Hey there guys, I am thinking of trying my hand for the first time in modding and have an idea for a mod about Antmen. But since I have never done this before, I just wanted to know from the more experienced modders if what I am thinking of doing is even doable (if so, I'll look up how to do it. If not, at least I know not to waste my time trying this one. And if maybe, I can experiment on it and bring back my findings to you).
What I plan on attempting, regarding the Creatures themselves:
1) Ant Men would be playable in Fortress mode.
2) No migrant waves.
3) Ant Queens reproduce only once and the drone with which she reproduces dies after doing so, she would then keep on making eggs from then on until her death.
4) The result is an egg that becomes after a few weeks a larva, that becomes after a few more weeks a pupa, that then finally becomes a completely adult Antman after two months or so.
5) Antmen are polymorphic, being divided between Ant Queen, Ant Minor, Ant Major and Ant Drone. Which is born from the egg would be random, except for the Queen that is only available by embark and isn't generated (I imagine I can't really simulate nuptial flights so I'd keep it only as an embark thing), or if it is possible to force somehow the new Queens to leave, I'd do that, but I am pretty sure that would be asking too much of the game in regards to modding flexibility lol
6) Ant Queens would live around 40 years, while Ant minors, majors and super majors would live only a few years.
7) If the Ant Queen dies, there is no more reproductive Ant men so the colony dies after a few years. So the focus would be to protect the Queen and keep her happy.
8 ) Antmen can dig without a pickaxe and can grow fungus farms from fungus spores that they take with them from expedition start. These fungi would not be present anywhere except on them at embark (mimicking Attina ants Fungi farms) and they can use these fungi to make walls and furniture.
9) They can only make furniture with this fungus and with Giant Mealybug wax (more on that in point 13). They can make rudimentary weapons with wood, but nothing fancy.
10) They can attack with natural acid and stingers.
11) Antmen don't get unhappy thoughts from seeing a dead body or for loved ones dying (this I think would be kinda necessary since they have short life spans)
12) Antmen need a lot of food and water to survive
13) Antmen can have giant Mealybugs that they can ranch on the grass, ride into battle and cultivate from them honeydew and wax. The honeydew they can feed upon and the wax can be used to make furniture and walls.
14) Antmen can only eat the honeydew from Mealybugs or their special Fungi (I might make separate species of Antmen, one inspired in genus Atta, that survives on Fungi they cultivate, and another inspired in genus Acropyga, that survives in Mealybug honeydew)
15) Make it so the "farm" used to make the fungi requires herbs being put in it to than grow the fungi, forcing the ants to forage outdoors for vegetation constantly.
16) Make it so each Caste has a specific propensity to a certain group of jobs (specialization)
Regarding their Civilization:
1) Their civilization would be headed by an Empress, who is either succeeded by a descendent of the Queen Caste or is substituted by a random Queen. Only Queen-Caste ants can be Empress. Regarding point #2, I was wondering if it was possible that the new Empress is randomly selected from among the Site-specific Queens. (the same way Elven Queens are succeeded from the Elven Princesses, but in this case the game would randomly pick among the various Site-specific Queens).
2) Site-specific Queens. Each site would have a Queen [Position], her needing to be of the Queen-Caste. She would function as Dukes do among Dwarves, appearing in Legends mode and such.
3) The Civ venerates the Empress. Is it possible to make it so the Empress is seen as a deity, similar to how Demons are among the Goblins? If not I'd leave it at [REGIONAL_FORCE].
4) Can the Ant Civ live in pits and dug in caverns similar to Goblins, but without the Evil connotation? If not, I'll keep it at [CAVE_DETAILED]
This is what I want to do for starters. But again, I've never modded before so I am not sure most of this is even possible. I will research it, but if any good hearted veteran Modder would be so kind as to tell me if any of this is impossible in the game, I'd be thankful!
Either way, will keep you updated as I go along. I'll do so very slowly because I am pretty busy with IRL obligations, but I want to do this to relax on my down time
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Topic: Antman Colony? (Read 1385 times)