Introducing the giant aye-aye, Daubentonia! Aberration is where horrors of the night thrive: the aye-aye is a nocturnal lemur who, in folklore, could mark people for death by pointing at them! In-game it would be a rideable climbing creature that is reactive to charge light, and who attacks by stunning/hypnotizing players and dinos at range. If you like my idea, please give it a vote! Feedback and suggestions would be great!
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I hope you like it! Here’s some reasons why I think it would be a great addition-
o   Nocturnal creatures are a great fit in Aberration-and an opportunity for jump-scares, including making the player hallucinate. It would be extra-powerful at night and on Aberration, but unlike the Megalosaurus, would not be useless once the sun comes up.
o   Climbing and using ziplines- a more support/utility alternative to rock drakes and ravagers. Great for building, taming and stealing rock drake eggs! Aberration, especially on single player, really needs a smaller creature that can climb and help with building taller structures.
o   Easy-to-aim ranged stun/ torpor attackby pointing/ glaring at enemies. Only applies torpor at night or on Aberration but can still stun during the day. When used at night on players, will cause them to hallucinate visions of predators (as well as stun/ torpor).
o   Enemy detectionby echolocation, including being able to spot hidden rock drakes, basilisks and purlovias.
o   Turret modethat uses both enemy detection and ranged stun, even when latched to walls and ziplines.
o   Reactive to charge lights-A reason to turn off glow pets in the blue zone, and to go high up in its tree roots (where there’s currently not much to do). Can be passively tamed when charge lights are off, but be ready to fend off the Nameless!
o   Most predators will not attack it unless provoked, and aye-ayes are immune to red-zone radiation, perfect for a first tame to explore the red zone and rock drake trench with.
o   Auto-harvesting sap and giant bee honeywhen latched to trees or next to wild beehives.
o   Auto-feeding its riderwith giant bee honey, which takes longer to spoil in its inventory.
(Credit to Metatrox for the dossier template provided on the forum)
Background
The giant aye-aye (Daubentonia robusta) lived until around 1,000 years ago in Madagascar. Under the cover of darkness, it would search for fruit, sap and insects. It would find insects by tapping tree trunks and detecting the vibrations off the bugs, almost like echolocation. The latin name for the Ark’s aye-aye could be Daubentonia torvexspiravit (meaning ‘glaring ghost aye-aye’).
Its modern counterpart, the aye-aye, is now endangered (but was itself once thought to be extinct, just like the coelacanth). It is the target of Malagasy superstition; it is believed that those pointed at by an aye-aye have been marked for death. Their ears and long fingers have evolved a similar sense to echolocation. This, coupled with its creepy appearance and large, nocturnal eyes, are a fantastic inspiration for Ark’s own version of this evolutionary experiment. It’s believed D. robusta looked like a larger version of the modern aye-aye but there is not enough fossil evidence to confirm this. D. torvexspiravit will be even bigger, much larger than the player and able to be ridden.
While the local folklore surrounding aye-ayes does make for an interesting addition to the game, it is in real life a cause for wild aye-ayes to be hunted. Aye-ayes are endangered (and at one time themselves were believed to be extinct). Adding this to Ark would help raise awareness about modern aye-ayes and their persecution.
Dossier
Wild
While the Arks are patrolled during the daylight by towering reptiles and fierce predators, Daubentonia has made a life for itself under the cover of darkness. Wild aye-ayes shy away from all light sources, including charge light. While you’re unlikely to see an aye-aye, you may hear them tapping trees to hunt insects with their freakishly long fingers.
Aye-ayes prefer to hide away from combat, but when cornered can stun a would-be attacker with a hypnotic glare. Even the largest foes can be frozen for long enough to allow an aye-aye to escape! If you can approach an aye-aye in the dark without startling it then you may be able to tame it with its favourite food, honey.
Domesticated
While not the most appealing-looking creature on the Arks, aye-ayes make for intelligent and loyal pets. When ridden, they can climb up trees and along ziplines. They will even share their favourite food with a hungry rider! For the more sedentary tribes, they can latch onto trees or beehives and gather sap or honey.
Daubentonia’s unique set of talents can provide valuable support to any tribe. During the night, their stunning glare can be used just as effectively on command as in the wild. I have seen a tribe keep aye-ayes inside their homes to detect and stun intruders. Their enhanced senses allow them to detect nearby aggressors, even in caves.
