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Nyctosaurus ("Living Sailboard"; Versatile Travel Mount for Sea & Sky!)


Arambourgiania
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nyctosaurus-dossier-7-14-23_orig.png

 

COMMON NAME: Nyctosaurus

SPECIES: N. anemosilectus

TIME: Late Cretaceous

DIET: Piscivore

TEMPERAMENT: Neutral

 

WILD:

Few creatures are more striking to behold than Nyctosaurus anemosilectus. This semiaquatic pterosaur can sometimes be found roosting atop any of the tall spires rising from this ark's multitude of tropical islands. Although normally docile unless provoked, Nyctosaurus does not like being disturbed while roosting and will attack anything that does so. This can be avoided by approaching under the cover of a ghillie suit, but be careful because it will still attack if the survivor approaches with a mount! This can make a roosting Nyctosaurus quite difficult to reach, but feeding it fish meat can earn its trust.

 

DOMESTICATED:

Nyctosaurus' saddle is a large sail fastened to its L-shaped crest and a surfboard-like platform strapped to its back, transforming the creature into some kind of living sailboard. Using its beak like a rudder and its wings to make tight drifting turns, a saddled Nyctosaurus is the most efficient means of travel across the water's surface. Although the sail, when unfurled, impedes Nyctosaurus' ability to fly, the saddle can be switched to “furled mode” where the sail is folded up against the crest. This enables the pterosaur to freely fly and dive. The crest also functions like a lightening rod, absorbing electrical shocks and rendering both mount and rider immune to attacks from the ocean's bioelectric denizens.

 

ARTIST'S NOTES:

I've been sitting on this idea for a LONG time, having actually forgotten about it after a point until something recently jogged my memory of it—just in time for this contest! It seems like most submissions to these contests are mid- to late-game tames with sometimes complicated taming methods and even more complicated abilities. For once it'd be nice to get a simple early- to mid-game tame with one or two straight-forward but incredibly fun abilities. The inspiration behind this was the debate as to whether or not the L-shaped crests of Nyctosaurus and kin supported membranes. Depictions of sailed nyctosaurs reminded me of sailboards, and that's when the bulb lit in my brain. Honestly, how cool would this be? Let's get this crazy idea into the game!

Edited by Arambourgiania
Tidied up the entry to make it more visually appealing and legible.
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22 minutes ago, Gecko1611 said:

Now this is the kind of unique, creative concepts I love. 

I suggest it has some sort of ability where it can dive into the water for short periods to grab fish.

It is semiaquatic. As I wrote in the dossier the saddle has a "furled" and "unfurled" mode where in furled mode the Nyctosaurus can fly and dive as normal. It is also immune to bioelectricity so it would be one of the better options for exploring the ocean. Granted Wildcard would end up doing whatever they want with the design, but these characteristics are all in my entry!

Maybe it could even have the ability to collect rare oceanic resources like silica and black pearls, and get a weight reduction on them. That would improve its utility for people who want that. As long as the core concept stays intact I think any number of different ideas would be fun additions to this creature.

Maybe it could even store electric shocks in its lightening rod-like crest and discharge them in its own electricity attack? You just never know with ARK!

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6 hours ago, Doggy171 said:

This idea is hella good if it doesn't win I am gonna be really surprised

Yeah, I thought it'd be the perfect fit because when you think about it The Center has it all: deep oceans, large underworlds, and extreme verticality. Although a fully aquatic creature would be fine, I think a better fit for taking advantage of ALL the environments The Center has to offer is a creature like this that has versatile mobility. A lot of people seem to associate The Center with water and therefore think a strictly aquatic tame is what it needs, but The Center is so much more than that. Could an aquatic creature fly to the top of the floating mountain? No? Exactly.

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11 hours ago, KnightGhost said:

The crest thing could be even more bizarre with a tek mount/armor that would turn it into a tesla tower with two possible ideas

The first one that, when close to an allied base with an electric generator, works as a turret that shoots electric rays or a normal mount that, if it has an element, works in a similar way, paralyzing nearby enemy mounts o anothers players when it receives damage or or when dealing damage (perfect for hunting down players or doing air pvp in general)

Great addendums! I don't play PvP and I've not gotten into Tek Tier much, so my imagination when designing these entries is limited to my own casual singleplayer experience.

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1 hour ago, Arambourgiania said:

I suppose I don't know exactly what you mean. Are you saying you'd prefer a more primitive/hide sail to the modern/synthetic one I've designed here? Or if you mean you'd prefer the animal's crest to be naturally sailed, as far as I know the general academic consensus is that nyctosaurids probably couldn't have had sailed crests and also maintained powered flight. Imagine trying to fly with something like that constantly catching the wind.

That's exactly what I played with for my concept here, giving Nyctosaurus an artificial sail that serves a purposes but that can also be furled to allow for flight and diving!

Interisting, i believed they had the sail but a small sail in the lower part of the crest would be a small but well accepted add for me, i like the sintetico sail concept,is It using polymer?

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7 minutes ago, ancientbiologyexpert said:

Interisting, i believed they had the sail but a small sail in the lower part of the crest would be a small but well accepted add for me, i like the sintetico sail concept,is It using polymer?

So this very modernistic design would probably require polymer or organic polymer in the ingredients, but not very much, just a few penguins' worth because this is supposed to be an earlier-game mount. A more primitive-looking hide sail could certainly be devised for the final version of the creature and I'd be fine with that compromise.

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