Cave island

[AlphaBlox]

Now I was thinking a cave island would be kinda cool, Stalactites and stalagmites.. Maybe a cool glowing cave mushroom.. Ok, I will get into more detail now.

What it looks like: It is very dark inside at first, but with the passing of five days your nichelings get used to it. Upon leaving your nichelings will be half blinded by the light and it will be the same as when you entered the cave but with light.  There are dark stone walls all around and the occasional dripping noise of water. There isnt much grass but there is the occasional bunch here and there. There are also some pools of water / puddles but with no life. The puddles act the same as in the swamp. 

Cave mushrooms: A glowing toxic mushroom that glows in four different colors: Green, yellow, purple, orange. You can eat them and by eating them you can earn toxic body.

Batbirds: A replacement of bluebirds. They do the exact same thing but look different. They usually hang on the top of the cave where you cannot see them, but when a baby is in sight they start circling until the chance to snag it. They look like bats  but with bluebird feathers on only the tops of their wings (Not like you will see the bottom) 

Stalagmites: Since stalactites are on the tops of caves, you wont see them. But there is the occasional stalagmite.

Traveling to other islands: You go through one of three cave exits which are little openings in the cave wall, all you see through them is glowing white light. If you go through one of them then you go outside to a new port. You can either return inside or take the port. If you take the port you are allowed to choose nichelings to come with through the family tree. You just click them and select them, then they appear on the port with you. To do so, you have to click the stone as usual, but there will be a third option asking if you want to bring other nichelings. This is for the cave island only.

Predators: You can find some wandering bearyenas,  and baby bearyenas. Also there are random heaps of meat lying around from various different creatures.

Prey: You can find rabbils but no moles. 

Also, if you will, can you suggest a new predator for the caves? I am out of ideas. Thanks!

 

 

[Jojo]

I really like this idea. We could even add a new gene for night vision with which our creatures would be better at seeing in caves always (maybe shown by more lit up tiles) but in the overworld they would be really bad at seeing (like short sightedness).

Why wouldn't we find moles since they live under the earth?

 

[Dinocanid]

I like this, but I think stagmoles but no rabbils makes more sense since you are both underground and in the dark, and rabbils are more of a plains/forest animal. I would be weirded out if I walked into a cave and saw a bunch of rabbits hopping around, while I wouldn't be surprised to see a mole.
I think the glowing mushrooms would be the main source of light for unfit nichelings. No matter how long you sit in the dark, your eyes will only adjust so much if you don't have nightvision of some sort. The glowing mushrooms would light up some parts of the cave and allow you to easily see, while other unlit parts would be completely dark and not visible unless the nicheling can see in the dark.
I think this idea would work well with some sort of glow gene too.

[zyfies]

Maybe an extra critter could be smaller vampire bat-like creatures? They function like leeches and attach themselves to your nichelings in order to suck their blood, but they fly instead. They could function as the leeches of the caves to add a slightly extra degree of difficulty, but also serve as an occasional food source. Winged creatures would be able to pluck them from the sky before they land, but at risk of being bitten themselves. As bats, I think they should spawn in groups of maybe 3 occasionally from the dark to keep you on your toes. 

[Dr. Nearo]

I do like the Idea of a cave biome. This would work well in tandem with an update that could allow nechelings who can't see the ability to move a space into unseen ground (like you see wanderers/rogues doing).

12 hours ago, Leaellynasaura said:

Also, for the cave predator, maybe it could be a blind spider/lizard creature?

Dude Yes giant spider! and in lieu of circling you could either see it hanging from the top or there could be some telltale cobwebs about to warn you that you have entered it's territory.

[Leaellynasaura]

Maybe we could have moles, but they would act a bit more like rabbils, since you're underground?

Also, for the cave predator, maybe it could be a blind spider/lizard creature?

[Tarruvi]

A Few New Gene Suggestions:

Bat Head: A New Head that allows you to hear/echolocate(better hearing improves the move distance). To clarify, this is the only gene where hearing allows movement.

You can suck the blood of PREY, adding some food to reserves. And, your attacks always inflict the Bleeding Buff.

Additionally, trying to lick friend’s wounds fails and makes the bleeding worse.

Bat Wings: Functions like regular ones, but, there is a -1(or)2 cold resistance, +1(or)2 heat resistance.

Bat Sight: Eyes that work best in the dark cave for 3-Spaces, but, become nearly useless in harsh daylight outside the cave.

Hot climates greatly affect their sight to 1-Space, Neutral/Cold climates 2-Spaces.

[Asterai]

Instead of having your nichelings automagically adapt to the dim light, what if we make a dim light vision gene?  Call it night eyes and give them the slit pupil cat eyes have, or a round pupil that occupies a much larger fraction of the iris.

Night (nightvision? nocturnal?) eyes:  2 vision in dim light, 1 vision in bright light.

Whereas the standard eyes we currently have become:

Day (diurnal?) eyes:  2 vision in bright light, 1 vision in dim light.

For simplicity's sake, shortsighted and blind genes could remain as they are, with shortsighted giving 1 vision under all circumstances.  Night eyes could unlock with, say, 30 days spent in a dim environment.

Conversely, this opens up some room for a gene like:

Eagle (farsighted?) eyes:  3 vision in bright light, 0 vision in dim light.

Not sure that's a good idea, though, since in all but one biome that would be preferable.  Unlock condition could be perching on lookout points (stumps and trees) 30-100 times.

Taking suggestions for the names.  Thanks @Skysplash8 for some ideas.

[Sky]

@Asterai Instead of Night Eyes, what about Nightvision/Nightvision eyes?

[Fishyfishyfishy500]

How about a giant snake-like amphibian, the Olke(Olm + snake), it will patrol the cave waters(with 4 swimming) and wait for unlucky prey in the form of anything nicheling sized and smaller, while it can walk on land(2 speed), its foul odor(0 scentless) gives it away to any nicheling with good smelling, so it slinks through the moister parts of the caves(in or near water), relying on its masterful stealth(6) and camouflage(it loses its cover and stealth when attacked) to attack prey, it can also climb to the top of the cave and drop on any unlucky prey item sitting underneath the stalactite it rests on or climb up a stalagmite and do the same thing, to kill it, bring along two or more nichelings, it will then attack one, but the other will be free to attack it and it will retreat and bolt up to the ceiling or into the nearest water source, due to its over-reliance on smell(it has 6 smelling), distasteful scent works well against it

[aylablue13]

Possibly instead of grass there could be moss or something similar? A giant spider would be a really cool predator for caves, maybe it would typically stay in its web but leave if it gets too hungry? It could possibly even reproduce, hatching little spiders every 15-20 days that could be both a food source and a slight threat. Fish would make sense too, in cold streams.

[Zixvir]

On 5/12/2018 at 1:02 PM, AlphaBlox said:

(Not like you will see the bottom) 

um, actually you can see underneath bluebirds.