Restoration complete Day 1 image [https://imgur.com/tgOQ61O.jpg]
status Day 1, Mana: 1/1*, Size: 1, core 19, upgrade progress: 7%
Defenders: Rat, Giant Rat, Bat, Dove
Traps: Sleep gas, Core Trap, Trap Core, Falling Rocks
Features: Rebirth, Nest, Prison, Mana Grass, Mana Tree, Secret passages, Alternate Entrances, Doors, Scouts
Ok, ok, calm down. Looks like I got away from the hammer with no lasting damage.
Successful proof of concept!
Yes, I had a big, successful dungeon producing hundreds of mana a day, but I can do that again.
So, what have I learned to help me be better prepared next time?
* Core killers can detect a core through the ground, possibly due to the mana field, so to be hidden, my main core needs to be deep underground.
* Invader-harvesters can make things harder for the core-killers, if the dungeon has been discovered anyway.
* Invader-time in the dungeon produces mana, but not nearly as much as trees and grass can.
* Core-killers seem willing to enslave a mana garden if it seems harmless. This is not an improvement.
* Not killing anyone let me grow much larger before the core-killers found me, even though others found me first.
* Is it possible that they can find a dungeon more easily once it gets big enough? Makes sense. What if it is cut into parts?
* Multiple openings, or an extra large opening can give bonus daily mana.
* Dig down before you dig out if you do not want to expose yourself
* Scouting the local environment can help put obstacles in front of the core killers.
* Four-by-four is the biggest you can make a room without support pillars
* Nine-by-nine make a nice core room where you can bring the roof down on the heads of any attacker
That… seems like a lot.
How about: do not get found, hide deep, be ready to run.
That seems a lot easier to remember.
To start, a narrow chimney next to the core, then dig down two levels and then dig out a core room below that, with the chimney off to the corner. If I do not finish the room, that should be enough for an upgrade to start tomorrow with twenty mana.
Which upgrade though? The scouting reports indicated ice as a normal environmental factor, and while matching the outside might be less conspicuous, it seems unlikely to be much of a hindrance if they are already prepared for it before even finding an entrance.
The core killers had fires, and the harvesters had some burning torches on occasion, along with smoke coming from their spawning structures. So if they are already prepared for ice and fire, water seems like a safe bet. At the very least it would put out torches which they seem to find important.
Not sure how I could do so yet, but I think I want to be able to put a strong water barrier between any entrances and anything of importance.
[Upgrade Complete, New Environment: Water]
Doves are common birds found in most parts of the world. As defenders they can be effective distractions and may cause invaders to fall for traps they might otherwise notice, but tend not to be effective combatants on their own.
Doves can be effective scouts or spies, especially in settled areas.
Doves spawned from an alternative environment will usually have an elemental effect that they can apply to invaders, but the effectiveness of those effects can vary greatly.
Day 2
image [https://imgur.com/qo8OT7g.jpg] image [https://imgur.com/bQ4WnTl.jpg]
status Day 2, Mana: 9/9*, Size: 19, core 20, next upgrades progress: 27%]
Ah, yes, those are back, and as I suspected, Doves are basically a day-version of bats.
Now I have plenty of mana to get the next upgrade, but what would be beneficial? Once I have an opening, I may want to get as many upgrades as I can to carry them forward, but I should be safe for at least a bit, and the only things that come to mind are the environments, which I do not even know how to use yet.
I think for today, I’ll just work on the sub-core room I started yesterday, and get my max mana close to my daily generation.
The water environment provides a special challenge for underground dungeons, as water is dense enough and flows readily enough that it can overflow or fall out of designated areas and fill areas below.
This means that special care is needed to ensure any floor below a water area can either resist flooding, such as an ice area, or the water cannot reach it due to a moon-pool like structure.
Water areas can generally have two depths, either full or half-full. Any water area that is below another connected water area that is either higher up or deeper will generally increase its level to that of the deeper area. This can be countered with a door, so long as the higher water area is only connected by a tunnel that is lower than the desired water surface. An empty door-frame can also serve this purpose if the door type is sturdy enough to handle the additional water depth it is preventing.
Note: if a water level is adjacent to a fire level, invaders will often spend a great deal of effort to transport the water into the fire area to neutralize both.
So long as significant amounts of water are not removed from a water area, there is generally little or no maintenance cost for that area.
Day 3
image [https://imgur.com/kwb05xU.jpg]
status Day 3, Mana: 19/19*, Size: 39, core 20, next upgrades available
That sounds like I could make a U-shaped area of water and force invaders to pass through it to access my dungeon, while I would still have access to send scouts outside.
If I made the U extra deep, any invaders wearing that heavy metal armor would have a particularly hard time getting out of it, as they would keep sinking to the bottom, while my minions and any mana flows would pass through with ease.
