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Dwarf Fortress => DF Suggestions => Topic started by: Night_Hag on May 11, 2016, 12:21:24 pm

Title: Mimic creature.
Post by: Night_Hag on May 11, 2016, 12:21:24 pm
Mimics can be found by adventurers in caves, castles, ruins, in the forest. These are dangerous monsters, which pretend to be something made by sentient creatures: crates, campfires, statues, books. If someone is close enough, mimics immidiately attack. They are very strong and big. Their point is to kill the adventurer and eat his multilated corpse.

Skilled adventurers can recognise mimics whithout fighting them - monsters are cautiously breathing.
Title: Re: Mimic creature.
Post by: helmacon on May 11, 2016, 12:27:38 pm
Mimics feel like the epitome of "gamey" creatures. In my opinion, they wouldn't fit the world very well at all.
Title: Re: Mimic creature.
Post by: Dirst on May 11, 2016, 10:37:09 pm
Mimics feel like the epitome of "gamey" creatures. In my opinion, they wouldn't fit the world very well at all.
We need a gamey gotcha creature (http://geekandsundry.com/the-5-stupidest-old-school-pathfinder-monsters-redeemed/) mod!

More seriously, a stealthy creature that looks like something natural and innocuous until it moves (bush, boulder, driftwood, etc.) might be interesting.  Eventually multi-tile creatures could allow for Ents that could be mistaken for trees, and some version of Cavern Ents that could mistaken for giant mushrooms.  Much further down the line, long-slumbering beasts might resemble hills until some fool decides to mine there.
Title: Re: Mimic creature.
Post by: NW_Kohaku on May 12, 2016, 05:10:21 pm
Ambush predators make sense, but the thing about mimics is that they fill a totally gamey role of attacking only player character adventurers looking for loot in chests.  To borrow from the link Dirst gave, the Lurking Ray makes more sense as a monster, since something that disguises itself as the floor or ceiling, then suddenly lunges at a creature (humanoid or otherwise) makes perfect sense.  (Just look at trapdoor spiders and flounders...)

Also, I would point out that the GCS already more-or-less occupies this role in the caverns, since they can hide, spin projectile vomit webs, and prefer attack after a prey is caught in a web.

Finally, I don't think there's a point in suggesting D&D to Toady.  He knows it exists.  Hungry Heads are basically Vargouilles.
Title: Re: Mimic creature.
Post by: IndigoFenix on May 12, 2016, 11:31:14 pm
He has stated that possessed items and weapons are planned, which is basically the same concept.
Title: Re: Mimic creature.
Post by: Neonivek on May 13, 2016, 09:08:24 pm
He has stated that possessed items and weapons are planned, which is basically the same concept.

Well Mimics are specifically creatures that disguise themselves as manmade objects like doors, carpets, chests, coffins, or statues

Though people seem to forget that mimics don't have to be chests O-o
Title: Re: Mimic creature.
Post by: Dirst on May 13, 2016, 10:05:23 pm
Well Mimics are specifically creatures that disguise themselves as manmade objects like doors, carpets, chests, coffins, or statues

Though people seem to forget that mimics don't have to be chests O-o
It's a good thing we don't have toilets in DF.
Title: Re: Mimic creature.
Post by: granak1031 on May 13, 2016, 10:19:03 pm
Well Mimics are specifically creatures that disguise themselves as manmade objects like doors, carpets, chests, coffins, or statues

Though people seem to forget that mimics don't have to be chests O-o
It's a good thing we don't have toilets in DF.

Love it!  ;D

Seriously though. We should. At least chamber-pots. "Waste management" should definitely be more of an issue in DF. I'm going to go check if there's already a suggestion for that, and if not, I'll propose it shortly.

EDIT: Apparently the "waste management" idea has been suggested multiple times, by multiple people, and the last observed comments from Toady on the topic are specifically against heading in that direction.
Title: Re: Mimic creature.
Post by: alexchandel on November 14, 2017, 12:48:19 pm
Sorry to bring this back from the dead, but mimicry seem like a great ability. You could have a forgotten beast arrive at your fortress during a migrant wave, disguised as a migrant. I suppose to prevent you from noticing it, it would even have fake thoughts & relationships.
Title: Re: Mimic creature.
Post by: Ggobs on November 14, 2017, 01:48:10 pm
Mimics feel like the epitome of "gamey" creatures. In my opinion, they wouldn't fit the world very well at all.

How so?/sincere question
Title: Re: Mimic creature.
Post by: Egan_BW on November 14, 2017, 01:50:12 pm
Aw man I didn't notice the necromancy so I was struck by a sudden feel of nostalgia when I read Neonivek's post.
That has nothing to do with mimics, I just wanted to say. Carry on.
Title: Re: Mimic creature.
Post by: IndigoFenix on November 15, 2017, 05:39:28 am
Thread necromancy is acceptable in Suggestions if the topic is worth talking about.

I think a DISGUISE_AS token could be worthwhile.  Nature is full animals that look like something else until you look closely, and there's no way to do this yet in DF since moving the cursor over a creature tells you what it is.

Creatures could disguise themselves as other creatures, furniture or items.  Similarly, they could pretend to be dead: the cursor would show them as a corpse until you got too close.  Treants could pretend to be trees, golems could pretend to be statues.

