not a single insect

[ollj]

since insects make up a huge percentage of earths landliving animals by total mass, they have been the first land herbivores and they have complex symbiotic relationships with various plants, some have complex social hive structures and a few a are even farming animals.

Insects are likely the earlyest domesticated animals. As soon as a tribe can control fire it is easyer to control/harvest beehives than to raise and tame a wolf or cow.

And there is not a single insect in this game.

if you say theryre part of the plants youre missing the point that insects are animals in mosly mutually beneficial symbiosis with plants and this game focuses a lot on that.

[Touriste]

Maybe that will be the new resources the snow giant bring us !

[Adriaan]

The real problem with insects is that they're SUPER tiny. :P We're already pushing our lucks with maneater rabbits and stoats, but insects (even the cool ones like stagbeetles, scorpions ( I KNOW THEY'RE NOT TECHNICALLY INSECTS)) Would surely be really hard to see as source.

But there might be some other funny things we could do with insects. ;)



...TOO MANY IDEAS! D=

[Touriste]

It can be used in late game as a bonus effect on the tiles, making some symbiosis work (maybe not huge bonus)

[Mahasuchi]

Like Touriste said, they could be used similarly in the way we use aspects only they don't unlock transmutations. They could have a small reach like the frogs in the swamp, though.

[Wisp]

I have been thinking for a while that having a secondary layer of sources could be interesting. Secondary layers could be smaller things like insects, or birds.. maybe special ones for some biomes, like plants/ kelp in the ocean; maybe there could be some primary sources that block secondary layers (and vica versa), but have bonuses to make up for it. That way the main focus would be on balances plant, animal, and mineral sources, but these secondary sources could add even more depth later (this could keep longer games more interesting as well). Perhaps you need enough ambassadors in the current world to "wake up" the new giant (perhaps when there are more giants you get to choose which you wake up?), so that the focus stays on the first layer early, and to avoid over complicating things for new players. This game has so much potential, I am really looking forward to any future DLC!

[naughtyfins]

I think social insects would be possible as sources. Rather than visuals of the individual bugs you could have the colonies as a whole represented - bee hives, anthills, termite mounds and what have you.

[Darexon]

I think social insects would be possible as sources. Rather than visuals of the individual bugs you could have the colonies as a whole represented - bee hives, anthills, termite mounds and what have you.

I agree with this, but the question is what resource would they
give? Only thing I can think of is beehives for food.

[kingofhell214]

Bee hives could give food and money. Anthills could give research. Termite hills could give research and money. It's easy when you think about their past and current features IRL. In the past people studied termites and anthills for research giving allot of what you wouldnt think of today. Bee hives give money and food in our current time.

[coanda]

Bees - pollination bonus to nearby plants (just flowering plants? maybe too complicated), food and wealth from honey.
Ants - food and research from anthills; awe bonus for adjacent ants from massive colony. Or they could start at 1 range, but gain 1 more for each ant within range up to 4 or 5 from massive ant migrations.
Silkworms - wealth; convert adjacent tech to more wealth from advanced cultivation.
Butterflies - tiny boost to tech and awe. Large range, indicating migrations. Additional tech and awe for each different terrain type within range, from the wide diversity of species.
Scorpions - tech bonus, from scorpion venom's medicinal uses. Possibly also small food bonus or wealth bonus. A bit of danger. Additional value for each desert tile in range.

Not hard to keep suggesting sources like this. Artistically, it may be challenging to incorporate insects, but conceptually there are plenty of easy roles to fit them into.

One possible concern would be that the "natural" fit for a lot of insects would be as tech-giving animals... but as the game stands right now, animals are mostly food and wealth, plants mostly food and tech, and minerals mostly wealth and tech. Adding multiple tech-heavy animals in would break that pattern up some.