Hello survivors! My submission for the creature vote is the Cretaceous crustacean, Megaxantho zogue! This prehistoric crab lived towards the very end of the Cretaceous period around 67-65 million years ago! Not only is it attributed to being one of the first crustaceans with pincers, but it had a very massive and unique right pincer with a strange tooth-like structure protruding from the center of its top claw.
First of all, I’d just like to briefly talk about Karkanos, as I know it’ll likely be a talking point. I love the design of Karkanos. It’s terrifying and really cool at the same time. However I think as the only crab in all of Ark, it is a poor representation of them. I opted to enter Megaxantho in order to better represent just how wonderful crabs are! I hope many of you feel the same! Your support for this creature would be absolutely appreciated! Don’t forget to throw a vote its way if you would like to see it in Ark!
Edit: I fully support the submission of Mesoparapylocheles! May the best crabby boi win! ❤️
Let’s get into the creature!
Dossier📖
Wild:
Getting into combat with Megaxantho zogue is something most creatures on the island tend to avoid if they can help it. Not only does it have a massive and spiked right pincer about the size of its body, but it is also capable of quick dash-like movements that make it extremely difficult to gain the upper hand against.
Megaxantho has a plethora of options for movement at its disposal. While walking forwards and backwards is still possible for it, Megaxantho prefers to walk sideways due to its increased speed. It also can create massive bubbles filled with a special gas mixture for it to ride upon, allowing it to reach decently high locations. However, Megaxantho cannot swim properly with the weight of its massive claw. I've seen it get around bodies of water by skipping accross the surfaces of them, much like a skipping-stone.
Domesticated:
A tamed Megaxantho is an extremely beneficial asset to anyone who is looking to have a safety net while exploring the island. Survivors can utilize Megaxantho's claws to switch between a more attack-heavy stance and a more defense-oriented one. I've also seen people put weapons into Megaxantho's smaller claw. Either way, I'd be the last person you'd catch going near that spiked pincer. I've even heard that it has a unique ability to charge attacks. Perhaps that's what those glowing markings on its claw indicate.
I've observed that while Megaxantho ages, it molts like modern-day crabs do. Its caretaker could take advantage of this natural shedding of its shell to gain a decent amount of materials. I've even heard rumor that some people have found rare crystals, pearls, or even items within these molted husks. A saddle for Megaxantho could also be beneficial in that itallows survivors to rotate as Megaxantho changes directions.
Appearance and Personality🦀
As with a large portion of Ark’s creatures, the size of Megaxantho zogue has been exaggerated. While the actual specimen is still on the larger end of crabs, it is nowhere near the size I imagine it would be in-game. For its looks, I took inspiration from numerous crabs, but I used it’s fossil as well as modern-day Fiddler Crabs as my main influence. I wanted to use the cuter crabs as inspiration to contrast Karkanos’ fearsomeness. It’s right claw is massive, being almost the size of the crab’s body alone. It has that pointed structure in the middle that it likely used to break through tough shells. Like modern-day Fiddler Crabs, I chose to make them more colorful as opposed to some of the more dark colored crab species. You’d be surprised at how expressive crabs can be, which is why I also feel that Megaxantho would carry some of that same expressiveness over onto the island. It’ll make happy noises when fed, perhaps dance a little bit, and will definitely let you know when its agitated.
Mobility🦀
Unlike Karkanos, Megaxantho is extremely fast when it moves sideways. This does not mean Megaxantho can’t walk forward, but it prefers to move sideways if it is moving long distances due to its higher speed. The saddle for Megaxantho would be unique in the sense that it would allow the player to rotate the saddle itself. This creates the opportunity for players to choose when they want to go fullspeed sideways, or walk forward/backwards. While the player is facing forward on the saddle, Megaxantho can still maneuver sideways via strafing. It can even jump to the side to perform a sort of dodge-like movement. This can make combat with Megaxantho extremely interesting with numerous options for players to get out difficult situations in a “pinch”. Sorry not sorry.
