switch between powerful shells MESOPARAPYLOCHELES - The Underwater/Land Multi-Shells Tank Giant Hermit Crab!

[Illojuanenjoyer]

Me encanta! Ojala gane! 

[Illojuanenjoyer]

Y un caparazón de elemento?

[Aliasgold37]

being part crab myself, i enjoy this one

[RebelKevin94]

We really need sea creatures badly and you and Dpooly have done phenomenal jobs, like you worked for Ark yourselves, I love shastasaurus and I love your giant hermit crab, This giant hermit crab is amzong and I hope it wins the creature vote, this or the Shastasaurus

[Diolun]

The different shells is such an amazing concept!

[RaephClark]

Out of curiosity, what program did you use for the animations and models? Also wishing you and the other creators the best of luck with your submissions!

[DragonHorse]

Lobster submitter here. Really well done submission. It does feel a little bloated to me and I do feel it would suit another map more but I would be fine if this won the center vote. If it doesn't I'd definitely see this on Crystal Isles living in the white shoals area.

 

Best of luck fellow crustacean. 

[TheEnderBuilder445]

1 hour ago, DragonHorse said:

Lobster submitter here. Really well done submission. It does feel a little bloated to me and I do feel it would suit another map more but I would be fine if this won the center vote. If it doesn't I'd definitely see this on Crystal Isles living in the white shoals area.

 

Best of luck fellow crustacean.

Hey, crustacean brother! I can see how it would feel like too much, but i think it's mainly because of the giant detailed explanation i gave, like if every shell is this crazy important ability, but at the end it's just a shell that does a thing based on the material you put in the inventory.

About the fitting the map thing, it's complicated, many people say this crab would fit nicely into The Center and some say it doesn't... The same can be said to every other submission, everyone sees this differently.

Good luck, too.

[TheEnderBuilder445]

2 hours ago, RaephClark said:

Out of curiosity, what program did you use for the animations and models? Also wishing you and the other creators the best of luck with your submissions!

Good ol' C4D.

[Rezitu3]

For the taming use c4 is very useless is more usefull to destroy the shell and help the giant hermit crab

[TheEnderBuilder445]

41 minutes ago, Rezitu3 said:

For the taming use c4 is very useless is more usefull to destroy the shell and help the giant hermit crab

Changed that.

[TheEnderBuilder445]

15 hours ago, Dpooly69 said:

Shastasaurus submitter here Best of luck to you dude this submission is amazing you put so much hard work and effort into it you even did your own 3d models for it! I'm truly impressed 

Quite a lot of work, but it was fun working on it! Good luck!

[Dwarfed]

This already has my first spot

[ElPINGUcubano94]

Excellent work on all the art and animations! I’m sure you put a lot of work and thought into this!

I would like to suggest some possible changes and additions to the hermit crabs attacks that I hope you consider!

First considering the stone shell has no secondary benefit And is determined to be the weakest of the shells I figure it would be fair to give it extra mobility. Allow for the hermit crab to be able to roll in its stone shell similar to the roll rat (but maybe a little faster) due to the mostly spherical and smoother shape of the stone shell. Allow the crab to roll through any demoable trees or rocks so it’s not constantly being stopped. this would atleast make the stone shell the most useful for traversing the map efficiently without having to rely solely on the cannon ball launch. Otherwise I wouldn’t see why anyone would ever use the stone shell. 
 

Second, I see a weakness in the crab being that with its big bulky shell if a creature gets behind you there’s no way for you to hit it with your claws. A more agile creature can just always stay behind your shell as you try and turn around. So I thought of another attack that could help defend its backside. A backwards body slam if you will, the crab rocks it’s shell backwards in a body slam sort of attack to inflict damage, any secondary effect of the shell being used, and a good amount of knockback (not as much as the cannon launch) in order to create space and reangle the crab in a pvp situation. If the crystal shell is being used the knockback will be greater. To balance this attack it would have a small AOE that would only hit things that are directly behind the crab like right against its shell, and it inflicts the least damage out of the crabs attacks. 
 

