A Scarier Nighttime Predator For Ark 2

[DILONG]

So for starters I really enjoy the concept of Megalosaurus in the game, a generally lazy and slow dinosaur during the day that becomes a vicious predator at night. I think however it is flawed as a tame for a number of reasons like it being fairly slow and not having a real viability as a mount beyond Aberration. I want to propose a much more aggressive and deadly alternative with buffs such as night vision for the rider, greatly enhanced speed, and more lethal attacks that hit faster and deal more damage the longer you use them. The specific animal I’m proposing filling in for the function of Megalosaurus is Australovenator, a large carnivore known from Australia with massive hand claws, long powerful legs, and a mouth full of blades. A better PvE and PvP mount and a dangerous new predator to Ark.

Australovenator would normally be encountered in the wild at night and alone, it is an almost unnaturally aggressive predator that kills on sight and can be seen hunting anything smaller than a Bronto however it fears fire and will avoid it at all costs. It’s massive claws can easily rip through armor on dinosaurs and humans alike and can become even more frenzied after a kill causing it to go on a bloodthirsty rampage until dawn. During the day it seeks out dark places like forests and large caves to rest after a hunt, it is here where it is docile enough to touch without much danger as it is too tired to be bothered however attacked in this state it can effectively fight back albeit at a more sluggish pace. Taming requires one to find a sleeping individual and feed it by hand until it becomes tame, this process however will reset at sundown so time is of the essence when taming. When tamed it grants the rider heightened senses at night and is a vicious hunter, capable of shredding through armor and hide with little effort but can also help the rider carry items like crates or even other dinos with it’s claws. It is the quintessential hunting tame for those wishing to ambush unsuspecting tribes foolish enough to sleep through the night, both being able to shred opponents and carry away loot from the raided encampment.

A more detailed description of it’s abilities are as follows

-A claw attack that hits faster and deals more damage the more it is used in addition to dealing 50% armor penetration, think Tek Claws but on a dinosaur.

-A grapple/grab attack that allows you grab smaller dinos and bite them dealing a gnash or bleed effect and can also be used to carry dinos and crates filled with supplies, similar to a Megalosaurus but more advanced.

-A shrieking roar as either a taunt or a short stun to small dinos and players

-A possible stance change from standing to crouching allowing for silent footsteps and a counter to alarms or dinos like Parasaurolophus as well as invisibility to Spyglasses and Tek Binoculars.

-A debuff in sunlight and a massive weakness to fire, hitting it with fire arrows or burning it with a flamethrower will deal huge amounts of damage saddle or not. It will also have a debuff when standing near lit campfires or torches but not electric lighting.

-A high speed somewhere between Yutyrannus and Gallimimus allowing you to chase down those fleeing your advance

-A similar but toned down healing rate during the day to the Megalosaurus

-Taming wild individuals requires high quality meats like Prime Meat or Mutton but can also be tamed much faster with Shadow Steak Sauté or Battle Tartar as well as the appropriate kibble type, it can only be passively tamed when it’s sleeping. A good method to tame it would be to build a cage around it during the day and wait till goes through a nightly rage state before falling asleep again, it’s food meter will have decreased drastically allowing for a speedy and efficient tame.

-Glowing eyes similar to a Giga in rage or a Troodon would be present on this animal allowing it to be spotted in the dark

-Can be picked up with only the largest of dinos like Quetzals and Tusotuethis 

-Can pick up dinos as large as an Ankylosaur and possesses a modest carry weight

-Cannot damage stone but can surprisingly pierce metal with small amounts of damage, your wood or thatch structure however will be easily torn into with next to no effort. Stone will offer a better advantage in this case and erecting a stone wall around your settlement will prevent this dino access to your goods.

I hope you enjoy it, if there are any criticisms or ideas you have to add please let me know as I can update this depending on if it needs some fixing.

art by: Gabriel Ugueto, Henry Sharpe, and Ashley Patch

[AUTO6]

There should be also native predators of the planet (not only the ork people from trailer) - in fact they are not aliens in ARK 2, people and dinosaurs are aliens invading their planet

[PersonL]

you mean troodons aren't scary enough. but seriously I think having creatures change their behaviour based on time of day maybe having them migrate to somewhere during the day to return to a nesting area at night would be cool, there is a lot of room for cool timed based behavior and if examining the behavior of a creature could help with taming by finding out information about its habits could be really cool, if it was required for taming though I could see it being annoying but idk

[kyleb350]

On 8/7/2021 at 8:18 AM, AUTO6 said:

There should be also native predators of the planet (not only the ork people from trailer) - in fact they are not aliens in ARK 2, people and dinosaurs are aliens invading their planet

I imagine with this being an entirely new planet, we'll see a whole bunch of new fictional creatures.