conifer
Zoned Cork Hydnum: Taiga, temperate conifer, tropical conifer
Appleseed Coincap: Any land
Navel Sawgill: Any forest
Magnolia Coincap: Temperate Broadleaf
Poisonous Mushrooms (I've been having trouble balancing them because there are generally REALLY inconsistent reports as to what the actual symptoms of poisonings are other than 'just avoid it', so these might take a while to implement)
Deathcap: Summer and Autumn, Taiga, temperate broadleaf and conifer, causes localized pain and blisters on the area that picks it up, strong pain three days later, then excruciating pain six days after that coupled with abrupt and extreme liver and kidney bleeding (to simulate complete organ shut down), generally unsurvivable unless the dwarf is incredibly resilient and eats it while in a hospital bed with a doctor watching over them
Scaly Chanterelle: Summer and Autumn, all conifer, causes short but heavy nausea
Psychotropic Mushrooms
Panthercap: Spring and Autumn, all conifer and temperate broadleaf, heavy nausea, dizziness, erratic behavior, VERY psychotropic with extreme emotion ranges
Useful Mushrooms
Devil's Urn: Winter and Spring, Taiga, temperate broadleaf and conifer, tropical dry broadleaf, can be refined into a usable mug
Scarlet Elf Cup: Spring and Winter, any temperate, can be refined into a mug or can be combined with lye to make soap
Deep Cup: Summer, Taiga, temperate broadleaf and conifer, can be refined into a bucket
Thick-Footed Morel: Spring, Taiga, temperate broadleaf and conifer, has a high chance of temporarily increasing the consumers toughness as well as a low chance of giving a good thought
Giant Thick-Footed Morel: Spring, Taiga, temperate broadleaf and conifer, has a higher chance of temporarily increasing the consumers toughness even higher than its smaller relative as well as a higher chance of a good thought, can also be refined into a usable mace (Be aware that this mace is still made out of mushroom tissue, and isn't inherently powerful. Currently more of a cheap means of arming a civilian population for a bumrush against invaders until I implement the means to crossbreed the mushroom with metal bearing mushrooms for metal maces)
Vinegar Cup: Spring and Summer, Taiga, temperate broadleaf and conifer, can be refined into a mug
Magenta Coral Fungus: Underground all year, layers 1-3, yields heliotrope dye despite its name
Giant Flat-topped Coral Fungus: Underground all year, layers 3-3, gives a higher chance of a good thought than its smaller relative, can be refined into a placable table
Crown Coral Fungus: Underground all year, layers 1-3, can be refined into a wearable crown
Golden Coral Fungus: Underground all year, layers 3-3, can be refined into an expensive golden yellow dye
Green-tipped Coral Fungus: Underground all year, layers 1-3, can be refined into a moderately priced fern green dye
Pure Golden Coral Fungus: Underground all year, incredibly rare in layers 3-3, can be refined into an extremely expensive gold dye, can be refined into a usable gold ingot
Dwarf Razorstalk: Any land, spring and summer, can be refined into a large dagger, causes usually nonfatal bleeding in the stomach and guts when consumed
Small Razorstalk: Any land, spring and summer, can be refined into a short sword, causes usually nonfatal bleeding in the stomach and guts when consumed, worse than dwarf razorstalk
Large Razorstalk: Any land, spring and summer, can be refined into a long sword, causes usually nonfatal bleeding in the stomach and guts when consumed, worse than small razorstalk
Giant Razorstalk: Any land, spring and summer, can be refined into a two handed sword, causes borderline fatal bleeding in the stomach and guts when consumed, worse than large razorstalk
Curved Razorstalk: Any land, savage, spring and summer, can be refined into a scimitar, causes usually nonfatal bleeding in the stomach and guts when consumed, on par with small razorstalk
Spineless Groundcreeper: All freshwater swamps and marshes, spring, summer, autumn, can be refined into either rope or a whip
Thorned Groundcreeper: All saltwater swamps and marshes, spring, summer, autumn, can be refined into a scourge
Needlecap: All grasslands and savannas, autumn and winter, can be refined into a spear
Regal Needlecap: All shublands, autumn and winter, can be refined into a pike
Useless Mushrooms (These are probably going to be minimal as I work to get the more useful and fun mushrooms added first)
Coral Jelly Fungus: Underground all year, layers 1-2
Reactions are described under Useful Mushrooms, and have been given to the dwarves in the supplied entity file. Of course, for those like me who like to use mix mods I have also supplied a document with all of the reactions. Just copy and past them into what ever civilization you want.
Useful tips:
1. Currently (and probably forever), most mushrooms are going to be found in temperate conifer forests, seconded by temperate broadleaf
2. Mushrooms based off of existing ones have their scientific name in the files for those who really want to play it safe, but be warned that I have taken creative license on some of them based off of their names and niches that needed to be filled in the game
3. You might want to be a bit more cautious about what plants you let into the fort, accidentally eating some of these things is a death sentence
4. Please
DO NOT use this mod to determine edibility of real mushrooms. I have generally been true to what is and is not edible, but everyone's body handles mushroom toxins differently
Finally, I'd just like to say that updates probably aren't going to be super frequent, as I have other obligations and I will probably have the tendency to release lump updates instead of updating it after every mushroom I make. Feedback and bug reports are appreciated, and balancing some of the poisonous mushrooms to fit DF syndromes is going to be a nightmare that I'd appreciate feedback with. I'm also open to ideas and suggestions, they could be new uses for mushrooms, special request mushrooms from any favorites you might have, fantasy mushrooms, or really just anything fungus related you might want in the mod.