Third I would add that the cannon ball launch should have the potential to do tremendous amount of knock back, depending on how far the launch was from. At point blank range it should be half that of a reaper spin but at max range it should be significantly more like 3x that of a reaper spin. The shell should gain speed and thereby force as it’s flying through the air. Also the crystal shell would do extra knockback in accordance with the effects of the shell. I think it would also be fair to give a short stun to targets hit like 3 seconds. At such a high speed and force it makes sense to stun a target. Again it takes skill to hit especially from range and against a moving target, so the skill should be rewarded. I think it goes without saying that if hit from a farther distance with more speed and force it should also do more damage as well. The fact that you need to hit from farther to do more knockback and damage already balances it but If it needs to be further balanced maybe make the ability have a cooldown similar to the shadowmane teleport so it can’t be spammed. It should also have a greater stamina drain than the crabs other attacks. 
 

Lastly, I thought in addition to knockback the crystal shell should also reflect a percentage of the damage taken back at the attacker. You made it do knockback, which is good but on its own not necessarily enough to help defend itself or other tames as is the primary purpose of this shell. As spike walls also make you yourself take damage from hitting it i figured the secondary effect of the crystal shell should be to reflect damage back as well. There’s no other creature in the game with that ability aside from the kentro and it would actually be good to help defend itself or another tame. It would also mean that if you hide in your shell due to an incoming enemy giga or carcha you’re not just completely helpless as you take heavily reduced damage in your shell but the giga and carcha would take considerable damage from the reflect. I think a fair number is it reflects 30% of the damage taken. 
 

if I were to prioritize any of these suggestions I would say #3 is most important, then #4, then #2, and #1 is least important. However I do hope you consider all of them! You really came up with a great idea for the Center! 

Edited August 10, 2023 by ElPINGUcubano94

[Rezitu3]

your idea is perfect I read it several times without ever getting tired of it well done to you and your brother ciao

[espartan1005]

very interested

[Gecko1611]

50 minutes ago, RebelKevin94 said:

I like all the sea’s creatures in the top 10 but word of advice if you want to see one make it in for sure, make sure you put the miracinonyx at the number 10 spot for least favorites in the top 10 creature vote otherwise any sea creature your voting for won’t have a chance to get in check out how the yi ling win in aberration went and you’ll see majority of people wanted the Maevia Eureka, she won through round 7, and lost rounds 8 and 9 somehow 🤔, what do you think will happen this vote?

Everyone, vote for the ideas you like the most. I do think most of the aquatic creatures in the top 10 are good, but that doesn't suddenly make the Cheetah a bad submission. Shockal put a lot of effort into coming up with a cool design and I appreciate that. In fact, he probably put more effort into it than half the finalists. I'm not trying to say any of them are bad or that you shouldn't vote for certain ones. I'm just trying to tell everyone to vote for what they want and like.

[TheEnderBuilder445]

3 hours ago, Rezitu3 said:

your idea is perfect I read it several times without ever getting tired of it well done to you and your brother ciao

Glad you guys liked it!

[Cairi]

nice artwork m8

[EscorpinoRex]

A good consept

[nytee]

The idea of the different houses is awesome!

[RaephClark]

14 hours ago, TheEnderBuilder445 said:

Good ol' C4D.

Thank you! I’ll check it out!

[strangejump476]

kreb or nothing

[Ermerus]

On 8/5/2023 at 2:26 AM, TheEnderBuilder445 said:

 --------------------------------------------------------------

INTRODUCING MESOPARAPYLOCHELES

THE GIANT HERMIT CRAB! 

( The perfect creature to improve the ocean ...and land! )

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(3D renders and Drawings by me.)

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Hello, everyone! First of all, sorry about the wall of text, but I really went IN into making this creature as detailed as it can be, with sections exclusive to answering questions that'll probably appear around.

Now, meet The Giant Hermit Crab! My first-ever submission to the community creature vote, so excuses me if anything here looks or sounds too op/weak!
The one who came up with this creature idea and some designs was my young little brother who loves playing Ark, so if you like anything here, thank him too!

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DOSSIER 📚 :

These creatures may look scary,  but they're actually very friendly.  You can find them around the beach or in less populated areas of the ocean, most of the time you'll find it in groups, trading their shells  for a bigger one between each other. They can use their strong claws to stick themselves on the ground and let it go, throwing itself like a Cannon       Ball! This is extremely useful to move around since the heavy shell they carry on their back makes them uncable to swim at a reasonable speed.