Megaxantho is not a good swimmer, due to its massive claw and lacks of any kind of appendages that make swimming for long periods of time possible. It does, however, have the ability to skip over the top of bodies of water, much like a skipping stone. It can’t do this forever, but it can go longer distances if Megaxantho is moving with enough momentum.
Abilities🦀
I have a lot of ideas for how Megaxantho would play, but ultimately I wanted to focus on something that makes both battle and exploration engaging and fun!
Two Stances! Attack and Defense!⚔️🛡️
Megaxantho has the ability to switch between two stances depending on the situation. My intent with this idea, as well as some of my other ideas is to make Megaxantho an extremely fun to use and versatile battle mount. So, let’s get into it.
Defense Stance: Megaxantho will hold its right claw directly in front of its body. The crustaceous armor of the creature will make it so Megaxantho takes massively reduced damage from the front.
Left Claw Attack - Pinch or Slash: Megaxantho has the unique ability to hold weapons in its left claw. Spears, axes, and swords are all weapons that Megaxantho can hold and swipe with. If Megaxantho isn’t holding any weapons, it will perform a simple pinch attack.
Right Claw Attack - Ground Bash: With its massive right pincer, Megaxantho bashes the ground sending a shockwave out around it, stunning and knocking back creatures in its path. Megaxantho can charge this attack to 3 different levels, each one doing more knockback and applying more stun to creatures hit by the shockwave. These three levels are indicated via stripes on the claw itself that glow as the attack is charged. This attack can also be used to smash through even the hardest of structures.
Attack Stance: Megaxantho will have both claws held forward, ready to attack anything in front of it.
Creature Grapple: Much like Karkanos, Megaxantho can grab and pick up creatures with it’s massive right pincer. Creatures around the size of a Dire Wolf or smaller can be picked up and carried. If a creature is larger, up to a certain point obviously, Megaxantho has the unique option of grabbing the creature and holding it in place. It’s legs will dig into the ground, and it will push its tooth-like structure inside of the claw into the creature, insuring that it keeps it stationary. It can then jab at the creature with its left pincer.
Multi Pinch Attack: Megaxantho’s primary attack in this stance. It hits its opponent with a pinch from its left claw, a back hand from its right claw, then another strike with its left, and finally a large pinch with its right claw. If the final strike connects with a creature, it does significantly more damage than the rest of the strikes.
Charged Pinch: Like the ground bash move, Megaxantho can charge a powerful pinch with its right claw. Indicated by the same three stripes, the attack can be charged in three levels, each doing more damage than the next. This move can also create a hindered effect for creatures and players, slowing them down.
Bubble Blowing! 🫧
Just a quick aside, did you know crabs blow little bubbles? It’s so cute! I couldn’t not make it an ability!
When this ability is activated, Megaxantho produces a single large bubble from its mouth. This bubble is filled with a special gas mixture that grants it buoyancy and stability, allowing it to float through the air for a limited time.
The bubble serves multiple purposes, offering both tactical and exploratory advantages for players:
Vertical Scaling: Megaxantho can use the bubble to scale vertical surfaces like cliffs, mountains, and even certain structures. By stepping onto the bubble and guiding its movement, survivors can ascend to otherwise inaccessible heights, granting them strategic advantages or accessing hidden areas.
Floating Islands: In some environments, there are floating islands or platforms that are challenging to reach. This ability allows Megaxantho to float up to these islands, opening up new exploration opportunities to find potential resource-rich areas.
Ambushes: In combat situations, Megaxantho can use the bubble to gain an elevated vantage point. This allows it to ambush unsuspecting creatures or players from above, catching them off guard.
However, the bubble blowing ability does come with some limitations and risks:
Duration: The bubble remains intact for a limited time, and survivors must plan their movements carefully to avoid falling from great heights once the bubble inevitably pops.
