I was thinking of making a "ferromancer" kind of creature as a warm-up or replacement of my vaguely-planned tyranid project. I need a bit of help, though, mainly in figuring out if certain things wuld work the way I think they would.
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6.) How could I get a "chain" bodypart to act as "armor" over the rest of the body?
7.) For that matter, would it be possible to have just the chains made out of iron and the rest out of not-iron?
8.) I'm imagining a "smelt own chains" reaction that would produce iron bars and an instant-boiling stone with a syndrome that harms the chains and causes pain. How could I do the latter part with such presicion that a few times a month is plenty fine, but Smelt Own Chains/R will swiftly cause the demise of (or at least permanent harm to) the furnace operator?
9.) Would such a reaction allow the ferromancers to have acess to iron without also needing another reaction? I think that would be interesting.
10.) Would the reaction from #8 cause merchants of that race to bring items made of the syndromey stone, and if so is there any way to avoid that?
6-7.) You would need ~1 chain bodypart per bodypart to be armored, as a body part can only armor neighboring bodyparts on the body plan (for example, a chain attached to the upperbody can armor the lower body, right and left upper arms, and the head bodypart. It can't armor the upperbody itself, the lower arms etc, or the eyes and other facial features).
Here is an example body and body detail plan:
[BODY:ARMORED_HUMANOID]
[BP:ROOT:body:bodies][CATEGORY:BODY_UPPER][INTERNAL][SMALL]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:1]
[BP:UB_A:breastplate:STP][CATEGORY:ARMOR][CON:ROOT][SOCKET]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:200]
[BP:UB:upper body:upper bodies][UPPERBODY][CATEGORY:BODY_UPPER] THOUGHT [CON:ROOT]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:1000]
[BP:LB_A:fauld:STP][CATEGORY:ARMOR][CON:ROOT][SOCKET]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:200]
[BP:LB:lower body:lower bodies][CON:ROOT][LOWERBODY][CATEGORY:BODY_LOWER] THOUGHT
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:1000]
[BP:HD_A:helm:STP][CATEGORY:ARMOR][CON:UB][SOCKET]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:60]
[BP:HD:head:STP][CON:UB][HEAD][CATEGORY:HEAD] THOUGHT
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:300]
[BP:RUA_A:right pauldron:STP][CON:UB][SOCKET][RIGHT][CATEGORY:ARMOR]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:40]
[BP:RUA:right upper arm:STP][CON:UB][LIMB][RIGHT][CATEGORY:ARM_UPPER]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:200]
[BP:LUA_A:left pauldron:STP][CON:UB][SOCKET][LEFT][CATEGORY:ARMOR]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:40]
[BP:LUA:left upper arm:STP][CON:UB][LIMB][LEFT][CATEGORY:ARM_UPPER]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:200]
[BP:RLA_A:right vambrace:STP][CATEGORY:ARMOR][RIGHT][CON:RUA][SOCKET]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:40]
[BP:RLA:right lower arm:STP][CON:RUA][LIMB][RIGHT][CATEGORY:ARM_LOWER]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:200]
[BP:LLA_A:left vambrace:STP][CATEGORY:ARMOR][LEFT][CON:LUA][SOCKET]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:40]
[BP:LLA:left lower arm:STP][CON:LUA][LIMB][LEFT][CATEGORY:ARM_LOWER]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:200]
[BP:RH_A:right gauntlet:STP][CATEGORY:ARMOR][RIGHT][CON:RLA][SOCKET]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:16]
[BP:RH:right hand:STP][CON:RLA][GRASP][RIGHT][CATEGORY:HAND]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:80]
[BP:LH_A:left gauntlet:STP][CATEGORY:ARMOR][LEFT][CON:LLA][SOCKET]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:16]
[BP:LH:left hand:STP][CON:LLA][GRASP][LEFT][CATEGORY:HAND]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:80]
[BP:RUL_A:right cuisse:STP][CATEGORY:ARMOR][RIGHT][CON:LB][SOCKET]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:100]