 

DOMESTICATED 🦮 :

To domesticade these creatures, you'll need to wait for it to trade it’s shell, something they can only do in a group of at least two of them.  After the shells got "traded", the Hermit Crabs will value these new ones quite a bit, enough for them to go out their way to repair it after it  got destroyed. The crab will ask for various materials to repair it's shell,  from rocks, pearls and flint to metal, obsiodian and even crystal! I  imagine that one could destroy their shell and gain it’s friendship back by helping it put itself together... It’s messed up, you it’s there! 

THE SHELLS 🐚 :

After domesticated, the crab can be taught to build  shells that allows the master to see from the  inside of it, giving them protection from      creatures that could take them out, such as Kapros and Karkinos, but at the sacrifice of not being able to use tools and weapons when mounted.

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-NATURE- 🌳

The Giant Hermit crab is a Docile creature, it won't attack the player, only if threatened. You'll be able to find them around the beach and in less habituated areas of the ocean, where they'll be found in groups, changing shells or hidden inside their shells, waiting for others to come for some shell trading or just hiding.
Because of their shells, they have a natural stealth ability, making it harder for enemies to spot them ( and so they can stay in groups for longer periods so the player can tame them).

-MOVES- 👊

• MULTIPLE PUNCHES
The crab can lie on its back and use all of its limbs to perform a bunch of punches, one after another that hits multiple creatures

• HIDE MODE
The player can make their crabs go inside their shell while mounted or unmounted, this will make the crab unable to move, but will increase its defense while you wait for someone else to rescue you or while you want for your shell to do the work!

•RUNNING UNDERWATER
The Hermit Crabs can use the weight of their shells to get them on the ground, like if it was on land, that way they can walk underwater AND sprint underwater, something they're pretty fast at, even with the shells on!

•CANNON BALL LAUNCH ( Better explained at SKILLS )
The crab can launch itself in the air like a cannonball, underwater AND on land.

-TAMING- 🥩

The player will need to find a Hermit Crab, but how does one do that? The Hermit Crabs spawn at the beach and deep oceans, and always in GROUPS! This could be a problem for taming, don't you think? Well, not exactly.

After finding your Crab, you'll need to use hit the Crab's shell, scaring it and making it hide inside its shell ( This is important because when the Crab is hidden after being scared, it won't come out of the Shell unless the Shell is attacked or after a long time, so you'll be able to tame one separately just fine! ).

While it's hidden, you'll have the chance to get close to it and hit its shell a few times with your Metal Hatchet! This will eliminate a bar out of a few that will show up above the crab in the taming process. When you hit it enough times, the crab will start to get angry and the shell will shake, warning you to get away from it. When the Crab gets out of the shell and sees you, it'll attack you and you know how annoying it's to get aggro of a creature... but if it doesn't see you, it'll get worried for a few seconds then continue their day.

You'll need to repeat this a few times and remove all the bars, and eventually, when all the bars were taken out, the shell will be almost destroyed and the crab will get out of it and start trying to repair it... If they do this alone, it'll take a long time and they will be vulnerable while doing it, so they ask for help! They will ask for some materials to fix their shell ( Crystal, Stone, Obsidian, etc.. ) for a survivor around! If you give the right materials, the Crab will successfully repair their shell and you just got a new best friend! ( Just don't let anybody know what you did... )

 

• QUESTION 🤔

-BUT HOW DO I TAME IT UNDERWATER? THE C4 WORKS THERE?

Great question! My original idea was about using Grenades, Rocket-Launcher, and C4D, but after some testing, I found out that Grenades and the Rocket-Launcher do not work unwater, but the C4D does... So I went with C4D for the taming. Doable underwater and on land!

 

DROPS :

-BASIC MEAT

-CHITIN

-ORGNIC POLYMER

 

SKILLS :

Even tho it may look like the Giant Hermit Crab is a water-only creature, the skills it has are really good on land AND underwater, but more so on land.

 

1 - SHELLS AND CLAWS

After years of evolution and being homeless, the Hermit Crabs found a few ways to take advantage of the lack of REALLY big shells... By crafting their own! The player can take advantage of that skill to make them craft some really good shells and claws that can change the way you use the Hermit Crab :

• The Stone Shell is nothing more than your usual bit of defense, simple as that.

