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Ways of Enemy Spawning

Discussion in 'Starbound Discussion' started by Calris, Oct 13, 2013.

  1. Calris

    Calris Existential Complex

    I've looked through the forum and found a few relevant threads, but nothing definitive on how enemies spawn. Some of the threads I've seen from oldest to most recent:

    How will enemy mobs be spawned?
    Spawn Control and Events
    Mobs Underground
    Spawn Control

    That last one suggests that enemies spawn in a similar manner to Terraria, but I'm wondering if there is any other info about it?

    One of the things which annoyed me somewhat in Terraria was the constant spawning of enemies when you were trying to do something. I'm hoping that it will be possible to clear areas of enemies, at least for a while, perhaps with the area restocking over time. Thoughts?
     
  2. ZangooseSlash

    ZangooseSlash Black Hole Surfer

    monster repellent, only 10 dollars a can
     
  3. SteelSoldier

    SteelSoldier Existential Complex

    10 dollars? You mean 10 pixels a can
     
  4. Bumber

    Bumber Pangalactic Porcupine

    I'm suspicious of this 'monster repellent' you speak of.
     
    RazoR2K, Serenity, WoxandWarf and 5 others like this.
  5. DeadlyLuvdisc

    DeadlyLuvdisc Oxygen Tank

    What annoyed me was just the opposite. If you keep killing mobs, Terraria tends to eventually spawn them inside small caves and areas where they can't ever reach you. This is why you don't often encounter mobs while digging small tunnels, but as soon as you break into a large cave you'll find quite a few waiting for you.

    Why did this annoy me? It made it hard to farm mobs for rare drops. You have to sculpt the landscape so that mobs can reach you no matter where they spawn, otherwise you need to constantly move around a larger distance to despawn any mobs that popped up inside areas you can't reach.

    In the updates waaaaaay back, Kyren was working on Mob AI and spawning in particular, and it was mentioned very briefly that they will try to avoid this problem. They didn't really say how.
     
  6. WackyWocky

    WackyWocky Pangalactic Porcupine

    Well, we were going to have a "Spawning Gameplay Feature" in Vector Squared, but it got scrapped. I can see if I can post some of the points of info we found.
    • Enemies will spawn depending on depth level. Above ground has a totally different enemy set from underground, and from what we can understand, the underground is split into layers such as Terraria, each with their own enemy set.
    • Different enemies depending on night or day, possibly more during the night, especially "Aggressives".
    • Different enemies depending on biomes, and mini biomes have their own enemies, a lot like the mushroom patches underground in Terraria.
    • Some mini-bosses spawn rarely, having low spawn chances, others must be summoned.
    • There was a forum discussion a while back about the existence of an item which lowers spawn chances, unknown what became of it.
    • You can pick one planet to be your "Home World" which allows you to choose stuff like "Who can place/destroy blocks" and maybe some terraforming options. There MIGHT be a way to control the spawn rates on your Homeworld as well.
    That's pretty much all I can remember, if I can find the document, I'll post the rest if there is any. Also, maybe I should "un-scrap" that article for the next Vector Squared, it's an interesting topic. Anyways, cheers.
     
    WoxandWarf and Calris like this.
  7. Calris

    Calris Existential Complex

    Fair observation. Though I'm not a fan of the 'mob farming' mechanic either. :)
    Good info, thanks. Yeah, would be a handy thing to have all the known info on spawns in one spot. There are a couple of suggestion threads relating to items/techniques for reducing mob spawning as well.
     
  8. DeadlyLuvdisc

    DeadlyLuvdisc Oxygen Tank

    Neither am I, but if drop rates make it a necessity, then it stands to reason to make the process as painless as possible.
     
  9. Juxtor

    Juxtor Phantasmal Quasar

    The method used for spawning creatures, npcs etc is pretty much a mystery at this point. I just hope they can somehow make it such that creatures cannot spawn in an area they could not get to were they to have to walk there rather than spawn there. by this I mean if I make a corridor/tunnel underground accessible only by a room on the surface with locked doors,I should not find enemies inside this corridor so long as the doors remain shut. However, if the corridor connects to a cave open to the wilderness on the side opposite my access room,I SHOULD expect to find creatures towards the wilderness area of my corridor.

    Perhaps when determining if a particular spot is suitable to spawn a creature, the game could scan the terrain reaching from the possible point to determine if there is a way the creature could have reached the spawn point. A passage to the surface would suffice. Or were I to have left a door open in my room at the surface,a creature could be allowed to spawn within.