This would work especially well for generated creatures; each world would have different kinds of mimics so you'd never be sure which items to watch out for until you became acquainted with that world's lore.
Title: Re: Mimic creature.
Post by: granak1031 on December 03, 2017, 03:44:22 pm
I think a DISGUISE_AS token could be worthwhile.  Nature is full animals that look like something else until you look closely, and there's no way to do this yet in DF since moving the cursor over a creature tells you what it is.

Creatures could disguise themselves as other creatures, furniture or items.  Similarly, they could pretend to be dead: the cursor would show them as a corpse until you got too close.  Treants could pretend to be trees, golems could pretend to be statues.

This would work especially well for generated creatures; each world would have different kinds of mimics so you'd never be sure which items to watch out for until you became acquainted with that world's lore.
^^^Definitely second this idea^^^
Title: Re: Mimic creature.
Post by: LordBaal on December 17, 2017, 06:34:24 am
In a genre (fantasy) in which "adventurer" is a valid job, where enough people are interested in buying armor and weapons and plundering all the dungeons and tombs that supporting adventuring is the main driving factor of the world's economy, an animal suited to ambushing adventurers doesn't seem all that gamey.

It's not the treasure box monster that's gamey, it's the fact that treasure boxes are common enough to be used as camouflage that's gamey.
I think he meant to reply here but instead replied on the Uncanny suggestion thread.
Title: Re: Mimic creature.
Post by: deathpunch578 on December 18, 2017, 10:31:42 am
I feel that once magic is in DF there will be mimics.

some mimic ideas:
1. created by magic, not natural animals
2. not immediately hostile, some might be aggressive but I feel some mimics were made to not be guards.
3. any item, self explanatory
4. maybe in fortress mode they can be made by a wizard with a strange mood
Title: Re: Mimic creature.
Post by: Pillbo on December 02, 2020, 03:31:01 pm
Now that necromancers are making experiments that opens the possibility of them creating creatures like a mimic for defense. Another option would be illusion magic on some undead creature which accomplishes the same thing as a mimic and is less "gamey".

Having a necromancer's mimic disguised as a slab or book in their tower would be cool.
Title: Re: Mimic creature.
Post by: Fikilili on December 03, 2020, 11:12:13 am
Unrelated, but why do people want dwarves to be able to... Uh... Piss and poop? Like, they already barf and that's a problem. Making canalisations will be a chore, and I certainly wish to live in a fantasy world where such things don't exist. Imagine the most beautiful elves you can think of, with such majesty and magical powers, taking a long sh!t.
Title: Re: Mimic creature.
Post by: IndigoFenix on December 03, 2020, 01:08:57 pm
Now that necromancers are making experiments that opens the possibility of them creating creatures like a mimic for defense. Another option would be illusion magic on some undead creature which accomplishes the same thing as a mimic and is less "gamey".

Having a necromancer's mimic disguised as a slab or book in their tower would be cool.

I think wizards enchanting objects to guard their homes (or perform other tasks) would be more in-line with DF's style than specifically creating a monster that looks like a book.
Although, if there was a system to create replica artifacts, someone might create a replica and then bring it to life...

Unrelated, but why do people want dwarves to be able to... Uh... Piss and poop? Like, they already barf and that's a problem. Making canalisations will be a chore, and I certainly wish to live in a fantasy world where such things don't exist. Imagine the most beautiful elves you can think of, with such majesty and magical powers, taking a long sh!t.

Probably because once sewer systems became part of the game, players would inevitably create traps to drown elves in them.
Title: Re: Mimic creature.
Post by: Iä! RIAKTOR! on December 03, 2020, 06:02:25 pm
Mimics can be found by adventurers in caves, castles, ruins, in the forest. These are dangerous monsters, which pretend to be something made by sentient creatures: crates, campfires, statues, books. If someone is close enough, mimics immidiately attack. They are very strong and big. Their point is to kill the adventurer and eat his multilated corpse.

Skilled adventurers can recognise mimics whithout fighting them - monsters are cautiously breathing.
DF plans already have similar creatures. Animated furniture!
Title: Re: Mimic creature.
Post by: Pillbo on December 06, 2020, 02:46:49 pm
I think wizards enchanting objects to guard their homes (or perform other tasks) would be more in-line with DF's style than specifically creating a monster that looks like a book.
Although, if there was a system to create replica artifacts, someone might create a replica and then bring it to life...

Yeah I think that makes sense for a wizard type magic user. What I'm talking about isn't some normal looking book or slab that opens up and eats you. I'm thinking more like the Necronomicon from Evil Dead, a book made out of human flesh that is animated by necromantic magic and attacks people trying to get it.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Necromancers make experiments out of living creatures, and they are surrounded by dead things and body parts, so it just makes sense to me that they would be furnishing their homes with pedestals, chests, chairs, tables, beds, etc all made from corpse bits.

Maybe that is more similar to animated furniture than a mimic though... but I was thinking more that they were still in an corpse/undead state- all fleshy and gross like in a haunted house. Think more 'a table made with human legs' than say 'a table crafted from butchered, un-reanimatable human bones'. Then when you get too close it kicks you to death.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Similar to what they are talking about in the flesh-smith thread
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=177632.0