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This was a response to a writing prompt. The prompt was the following image; though I looked, I could not find a source to attribute it to. If you recognize it, let me know. The last story was a bit emotional; this one is all fire and battle. I am not well versed in things nautical, so please forgive any inaccuracies. Powder and Teeth I stared into the darkness, forcing my eyes open despite the rain lashed into them. We had extinguished every light to keep us hidden, but our foe wouldn’t lose us so easily. Behind me, men with axes chopped away the wreckage of a broken mast and its rigging. The ship writhed beneath my feet as the dead weight broke loose and slid into the ocean. “Watchmen, an extra half-share to the man who calls him before I do.” I had to shout to be heard, but I kept my voice even. They needed a strong voice right now. I heard my promise called out down the length of the ship, for all the watchmen to hear. “Patrol master, how long before our air patrol is due back?” “They’re five minutes o’erdue, captain!” Black scales shone in a flash of lightning. I saw the spindly wreckage of the one wing we’d destroyed in the first volley of cannon fire. Immediately I leaned to the pipe that would make me heard on the gun deck. “Portside cannon, two degrees fore, fire as you bear!” Drop the portside anchor, bring us around hard!” I heard and felt the anchor let go even as the cannon began to go off. In the first flashes, I saw the serpent slithering through the sea, and other cannons took their bearings from that glimpse. By God, it was big. They said they were as big as a ship of the line sometimes, but this, this was ridiculous. Its roar sundered the air as it dove for us, almost drowning out the sound of the anchor chain drawing taut. The ship slewed around as the ocean dragged us against the chain. Her timbers groaned and whined as the sea tried to rip her in half, and the dragon passed by in the dark, his pounce ruined by the unexpected maneuver. “Loose the anchor! Loose it!” I was sure she was going to tear herself apart before we could get loose, the wood moaning as if it were in pain. Stroking the wood, I begged her to hold together. “Just a second longer, girl, just a–” The ship bucked as the anchor came loose, the deck rising to meet me, pain flaring from a broken nose. I pawed at the ground for my glasses, desperate. “Where is it! Somebody find it! Somebody get me bearings on that damned dragon!” I found the frames of my glasses, and put them on, struggling to my feet. They were bent out of shape, one lens cracked, the other gone, and with a twist, I broke off the arm that could no longer reach my left ear. My blood had already seeped into the cracked lens, drawing a red line across my vision. “Watch commander, find me my damn dragon!” The sky suddenly lit up in unnatural blue. I looked past the bright light, shielding my eyes. That was our patrol. “Patrol master, send up the colors to attack! Helm, bring us around for a broadside from starboard! We’re living to tell the tale, men!” A ragged cheer went up as the words were called out down the length of the ship. The three dragons left in our patrol lit up the ocean with more flares. Charges rained down until their sacks were empty, exploding all around our prey. I stood quiet and watched. The cannon fire cascaded across the water, devastatingly accurate in the light provided by the flares. The red light from the guns and the blue light from the flares lit up the smoke that laid over the water in eerie, unnatural colors. How much time had passed since we first felled it from the sky? A minute? Two? It felt like hours. In its death throes, it tried to lash us with its tail. A few men flew across the deck from the impact, but it was too weakened to threaten the ship. “Captain, you look upset.” “Grant . . . how many?” He knew exactly what I meant. “Two dragons from the patrol in the first attack. And their crews. We have twelve–” He looked aside, at a gesture from someone further down the deck. “–fourteen dead on board. Seven hurt. At least nine went over. More than that, we’ll have to count heads. Sir . . . one that size–” “You don’t have to tell me. Nobody will believe it without proof. Lash the carcass before it sinks. Get all the lamps lit again, and boats out to look for survivors And get the ship’s surgeon to fix my nose. But not before he’s done stabilizing the injured.” I took off my glasses and scowled at the blood on my hands from my broken nose. With the danger passed, the dull throbbing pain made itself known. “Grant. They did well. Make it known every man is getting an extra half-share, taken out of mine. Take command of the helm and get us into port, and then drinks are on me. When the patrol’s back on the dragon-deck, get them some rum.” I put my mangled glasses back in place – better than nothing – and surveyed the wreckage of both my ship and my men. They were all rogues, all greedy bastards, but there was no crew I’d ever trusted more. People nodded in passing, and I understood that though I had their respect, trust was a tricky thing for men like these. I also knew that fair treatment, respect, and a lot of time could elevate the lowest rogue into an honorable man. Grant had been just such a man. I had been just such a man. Under the tarnish on these men’s souls, there was gold.

