New Weather Types

[Ancestor Nature]

It would be nice to have more weather types in Niche, not only for immersion but for gameplay as well. The new antenna gene would also benefit from this change by having more weather to sense. I have compiled a list of possible new weather types below.

Fog

• sight reduced by -2
• white fur increases camouflage by +2

Thunderstorm

• all animals have a chance to be struck by lightning
• lightning has a chance to start a wildfire

Hail

• all animals have a chance to be stunned
• animals are protected by taking shelter

Suggestions on how these new weather types could be improved are welcome.

[Asterai]

As others have said, -2 vision is pretty onerous unless nichelings can navigate by other senses.  As things stand that would mean a completely wasted day.

And actually... in a thunderstorm, you're safer when you're NEAR a tree.  You're in the most danger when you're part of the shortest path between the sky and the ground.  There could be penalties for standing out in the open, perching on trees and stumps, and/or being at higher elevations than your surroundings, but you should actually benefit from being UNDER a tree's branches.

Hail is a bit rough, but perhaps a fair portrayal of truly harsh conditions.

As an additional weather type, what about Strong Winds?  It could either shift the region all animals smell to one side, or simply decrease their smell range by 1.

[AMEcco]

Upvoted. Maybe there could be a very rare chance for creatures to get struck by lightning during thunderstorms too.

[rarespawn]

Hail should have a chance to stun, only if the animals are out in the open, if they are under a tree/near cover they should be protected.

[bostonlobstah]

It should also be dangerous to be in the water during a thunderstorm as your Nichelings could get electrocuted! 

[AceSpudman]

Maybe add flooding during/after the thunder storms? It would be awesome if they added new weather cause I always thought that the game lacked special or random events that are a huge part of evolution and extinction.

[Sky]

@Ancestor Nature If sight is reduced by 2, then nobody can see anything! (Normal eyesight gives sight, if you take away 2, that's 0, making them pretty much blind)

Also, for the thunderstorms, maybe if lightning hits a tree, it will turn into a burnt stump? (It would set it on fire as well)

For hail, maybe if the creature has 1+/2+ Defense, they wouldn't be able to get stunned?

[Sky]

@orangesunrise Maybe this could be one of the toggleable things you can choose when you start a Sandbox tribe. As for Storymode, it would probably depend on what the developers would think would be best.

[Lilytuft]

Maybe it's dangerous to stay under trees during thunderstorms

[Pokestardragacraft]

8 minutes ago, Ancestor Nature said:

I actually did not consider that, and I do not know what to do about it. Reduced sight in such an important part of fog, and being without it would be a shame. Even if the reduced sight was -1 instead of -2, it would still render shortsighted nichelings blind. Should it just not reduce sight at all?

I have an idea to propose. If the devs made it so you can move in the smell and hearing modes only fog (and if you’re blind, but that’s another story), then this wouldn’t be that big of an issue. There could also be other genes to increase sight. I’ve seen people suggest firefly tails and angler fish heads which may be enhanced in the fog.

[Ancestor Nature]

On 6/28/2018 at 3:42 PM, Asterai said:

As others have said, -2 vision is pretty onerous unless nichelings can navigate by other senses.  As things stand that would mean a completely wasted day.

Like Pokestardragacraft said, blind nichelings could still move by smelling and hearing, so this would not be a problem after all.

On 6/28/2018 at 3:42 PM, Asterai said:

And actually... in a thunderstorm, you're safer when you're NEAR a tree.  You're in the most danger when you're part of the shortest path between the sky and the ground.  There could be penalties for standing out in the open, perching on trees and stumps, and/or being at higher elevations than your surroundings, but you should actually benefit from being UNDER a tree's branches.

It is well documented that standing underneath a tree during a thunderstorm is dangerous, since lightning often strikes tall objects. If you are standing underneath a tree when it is struck by lightning, you could be electrocuted or hit by the explosion, and many animals are killed this way.

On 6/28/2018 at 3:42 PM, Asterai said:

As an additional weather type, what about Strong Winds?  It could either shift the region all animals smell to one side, or simply decrease their smell range by 1.

I would like a strong winds weather type, and I agree that it would reduce smelling. If new weather types are implemented into the game, perhaps I will suggest it as an addition, but right now I do not want to add any more than three, or it might become too much work for the developers.

[htcmoore]

I personally think giving hail the power to stun is a little to much? maybe make your creature struck by hail loose two moving points so they can only move or collect or attack only once and if they are hit again than yes a knock out would most likely be the end results? 

[XzanderClownfish]

drought? lowers water levels

[Guest]

They should be the Hurricane. It is very rare and only happens on killer islands. When it happens the water levels rise and there is fog, thunderstorm, and hail.

 

[Philo]

Cool idea!
*Upvote*

[bostonlobstah]

I added the water lighting idea earlier but I have made a change.

in real life I believe that you don’t have a higher chance to be directly struck by lightning, but if lightning strikes anywhere on the water it transfers to you and you get electrocuted. So maybe if lightning strikes within a certain range your Nichelings gets stunned or killed ??