[BP:RUL:right upper leg:STP][CON:LB][LIMB][RIGHT][CATEGORY:LEG_UPPER]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:500]
[BP:LUL_A:left cuisse:STP][CATEGORY:ARMOR][LEFT][CON:LB][SOCKET]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:100]
[BP:LUL:left upper leg:STP][CON:LB][LIMB][LEFT][CATEGORY:LEG_UPPER]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:500]
[BP:RLL_A:right greave:STP][CON:RUL][SOCKET][RIGHT][CATEGORY:ARMOR]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:80]
[BP:RLL:right lower leg:STP][CON:RUL][LIMB][RIGHT][CATEGORY:LEG_LOWER]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:400]
[BP:LLL_A:left greave:STP][CON:LUL][SOCKET][LEFT][CATEGORY:ARMOR]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:80]
[BP:LLL:left lower leg:STP][CON:LUL][LIMB][LEFT][CATEGORY:LEG_LOWER]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:400]
[BP:RF_A:armored boot:STP][CON:RLL][SOCKET][RIGHT][CATEGORY:ARMOR]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:60]
[BP:RF:right foot:right feet][CON:RLL][STANCE][RIGHT][CATEGORY:FOOT]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:120]
[BP:LF_A:armored boot:STP][CON:LLL][SOCKET][LEFT][CATEGORY:ARMOR]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:60]
[BP:LF:left foot:left feet][CON:LLL][STANCE][LEFT][CATEGORY:FOOT]
[DEFAULT_RELSIZE:120]
Body detail plan:
[BODY_DETAIL_PLAN:HUMANOID_ARMOR]
[BP_RELATION:BY_TOKEN:UB_A:AROUND:BY_TOKEN:UB:100]
[BP_RELATION:BY_TOKEN:LB_A:AROUND:BY_TOKEN:LB:100]
[BP_RELATION:BY_TOKEN:HD_A:AROUND:BY_TOKEN:HD:100]
[BP_RELATION:BY_TOKEN:LUA_A:AROUND:BY_TOKEN:LUA:100]
[BP_RELATION:BY_TOKEN:RUA_A:AROUND:BY_TOKEN:RUA:100]
[BP_RELATION:BY_TOKEN:LLA_A:AROUND:BY_TOKEN:LLA:100]
[BP_RELATION:BY_TOKEN:RLA_A:AROUND:BY_TOKEN:RLA:100]
[BP_RELATION:BY_TOKEN:LH_A:AROUND:BY_TOKEN:LH:100]
[BP_RELATION:BY_TOKEN:RH_A:AROUND:BY_TOKEN:RH:100]
[BP_RELATION:BY_TOKEN:LUL_A:AROUND:BY_TOKEN:LUL:100]
[BP_RELATION:BY_TOKEN:RUL_A:AROUND:BY_TOKEN:RUL:100]
[BP_RELATION:BY_TOKEN:LLL_A:AROUND:BY_TOKEN:LLL:100]
[BP_RELATION:BY_TOKEN:RLL_A:AROUND:BY_TOKEN:RLL:100]
[BP_RELATION:BY_TOKEN:LF_A:AROUND:BY_TOKEN:LF:100]
[BP_RELATION:BY_TOKEN:RF_A:AROUND:BY_TOKEN:RF:100]
Plus it needs materials, which I usually define and add in the creature itself.
[TISSUE:ARMORMATA]
[TISSUE_NAME:leather surcoat:leather]
[TISSUE_MATERIAL:LOCAL_CREATURE_MAT:ARMORMATA]
[STRUCTURAL]
[CONNECTS]
[RELATIVE_THICKNESS:10]
[TISSUE_SHAPE:LAYER]
[USE_MATERIAL:ARMORMATB:INORGANIC:IRON]
[TISSUE:ARMORMATB]
[TISSUE_NAME:iron plate:iron]
[TISSUE_MATERIAL:LOCAL_CREATURE_MAT:ARMORMATB]
[STRUCTURAL]
[CONNECTS]
[RELATIVE_THICKNESS:10]
[TISSUE_SHAPE:LAYER]
[SCARS]
[HEALING_RATE:1000]
[TISSUE_LAYER:BY_CATEGORY:ARMOR:ARMORMATA]
[TISSUE_LAYER:BY_CATEGORY:ARMOR:ARMORMATB]
8a.) If I were you, I'd look into the shearing mechanics for this. If you made the chain's tissue layers grow like that of the sheep's wool, you could let the ferromancers shear each other periodically for metal.
But I want to have them strangle people with their chains and strike them and stuff! Is there any way to do that?
If you follow the body plan stuff above, you would have 'chain' bodyparts covered in 'chain' tissues. The 'chain' bodypart would own the attacks, while the 'chain' tissue would provide the shearable material. Also, I believe the 'chain' bodyparts would be more vulnarable to attacks after being sheared, since their primary tissue layer would be thinner. Also, if you set the attacks to use a tissue layer, the attacks might be weaker after shearing, too.
8b.) If you want to go the reaction rout, I would suggest that the syndrome cause bleeding from the upper body, say. Tune the bleeding so that if a creature repeatedly does the reaction, they bleed out.
9.) If you use a reaction instead of the shearing technique, they would have access to iron. If you use the shearing technique, I think you would need to give them a world-gen only reaction enabling iron.
10.) They wouldn't bring the syndrome stones. Entities only use reactions to determine which
metals they have.