Vulnerability: While on the bubble, Megaxantho becomes more vulnerable to attacks, due to the bubble’s fragile nature. If a creature attacks the bubble or a player shoots it, it pops, sending the player and Megaxantho plummeting.
To use the bubble blowing ability effectively, survivors must strategize and make quick decisions. Bringing parachutes or other means of gliding can serve as a safety net in case the bubble pops at an inopportune moment. The ability offers players a dynamic and engaging way to explore hard to reach places.
Introducing…Molting!🐚
As Megaxantho grows from child to adult, it goes through a molting period. During this period, Megaxantho sheds its hard shell, leaving behind a husk for players to harvest for materials. Chiton and meat can be harvested, but there is a chance for players to gain some rare materials such as pearls. As Megaxantho grows, its body becomes more spikey and armored. This increases the creature’s defensive capabilities, but also makes the creature a bit slower as it ages.
Saddle and Tek Saddle!🏇
I wanted to make Megaxantho’s saddle unique from other saddles. As I previously stated, Megaxantho’s saddle will be able to rotate on a platfrom, with the direction depending on which form of movement players will choose to use.
The Tek saddle for Megaxantho would give the creature a Tek sword and shield it can deploy as a part of the saddle in its defense mode. There would also be a jet-pack like structure in the back that wouldn’t be used for flying, but to enhance Megaxantho’s dashing and dodging capabilites. It would make the dash faster in terms of distance and deployment. In attack form, the shield disipates and Megaxantho’s right claw becomes a sort of laser-based cannon. Both attacks in attack and defense stances can still be charged and have a more powerful effect. I also had the idea of Tek rocket launchers on the saddle as well, but I don’t want to go too crazy in terms of the power of the saddle.
Thank You So Much For Reading!!!🦀
I appreciate you, yes you, taking the time to read this! I am a massive fan of Ark, prehistory, and crabs, and I hope to see my crabby boi in the game one day. If you do too, please drop a vote! Even getting into the top ten of the creature vote would be a dream come true! Much love everyone!
Suggestion
ThePrimeWithin7
Hello survivors! My submission for the creature vote is the Cretaceous crustacean, Megaxantho zogue! This prehistoric crab lived towards the very end of the Cretaceous period around 67-65 million years ago! Not only is it attributed to being one of the first crustaceans with pincers, but it had a very massive and unique right pincer with a strange tooth-like structure protruding from the center of its top claw.
First of all, I’d just like to briefly talk about Karkanos, as I know it’ll likely be a talking point. I love the design of Karkanos. It’s terrifying and really cool at the same time. However I think as the only crab in all of Ark, it is a poor representation of them. I opted to enter Megaxantho in order to better represent just how wonderful crabs are! I hope many of you feel the same! Your support for this creature would be absolutely appreciated! Don’t forget to throw a vote its way if you would like to see it in Ark!
Edit: I fully support the submission of Mesoparapylocheles! May the best crabby boi win! ❤️
Let’s get into the creature!
Dossier 📖
Wild:
Getting into combat with Megaxantho zogue is something most creatures on the island tend to avoid if they can help it. Not only does it have a massive and spiked right pincer about the size of its body, but it is also capable of quick dash-like movements that make it extremely difficult to gain the upper hand against.
Megaxantho has a plethora of options for movement at its disposal. While walking forwards and backwards is still possible for it, Megaxantho prefers to walk sideways due to its increased speed. It also can create massive bubbles filled with a special gas mixture for it to ride upon, allowing it to reach decently high locations. However, Megaxantho cannot swim properly with the weight of its massive claw. I've seen it get around bodies of water by skipping accross the surfaces of them, much like a skipping-stone.
Domesticated:
A tamed Megaxantho is an extremely beneficial asset to anyone who is looking to have a safety net while exploring the island. Survivors can utilize Megaxantho's claws to switch between a more attack-heavy stance and a more defense-oriented one. I've also seen people put weapons into Megaxantho's smaller claw. Either way, I'd be the last person you'd catch going near that spiked pincer. I've even heard that it has a unique ability to charge attacks. Perhaps that's what those glowing markings on its claw indicate.
