Wurt skill tree branch: merm building

[abrocator]

Wurt could use a skill tree (since she is getting one) based on building the merm kingdom. I don’t have ideas for specific skills, just what I would like to see. The overall idea is a mini version of a city simulator. In games like Sim City you have to build certain structures and infrastructure in order to appease the Sims. So that’s the idea. I will just call these gathering of merm structures “cities” for simplicity even though it is silly.

Some have suggested automation like merm gatherers/workers (expanded). I don’t think that is crucial but it might fall out of this idea.

1. City tiers: merms require certain buildings in their vicinity in order to function optimally. Not just dwellings. Ideas could be places of worship and trade buildings. Also the King which we already have. The King could also be expanded to other Important People since there can be only one king per shard (and maybe in the beta only one king between shards?).
2. Traders: from trade buildings. Can be used to trade things that are hard for Wurt or others to get. Gold nuggets? Or maybe items that you find inconvenient to get?
3. Domain expansion: you get perks for building a sufficiently advanced city in all of these places: the main island, the lunar island, and some biome in the caves (or anyplace in the caves?). One perk would be better trade deals with the traders. This makes sense since having multiple cities drives the trade prices down.
4. Domain expansion 2: expand into special biomes like the waterlogged biome, a salt stack biome. Maybe some biomes in the caves like the ponds? These would have to be biomes that are not immediately accessible, like the dark forest or one of the two deserts (can just walk there). Now you unlock either trade for items like figs, salt, or (more advanced) outright automatic harvesting of those resources (you may build infrastructure for harvesters/workers but this takes more resources). This would require some way to build merm buildings in the Ocean. You will also need protection from hostiles like cookie cutters and spiders.

The problem of merm hostility

This doesn’t work well with how hostile merms are. I feel you cannot rely on the King being alive since keeping him alive is an upkeep that the other non-Wurt players can’t rely on the Wurts doing all the time (maybe they screw up/aren’t there). Another way to make the merms neutral would be needed. Maybe having a sufficiently advanced city in the world would civilize the merms to the point that they tolerate human presence.

A quest to save merms from their shack lives

When you start the game all merms live in dilapidated houses. No wonder they are so anti-social. Wurt can make it her mission to dignify the merms and in turn make them happy and productive in the Constant. They go from miserable swamp-dwellers who fight spiders and tentacles at dusk and noon to semi-civilized (not as civilized as Hamlet pigs but more organized than Constant pigs) humanoids.

[Jakepeng99]

I like the idea of expanding your domain, that is a fun idea.

 

Here are some of my contributions:

 

▪Merm farmers.

▪Fishermerms (giving them food will make them go to the ocean and come back with a few minumun weight ocean fish in a few days)

▪Fire merms that use spittle fish to put fires out (also can water crops if payed with fish)

▪Craftsmerms (regular merms) being able to be promoted to harvest and collect nearby resources like grass without your input, and deposit them in chests near their house (craftsmerm houses kinda suck right now).

Also the ability to make craftsmerm houses in the ocean, along with merms being able to swim.

[chirsg]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If wurt has exclusivity on townbuilding, it will be a major tragedy. 

Unless it builds on a precedent that we have a city with other inhabitants, such as pigmen and pigmen traders, then I don't want the only hamlet lite to be wurt.

 

If wurt gets to build a town, it should fit in the theme of gorge, because all those assets being lost in time and space is a waste of klei's great work. 

[Creatorofswamps]

1 hour ago, Jakepeng99 said:

like the idea of expanding your domain, that is a fun idea.

 

Here are some of my contributions:

 

▪Merm farmers.

▪Fishermerms (giving them food will make them go to the ocean and come back with a few minumun weight ocean fish in a few days)

▪Fire merms that use spittle fish to put fires out (also can water crops if payed with fish)

▪Craftsmerms (regular merms) being able to be promoted to harvest and collect nearby resources like grass without your input, and deposit them in chests near their house (craftsmerm houses kinda suck right now).

Also the ability to make craftsmerm houses in the ocean, along with merms being able to swim.

Edited 56 minutes ago by Jakepeng99

Do not forget about the mermaids who dig up stumps and plow beds

13 minutes ago, chirsg said:

If wurt gets to build a town, it should fit in the theme of gorge, because all those assets being lost in time and space is a waste of klei's great work

+

[cameron8800]

Wurt really only needs farmerms and fishermerms (imo should be merms that help row boats like monkey pirates instead of catch fish) to really be viable. More than that would be overkill

[Jakepeng99]

17 hours ago, chirsg said:

If wurt has exclusivity on townbuilding, it will be a major tragedy. 

The main problem with Wurt's current confirmed skills for me is that they seem random, unsynergetic (maybe even anti-synergetic with the mosquito bombs) and don't build upon her gameplay.

For example, adding fishing skills is a good idea. That is synergetic with her merm stuff without being directly linked due to merms liking fish, as well as being on her own thing.

They add new townbuilding, Wurt can utilise it along with new merm types. 

On the other hand, the confirmed "Wurt gets stronger when wet" (and like, everything else shown so far besides the shrine) in concept doesn't synergise with anything on her gameplay and is a random distracting upside. Focusing on both merms and wetness would likely overwhelming and can create a cluttered character with a breaking sense of identity.

[Mysterious box]

37 minutes ago, Jakepeng99 said:

The main problem with Wurt's current confirmed skills for me is that they seem random, unsynergetic (maybe even anti-synergetic with the mosquito bombs) and don't build upon her gameplay.

For example, adding fishing skills is a good idea. That is synergetic with her merm stuff without being directly linked due to merms liking fish, as well as being on her own thing.

They add new townbuilding, Wurt can utilise it along with new merm types. 

On the other hand, the confirmed "Wurt gets stronger when wet" (and like, everything else shown so far besides the shrine) in concept doesn't synergise with anything on her gameplay and is a random distracting upside. Focusing on both merms and wetness would likely overwhelming and can create a cluttered character with a breaking sense of identity.

I mean if we're being fair the shrine doesn't really have much realistic synergy with Wurt's playstyle either and even then there's no telling how synergistic the amphibian side of the tree will be until we see it. While the skills shown don't really bode well for the tree I'm still willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.