Aaaand @Skysplash8 just joined the mods, welcome And the same goes for @Lurkily who has been incredibly active! Thank you ❤️

meet peacan, my peacock tailed, masked, brown, bird nicheling, I imagine him as sort of a prankster that hangs out with the ladies and mostly sits in trees eating nuts all day

What if your tribe was EXTREMELY discriminating? So, everyone needs to have the same fur color. EXACTLY the same fur color. If you don't have the same fur color, you are an oddling. The oddlings do almost all the work in the tribe If you encounter a predator, only oddlings are allowed to fight and all of them must try to help the oddlings are supposed to clear the area so that the normals can move in. the oddlings, however, are NOT allowed to touch a berry bush, otherwise the food will be "tainted" The oddlings are not allowed to be in an area with a nest, if they all discover a nest in their area, they will have to move immediataly, because the nest will be considered cursed. an oddling is not allowed to be within three blocks (I don't know what their called) of a normal. Oddlings are not allowed to mate. Not with another oddling, or a normal. the oddlings are the only ones who can collect coconuts, because it is a danger to normals if it falls on their head. the oddlings will all have to stay in one group all creatures that are invited into the tribe are immediatally considered oddlings no matter what the oddlings must chase away and attack all undesirable nichelings you are allowed to make the difficulty harder by making it so that they have to have the same eye and fur color, or any other traits

I have one cute bean I found in my album. Her name is Raanais and she was leader of my tribe for a short while. I don't have a screenshot of her picture in the Family Tree, so here's some more screenshots I found with her in it:

I do my best. These forums are relatively easy to keep up with, and they're on a subject I want to keep up with anyway, which helps. Welcome, Skysplash.

I havent any pandas, can I interest you in a Dalmation? "Perdi"is the eldest child of my best breeding pair. Her family line is becoming known for their Dalmatian pattern. Two of her siblings have it and three children are white with the spots recessive.

I'm glad you like it! I'll work through my library of stuff I'm happier with. Part of an effort to remind myself it's there and get back to writing.

I HAVE TOO MANY PRETTY CREATURESSS which do I piiickk Fine, I pick Isnee. It was hard to pick between her, her son, or her grandson. They're all really pretty Isnee is the only child of my creature named Skunk, who was the first creature to have Stinky tail. (I'm not sure how it got into the tribe's genes...) Skunk was also the last creature to have Cracker Jaw, which was in the family for quite a long time. Stinky Tail is now exclusive to Isnee's family, as it is only in her, her two children, and her grandson. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it in the family!

Somehow I can make sense out of this... There's a bluebird, Adam and Eve, a pink nicheling, a bearyena and it's baby, a panda nicheling, a sad baby nicheling, a toxic body nicheling, a rabbil, a grey cracker jaw nicheling (I almost said cracken jaw XD) and a rogue male. Did I get it right?

I actually really like this hasebejghfociuihfgoijgdsojp

Ninbatus-Mods is the collection of mods including a modding api i am making. I made a forumpost about it some time ago, but now its for thelastest version and will soon have custom blocks! If you have suggestions, dont just reply to this post, but post them Here as enhancements

Seeing as different planets have different atmospheric pressures, and I assume that air resistance decreases with altitude (if it doesn’t then it should), what if there was a sensor that measured the current air pressure/resistance? Not sure quite how useful it would be, but I don’t imagine it would be too difficult to implement.