Wild Behaviour
Spawns high up in the trees of the bioluminescent zone- it’s such an amazing part of the map but there’s currently little reason to go there. It’s also fairly hard to get to, so the chance to tame an Aye-aye would make the journey worthwhile. An alternative is the redwoods of the Green Zone but this would be too easy to get to and doesn’t punish you for having charge lights off in the area.
Unlike other aberrant creatures, aye-ayes should not be bioluminescent. They should be dark and hard to spot; their glowing eyes and sounds of tapping on branches the only signs they are near. This would make a surprise encounter, especially for the first time, even more thrilling.
Other wild dinosaurs do not attack aye-ayes as they fear their mysterious abilities. Nameless and reapers do not attack wild aye-ayes however they will target tamed ones.
Their temperament is defensive- if the player comes too close with charge lights on it will retaliate with a ranged stun attack. This stun attack can induce torpor even when a player is riding a dino. This however is not used to kill the player: only in self-defence and the aye-aye will retreat afterwards (to match the lore behind it looking much creepier than it really is). In the dark of the blue-zone this stun could be a creepy jump scare (including showing hallucinations of predators on the screen). With all lights, including charge light, turned off, a player can approach the aye-aye to tame it.
Taming
Passive tame- Approach them with charge light/pets/torches turned off. If the aye-aye is up a tree or a blue zone root it can be lured down with giant bee honey. Once on the ground it can be passively fed honey, sap, citronal, berries or chitin (in order of decreasing effectiveness). Just like many passive tames if it takes damage the taming progress will reset.
Passive tames are usually quite easy, however the real challenge will be surviving long enough with charge lights turned off to complete the taming process. You’ll have to fight off the nameless and reapers without hitting the aye-aye and resetting your progress.
Utility
These are ideas and abilities I think would fit the Aye-aye and be a good fit for Ark, hopefully WC will follow this same idea.
Ridden-
The aye-aye would require a saddle to ride. The saddle should be craftable at around level 60, requiring hide, fiber, fungal wood and blue gems.
The aye-aye is adept at climbing, able to climb like a thyla or dinopithecus. They can use ziplines, walking on top of the zipline like ravagers. It has a fairly fast sprint on land (similar speed to a Baryonyx) and good ability to jump. It would be immune or resistant to fall damage. Being a smaller climber on Abb would be super helpful for building as rock drakes are too big and clumsy for this and climbing picks have limited durability.
Players can use weapons from the back of them, even when climbing or on ziplines. Even when ridden they can still detect enemies. When the player’s hunger is below 50% the aye-aye will automatically feed the player giant bee honey from its own inventory.
Like the dinopithecus, most predators will not attack a tamed aye-aye unless provoked. The exceptions (on Aberration) to this are rock drakes, reapers, nameless, karkinos, spinos and direbears. Alongside an immunity to the red zone’s radiation, this makes aye-ayes a great first tame for exploring the red zone and artifact caves.
Combat-
Instead of relying on biting in combat (the bite should do around base 35 damage), the aye-aye has a ranged stun attackthat can also apply torpor. The ranged attack’s animation should look like the aye-aye pointing, just like in Malagasy superstition. Night vision goggles could prevent this attack from affecting players or tames that can wear it. When ridden, a reticle would be on-screen to help aim the attack. This attack would require good aim and is therefore easier to use against large creatures than players.
At night time (or always on Aberration) this ranged attack will hypnotise its target and apply significant torpor. Stun recharge is too long to stun-lock but each stun lasts long enough to out-manoeuvre enemies. Torpor is applied gradually, so will still stack despite the lower frequency stun. During the day the attack is still useful for stunning enemies before using tranqs. At night and on Abb extra tranqs won’t be needed for knocking out creatures!
When the ranged attack is used on players it will cause hallucinations to appear on the screen; this will take the form of Aberrant predators (randomly chosen, could be raptors, ravagers, carnos or megalosaurus) running towards them, vanishing once they get too close. This can also be caused by wild aye-ayes. This effect makes more sense to only happen at night or on Aberration. This attack would be especially scary as the target would also be stunned!
This ranged attacked would work in turret mode, alongside enemy detection. This makes aye-ayes a perfect base defence tame.
Enemy detection-Â
As modern aye-ayes can ‘echolocate’ by tapping their long fingers on trees, they should be able to detect nearby enemiesin-game. The in-game animation would be the aye-aye tapping the ground and then listening.
It can also detect invisible rock drakes and underground basilisks/purlovias, and is therefore useful as a more versatile alternative to parasaurs.
