W3RT, the Robot

[Luna Lovecraft]

Name: W3RT

Look: A robot made up of many different random objects, including an iron, tubes, wire coils, and a stove in the center. Ze appears gender neutral.

Visual by mobius187

Okay, I think we need a visual aid here... might I suggest:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]527[/ATTACH]

Or...

[ATTACH=CONFIG]528[/ATTACH]

Special power: Being a robot, ze has no need for food like other characters. Instead of food, however, ze needs fuel. Ze is capable of eating pinecones, flowers, anything flammable. These food items restore no health whatsoever. To restore health, ze needs to eat gold pieces, which heal for 100 health, or silk which restores 7-10 health. So now, while food is easier to come by, the player has less wood overall, and has difficult healing health. Ze can also consume the random items found in graveyards to gain 100 health. When ze goes hungry ze instantly dies, without fuel one cannot survive.

Background: Originally the toy of a young girl, W3RT had been abandoned in the rain. Of course, nobody likes to be alone. W3RT scavenged the earth, with zir incredible artificial intelligence. W3RT desired some purpose, and without the young girl's desire to play with zir, ze decided that ze would try to find zir creator. W3RT scavenged the countryside, slowly as ze was only a small robot. Eventually, ze learned to incorporate zir environment within zirself. Tires... mufflers, drainage parts, they all helped build zir up to zir full size. With zir size, however, came a great hunger for fuel to keep zir going. W3RT abandoned zir desire for purpose as ze had found it... a desire to stay alive. To feed.

Special Dialogue:

Examine tree - The breakfast of champions.

Examine toy robot - Why won't they speak to me?

Examine charcoal - A nice snack.

Examine Meat Effigy - A statue of the creator! (possibly, irony being Wilson and W3RT will never actually meet up because it's a single player game)

I think it might be a little too OP, especially since wood and such is so common, though with the right numbers feeding yourself could still be a challenge. I think it would especially become overpowered when used in conjunction with the tent though, so that'd need to be though out well before use. Perhaps robots have no need for tents, and as such cannot craft them.

Edited November 29, 2012 by Luna Lovecraft

[mobius187]

Look: A robot made up of many different random objects, including an iron, tubes, wire coils, and a stove in the center. Ze appears gender neutral.

Okay, I think we need a visual aid here... might I suggest:

Or...

Special power: Being a robot, ze has no need for food like other characters. Instead of food, however, ze needs fuel. Ze is capable of eating pinecones, flowers, anything flammable. These food items restore no health whatsoever. To restore health, ze needs to eat gold pieces, which heal for 100 health, or silk which restores 7-10 health. So now, while food is easier to come by, the player has less wood overall, and has difficult healing health. Ze can also consume the random items found in graveyards to gain 100 health. When ze goes hungry ze instantly dies, without fuel one cannot survive.

Now this is the tricky part, because to be honest it's far easier to acquire flammable resources than food. After all, the focus of the game is Don't Starve, so food gets the attention. I would suggest that a log satiates 10 "hunger" when consumed by the automoton. Grass, maybe 5 "hunger". Pine cones, manure, reeds, and anything else that burns... 5 or less "hunger".

As for health, giving 100 for gold ore, while uncommon, seems a bit much. I would say it restores 25 health per ore and not have anything restored with silk. in this way the automoton is more delicate than the other characters in that eating doesn't heal it. But then it won't starve as easily.

One more thing... like Willow, I would almost suggest that the automoton generate light, as there's a furnace burning fire in its belly at all times. This could be an interesting trade off. Hard to heal, but is never killed by the darkness. As for light range, I would have it very short... like firefly radius so it does seriously limit what it can see at night.

[Luna Lovecraft]

Yes, I like those suggestions very much. Also, I'll integrate that photo into the original post.

Hm, only now am I learning how much gold ore really is available at times, so I would have to agree with you on the lower hunger level. I'd still say graveyard items could heal 100 health because they are very rare.

[mobius187]

I'd still say graveyard items could heal 100 health because they are very rare.

Graveyard items are finite... but I wouldn't call them rare. On my map I have about...20 graves? That would pan out to potentially 2000 Health (minus for ghosts and amulets, which I doubt you would want to waste on eating). They are however more rare than gold however, as the Pig King will keep spitting out 1 gold ore every time you give him meat.

[rojvol]

One more thing... like Willow, I would almost suggest that the automoton generate light, as there's a furnace burning fire in its belly at all times. This could be an interesting trade off. Hard to heal, but is never killed by the darkness. As for light range, I would have it very short... like firefly radius so it does seriously limit what it can see at night.

What about to make, instead of radius, direct rays of light? ( Like in cars ) It would make him a bit unique, because he can see only the directions he is looking at. the more you feed him the stronger the light would be. And there could be even the possibility of dealing damage with really (and i mean really.. like 10 logs at least) fed lights.

[mobius187]

What about to make, instead of radius, direct rays of light? ( Like in cars ) It would make him a bit unique, because he can see only the directions he is looking at. the more you feed him the stronger the light would be. And there could be even the possibility of dealing damage with really (and i mean really.. like 10 logs at least) fed lights.

So, outfit the automoton with a headlight? That would certainly be interesting. I just haven't seen anything like that in the game, hence why I suggested something similar, like firefly radiance.

The idea of use the fire in its furnace to burn enemies also sounds interesting, but I'm worried it may be overpowered or underpowered depending on how it balances against the spear/spikey tentacle versus the number of logs you would need to consume to cause it to happen. Obviously no existing mechanic exists for such an effect either. Still, it would make the automoton more unique.

Edited November 29, 2012 by mobius187

[fre0hr]

I like the idea a lot but I think pigmen would over-simplify it. All you need is a few cooked morsels, and get a small army into woodlands, and there you go, more logs than you could possibly consume. Additionally, the drawbacks regarding health aren't that major at all. You could just turtle through the night and set up bee mines to keep any and all monsters away from you.

I like the idea but I think it's overpowered considering how you can facilitate the gathering of trees using pig men.

[Jov]

I love the idea of a robot follower. You should be able to build him and keep him running in the manner you suggested. As said, he wouldn't need the meat of a pig to stay loyal, just a constant supply of fuel.

[Luna Lovecraft]

I love the idea of a robot follower. You should be able to build him and keep him running in the manner you suggested. As said, he wouldn't need the meat of a pig to stay loyal, just a constant supply of fuel.

You misunderstand, this is meant to be a character, not a follower.

Perhaps the robot cannot heal at all (except for those graveyard objects), that could be an interesting mechanic. The robot could be fragile in that way, and if you run out of graveyard items then tough luck buddy, you're dead pretty Soon (assuming there's no amulet to rez).

Also, the robot is gender-neutral, so ze, not he. Pronouns matter. ^.^

[SilentSkies]

This sounds like a great idea, but if he could only heal off graveyard objects, I suggest he get slightly more health than other characters, this makes more sense to me being that he's potentially made of metal. But to ensure that doesn't make the character overpowered, possibly introduce a rust meter especially for him, that gradually increases daily, nerfing his walking speed until eventually he stops entirely.

That would also dim down the fuel thing too.

[Luna Lovecraft]

I feel like that's putting too many things on zir that might cause zir to be overcomplicated. Ze in the current described state isn't too complicated and requires no additional meters added to the game. Otherwise, healing zir should be a little more restricted as stated prior by several people.