Colony of Giant Ants

Discussion in 'The Monster Monster Contest' started by Vladplaya, Mar 11, 2012.

  1. Vladplaya

    Vladplaya Cosmic Narwhal

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    Before we jump into the description of this entry, I would like to say that Ants themselves are just a small piece of a larger picture, I am suggesting to implement fully working and organized COLONY of, in this case, ants. Its not about individual ants that simply spawn run at player and then die, this is about complex, living and organized group that builds cities, work together, and have own personality, likes and dislikes, and made out of giant ants! Its is up to player as how he/she wants to interact with the living colony on a planet, depending on whether player's goals are either go alone, or completely contradict those of the Colony and the Queen that controls it.

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    History:

    Giant ants have been created by ancient race called Splicers, who used their knowledge and technology to harvest different DNA strands from many creatures all over the galaxy, and then use harvested DNA to create new and unique life forms, which then would serve their creators. Splicers wanted to create a creature that would help them to get rid of irrelevant, smaller life forms, while also terraforming the surface and the soil of habitable planets. After Splicers were done searching through millions of potential strands of DNA, and went through the combining and cultivating process, they were very happy with the final result! And so the Colony of Giant Ants was born!

    Splicers are long gone, however their creation is not only still around, but with little help of natural adaptation, Giant ants are doing great and can be found in colonies on random planets all over the Galaxy, and they usually have no trouble of adopting and surviving in new harsh conditions and environments.

    Behavior:

    Found on variety of different planets, in their behavior Giant Ants are very similar to normal ants, majority of whose DNA was used to create their giant brothers.

    Colony of Giant Ants consists of caste system, where every class has special role and abilities which benefit entire colony. However entire colony is governed by a single Queen, who communicates with her subjects via telepathy, and is completely aware of what is going on inside and around the Hive.

    It takes one Queen to establish a colony. Before Queen starts to lay eggs, she burrows in the ground, far enough where nothing can disturb her. Once a temporary shelter is complete, she lays eggs and patiently waits till few larvae will hatch out of them. Queen is in control of number of ants in her colony, and number in each class of the ant caste. When colony is just starting, Queen will spawn Workers, which shortly after their birth, take over most duties of maintaining and expanding the Hive.

    When colony of Giant Ants riches certain size, the Queen gives order to larvae, to start turning into class of ants other than workers, so the colony can start building up its defense and prepare for expansion.

    In-game mechanics:

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    • Each colony has different size limit. Some will stay with few numbers, while other will try to build colony that covers entire planet.
    • Colonies very in the level of aggressiveness, some Queens have group of workers with few soldiers, while other focus on building enormous armies of all classes.
    • Some Queens choose to focus on underground domination, while others spawn a lot of flying worriers.
    • Queens can adopt to many different environments and then produce ants which are suited to survive in the present environment. Changes can include, sizes of ants, color, and behavior.
    • All ants can climb on vertical walls, but due to their size, they are not able to move on surfaces upside down.
    • Giants Ants are generally aggressive toward any other creatures on the planet, so it should not be a surprise for player to see ants tare into pieces some unfortunate soul that happen to pass to close to the Hive. (Note, that ants only attack creatures that are around size of a player or larger, they do not care about tiny creatures or monsters)
    Every colony has designated areas around the main entrance, those areas mark aggressiveness level of the colony toward player and the creatures that try to trespass. The closer player approaches the hive, the more aggressive ants will attack. Queen also does not tolerate any constructions build by player that are also too close the the colony.
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    Colony Caste System


    Worker Ant


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    Worker is backbone of all the hives. It cares for the young and it digs the tunnels. It is generally non combative ant, however if pressured to, it will fight back. Worker has ability to spit a ball of sticky web, that slows down and hold enemy for few seconds. Alone worker is not much of a problem, however multiple workers with their web ability, backed up by few soldiers become very dangerous.

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    Soldier Ant

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    Soldier is colony's main combat unit above the ground. It has thick chitin armor and huge mandibles. Soldiers are not very fast, however when they make it to their target, little chance is left for anyone to survive their bites. If player is not armed and has special pheromones, soldiers can then carry player into the hive to their queen.
    Can be a mount! See Larvae description for more information.​
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    Bombardier Ant


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    Bombardier plays an important role in the defense of any ant colony. It can shoot an explosive mixture of deadly chemicals over impressive distance and with incredible accuracy! Bombardiers have different modes of shooting the acid, for close quarter defense and long range bombardment, they also capable of striking slow moving air targets. Watch out when you decide to take out a Bombardier Ant, as once it is dead, the chemicals in the abdomen are not under control anymore, and they will combust in a violent explosion, taking out everyone in and around small area.

