SPLINT'S PREHISTORIC CRITTER PACKA module for an upcoming mod
TIMES BEFORE TIME
An Anachronistic Copper Age ModHello there! Once again I have come, with a half-assed mod in tow. This time around it's just a pack of creatures, with nothing really fancy.
Contained herein is a selection of random critters, some of them from Far Cry Primal (my first and favorite entry personally,) others from general prehistory, and still more simply made up but meant to fill a niche of non-vanilla giant bugs. Most of the predators are war and hunting trainable, and everything can be tamed, as well as come in a variety of flavors. The names are fairly simplified, as they're meant to be reflective of the human tribals you play as in the main mod.
Simply drop the raw folder into your game's folder and you're good to go! Special thanks to ZM5 and Hugo for checking for fuck-ups in my raws and getting the trilobites to be millable properly, and MottledPetrel for many of the suggested inclusions.
More ideas and additions are welcome.
Actual flightless birds, modified to have many versions, kind of as an abstraction of thier different sized species.
TERROR BIRD
A large flightless bird of prey found in various flavors. All are rather large, and consequently usable as mounts for enemies, but there's some size variation between species. They are also all trainable as fighting animals.
Common Terror Bird - The most common form of Terror Bird, found in grasslands, savannas, and scrubland.
Forest Terror Bird - Found in jungles and woodlands, it is slightly smaller than the common variant, and its feathers come in shades of green as well as brown.
Mountain Terror Bird - While the smallest variant, they are still easy to mount and ride. They can be found in mountains and in the upper cavern layer, and have gray colorations rather than brown or green.
MOA
Another flightless bird, coming in a variety of sizes and biomes selection. Two can potentially be used as mounts in battle by enemies.
Plains Moa - A towering animal found roaming the plains, they are the largest Moa form, and easily saddled up and ridden. They bear only brown plumage, using their size to intimidate would-be predators.
Forest Moa - Slightly smaller than the Plains Moa, they can be found in jungles and forests that i large enough to ride. Unlike the plains version, they sport a wider array of browns and greens for camouflage.
Mountain Moa - A stunted species of Moa found in the mountains, as well as sometimes in the first cavern. They sport gray and brown plumage for camouflage in the mountain foothills.
Cave Moa - The smallest form of moa, found in the upper caverns. They're smaller than a dwarf, and thus unable to be ridden, suitable more as a companion than a beast of battle. They are brightly colored, in order to blend into the surrounding cave moss and shrubbery.
DODO
Dumb and fearless in equal measure, some communities keep them in lieu of chickens or other fowl. Their lack of fear leads to them generally behaving erratically, but at least they won't be spooked off by a flock of ravens, necessitating wrangling by your dwarves.
Pulled from history and Far Cry Primal.
Aurochs - The direct ancestor of the common cow, they are slightly smaller and ill-tempered, generally attacking travellers unprovoked. Their fierce nature compared to domestic cattle makes them livestock of choice for some communities on the frontiers or in dangerous areas.
Cave Lion - A stealthy predator that dwells in and around caves, based on the Cave Lion from Far Cry Primal. They may be found in the mountains and in the first cavern layer, and consequently its coat is colored with greens and blues to blend in better with the vanilla game's cavern mosses, in addition to grays and even a stripey pattern. A rare solid black cave lion is worth significantly more if bagged. Cave Lions aren't built well for riding and so may only show up as regular fighting animals.
Great Elk - Unrelated to the Giant Elk found in savage biomes, the Great Elk is inspired by the extinct Irish Elk, can be found in temperate grasslands and forests. The males are somewhat territorial and may attack trespassers unprovoked with their massive antlers. Some males are in fact a hidden rager caste, and so may attack your citizens on sight. Great Red Elks, similar to the black cave lion, have parts worth significantly more.
Cave Bear - a big brute of an animal twice the size of a grizzly, they can be found in the first cavern layer and mountains, with a coat colored in black or various grays. Thier great size makes them suitable in both cavalry and general combat roles.
Bison - A shaggy beast similar to a yak, that like the aurochs may attack unprovoked. They can be found in taigas and temperate forests. Not quite extinct, but hey, this one's close enough in most places.
Short Horse - Direct ancestor of domestic horses, they are slightly less common and so slightly more valuable, though they're also somewhat smaller than regular horses.
Protocoptodon - Under the name of "Short-faced Kangaroo," found in the same places. Will be a bit larger than standard kangaroos and trainable as a fighting (but not hunting) animal, but not rideable as its build is ill-suited to such a use.
Gigantopithecus - Under the name of "Great Forest Ape," found in temperate woodlands. Trainable for fighting and hunting, not mountable because of its semi/biped nature. Unlike the solitary sasquatch or yeti, they can be found in small groups of up to five members outside savage biomes.
Megatherium - Under the name of "Giant Ground Sloth," it will be considered a carnivore as far as the game will treat it (as there is debate on it being omnivorous or not.) Will be trainable for fighting, but not hunting. Will not be mountable as it needs to ear up to attack with its claws.
Doedicurus - Under the name of "Giant Club-tailed Armadillo." Its shape and temperament makes it ill-suited as a mount, but as distractions and pack animals they should hopefully fare decently, since it's a form of armadillo and thier shelled backs offer ample space to strap goods. Suggested by MottledPetrel.
Dire Wolf - Large and nasty pack hunters, almost as large as a dwarf. Will include rarer White and Striped castes which are worth more and fearless as opposed to the more common caste having innately high discipline.