In fact if I made a H-shaped water area they might sink right past the entrance. Especially if it was a secret passage that was under water. They would probably need to leave most of their metal behind just to find the passage without constantly sinking past it. Perhaps I could add another secret passage to make the H seem like an h and they could waste even more time searching for the second passage down at the bottom parts.
I think I will use the chimney I have already started as a part of the top of the H, and plant grass down at the bottom ends to encourage spending time down there where they are not getting anywhere.
First I should finish up this core-room and plant some trees so I have plenty of mana income for a larger project like that. And come to think of it, if I am planning to avoid harvesters, there is little reason not to plant grass between the trees to make the core-rooms more effective mana producers.
A prison is a holding area for invaders that have been incapacitated but not killed.
Incapacitating prisoners can be achieved in multiple ways, such as non-damaging traps or defenders with non-lethal weapons.
Holding invaders can have multiple advantages, such as mana production or luring in additional invaders in rescue attempts.
While a cell can be secured with any option that can be used to secure doors, they also have the option of opening whenever any creature outside the cell touches the door and wills it open. This is the only option that allows the cell doors to be used by defenders that are not tool users and is the default option.
Note: While putting a prison near the core may seem like a good utilization of defensive resources, if a rescue party is successful in reaching the core without significant additional effort, they have been known to smash the core as a form of retribution for holding the prisoner.
Day 4
image [https://imgur.com/zPE52MF.jpg]
status Day 4, Mana: 21/24, Size: 49, core 20, Two upgrades available
Yep, saw that happen. I wonder how many dungeons learned that lesson the hard way and lived to try again?
Probably a few if counterparts can reconstruct a core.
The first core room/mana generation room always take so much time to build compared to how much mana is available after it is done.
Interesting that my status shows how upgrades I currently have available, that seems handy to know.
Although I do have a nagging feeling I may be forgetting something.
Spy is an add-on to the scout upgrade. The spy add-on allows the dungeon counterpart to direct individual scouts and directly access their senses. This allows the counterpart to compile detailed maps and reports from simple scouts like bats and rats that are more likely to be seen as innocuous.
This upgrade is generally less useful on tool-using scouts as they can usually provide most of these additional details when reporting to the counterpart.
Day 5
image [https://imgur.com/5rUohL3.jpg]
status Day 5, Mana: 24/30, Size: 60, core 20, Two upgrades available
Clearly not an upgrade that is useful to a core without a counterpart then. Bummer, better mapping and more detailed information would be nice.
The core room is progressing nicely, but something still feels off.
Did I position the core wrong? Perhaps, but that is not really it.
Oh, right, the trap and rock-fall. Very important to have before I get discovered again.
That slowed down the core room a little, but not too bad
In spite of being a water-air mix, Ice is often considered to be the opposite of fire. A more correct opposite would be acid, as ice is the water-air advanced element which would oppose the fire-earth makeup of acid.
While technically a more advanced environment, the ice environment costs the same as a basic environment due to its prevalence in nature. Winter snows, snow-capped mountains, and the frozen north/south make ice a common enough element that mana will easily take its flavor.
This feature is shared with its air-water counterpart of mist.
Functionally, Ice and fire are strongly opposed to each other, and it can be difficult to transition between them without intermediate areas.
This is also true for invaders, as many of the equipment and abilities that protect against one of them will make the invader more vulnerable to the other. An example would be thick fur keeping an invader warm against the chill of the ice but making them over-heat in a fire environment.
While an abrupt hot-cold switch may stop more simple invaders, tool using invaders will often bring preparations for both, reducing the overall utility of such a change with regards to stopping them.
While ice and water environments are highly compatible, most invaders that can tolerate one will have difficulty with the other, especially if such a transition is subtle or unexpected. Both swimming through slowly chilling water, and crossing slowly thinning ice over cold water can quickly prove deadly to the unprepared invader. Even prepared invaders can get into trouble if their boat gets damaged by submerged shards of ice.
While a rapid change in temperature(such as a fire-ice transition) will require significant up-keep to maintain the sharp temperature gradient, more gradual changes, like a watery corridor filled with chunks of ice, will usually require little, if any, upkeep.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Day 6
image [https://imgur.com/bR18fga.jpg]
status Day 6, Mana: 28/35, Size: 70, core 20, Three upgrades available
Huh, so environment changes can make things hard on invaders, not just the environments themselves? That seems like it might be useful.
Almost done with the room structure, might as well finish that and worry about catching up on mana generation while I make my big water H.
Perhaps I can make the bottoms of the H into a slushy ice/water mix? That may make them harder to search for the secret doors.
Fire is the least common of the basic environment types.
This is mostly due to the dynamic nature of fire. Even when fire covers large areas, it will generally only last a few hours or days before burning all available fuel and going out.
