Better Bugs

TLC for Bug/Insect related aspects of Ark starting with the Dung Beetle (see Future Plans section for planned content coming to this mod).

Dung Beetle Rebalance Info:

The first change this mod introduces is that Dung Beetles will now produce Sulfur (instead of Oil) as the byproduct of making Fertilizer. This change (and upcoming changes in V1.0) is intended to give players access to passive Sulfur production especially those playing on maps that lack Sulfur Resource Nodes like The Island.

"But wait, if the Beetle no longer produces Oil how do I obtain Oil in the early-mid game? Also, what is the point of passive Sulfur for maps like The Island when you also need Raw Salt to craft Preservation Salts? While on that topic, what about Sand?" -

Great questions - checkout the Sibling Mod Info section below to find out why this mod was released early and how it works in conjunction with its sibling mods.

"Solving passive Sulfur is nice, but what else makes this a rebalance for the Beetle?" Personally, I think the sheer quantity of Fertilizer and Oil that are possible with a level 10 Dung Beetle in ASA has gotten out of hand due to the near-slot-cap units of Feces it can auto-pickup with no weight restriction. As a result most tribes only tame one any-level Beetle because that's all they will ever need since (unlike the ASE Beetle) Weight is no longer a limitation factor in it's production.

This has been reworked in Better Bugs by bringing the Weight stat back into the mix while keeping the auto-pickup feces as well as removing the "Wander Enabled" crafting requirement. The goal for these changes is to again incentivize players to tame multiple high level beetles, and to level Weight for increased production and perhaps give a reason to breed them other than just for color.

Current Version (v1.2) Notes:

• Dung Beetle will now produce Sulfur instead of Oil (intended to be eventually be configurable)
• Dung Beetle will auto craft items without needing to be set to wander (fixed from pre-release)
• Dung Beetle's Max Weight stat now governs how much Feces it can pick up - example: if a tamed Dung Beetle has had its Weight stat pumped up to 44.8, it will auto pickup nearby Feces (of any size) until it is holding 44 units in its inventory. This makes it so that taming high level Beetles and leveling up their Weight stat directly contributes to their production capability again (similar, but better than ASE).

Additional notes on Weight - A level 1 Dung Beetle has a base Max Weight stat of 5.0, therefore it can pickup 5 Feces as the starting point. A perfect tamed 150 (taming at 225) has an average base Max Weight of 8.0-10.0 (which was surprising - expected more for max level). Each applied level point spent on Weight gains 0.7, so almost every level up gains an additional unit it can pick up. I may try to adjust the wild level Weight per level value so taming a high level starts you higher.

Future Plans for this Mod:

Dung Beetle -

• UI/Radial Menu toggle for crafting fertilizer (that doesn't set to wander)
• UI/Radial Menu Multi Select toggles for auto pickup each size of Feces (choose one/a few/or all)

General & New Additions -

• INI Configs
• Adding Organic Poly to some additional bugs on the Island (but less than Mantis)
• Achitina UI improvements (remove wandering requirement, etc.)
• Make Rhyniognatha able to passively gather Sap from full size Redwood Trees when "wall clinging" to them and add a toggle for the auto-craft from Sap to Resin so players can passively gather/transport Sap without auto-conversion if desired
• My take on a Titanomyrma TLC
• Other bug related TLC improvments

Sibling Mod Info (context to why I released this mod early):

This mod was developed along-side its sibling mods Better Fuel and Better Minerals

• Better Fuel adds Seed Oil - a craftable alternative to regular Oil by grinding Seeds in the Mortar and Pestle. Since Better Fuel brings makes the Iguanadon the new early/mid game Oil production king, it made sense to give the Dung Beetle a new byproduct when crafting Fertilizer. Therefore, I decided to release Better Bugs early once I had the Dung Beetle rebalance working so players have the choice of combining these two mods for a more complete rebalance.
• Better Minerals adds methods to obtain Raw Salt, Sand, and Silicate (alternative to Silica Pearls normally found on the Extinction map) on maps that lack those resource nodes without the need of a map extension. You can evaporate water in a Cooking Pot/Industrial Cooker, pulverize Crystal ("Silica Quartz") into Sand in the Industrial Grinder, and refine Sand ("Silicon Dioxide") into Silicate at a Forge/Industrial Forge.

For more details, check out the mod links above

Got any bug TLC related ideas? Share them in the comments or join the Discord! (click the Discord Icon in the Links section of the details panel)