Pliopithicus - as Woodland Apes, found in temperate forests, and occurs in groups of up to 10, and as requested, will be "item stealing, alcohol drinking, lever manhandlers." I made them a little bit bigger than gibbons they were apparently the size of, and with naturally high discipline, so they'll be more likely to try and storm your stockpiles and mess with everything. - Suggested by MottledPetrel
Thrinaxodon - Fat Otter - Move in small groups, they're bigger than standard otters, and found along rivers, lakes, and temperate forests. Vermin hunter.
Cynognathus - Sabretoothed Otter - twice the size of an otter, and extremely fierce. Found in temperate biomes and trainable.
Diplocaulus - Under the name "Hammerhead Salamander," covering broadly several such critters. When implemented, this thing will be about the size of a large cat and found in oceans in general. Can be found in tropical forests and wetlands as the Greater Hammerhead Salamander, and along tropical ocean coasts as the smaller and appropriately named Lesser Hammerhead Salamander. Suggested by MottledPetrel.
Megalania - Under the name of "Man-eater Lizards." A large gila monster or monitor lizard-like beast, trainable as a fierce, if sluggish, guard animal.
Ophiacodon - Large-head Lizard - These big beasts of predatory reptiles are going to be just a bit smaller than a cow. Trainable.
Cotylorhynchus - Fat-bodied Lizard - Given the look of it, I'm gonna assume it's a grazer that fed on shrubbery. These big bastards will be a cow and a half in size. Not trainable, but may be used as pack animals.
Varanops - Dog Lizard - The general size comparison chart leads me to assume a size of a wolf would work. Trainable.
Tritylodon - Furred Lizard - About the size of a cat. At least the illustration on wikipedia looked like a furry lizard. Vermin hunter found in warmer climates.
Lystrosaurus - Shovel-beaked Lizard - Roughly the size of a pig, they'll be grazers found in temperate biomes in groups up to four.
Wholly invented by me, they fill the role of prehistoric giant bugs.
Green Stalker - A dog sized pack hunting scorpion, with green coloration. They are unusually intelligent for arachnids, and take well to living among civilized people as fighting animals. They can be found in tropical wetlands and forests. Imagine a comparatively tiny green GDS, but it comes in groups.
Deathleaper - A dog sized solitary spider found in tropical lands, able to use its bite and resistance to pain to bring down prey from ambush. They are useful animals to have when battling webbing creatures as well, being able to navigate and doge webbing.
Deathweaver - The above ground equivalent of a giant cave spider, found in tropical forests and wetlands.
Blue Devourer - A crablike creature a little larger than a dog, with a blue carapace. They're slow witted, but can be serviceable fighting animals if they come to consider a place to be a food source and nest worth protecting. Like the rest they can be found in tropical forests and wetlands, and even come crawling out of tropical oceans from time to time. Think Fallout 4's mirelurks, but in smaller blue format.
Trilobite - For the sake of utility, considered fishable vermin that produce shells, found in the same places as Flat Shrimp are. As a reference to ARK, may make their shells millable into an oily paste that can be used for soap making. Chitin milling is not yet included.
Anomalocaris - Under the name of "Flat Shrimp," unlike the real one, this version is amphibious, and due to how simple minded they are (and that they're known to have fed on trilobites, or at least tried to,) these primitive lifeorms are fearless. While not trainable, large numbers of them should prove sufficient as distractions and prisoner disposal. Suggested by MottledPetrel.
Primitive Dragonfly - As the Long Biter Fly, found in temperate and tropical forests and wetlands, the size of a cat. Too stupid to train, but like larger trilobites they can be tricked into sticking around with gifts of food.
Trolls come in both evil and non-evil versions, and so may be utilized by other civs besides goblins.
Cave Troll - Vanilla trolls, unchanged. Can replace the vanilla troll or keep them, effectively doubling the amount of cave trolls!
Forest Troll - A troll found wandering in the woodlands, with generally darker greens compared to its jungle cousin.
Swamp Troll - A troll found in swamplands, with coloration mixed between the forest and jungle versions.
Jungle Troll - A troll with green coloration. Like its forest and swamp kin, they will not hesitate to break stuff and steal your food.
Desert Troll - A stunted form of troll that can still batter down simple barricades in its desperate search for food and drink.
Mountain Troll - Slightly smaller cousin of the vanilla cave troll, found in the mountains alone.
Gremlins now come in several variations found across the surface. Some will try to steal from you, others can be useful as fishermen if captured. All will mess with your levers.
Cave Gremlin - Vanilla gremlins, with a mountain biome inclusion.
Swamp Gremlin - Capable of fishing, these long-clawed gremlins are found in wetlands.
Forest Gremlin - A thieving little shit found in both temperate and tropical forests. Make sure to keep your valuables locked behind something, as they don't have the patience to pick locks.
Desert Gremlin - Like desert trolls, they are slightly stunted, but strong. They'll try to get through light barricades by force. Unlike desert trolls, they'll try to sneak around knocking things like wooden tables over on thier quest to of stealing food or drink.
Hugo_the_Dwarf's generic material framework is now packaged with the mod (and is likely to be used later down the line to streamline the creatures some.)
Trilobites can now be milled into dye or oil for soap as thier description advertises (big thanks to Hugo for that.)
OPTIONAL ENTITIES - Neaderthals, Homo Erectus, Homo Habilis.
Archeopteryx - Suggested by MottledPetrel
And here's the Download link.