Fortunately, dungeons do not have this issue as fire areas can easily consume mana as a fuel.
This does cause most fire environments to have a higher on-going up-keep cost to maintain the heat and flames.
Day 7
image [https://imgur.com/afzAKJX.jpg]
status Day 7, Mana: 33/43, Size: 87, core 20, Three upgrades available
A couple trees to balance over-building yesterday, then we can start on the first leg of the water-H.
As the bottom of the H only gets more effective the longer it is, this seems like a great opportunity to dig to the depth where I want to place my real core room, even if I will be back-filling some of it for security reasons.
Farming areas are used by invaders to produce reliable food sources.
These can often be distinguished by regular rows of identical plants outside of a dungeon environment.
As invaders do not have a dungeon to feed them mana for sustenance, they must consume food on a regular basis to replace this lack.
When providing bare earth for farming in your dungeon, it is recommended to use areas with good sun exposure at least one hundred feet on each side, preferably in sections roughly two hundred feet on each side, as this seems to be the base unit farmable by one invader without any farming specific abilities.
Day 8
image [https://imgur.com/MFRsQa2.jpg] image [https://imgur.com/7UGcK9x.jpg]
status Day 8, Mana: 37/48, Size: 96, core 20, Three upgrades available
Why would I want to know about farming areas?
Would that be what those corrugated rows of dead grasses were?
Is that what they wanted my fruits for? To consume them as a replacement for mana? How would they even do that?
My scouts and defenders are maintained by having my mana suffuse their entire being. Does that mean that invaders need to regularly cover themselves with things like my fruit to absorb it into their bodies?
Sounds messy and unpleasant.
Ok, let’s think about something less disturbing, like building. Things are speeding up a little, but really, starting over is the most tedious part of losing a dungeon.
Speaking of tedious, hey Ashaka, any chance we can hold-up on the updates until you have something actually relevant? I appreciate all the info-dumps and all, but perhaps hold off a bit so I can get past this tedious part a bit faster, or at least avoid disturbing things like invader maintenance?
Who is this? You are not a recognized dungeon counterpart.
Please provide your counterpart ID and the ID code for the dungeon you are assisting.
Day 9
image [https://imgur.com/IHZGSZF.jpg] image [https://imgur.com/TMnMzhd.jpg]
status Day 9, Mana: 43/53, Size: 107, core 20, Four upgrades available
Ok, that may have been a mistake?
Knowing that fire and advanced environments tend to have upkeep costs might be important for my future plans, I was just disturbed by that whole ‘invaders doing messy things with my fruit’ idea.
Well, if it does not come back in a few days, I can always try to access anything they may have about the core-killers, and why they tried to kill me even when the invader-harvesters sent them away.
I kind of suspected it was some sort of counterpart-like information access, since only the first few actually felt like memories, with the rest feeling more like raw information, and I doubted that my predecessor needed to bother with doves for scouting.
On the plus side, I should be deep enough, so I just need to dig far enough to the side to keep my main core hidden, and I can start digging out the ‘deep’ core room.
Hmm, it occurs to me that there are four main directions I could use to dig away from the chimney. One side has my original core space up near the surface, opposite that has my current core room, but if I one of the other sides, that gives me a little more space between my core and the rest of the dungeon, especially the other lower limb of the H, and gives the core killers a much wider area to search for my core.
Probably five trees and the rest digging most of the shaft to displace my core.
[Day 10]
image [https://imgur.com/IHZGSZF.jpg] ‘Shallow’ core roomimage [https://imgur.com/9tTLOi6.jpg]
‘Deep' core room
image [https://imgur.com/fGMZZeM.jpg]
status Day 10, Mana: 53/65, Size: 130, core 20, Four upgrades available
Might as well start with the last two trees for the shallow core room, then add the last dozen crawl-spaces to reach the deep core room, then open it up and see if I can afford to move my core today or not.
That looks like a yes, but only if I leave the new sub-core for tomorrow.
Upgrade Complete, New Environment: Ice
Huh, looks like the core trap illusion does not move with the core, a good thing to remember if I want to move a sub-core in the future. No matter, I’ll just set everything up in the new core room and then dump the rest into some grass for the sub-core room.
Day 11
‘Shallow’ core room
image [https://imgur.com/4XbsfKj.jpg]
‘Deep’ core room
image [https://imgur.com/jHCKieO.jpg]
status Day 11, Mana:59/76, Size: 153, core 21, Four upgrades available
Nice, my available upgrades did not even go down. Good to be building faster again.
Although I need to spend a third of my mana for the sub-core, then The rest of it on digging out the core room and planting a few trees.