Niche is all about adapting and thriving in your environment, as your nichelings evolve to fit the island you live in. However, once you are fully adapted to an island, you have to move on or nothing new will happen. In real life, species often evolve to keep up with other species. What I mean is that it would be really cool if there was the option to make the other species in the islands adapt too. It would make your time in the island much more entertaining and challenging. With this mode turned on, other animals have a chance of randomly mutating an extra stat, like a bunny with extra speed, bad eyesight, defense or more collecting. If depending on how well and how long this animal survives, it has a better or worse chance of "breeding". If it succeeds, other members of its kind will spawn with that extra stat, and over time, the stats that get passed on may completely change the species. For example, you could end up with a plague of faster, smarter bunnies with more defense, or a ridiculously overpowered bear with maximum speed. But you could also try to manipulate the populations, for example, killing bunnies with good stats and keeping ones with bad stats, eventually creating a population of blind, easy to catch bunnies. Maybe, cosmetic and behavioral mutations could also be added, like the chance for a dodomingo to be black or pink or an ape that does not like to attack nichelings. This would definitely make each island you visit more interesting, and more realistic!

I have literally no idea where you came from. And I scent viewed everywhere yesterday. What is happening

THANK YOU ALL MIGHTY GODLY ADMINS

I've never written an outline. I usually start with one scene I want to play out. If I need more, I find another scene I want to demonstrate, and then I find a way to bridge them. Not everyone needs an outline to write - the people with those two approaches are often called 'planners' and 'pantsers'. (Writing by the seat of their pants - or, without the idiom, writing wherever the mood, impulse, out characters take you.)

Not sure it would present much challenge, though. Just make an atmospheric variant with the same bindings. It sounds like adding busywork as a barrier to optimization. I might be more in favor if it were a strategic choice, rather than having correct and incorrect choices for a particular planet.

Hmm. I may post a few things I'd like to see experimented with.

The game is about building what you want, so I would hope for a part where you can press a button to make it freely extend until ti hits a cable length limit, with another button that pulls it back in at a slower rate. That way, if we want it to rocket out, or stick, or insert purpose here, then it would be up to use to attach those parts. We'd need an additional harpoon part though, or an addition to the spike that makes it really stick. Then, if you put this cable part on a decoupler, you could detach it, or on a factory you could detach it and make a new one! I also got to thinking, they could add propellers or jet engines. Make them a sort of part that gets better with increasing air resistance, instead of the thruster which gets worse. And if they implement an asteroid-area vaccum level, the the props could no go at all. Try and make us change up our drones, yes?

This is awesome love it

Yeah, I guessed that we would have a lot of Panda patterns so pattern themed rounds might be good as well as othe criterias

Why aren’t you writing novels

Normal creatures: “Aryans” Oddlings: Jews we knew this from day one

Seems like this is going to be a panda round Maybe we could have actual themes for each round? Maybe the December round could be about beautiful reindeer nichelings?

I love this idea omg!

I gave some thought to processors recently, for the purpose of a message discussion about logic and how I thought it should develop. There I suggested that a processor module should hold triple it's own footprint in logic modules. Thus a 1x2 processor would hold three logic modules, and a 4x4 processor would hold nine, etc. I'm not sure if that's ideal; I have some idea that using a larger processor should be more efficient than using several small ones - but it's a place to start in terms of scaling and balancing. I've also rethought my stance on partcount. I think these SHOULD provide a way to limit logic's impact on partcount. It would swing sumo and other asynch multiplayer game modes a little more away from brute-force solutions, and enable smarter drones to be a little more competitive. If a processor holds 3x it's footprint, this would mean logic parts would effectively cost 1/3rd of a part.

You’re actually right omfg

Winches, cables, and grapples come up repeatedly; I hope to see something along these lines, too. It could be as simple as a spring with an adjustable 'length' setting, or as complex as a harpoon gun, but some kind of retractable cable will be nice. One of the devs also mentioned that they had plans for pistons, when it was suggested. Wheels were a stretch goal that was met, so we should see those eventually.

