Cosmoteer: Starship Architect & Commander

Cosmoteer: Starship Architect & Commander

[DIGI] Space Leviathans (Beta)
Leviathan Suggestion: Abyssal Devourer
I’ve been thinking about possible Leviathan ideas that could be added to this mod, and I think I’ve come up with a solid idea. Unfortunately, I don’t have the modding experience to tell if this is even possible, but I think it should be. Of course, the name (and all other details) are completely subject to your revisions, corrections, or deletions. It is, after all, your mod.

Lore (and summary):
The Abyssal Devourer is a formidable space creature that roams the outskirts of solar systems, striking fear into the hearts of interstellar travelers and preying on mineral-rich asteroids, comets, and any starships foolish enough to stray into its territory.
The Abyssal Devourer possesses a distinctive body structure that sets it apart from other known space creatures. Its form is predominantly composed of gaseous materials, giving it a dark, shadowy, and transparent appearance. The centerpiece of its anatomy is the "Abyssal Carapace," a nearly indestructible metallic shell that resembles a hammerhead shark's head. This specialized structure is formed through gravitational compaction of metallic asteroids and starships, providing protection to the more vulnerable body parts of the creature.
As its name suggests, the Abyssal Devourer is a formidable predator. It utilizes a natural tractor beam to capture starships, pulling them towards the gaping "mouth" situated within the center of its carapace. Once within range, the creature employs electromagnetic pulses to drain the captured starship's power source. This unique feeding mechanism allows the Abyssal Devourer to sustain itself by consuming the energy-rich resources found within its prey.
The transparent, nebulous body of the Abyssal Devourer is formed of "Abyssal Shroud," an enigmatic and highly valued substance. It harnesses gravitational anomalies to ensure its structural integrity and capture its prey.
Encounters with the Abyssal Devourer are rare but highly dangerous. Spacefarers and explorers should exercise extreme caution when venturing into regions where this cosmic predator is known to reside. The presence of an Abyssal Devourer in a particular sector of space often leads to disruption in trade routes and heightened security measures to protect against its predatory nature.

Suggestions for implementation:
Design and Appearance:
The Abyssal Devourer, in contrast to the Stellarborn, would consist of multiple ship parts. Its distinct feature is a spiky hammerhead formed of the nearly impenetrable Abyssal Carapace, an exceedingly robust armor component that is exclusive to this Leviathan. The Devourer would have a lengthy, wispy body comprised of Abyssal Shroud parts trailing behind its hammerhead. Similar to the Structure component, Abyssal Shroud parts allow projectiles to pass through them unhindered. Embedded within both the body and the head of the Abyssal Devourer would be various functional components.
Abyssal Vortex Components:
The body of the Abyssal Devourer would house Abyssal Vortex components. These sizable 5x5 components serve as both tractor beam emitters and command rooms for the Devourer. Unlike regular tractor beams, the Abyssal Vortex tractor beams possess an additional ability: they drain power similarly to EMP missiles. This unique feature makes them capable of potentially crippling enemy ships that rely heavily on shields and energy weapons. Abyssal Vortex components would also give Devourers expanded sensor ranges. To defeat against the Devourer, players would need to strategically target and destroy the multiple Vortex components.
Abyssal Distortion Weapons:
Within the head of the Abyssal Devourer, specifically concentrated around its central "mouth," reside Abyssal Distortions. These extremely short-range weapons possess immense destructive power. They would be primarily clustered in the vicinity of the gap in the center of the hammerhead. Abyssal Distortions would have no visible turret and would have the same screen distortion effect as an active tractor beam. Careful maneuvering and positioning would be required to avoid the devastating attacks unleashed by these Abyssal Distortions.
Behavior:
The Abyssal Devourer would spawn in the outer reaches of solar systems, past the asteroid belt. Like wandering pirates, Devourers would move around their territory; this would make them difficult to locate, as they would be prone to wandering away after being sighted by scout ships. Devourers would be hostile to anything except other Leviathans. When Devourers engage a ship, they should face the ship and lock on with their tractor beams, draining power from their target and pulling it into their maw to be shredded by their close-range weaponry.

Parts List:
I’ve considered what components would be needed to implement the Abyssal Devourer, and I think I’ve narrowed it down to the list below. Originally, the Vortex and Distortion components were combined into one component, but I decided that it didn’t make much sense for the Devourer’s short-range weapons to be the same as its most sensitive components.
    Abyssal Shroud (1x1): The basic component of the Devourer’s body; projectiles can pass through it like with structure. Abyssal Shroud 1x1 Wedge: A wedge version of Abyssal Shroud, for designing an aesthetic creature.Abyssal Shroud 1x2 Wedge: A wedge version of Abyssal Shroud, again to help the Devourer look good.Abyssal Carapace (1x1): Extremely high health armor; drops Tritanium resources when mined.Abyssal Carapace 1x1 Wedge: A wedge version of Abyssal Carapace, another mostly aesthetic component.Abyssal Carapace 1x2 Wedge: Another wedge version of Abyssal Carapace, adding to the list of aesthetic components.Abyssal Vortex: The “brain” of the Devourer, acts like a combinations command room and tractor beam. The tractor beam it emits also drains power. Drops Shroud resources when mined.Abyssal Distortion: The Devourer’s primary weapons. Extremely short range “turrets” with almost the same texture as Abyssal Carapace, these do not have a visible projectile but do cause a screen distortion effect at the target location. Drops Carapace resources when mined.