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    Flying Ant "Ace"

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    Flying Ants, or Aces, are only ants that posses ability to fly, and combined with Bombardier ant, represent bulk of colony's anti air force. Aces attack both ground and air enemies using their stinger. They are quick and can do a lot of damage in groups, however they don't have very good armor and their flight capable body is pretty fragile.

    The most dangerous ability of Ace, is capability of picking up enemies and then dropping them from dangerous heights. You can either avoid of been pick up by using shield, and you can even try to free yourself from Ace's grasp by using a melee weapon, just make sure that you act quick and don't give the ant time to get to a extreme height!

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    Scout Ant "Flea"

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    Scout, with its hilariously disproportional eyes, antennas and legs, is colony's long range sensor array. Flea travels furthest away from the hive and reports directly to the Queen. Scout does not fight, it can bite enemy to inject a chemical which will paralyze anyone for a brief moment so the ant can run away. And run away it can, Scout ant is fastest ant which, not only has amazing running speed, but also can jump great distance. He can cover huge area of planet in very short period of time. However agility and speed comes with sacrifice of armor and ability to fight, as even Scout's paralyzing bite does not do any damage, and it takes very little force to harm this ant.

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    Guard Ant "Ram"

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    Ants don't make doors (or any tools or equipment for that matter), so they use themselves to make tools the hive needs. Ram is one weird looking ant, but it is no less important than any other member of the caste. Ram is a Guard Ant, it uses its plug shaped head to block entrances in to the hive, or block certain areas of the under ground ant city. Guard Ants mostly stay below the surface, and don't move much, and they don't attack back unless they are been attacked. However when colony is under attack and in panic mode, they become an excellent defenders. Those ants are massive, they have very thick chitin layer, their head is resilient to almost any firearm or melee weapon, and if push comes to shove, Ram can literary become a ram and smash into an enemy, doing massive damage and knocking enemy away and down. Guard Ants are tough and can take a lot of beating, and for these reasons, for any colony, Guard Ants are main line of defense below the surface.
    Can be a mount! See Larvae description for more information.​
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    Ant Queen

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    The brain of the colony! After first few workers are hatched and take over looking for the hive, Queen does not move much anymore. She grows huge abdomen that becomes egg producing factory, and generally stays in one place, heavily guarded by her subjects. Queen has very basic fighting abilities, similar to Worker ant she can spit sticky web, and shoot small shot of acid from abdomen just like Bombardier, however when all her defenses are broken, Queen will not put any kind of fight.
    Most interesting part about Giant Ant Queens, is that they are able of cognitive thinking and reasoning, it seems like Splicer race that created them used their own DNA to make Queens intelligent and grant them ability to telepathically communicate with the hive and Splicers themselves.
    Thanks to her advanced nervous system, Player is actually able to communicate with Queens on special occasions. One way is to wipe all colonies defenses, and force Queen into talking to you because she would have no choice. Other way is to find special pheromones that will make ants think that you are their friend, then remove all weapons and armor and items from your character and inventory except the pheromones. When you approach Soldier ant, it will pick you up with its jaws without harming you and will carry you all the way to Queen, where you can receive requests or quests from her.

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    Ant Larvae

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    Ant Larvae is just a part of life cycle of any ant, the Queen always keeps few dozen of larvae around the hive, just in case mass casualties occur and ant ranks need immediate replenishment. Queen dictates what class of the cast larva will turn into, unless it is Queen larvae, in which case it will turn into a queen if something happens to the current one.
    Sense larvae are just a development stage, they are not very smart, and sometime they wonder off into dangerous parts of the underground ant city, because of that, their creators made them glow in the dark, that way Worker ants can easily see lost larvae and bring them back to safety. Larvae are also capable of moving on vertical walls and even ceilings.
    Larvae can be captures and be trained to be a friendly little pet. They best kept at players house, or space station, as they have very slow moving speed, and when left unattended in the wild, will try to grow into a adult ant, or a queen.

    Using special pheromones, player can force his normal pet larvae (not queen larvae), to grow into a an adult Soldier or Ram ant in lab conditions, which then can be used as a mount!

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    I think Giant Ants with their complex and interesting Colony and caste system, would be great addition to the world of Starbound! Possibilities of different variation in looks, behavior, and goals of each colony on different planet can be endless, which something that a sandbox game of such big proportion as Starbound, can always find handy!

