hmm.. being able to jump? maybe give it a special move to launch opponents?

Having spawned a level 1 King Beetle ingame to study its attributes (and then spawn a level 150 beetle for serious play testing), I've come to find its attribute block is unfortunately extremely underwhelming for its size and how slow it is, assuming there are no damage modifiers present.

At a base of 700 HP and melee damage of approximately 30, this creature is in the size class of a Paracer without the ability to acquire saddle armor or a mate boost due to no genders, and as a result is objectively weaker than it when by all rights it should be much stronger to make up for the lack of saddle or platform saddle.

My primary thought is that the beetle should see a significant health boost to let it match the Paraceratherium or Brontosaurus, paired with a damage reducer to represent the disproportionate durability that would be expected from a "beetle shell."The suggestion is oriented towards giving it an effective HP value that matches or exceeds the (tamed) Giganotosaurus.

While I can appreciate the effect of the knockback, as it is that doesn't make it anything close to invincible, let alone even a viable tank - its damage output is extremely weak for its size; with the largest "horn" of anything on ARK it should be correspondingly one of the hardest hitting creatures in the game. It definitely shouldn't be doing enough damage to kill a Giganotosaurus, but I would believe a base damage of 100-200 would be necessary so that the beetle can put itself on the Giga's threat radar, without being strong enough to kill the Giga in a direct fight.

Right now the Woolly Rhinoceros achieves this much better than the beetle does because of how fast it is and how much of a damage boost it can get out of a charge.

Important side-notes - the king beetle appears to still have the same grab weight as the little beetle; a Kaprosuchus pounced & carried away the King Beetle I first tested, and appears to be just as strongly affected by knockback.

EDIT: Also, yes! A passenger seat would be an extremely appreciated addition! (And would be a nice way of rounding off its feature list so that it has something that makes it different from a normal mount without just being another platform pet)

Also a minor suggestion; allow the player to stand on the king beetle's back when they've dismounted. Right now when you dismount, the beetle throws you off like most mounts do. But its shell totally looks big & broad enough for you to stand on it!

EDIT#2: When it comes to rider positioning, I think where it is is about the best positioning one can have on it. Maybe change the riding stance so that it's the same kind used while riding a Pteranodon, or alternatively, like riding a T. rex or Giganotosaurus.

EDIT #3:

Coming back to what I said about feeling like this creature is underwhelming; while I still believe it should receive a health and most especially a damage buff that make it competitive against the Paraceratherium & Brontosaurus (this King Beetle looks like it could dish out 2x the damage of the T. rex or more; T. rex has 60 base damage, for reference), what about the possibility of giving it Arthropleura style acid blood? Where if something attacks the beetle in melee, a portion of the damage is reflected back at the attacker, something like 30% or so. I'm suggesting this as an alternate means of making it tough and durable without just giving it straight overpowered attributes to make it a Giganotosaurus deterrent.

Any kind of buffs, especially that kind of buff that I've suggested in the initial post & edit 3, would warrant a speed nerf; right now it can actually chase down Paracers on flat ground, and that'd be seriously unfair to the Paraceratherium rider.

would like a specail saddle for this mount maybe a catput seat to lauch player lol


i donk like how often i get stuck in one of these king bettle btw

would also be nice to have a change camera like the boat mods do

King beetle can making Fertilizer & Oil. lik original dungbeetle.

let it spewn on rag thank you