A Friend Indeed

A Friend Indeed

I was thinking the other day about what makes me happy. There was one thing that came to mind right away, without a single second of hesitation: my dog. Nothing else stood the test of not having any "but". I want to dedicate this mod to my little puppy and I hope it will become something that brings joy to you, the one reading this, as well.

The mod adds several animals, each having a unique role and ability, with the possibility to have up to 3 active pets at a time. Some pets also work better together, see Synergies below.

The art/models are mostly going to be made by others, as while I can do some base geometry and make things that look alien and machine-like, as I did with Proliferation, making animals is still above my skill for now. Maybe later I can add my own, if I get the time to learn more complex modelling. Credits will be on the bottom of this document.

What you get

The dog. A few minutes after you start, a stray dog walks up and tames itself. It has a name that you can also choose, it follows you, it fights beside you, and when things are quiet it mines ore nearby and hands it over. Once you have a shelter, it now and then runs off for a while and comes back with a new friend of its own: another dog, a biter, a capybara or a turtle. If you've seen those videos about dogs bringing random stray animals to join "your pack", this is pretty much inspired by that. You're the one choosing if the stray joins you or leaves.

The cat. Drop some raw fish on the ground and wait. A stray cat will come and eat it. If you're lucky, it might choose to stay. It's a cat, you don't command it! It's the boss! Giving it some more fish might earn its favour. Once it chooses you as its servant, you may place it down near a cat bed, which might convince it to show you how to properly hunt for items (it will get you a random item after a configurable time, with a 60 second cooldown period). Not giving it a bed means it will honour you with its presence, luring biters away (it's faster than the smaller ones) for a few seconds, after which they continue what they were doing, and they stop bothering the cat (as they should!).

The biter. Of course your dog brings home your worst enemy! It's part of the pack now! And it's a very strong fighter. For now, this is the only pet with different skins (hopefully I will be able to change that soon). Pick one of twelve colours in the shelter.

The capybara. The king! Heals the soul and befriends everyone! Tends to form gangs of questionable fellows (any unit in the enemy force). It is immortal, even if downed, it gets back up. It heals the souls of whoever is nearby, including machine spirits (buildings). And after a cooldown, it also makes friends, up to 10, 1-5 at a time (more with other pets around, see Synergies), if there are at least 10 enemies (or you feed it a treat). The capybara's friends will have a heart above them, so you know who is safe (unless you steal their leader!). There's a conversion ring visible before triggering the ability, along with a healing ring that shows when the king shares the healing with you. You might find the conversion does a sound that feels a bit familiar. Ok... I tried my best... I couldn't use that exact sound, so I did the voice acting and a bit of sound editing... Also, it's a bit slow, but it will try its best to catch up if it falls behind.

The crow. Crows like shiny things and are very smart (even if they don't yet show it in the mod). Drop a copper plate on the ground and wait, and with a little luck a stray will choose to stay with the one giving it "shiny". It just needs a bit of fishy persuasion to stay forever with you. It picks up whatever lies on the ground around you, even things you would not normally be able to pick up (like the drops of a Proliferation base that still has defenses...) and brings it to you. It flies, so water and walls don't stop it. It's smart enough not to challenge things that can eat it, so it won't pick a fight with them. When something hits it, it flies off.

The turtle. Slow and very hard to kill. It can save you from a tight spot, just make sure to bring it some medicine after you escape, because this unsung hero will sacrifice itself so you can run away, or shoot something that is not actively chasing you. While the cat is providing active distraction, the turtle is static distraction. It followed the dog, trying to bite its tail, the dog kept wagging it without realising until they got back home.

Every stray is tamed the same way, with fish. A stray you ignore (shame on you!) wanders off after about five minutes, so tame them before you lose them. Some are more rare than others.

Pets also show their names on the map, so you can actually spot them.

Treats

"Who wants a treat?" A lot of ears are currently pointed towards you, and the eyes are staring at you. A treat makes the pet have a surge of happiness and triggers its special ability RIGHT NOW! (if possible). You can give it to a pet directly, choosing which pet gets it, or consume it and it will be "eaten" by the nearest pet (within 15 tiles, or by none if there are no valid pets within 15 tiles).

• The dog runs off at once to find more for the pack. It still needs a shelter to come home to, and only one dog runs at a time.
• A cat that lives by a bed skips its rest and goes looking straight away. You bear gifts for your master! Your master is pleased! It will still take a while, but the cat leaves immediately to find something new. Normally, it waits 60 seconds.
• The capybara makes friends with one to five biters around it on the spot (more with dogs near it), however few there are, if there's at least one and its gang still has room. Hint: there's a secret related to this.