• The Metal Set It gives a bit more defense than the stone shell, but it also comes with pickaxe/axe-like claws! With the Metal Shell, the crab can launch itself into resources to break them but also use the claw that has an inside mechanism close to the SNAPPING SHRIMP'S arm that shuts to create a cavitation bubble that generates acoustic pressures strong enough to paralyze creatures and in this instance, break rocks, trees, crystal, obsidian and more but doesn't expect much more than your usual pickaxe...
What is good is that the crab gets reduced weight from all these years of "experimenting" with these resources, don't ask me how... The bad part about the Metal Set is that your Hermit Crab won't be able to make the CannoonBall move and has slightly less speed while wearing it.
( The Metal Shell also has the format of a can in reference to Hermit Shells using metal cans as shells in real life ).

• The Obsidian Set is where it's at. Better defense and attack than the Metal Set and the gloves can give bleed damage because of its spikes that cut the flesh on their way out ( epic ) but at the cost of less distance from the CANNON BALL MOVE, less movement speed and less knockback by punching creatures.
( The shells and claws design is a reference to the Alligator Snapping Turtle's shell! )

• The Bio Toxin Set has the defense between the Stone and Metal Shells, but it comes with a toxic shell that inflicts torpor on enemies that attacks it! And when the enemies start to flee 'cause of the high torpor, you can simply launch your crab against them to continue to inflict torpor! ... The bad parts about this shell are less damage overall, and using the CANNOONBALL move will do less torpor to the target.
( The design of the shell is a reference to the Red Lionfish. )

•The Crystal Set doesn't have much more defense than the Stone Shell, but it comes with great spikes around the Shell and Claws that inflicts high knockback into enemies and then slow them down for a few seconds, enough for you to push undesired creatures away from you as you walk/swim/fly.
Using the Crystal Shell and the button to make the Crab hide inside the shell, the player can use them as spiked walls! Just put a bunch of them around a creature or area and you'll have great protection over that area!
( The Spiky design is inspired by the spiked walls, something you could use this shell for! )

 

• QUESTIONS 🤔

-HOW TO IMPLEMENT THE BUFFS?-

To get new shells the player must first grab the item and drop it into the SADDLE of the crab, this will make the crab go into a little animation where it'll get out of the shell and start to rebuild it, but only for some seconds. After it was finished the crab will get back into the shell with its gloves and shell ready!

-DOES THE BUFF HAVE A TIMER?-

The timer of the buffs is the quantity of the equipped items your crab is carrying, BUT it only goes down when getting hit or using the claw when punching creatures or resources.

-WHAT IF THE RESOURCES RUN OUT?-

When the resources run out, the crab will force the player to unmount and then clear/rebuild its shell to the basic form for a couple of seconds... So be careful with the amount you're carrying!

-WHAT IF I WANT TO SWITCH/DISABLE THE BUFF?-

You'll need to take the material out of the SADDLE, just like disabling a skin, this will make the crab do the cleaning/repair animation, forcing you out of the SADDLE, so don't even try to abuse it!

 

2 - CANNON BALL LAUNCH ( Underwater and on Land! ) 💣

The Hermit Crab cannot swim greatly underwater when it has the shell on, something that happens with the real worlds version of them too, so in this iteration, it has to rely on its cannonball move, where it'll stick its hand into the ground, push itself back, then let it go for a cannonball launch of itself! This is a great way to move around with this creature that isn't very fast underwater, but a bit faster on land.

While in the air with the cannonball launch the crab will hide inside the shell to be ready in case it hits any enemy in the way! And talking about enemies, the ones that are hit by the shell while in cannon ball mode you receive damage and any of the extra buff implemented by the shell being used at the moment.

The controls will be something close to the Procoptodon. The player will be able to hold a button, increase the dintanse of the throw ( Like a Slingshot ), while honding the button, the player will also be able to change the direction of the throw, but not buy too much! Again, think of a slingshot, you can pull it back and aim left, right, up and down but not much backwards. The distance of the CannoonBall could also be something close to the Procoptodon, but faster.

I had the idea of making them be able to stick and launch themselves from walls, but I feel like this could be... A bit too much.

• QUESTIONS 🤔

-CAN THE CRAB SWIM UNDERWATER?-

Yes, but with the shell, the speed is very bad, so the CANNON BALL move will be a better option, byt WITHOUT the shell the swimming speed is way better, but you're WAY too vulnerable.