Can be used when ridden or set to turret mode (turret mode can also auto-stun, auto-detect or both using the radial wheel). Can even work when latched to walls. When ridden, enemy detection is the ‘roar’ attack.
Resource gathering and auto-feeding-
When dismounted while climbing, it stays latched onto any surface. If latched onto redwood trees it will passively gather sap slowly. If near wild beehives or honey resource nodes it will passively gather giant bee honey (but more slowly than a tamed hive). Auto-gathering can be turned on or off using the radial wheel. Only gathers sap and honey, not berries.
The bite attack will gather small amounts of berries or mushrooms if used near a bush. The amount gathered is very small, less than an iguanodon, to prevent the rider being encumbered after every fight. This bite can still harvest meat and hide, but less effectively than carnivores.
It has a weight reduction of 50% for berries, honey and sap. Honey spoils more slowly in its inventory to make it better at auto-feeding and auto-gathering. When therider’s hunger is below 50%, the aye-aye can automatically feed them some giant bee honeyfrom its inventory. This ability can be toggled with the radial wheel, just like turret mode settings.
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Overall, functions similarly to a mid to late-game rock drake/ravager but also has its own unique uses. Being smaller than rock drakes, it can be used to climb structures and make base-building easier (it’s currently a pain on Abb). Its stun attacks, rock-drake detection and climbing abilities would make it great for helping steal rock drake eggs or caving. It can be used on Abb, or at night time, for taming (and in the day time you can fire tranqs off its back). It’s also different enough to the previous two to not fully outclass them- ravagers will still be better for pack-based combat and as a pack mule, and rock drakes would have better health and faster movement when gliding.
As well as being a traveling and taming mount, aye-ayes could be useful in PVE and single player for gathering honey or sap in an alternative way, reducing the need for tree taps.
In PVP it could have a niche use for stunning enemies or riders- it’s stunning abilities can be devastating when used right! They would also make a great turret tame and synergise well with other turrets by stunning targets.
Thanks for reading! What are your thoughts on the aye-aye? What do you think its stats should be and do you have any additions that could improve this creature? I’ve tried hard to make a creature that would be a fun, useful and balanced addition to Aberration that fits the theme. I think all of the suggested abilities make sense for this creature but I’m happy to hear your opinions!
Suggestion
Normandem
Introducing the giant aye-aye, Daubentonia! Aberration is where horrors of the night thrive: the aye-aye is a nocturnal lemur who, in folklore, could mark people for death by pointing at them! In-game it would be a rideable climbing creature that is reactive to charge light, and who attacks by stunning/hypnotizing players and dinos at range. If you like my idea, please give it a vote! Feedback and suggestions would be great!
Â
I hope you like it! Here’s some reasons why I think it would be a great addition-
o   Nocturnal creatures are a great fit in Aberration- and an opportunity for jump-scares, including making the player hallucinate. It would be extra-powerful at night and on Aberration, but unlike the Megalosaurus, would not be useless once the sun comes up.
o   Climbing and using ziplines- a more support/utility alternative to rock drakes and ravagers. Great for building, taming and stealing rock drake eggs! Aberration, especially on single player, really needs a smaller creature that can climb and help with building taller structures.
o   Easy-to-aim ranged stun/ torpor attack by pointing/ glaring at enemies. Only applies torpor at night or on Aberration but can still stun during the day. When used at night on players, will cause them to hallucinate visions of predators (as well as stun/ torpor).
o   Enemy detection by echolocation, including being able to spot hidden rock drakes, basilisks and purlovias.
o   Turret mode that uses both enemy detection and ranged stun, even when latched to walls and ziplines.
o   Reactive to charge lights- A reason to turn off glow pets in the blue zone, and to go high up in its tree roots (where there’s currently not much to do). Can be passively tamed when charge lights are off, but be ready to fend off the Nameless!
o   Most predators will not attack it unless provoked, and aye-ayes are immune to red-zone radiation, perfect for a first tame to explore the red zone and rock drake trench with.
o   Auto-harvesting sap and giant bee honey when latched to trees or next to wild beehives.
o   Auto-feeding its rider with giant bee honey, which takes longer to spoil in its inventory.
(Credit to Metatrox for the dossier template provided on the forum)
Background
The giant aye-aye (Daubentonia robusta) lived until around 1,000 years ago in Madagascar. Under the cover of darkness, it would search for fruit, sap and insects. It would find insects by tapping tree trunks and detecting the vibrations off the bugs, almost like echolocation. The latin name for the Ark’s aye-aye could be Daubentonia torvexspiravit (meaning ‘glaring ghost aye-aye’).
