#Blight

4 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

lapis crypt
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My latest mod introduces an aggressive, adaptive challenge to the game (hopefully). I've been wanting more of a challenge, or sense of a threat/danger, as I usually tend to not go too much farther once I have water and food stabilized. Enter Blight.

"The elders spoke of a hunger that doesn't just eat wood, but eats life itself. We thought it was just a campfire story to make kits eat their berries. We were wrong. It's in the water. It's in the soil. It's in the air. Be wary... the green is turning grim." - Unknown


Features

Contagion Mechanics

  • The Spread: Once a plant is infected, it becomes contaminated. Over time, it will naturally attempt to spread itself to adjacent vegetation. There is also a small chance the air will carry the infection to random nearby tiles.
  • Soil Corruption: The pathogen doesn't just kill the plant; it aggressively poisons the land. While a plant is blighted, it seeps contamination into the soil grid directly beneath it until the plant has either died, or until it has been removed by your Farmers or Foresters.
  • Badwater Exposure: The pathogen thrives on the waste of the old world. Any vegetation exposed directly to badwater—or absorbing it through contaminated soil from badwater—runs a serious risk of mutating and contracting Blight. The idea here was badwater was always...well bad, but now it has lingering, and potentially severe, side effects.
  • Spore Clouds: Microscopic spores drift across the map at random intervals (figured this was the best lightweight method), triggering a warning message and corrupting a random, healthy plant.

Beaver Behavior
In the beginning, your beavers might not have a cure yet, but they aren't helpless. Farmers and Foresters will automatically prioritize the outbreak within their working range (I felt this was more lore appropriate).

(I don't have nitro, so picture will be between p1 and p2; learned about the picture the hard way in #1506842049956282528 )

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  • Farmers: Farmers will automatically prioritize harvesting and salvaging blighted crops immediately, attempting to secure the crop's food before the blight completely rots the plant. Naturally, seedlings are a lost cause.
  • Foresters: Foresters will automatically detect infected trees and shrubs/bushes (planted) in their planting zone and prioritize demolishing the infected tree(s).

I have intentionally not added this to Lumberjacks as I figured that would not only be too easy, but because you can mark said trees for cutting anyway and manage it yourself. Also as stated above, I felt having Farmers and Foresters take care of their own respective plants felt more lore appropriate.


Difficulty Presets

I've added five difficulty settings:

  • Dormant: A slow, manageable burn. Perfect for getting your bearings.
  • Creeping: The rot is active, but moves with a predictable crawl.
  • Outbreak (Default): The standard experience. A noticeable threat that requires constant watch.
  • Epidemic: Fast, aggressive, and highly lethal to all plants. Slight delays on your part could be very costly.
  • Plague: Rapid spread, near-instant plant death, and relentless spore generation. This is very difficult and meant for the more hardcore players. You have been warned.

Hazardous Weather Toggle

  • Allow Spores in Hazardous Weather: When enabled, spore cloud events can trigger even during Droughts and Bad Tides, adding an extra layer of difficulty to the two seasons. When disabled, the spores will not occur during Droughts or Bad Tides. My personal head cannon and preference is to have this checked, as I personally feel Blight would spread much more rapidly during these two seasons, but I wanted to give people the option to not overwhelm anyone.

Phase 2 / Future Plans


Requirements

  • Harmony
  • ModSettings
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Also copy-pasting from the other thread, but:
I'd strongly encourage you (or anyone) to make several save files when bumping up the difficulty
Either that or have massive stock of wood/food