New movement types, hmm? Well, the ground on these planets is pretty broken up, so I don't imagine wheels or legs would ever really be any good. If we want to consider new movement types, I think we would need a reason to even consider them - what could be better or easier than the thrusters we have now? If there were flatter worlds, I could see a use for wheels. If there were water worlds, I could see a use for ballast tanks or a kind of propeller. If there were extreme winds, I could see a use for a spiked sticky foot/leg/grapple device. A dirigible might be fun, but I don't know if it's needed or would clutter up the game. Shoot, we could have a use for a grapple/harpoon device right now - a winch to attach magnets to, or if the spike were adjusted to that if we rocket them at something they stick as if pierced? Oh, wait, I think I remember a tractor beam upgrade we already have. I just haven't unlocked it yet.

I respond to writing prompts a lot. So I thought I might share here some of what I've produced. It's mostly very short fiction; less than a chapter of reading. The prompt that inspired this story was "A bank robber takes off his ski mask and hails a cab, stowing his pistol in his back pocket. Suddenly, lights begin to flash around him. 'Welcome to the Cash Cab!' " Believe in me I stepped out of the lights and music of the Cash Cab, four hundred dollars richer. The frigid rain spat down at me, and the wind tried to throw my hair into my face. Shame and self-loathing were furrowing my brow and tying a knot in my stomach. I felt like I was going to be physically sick. I had never been so ashamed of myself. I took out my phone to make a call and stopped for a second to look at the screen. My little girl looked back from the wallpaper, grinning brightly. She thought I was a hero. She loved her daddy. Four hundred dollars. I could make rent. I’d be able to pay for her pills. I might have a few bucks left over for groceries. The briefcase in my hand, though, held over six thousand dollars. Several solid months of financial freedom. Time enough to find opportunity. Maybe even a job. Maybe a future. After a minute of chasing those thoughts in circles, the phone’s screen winked out. That was what did it. Her adoring gaze, her shining admiration of her hero disappearing while I contemplated what I could spend it on. It wasn’t much, but the metaphor broke my spirit in a heartbeat. I left the briefcase near the door of the bank. A suspicious man left a suitcase by a public thoroughfare. He had some wires in his pocket, he was acting nervous, maybe it was a bomb. Lies. But I watched from across the street until they got their money back. I turned to walk to the bus stop . . . I was done with cabs tonight. I wrapped the gun into the ski mask, dropping them into a trash can. Then my phone rang. My daughter’s face was shining at me again, blinding in the darkness. I lifted the phone to my ear, feeling like my very soul dodged a bullet. “Hey, pumpkin. Yeah, I’m on my way. I got held up. Yeah, macaroni and cheese, I promise. Hey. I love you. I’ll be home soon.”

You're just happy that I'm supporting your ideas. I know your game, rogue.

The thing with any language is to also have someone to practice speaking with as well. Back in high school I took German classes when I first started unfortunately the school quit offering it after a year. Then I took Chinese classes for two years. Unfortunately with no one to talk with in those languages I don't remember much anymore just a few words. I've recently wanted to try to revisit on of these just not sure which. My teachers always said you have to practice a lot, the more you speak it the better.

I think posting stories there is fine as well

I still want a Stories tab tho

Looks like someone made a friend.

They aren't exactly clones, but there are a ton of them. (No, they aren't results from the console, instead, they are results of breeding brother and sister together for as long as I remember. [The Gatherers have those stripes from having to breed with an Adam when we didn't have any compatible siblings,,])

@Amaterasu I'm pretty sure they don't eat their own cubs, but if they take over a pride, they'll kill and eat the previous leader's cubs. Bears (Maybe just brown?) bears do this too.

Imagine a Loyal Lover and a Lonely Lady meeting up and having opposing immunity genes. Lord help us all, they'd create a horde.

I think this is a super cute idea so I tried to edit what they might look like onto a nicheling model, thoughts?

@Lilytuft Ahhhh! I was searchinf for some more food when I noticed Hope wasn't with me, and I saw her symbol in the distance. On my way there, some fog showed up, and then there were some barks and then... the sound of something being killed. Just like when Finch was killed. Sure enough, Hope is nowhere to be found.. there is no hope in ever seeing her again. (Like my pun? Haha... ) Then, later, Graham started cowering in fear, and when I called to my kittens, it came out as a hiss. Now I'm scared... 😧