[Pokestardragacraft]

I like this idea but I was curious, by “reduced X” how much do you mean? Like -1 sight in fog for example?

[Queen Bluejay]

What if there aren't enough trees for your nichelings to hide under? The rest will be left in the open

[Ancestor Nature]

On 6/19/2018 at 7:25 AM, Queen Bluejay said:

What if there aren't enough trees for your nichelings to hide under? The rest will be left in the open

Islands usually have plenty of trees, so I think this would only be a problem for larger tribes. Unfortunately, there is nothing else to use for shelter. Hail does have an advantage, however, and that is that it would have a chance to affect other animals and not just your own, leading to some interesting situations.

 

[Ancestor Nature]

15 hours ago, orangesunrise said:

While more weather would be nice in the game, I do not like this idea. If it was implemented into the game, I feel fog/thunderstorms/hail would annoy me.

 

14 hours ago, Skysplash8 said:

@orangesunrise Maybe this could be one of the toggleable things you can choose when you start a Sandbox tribe. As for Storymode, it would probably depend on what the developers would think would be best.

Since the more customization options for sandbox mode thread has so many upvotes, I think it is almost certain to be implemented into the game, in which case new weather types could be a toggleable feature. Whether or not to include new weather types in story mode, like Skysplash8 said, would probably be up to the developers to decide.

15 hours ago, Skysplash8 said:

@Ancestor Nature If sight is reduced by 2, then nobody can see anything! (Normal eyesight gives sight, if you take away 2, that's 0, making them pretty much blind)

Also, for the thunderstorms, maybe if lightning hits a tree, it will turn into a burnt stump? (It would set it on fire as well)

For hail, maybe if the creature has 1+/2+ Defense, they wouldn't be able to get stunned?

I actually did not consider this, and I do not know what to do about it. Reduced sight is such an important part of fog, and being without it would be a shame. Even if the reduced sight was -1 instead of -2, it would still render shortsighted nichelings blind. Should it just not reduce sight at all?

[Ancestor Nature]

On 6/27/2018 at 8:26 PM, Pokestardragacraft said:

I have an idea to propose. If the devs made it so you can move in the smell and hearing modes only fog (and if you’re blind, but that’s another story), then this wouldn’t be that big of an issue. There could also be other genes to increase sight. I’ve seen people suggest firefly tails and angler fish heads which may be enhanced in the fog.

Yes, this would actually work perfectly. Blind nichelings could still move by smelling and hearing, and the same effect could be applied in fog. It would only be temporary anyways, so at the most it would just be a minor inconvenience. 

[Sky]

11 hours ago, Ancestor Nature said:

 

Since the more customization options for sandbox mode thread has so many upvotes, I think it is almost certain to be implemented into the game, in which case new weather types could be a toggleable feature. Whether or not to include new weather types in story mode, like Skysplash8 said, would probably be up to the developers to decide.

I actually did not consider this, and I do not know what to do about it. Reduced sight is such an important part of fog, and being without it would be a shame. Even if the reduced sight was -1 instead of -2, it would still render shortsighted nichelings blind. Should it just not reduce sight at all?

Maybe it would basically make everyone only be able to see one tile in front of them-- normal eyesight would act like Shortsighted Eyes, and then Shortsighted Eyes and Blind Eyes would act the same as they do right now.

11 hours ago, Pokestardragacraft said:

I have an idea to propose. If the devs made it so you can move in the smell and hearing modes only fog (and if you’re blind, but that’s another story), then this wouldn’t be that big of an issue. There could also be other genes to increase sight. I’ve seen people suggest firefly tails and angler fish heads which may be enhanced in the fog.

I completely forgot about my Firefly Tail  Yeah, those two genes would help out a lot in fog!

[vixenwish]

yes!! happy to be the 100th upvote

[kakapo123]

Upvoted, this sounds pretty cool

Also, how do the antennae actually work??? Nearly half my tribe have them but I don't know what they do lol 

[Lilytuft]

52 minutes ago, BirdsAreCool said:

Upvoted, this sounds pretty cool 

Also, how do the antennae actually work??? Nearly half my tribe have them but I don't know what they do lol 

You can view the weather prediction from the nicheling's skill list by hovering over the "weather prediction" skill

[Zixvir]

On 6/27/2018 at 11:21 PM, Ancestor Nature said:

 

Since the more customization options for sandbox mode thread has so many upvotes, I think it is almost certain to be implemented into the game, in which case new weather types could be a toggleable feature. Whether or not to include new weather types in story mode, like Skysplash8 said, would probably be up to the developers to decide.

I actually did not consider this, and I do not know what to do about it. Reduced sight is such an important part of fog, and being without it would be a shame. Even if the reduced sight was -1 instead of -2, it would still render shortsighted nichelings blind. Should it just not reduce sight at all?

maybe it reduces sight to 1 instead of -anything that way it would make sense, everyone would have 1 sight and blind  nichelings still blind