    Thank you for taking your time to review this submission!

    \/ Don't miss the spoiler! \/
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    Galthran, Yen, Yttsae and 46 others like this.
  2. LiquidMetal

    LiquidMetal Void-Bound Voyager

    Videogames need more ants! Nice submission!:up:
     
    Polar ! likes this.
  3. Wargasm

    Wargasm Void-Bound Voyager

    Yes! I want this in the game!
     
  4. Vladplaya

    Vladplaya Cosmic Narwhal

    Definitely, specially in a sandbox games! Sandbox and ants are like best friends! At least that's how it was in my sandbox when I was a kid :D

    Thanks!
     
    LiquidMetal likes this.
  5. Motie

    Motie Big Damn Hero

    Just like a 50's horror movie, except pixellated and hopefully packaged with less irritating sound effects.
     
  6. Joxalot

    Joxalot Subatomic Cosmonaut

    It's like I'm really playing EDF!
    Liked because giant ants.
     
    Dr. Ivo Robotnik likes this.
  7. Mercurypelt

    Mercurypelt Void-Bound Voyager

    omg this is gonna win
     
    Callum likes this.
  8. Pandora

    Pandora Existential Complex

    Wow, really well-developed! This is an idea that I will fully support.
     
    Callum likes this.
  9. LemonRobot

    LemonRobot Phantasmal Quasar

    Probably the best of the bunch, can't wait to see the ants in the game, I'm rooting for yours!
     
    Callum likes this.
  10. mAdRuSsIaN

    mAdRuSsIaN Void-Bound Voyager

    Wow, really well done Vladplaya. I like how you layed out they would function gameplay wise. Nice variety in the different types of ants too! I for one welcome our new ant overlords!
     
    Callum likes this.
  11. Vladplaya

    Vladplaya Cosmic Narwhal

    Thank you all for kind comments! I wish everyone luck in the contest and ask people to not loose their hopes, there are infinite amount of awesome ideas out there, anyone can put one together with some time and effort!

    I was actually thinking something along this line

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    ;)
     
    Yen, ArtByElde and Nike like this.
  12. Ivar A.K. Medaas

    Ivar A.K. Medaas Scruffy Nerf-Herder

    Nice work! I hope they use more than just one of the creatures in this contest, because it is alot of good ideas here on the forum!
     
  13. Callum

    Callum Master Chief

    Dude! this is awesome! I love it! They can stop the competition now, we have a winner! :p
     
    Nike likes this.
  14. liffy13

    liffy13 Astral Cartographer

    Quite extensive, but the ants arent really the most original entry, especially now that you just posted a picture of Starship Troopers was it? I havent watched them yet :p
     
  15. Callum

    Callum Master Chief

    Well you say that, and it almost sounds true, and most game developers would tend to agree with you....but how many games do you play that actually HAVE them? especially the different variants/roles like this...Its not original in one sense...but it is in another. Yes, you think "no originality" but yet, almost no games in the history of games actually implement this "unoriginal" idea. Now if it was a cast system of say, zombies, THERES an unoriginal concept thats been WAY overdone. Ants, not so much. Did I just blow your mind or what?
     
  16. Vladplaya

    Vladplaya Cosmic Narwhal

    Ants themselves are just a small piece of larger picture, I am suggesting to implement fully working and organized COLONY of, in this case, ants. Its not about individual ants, its about the fact that they build their own city, they work together, and they have their own goals that they try to achieve, its is up to you as player as how you gonna interact with the living colony on a planet.

    In most games ants, or any insects are just basic enemy, that spawns, runs at you and then get killed, and that's it. In my suggestion Colony is complex organism, it can be harmful, or it can be helpful, and it comes in variety of colors and shapes, and its made out of giant ants!

    PS, Starship Troopers is bad ass movie, and I would love to see more games recreate some scenarios out of it, as they can be quit exciting, especially in sandbox game where you can build and do whatever the heck you want.
     
    ArtByElde, mAdRuSsIaN and Callum like this.
  17. CleverBear

    CleverBear Master Chief

    Wow!Must be in game!
     
    Callum likes this.
  18. animex88

    animex88 Void-Bound Voyager

    KILL IT WITH FIRE:devil:
     
  19. Giant orbital magnifying glass is my offer:geek::devil:
     
    dagorran, Mortva, Nike and 1 other person like this.
  20. Cyanure69

    Cyanure69 Orbital Explorer

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