-CAN YOU DECIDE THE DISTANCE OF THE CANNONBALL JUMP?-

Yes, you'll be able to decide the distance by pressing "W" and "S" to push back or retrieve a bit.

-CAN YOU CHANGE THE DIRECTION WHILE LAUNCHED?-

You'll be able to use the MOUSE or A/D to change the direction while on air, but NOT TOO MUCH, so aim carefully.

3 - SHELL EXPLOSION 💥

The Shell has a health that when it reaches 0, it'll make the shell explode and leave the crab vulnerable! ... Luckily, the Hermit Crabs have evolved to create a last-moment escape!
When the shell's health reaches 0, it'll explode, throwing pieces around that'll stunt the enemies for a few seconds and give the crab a speed boost to escape! ( Don't think you'll Baryonyx this, because without the shell, the crab takes MORE damage than usual, so don't risk this! ).
But how will the crab escape at sucking slow speed, you ask? Well, in these years of evolution, the Hermit Crabs got blessed by mother nature with a pair of back legs that help it swim faster to escape! It allows the crab to swim normally and pretty fast! ( At least faster than a Mega ).
Sadly, it's of no use when the crab has the shell on.

 

• QUESTIONS 🤔 

-HOW TO RECOVER THE SHELL AFTER IT EXPLODED?-

Finding a new shell isn't easy, so your crab will need a couple of seconds to find one.
The player will need to get out of the creature, the crab then will INSTANTLY dig into the ground for a new shell, then come out with a new one! But without any of the buffs, that'll have to be implemented again.

-DOES THE SPEED BOOST APPLY IF I RUN OUT OF RESOURCES?-

Yes, but there's a delay to it, so you'll be able to time a speed boost, but at the cost of not getting another for some considerable amount of time.

 

HIDING MODE

The Giant Hermit Crab has the ability to hide itself inside of it's shell, like the Doedicurus, and when it's hidden, it's defense increase by a good amount! Sadly it can't attack when hidden, so the Crab waits for the attacker to give up, or it use different shells that damages, inflicts knockback or torpor onto the attacker when they hit, making them run away after some time.

 ⭐UNIQUE FEATURES⭐

BARYONYX STUN IMMUNITY 

While at the hiding mode, the crab also becomes immune to the BARYONYX STUN, but as you know, the crab can't attack back when hiding, so the survivor could have a different shell that would damage the enemy in some way equipped or wait for other tames to dealt with it.

 

•CANNOT BE GRABBED/UNMOUNTED BY CREATURES

Due to the player being protected by the giant shell, no creatures can pick the player, such as Kapros and Flyers, or even be unmounted by creatures such as Microraptor.

 

•CANNOT USE WEAPONS WHEN MOUNTED

The Hermit crab has a really strong and protective shell, so the player taught the crab to do a little hole in it so the player can see inside of it... But at the cost of not being able to shoot and use any weapons while inside.

 

•SHELLS TURN INTO RESOURCES •

When a Crab trades their shells in the wild, it'll stay in the ground and can be broken as a alternative to Rocks, giving stone to the survivor.

• THE CRAB WILL CLEAN IT'S EYES.

Yes.

 

 

WHY SHOULD THE GIANT HERMIT CRAB BE ADDED IN THE CENTER?

The Giant Hermit Crab not only adds more life to the Ocean, something that is very needed in Ark, but also to the beaches! They'll add new ways to explore and survive on this map, that is mostly Ocean, with it's new Shell Switching mechanic, It'll change the game for PVP and PVE players! You'll be able to explore caves and mountains with the Crystal Shell to inflict knockback into enemies or even protect a tame on land or underwater; Go on a rampage with the Obsidian Shell and Claws; Tame underwater creatures with the amazing Bio Toxin Shell; Collect Resouces with the Metal Shell and Claw and travel through The Center with the Cannonball jump!

 

So this is it, the Giant Hermit Crab! This creature may look complex to some, but I believe some time using it could really simplify things. Every shell has different designs to help enemies identify them from a distance and the switching of shell types has an equip/clean animation in between so the players can't abuse it!
... And if anything feels too op or doesn't need to be here, tell me! You guys are as hardcore as me, surely!

Also, we must keep the cleaning eye animation!

 

Sebastian!?...

[Dinosplusss]

I would love to see the center with This creature around , my top 1 no question.