I've observed that while Megaxantho ages, it molts like modern-day crabs do. Its caretaker could take advantage of this natural shedding of its shell to gain a decent amount of materials. I've even heard rumor that some people have found rare crystals, pearls, or even items within these molted husks. A saddle for Megaxantho could also be beneficial in that itallows survivors to rotate as Megaxantho changes directions.
Appearance and Personality🦀
As with a large portion of Ark’s creatures, the size of Megaxantho zogue has been exaggerated. While the actual specimen is still on the larger end of crabs, it is nowhere near the size I imagine it would be in-game. For its looks, I took inspiration from numerous crabs, but I used it’s fossil as well as modern-day Fiddler Crabs as my main influence. I wanted to use the cuter crabs as inspiration to contrast Karkanos’ fearsomeness. It’s right claw is massive, being almost the size of the crab’s body alone. It has that pointed structure in the middle that it likely used to break through tough shells. Like modern-day Fiddler Crabs, I chose to make them more colorful as opposed to some of the more dark colored crab species. You’d be surprised at how expressive crabs can be, which is why I also feel that Megaxantho would carry some of that same expressiveness over onto the island. It’ll make happy noises when fed, perhaps dance a little bit, and will definitely let you know when its agitated.
Mobility 🦀
Unlike Karkanos, Megaxantho is extremely fast when it moves sideways. This does not mean Megaxantho can’t walk forward, but it prefers to move sideways if it is moving long distances due to its higher speed. The saddle for Megaxantho would be unique in the sense that it would allow the player to rotate the saddle itself. This creates the opportunity for players to choose when they want to go fullspeed sideways, or walk forward/backwards. While the player is facing forward on the saddle, Megaxantho can still maneuver sideways via strafing. It can even jump to the side to perform a sort of dodge-like movement. This can make combat with Megaxantho extremely interesting with numerous options for players to get out difficult situations in a “pinch”. Sorry not sorry.
Megaxantho is not a good swimmer, due to its massive claw and lacks of any kind of appendages that make swimming for long periods of time possible. It does, however, have the ability to skip over the top of bodies of water, much like a skipping stone. It can’t do this forever, but it can go longer distances if Megaxantho is moving with enough momentum.
Abilities 🦀
I have a lot of ideas for how Megaxantho would play, but ultimately I wanted to focus on something that makes both battle and exploration engaging and fun!
Two Stances! Attack and Defense! ⚔️🛡️
Megaxantho has the ability to switch between two stances depending on the situation. My intent with this idea, as well as some of my other ideas is to make Megaxantho an extremely fun to use and versatile battle mount. So, let’s get into it.
Defense Stance: Megaxantho will hold its right claw directly in front of its body. The crustaceous armor of the creature will make it so Megaxantho takes massively reduced damage from the front.
Left Claw Attack - Pinch or Slash: Megaxantho has the unique ability to hold weapons in its left claw. Spears, axes, and swords are all weapons that Megaxantho can hold and swipe with. If Megaxantho isn’t holding any weapons, it will perform a simple pinch attack.
Right Claw Attack - Ground Bash: With its massive right pincer, Megaxantho bashes the ground sending a shockwave out around it, stunning and knocking back creatures in its path. Megaxantho can charge this attack to 3 different levels, each one doing more knockback and applying more stun to creatures hit by the shockwave. These three levels are indicated via stripes on the claw itself that glow as the attack is charged. This attack can also be used to smash through even the hardest of structures.
Attack Stance: Megaxantho will have both claws held forward, ready to attack anything in front of it.
Creature Grapple: Much like Karkanos, Megaxantho can grab and pick up creatures with it’s massive right pincer. Creatures around the size of a Dire Wolf or smaller can be picked up and carried. If a creature is larger, up to a certain point obviously, Megaxantho has the unique option of grabbing the creature and holding it in place. It’s legs will dig into the ground, and it will push its tooth-like structure inside of the claw into the creature, insuring that it keeps it stationary. It can then jab at the creature with its left pincer.