Its modern counterpart, the aye-aye, is now endangered (but was itself once thought to be extinct, just like the coelacanth). It is the target of Malagasy superstition; it is believed that those pointed at by an aye-aye have been marked for death. Their ears and long fingers have evolved a similar sense to echolocation. This, coupled with its creepy appearance and large, nocturnal eyes, are a fantastic inspiration for Ark’s own version of this evolutionary experiment. It’s believed D. robusta looked like a larger version of the modern aye-aye but there is not enough fossil evidence to confirm this. D. torvexspiravit will be even bigger, much larger than the player and able to be ridden.
While the local folklore surrounding aye-ayes does make for an interesting addition to the game, it is in real life a cause for wild aye-ayes to be hunted. Aye-ayes are endangered (and at one time themselves were believed to be extinct). Adding this to Ark would help raise awareness about modern aye-ayes and their persecution.
Dossier
Wild
While the Arks are patrolled during the daylight by towering reptiles and fierce predators, Daubentonia has made a life for itself under the cover of darkness. Wild aye-ayes shy away from all light sources, including charge light. While you’re unlikely to see an aye-aye, you may hear them tapping trees to hunt insects with their freakishly long fingers.
Aye-ayes prefer to hide away from combat, but when cornered can stun a would-be attacker with a hypnotic glare. Even the largest foes can be frozen for long enough to allow an aye-aye to escape! If you can approach an aye-aye in the dark without startling it then you may be able to tame it with its favourite food, honey.
Domesticated
While not the most appealing-looking creature on the Arks, aye-ayes make for intelligent and loyal pets. When ridden, they can climb up trees and along ziplines. They will even share their favourite food with a hungry rider! For the more sedentary tribes, they can latch onto trees or beehives and gather sap or honey.
Daubentonia’s unique set of talents can provide valuable support to any tribe. During the night, their stunning glare can be used just as effectively on command as in the wild. I have seen a tribe keep aye-ayes inside their homes to detect and stun intruders. Their enhanced senses allow them to detect nearby aggressors, even in caves.
Wild Behaviour
Spawns high up in the trees of the bioluminescent zone- it’s such an amazing part of the map but there’s currently little reason to go there. It’s also fairly hard to get to, so the chance to tame an Aye-aye would make the journey worthwhile. An alternative is the redwoods of the Green Zone but this would be too easy to get to and doesn’t punish you for having charge lights off in the area.
Unlike other aberrant creatures, aye-ayes should not be bioluminescent. They should be dark and hard to spot; their glowing eyes and sounds of tapping on branches the only signs they are near. This would make a surprise encounter, especially for the first time, even more thrilling.
Other wild dinosaurs do not attack aye-ayes as they fear their mysterious abilities. Nameless and reapers do not attack wild aye-ayes however they will target tamed ones.
Their temperament is defensive- if the player comes too close with charge lights on it will retaliate with a ranged stun attack. This stun attack can induce torpor even when a player is riding a dino. This however is not used to kill the player: only in self-defence and the aye-aye will retreat afterwards (to match the lore behind it looking much creepier than it really is). In the dark of the blue-zone this stun could be a creepy jump scare (including showing hallucinations of predators on the screen). With all lights, including charge light, turned off, a player can approach the aye-aye to tame it.
Taming
Passive tame- Approach them with charge light/pets/torches turned off. If the aye-aye is up a tree or a blue zone root it can be lured down with giant bee honey. Once on the ground it can be passively fed honey, sap, citronal, berries or chitin (in order of decreasing effectiveness). Just like many passive tames if it takes damage the taming progress will reset.
Passive tames are usually quite easy, however the real challenge will be surviving long enough with charge lights turned off to complete the taming process. You’ll have to fight off the nameless and reapers without hitting the aye-aye and resetting your progress.
Utility
These are ideas and abilities I think would fit the Aye-aye and be a good fit for Ark, hopefully WC will follow this same idea.
Ridden-
The aye-aye would require a saddle to ride. The saddle should be craftable at around level 60, requiring hide, fiber, fungal wood and blue gems.
The aye-aye is adept at climbing, able to climb like a thyla or dinopithecus. They can use ziplines, walking on top of the zipline like ravagers. It has a fairly fast sprint on land (similar speed to a Baryonyx) and good ability to jump. It would be immune or resistant to fall damage. Being a smaller climber on Abb would be super helpful for building as rock drakes are too big and clumsy for this and climbing picks have limited durability.