    Some exceptions would have to exist or few underground caverns would qualify as a suitable spawn location. Maybe in unexplored locations the rules could allow for otherwise inaccessible spawn locations.

    With such a system, if I secure an area through some means,I could expect to keep it safe from invaders (unless they had a means to defeat or bypass my method of securing the area).
     
    natelovesyou and Calris like this.
  10. Jman1177

    Jman1177 Void-Bound Voyager

    Controlling spawn rates on your home planet would be neat. But terraria's system works well- placing background blocks was a little too time consuming for large areas, but Starbound's background layer looks much more simple (especially since you won't need to craft specific background blocks). Minecraft's light system is kind of a neat idea, but it doesn't work as well gameplay-wise, since it's not as clear what's safe and what's not. It's little frustrating if monstors can spawn in your house because a single tile wasn't lit all the way- it was a little more ambiguous.

    I liked terraria's ideas of "invasions" on your home (goblins, solar eclipse, blood moon, pirates, etc...), but otherwise it's frustrating to find mobs spawning in a place that you made to be safe.
     
  11. natelovesyou

    natelovesyou Oxygen Tank

    It won't make sense to me to find enemies packed into some random, sealed opening while I'm digging around... I like Juxtor's mention of enemies spawning out in the wilderness and caves where it's logical that they could come from there. I would like there to be a balance between clearing an area and therefore you have virtually unlimited peace underground and then Terraria's freaking ridiculous system where enemies spawn like mad all over the place and know your location every time, and are insanely bent on hunting you down. It's stupid and I hate it ever so much. However, I do feel like that's what Chucklefish seems to be doing, balancing that. I recall many videos of the devs running around on the surface and creatures can be seen all over, each with their own "aggro" radius, so if you stay out of it then they leave you alone. Then there can be some creatures that can, provided you are in their line of sight, start pursuing you from a large distance. Or perhaps you were recently near where they are now so they can "pick up your scent", they can then pursue you by following your trail. It would make so much more sense that dozens or enemies hell bent on finding and destroying you. It doesn't make any damn sense and it's maddening.

    So I hope that combined with an actually intelligent spawning system, enemy aggro and player-awareness is actually done well too. Scrap that Terraria garbage.
     
  12. ShadetheDruid

    ShadetheDruid Pangalactic Porcupine

    Off topic, but the NEI (Not Enough Items) mod is great for this. Besides the main, and very awesome, recipe look-up feature, it also has the ability to put a grid overlay on the world that shows you where the game considers valid for a monster to spawn.

    I've played a bunch of the Feed the Beast pack, and I can tell you.. that particular feature is so, so useful and makes life a lot easier.
     
  13. efgi

    efgi Void-Bound Voyager

    I have to say that I am a fan of the idea that all creatures should spawn only in areas that are connected to the surface. Would it be too difficult for the spawning system to calculate all of the spaces on a planet which access the surface? It would be one continuous area, after all, and really only one additional variable. It would mean that all player-made interior spaces are safe, but it would not make player-made exterior places safe. I wonder.

    I think it would also be cool to see creature populations which are dynamic, allowing for the possibilities of extinction or overpopulation. While instantiating each member of that population would probably be too burdensome, there could simply be a population variable assigned to each which could be modified by kills players make, and the populations of potential prey/predators/competitors. Maybe there are other variables which could play a role, but none come to mind.

    Or maybe I'm the only one with any interest in managing the ecology of my planet. If not a feature in the game, it could make for a good mod.
     
  14. Spike

    Spike Supernova

    Well, judging from the Yogcast's insomnia stream, I think the mob spawning mechanics for starbound are nearly the same as that of terraria.



    But I think you can still secure a location by covering it with walls in the sides, and the back.
     
  15. Daj

    Daj Big Damn Hero

    As long as it isn't like Minecraft and I have to make sure every nook and cranny of my base is lit or :ssssssssss:
     
  16. Spike

    Spike Supernova

    That was not fun. But it was educational. Now my terraria base are always lit for no reason.
     
  17. Jman1177

    Jman1177 Void-Bound Voyager

    Yea, I'm super OCD now about making sure everything is constantly lit xD
     
  18. jatie1

    jatie1 Subatomic Cosmonaut

    Wait, you don't need everything lit in your house in Terraria? Oh great, what a waste of ingots for chandeleirs (because torches look like crap).
     
  19. natelovesyou

    natelovesyou Oxygen Tank

    No, not to avoid spawning enemies. You just need a light source somewhere.
     
  20. Jman1177

    Jman1177 Void-Bound Voyager

    Yeah, terraria monstors can't spawn in areas with manmade backgrounds. You just need light if you want to see.
     

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