Rewards:
Shroud: The body material of Abyssal Devourers. Used to boost gravitational manipulation technologies. (From Abyssal Vortex components)
Carapace: The extremely durable shell of Abyssal Devourers. Used to create resilient armor systems. (From Abyssal Distortion components)
Tritanium: Ordinary vanilla tritanium, obtained in rather large amounts by mining the tough carapace.
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Showing 1-4 of 4 comments
syy1125  [developer] 16 Jun, 2023 @ 11:02am 
Trapunch 1 Jul, 2023 @ 3:18am 
Can Leviathans Can Spawn By Doodads?
syy1125  [developer] 3 Jul, 2024 @ 11:33am 
@Scientistknight yeah if you have design proposals, I'll be happy to take a look.

Some notes on the current parts while you are building. Overall I aimed for parts following the idea and concept of what you described, but there are differences. Mostly the differences make it easier for me to test and iterate on designs, or because of technical constraints. Here are things I think would be useful to know.

  • Abyss carapace (and wedges, 1x2 variants, etc.) has 90% damage resistance to default damage types and 95% damage resistance to explosive (vanilla armor just has 50% explosive damage resistance). This means it has 10 times the effective health of what you see on stats.
  • Abyssal shroud (and variants) has 99% damage resistance to default and explosive damage. Its collider functions like structures.
  • The devourer moves around using thrusters. They are on the side and back of the devourere in the current draft. Thrusters look like shroud to blend in. Feels kinda weird to move the devourer this way, so I'm still looking for better alternatives.
  • Abyssal vortex has the power draining tractor beam. On top of that, it also has a shockwave ability. Shockwave can trigger every 10 seconds per vortex and can stun crew and drain power.
  • Abyssal maw is responsible for distortion attacks. I was planning on making Abyssal Distorters and move the attack to those, but haven't gotten around to doing it yet. The distortions only deal small amount of damage and drain a bit of power (120 damage and 0.05 battery worth of power to be precise). But the maw rapid fires them at 5 per second and they have 1000 piercing, so it adds up over time.
  • Abyssal maw also contains a spike attack. It spawns a portal, and 10 seconds later, a spike comes through the portal dealing massive damage. It's intended to keep the player moving throughout the fight. This attack is pretty experimental and I don't know if it should be kept on the final boss fight.
Last edited by syy1125; 3 Jul, 2024 @ 11:34am
Scientistknight 3 Jul, 2024 @ 5:48pm 
Thank you for the extra information! It's definitely helping me make sense of it. So far, this looks like a very interesting fight. It's also pretty close to how I originally imagined it. Don't worry about diverging from or outright ignoring my suggestions, though; you are the author and should have the final say. That being said, here's the first round of feedback:

  • I'd recommend giving the Devourers a "ramming" personality by setting their default attack distance to directly on top of the target; as it is, they don't take advantage of their full close-range power.
  • You clearly put a lot of work into it, but I'd unfortunately recommend removing the spike attack. From the battles I've arranged in creative mode, it doesn't tend to hit the target as the delay is too long. Setting the Devourers to ram does tend to keep the player moving, though, so that might be a good substitute to simplify the fight.
  • The distortion attack is certainly as powerful as I’d imagine it, but I’ve noticed a few opportunities for improvement.
  • To begin with, I’d suggest decreasing the penetration and increasing the damage. As it stands, the distortion attack will seek out and destroy the reactors/prisms of a ship extremely quickly, essentially ignoring the outer defenses. This wreaks havoc on any ship that depends on an ion core or large reactors, ending the fight in seconds. For instance, a one-maw/one-vortex Devourer crippled an Apotheosis in under 30 seconds by targeting its reactors and ion core; the Devourer lost less than 1% of its total health. Decreasing the penetration and increasing the damage would allow ships to survive slightly longer, making the fight a little more fair
  • I’d also recommend increasing the firing arc of the distortion attack or allowing indirect fire; I’m not sure which one applies in this case. I’ve seen Devourers get a small piece of ship stuck on their carapace via tractor beam that they are unable to destroy since they can’t attack it.
  • I actually like that the Devourers are thruster-powered; that way, their speed can be easily configured similarly to normal ships.
  • The shockwave attack is awesome. Need more be said?
  • I also noticed that the Devourers seem to be weaker to missiles, since those can attack from behind and avoid the carapace; that’s perfect.
  • Following up on this, the maw and vortex might have a bit too much health; most ammunition/missile-based ships would run out of ammunition long before dealing any significant damage.
  • To prevent ram-locks on the Devourer (where the ship gets caught on the edge of the carapace) would it be possible to make the vortex’s beam occasionally reverse polarity and strongly repel its target for a few seconds? This might be a stretch; I’ve never modded Cosmoteer, so I have no idea how difficult adding this would be.
  • Overall, this looks great! I’ll see if I can link ship.pngs here for any Devourers I design.
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