Multi Pinch Attack: Megaxantho’s primary attack in this stance. It hits its opponent with a pinch from its left claw, a back hand from its right claw, then another strike with its left, and finally a large pinch with its right claw. If the final strike connects with a creature, it does significantly more damage than the rest of the strikes.
Charged Pinch: Like the ground bash move, Megaxantho can charge a powerful pinch with its right claw. Indicated by the same three stripes, the attack can be charged in three levels, each doing more damage than the next. This move can also create a hindered effect for creatures and players, slowing them down.
Bubble Blowing! 🫧
Just a quick aside, did you know crabs blow little bubbles? It’s so cute! I couldn’t not make it an ability!
When this ability is activated, Megaxantho produces a single large bubble from its mouth. This bubble is filled with a special gas mixture that grants it buoyancy and stability, allowing it to float through the air for a limited time.
The bubble serves multiple purposes, offering both tactical and exploratory advantages for players:
Vertical Scaling: Megaxantho can use the bubble to scale vertical surfaces like cliffs, mountains, and even certain structures. By stepping onto the bubble and guiding its movement, survivors can ascend to otherwise inaccessible heights, granting them strategic advantages or accessing hidden areas.
Floating Islands: In some environments, there are floating islands or platforms that are challenging to reach. This ability allows Megaxantho to float up to these islands, opening up new exploration opportunities to find potential resource-rich areas.
Ambushes: In combat situations, Megaxantho can use the bubble to gain an elevated vantage point. This allows it to ambush unsuspecting creatures or players from above, catching them off guard.
However, the bubble blowing ability does come with some limitations and risks:
Duration: The bubble remains intact for a limited time, and survivors must plan their movements carefully to avoid falling from great heights once the bubble inevitably pops.
Vulnerability: While on the bubble, Megaxantho becomes more vulnerable to attacks, due to the bubble’s fragile nature. If a creature attacks the bubble or a player shoots it, it pops, sending the player and Megaxantho plummeting.
To use the bubble blowing ability effectively, survivors must strategize and make quick decisions. Bringing parachutes or other means of gliding can serve as a safety net in case the bubble pops at an inopportune moment. The ability offers players a dynamic and engaging way to explore hard to reach places.
Introducing…Molting! 🐚
As Megaxantho grows from child to adult, it goes through a molting period. During this period, Megaxantho sheds its hard shell, leaving behind a husk for players to harvest for materials. Chiton and meat can be harvested, but there is a chance for players to gain some rare materials such as pearls. As Megaxantho grows, its body becomes more spikey and armored. This increases the creature’s defensive capabilities, but also makes the creature a bit slower as it ages.
Saddle and Tek Saddle! 🏇
I wanted to make Megaxantho’s saddle unique from other saddles. As I previously stated, Megaxantho’s saddle will be able to rotate on a platfrom, with the direction depending on which form of movement players will choose to use.
The Tek saddle for Megaxantho would give the creature a Tek sword and shield it can deploy as a part of the saddle in its defense mode. There would also be a jet-pack like structure in the back that wouldn’t be used for flying, but to enhance Megaxantho’s dashing and dodging capabilites. It would make the dash faster in terms of distance and deployment. In attack form, the shield disipates and Megaxantho’s right claw becomes a sort of laser-based cannon. Both attacks in attack and defense stances can still be charged and have a more powerful effect. I also had the idea of Tek rocket launchers on the saddle as well, but I don’t want to go too crazy in terms of the power of the saddle.
Thank You So Much For Reading!!! 🦀
I appreciate you, yes you, taking the time to read this! I am a massive fan of Ark, prehistory, and crabs, and I hope to see my crabby boi in the game one day. If you do too, please drop a vote! Even getting into the top ten of the creature vote would be a dream come true! Much love everyone!
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