Players can use weapons from the back of them, even when climbing or on ziplines. Even when ridden they can still detect enemies. When the player’s hunger is below 50% the aye-aye will automatically feed the player giant bee honey from its own inventory.
Like the dinopithecus, most predators will not attack a tamed aye-aye unless provoked. The exceptions (on Aberration) to this are rock drakes, reapers, nameless, karkinos, spinos and direbears. Alongside an immunity to the red zone’s radiation, this makes aye-ayes a great first tame for exploring the red zone and artifact caves.
Combat-
Instead of relying on biting in combat (the bite should do around base 35 damage), the aye-aye has a ranged stun attack that can also apply torpor. The ranged attack’s animation should look like the aye-aye pointing, just like in Malagasy superstition. Night vision goggles could prevent this attack from affecting players or tames that can wear it. When ridden, a reticle would be on-screen to help aim the attack. This attack would require good aim and is therefore easier to use against large creatures than players.
At night time (or always on Aberration) this ranged attack will hypnotise its target and apply significant torpor. Stun recharge is too long to stun-lock but each stun lasts long enough to out-manoeuvre enemies. Torpor is applied gradually, so will still stack despite the lower frequency stun. During the day the attack is still useful for stunning enemies before using tranqs. At night and on Abb extra tranqs won’t be needed for knocking out creatures!
When the ranged attack is used on players it will cause hallucinations to appear on the screen; this will take the form of Aberrant predators (randomly chosen, could be raptors, ravagers, carnos or megalosaurus) running towards them, vanishing once they get too close. This can also be caused by wild aye-ayes. This effect makes more sense to only happen at night or on Aberration. This attack would be especially scary as the target would also be stunned!
This ranged attacked would work in turret mode, alongside enemy detection. This makes aye-ayes a perfect base defence tame.
Enemy detection-Â
As modern aye-ayes can ‘echolocate’ by tapping their long fingers on trees, they should be able to detect nearby enemies in-game. The in-game animation would be the aye-aye tapping the ground and then listening.
It can also detect invisible rock drakes and underground basilisks/purlovias, and is therefore useful as a more versatile alternative to parasaurs.
Can be used when ridden or set to turret mode (turret mode can also auto-stun, auto-detect or both using the radial wheel). Can even work when latched to walls. When ridden, enemy detection is the ‘roar’ attack.
Resource gathering and auto-feeding-
When dismounted while climbing, it stays latched onto any surface. If latched onto redwood trees it will passively gather sap slowly. If near wild beehives or honey resource nodes it will passively gather giant bee honey (but more slowly than a tamed hive). Auto-gathering can be turned on or off using the radial wheel. Only gathers sap and honey, not berries.
The bite attack will gather small amounts of berries or mushrooms if used near a bush. The amount gathered is very small, less than an iguanodon, to prevent the rider being encumbered after every fight. This bite can still harvest meat and hide, but less effectively than carnivores.
It has a weight reduction of 50% for berries, honey and sap. Honey spoils more slowly in its inventory to make it better at auto-feeding and auto-gathering. When the rider’s hunger is below 50%, the aye-aye can automatically feed them some giant bee honey from its inventory. This ability can be toggled with the radial wheel, just like turret mode settings.
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Overall, functions similarly to a mid to late-game rock drake/ravager but also has its own unique uses. Being smaller than rock drakes, it can be used to climb structures and make base-building easier (it’s currently a pain on Abb). Its stun attacks, rock-drake detection and climbing abilities would make it great for helping steal rock drake eggs or caving. It can be used on Abb, or at night time, for taming (and in the day time you can fire tranqs off its back). It’s also different enough to the previous two to not fully outclass them- ravagers will still be better for pack-based combat and as a pack mule, and rock drakes would have better health and faster movement when gliding.
As well as being a traveling and taming mount, aye-ayes could be useful in PVE and single player for gathering honey or sap in an alternative way, reducing the need for tree taps.
In PVP it could have a niche use for stunning enemies or riders- it’s stunning abilities can be devastating when used right! They would also make a great turret tame and synergise well with other turrets by stunning targets.
Wikipedia for Daubentonia robusta- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_aye-aye
Wikipedia for the modern aye-aye- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aye-aye
Thanks for reading! What are your thoughts on the aye-aye? What do you think its stats should be and do you have any additions that could improve this creature? I’ve tried hard to make a creature that would be a fun, useful and balanced addition to Aberration that fits the theme. I think all of the suggested abilities make sense for this creature but I’m happy to hear your opinions!
Edited by NormandemLink to comment
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