Day 12
‘Shallow’ core room
image [https://imgur.com/3YrqTxg.jpg]
‘Deep’ core room
image [https://imgur.com/DicMfgQ.jpg]
status Day 12, Mana:84/86, Size: 172, core 21, Four upgrades available
Oh, pretty close to max mana today, guess I forgot the bump from the secondary core in my digging. On the plus side, I should have enough to finish digging out the new core room and fill in nearly a dozen spaces near the bottom of the deep shaft, making my deep core nearly impossible to find. I hope.
Then I can start on my icy-water entrance and see what I need to deal with on the surface.
It would be nice to stay buried deep underground, but I need a fair bit of open space to try out this whole idea of launching secondary cores off into the distance.
Day 13
‘Shallow’ core room
image [https://imgur.com/8i4z3GO.jpg]
‘Deep’ core room
image [https://imgur.com/neBiwSA.jpg]
status Day 13, Mana:91/104, Size: 208, core 21, Five upgrades available
Finally, just a few points to square up the core room, some secret passages on the chimney and we are ready to dig out the rest of the H.
Ok, so the water environment costs a mana per area, so filling up the H cost nearly forty mana.
Fortunately, that leaves me with enough to make a nest with a scout dove spawn.
Intruder Detected
Already!?!
Wait, I do not see anything.
Is that a lizard drinking from my water?
That lizard is small enough that a normal rat could bite it in half, that does not seem like much of a threat.
Intruder Detected
Is that another lizard? No, I think it is a snake, still too small to be a concern.
It is not even light out yet, I need to see if I can reduce the sensitivity of the intruder alert. Perhaps ignore everything smaller than a bat? That should be pretty safe.
Intruder Detected
At least it is starting to get light out now. I see a bunch of lizards, spiders, and other insects, so which one set off the alert? Ah, probably that particularly large scorpion, probably twice the size of a bat and nearly a third the size of a rat.
Is this why the hole they had near those harvester-structures had the low wall around it, to keep away small creatures?
If they all count as invaders will a tiny lizard give as much mana as a full sized human? That would be nice, but hardly seems likely.
Hmm, the sun seems to be coming up pretty quick, and the intruders all but vanished with the sun. I wonder if they are ice-attuned or something and trying to stay cold.
Intruder Detected
That is a rather large bird, especially compared to all of the tiny critters that came by in the morning.
Vulture, ok, I guess it is not as much of a threat to my dove as I thought. And it seems to have brought some friends.
I am getting the impression that water is not very common around here. I hope that means that there are not a lot of tool users around either, as I am perfectly happy providing water to the locals if that is all they want.
Scouting Report
No structures detected
Plants are sparse, and the ground is mostly sandy and dry.
No large animals detected, but a hawk was encountered.
The scouting party consisted of one dove.
All scouts returned. One dove was injured.
There were no kills or resources harvested.
Intruder Detected
Ah, my drinking visitors returned at sunset.
Lots of them. Gerbils, larks, shrews, even a fox.
There seems to be some fighting for access to the water, so I may need to expand from a pool to a pond to encourage more visitors and potential invader-defenders.
Day 14
Surface
image [https://imgur.com/Nbmm155.jpg]
image [https://imgur.com/r1gbqJo.jpg]
‘Deep’ core room
image [https://imgur.com/QUMm46s.jpg]
[status Day 14, Mana:105/122, Size: 244, core 21, Five upgrades available]
Looks like I got a few points from visitors, so they clearly count, but not as much as something larger.
I wonder if anything more interesting would show up if I enlarged the pool from something a giant rat can barely squeeze through to something room-sized?
Perhaps four-by-five? That is a pretty big room, and that would be large enough to put my dove nest on its own island to keep it from being trampled.
Perhaps with a ring of trees and grass around the pond so the visitors need not run off as soon as the sun shows itself?
Actually, that hawk makes me a little nervous, how about another scout spawn and most of a ring of grass.
Intruder Detected
The vulture is back and it brought some friends.
A close look at the grass shows plenty of smaller invaders hiding from the sun.
And apparently some of them are being eaten by others, as the vultures seem to find several partially eaten tiny carcasses in the grass after their drink. I wonder if that will have any impact on my mana? I do not seem to have gotten a top-off, so not as much as killing a big invader with my defenders, at least not yet.
Scouting Report
One scout sighted a green area off in the distance, but was lost before it could investigate.
The local area is baked dirt and stone that rises slightly above an extended area of rippled sand, like giant waves of water frozen in place.
Some movement was detected on the sand, but the source of that movement was not obvious. Presumably there are well camouflaged animals in addition to the wind-blown sand.
The local rise is not enough to stop the sand, but it does cut down on the amount that gets blown into the dungeon
The scouting party consisted of three doves.
Two doves returned. One dove was lost.
There were no kills or resources harvested.